Page 57 of Quiet Obsession
I bite my lip, ignoring the cold sweat sleeking my back. Half of me is choking, half is fighting to speak.
Nausea curdles my stomach.
“Eli,” I whisper.
He freezes. His shoulders rise and fall with a deep breath, and I stand there, waiting, wringing my hands at my sides. I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing for... I don’t know.
It feels like stepping off a cliff. Like falling and flying.
My ears perk up, catching a soft rustle of fabric, two hastened steps, then his warm fingers sliding beneath my chin and tipping my head back.
“Look at me,” he demands.
I do, a gasp catching in my throat. He looks so...broken. Even as the gold flecks in his eyes catch the light, his expression is raw in a way I’ve never seen before. His Adam’s apple bobs as his thumb traces along my jaw.
“Fuck.” He leans in, his forehead pressing to mine. “That’s yours now. Never call me anything else.”
18
Creed
Eli. Eli. Eli.
No one calls me that. No one’s fucking allowed because that’s what my mom called me. Back in a different life when I was a child full of dreams and hopes. Back when I was good and deserved good things.
Whenever someone’s called meEliover the years, I’ve lashed out. It’sCreed. Always.Eliasif someone’s trying to piss me off. Mostly Hyde when he decides I need berating. Sometimes Noah.
ButEli?
That’s wrong. Too soft. Toogoodfor a man seeped in blood, plagued by the past, and shaped by violence, but fuck if it didn’t sound perfect from Millie’s lips. It’s like she saw something in me that shouldn’t exist anymore. A part of me thatshouldn’t have survived my bad temper and worse decisions.
I stalk through the quad, my spine tingling, thoughts fractured. The morning with Millie keeps playing at the backs of my eyelids, my concentration shot. It’s good that today’s light on classes. I can’t recall a single thing Professor Tomkinson spewed over that two-hour lecture.
It’s not just Millie occupying my headspace, though. The next fight night is on my mind too because I won’t challenge some random guy at the last minute. Somebody has truly pissed me off and it just so happens that I find the fucker surrounded by friends as I round the corner, heading toward the cafeteria.
They stand outside the North Wing, clustered by the hood of Jasper’s overpriced, lime-green BMW M4. An excessively powerful toy that gives small dick energy.
He laughs at something his buddies say, the sound grating my nerves. Rationally, I know all he did was make Millie uncomfortable. She told Hyde everything, and he repeated it to me, Noah, and Dash later that evening.
But rational thoughts don’t stand a chance once Millie’s tear-stained face flashes through my mind. I spent a full minute coaxing her off that treadmill before her choking sobs and lack of response started clawing me open.
A metal chain squeezed my throat, fear that someone fucking hurt her stealing my breath. She was lost in her head, feet thumping against the treadmill on its highest speed. Seeing her so scared tore a hole right through my sternum.
I pull a red marker from my back pocket, shouldering past Mateo, Rowan, and Dex. Jasper barely has time to look up before I pin him against the wall by the collar of his hoodie.
His friends fill the air withfucksandshits.
“Creed, what the—?” Jasper starts, the rest of that sentence knocked out of his mouth as I connect his head with the stone façade. “Shit, man, what the hell?”
I uncap the marker with my teeth, drawing a prominentXacross his forehead. “Next time you look at Ward’s sister, remember this.”
“I didn’t do anything!” His eyes flick over my shoulder, seeking help from his buddies.
Not one of them dares to interfere.
“We were just joking around,” he continues, voice rising an octave. “Abby’s with us now and Millie’s her friend, right? I mean, she’s never alone, so I thought—”
“Stop talking,” I snap, capping the marker.
