Page 94 of Quiet Obsession
“Millie and Noah.”
Fuck. My stomach does that weird runaway elevator trick, dropping to my knees.
“Saw them where?” I ask, then clear my throat, the riot ruling my mind clogging up my throat. “When?
I don’t give a shit where or when he saw them, butwhathe sawmaterializes before my eyes, fucking with my composure. He wouldn’t stew for an hour, stripping labels off bottles, if what he saw didn’t bother him.
Were they too close for his liking? Maybe Noah was holding her hand? Was she cuddling into him? Were they...kissing?
Maybe he walked in on—
No, not going there.
“On Saturday,” Hyde supplies, answering half of my two-parter and sending a clenched fist down my throat with it.
Fuck!
I turned her on and pushed her straight into his arms...
Hyde drops his elbows on the bar counter, one hand curling around a bottle, the other squeezing the back of his neck, unaware I’mthisclose to ordering shots. He can’t drop a bomb like this while I’m the designated driver.
“I was looking for him before the fights,” he continues.
It takes me a disgraceful amount of time to process this and grasp the detail. He saw thembeforeI pushed Millie away.
“I figured he’d be playing chess with Millie in the library, so I went over there and saw them...” He pauses to pull from his bottle, swallowing one gulp after another, “...making out.”
Making out...
Kissing.
Millie and Noah.
My fingers tremble around the fresh fake beer Jed’s set before me. I close my fist before Hyde notices and relax my jaw before I crack a molar.
“Alright...” I exhale. “It’s been days and Noah’s still breathing, so what? You don’t mind?”
He mulls it over and I swear every pause gets longer and more annoying.
“I don’t know what the fuck to think, Creed. I knew he was into her from the get-go, but I didn’t think anything would happen. Or that Millie would be interested. She was only ever into Evan, and Noah’s just so different.”
Hooking a finger in the collar of my hoodie, I tug and tug, the bar too stuffy to breathe properly. My knee’s bouncing and every bottle lining the shelves calling my name.
Whiskey would do nicely right about now.
“Either you want to break his face for touching your sister or you don’t,” I grit out. “It’s not rocket science, Hyde. You fucking told us she’s off limits and now... what?”
“I don’t know but she’s smiling more, Creed. She’s talking more, too, and she eats three meals a day.”
“And you think that’s Noah’s doing?”
“Maybe.” He lands both elbows back on the bar, pushing his beer from one hand to the other. “I wanted to break his jaw, trust me. He’s not the kind of guy I’d pick for her, but when I saw them, he was different. And she’s calm around him.”
“Different how?”
“For starters he held her in thisI’ve got something precious herekind of hold.”
My imagination fires up, conjuring pictures of Millie in Noah’s arms, their lips working in breathless sync. That hold Hyde described might be the worst part. Or best.
