Page 29 of Quiet Obsession
Jeremiah hated me because when Mom was too sick, he had to retire from the army to take care of me. He wouldn’t earn more stars, wouldn’t advance the way he dreamt of. Mom and the army were his whole life. I was just something Mom wanted, and he despised after her death.
“Creed.” Dash nudges me with his shoulder.
I glance at him, focusing on the here and now. There’s no point reliving the past. Normally, I make it a point of honor, but today... I knew it’d be inevitable.
Miriam sprinkles more dirt on the casket, then comes closer, squeezes my hand and mutters a few rehearsedsympathies. A minute later, she stalks off down the hill in her bright raincoat while the priest huddles with Greta, then whispers “I’m sorry for your loss” as he follows Miriam.
“Where’s the wake?” Greta stops in front of me, picking invisible lint off her coat. “I’m starving.”
“There isn’t one. We’re heading back to college soon.”
Her eyes flash again but she glances over her shoulder at the hole in the ground and decides her brother’s burial place won’t be tainted by this argument.
“You’re adisgrace, Elias. He deserved better than this.”
“He deserved worse and you know it,” I snap. “You saw me every week. You knew what he was doing and you saidnothing. You didnothing, so how about you get the fuck out of my face.”
She looks like I’ve struck her, a hint of shame swimming in her eyes. Her lips open, then close, the lies dying on her tongue as she puts her shades on and stalks away without another word.
Dash waits until she’s out of sight before whipping his cock out and pissing on the pine casket.
Hyde waits until she’s out of sight before pulling out a bottle of Jeremiah’s most treasured bourbon.
He was presented with it, along with medals and gifts, when he retired, and all these years he never drank it, saving it for a special occasion. My funeral, most likely.He told me he’d kill me at least once a week.
Well, the joke’s on him.
Hyde uncorks the bottle and passes it over. I take alarge gulp, the alcohol burning down my esophagus. Noah comes closer, taking the bottle next. He drinks in silence, eyes on the dirt, his face ashen from the cold.
He doesn’t say a word, but his eyes track Millie as she steps forward, his coat falling to her knees. She stands over the ditch, a single, long-stemmed white rose pinched between her fingers.
Hyde stopped at a flower shop on our way here, but no one went inside with her. My friends know Jeremiah Creed didn’t deserve flowers. He deserved prison food and a daily raping.
But Millie bought the rose, and now she’s standing at my father’s grave, pinching the stem, eyes cast downward. Hyde pulls from the bottle next, then passes it over to Dash while Millie’s still toying with the flower like she’s second-guessing her gesture.
And then... her closed fist hovers over the hole in the ground. She opens her palm, dropping a handful of thorns she’s plucked...
Blazing heat swells behind my ribs when she turns, the thornless rose still in her hand, eyes catching mine. She doesn’t say anything, but she smiles softly, holding the white rose out to me.
I catch Hyde smiling, and Dash chuckles.
“Something tells me you’ll easily fit in this dysfunctional group. Youget it, Mini Ward.”
She does. She fuckingdoes. She smiles the same smile that made my chest constrict earlier, takes the bottle fromDash, while holding my gaze, and swallows three gulps, then cringes as the alcohol slides down her throat.
Her cheeks immediately turn my favorite shade of pink.
Dash cheers, pulling her in for a hug. He releases her before his arms make it all the way around, though.
“Shit, sorry. I forgot.” He steps back. “No cuddles.”
She passes the bottle to me, eyes sparkling, but I don’t drink from it. If she weren’t here, I’d get smashed, but sheisand I feel... responsible. One sip to mark the end of Jeremiah’s journey, the end of his hold on me, is enough. From now on, I don’t owe him a single thought.
From now on, it can be as if he never fucking existed.
9
Millie
