Page 20 of Obsession
Oisín stares at me, his breaths coming in a little shallower, and I can see the exact moment the words land somewhere he doesn’t want me touching. His voice drops a little. “Are you planning to do something different?”
I let my thumb move once against the back of his neck. “I’m planning to use what he ignored.”
“That doesn’t sound better.”
“It’s honest.”
His mouth twists faintly. “You keep saying that like honesty makes ugly things less ugly.”
“No. It makes them easier to see coming.” I drop my hand from his neck and gesture further down the hall, wondering if he’ll obey on his own.
Oisín hesitates for a moment and then moves, a small smile creeping onto my lips as I continue laying out his new life.
“You’ll eat in the main hall where we just were,” I push out. “You sleep in my room. You don’t call Canon unless I’m standing beside you. You don’t report back to the Rogues. You don’t answer questions from anyone out front, trying to decide whether they can make you flinch. If someone gives you trouble, you tell me.”
His brows draw together as he twists around to look at me. “And if I don’t want to run to you every time someone says something cruel?”
“Then tell Tally.”
That catches him off guard. “Who’s Tally?”
“You’ll know her by breakfast. She’ll know you before that.”
“Should I be worried?”
“About Tally?” This time, I do smile a little. “Only if you’re stupid.”
By the time we get to my room at the end of the hall, I’m pissed off, tired, and need something to work out my anger on. Usually, there would be someone out in the main space who needed to be taught a lesson. But the perfect piece of ass currently standing in front of me might be the best alternative I’ve ever had.
Oisín lets out a small sound before his shoulders fall, his gaze moving to the one bed in the middle of the room. It’s nothing pretty, this place is more for show than an actual resting place. I can’t remember the last time I actually slept, let alone tucked up in a bed fit for a king.
I close the door behind us and move toward the desk across from the bed, shrugging out of my cut and laying it over the chair. “After you work with Moth, you start learning Obsidian’s system.”
“So I’m working.”
“You thought I brought you here to decorate my room?”
His face heats, and I know exactly what image moved through his head before he looks away.
“I don’t know what you brought me here for,” he mumbles.
That’s the first fully honest thing he’s said since we left the hall.
I step toward him then, slowly enough that he has every chance to stand his ground or move away. He stands his ground, but his pulse jumps in his throat. I stop close enough that he has to tilt his head back to keep looking at me.
“Yes, you do.”
His eyes flash. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Say things like they’re true just because you want them to be.”
“Theyaretrue.”
“They’re convenient.”
I lift my hand and settle my fingers beneath his chin. He goes still immediately, but it isn’t fear that makes him quiet this time. I tilt his face higher, watching his lashes flicker as he fights the instinct to soften into the hold.
