Page 56 of Devious Obsession
I don’t know. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know where my bag is. Or why I’m covered in stains and dirty, when I should’ve just been… I should’ve been here, right? Practicing?
The sheet music is gone, too.
She takes my hand and leads me outside, and I stop short.
It’s dark out.
“What time is it?”
She shifts. “Nine.”
“At night?” My knees wobble. “The last thing I remember is getting to the music room this morning.” A terrible thought occurs to me. “It was this morning, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.” She squeezes my hand. “Listen, we just need to get back to our apartment, and I’ll explain everything there—”
“I know,” I interrupt. “It’s okay. Let’s go.”
At this point, it doesn’t matter that there could be strange guys lingering outside the apartment. I’m ready to sleep in my own bed. Thalia is a fine roommate but not so good at sharing a bed. I have bruises on my shins from her wild flinging.
But it was better than staying with Steele.
My mind seems to be running at half-speed. We’re already on our apartment’s street. Thalia pauses and stuffs a ball cap on my head, muttering something to herself. I cling to her and let her unlock the door, not bothering to turn around. I can feel eyes on me, and I silently plead with her to hurry up.
“I’m going,” she grumbles, getting the door unlocked and open.
Maybe not so silently pleading, then.
She makes sure the door latches behind us, then we repeat the steps at our apartment door. Once we’re in, she motions for me to stay where I am. She picks up a bat—I’m not sure where we got it, or if one of the guys left it for us—and checks out the apartment.
It’s silent, except for the clock hanging on the wall, ticking mutinously loud. Thalia returns and sets the bat back by the door, frowning at me.
“Water?” she asks. “Maybe food?”
I press my hand to my stomach. It gurgles on cue. “Do we have anything in the fridge?”
She shakes her head. “We don’t have much, since we haven’t been here. But we have frozen pizza.”
I grab a cup from the cabinet. “Fire up the oven, chef. We’re eating like royalty tonight.”
She cracks a smile, but it doesn’t last.
Which means she knows what happened to me, and it isn’t good.
I heave a sigh and drink a full glass of water. It helps with my dry mouth, for sure, but it feels hollow in my stomach. While she gets the pizza ready, I head to my bedroom. It looks untouched, which is good.
Thalia steps into my room behind me, leaning on the frame.
“Can I borrow your phone to call mine?” I go straight to my closet. Half of my stuff is at the hockey house, but it wasn’t like I moved everything in. I grab new leggings, a hoodie, undies. What I really need is a nice, long shower as hot as I can stand it.
“No.”
I stop. “No?”
“No, I think we need to talk before you try to find your phone or go on social media—”
A chill sweeps down my spine. It’s that foreboding feeling where I justknowshe’s going to ruin my day. Or night. But there’s only so much bad shit a girl can take.
“I’m going to shower first, then,” I say softly.
