Page 13 of Secret Obsession
Greyson bought her a car, a light-gray—ha, get it?—SUV with all-tinted windows. Good in the snow, so she says. Not that we’ve had much opportunity to test that out. Seems like Crown Point was holding its breath on getting snow until January, and now it’s dumping on us.
Anyway. Better than my little sucker that likes to fishtail at any opportunity.
I buckle up and pull down the visor, sucking in a breath at the sheer amount of drying blood on my face. It’s across my mouth, my cheekbone. My throat. The handprint where Miles clapped his palm across my lips is impossible to miss.
“Whatever happened…” Violet eyes me and restarts her car. “It’ll be okay.”
“Yeah,” I mumble, settling in. “I doubt it.”
She clicks on my heated seat, and we head back toward town. The house she’s renting with Greyson isn’t terribly far from my apartment. I point for her to take my street, and we slow roll by my house. It’s a duplex. The landlord, a hard-of-hearing old lady, is in the first-floor apartment, and the second is all mine.
I expected police cars at the very least. Yellow crime scene tape.
But there’s nothing.
“Are you okay?” Violet asks.
I laugh. “Not even slightly.”
Greyson’s truck is gone when we get to her house. She leads me inside and straight upstairs to the bathroom, where she sets a clean towel on the counter and peels my coat off my body.
“Take your time. I’ll make coffee.”
There’s something about a cleansing, boiling-hot shower to set a girl’s mind right. I scrub my face extra-hard, and my skin stings by the time I’m satisfied. Violet must’ve come back in at some point, because there’s a stack of clothes waiting for me.
Downstairs, Violet is tucked on the couch with a show playing on low volume. She sets down her phone and eyes me.
“Is CPU going to be a problem?”
I roll my eyes. “It’ll only be a problem if Miles makes it one.”
Violet sighs. “I really just don’t understand why they all kept the bet a secret—”
“I can’t do this,” I interrupt. “Sorry, I just…”
Ithurt. Like, actually. A knife inmythroat. I don’t tell people I love them. Maybe jokingly, but not for real. Not in anI’m in love with yousort of way. It took me six months to fall for Knox, and another six to work up the nerve to actually tell him. And look what happened! It blew up in my face.
I grab the mug of coffee she poured me and take it into her kitchen. After a minute of scouring their liquor cabinet, I find the whiskey. I add it to my coffee and take a sip, then add some more. What the hell, right?
When the warmth has climbed through my chest, I return to Violet. There’s no use telling her exactly what happened. Miles just killed someone in my apartment, and I left him there. I let it happen. But eventually, it’ll be discovered. No, itneedsto be discovered. I just need to call the police and have Miles arrested.
Picturing Miles in a jail cell sends me into a weird spiral all its own. Because I feel guilty even considering turning him in. What would I do if I sent him away for life?
The less Violet knows, the better.
“You okay?”
A repeat of her previous question. I think she’s hopeful that my answer will have changed. But the truth of the matter is, I don’t know how I could possibly ever be okay again.
I reach over and grip her hand. No matter what I do, I lose. “Promise me you’ll still be my friend when the whole world blows up in my face.”
She squeezes my fingers. “Babe, you stuck with me when Greyson did his worst. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Okay, good,” I mumble, taking another big gulp of my coffee. “Because I have a feeling Miles is just getting started.”
5
MILES
