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He followed my order, opening his arms to hug Abby’s other side.

And then, we were just two boys, hugging their mother, all the broken promises and disappointments of a lifetime piled to the side. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough.

“Message me when you get to where you’re going, okay?” I said to her.

She nodded, wiping tears from her eyes. It was odd to see her emotionally affected. She had always seemed so cool and aloof. Maybe old age was softening her. One thing I knew was that she was one of the only people left in the world who could remember Emily like I did.

“Okay, okay. Enough crying,” she grumbled. “My Botox hasn’t settled, and it’ll go wonky.”

Ten minutes later, we watched her car pull away from the house and down the long winding drive.

“We’ll, there’s our visit for the year with Mother dearest,” I said to Cal.

He nodded and then turned to me. “Why was Marcus talking about a party here tomorrow?”

Crap. The party.

“Right, I promised to hold a party here. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Cal pulled a face and then checked his watch.

“Shit, we’re late for practice.”

Selena

I hoveredin the doorway for a second longer than necessary.

Voices overlapped inside—laughter, introductions, the scrape of chairs against the floor—and for a second, I considered turning around and leaving before anyone noticed I was there.

First rehearsal for the play, and it was something called a table read. I was so nervous, I had cold sweats as I made my way to the drama department and found the right room. I sat in a seat that had a little name tag on it. It was the character’s name and beneath it, my name. It felt so strange. I’d almost convinced myself that this whole thing was a dream, but here I was, with a place to sit at the table and everything.

Other students filtered in, and I met the girl who’d play Beatrice, as well as Benedick. They already had great banter, so it looked like the director had made perfect picks. Then the guy who’d play Claudio, my intended husband in the play, came over to introduce himself.

“So, you’re Hero. Honestly, you and Beatrice steal this show.”

“Oh, you think so?”

“Definitely, the men are just there to cause problems.”

We talked about the play and our characters. I felt like a total newbie compared to the rest of the main cast, who had all been doing drama for years. I was the only one who hadn’t acted in a play before.

The director arrived, and everyone stood to clap for her. After we sat, there was a round of introductions. I was so nervous. Way more nervous than I’d been in any other class I’d taken at this university, or anywhere. I cared about this more, too.

Then the reading began. We started at the beginning, with the main cast reading their parts. The play was sharp and witty; I enjoyed every second, though my nerves were making it difficult to get comfortable with the other cast members. Everyone else was smiling and making jokes here and there. I was uptight and rigid for a good while, trying desperately not to seem like a piece of cardboard.

But gradually, bit by bit, my nerves faded as the easy camaraderie of the group surrounded me. I found myself laughing and smiling. I was having fun. I’d learned well enough in the last year that a chance to laugh could be rare to come by. I clung on to it desperately.

It was precious. It was perfect, and for now, it was all mine.

The top floor of the library was quiet on a random Thursday night. I was enjoying my shift, moving around the stacks in thelow lighting, organizing books in pools of lamplight. The upper floors had these old-fashioned green lamps on the tables that made me feel like I was living in an Edwardian movie.

I was listening to my audiobook, quite absorbed in the story and carrying a stack of books to my cart, when I noticed that the next book I’d planned to shelve was gone. A completely different book now stood in its place. I frowned.

I looked around, seeing if someone might have needed it and decided to take it before it got shelved. But there was no one in sight. Shadows pooled in the corners of the huge room. I pulled my headphones from my ears, needing all my senses on high alert.

Unease ran through me, and the other night with Nick popped into my head. I’d been trying not to think about it and let it get a grip in my mind. If I focused too much on Nick, and the fact that his brother was the cop, and that Nick knew… I’d fall off the deep end again. I couldn’t let it happen. I didn’t want it to. I finally felt like I was living again after a year of being lost. I didn’t want to lose that for anything.

A sound echoed along a dark aisle.