Page 119 of Obsession

Robbie kisses the top of my head before guiding me onto my back. He hovers over me, braced on his elbow, his fingers tangled in my hair. “Where’s your mom?”

I don’t like how my heart twinges, even though I have no memories of her. “She left a few months after my birth,” I reply, my throat thick with emotion. “She packed a bag and walked out.”

Robbie stiffens, and his grip tightens on my hair. I let the sharp sting ground me. “She left you?” There’s so much emotion in his deep voice, so many unspoken words.

When I don’t reply, he grabs hold of my chin and places a firm kiss on my lips—the kind of kiss that leaves no room for doubt. I am his.

“It’s her loss.” His voice rumbles all around me like thunder. “What about your dad?”

I try to look away, to close myself off from the emotions rushing to the surface, but Robbie won’t let me. He digs his fingers into my chin, and a small gasp slips from my mouth.

“Don’t hide from me. Tell me about him,” he coaxes, pressing his forehead to mine.

“My dad was my whole world…until he wasn’t.”

“Go on.”

Unwelcome tears prick my eyes. “I still remember the first night… I was weeks away from turning five when the door slowly creaked open on rusty hinges, almost as if my dad was hesitant or didn’t want to wake me. He swamped the doorway, framed by the hallway light, his face cast in shadow.”

“Go on. You’re doing so well, baby,” Robbie reassures me, his breath dancing over my lips as the tears finally spill over, followed by more. He brushes them away from my cheeks with his thumb before trailing them over my lips, spreading the salty wetness. My chest tightens with emotions I can’t place. I feel too much.

“The nightly visits continued for a couple of weeks until, one night, instead of climbing into my bed, my dad snaked his arms under me and lifted me up.”

Robbie kisses my cheeks softly and brushes his thumb over my mouth in a soothing motion, back and forth. I can’t look at him as I admit this next part. The memory is too painful and still too raw despite the years that have passed.

“My dad introduced me to his friends that night. All four of them were seated around the table in a cloud of cigar smoke. I remember how their gazes fell down my body, cradled against my dad’s chest. And I knew even before my dad took a seat and brushed my hair away from my shoulder that they were bad men.”

“They won’t hurt you again.”

“Or any other small girls,” I whisper.

He kisses my lips, his breath commanding mine. “What happened to your dad, Savannah?”

I stiffen, but when he seizes my chin to hold me frozen beneath his intense gaze, I whimper, admitting, “I couldn’t take it anymore.”

His eyes never waver from mine as he waits me out. My heart thuds heavily in time with his. The sunrise is still far away, and the night belongs to us and our secrets.

When I finally speak, his gaze snaps to my mouth. “I had to do something, Robbie. He would have never stopped otherwise.”

“My brave girl,” he breathes, pressing his forehead to mine again. “You made sure he could never hurt anyone again.”

“Yes…” My voice is barely audible, drifting between our lips. We breathe each other’s air for long, long minutes, and then his fingers drift from my chin to my throat. I crane my neck in a silent plea, my toes curling as he wraps his long digits around me.

“I killed him,” I admit, pulse thundering beneath his touch. “I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to end my own nightmare.”

“You silenced the voices in your head,” he replies in a low, seductive purr that whispers against my mouth.

Squirming, I sink my teeth into my bottom lip and nod. My fingers play with the wisps of hair at the nape of his neck, and I pull him down to me. He comes willingly, tasting my sins.

We kiss for hours, lost in each other, lost to the inevitable. It won’t be long before the morning sun greets the horizon and the first bright streaks split through the darkness in a myriad of breathtaking shades of orange and pink. But until then, I’ll savor the darkness with Robbie.

The soundof the doorbell wakes me, and my hand moves across the crumpled sheet, meeting empty space. I flutter my eyes open, not yet ready to meet another day. Robbie is gone, and the side of his bed is empty.

I shoot upright and clutch the quilt to my naked chest, staring down at the single rose with delicate red petals on his pillow. My heart clenches as I scan the room for any sign of him, but I know he left.

Tears blur my vision, and my heart aches now that I’m alone. I swipe at my wet cheeks, then stiffen when the doorbell rings again. One look at the clock confirms it’s early.

Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I throw on a silk dressing gown and pat down my wild hair. When the doorbell rings again, I frown before hurrying downstairs, my bare feet pounding the creaky steps. “Coming.”