Page 141 of Obsession

Blinded by rage, he lashes out, raining blows on my face. Fury drives his every action, and his upper lip lifts in a vicious snarl.

He rips the scarf from my neck and wraps his big hands around my throat. My eyes widen at the unforgiving pressure. Not a drop of oxygen makes it past my compressed windpipe. I squirm and struggle, jerking on the ground while tugging violently on the bindings. There’s no escape.

Death seeps in at the edges and blackens my vision, slowly draining me of my strength.

I’m vaguely aware of a large shadow blocking out the moon as it falls over Elliot’s hunched form, followed by a dark, smoky voice dripping with danger. “Let. Her. Go.”

Elliot stiffens, and his fingers twitch against my sore flesh before he releases me and lifts them up by his head in surrender.

“Get up.”

His eyes lock onto mine, and the tic in his cheek is visible in the moonlight as he slowly rises to his feet.

I suck in lungfuls of oxygen.

Everything hurts.

The world spins.

“I should have known you’d find a fucking way to escape again.”

Robbie holds the gun steady at the back of Elliot’s head, his voice colder than a winter’s night. “It’s a mistake you won’t repeat twice.”

“How did you do it this time? Offer the cops blow jobs in turn for your freedom?”

“There are no lengths I won’t go for Savannah. I’ll murder time and time again to keep her at my side.”

Chuckling under his breath, Elliot turns around, either recklessly brave in the face of death or endlessly stupid. “She gave you up to the cops. She doesn’t want you anymore.”

I’m fading in and out of consciousness, vaguely aware of the chill in the air and the twinkling stars in the sky.

So many stars.

“You mistake me for a good guy, Elliot. You’re a killer like me.” He gets up in Elliot’s face, and a dangerous light glimmers in his eyes as he says, “You should know nothing stops us when we set our mind on something. Savannah is mine, and you’re currently in my fucking way.” His lips spread into a vicious smile, his sharp canines gleaming.

They circle each other. Two predators sizing each other up. One armed, the other mad enough to bark a laugh.

“Aren’t you the hero of the hour, arriving just in the nick of time to save the girl?”

“I’m not here to save anyone.” Robbie clucks his tongue. “I’m here to steal.” In a swift move, he pistol-whips Elliot. The gunconnects with his temple in a hard blow, and his knees buckle. Blood pours from a cut on his eyebrow, staining the snow red.

Elliot is soon up on his feet, rugby-tackling Robbie to the ground with a furious roar.

Exchanging a flurry of blows, they roll on the ground, kicking up snow and dirt. A shot goes off, sending sleeping birds into the air.

Despite my pounding headache, I manage to lift myself into a sitting position. My face is coated in coppery blood and stinging cuts from Elliot’s outburst earlier. I try to make out the scene in front of me. Robbie has gained the upper hand. He kneels over Elliot and lays into him with his fists as though he’s unleashing a lifetime of pent-up aggression. Unsatisfied, he jumps to his feet and retrieves the bottle of anti-freeze.

Elliot groans in pain, then rolls over onto his stomach and army crawls toward the tree line.

It’s pointless even to try. He won’t escape the wrath behind him. Robbie is more monster than human as he stalks up to Elliot.

His footsteps kick up the trail of red-stained snow and then he grabs Elliot’s shoulder and tosses him over onto his back. He kneels back down and clutches Elliot’s face.

What happens next is too horrible to witness.

Memories of my father drinking the mixed drink I offered him assault me. Elliot begins to convulse, coughing up anti-freeze and vomit. At the same time, Robbie clutches his jacket in an iron fist, the bottle suspended over Elliot’s mouth.

“See you in Hell,” he seethes, dropping him like a sack of potatoes and rising to his feet, knees dusted with snow. He looks over at me and tosses the anti-freeze on top of Elliot’s jerking body.