Page 153 of Obsession

Thinking about it now has my eyes scanning the busy dance floor behind us, even as my stomach sinks with disappointment.

How long have I waited for him to return? How many times have I searched for him in a crowd like this, expecting him to be watching me from a shadowed corner?

Louis finally throws back the shot, pulling a face, and puts it back down on the counter. “That’s too sweet.”

“Don’t like it?” I tease, amused, thinking of ways for us to leave this building without getting caught on surveillance cameras. I’ve been reckless lately.

He shakes his head, dragging the back of his hand over his mouth. “Fuck no.”

Gesturing for the bartender—who ambles over with a towel across his shoulder while making no secret of checking me out in my strappy silver dress—I order us more apple shots, ignoring Louis’s audible protests behind me. “You’ll thank me tomorrow.”

“You’re terrible,” he groans.

“You love it—” I fall silent as my neck pricks.

Awareness floods my veins.

Someone is watching me. I search the crowds again, eyes roving over the sea of people.

After handing me a shot, Louis clinks his to mine. “Here goes nothing.” He drinks it in one go, but I’m distracted, feeling eyes on me.

“Drink yours,” he prompts.

Tearing my gaze away from the balcony on the second floor, I blink down at the apple shot in my hand. The green drink trembles in my grip and small ripples form on the surface, like those on a mirrored lake. I throw it back, the sweet taste coating my tongue. Louis takes the empty shot glass from my fingers and puts it on the counter.

“I’ll be right back,” I tell him, leaving before he can respond.

Music pulses through my veins in time with the heavy beats of my heart, and the base vibrates the wooden floor beneath my heels.

I do a full sweep of the dance floor, weaving through the thick crowds and searching each corner of the large room, brushing up against strangers, mumbling apologies that are lost amongst the loud music.

I find nothing.

Skirting the room’s length, I stop at the bottom of the staircase, finding it unmanned. I peer up at the darkness at thetop—the VIP section. The sensation of being watched is still just as acute, brushing my exposed skin like a caress and invoking a sense of urgency.

I slip underneath the rope and quickly ascend the steps until I reach the top, only to find the balcony empty except for a group of men in suits seated on couches. I take in the group, but none of them are Robbie. None of them are the man I’m craving with a hunger that can’t be satiated by anyone else.

Disappointed, I make my way back down to the ground floor. Louis is gone, and another quick sweep of the dance floor confirms he’s nowhere to be seen.

Turning back around, about to jump up on the barstool, I pause.

There, on the counter, is a newspaper.

The Queen of Hearts Killer strikes again.

I sense him before the rich notes of his raspy voice drift over me like a matured whiskey.

He grabs my neck from behind a little too hard, and his lips brush up against my ear. Lips I’ve lain awake fantasizing about. His big, veiny hand with its long fingers comes into view when he tosses a queen’s card on the counter. I’ve felt those fingers intimately inside me.

I hold my breath, pulsing everywhere in my body.

My visceral reaction to him shouldn’t take me by surprise. But as my stomach clenches and my pulse races beneath his fingertips, I can’t help but thank the fucking stars he sought me out. Finally, fucking finally, he’s here to claim his prey.

“If you ever so much as look in another man’s direction again, I will peel your skin off your body. You hear me, baby? I will take my fucking time, torturing you slowly.” He taps the queen card on top of the news article with a long, sensual finger. “You thought I’d let you fuck someone else?” His grip flexes onmy neck, and he growls in my ear, barely restraining his anger. I want him to let go of his control. Oh, how I crave it.

“You left,” I bite out, baring my teeth, though he can’t see it. “What did you expect? That I’d live happily ever after with my fucking vibrator?”

Those sinful lips spread into a smile against my ear. His masculine, clean scent swirls around me, seducing me as much as the promise of pain in his touch. “The men are lucky you killed them, or the death I would have handed down would have made your pathetic kills look like child’s play.”