Page 43 of Obsession

“Why are you crying, Savannah?”

Sniffling, I ease back into my seat to create space between us. His presence clouds my senses, making it hard to think when he’s so close that I can inhale his every exhale. “No matter what you have done, Robbie, you’re still a human. You grew up knowing nothing but cruelty. Of course, I cry.”

His eyes excavate me until I feel naked, certain he can see every flutter of the pulse in my neck. I sure as fuck can feel it when he looks at me like that.

“I don’t think you’re crying for me, Savannah.”

I frown, but he’s not done cutting me open for his own twisted reasons.

“You’re crying for yourself. My truth circles yours, speaking the same language as the pain I see in your eyes. You’re drowning.”

Looking away and crossing my arms to protect myself from the onslaught of emotions the truth in his words evokes, I grit my teeth.

“Pain recognizes pain.”

I swipe at my cheeks, cursing the stupid tears and bitterness. Then I bite out, “Who was your first victim, Robbie? How did it happen? We are here to talk about you. Not me.”

“And I told you, I will tell you everything when you trust me.”

“How?” I all but shriek, throwing my hands up and rising from my chair, which scrapes loudly against the floor.

The guard rolls his eyes at my outburst, then proceeds to stare at the wall.

“I do trust you, Hammond. See, that’s the thing: I trust you more than I’d like to admit, even to myself.Don’t mistake familiarity for security.That’s what you told me, right?” I’m on a roll, the words ripping from my lips in a stream of hurt and anger. “We’re way past that. I trust you so much that I’d let you approach me on a darkened road. I am that nice girl who would agree to help you carry whatever shit you need to the car because you pretend you’re injured. Remember that time when you approached a girl with a cane, pretending you were blind and fucking lost? Yeah, I would have helped you too. I. Trust. You.”

My chest heaves, and a lock of hair lifts off my lips with every ragged exhale.

Where the fuck did that outburst come from? My heart is thundering like a sprinting horse I’ll never catch up with. It’s gone, racing down the hill.

I’m tossed back into reality when the sound of Robbie’s chair scraping on the floor cuts through my internal upheaval. He’s so damn tall and broad and fucking beautiful. I barely reach his collarbones.

He braces his tattooed hands on the table and pierces me with a look so intense that my every breath becomes his to command. I breathe because he wills it to happen. My heart is a lost cause—a roar in my ears.

“You don’t trust me yet, Savannah. Soon, you’ll realize that yourself.”

“I don’t understand. How can I possibly prove it to you?”

“Would you still be here with me if Officer Garcia wasn’t behind me, counting down the hours until his shift ends so he can go home and fuck his wife? Let me rephrase my question. Do you fear me, Savannah? Your pulse is racing. I can see it from here. Is it from fear or desire? Are you a religious woman, Savannah?”

I frown. “Do I come across as religious to you?”

“No, you don’t.” The flippant way he states it makes me see fucking red. “But if you were, you would know that Jesus spoke of love and trust as if they were one and the same. There’s trust in perfect love, and in trust, fear cannot exist.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point”—he reaches for a lock of my hair—“is that you can’t trust me until you stop fearing me.”

My lungs burn from a lack of oxygen.

When he straightens back up, I suck in a deep breath. “You’re asking me to stop fearing the biggest predator in the woods. It’s an impossible request.”

“Is it?” He lifts his stubbly chin to the bored officer in a silent demand to be taken back to his cell. We still have twenty minutes left of our time. The rejection hurts more than it should.

Exhausted beyond belief, I plop down onto the chair while the officer shackles him. Robbie doesn’t look at me again, doesn’t say another word. Somehow, that hurts even more.

18

SAVANNAH