Page 9 of Only Everything (The Obsession #1)

REID

Tauren was engaged…to Emmett.

Engaged.

Had that been why she was crying? Because she wasn’t sure how to tell me? Because she pitied me? I should have never called her. I should have?—

What?

I should have what?

Ignoring this need wasn’t making it go away. Staying quiet wasn’t helping with the combustion that threatened to explode inside my chest.

What I should have done was make up the special space in my empty room earlier. Fuck being the considerate guy. Fuck trying to let her adjust to me being home. What had that accomplished—her being engaged to that son of a bitch cop.

Or maybe…no.

This couldn’t be right. If Tauren had wanted to be engaged, she would have been happy about it. She would have told me. She wouldn’t have sounded afraid.

Or had I read our entire conversation wrong? That wasn’t like me. I didn’t make mistakes. I was good at my job. Damn fucking good. It’s why I moved up in rank so quickly. I was an asset. They didn’t want me to get out.

“Fuck.”

I stared down at my phone and keys. I held both as I sat on the edge of the spare bed, battling my own decisions. Battling hers. Tauren was with Emmett. For reasons I didn’t understand, she’d chosen him.

Him.

Engaged.

Cuffs and calibers.

Blades and bondage.

Sex and secrets.

No way. No fucking way was I wrong about what I detected. The top half of my body fell back on the bed, and I dropped the keys to reach over and slide my finger along the rough metal cuff attached to the headboard. Her name was carved into the wooden ceiling above.

Tauren

Taur

Tauren

Taurrrrrr.

Even imprinted in the wood I could hear my screams for her.

Think.

Think.

My head rolled and my eyes took in the multiple racks of toys and knives.

Whips, floggers, clamps. Everything in-between.

I’d bought everything I could think of to torture her.

To make her feel what I did. It wasn’t about the act.

It wasn’t about BDSM—it was about revenge.

Enlightenment. Desperation. Maybe even exploration to bring her back to me.

Candles of different sizes were sitting on one shelf. Waiting. Waiting.

Burn.

She’d feel how much I burned for her. She’d know this pain. My pain. She’d?—

Think.

Think.

Walls. More sharp angles of letters.

Taur

Tauren

Every inch. Every space. Hanging cuffs. More leather. A gag. A collar. I’d hurt her—love her. Make her love me. She’d feel it. Feel the ache. Feel. Me. Feel.

Think!

Engaged.

No. Not my Tauren. She wouldn’t do that to me. She had been scared about something though. But it wasn’t over me. Think . Why would she call if that were the case?

I brought the phone up, hitting Tauren’s number and bringing it to my ear. It was getting late, and the rain beating against my roof pinged loudly. Ringing sounded, and my lids closed .

What the fuck was I doing? Why did I keep doing this? Had I learned nothing? I should just take her. She was mine anyway. I’d make her remember.

“ I wasn’t—I — You have to c-come get me .”

Sobs. They were so deep it had my eyes flying open and me sitting. Had I expected her to answer? No fucking way.

“Taur?” I swooped the keys from the bed. “What the hell is going on? I talked to Emmett earlier. He said you were engaged.”

“Reid, come g-et me. You have to c-ome find me.”

The broken words. The deep breaths as she sucked in air. She was running.

I took fast steps into my living area, grabbing my gun and putting it at my lower back.

“I’m leaving now. Slow down.” I bolted through the door, running through the pouring rain as I climbed into my truck and started it. “Tell me what the hell is going on.”

“He’s f-fucking lost it. I’m so scared. Emmett he—he’s fucking gone crazy. I can’t do this anymore. He’s— Please . You have to hurry.”

The desperate cry had me throwing it in reverse and stomping the gas as I pulled out and headed down the road.

Why the hell hadn’t I gone for her after Emmett called?

I hadn’t been sure who to believe, so I worked on the room as I tried to process both sides.

There was no question who was telling the truth anymore.

“I’m hurrying. I’m already in the truck.

I think I know the turn off you mentioned after the mini mart.

Taur, you’re not far from me.” My lips twisted.

“I talked to Emmett last week. We were going to meet. I wanted to see you, and he said he had questions.” I gripped tighter to the steering wheel.

“I think he knows about us. He knows something . I can feel it. Tonight when we talked, he said you were engaged. That you weren’t going to see me. ”

She took a deep breath, but the sob wouldn’t stay in.

“He called you tonight?”

“Yeah. Not much longer after you called.”

“You didn’t tell him about us?”

“No. I didn’t.”

The footsteps seemed to slow, and she took more uneven gasps. “…He’s like dad.”

“Whoa. Hold on. What the fuck do you mean? He hurts you?”

A high-pitched cry tore free. “Only once before today. It’s always been verbal, but he heard your voicemail a few months back. He lost it. It hasn’t been the same since.”

“He hit you?”

“I’ve tried to leave. He finds me. He always finds me.”

“Slow. Breathe. I’m coming. I’m not going to let him hurt you again.”

Rustling drew me from her voice, and I could hear the crunch of leaves with almost every step.

“He went to the store. He…He wanted to—I got sick. I lied and told him I didn’t feel well. I told him that earlier too when he was bringing me out here. I don’t like this, but he started talking crazy about how he wanted me to have a baby, and he thought since I didn’t feel good?—”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not pregnant but he wants me to be. Badly. That’s why he left. To get a test. I kept trying to keep him away but then he—he wouldn’t just leave me alone. Before he left—He wouldn’t just?—"

My teeth ground into each other as I pushed the truck to dangerous speeds on the back road. Rain pelted against my windshield, and the speed from the wipers didn’t clear the amount fast enough.

“Did he rape you?”

“It’s not— You don’t understand . There is no…saying no. That would make it worse. There is only what he wants. If I don’t go along with it, I get hurt. I’ve already been hurt today. Reid, you don’t understand. You’ve never understood. There’s no winning!”

“Calm. Down. You said he hurt you today. What did he do?”

She sniffled, breathing heavily.

“It was my fault. I told him I wanted to go home. I’d already walked miles and we hadn’t made it to the trail. He told me to k-keep going. I didn’t want to. We got into an argument, and I lost it. I turned around and started swinging. I caught him in the face, and he hit me. I shouldn’t have?—”

“He fucking hit you?”

“I hit him first, Reid.”

“He hit you.”

It wasn’t a question. I turned onto the main road, picking back up speed.

“Yeah. Hard. I fell. I couldn’t see straight for nearly an hour.

He wouldn’t let me quit or take me home.

When we got to the cliff…all I could think was that he was going to throw me over.

He’s been acting so strange. …I figured out why.

” She let out a broken-up cry. “He found out I wa s looking at apartments. I told him it was for the two of us, but I’ve been planning to leave him again.

Somewhere new. Away from here so he can’t find me.

I’ve talked to my job about transferring. He’s never going to let me go.”

The last was full of so much pain that it extinguished the dread inside of me. Tauren didn’t love Emmett…she was leaving him. She was afraid and she needed help.

“You’ll stay with me. Live with me.”

“Reid—”

“I can keep you safe. You know I can.”

“I’ve never wanted you to. Don’t you see? ”

“Don’t you see? Fuck, Taur. Open your damn eyes. It’s me and you. It’s always been me and you. That’s all it’ll ever be. You can’t fight this. You won’t fight this. I’m coming, and if Emmett wants to get to you, he’s going to have to go through me.

Silence.

“Taur?”

“Shhh.”

I zeroed in on what I could hear of Tauren’s movements. Shuffling. Pausing. Her foot drug, and I could almost see her turning in circles.

“Reid…I?—”

“Are you still on the trail? Tell me what you see.”

“I-I think I am. I passed the cliff. It was really thick but the trail has widened some. I think….I think I have to be a mile into it? Maybe more? I don’t know .” She made a small sound. “It’s so dark. I have the flashlight, but it’s cheap. It sucks. I’ve been running as fast as I can.”

“Keep going. Try to keep pushing yourself. I’m almost to the turn off. You said it was another fifteen minute drive, right?”

“Yeah. Maybe twenty minutes. I don’t know.

It’s not hard to find. After the road turns to gravel, it’s another ten minutes or so and there’s a place you can pull off to the right.

That’s where Emmett parked his truck. For all I know, he hasn’t even made it to his truck yet.

I only waited about an hour before I took off.

I had to make sure he was gone. Don’t let him see you, Reid. You can’t let him see you .”

“You don’t worry about me. You focus on making it down the trail.”

“But then what? The walk took a long time before even making it here. I don’t know how to get to the truck. It’s just…woods.”

“That’s where I come in. You have the light. I’ll find you.”

“You promise?”

Warmth branched through my chest, sending euphoria taking over. This was the way it was supposed to be. Us. Together. Her relying on me to take care of her like I had always done.

“I promise. I’m not leaving you out there. I’ll find you. Stay on the phone with me and keep going.”

She sniffled and her pace increased again.

The turn off came up, and I took it, pushing to speeds that would no doubt get me arrested or killed if I hydroplaned in this rain.

Headlights appeared in the distance, and I kept my focus on the vehicle as it approached.

This wasn’t a busy road, but it did get traffic.

It wasn’t exclusive to the trails; it led to the next town over.

Squinting, I took in the truck that passed.

It was older, smaller. Emmett drove a big truck, new, and it was black.

I’d seen it once when I scoped out the police station.

I had every intention of following him home to see where Tauren lived so I could eventually take her, but Lucus had been in town and showed up.

He’d stayed for days. Bullshitting about how he already missed me.

Worrying over me. Hanging out. Delaying what I wanted.

Mere minutes passed, and I slowed as I connected with gravel. Tauren’s heavy panting was joined with the occasional sound of pain.

“Reid, it’s too far. I can barely catch my breath. I’m so tired.”

“You’re doing great, baby. Come on. Fight your way to me. I’m almost there.”

“To where the truck is?” Excitement mixed with fear. “Reid, be careful. I don’t know?—”

Tauren’s scream nearly stopped my heart.

“Tauren? What the ? —”

“Let me go, Emmett. I’m leaving. Let me go!”

A thud sounded and the increase in volume to the crunching and rustling of leaves only drove me to push my foot down on the pedal even more.

I reached over, digging through my console to grab my extra phone while I put the one I held on speakerphone so the operator could hear.

Panic for my sister didn’t win. I knew this drill. I knew exactly what I needed to do.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

Tauren screamed again and solid thuds broke through as I placed the extra phone in my mount.

“My sister is in trouble. She’s camping off—fuck—I can’t think of the road, but I’m driving on it right now.

It’s off the main highway. I have her on my other cell.

Her boyfriend is assaulting her. I can hear her screaming.

I’m on my way, but he’s a cop. I don’t trust him not to have a weapon on him. I have mine.”

“Sir, what is your sister’s name and the name of her boyfriend?”

More screams. More solid impacts.

“Please! Tauren . Tauren Andrews. Her boyfriend’s name is Emmett Yates. He’s a cop out of Asheville.”

Typing and grunts merged. He had to be wrestling or pinning her down.

“Let go, Emmett! Get off me!”

“You just couldn’t resist, could you? I knew you’d run. I was coming back for you, but I was right. You’re leaving. That apartment was for you.”

Sobs and a stretched-out scream filled my interior. All I saw in that moment was red. I saw flashes of my mother’s smile. Moments of bruises and tears from Tauren. Bloody bodies blinded me and honking from an oncoming vehicle had me jerking the wheel as I sucked in deep breaths.

“Sir? Sir, are you alright?” She read out a location, but my vision blurred for the smallest moment.

“Yes. I’m fine. That’s the road I’m on. Are the police on their way?” I brought my other phone closer. “Tauren! Tauren, are you okay?”

My yells were only met with silence on the other end. But then a whisper. Even though the volume was up all the way and I knew the operator could hear, I still tried to turn it up.

“Look what you’re making me do. Fuck . We can fix this, Tauren. You can stop running. You’re going to stop fucking running from me. Right? Right! ”

A deep gasp sounded as she tried scraping in all the air she could get.

Coughing quickly followed. My image blurred with rage.

I was going to tear Emmett to pieces. He was choking her.

Choking what was mine. I wanted to rip out his throat with my teeth and be in his face, screaming, she’s mine! Tauren. Is. Mine!

Light reflected against black metal, and I almost missed it with how the truck was buried in the trees. I locked up my brakes, sliding forward. I could feel the back end of the truck begin to slide out, but I corrected it as I jerked to a stop on the shoulder.

I knew the operator was speaking to me, but I wasn’t comprehending anything but my need for violence.

I threw the truck in park and left the door open as I raced into the trees at a sprint.

All I did anymore was train, and I put every muscle in my body to use as I clutched to my phone, bringing it back to my ear as I flashed by trees at record speed.

It was dark. Damn near pitch black, but there was just enough light for me to somehow not have to slow.

Maybe it was instinct. Maybe a miracle. Maybe it was love, itself.

I didn’t care, so long as it got me to Tauren.

Emmett obviously hadn’t known she was on the phone. He didn’t know I was coming.

He was about to find out.