Page 51 of Psychotic Obsession

My phone vibrates once more.Another message comes through, Tobias again.

TobiasWork: I’m going to fix myself. Gabriella was right. I’m not good enough for you. But I’m going to be better. Just tell me I still have a chance. I miss you.

My eyes flash over at Gabriella. “Did you say this?”

I show her the screen, and she waves her hand nonchalantly. “I was messing around.”

Knowing her, she was brutal. I need to calm Tobias down before he truly does appear in Scotland.

Me: I have no idea what she said, but that’s not true. The only reason this has to end is because I’m not ready for anything serious. I’m sorry.

Then, against everything within me, I block his number and cut him out of my life altogether. It’s for the best. We had no chance.

I used him yet started to fall for him in the process, so this is me safeguarding myself. Besides, I need to go home and face the music of Ewan and Jason, figure out what my future holds.

Part of me dreads having to tell Ewan someone else had my time while in America, but then again, he gave his time to someone else while we were still together.

I wipe a tear slipping down my cheek and rest my head against the window.

Chapter 22

Aria

Ewan hands me Jason's school bag, leaning his elbows on the rolled-down window of my white Mercedes.

His green eyes shine in the sunlight, the stubble on his face hiding what I know is a perfect jawline. Jason climbs into the backseat and says bye to his dad while I stare forward, anxiety hitting me at what I’ve been doing for the last few weeks with Tobias.

I feel guilty. Although we aren’t together, it still feels wrong to let another man touch me when I love someone else. I know Ewan would set the world on fire for me, so I just look like a horrible person.

He needs to know.

“I like your hair,” he tells me, gesturing to the fleshly dyed brown locks. “You haven't been brown since you were twenty.”

I force a nervous smile. “I needed a change.”

Correction, I needed Tobias out of my system, and he loved my blonde hair.

"Do I need to pick Jason up from school too?"

He shakes his head, and I nod, turning my engine on, making him step back. "Thanks again," he says, rubbing the back of his head. “I’ll speak to you later?”

“Sure,” I reply, and for the first time in a while, I want to speak to him. I want to see him. It could be the guilt strangling me, or maybe it’s the realization I may have messed up more than him.

"Ewan?" I call out as he turns back to his work building, the small metal container next to the construction site. He's wearing old clothes, rigger boots, and a streak of oil marks down the side of his face.

"Yeah?"

The sun shines in his eyes when he reaches my car, leaning into my window once more. His forest greens have specks of hazel, rimmed with a darker shade of green, completely captivating me for a long second before I shake it off. "Gabriella is away and she usually fixes it, but the washer is jammed again. Can you do it?"

"Of course. I'll come by later.”

I smile at him, the young, reckless boy I grew up with nowhere to be seen, replaced with a man, a new and improved Ewan. But that doesn't mean I forgive him or even want anything with him. I'd like to be friends. I enjoy being around him even if it's for the wrong reasons, especially when I feel a void caused by a certain someone. "I'll order food in."

"I don't want to overstep, Aria."

I huff, placing two hands on my steering wheel. "You aren't."

"But...Tobias? Gabriella told me."