Page 96 of Psychotic Obsession

"If it's a girl, can we call her Lucy?"

I look up at him, my heart crushing and warming at the same time. "Lucy?"

"Yeah. Or we can double-barrel it or something. It's your call. I remember you told me if you ever had a kid, if it was a girl, you wanted her middle name to be Gabriella. Why not something like Luciella? I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that name."

I can't stop the smile pulling along my face, my body warming that he'd even consider names in the situation we are in. Why is it making me warm, seeing a fatherly side of him?

"I like that," I agree, repositioning myself so I'm straddling him, his hands on my hips. "What if it's a boy?"

"I don't know." He thinks, pushing his tongue into his cheek with narrowing eyes as he looks around us. "We could call him something like Colton or Ayden?"

"No," I reply, pressing my lips to his and leaning back up, my chin on my fists, elbows resting on his chest. "What about Kayden?"

He thinks for a second then shakes his head. "I'll meet you halfway and say...Kade."

I bite my bottom lip to try to conceal my grin, my eyes failing me as they dance. He notices my happiness, making him smile too."Kade it is. Kade or Luciella Mitchell."

"I love them," I say, and he nods, clutching my face in his hands.

"I loveyou. You’re everything to me. Are we forever, Aria?”

I should say no, but I smile. “Do you want us to be?”

“I love you more than life itself. I’d die for you if I had to.” His expression drops. “Will you show me how to be a good dad?”

My heart breaks for him in a way it shouldn’t. “Of course.”

He pulls me in so his mouth connects with mine, quickly but softly, our tongues in sync, groaning as I lower myself onto him. Only the sound of the crackling fire downstairs can be heard as we take it slow, our heads tilting to deepen the passionate kiss. The moon is shining through the window, making it easy to see the ocean blue of his eyes when I pull away.

"Aria..." He moves my hair away from my face, and I melt at how vulnerable he looks. "You're everything to me, you know that?"

I nod, because although he’s dangerous and unpredictable, I know I mean a lot to him.

"You're going to leave, aren't you?" he asks. “You're going to say this was a mistake, blame me, then fuck off out of my life."

I grimace at his seriousness as I sit up, his entire demeanour shifting to something unrecognizable from the happy father-to-be he was before. "What?"

"Come on, Aria." He moves to wrap his arms around the small of my back, sitting up, kissing me once on the lips. "Be honest. Are you going to run away with me? We can hide until everything dies down and be a family, the three of us."

I search his anxious face, my heart sinking at his hopefulness. "Tobias, I..." I'm stuck on what to say, my words falling silent.

"Look, I know things are pretty fucking crazy right now, and that's myfault, but I really want this with you. I want a chance at this. Let me at least try, Aria."

"You need help, Tobias, help I can't give you," I respond with a wrench in my throat. "Me being here and feeding into this obsession you have isn't making anything better. You can't feelthose types of emotions, you really can't. If you come back with me?—"

He abruptly shoves me to the side, making me yelp as my body hits the mattress. Tobias stands, running his hand through his hair as he paces the floor. "I'm getting really fed up with people saying that shit. Who the fuck are you to say what I can and can't feel? Do you think I like worrying about you every single fucking second? Do you think I enjoy watching you have someone like Ewan near you?"

I get to my feet, heart hammering in my chest. "If you just let me help you, then maybe we have a chance."

What am I doing?

"You really think there is a chance for us?" Tobias closes the distance between us, his hands in my hair. "I’ve killed people, Aria. Everyone around me thinks I'm insane."

When I don’t say anything, he can read my response through my facial expression, that I might agree with everyone else.

He screws his face up. "You know I'm not." He steps away from me, his rapid blinks and clenching and unclenching his fists having me backing away. "You know I'm not," he repeats before he slaps himself across the face, hard. "She fucking knows I'm not." He slaps himself again. "Get away from me, Aria."

"What?"