Page 7

Chapter 6

Tobias

S he talks to herself a lot. I don’t think she realizes it, but whenever she’s working on her laptop, walking back to her hotel, or even when she’s deep in her head and staring at the wall with a blank expression, her lips move, as if she’s having a conversation with herself.

I’m desperate to know what she’s saying, desperate to know if any of the words passing those perfect lips are about me.

Maybe she was awake the other night and liked the feel of my fingers on her skin, or the way I tasted on her tongue when she licked my finger.

I almost want to ask her if she remembers, and if so, would she want me to do it again while she’s awake and conscious?

Aria smiles at the cashier, accepting her groceries while Gabriella talks on the phone to Justin. I know this because he’s right beside me in my car, pretending he’s in his apartment. He laughs at something unlikely to be funny then tells her he’ll see her tomorrow night before hanging up.

I frown and turn to him. “Tomorrow night?”

He lifts his hand for a high five. “Guess who just bagged a date?”

Refusing to respond to his hand gesture, I scowl deeper before I turn back to look at my doctor giving the exact same expression as me. She’s not happy about the arrangement either, and I wonder if it’s because Justin is an idiot, or if she’s completely against workplace romances.

There’s a possibility she’s not single, but I’m still working on those details. Ewan, her soon-to-be ex forever, needs to stay out of my fucking way while I try to pry into his life. Unfortunately, he already blocked my guy from his email account after a successful hacking, so what I know so far is that he’s a father after getting someone pregnant when he was sixteen, a home owner—annoyingly with Aria—and a construction worker in Scotland, born and bred.

On social media, Aria only posts views from her bedroom window or some sort of quote about life, and Ewan’s page is covered with pictures and posts about his kid.

She’s in some of the pictures, including one from four months ago of the three of them on vacation in Spain. The more I look into them, the more I feel like I could hurt this fucking Ewan asshole.

Stopping myself when I feel the spiral start to hit, I grip my steering wheel and watch her disappear around the corner. Justin huffs and slouches then grins at me again. “See? I told you following them was a good idea.”

Although I loved his idea, I’m not going to admit that to him. “It’s creepy.”

Tutting, he pops a piece of gum in his mouth, and my eyes burn into him when he drops the wrapper in the center console. “Gabriella said they’re heading back to their hotel then going to the movies. What if I found out which movie they’re going to see and we just so happen to be there to see it too?”

This guy is a goddamn fool, but even I can’t say no to that plan.

Firing up the engine of my black McLaren, I intentionally take the wrong turn so I drive past her hotel, catching a glimpse of her dark hair and perky assthrough the hotel’s revolving doors.

What the fuck is happening to me?

There has never been a time in my life where I’ve been so focused on a person, ever . Yet the second she fell over my legs outside the meeting room and our eyes clashed, it was like everything in my life meant nothing.

Love at first sight? Potentially. I already know I’m different, that I feel things differently, but the medication and therapy I’ve been on for years has had a huge impact on how I control myself. I have alarms on my phone so I never forget to take my medication, and not only do I have reminders pop up for sessions, my mother also calls me.

I wish she wouldn’t. Her constant checking up on me and demanding my stepfather push himself into my life at work is tiring and makes me feel like a teenager still. She was always keeping me in metaphorical bubble wrap, as if the world wouldn’t be kind enough to me.

Somehow, she still tries to act that way in my adulthood.

Pulling onto the narrow street where Justin lives, I slow to a stop and let him out, waving him off with one finger from the steering wheel when he tells me we’ll make a plan for tonight.

I already have one forming in my head, one that doesn’t involve a third or fourth participant. However, as much as I hate going to work on my days off, I did tell Lucy I’d stop by, since she’s just about to start her last round of chemo.

I’ll go there first and then start my night of watching Aria.

Despite my mind being bad to me, I’m a good person. I know I am. I like helping people. I like working in the hospital and watching kids I’ve entertained get better. Usually, when I know they’re terminal and don’t have long left, my stepdad forces me to work in another ward or stay away from the patients in case it triggers something in me.

So I’ve yet to lose a patient I’ve bonded with.

I know Lucy is dying, and I know he’ll try to make me leave, but not only do I want to stay by her side and make her happy, moving to another part of the hospital also means leaving my doctor.

I’ll stay there. And when the time comes to say goodbye to Lucy, I’ll hold it together for the sake of my obsession with Aria Miller.

By the time I get changed out of my workout clothes and drive to the hospital, the sun is starting to set, and the sky opens as rain pours.

I shake off my hair once I take shelter in the hospital’s main entrance, grab some stuff from the vending machines, and head to the ward.

Once I’m in the elevator, a hand stops it from closing, and my stepfather walks in. He doesn’t smile at me or greet me; he just sighs and stands beside me.

“Your mother has been calling you for the past hour,” he says. “You didn’t go to therapy today.”

My eye twitches at his tone, but I stare forward and ignore him.

I didn’t go because Justin wanted to watch Gabriella and Aria, so I skipped for the first time ever.

“Remember what we agreed to. You only work here if you abide by the rules she set. Take your meds, attend therapy, no fighting, and stay out of trouble with the cops.”

Silence is all he’s met with. I want to shove my fist down his throat most days, but he did get me this position, and he did decide to marry my mother and make us filthy rich, so I try not to argue.

But my patience is slowly slipping.

The elevator doors open, and a nurse walks in. “Good evening, Doctor Blythe.”

He grins at her, and I try not to roll my eyes at his facade of being a jolly, nice guy. Despite changing my life, he’s a fucking asshole with a complex and a deep desire for control.

Being the president of numerous scientific research centers will do that. I still have no idea why the fuck he kept his position in this hospital when he has more money than sense, but Mom said he likes his job.

Asshole.

As soon as I get into Lucy’s room, I find her trying to read a book. She looks up at me and smiles. “You came!”

“Of course I did, little one,” I say, sitting beside her bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Sick,” she replies, her smile dropping. “My mom said she wouldn’t be back for a few days because they’re going on vacation.”

My jaw tenses, but I force a half-smile. “Good thing you’ve got me. What are we watching?”

The excited teen slowly takes the remote, her hand shaking as she turns on the TV and finds the show she has been making me watch with her.

We talk for the first ten minutes before we zone in on the screen, and when Justin texts me about tonight’s plan, I turn off my phone.