Secret Obsession: Chapter 18

Her room was the target of the burglar’s ire—and I’m glad she didn’t go into it.

The police agreed with me that it was more concerning than the main space, and they took photos. Dusted for fingerprints, collected whatever evidence they thought necessary. But there wasn’t much that they could do, otherwise. They’d check with neighbors, see if anyone has doorbell cameras.

They asked me about our matching bruises—the circle of purple and blue on the side of Willow’s face, a crescent shape that rings the outside of her eye and down to her cheekbone, and my double black eyes. At least they didn’t swell.

When I sheepishly explained about Willow’s fight, and that I was the goalie for the Crown Point Hawks, they backed off. It’s surprising how fast their attitudes shifted, actually, once they realized who they were dealing with.

One of them even congratulated me on our last home game.

I took photos of my own, just in case, and I packed clothes into a bag for her, plus her backpack and books. Everything I thought she’d need for school. She sure as fuck isn’t going back there until they catch whoever did it.

I also told them that Willow was my girlfriend. In the moment, it just came out. Friends seemed weak, and the way one of the officers kept glancing over at Willow… It set my teeth on edge. But now that I think about it, the more I think this could work in my favor.

They’re going to want to talk to Willow again, and she won’t be able to backtrack about our relationship. If she does, they’ll only look into it harder.

I glance over at her, but she’s closed her eyes. We’re on our way to my house from the urgent care, where they flushed out the deep wound in the bottom of her foot. There weren’t any more pieces of glass in it, and the doc eyed the shard that Willow apparently slipped into her pocket to take with her. They wouldn’t close the puncture, something about it needing to drain. They gave her something for the pain and a prescription that she immediately tucked into her purse without reading.

Tomorrow, I decide. Tomorrow, I’ll tell her the news: she’s my girlfriend. And the whole school will know by the end of the day. But this doesn’t mean I’m not the worst sort of asshole.

It’s another way to glue her to me. Another rope that cinches tighter around her.

We park, and she steps out gingerly onto the sidewalk. I grab her bags from the trunk and sling it over my shoulder. Part of me wants to play the knight in shining armor and scoop her off her feet. But maybe she’s better off yearning for my help.

I can’t just give it to her.

She’s far too stubborn for that.

And true to expectation, she limps in behind me without a word.

Knox is sprawled on the couch. At our entrance, his eyebrow raises—and then the corner of his lip pulls up.

“Hey, baby,” Knox calls to her. “Back so soon?”

I glare at him. “Don’t call her that.”

“Sure, sure,” he agrees. “I could always go with our other pet name, but she liked to save that for the bed—”

“Shut up,” Willow snaps. She rounds on me. “Are you really going to try and keep me here?”

I shrug. “Yeah.”

Her mouth opens. To argue, of course.

I step into her space and cup the side of her face, pushing my thumb against her lips. “Trust me, this is the easier of the options I have for you.”

“I’d love to hear the harder options,” she says.

Her lips moving against the pad of my thumb does something to me. My cock twitches, rising in my jeans. It reminds me that we were cut off earlier.

“I’ve got a harder option,” Knox pipes up.

I slide my hand from her face to the back of her neck. I guide her with me, ignoring my brother entirely. Fuck him, really. She moves with me, her brow furrowed, all the way up the stairs and into my room.

“I’ll just stay in one of the empty rooms,” she finally tries.

“There are no empty rooms.”

We filled Steele’s and Greyson’s. Hudson Finch, one of the defensemen on the team, is taking Steele’s. And Tony Rodrigues, another new starter, has decided to take Greyson’s. They moved in early last week, although neither seem to be here at the moment.

Knox and I agreed that we didn’t need anyone in the basement room. After Steele’s stunt with Aspen, we took out the bed and converted it into a home gym. Just to discourage other… activities.

I close my bedroom door behind us, leaning on it. She steps into my space and rotates in a slow circle. I wonder what she sees. Some clutter on top of my dresser, a stack of textbooks and notebooks on the floor beside it because I usually do my homework downstairs, a calendar hanging on a nail with my practices and games, classes… and Willow’s schedule, added in orange marker.

She doesn’t notice that right away, though. She pulls back the burnt-orange-and-white duvet and looks down at my white sheets.

“What?” I finally ask.

“You’re just…” She shrugs. “Knox had black silky sheets. Do you know how much that screams twenty-something bachelor? This makes me believe you actually change and wash your bedding on a regular basis.”

“I’m clean.” My voice comes out defensive.

“I didn’t say you weren’t. In fact, I’m agreeing—”

“But you were surprised. Which is fine. I like to be surprising.”

She eyes me carefully, then nods. I set her bag on the end of the bed, then go to my dresser and take things out of the second drawer. I drop it in the bottom drawer, which was mostly empty, and leave the upper one open.

“Put your stuff in there.” I pause. “There was some damage to your clothes, so… you might need to go shopping.”

She winces. “Did my toiletries make it? Makeup?”

“All ruined.” I keep my tone even, but the flash of anger that crosses her face makes me angry, too. Someone broke into her place and took their time destroying shit. They were thorough about it—they even stuffed underwear and socks down her toilet.

That won’t stand.

They worked fast, too. We were only gone for an hour, at most.

Ronan Pierce is the only one who isn’t guilty, because we were at his apartment when it happened. Other than him, and my friends, there’s a wide-open range of suspects.

“I…” Willow trails off.

She seems lost.

“I need my car,” she finally decides. “I have some errands to run, obviously, and then I need to go to campus.”

Right. Her study time, clearly marked on my calendar, and on my phone, and in my brain. Except her car is back at her place, and I’m not really thrilled at the idea of her walking back to get it.

Or going anywhere in a vehicle that someone could’ve put a tracker on…

“Take mine. The keys are downstairs. I’ve got to get to practice anyway.” And take my brother with me.

Her gaze lingers on me until I’m out of sight, jogging downstairs. Knox waits by the door, his hockey bag slung over his shoulder. Mine is already in my car, which I can retrieve easily enough.

“You good?” he asks me.

I scowl at him. “We need to ride together.”

“That’s fine.”

He’s still staring at me, even on our way out the door. Then as I grab my bag out of my car and walk to his. Until he’s forced to look away to fucking drive normally.

“What?” I growl.

“You want her to move in?”

Oh, for fuck’s sake. “It’s not a big deal. I just want her closer.”

“But… why?”

“Besides some psycho breaking into her apartment probably minutes after we left? To repair what you broke, you asshole.” I scowl. “Why’d you have to drag it out for a whole year?”

I wouldn’t put it past him to ignore me. It’s been an untouched subject since they started hooking up last year. I wasn’t about to rain on his fucking parade when he finally stopped acting like a complete man whore and solely focused on one girl.

I just wish she hadn’t already been my girl in my head.

My parents were ecstatic about it. Their oldest child found a girlfriend. And not just a girlfriend. A pretty, smart, athletic, witty…

He makes a noise in the back of his throat. Clearing it. “To prove something to myself.”

I eye him.

He shakes his head slightly, his jaw clenched. “I just wanted to see if I could stay with one person. You know. Like…”

“Oh, monogamy.” I snap my fingers. “Right. Congrats, you picked the one girl that I was interested in to stick with for a year.”

“Fuck off,” he grumbles. “You have her now.”

“I don’t have her now.” I ball my fists. “God, you’re so fucking blind. I will have her. I will have her battered and broken, and I’ll have her when she’s healed, but in this moment? She’s alone and she’s numb and she doesn’t know what she wants because she thinks the minute she wants something, it’s going to cut her loose.”

Knox blinks a few times. Maybe he’s processing because he’s doing a great job of buffering like a computer system. He flicks his directional on and pulls into the arena parking lot. We park next to Greyson’s truck, but he doesn’t get out immediately.

He just holds out his hand. “I’ll let you check me into the wall a few times if that’ll make you feel better.”

I groan and smack his hand away. “You ass.”

He grins. “Guilty.”

Well, I could use the distraction…