Page 42 of Abundance of Obsession

“Did you go to college?” I point to her chest.

Zoe glances down at herself, then sits down and grabs the hot mug. “No. Ash and I didn’t have the money for that. And when we finally did, it seemed a waste of time.”

I know they didn’t have an easy start in life and an even harder childhood. I probably don’t even know a fraction of what they went through.

It’s impossible to take my eyes off her. It’s not that she wasn’t pretty before, but now there’s something so magnetic about her that my powerful will means nothing.

She interrupts my thoughts. “Are you finally going to tell me what’s going on?”

“Did you let him touch you yesterday? Or maybe you let him do something more?”

Seriously?

Of all the things I should bring up with her, this is exactly where I start. The strangest part is that my tongue has lost contact with my brain again. Before I even think, the words are already flying out of my mouth.

Zoe rolls her eyes and then gives me a deadly glare. Their green appearance doesn’t cause me any fear whatsoever. It stirs feelings different from the ones she wants to evoke in me.

“Really? Eli, I don’t think this is any of your damn business. You’re not my guardian or my boyfriend. You can’t tell me what to do or who to do it with.”

“I didn’t say what you can do. I said what he can’t do. That’s the difference.”

A soft laugh escapes her. “Oh, so I could’ve slept with him all right, but he couldn’t sleep with me? All I had to do was keep his hands out of the fun?”

“Don’t test me, Zoe.” I swear my voice has dropped even lower. Squinting, I try to piece together from her words what really happened yesterday. I can’t read her. “Did he touch you or not?”

Now, Zoe’s lips are a thin line. She stares at me for a moment. When she speaks, her words feel like a slap in the face. “Are you… jealous?” She wrinkles her nose in disgust.

My head jerks back with my jaw clenched.

Am I jealous? How could I be? She’s not mine. At least not yet.

It’s absurd. And yet part of me wants to break his hands.

This was supposed to be just sex, and I’m already screwing everything up right from the start.

Get a grip. There’s no room for feelings. Love isn’t in the cards for us.

Maybe it’s pure lust?

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I snort. “Answer my question.”

“You answer mine first.” She raises her head high in defiance.

“Stubborn little Raven. I’m not jealous. I don’t know what that feeling is. Your turn.”

Zoe processes what I said and bites her lower lip. All my attention focuses on that one move, that soft, tempting—

“He just kissed me.”

He just… kissed… me…

You genuinely think it makes any difference?

A bitter taste fills my mouth—God knows where it came from. The grimace is stronger than I can control.

True, I have a plan to kill him. I’m eager to see with my own eyes his blood running through my fingers.

Staring at her, I picture what I’ll do to him. Once again, I clench my fists. The heavy breathing stops. I try with all my might to calm down a little because my jaws can crush the hardest metal.