Page 100 of Darkest Obsession

Sylvia makes a point that I’d considered, but didn’t want to bring up.

“Whoever attacked me didn’t attack because of Thomas or some blackmail. If they were following me, they have to know I was with Theo.”

“You’re still close to Thomas,” I tell her, halfway trying to convince myself. The thought of two crazy ass freaks roaming about the Fox Academy doesn’t exactly make me feel good.

Talking about Thomas makes my cheeks feel really warm and I feel uncomfortable just saying his name. Our kiss in the hospital bathroom should have never happened. I haven’t seen him since then and since we’re done with our Ethics project, I don’t have a real reason to see Thomas.

We shouldn’t be seen together until Halloween anyway and that definitely doesn’t bother me because after kissing Thomas again and again… I need to stay away from him. I need a break from the weird way his lips make me feel and how I can forget that he’s such an asshole when he touches me.

“Maybe whoever’s doing this hates multiple people,” Sylvia says. “You’d have to be a hateful person to blackmail someone.”

She has a point. We paint our apples with peanut butter and share them with each other, moving swiftly from the subject of our plot to our dance rehearsals. Everything’s been great and we have a male lead now since Roger can actually dance and Kola choreographed a role for him. Sylvia shakes her head.

“I can’t believe I’m missing out,” Sylvia grumbles. Kola rubs her shoulder sympathetically and Sylvia smiles, which feels like a successful mission.

A surprising knock comes at Sylvia’s door.

“Are you expecting anyone?”

“No,” Sylvia says.

“Syl, it’s me.”

Fuck.

I fling the door open, heart racing, feeling unreasonably outraged to see Thomas Bainbridge standing there with a bouquet of flowers.

“Are those for me?” Sylvia asks.

Thomas turns red. Incredibly red. I feel so awkward, I want to sink into the ground. Thomas only makes it worse.

“Er… no. Sorry.”

“Well, who are they for, then?” Sylvia asks. “And why are you breaking school rules to be here?”

Chapter Forty-Four

Thomas

“I brought these for Clover,” I say, despite Clover giving me a look like she wants to sink her teeth into me like a wild cat. I don’t care if she looks at me like I have two heads covered in oozing boils. She’s hurting and she needs flowers, I don’t care what she says. I saw how she looked in the hospital, all small and sad. I miss her head pressed against my chest and I want to feel it again – those tiny moments of warmth from the beastly girl now glowering at me with bloodlust behind her mahogany eyes.

Kola and Sylvia both look at her, but her eyes won’t leave mine. It’s hard to feel glad about it when she emanates pure rage, but she’s still gorgeous with those pretty dreadlocks and her scrunched up face.

Clover grabs my sleeve with her fury and snarls at everyone, “I’ll handle this.”

She drags me off to her bedroom, which she left completely locked, I might add. If her doors and windows weren’t both shut and locked, I would have snuck in and left the flowers for her. But I wandered the hall and heard her voice, so how could I resist delivering the flowers in person. How the bloody hell have I done anything wrong?

“Thank God Molly isn’t here,” She hisses as she flings the door open and flings me into the bedroom, forcing me to grasp the flowers for dear life. It’s a rather nice bouquet and I sent Kit to pick them up during my history class.

She won’t be angry once she realizes how hard I’ve worked.

“Is there a problem?”

“Is there a problem?” Clover repeats with all the sass she can muster.

I grin and set the flowers on her desk. She’ll have to find a vase for them.

“I only watched one video,” I say to her. Maybe she’s upset because of the type of flowers I brought. Women are quite particular about floral arrangements, judging by mum’s reactions to the maids bringing in the wrong kind for the fresh bouquets.