Page 45 of Darkest Obsession

“I didn’t think you would find out.”

See what I mean? Sociopath. Only in this sociopath’s eyes, I see something I like. For a moment, a flicker of fear registers on Thomas’ face. He’s not afraid of me wielding a bat and walloping his body, but something else about this conversation scares him.

“Is that an excuse?”

“No.”

“Ugh!”

“Please, Clover. Put down the bat. I want to talk.”

His voice. How the fuck did he disguise his voice? Thomas scares me and I don’t trust him. I don’t want to give up my only weapon.

“No.”

“Do it,” he says. “I promise I won’t hurt you. Never again. I swear it. Please.”

I don’t know what compels me to believe him this time. I swing the bat off my shoulder and rest it on the ground in front of me, folding my arms to keep showing Thomas that I mean business. He exhales once I release my weapon. Maybe he wasn’t as fearless as he looked.

“I know I hurt you.”

“So you’re admitting it!?”

I reach for the bat again but Thomas clears his throat. Right. Don’t beat him to a pulp. Not yet, at least.

“You get two minutes for me to hear you out,” I tell him.

At least he doesn’t waste any time.

“I’ve been getting emails threatening me about things from my past. Things that no one could possibly know. I went to Sylvia about it and thought perhaps this was connected to what happened to her room.”

“What did she say?”

“I dunno. She thinks I’m a piece of shit.”

I nod approvingly. Sylvia might just be onto something. I just don’t get how I connect to everything. I have nothing to do with Thomas. We’re working on a freaking Ethics project, not dating.

“Why would someone blackmail me? I have nothing to do with you and Sylvia or anything else about that… relationship.”

Thomas snaps, “There isn’t a me and Sylvia. We don’t have a relationship. We have a friendship.”

“I just meant that you’re friends.”

“Only friends,” Thomas urges. He stares at me even when he isn’t talking and I just have to act like his grey eyes don’t make me uncomfortable. They’re almost clear, they’re so grey and I’ve never seen anything like them before.

“Okay, I’ll tell you who’s sending me the emails,” he said. “Without looking.”

“You know who?”

Now I want to hit him with the bat again.

“Just the email address. No identity. Fuck, this is embarrassing. But are your messages from [email protected]? I can show you what they’ve sent to me.”

It’s the same person. I don’t want to believe Thomas. He just confessed to holding me down and hurting me. He still hasn’t explained why the hell he kissed me in the library and he definitely hasn’t given me enough information about why anyone would blackmail him, blackmail me or vandalize Sylvia’s room.

“They are, aren’t they,” he says when I take too long to answer. Thomas might be annoying and he’s definitely evil, but he isn’t an idiot. There’s no point in trying to keep this from him since he already figured it out. I nod.

“What dirt do they have on you?” He asks.