Page 67 of Darkest Obsession

“It’s an apology,” Thomas says. “Breakfast equals apology. Simple.”

I roll my eyes. The word “sorry” would have worked just as well. Or maybe even not being an asshole in the first place. I lean forward, considering closing my window on Thomas’ fingers to chase him off when I catch a whiff of sweaty, gross and unwashed boy. I sniff the air around Thomas dramatically, hoping to provoke some self-consciousness about his smell. He just wrinkles his eyebrows in confusion until I flat out tell him his business.

“You look dirty. Were you there all night?”

He shrugs.

“Yes. Will you let me explain at breakfast?”

Does he not get how wrong that is? This is exactly why I should slam the window on his damn fingers. I can’t have him acting like a stalker, sleeping beneath my window… keeping me safe. Ugh. I don’t want to see the sweet side in his demented behavior.

I scowl at him so he can finally get it through his thick skull that despite his insanely attractive body, his personality makes the idea of sharing a meal with him entirely unappealing.

“No. I’m not even hungry.”

My stomach decides to betray me and growls. Really damn loud. Thomas smirks.

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t want to be seen with you.”

“We’ll take my car,” he says. “I’ve never taken it out.”

I roll my eyes to the back of my head. Typical guys— they all think you care about their cars when you really only care if it’s about to get repoed or not.

“I don’t care about fancy cars.”

“Neither do I. I care about bacon and eggs. Proper juice. When’s the last time you ate proper, delicious food? Not slathered in grease?”

He has a point. I found a worm in my dining hall apple just the other day. I barely slept because of last night and I’m starving, all cases for heading off to breakfast with the devil himself. My cheeks flush just thinking about how weird it is that I let him kiss me, especially after knowing what he did.

It’s almost like someone else did it.

If I go out with him to breakfast, he’ll know how much last night freaked me out. I don’t want that. I didn’t stop gripping that knife under the covers the entire night in my bed.

Molly came in at 3 in the morning and stayed up doing homework until 5:30 a.m. when she went out to the common room to have a nap. I didn’t stop, not even then. I barely slept.

“I’m fine.”

“You look like you haven’t slept,” he says, his voice getting surprisingly gentle, as if he really cared.

“Thanks for the damn compliment.”

“You still look pretty,” he says and the sweetness takes me aback.

“I’m going to change,” I snap. “Wait out there.”

“You’re coming to breakfast?”

“Yes.”

My heart throbs in my chest. My greed for food has clearly overpowered my better senses. I pull my window shade down and scatter my things all over my room to find my uniform. Who decided these damn skirts had to be so short? If you have any type of ass in this skirt, you look like a hoe.

Still, I don’t have a choice and I don’t want Thomas hanging around my window long enough for anyone to notice him. I quickly text Sylvia and Kola that I’m going out to breakfast off campus, leaving out the critical detail that I’ll be doing this with Thomas, and open my window shade to find Thomas leaning against the window sill with a grin on his face.

“Ready?” He asks eagerly.

“Yes.”