Endless Obsession

by Alex Grayson

  I jump up from the bed and rush to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet to throw up. I’m covered in sweat by the time I’m done, and I’m shaking so bad that my teeth are chattering. I realize my phone is still stuck in my hand when I feel it vibrate. I squeeze my eyes shut, not wanting to look, but knowing I have to. I fall to my butt and lean against the wall as I bring my phone up to see what else the sick fucker sent me.

  It’s another picture. This one is of me sitting on my bed here at Liv’s. I have one leg bent on the bed, rubbing lotion on it. My heart stops in my chest and all the breath leaves my lungs as I look down at the clothes I’m currently wearing. It’s the same clothes I’m wearing in the picture. I try my hardest to make myself remember wearing this outfit before tonight, but no matter how hard I try, the memory won’t come.

  Another picture appears. This one is of me lying in bed, holding my phone with a look of fear all over my face. But what has my vision blurring, my heart racing so fast in my chest it hurts, and complete and utter terror taking hold of my entire body is the man that’s standing in the background. It’s a reflection of him from the mirror that’s on the wall by the dresser. He took it just right so it shows him standing in my closet, shrouded in shadows. His clothes are dark; black pants and hoodie. He has the phone up, hiding his face as he snaps the picture.

  There’s a message attached.

  Unknown: Did you really think you were safe? You’ll never be safe from me.

  Fright like I’ve never felt before slams into me. He’s in the house right now… he’s in my room! My heart feels like it’s about to pound out of my chest as I frantically scramble to my feet. I throw open the bathroom door and run toward the front of the house, looking behind me as I go and seeing nothing. My hands tremble as I search for the one number in my phone I need as I fumble with the lock on the door. I run from the house and out to the street, unsure of where to go from there.

  It seems like ten minutes pass before I hear his voice, but it couldn’t have been more than a couple seconds.

  “Beautiful,” Asher says, sounding tired, but excited.

  “He’s here,” I whisper, my voice coming out in croak.

  “What?” he growls. “Where are you?”

  “I-I’m outside. He s-sent me pictures, Asher. H-he was in my room.”

  I try to get my breathing under control. I feel panic setting in. The last thing I need to do is pass out from lack of oxygen.

  I hear his huffs and a loud bang on his end as I race across the street. I have no idea where I’m going, but there’s no way I’m staying in that house.

  “There’s a big black truck across the street at the empty house. It’s Rex and another of his men. Go to them and tell them what’s going on. Stay on the phone with me. I’m on my way.”

  I feel like I’m going to be sick again, but I force the bile back down my throat. I spy the truck Asher’s talking about and run toward it. The door opens before I’m all the way across the street. I stumble to a stop in front of a huge man. His face is hard as he takes in my frantic expression. He’s huge. Like, really huge. His white shirt, a contrast against his deeply tanned skin, stretches across a massive chest. His long hair is pulled back into a loose ponytail. His face is covered in a full beard and mustache.

  “What happened?” he grunts.

  The passenger side door opens and out steps another man. This one is black and no less big. His head is shaved bald. They both look scary as hell, but Asher trusts them with my safety, so that means I do too.

  “Poppy, talk to me.” Asher’s frantic voice comes over the line. “Did you make it to Rex and Dante?”

  “Yes,” I tell him breathlessly. I don’t know if I’m out of breath from running or if it’s my fear that’s making it impossible to breathe.

  “Put the speaker on and tell us what happened,” he says in my ear.

  I do as he says and turn the speaker on.

  My voice quivers as I relay what happened.

  “I was lying in bed when I received a text from him. It was pictures of you standing at my window.” Even though I’m looking at who I assume is Rex, I’m talking to Asher. “I think it was before I knew who you were. There were others of me sitting outside on my back porch, and one of me sitting at the park. Even some of us in Dallas.” I don’t tell him of the one of him at my window with me naked. I shiver in revulsion, knowing this guy saw me bare. “Then he sent more of me rubbing lotion on my legs and me lying in bed. I was wearing the same outfit as tonight.

  “Fuck,” Rex growls, and starts to storm off toward the house.

  “Rex!” Asher calls, confirming my suspicions. “She isn’t to be left alone. I’m five minutes out.”

  Rex turns to Dante. “Stay with her,” he commands and turns without waiting for a reply. He pulls something from the back of his pants as he jogs away into the darkness.

  Icy fear holds me captive as I stand there with my phone gripped tightly in my hand. I hear Asher’s rapid breathing in my ear and it thaws some of the coldness from my bones. A hand grabs my elbow, and I jump. Dante’s expression is fierce, but underneath the hard edges is a gentleness I wouldn’t have expected from someone in his position.

  “Let’s get you in the truck.” His voice comes out rough.

  I nod and follow him. He holds the door open for me, and I climb inside.

  “Poppy, you okay?” Asher asks, worry and anger coating his voice.

  “Yes. I’m in the truck,” I assure him, my voice coming stronger now that I feel somewhat safer.

  “I’m only a couple minutes away, baby,” he soothes, calming me down further.

  My eyes stay glued to the dark house across the street. I don’t remember all the lights being off. My room is on the back side, but I could have sworn the living room light was on. It’s not now. My knees bounce with nerves.

  Headlights appear out of nowhere, the owner of the car swerving to a stop in front of the truck. I jump out of my side when the door of the car jerks open.

  “Poppy!” Asher yells, running to meet me halfway between the two vehicles. His arms go around me and I take my first full breath since I realized someone was in the house. His warmth seeps into my bones, and I sag against him, his arms the only thing holding me up. Tears soak his shirt as I sob against his chest. His hands rub up and down my back while he murmurs in my ear.

  “I’m here. Everything is going to be okay.”

  I dig my nails into his shoulders as I grip him tighter. He picks me up underneath my knees, pulling me to his chest and carries me back to the truck. Dante is standing close by.

  “Where in the fuck is Brice?” Asher asks him over my head. Brice is the man that Sam put on the house. I’m not surprised that Asher knows about him.

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Dante answers darkly.

  “Rex?” Asher grunts.

  “Still inside.”

  “Go see if he needs help.”

  I peek my head up when Asher sets me down in the truck. He bends down so we’re face to face. The light from the truck shows his face a hard mask. He smooths out his features when he reaches up with his hands and places them on my cheeks.

  “You okay?” he asks, his brows dipped down into a frown.

  “I am now. Thank you for coming.”

  There’s pain in his eyes as he bends and kisses my forehead. He pulls back but rests his forehead against mine.

  “Oh, Beautiful. I told you I would always be here when you needed me. I’m just so damn sorry I wasn’t here sooner. I should have never left you.”

  I grab his forearms. I don’t like that he’s apologizing. This is something he should not be apologizing for.

  “We all thought I was safe here. You had no way of knowing he could get into the house,” I tell him earnestly.

  He pulls back, but moves his hips forward so he’s wedged between my legs. His body doesn’t meet my center, but I still shiver at the closeness.

  “Where’s Olivia and Tony? Th
ey’re supposed to be here with you,” he says, anger making his words come out harsh.

  I scowl at him, not liking his attitude. Tony and Olivia have done nothing to garner his ire. They’ve changed their routine for me. Hell, Tony is working at home to help keep me safe.

  “They went out,” I snap. “Tony had a business function. I can’t expect them to babysit me all the time. They wanted to stay home, but I made them go.”

  “You should have called me then. Until this guy is caught, you can’t be left alone.” He grips my thighs and puts his face closer to mine.

  “Asher, I can’t ask them to completely change their lives for me. I’m already imposing on them enough.”

  “Doesn’t matter now,” he mutters. “You’re coming home with me.”

  My jaw drops open at his audacity. There is no way I’m going home with him. He’s totally lost it. I may have called him in a dire situation, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven him.

  “Asher, I’m not coming home with you.” I keep my voice strong, even as my treacherous heart begs me to agree to his demand. I shove at his chest to get him to move, my anger taking over the fear I felt only moments ago.

  He grabs my hands and holds them to his chest. He scowls at me, the look making his green eyes stand out even more. “Like hell you—”

  Footsteps behind us has Asher stopping before he can finish. His glower stays in place as he steps back and turns to face Rex and Dante walking up. My hands twist in my lap as I look at the men around Asher’s back.

  “Well?” Asher asks.

  “Nothing. He came in the back door and was gone by the time I got inside,” Rex answers grimly.

  “Fuck!” Asher shouts, roughly swiping his hair in frustration. “Where in the hell is Brice?”

  “Dead,” Rex says bluntly. “Found him out back with a blade in his neck.”

  “Oh my God!” My hand flies to my mouth, but the sob still escapes. Asher turns back to me and wraps an arm around my shoulders. I bury my face in his neck. Racking sobs has my body sagging against his.

  Rex takes a step closer to Asher.

  “The fucker managed to slice himself on the fence in his haste to leave. He left blood behind.” He stops and looks at me, before settling his eyes back on Asher. “Want my guys to run it or hand it over to the cops?”

  Asher thinks for a minute, running his hand over the back of his head, before coming to a decision.

  “Give it to the police. Have your guys at the station make it a priority.”

  Rex nods, before announcing, “Cops are on the way. They better hope they find him before I do.”

  “Remember what I told you,” Asher says quietly.

  I lift my head, about to ask him what he’s talking about, when flashing lights appear around the corner. The lights are blinding, making the headache that started a few minutes ago worse. Three cop cars pull to a stop in front of Liv’s house. Rex turns and walks over to the first one that steps out of his car. A couple more walk up as he speaks with him for several seconds, then turns to point our way. My hands fist Asher’s shirt when one breaks away from the group and walks over to us.

  Asher senses my distress and tightens his arms around my shoulders.

  For the next thirty minutes, I talk with the cops and tell them what happened. I have to go over my story two more times. My stress increases each time I have to recount the events, and Asher’s irritation grows with each time I’m asked to repeat myself. The fourth time, he snaps, “She’s already fucking told you what happened. Why don’t you stop interrogating her and go out and do your job and find the guy?”

  “I’m sorry, sir. We’re just trying to make sure we have all the details,” the cop says, not looking sorry at all.

  “No, you’re not. You’re trying to see if her story changes. A guy killed someone, sent her pictures that terrified her, then broke into her house and you’re treating her like she’s the criminal. You don’t care about your job that much, do you?”

  “Excuse me?” the cop asks, raising his brow.

  “You heard me. You don’t start doing your job right, you won’t have one.” Asher turns his back to the cop and faces me when he feels me shiver. He wraps the blanket one of the paramedic’s brought me tighter around my shoulders.

  “Poppy!” a voice screeches, and I look up to see Liv rushing toward us. Her eyes are wide with worry and her hair is a mess, like she’s been tugging on it. Tony is behind her walking at a fast gait.

  I worm my way down from the truck, just as she makes it to us. She pulls me into her arms and starts sobbing.

  “I knew I shouldn’t have left you!” she cries against my shoulder. I cling to her just as much as she is to me.

  Tony walks up behind his fiancé. “Asher?” he asks gruffly.

  I pull back from Liv. She keeps hold of my hand as Tony puts his arm around her waist. Asher steps forward and lays his hand on my lower back, and reaches out to Tony with the other. “Yes and you’re Tony.” It’s not a question. Of course Asher would know who Tony is.

  Tony looks at it for several seconds before he takes it.

  “What in the hell happened?” Tony asks, his body stiff.

  Asher’s jaw tenses as he slips his arm further around my back. His body shakes as he tells Tony of tonight’s events. I’m grateful he spoke up. I’m not sure how many more times I can speak about what happened. My body shakes at how close I was to being hurt. Tears gather in my eyes as I remember Brice. He wasn’t so lucky. He died protecting me. A man’s life was taken because of some sick person’s need to hurt me. It should be me that’s dead right now, not the courageous man that put his life on the line for my safety. I only met Brice once, the first day he started watching over me, but the impression I got was he was a good man. I never even asked if he had a family. Lord, please don’t let him have a family. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get over him losing his life and leaving a family behind because he was protecting me.

  “There was no sign of him?” Tony asks, bringing me back to the moment.

  Asher’s body goes rock solid and he growls out, “No. He was already gone by the time Rex made it into the house.”

  “Oh, Poppy,” Liv says tearfully. “To think how close you were to something happening to you. I would never forgive myself if you were hurt. We left—”

  “Stop!” I say firmly, squeezing her hand. “Don’t you dare take blame for this. Not one of us here knew something like this would happen. We all thought it impossible for him to get into the house. We had three guys watching it, for goodness’ sake.”

  She nods, but I still see the doubt in her eyes.

  “No offense to either of you, but Poppy will be coming home with me.” I stiffen, but either Asher doesn’t notice or he doesn’t care, because he continues like he didn’t feel it. “I know neither of you would let anything happen to her, but I’d feel safer if she were with me.”

  When I pull away, Asher snags my waist to pull me back, and I glare up at him. From his hard eyes, he’s not backing down. They soften fractionally.

  “Not tonight,” he says quietly. “Tonight you need to rest. We’ll talk about it later.”

  I keep my glare on him, but give him a curt nod. We’ll definitely be talking about it later. He’s dictated my life for long enough without my knowledge. He certainly isn’t going to start doing it again with my knowledge.

  We stand outside for another hour, talking about the events and what can be done, until one of the cops comes over to tell us they’re wrapping things up and we can move back inside. He said they’d be in contact tomorrow about what will happen next. My eyes feel like they have ten ton weights on them, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to sleep again. I stumble as we cross the street and Asher scoops me up into his arms. I’m so exhausted that I don’t even protest. I see Liv looking at us with a small smile on her face, but I ignore her. We pass by several cops that are still trickling out of the house.

  Once we’re inside, Asher fo
llows Liv and Tony into the kitchen. Tony goes straight to the cabinet that’s beside the fridge, opens it, and pulls out a bottle with dark liquid. He sets four shot glasses on the counter beside the bottle. After filling all four, he slides them to each of us. I’m sitting on a stool with Asher glued to my side. I shake my head and try to push the glass away.

  “Drink it,” Asher grunts. “It’ll help you sleep tonight.”

  When I still refuse, he leans down so his face is in mine. “Please, Beautiful. You need to sleep tonight, and I doubt you’ll get any without help.”

  The worried expression is what has me reaching for the glass. I sputter and cough as the liquid burns going down my throat. I slam it down on the counter and Tony refills our glasses again. I drink that one too, but hold my hand over the glass when he tries to refill it for a third time.

  “I’m going to go take a shower and go to bed,” I tell the group. Asher steps back, allowing me to climb off the stool.

  Liv comes to my side. “Are you okay?”

  I smile the best I can. “I will be.”

  I turn to Asher, not sure how to act around him now. I roll to my toes and kiss his cheek. My lips linger as I breathe in his unique scent that I miss so much. It’s different from when he was Sterling, but I love it just the same.

  His hands land on my hips, his fingers digging in like he doesn’t want to let me go. When I pull back, there’s an underlying pain in his eyes. It brings the never-ending tears to my eyes, but I push them back. I’ve cried enough this evening.

  Neither of us say anything as he leans his forehead against mine, before very gently laying a soft kiss against my lips.

  I feel his eyes on me as I walk away. I have no idea what’s going to happen from here on out. I know down to my bones that I love Asher. I want him like I’ve never wanted anything else in my life. I just wonder if I can find it in me to forgive him.

  A small voice in my head says, You already have.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Poppy

  My head is bent to the side as I dry my hair. When I walk into my room, I come to a stop. Asher’s lying back against the headboard on my bed with the covers to his waist, his chest gloriously bare. Tingles form all over my body before they settle between my legs. Seeing him lying there, so relaxed in my bed brings erotic memories to mind. Memories I don’t want to remember right now, but they force their way in regardless.