Page 17 of The Obsession

Then it sank in: Detective Jackson was dead. The guy who was obviously abusing her, forcing her to curl up into a small, tight ball. She was free to be herself.

And she and I had made a connection. It wouldn’t be long before she realized I was exactly what she needed in her life. Why shouldn’t I tell my friends that I was interested in her?

I met Matt and Josh’s gazes and said, “She’s cute.”

“Yellow fever,” Josh said, not quite under his breath. He and Matt burst into laughter.

“Shut the fuck up,” I said, without any hardness in my voice, because here, finally, was my chance. I was ready. I’d regained the friends I’d lost, I had enough energy to start working out again, and the whole world was bright and glittering with opportunities. I was going to do it. Once Delilah got over the shock of what had happened, I was finally going to ask her out.

I was so beyond happy that I didn’t even mind when Matt and Josh settled down in my room, chatting about which girl they were into that week and precalculus and college apps. Only a few weeks ago, their presence would’ve depressed me so much, I would’ve retreated into my shell and shut them out. I could see the relief in their eyes when I got up from behind the desk and sat next to them on the floor.

Josh frowned at my leg. “Hey, you’re bleeding.”

Huh. I’d scratched myself hard enough to draw blood.Not good. Get a grip. I shrugged and gave him the world’s most casual smile. “It’s nothing, just a mosquito bite.”

I was fine. I was more than fine. I was fucking great.

Later, when they were gone, I quickly went through the video recording I’d collected the night before from one of my small cameras mounted on Delilah’s garage window. My pulse quickened as I scrolled through the file. There he was, working underneath his car. Hah. Maybe I’d have the pleasure of watching Detective Brandon Jackson’s accident. Maybe I’d—

My mouth went dry. Someone had just walked into the garage. There was no mistaking the long hair and the awkward way she hugged herself as she walked. It was Delilah. I grimaced as she bent over to speak to Brandon. I hoped she hadn’t been unfortunate enough to witness the accident. It would break her, my sweet, gentle Delilah.

But even as I thought that, Delilah straightened up, and though the camera wasn’t good enough to capture all the small details, I could see that her face was resolute. This was a different Delilah, one I had never seen before. A new sensation prickled down my spine, and I leaned closer. I knew something big was about to happen, though I didn’t know just what it was. And then it did.

As she walked past the car, she kicked at the jack. I gasped out loud. Holy. Shit. The car sank. Detective Brandon Jackson’s legs twitched once and went still. I was on my feet. I paced about for a few seconds then went back to my laptop and played the clip again. I watched again, and again, as Delilah kicked the jack. I watched as she leaned over and vomited before rushing back into the house. My sweet angel. She wasn’t as broken as I thought. She was a fighter. A Valkyrie. She was so much more than I thought she was. She was incredible.

And I loved her so much more for it.

* * *

By Monday, the entire school was buzzing. Everyone was tweeting stuff like “omg, how tragic! #prayfordraycott” as though Detective Jackson’s death was even remotely connected to the school. Why should anyone have to pray for Draycott? It offended me, the fact that some attention-seeking kid had jumped on the “prayforso-and-so” bandwagon and made it look as though the entire city was under attack. But it didn’t seem to bother anyone else, and the hashtag took flight.

While Josh and I walked to class, I looked out for Delilah. I’d spent hours last night watching all of the footage I’d collected of her. Now that I knew what she was capable of, everything she did became so much more nuanced, so much more complex. Words didn’t do her justice. Just when you thought you’d pinned her down, just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about her, she came up with yet another layer of complexity. She was taking me by surprise, and I loved every revelation, big or small. In the end, I’d saved the file of her killing Detective Jackson in a USB drive I could wear around my neck. Something this important deserved to be on me at all times. I couldn’t risk leaving it someplace where people might stumble across it. No, I needed to protect Delilah. Maybe I should delete it altogether, but it felt wrong to erase such an important part of Delilah. This was proof that my love for her was real. I loved all of her, not just the soft, lovely side of her, but the hard, jagged one, too.

I burned to see how she was doing.Would she be haunted by what had happened? I really should be there for her. I shouldn’t be here, walking along in the sunshine like it was a normal day. Delilah would be upset, she’d be in shock, she—

“Hey, earth to Logan.” Josh elbowed me.

“What?”

“Are you okay? I was asking if you’re up for Saturday. Remember? The rowers are holding a party at the boathouse.”

“Oh, right.” I’d decided this weekend would be my first date with Delilah, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be at a boathouse party that stank of hard booze and river muck. “I can’t, I gotta go to the shelter. They took in a few new dogs so they really need the extra pair of hands.”

Josh grinned. “Aw, good, sweet Logan, helping the poor doggies.” He clasped his hands under his chin and fluttered his lashes at me. “Oh, Logan, you are the perfect man.”

I laughed. “Fuck off.”

“Seriously, I don’t get why you insist on spending your weekends at the shelter. It’s not gonna do much for your college apps, you know that, right? If you want to make a real difference to your apps, join the robotics club. It’s actually a lot cooler than people think.”

I grinned at the thought of Josh fiddling with complicated systems at the robotics club. Most people dismissed him as your regular airhead jock, but he was genuinely smart. Which didn’t stop him from being clueless when it came to girls. “I’m not doing it to plump up my college apps,” I said.I’m doing it to have an excuse to walk past Delilah’s house, I added silently.

“Mkay. Well, the invitation’s always open. We’re an inclusive club. Oh, hey, you know that cop who got crushed by his car? I heard that like, one of the wheels got him right here,” Josh said, tapping his left cheek. “Squeezed his eyeball right out.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Where’d you hear that?”

“Mason told me. His cousin works at the coroner’s office.”

“That’s sick.” I pushed open the double doors into Brenner Hall. It was teeming with students—boarders and day students alike—arriving, greeting one another, slamming locker doors, and making their way to class.

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