Page 16 of Psychotic Obsession
Aria
Today is the day Ivy arrives.
The nurses and doctors here have arranged everything, so as soon as the transport pulls in, she’ll be in perfect hands. As far as I’m aware, only her mother is coming, and they’ve set her up in a hotel nearby at the same time as ensuring she has somewhere to sleep in Ivy’s room.
When I walk past one of the patient’s rooms, one who is still waiting to be transferred to hospice, I pause when I hear a deep voice.
“Did you ever listen to the book?”
Without looking in, I pretend to read notes by the door.
“It was giving me a headache. My ears are sensitive.”
“Ah,” Tobias replies. “What if I read it to you, or are you going to argue with me about how to pronounce words again?”
The girl—Lucy—huffs. “You were saying the dragon’s name wrong for ten chapters straight.”
A smile creeps onto my face at the way Tobias deeply chuckles. Then, my eyes lift to see Gabriella watching me, her eyebrow raised.
“Did you hear me?”
Blinking, I shake my head. “Sorry. What?”
“Ivy’s plane just landed. The nurses are ready. What do you want to do? Go back to the hotel and sleep those bags off, or go for some food and catch a movie?”
“We were at the movie theatre yesterday,” I reply. “Besides, I’ll probably pass out ten minutes into the movie.”
I’m struggling to get a good night’s sleep in the hotel bed. That, and the fact I may have been doom scrolling for any trace of Tobias on the internet.
It seems my lovely assistant has an aversion to social media, because he’s nonexistent.
I don’t usually look up coworkers online, but after the potential flirting in the club and how I know when he walks into a room without looking, I’ve become intrigued.
She clicks her tongue and looks behind me. I turn to see Tobias gently closing the door, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
He must be tired too. After me and Gabby’s girl date, I came back here to look through paperwork and call some of my colleagues back in Scotland for further advice. He was in Lucy’s room–she was asleep, and he just sat there, like he always does.
If I hadn’t gone in with some coffee and asked him to give me a hand with something, I doubt he would have left. With her mother not here, she doesn’t like to be alone, and it seems Tobias doesn’t like the idea of her lying in the ward, awaiting more answers about her disease without any company.
I like his heart.
Wordlessly, he lowers his head in greeting before he goes straight to the exit. Dr. Blythe stops him with a hand to his chest to whisper something into his ear, and Tobias lifts his head with a scowl.
His jaw tenses as he replies, but since he’s gritting his words through his teeth, I’ve no idea what he’s saying, or why there seems to be tension between the pair.
“Can we at least grab food?” Gabriella asks, stepping into my line of sight. “I think burgers, or maybe pizza.”
“Pizza,” I agree. “Then we go back to the hotel and sleep. I have to?—”
“Pizza sounds good!”
Justin interrupts us, and I want to roll my eyes at the blush creeping onto Gabriella’s face. Instead of telling him absolutely not, she invites him along and tells him to meet us at seven outside a diner not far from where we’re staying.
I love her, but I might strangle her right now, along with her assistant. She needs to stop giving him “take me to bed and fuck me in every position possible” eyes. Without warning, a presence comes up behind me, and Justin grins before he opens his mouth again.
“You’re off soon, right? Pizza with the bosses?”
“Are you going?” Tobias asks me, and I pause; I’m pretty sure I’ve just turned paler than pale as I look around us.
