Page 34 of Scent Of Obsession
A cold shiver skittered across my back.
Adonis: What do you want from him?
I felt my thumping heart dropping, knowing he wouldn’t understand.
Adonis: Let me know when you’re coming back to reason and I’ll pick you up.
I left Adonis on seen.
I thought of turning off my phone, but I had faith I could perhaps reach my uncle. The beeps of his phone rang until I was left on his voicemail. Again.
“Hi, Uncle. It’s Lily. I wanted to let you know I’m…”Miserable.“Fine. You’ll see. I’ll make that perfume—you don’t have to worry. I hope life isn’t too hard for you alone in Paris. I miss you. Please, call me back.”
I hung up, taking my coat. I shot a glance at Cerba on my way to the door. “Let’s get some fresh air.”
I believed she understood me when we both exited the lab. Outside, my hair swayed wild with the cold wind. I tightened my jacket over my chest, watching Cerba running fiercely in the direction of the spooky forest, where some trees were devoid of foliage, if it wasn’t for the crows perched on their branches.
She stopped a few meters away from me, her eyes stuck on the forest. Hugo came out of it a few seconds later. He was running toward the manor. By looking at him, you’d never have thought we were in the middle of winter. He wore only a gray shirt and shorts accompanying the landscape whose colors had lost their warmth, vivid and flamboyant touch, lowering the saturation to a grayish scenery. Hugo’s ripped muscles were covered in sweat like he had trained underneath a burning sun for hours.
“Well, someone is in a mood,” he exclaimed, stopping his run when he approached us.
“Well, somebody was a rude jerk to—”
“I was talking to Cerba,” he cut off my grumbles and kneeled down in front of Cerba. She rushed to him, wagging her tail joyfully. He then lifted his eyes up to me. “But please, continue,doudou.”
“Never mind.” I exhaled a sharp breath and examined the dry blood on Hugo’s knuckles when he petted Cerba. He had bits of tree bark glued to his body with the sweat as if he had punched a tree Rocky style. “What’s up with you, anyway?”
“Needed to chill. You know, channel my anger and all that shit.” He shrugged.
“Why’s that?”
“We all have our demons, right?” he answered with sincerity.
I nodded.That we do.He drew a flirty smile on his lips while annoying Cerba by teasing her to catch his fingers, which she was unsuccessful at doing.
“You know, you don’t strike me as the kind of man who enjoys living in a reclusive manor,” I hinted. “Why are you friends with Radcliff? You’re nothing alike.” Hugo was warm and friendly. He liked the spotlight and seemed like a passionate, careless man—the whole contrary of ruthless, calculated, mysterious Radcliff.
Hugo stood up, our stares connecting intensely. “I owe him my life. If it wasn’t for him, I’d be dead.”
“What?” I was dazed, my mouth hanging open.
He brushed it off. “It’s a long story. The point is no one and nothing is black or white.”
An awkward silence washed over us. In a couple of minutes, darker clouds had surrounded the sky, announcing an impending storm. I drew a misty, chilly breath before peering at Hugo, who was staring forcefully in the direction of the manor.
I reeled around to see what had captivated him and noticed a slight movement of the closed curtains on the balcony where Radcliff had stood on New Year’s Eve. Was he observing us? At this thought, my heart galloped.
“You asked me once what kind of man Radcliff was?”
I held on to my breath, in a haze to know.
“I don’t have an answer for you, but what I can tell you is that he saves lost souls,” he stated.
Lost souls. That sentence resonated in my mind as I observed Hugo entering the gloomy manor. Cerba barked at me, giving me her puppy eyes, a huge branch carried in her mouth.
“Fine, let’s play,” I capitulated with a smile.
After all, this was why I was here. To play a game. The Devil’s one.
