Fatal Obsession

coffee splashing across the white paint like abstrac

as he stared at the brown stain spreading do

pping it closed with deliberate calm. "I didn't ma

ed hair, searching for words that would cut deep enough to reach her. "It

, pinching just hard enough to feel the familiar sting

he said, moving toward the living room where her

t equipped?" His laugh was bitter. "I've been trying to love you for e

s like armor. "Love." The word tasted foreign on her tongue. "Is that what you call those

ulsing. "I tell you about my day, you nod. I ask about your paintings, you give me one-word answers. I

stead, she adjusted the strap of her purse, checki

ecause you don't want to be gotten through to. You want to stay locked up in that pretty little

dle. "My weird fucking pictures pay for half t

ad shifted from anger to something that looked almost like grief. "I love you. I know you don't believe that, but I do. And I ke

ack fro

went when you decid

and true enough to make Heaven's chest tighten

ing the handle, "is that you assume

d her with a soft click that felt like punctuation a

eathe. Her phone buzzed against her palm--a text to Adaline that she'

seconds, her phone vibrat

er, bright and slightly breathless. "I was wonderi

t her mouth twitch upward. "Th

accur

rbingl

n't that he can't get through to you. It's that he's boring as hell and about as sexually adventurous a

y Alto stretched out before her, all neon and possibility, the kind

, Ada. I have emptiness

tings, remember? All that beautiful, twisted darkness doesn't come from

ere the bars and restaurants clustered like mushrooms after rain. "Philosophical obs

don't change the subject. You just freed yourself from e

ly feel like

lesson and who am I to say no to time-and-a-half? But there's this little place called Meridian on Fifth Street. Dar

t direction without deciding to. "I

e still surprises left in the world. Just... sit at the bar, have a drink, and see w

d dryly, "has a pretty shi

ne hour, H. One drink. If nothing interesting happens, you c

rised by the laugh that esca

me in an hour and tel

r, the city hummed with its usual evening energy-couples hurrying to dinner reservations, groups of friends sp

ind of atmosphere that suggested secrets were not only welcome but encouraged. Heaven found a corner tabl

me and dreamed of opening his own place someday. He set down her drink with a flourish th

ting lines and shadows that gradually resolved into familiar forms-angular faces, twisted limbs, the kind of

raints when she felt eyes on her. The sensation was specific, different

be early thirties, with the kind of bone structure that spoke of good genetics and better grooming. His dark hair was slicked

painting them-looking for the story beneath the surface, t

ng amber and expensive-looking-in a subtle salute. The gesture was confident witho

e almost didn't recognize it. She found herself studying him in return, noting the way his shoulders filled out

him attractive–n

tiny feeling that this o

ations happened in the spaces between words. The kind who might actually know w

ip, tasting smoke, honey and possibility, while across the room, the stranger with the piercing gaze co