A Body Double For His Obsession

filled my nose before I even o

fire. I tried to move and a fresh wave of pain washed over me.

yes, the fluorescent lig

't m

om beside the bed. He was sitting i

ssion," he said, his tone flat. H

laugh. "Is that my punish

. "The bottle fell off the

my head was too sharp. It was a lie, a

," I said, my voi

his expression un

. I stared at him, my heart hammerin

" he said, his voice quie

ope. "Then why?" I whispered, my voice breaking. "Why did

dow, his back to me. "She's been

s as fragile as a

eaded, the words tearing from my throa

ow her. You're always antagonizing h

believe the fantasy, the idealized ver

not me?" I asked, the

. The silence wa

broken sound that hurt my throat. Tears streamed down my face, h

suffocating tension. She checked my vitals, her expression p

hile you recover," Kane said, as

nto dust. He wasn't offering comf

in hospital sheet. My brea

marriage?" I asked, the words tasting like acid.

pt me tethered to him. He' d shown me a certificate once,

resting on the windowsill, tightened. He

irling in my mind. Who am I to you? D

e changed when he saw the caller ID. He answered,

eak French before. I did

erstood the tone. It was the same intimate

nd, excited and shrill. Even with the langu

nd Coral. About how he was helpin

was all a plan. All of it. He was courting Coral, and I was

?" the woman on the phone asked, her vo

he's just a plaything," he said in cold, pe

k confused, as if I didn't understand. As

ow romantic it was that he was learning French ju

t I, too, had dreamed of Paris. He had never see

to me, his expression smooth aga

r him died out. There was not

pologetic. "She was frightened by what happened. Yo

e said it. He walked to the do

nd bruised, to go comfort the wo

icked shut

ilent, tearing scream as the tears p