Page 139 of Darkest Obsession

"But Kola..." I say to her as gently as possible. "I totally disagree. We need to report him. We have to say something."

Kola's face contorts in a mixture of disgust and surprise. "Are you serious? Ever heard of snitches get stitches?"

Kola doesn't get it. Those days she spent missing, locked up and blindfolded somewhere, some guy having his way with her... every single one of those days was agony for us. Thomas and Kola didn't date for real, but he definitely still considers her a friend for her attempts to help him win my heart. I can't let anyone get away with hurting her and it wouldn't matter if Jamal were the last black man on earth. What he did was still wrong, and he made a choice to do it.

Thomas makes an incredibly annoying point. "Perhaps after they expel this black man, they can accept another to replace him."

I know he's trying to be helpful, but I can tell Kola wants to smack the teeth out of his mouth. I think I'm the only person on this campus brave or stupid enough to attempt physically harming Thomas Bainbridge.

"This is bullshit," Kola grumbles. "I thought you all would have my back."

"We do," I tell her. "Kola, please. He might not even get in trouble, but maybe this could help them find out who did this to you."

Kola scoffs. "Well, it wasn't Jamal."

Why is she getting all stubborn about this?

"Report him," Kit says. "Please."

"Kola," Thomas says, attempting to be the voice of reason. "We're all saying this because we care about you, not because we want to be racially insensitive."

For once, I can't find any fault with Thomas’ comment about rape.

"What about gender?" I point out to Kola. "He could hurt another girl."

She tightens up and looks away from all of us. "Great. Now I have to repeat the entire thing all over again. You don't understand how much it sucks to keep doing this."

I wrap my arms around her and, to my surprise, Kit crosses the room and wraps his arms around both of us. I never took him for a hugger, and I definitely remember him smelling a lot worse the last time I was this close to him. I'm grateful that he smells freshly showered now and apparently remains unperturbed by the harsh slap to his face.

"Kit, ew!" Kola squeals. "Don't join our hug."

Thomas wraps his arms around all of us and he's so much bigger that I get my face right in Thomas' hairy armpit.

"Thomas, ew!" I screech.

"Group hug..." he announces as Kola and I groan, attempting to be free of the much larger and much more annoying boys.

"Promise you'll tell?" I plead with Kola.

"Fine," she says. "But it's not fair that he'll probably get to skip finals."

Ha, a joke. At least she's partially back to her old self. Thomas releases us from the group hug and Kit follows suit. Kit reaches into his pocket for a hand-rolled cigarette and tucks it behind his ear.

"Sorted," he says. "Thomas, want to share this?"

"No thanks," Thomas says. "Clover and I were sort of... discussing something."

Kola's ears perk up and she responds eagerly, "Ooooooooo, discussing what?"

I'm the one to answer this time. "Our relationship."

Just those two words feel like saying yes to Thomas and for once, saying yes to him feels perfect — like nothing could wrong between us, just this once.

Chapter Sixty-Three

Thomas

We’re properly alone again, Kit and Kola vanishing in separate directions, and the taste of Clover lingers on my lips. I want so much more from her, but there’s still something special about this moment in between wanting her and having her. I love the tension. I love how she looks at me now like she isn’t afraid.