Page 88 of Darkest Obsession

“You realize I’m friends with Sylvia, right?”

“Sylvia’s loaded. Or at least her sister is. In your twisted mind, I’m sure that makes up for it or whatever. I’m standing up for my homegirl.”

“It’s not that. I swear. I just don’t know her.”

“Well you can get to know her when she helps us. And keep your bad attitude to yourself. She already hates white guys.”

“This ought to be fun for me,” I grumble.

Clover rolls her eyes and then glances down at her phone. “Seriously, where is Sylvia? It’s not like her not to text back.”

“She’s probably having really dirty sex.”

That earns me an extremely sharp jab in the stomach.

“OUCH!”

“There’s something mentally wrong with you,” Clover says, hopping out of bed. “Come on, idiot. Let’s go look for her.”

“Are you sure?”

I’d rather stay in bed with her. I’d rather keep her body close to mine, or pin her there, or something. But Clover confuses me. She gets me hard, but she makes me want to be a good person, too. It must be all those loose elbows. I think she’s reactivating some of my old bruises with her harshness. But I love that harshness. I think beneath it all, there’s a girl I could love forever. Ugh. She turns me into a sappy, fucking hopeless romantic.

Only trouble is that she doesn’t like me much. Our blackmailer has it all wrong.

“Before we search for Syl,” I ask her, climbing out of bed and following Clover to her bedroom door. “Mind telling me how you plan to use Kola as bait?”

She’s so small when we’re standing next to each other. Noticing her size makes me feel guilty for hurting her. She’s tall for a girl, but still shrimpy compared to me. She’d kill me for thinking she was cute instead of tough.

“You two are going to fake date. Obviously.”

Christ, Clover.

“If you want me to agree to that, you’ll have to agree to something.”

“Like what? Saving your ass with my entire friend group because your friends are all panty stealing alcoholics and drug addicts?”

“No,” I answer, ignoring her insult. “Like a kiss.”

Clover turns to face me and then awkwardly stumbles backward, leaning against the door to her bedroom with a bewildered look on her face.

“Why?!”

“Because. You’re a good kisser and so am I.”

“Cocky fuck. Who said you were a good kisser?”

I grin and move in closer to her. “You did.”

“I did n–

Ha. I seize my chance and take her hips, stopping her sentence by kissing her forehead.

“Bastard.”

“It’s just one kiss.”

Before I have to work harder at convincing her, Clover grabs my cheeks and pulls my face against hers. She kisses me. My face burns at the exact point her fingers touch and I never want her to stop. I kiss her back, letting my fingers pinch together and run along the length of a thick dreadlock. I love how her hair feels. Clover’s back presses hard against the door and I kiss her so hard that I swear we almost fall through it.