Page 94 of Darkest Obsession

What the hell, Clover?! You know when your awkwardness kicks in at the worst times and you sound like a fucking idiot? I do everything in my power not to bury my head in my hands.

“I mean,” I stammer before quickly regaining my ground. “She’s in the room and she’s fine. We came right over to visit her.”

Crispin continues scowling, but Amina’s face lights up.

“You’re Clover! And Kola! Thomas… not sure what you’re doing here.”

“It’s not suspicious,” Thomas answers extremely suspiciously.

“Okay,” Amina says, folding her arms. “Does Vi know you’re here?”

“Why would I tell Vi?”

“Good point. Well… I’d better go in and see her. Thanks for coming. You’re good friends for looking after her.”

Amina walks between me and Theo. She pauses for a second and then takes a few steps back.

“Theo? What are you doing here?”

Shit. I was right. The white boy turns even redder than before.

“I didn’t want to tell you,” he says. “I just thought… I mean, I found out. I called and then…”

“Tell me what?” Amina snaps. Crispin appears behind Amina, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“I sent him,” Crispin says. “Yes. I uh… I sent him.”

Amina glances over her shoulder. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“He did,” Theo says quickly. “And she’s out of it. Sorry.”

Amina narrows her eyes but accepts their explanation. I don’t. I think her husband’s lying… But why would he lie to cover for Theo? Is Spicy Freak making me conspiratorial, or is there something going on? Kola introduces herself to Amina and Crispin, and she seems to like Theo just fine. We all crowd into Sylvia’s hospital room with the nurse trailing behind as her concern grows that we’ll upset Sylvia’s recovery.

“We can wake her up soon,” the nurse says. “But she might wake up on her own.”

“I need to pee,” I blurt out and sneak out of the room. Hospitals freak me out and seeing Sylvia there makes it worse. There are too many people in the room and I can hardly breathe. The nurse directs me to the hospital’s public “loo” as she calls it and I burst out of the room. I hope Sylvia wakes up soon and I hope she can tell us who did this to her.

I get to the bathroom and close myself inside. I don’t need to pee as much as I need to breathe and get water on my face, stop thinking of hospitals and stop reminding myself of the worst night of our lives. I hope Chaos doesn’t remember that night the way I do. I miss him.

After a few minutes, someone knocks on the door. I’m not ready to leave.

“Clover, it’s me.”

Why did it have to be him? I don’t answer.

“It’s Thomas,” he repeats. Yes, Thomas. I can hear that annoying, fancy ass accent and know exactly who stands on the other side of the door. I crack the door open. He smiles and I open the door a little more.

“It’s a bloody zoo in there,” Thomas murmurs.

“I’m taking a shit.”

He never gives up, does he?

“Doesn’t smell like it.”

“Ew!”

He chuckles. “Listen, you okay? You seem… weird.”