Obsession (19 page)

“Sorry,” I mumbled, moving my hand to
my own knee as quickly as I could.

Mitch chuckled. “No problem, just grab
higher next time, okay?”

My elbow found his rib,
causing an oo
mph
to escape his lips. My lips quivered as I tried not to smile,
but I couldn’t help it. Putting Mitch in his place made me
happy.

Sculptures of men in
different poses lined the entry toward the three flights of stairs
to the entrance of the Art Museum. Mitch climbed out first, then
reached for my hand to help me out. I was impressed he remembered;
maybe a gentleman was inside of him somewhere.
Or maybe I was too big of a bitch to notice before.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve
never stepped foot in an art m
useum,
” I admitted while
we walked the stairs.

Mitch gave me a surprised
look. “Really?
So I
’
m popping your
cherry
?” The flirtatious grin made me let
out a deep breath of annoyance.

“I hate to break it to you, but my
cherry was popped a long time ago.”

“I’m sure it’s still just as sweet,”
he murmured, opening the door for me.

My eyebrows rose in challenge. “Guess
you’ll never know.”

His eyes grew wide as I
entered past him.
Ha!
He could chew on that for a while.

The museum wasn’t as big as I’d
thought it would be, but the artwork was stunning. They even had a
lighting display with lasers pointing in different directions to
create an image on the ceiling. Mitch stared at each piece,
studying them intently and looking at them as though they each had
their own soul and were trying to tell him a story.

“What do you think of this one?” Mitch
asked quietly as we stood in front of a black and white charcoal
drawing that was nearly as tall as two of us put
together.

My eyes searched the picture, trying
to describe what I saw. “Well, they’re animals.”

Mitch kept looking at the picture,
then turned to face me. “That’s it? You only see
animals?”

I turned my head back to the artwork,
not sure how else to describe what I saw. Mitch sighed, taking a
step closer to the picture. “They’re all partnered up, close
together as if they’re running from something. The outside world
around them is dark, dreary, dangerous… but they aren’t that way.
They’re happy they have each other. That’s all they
need.”

I blinked at him. His
answer stunned me.
Who was this
man?

His frown was still in place.
“What?”

“Nothing.”

We traveled to more pieces, but my
eyes stayed on Mitch until we came to a set of striking photos.
They were breathtaking. Black and white stills of a couple, slowly
fading and becoming darker as pain contorted her face and the man
became more dominant. The last picture almost brought me to my
knees. He was overpowering the woman, his hands around her neck
while she stared helplessly into the sky.

Wetness threatened my
eyes. Her helplessness was a reality for me at one point, and I
still felt like I was suffocating even though no hands were on
me.
But they were…
Rod had me trapped in fear, no matter how hard I fought it on
the outside.

Mitch looked at me intently, as though
he could sense something was wrong. My shoulders fell as I dabbed
my eyes and looked toward another set of photos.

“Hungry? Want to go grab
something?”

His hand brushed my forearm, and I
pulled it away from him, bringing my fingers to my chest, slowly
traveling up my neck and massaging gently to bring me back to the
now. I wasn’t hungry, but I needed a change of scenery. I nodded,
then led the way to the exit.

Mitch never said a word
about my reaction to the photos.
Maybe he
hadn’t noticed?
But I knew he had. I was
beginning to realize he was more complex than I’d given him credit
for.

When we walked outside, the air was
still thick, and no carriage was in sight. “I thought we’d walk and
get something from the food trucks, then find a spot at Rosa Parks
Circle to sit and eat?”

“Sure.” My answer was quick because my
head was still elsewhere.

“Sure? Wow… you’re really compliant
today. My requests may get more up close and personal by the end of
the night.” He smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.

I shook my head, realizing he was
trying to get a rise out of me, but instead of getting furious with
him, I laughed quietly. He was a funny guy when I wasn’t pissed off
at him.

“Anything but Mexican.”

“Can’t hold your beans, huh?” I
snorted, shocked he went there. “Woman always say it’s men who are
the gross ones.” He shook his head in disapproval but kept a smile
on his face. “How about a good old fashioned hot dog?”

“
Sounds right up my
alley.”

“All right, but no chili sauce for
you,” he teased again.

***

We strolled through Ah-Nab-Awen Park
along the Grand River, stopping to sit down in front of the giant
button sculpture close to my condo. The evening was, to my
surprise, going okay, except I hadn’t done any snooping or
flirting. It was moving along like a normal date, and the fact that
I was enjoying spending time with Mitch in this environment scared
me.

“So tell me about Jamie Rae,” Mitch
said out of the blue. He was sitting with his forearms draped
across his knees, relaxed and at ease.

“Not a whole lot to know.”

“I don
’t buy that for a second.
Where are you from?”

I bit my lip as I looked out at the
river, unsure how much of me I was willing to share. I’d always
been good at deflecting questions, though. Besides, playing twenty
questions might help me find answers for Becca about the supposed
drug scheme in the Conklin buildings.

“Well
, I was born in a small town
in Florida.”

“What small town?”

“Point Canal.
I graduated school,
went to Florida State where I met Becca, and here I am.” That was
the only normal part of my life, the part I was willing to share.
It usually satisfied the people asking questions.

“Okay… small town. What about your
family? Are they in that small town?”

I nodded, not saying anything else. He
shook his head in disapproval.

“I thought I said no
walls?”

Pausing for a moment, I continued. “My
parents live there. My mother sells catalog jewelry when she isn’t
being summoned by my siblings. My father works in a factory. I have
a big family, and we’re spaced pretty far apart. My sister is in
high school—she’s nine years younger than me.”

“Do you talk to her a lot?”

“She calls me, yes. She’s very
dramatic. She’s a cheerleader, popular, and boy obsessed. I wish I
could be there to help my mom tame her some, but she’s a good
girl.”

“And your other siblings?”

“The rest are brothers. Trevor is
twelve. Very relaxed, he’s more like me. Then there are the twins,
they’re seven. They run circles around my parents.” I laughed,
picturing a typical night in the Rae household.

“Wow, that’s a lot of
kids. You know I’m the baby, so
I don
’t know what
it’s like to be the oldest.”

Landon was the oldest, but
I didn’t feel like sharing my closest sibling relationship with
Mitch. It was too personal, and my emotions flew all over the place
whenever I talked about Landon.
“
I
don
’t know what it’s like being the
youngest.”

“What else? Movies? Music? Animals? I
know you can’t handle your Mexican…”

I laughed out loud,
smacking the side of his thigh. “
I just don
’t like
Mexican. I never said I couldn’t handle it.”

I continued to talk, opening up to him
as the sun began to set. He seemed genuinely interested in what I
was saying, commenting when he could, but he mainly
listened.

Mitch noticed the lamp posts
flickering then stood. “Come on, there’s one more place I want to
take you tonight.” He held out his hand. After a beat, I took it,
but he didn’t let go this time. Instead, he laced our fingers
together, leading me in the opposite way of the condo.

Once we reached the other end of the
park, the same coachman and the horse that took us to the art
museum earlier greeted us. He hopped down, opening the carriage
door.

“Want to go first?” Mitch flirted. I
gave him my famous glare while crossing my arms. Chuckling, he
climbed in, then helped me up.

“Just thought I’d ask.”

When we sat down, he was closer to me,
our sides touching one another with his arm resting behind me on
the seat. Leaning into him happened automatically, and I fought the
feelings that were telling me to push him away.

The coachman stopped in front of a
tall apartment building that was under renovation. I saw the
Conklin logo, figuring it was one of our latest remodels. A frown
escaped me, wondering if Mitch was hiding drugs in this very
building.

“Thanks, we’re good now. Have a great
night,” Mitch said, paying the coachman and waving goodbye once we
were out of the carriage. He took my hand again, leading me to the
building entrance. It was dark outside, only the street lamps
guiding us.

“This isn’t the part where you chop me
up into little pieces, is it?”

“Nah, I figured I’d slip something in
your drink so I could take advantage of you.”

“That does seem to be more your
style,” I hummed. We gave each other knowing grins. It was fun to
joke with him like this.

He took me into an elevator shaft that
I thought wouldn’t work, but to my surprise it did. The walls
weren’t completely built around it, and a caged-fencing kept us in.
It was strange to see all the different floors as we ascended with
only the street lamps showing the shadows as we passed
by.

“How tall is this
building?”

“Thirty-three floors. It’s
going to be a new condo unit. I’m keeping the top condo for myself
though.
I
don
’t have a place here—only Chicago and
Miami.” We finally stopped at the top floor. “I wanted to show you
the view.”

I held Mitch’s arm as we stepped out
of the elevator. His eyes searched the dark as he held up the light
on his phone to find a power cord. Switching it on, florescent
lights slowly flickered, exposing a wide open space with tall
ceilings to hold three floors.

“This is … spacious.”

“I know, and I’ll get to design it on
my own. I’ve never had that before. I’ve always lived in a
previously built home. Sure, I’ve had decorators and all that crap,
but never actually made the space mine.”

“That’s great, Mitch.”

Seeing his eyes light up reminded me
of having dreams. I had dreams but focused on smaller ones such as
school and my career. I gave up on bigger ones a long time
ago.

“
I’d been working on this
building until Nathan and Tyler forced me to go to Miami.”
Mitch
’s face fell, and I instantly
felt his pain. Being told what to do sucked.

“Come on,” he encouraged, taking my
wrist and leading me to a half-finished staircase.

“You sure this is safe to walk on?” I
asked timidly, mildly fighting his pull.

“Do you think I’d let you walk up it
if I didn’t think so?” he scoffed.

When he opened the door, I gasped. You
could see the entire city, including the smaller suburb lights from
further out. You could even see Lake Michigan.

“This is beautiful,” I murmured,
walking closer to the edge, but stopping when I realized complete
railings hadn’t been put in yet.

“Yeah, watch your step,” Mitch said,
yanking my arm back so I was next to him. “I love this view. It’s
smaller than Chicago and Miami, but big enough to hold its own
beauty.”

He took a seat, bringing me down with
him so we were lying on the ground, the pea gravel crinkling as we
made ourselves comfortable. My breath caught at the amount of stars
I could see.

“This is the second best
part.
You
can
’t see the stars very well in Miami
unless you look out toward the water, and you certainly can’t see
them in Chicago. See over there?” Mitch pointed his finger to the
sky. “There’s Orion, and over there are Ursa Major and Ursa
Minor.”

“Ursa what?”

Mitch turned to look at me, smiling
broadly. “The big and little dipper. Most people don’t know their
real names.” He winked. “Do you know their story?”

I shook my head, moving so I was
laying on my side, facing him with my arms cradling my
head.