Girl Obsessed - A Dark Romance (Now available on Amazon Kindle and KU)

Chapter 3

Wynter

I was sitting on the floor of a public library, crying, crying because this man had reduced me to tears with his words. I mean, people said, 'it's just a book' but it wasn't just a book for me. It was the ability to rip apart someone's soul simply by putting words on paper. I had read a lot of novels in my life but so far, nobody's writing had moved me to tears to such an extent.

Sometimes, it felt like the author wasn't just telling a story but sharing a part of himself through this fictional world he had created. And each and every revelation ensnared me until it was all I could think about. All I could feel.

It was a Saturday, the day after my ordeal with Noah. I had come home last night to find cops on my doorstep, talking to my mother because she had panicked when she hadn't been able to find me at home or get in touch with me. Normally, you had to wait at least 24 hours to file a missing person's report but since this was a small town and everyone knew everyone else, the police had decided to help.

She'd been livid when she'd seen me appear, apparently unharmed and wearing some boy's clothes. Naturally, she had jumped to the conclusion that I'd been off enjoying myself and not at all worried that my mother might be going crazy.

I'd wanted to tell her what happened but Joshua was standing right behind her, his entire stance and expression full of menace as he dared me to open my mouth. I'd gone to bed after receiving a long lecture and when I'd asked her why she hadn't replied to my texts, she told me that she knew I had a history of being dramatic and she had tried calling me back but my phone had been switched off.

My phone was ruined actually after so much rain had gotten in and so was my mattress so I had to sleep on the floor of my room with the door locked because I didn't want to risk sleeping on the couch with Joshua the animal lurking about.

All night I kept trying not to think about what had happened at Noah's place, tried to shut it all out because who wanted to remember such moments, anyway? I wished I could get back at him somehow but there really was nothing I could do about it. I'd made the mistake of trusting that guy and now I was suffering for it.

Dragging myself back to the present, I wiped my tears, got to my feet and walked all the way to the front of the library to check out the latest two books I had borrowed. Both by J. R. Knight. The writer whose words I was slowly falling in love with.

I'd already finished the book I'd taken from Noah's house, flown through it actually. I couldn't get enough, couldn't stop. It was like an addiction.

When I reached home that afternoon, I went straight to my room to look up J. R. Knight on my laptop, consumed with a burning curiosity to find out who this man was. Due to my phone being ruined and me losing myself in his stories all day, I hadn't been able to do much stalking online.

Finally, I had a chance to see the person behind the words and it was kind of thrilling. His bio had no photo on the dust jacket and only said:

J. R. Knight published his first novel, 'Mercy's End' (which became an international best-seller) after graduating from Yale Law School. He is now in his thirties and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

I needed more than that. I needed to maybe write to him and tell him just how much his one book had impacted me emotionally. How it had made me feel and think deeply about things I normally overlooked.

Hundreds of results popped up on Google and I was lost for a moment. I clicked on the first article I saw. There was a picture with the same brief bio and a list of his published books.

My eyes were glued to his photo. I couldn't stop gazing at it for a long minute. He had angular features and a strong jaw line, piercing bright, blue eyes and jet-black hair. It was a handsome and intelligent face, which was definitely interesting but it was the stubbornness of his mouth that held my attention for several seconds longer.

...

(END OF SAMPLE)