Forbidden Desire 18+

Chapter Twenty

ISABELLA MATTIA

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Elio's mood this entire week has been from the depths of hell. I've never experienced such drastic mood swings in my entire life and I was an asshole when I was a teenager–God knows how my parents didn't throttle me. But right now I can't seem to get anything through to Elio.

I've lost count how many arguments we've had this week over absolutely nothing. Petty squabbles and unnecessary curse words that are shouted at every single hour of the day. I'm exhausted and yet I have no idea what's crawled up his ass and died.

He won't talk to me. Not that I thought he'd confide in me but to keep up this agonising mood for so long, I thought he might crack by now. Whatever's going on in his mind, it's clearly occupying a space that keeps him from using his emotions normally.

Am I ashamed to admit that I miss the playful side of him? Yes.

We haven't trained together all week and despite hating him when we do it, I miss the time that we have to leave everything at the door and clear our minds. It's what he needs but anything I say to him will end up in another bicker.

I'm over it. I don't know how to help him. I shouldn't even be wanting to help him.

The last few days he's been completely insufferable and blunt. I can't reason with him whatsoever and now we're stuck in silence because I'd rather listen to my own heartbeat than have him shout at me again for making a comment about something that doesn't even matter.

I walk back from the library with the sun just about setting. There are clouds in the sky that make it feel a lot later than it is. As soon as I reach my apartment door I huff out a sigh and press my keys into the door, Elio is close behind me but still keeping his distance.

When the lock turns and I step in I find an envelope on the floor with my name written on the front. I bend down to pick it up and inspect writing that I don't recognise. I tuck it into my jacket and walk to my bedroom before Elio sees and demands that he reads whatever is inside.

I drop the envelope onto my desk and push the door almost closed before shrugging out of my jacket. When I check to see if Elio is standing near my door and I'm relieved to find him across the room in the kitchen, I lean over to the envelope and open it. It's not sealed and someone tucked a scraggly piece of paper inside.

My thumb flicks it open and I scan the text with my eyes.

I'm watching YOU.

I grimace at the message. And which weird, psycho stalker Netflix series did I end up in now? I tuck the piece of paper back into the envelope and quickly dismiss the entire thing. I reckon if someone like Charlotte got a note like that, she'd be running for the hills. But I couldn't care less.

There are a few names on my list and of course Jenson is on top. I never apologised for punching him and the Dean says that his parents aren't happy. Who else could it be? I roll my eyes and hide the note in one of my text books.

Realistically I should show Elio but because he's been in such an assy mood, I'd rather not. My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out to find Kory's name pop up. I frown at the notification because it's unbelievable timing.

He's dropped me a message or two this week. I didn't speak to him much after Elio had my phone wiped. I guess I avoided him because I didn't want to cause friction with Elio after what happened but now I'm over it.

I press down onto the text to read what he's got to say.

Kory: Hey, I don't really know what happened the other day after we sent each other those photos but I'm willing to ignore that and go back to basics. I'd like to take you out, Isabella. It doesn't even have to be a date, just friends hanging out.