𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 [𝟏𝟖+] ✔

30

"So when you asked me about my brother, it was because of some guy you're screwing?"

I shake my head at Ewan's contorted face, thinking of every way possible to not have him hate me right now. "No." I lie through my teeth, something I never do. "It's got nothing to do with you anyway."

"It does if you're in trouble."

I silently laugh, throwing my head back and shaking my head at him, keeping my voice down. "Trouble? Does it look like I'm in some sort of trouble?"

"Is he the guy you were talking about?"

I huff, my hands raising in the air before slapping down on the side of my thighs. "No."

Ewan's lips flatten as Jason runs out of his room, trying to get the batteries into his Xbox controller. "This isn't working," he whines, passing it to his dad, huffing as Ewan fiddles about with it and hands him it back, then runs back to his room with a wide smile. "Thanks, Dad!"

He waits until Jason shuts the door, and softens his voice, his eyes searching my face.

"Look, Aria..." he sighs, stepping forward to hold my waist, causing me to retreat backwards. He looks defeated by my actions, refusing his touch by denying him, something I'd usually let him do. "If he's the one you were talking about then you need to be smart." He shrugs, tucking his hands into his pockets. "He could be dangerous."

"There's nothing wrong with Toby." I walk past him and open the door wide, pointing out. "You can leave now."

"Toby." He repeats his name like acid on his tongue, nodding slowly. "I'm trying to look out for you, Aria. It's impossible for me to just stop loving—"

"Leave," I whisper-hiss, making sure Jason doesn't hear. "Please. Just go and I'll drop Jason back off tomorrow." He's staring at me, his eyes dropping to the slightly still visible hickey on my neck, and he chews the inside of his cheek, his nostrils flaring as he looks away from me. "I'm fine, Ewan. I promise."

"Okay." His eyes are on the floor, and I watch him saunter out of my house without another word. I close the door gently, resting my back against it, my head spinning while I take deep breaths.

"Can you play with me?" Jason pops his head out of his room, reaching a white Xbox controller toward me, a smile on his face, and I straighten up, keeping my low mood away from him. "I'll even let you be Iron Man this time."

His love for Lego Avengers is close to obsessive, but all the kids play it at his school and Ewan has said many times that he's limiting his time to one hour a day, which is understandable. When I was his age, I wore tracksuits and played on the streets, kicked a ball around and always came home covered in mud. You'd barely see that here now.

"Did you have fun in America?" he asks, both of us keeping our eyes on the split-screen.

"I sure did, it wasn't boring without me, was it?" I nudge him with my elbow to put him off, making him whine when I blow up his character.

"My mum didn't let me see my dad for over three weeks."

I drop my controller on the rug in front of us, frowning. "What, why?"

This isn't the first time she's flipped out and took it out on Ewan, and it won't be the last. Every time her new boyfriend leaves her, Ewan is her target for her anger, and she's lucky I love Jason and wouldn't risk losing my time with him by smacking her head clean off.

He shrugs, lifting my controller, handing me it, and pointing at the screen. "Another game."

"Three more games and then we can go watch a movie," I tell him, moving my chair away because he keeps hitting my controller. We enjoy the next two hours eating junk food, playing every game I have, and I answer ridiculous questions from the ten-year-old.