Ruthless Obsession

Chapter seventeen

"What do you mean, they're here?" Angelo buttons up his shirt, not taking his eyes off his brother.

Ben appears behind Louis, peaking into the bathroom, with his red-rimmed eyes. "Looks like I missed all the fun." Ben says regretfully, eyeing Angelo and me.

I'm starting to get a massive headache from the loud music, the strobe lights and the insatiable need to be touched. I squirm in my stance, feeling uncomfortable. I'm trying to focus on the conversation, but my head is filled with ecstasy and confusion. I can't think straight, nor can I mend my thoughts into the present. All I can seem to focus on is Angelo. His commanding posture, his curly dark hair, his furrowed brow, and his tightened jaw.

The way he's making me itch from temptation and desire.

Oh, and not to mention the disdain I have for his untimely rejection. It's like he's trying to make me hate his guts. I know mind-altering drugs and sexual acts are not the best combination, but I know myself and I know what I want.

And to top it all off, someones after us again.

"Well, what do we do?" I'm pulled back into the present by Louis's soft, lullaby-like voice. "There are at least 5 men out there...all of them are armed." He pulls his hand through his hair, not exactly freaking out, but not exactly calm either.

There's got to be something they're not telling me.

Angelo hesitates before answering, looking at me, piping up, but not in English and not in Italian either. So they are hiding something from me. I can't be mad or demand they tell me what they're exchanging in Spanish. I have no interest in the telenovela they have created for themselves, I'm having a hard enough time organizing my own thoughts. I could almost bang my head against the wall to shake myself back into reality.

"Escaping out the back door, guns drawn, sounds pretty good to me." Louis rushes out.

"You guys go, I'll stay and distract them." Angelo's voice rings out with authority and control. "Get everyone to the lodge and call father, this is beyond our control." Angelo clenches his jaw, like that was the hardest sentence he's ever spoken.

Louis walks over to me and takes my arm like I'm a confused elderly person. I wrap my arms around him, feeling a need for warmth. Louis stands there exhaling like he's tired. Like he's tired of me. I just hope the hurt expression that crosses my face can not be seen by anyone else.

"Ruth, focus." Angelo's voice rings out over Louis's shoulders.

"I'm trying." I detach from Louis, putting my hand to my brow, wiping away the sweat.

"No, you're not. You need to snap out of it." He shifts his body towards me. "This isn't going to be like the other times." His voice is both commanding and reassuring. He steps in front of me, pulling up the loose dress strap hanging off my shoulder.

I bow my head and close my eyes, trying to shake off the beginning of a panic attack. Angelo knows me so fucking well, it scares me. He knows I'm dissociating. He knows what this looks like and what this is.

He knows me, I never intended to let him know me.

"Look at me." He commands. "This will not be like the other times." He enunciates each word, like he's trying to ingrain it into my head.

How is this working on me? For god's sake, why is this working on me?

I nod my head, staring into those eyes one last time, before turning my back on Angelo and walking over to Ben and Louis.

Ben is insanely high on whatever else he took and smiling like an oblivious fool. Louis's eyes are twitching and his lips are thinned like he's barely holding it together. He looks just like he did that night at the lodge, scared shitless and on the verge of a breakdown.