Haunt You x Conrad Fisher

Chapter Twenty-One

Conrad

I groaned as I took another drink of my beer. My other hand held my phone which was opened to Elena's Instagram picture she posted earlier. Fuck. She looked gorgeous-she always looked gorgeous. I tapped my phone against my forehead in frustration. What has gotten into me? Telling her the things I did, touching her again in the kitchen- I need to stay away from that damn kitchen. It was messing with my head.

I lick my lower lip. Her taste and smell still lingering. Cinnamon and vanilla. Sugar and spice and everything but nice.

I stood alone in the corner of the living room beside the fireplace of Nicole's house. Well, not completely alone, Nicole and her friends were in front of me talking about the upcoming debutante ball. I had zero interest in the matter. Nope, my interest was across the room on the other side where Elena stood beside Max.

She was dressed in all black again. A black long sleeve crop top with black washed jean shorts. Her belly button piercing on full display. Her hair was flowy in luscious curls falling down her back. I wonder how soft those curls would feel wrapped tightly around my hand while I-

Nope. I chugged a good portion of the remainder of my beer trying to clear my head of those thoughts.

Daniel came rushing into the living room and my focus immediately withdrew from Elena to him. I cleared my throat. "Daniel," I called out.

He turned abruptly letting out a sigh of relief. He motioned his head to the left towards the kitchen. I nodded in understanding and squeezed passed the girls and followed him there. There were only two others in the kitchen beside us and I'm glad because Daniel looked slightly uneasy.

"Yo, Daniel. You good?" I asked him concerned. His uneasiness couldn't be about Elena. I've been watching her all night and haven't noticed anything different.

He lightly ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah man. I just got a call from my soccer coach."

I looked at the time on my watch. Why was his coach calling him past ten o'clock at night.

"It's seven in California," he clarified. Ah, I nodded understanding. "Every summer, my high school holds small soccer camps. I never attend them because I'm here. They're usually just extra practice, not mandatory. But I guess this year, there's going to be some important college scouts attending the camp. Colleges I want to get scholarships for."

My eyes widened and my chest tightened. They were going to leave. My safe place to escape my reality was about to be taken from me. I rubbed my hands against my jeans. My palms were getting clammy. Was it always this hot in here?

"After I got off the phone with him, I called my mom. We're leaving tomorrow. The camp starts the day after," he said.

Thump. My heart was pounding in my chest. My throat felt dry as I tried to swallow. Suddenly the room around us felt smaller, like it was caging in on us. Interesting, I didn't realize I was claustrophobic.

I felt hands grip my shoulders and I took a deep breath in looking up to see Daniel standing in front of me holding me still. "Con, I've been talking to you. Did you hear what I said? Do you need water? You don't look so hot."

"Water," I barely let out. The words leaving my throat felt painful. My throat was so dry, it felt like parchment scraping the inside of my throat as every second went by.

Daniel quickly handed me water as I sat on the bar stool and took a drink. The coolness from the water began refreshing my body as I let out a deep breath. "Sorry," I said to Daniel trying to regain composure. "What were you saying?"