Shades of Obsession Read Free Page A

remember him telling me about a couple who had just moved here and wanted their son to start
mid-term ‘I’m hoping that he’ll come in and give a talk to the children…’
    ‘As I said at
the interview,’ Luke doesn’t even attempt polite. ‘The point of being a detective is keeping a low profile – that’s
the reason we moved -   I want to stay low, so I’d appreciate it if you don’t introduce
me as a detective in the future.’
    He walks off and
I see Rick’s jaw tighten, he’s just been snubbed and he knows it and can’t
stand it - most people, everyone really, smarms up to him.
    ‘Arrogant
prick.’ Rick hisses under his breath to me.
    Still Luke
doesn’t look at me, not even when he comes over to the kitchenette hatch and
helps himself to dips.
    ‘Would you like
a drink?’ I gesture to the display, I’m trying very hard to speak to him as if
he’s just another dad, as if he didn’t catch me stealing this afternoon, as if
my panties aren’t soaked, as if he’s never fucked me to within an inch of my
life.
    ‘You know what I
like.’

 

Chapter Two

 
 
    He’s watching me
– even though he’s checking his phone, I can feel his eyes on me as I
head to the freezer.
    ‘Here,’ I hand
him a cup of ice but he doesn’t take it.
    For the first
time since he’s entered the school hall Luke looks at me - he looks right at me
and he waits till my face is on fire, till I’m burning, till I pick up the jug
and pour the water into his cup with a hand that is shaking.
    Then, without
another word, he heads back to the meeting and I stand there, leaning on the
counter and looking out - I do nothing really, I just pour drinks when people
come over to the hatch and then chat and mingle with the parents in the break
and things, but as I stand there, my heart is hammering as I try and fail not
to look at him. When Luke’s phone goes off I see Rick frown and then he points
out that he did remind everyone to turn their phones off or at least to silent.
      Which is why Luke didn’t.
    I feel the
ground open, I feel the earth start to split as Luke moves away from the
meeting, his voice carrying as he takes his call and I see Rick is getting
annoyed and so Luke heads into the kitchenette where I’m standing.
    I am incredibly
awkward.
    Ashamed.
    I’m standing
here trying to play the perfect principal’s wife and he knows what a sham it
all is.
    ‘Well, you got
what you wanted.’ I turn and he looks as if he’s talking into his phone, but
his words are for me. ‘Or you got what your parents wanted.’
    Tears fill my eyes,
as I look back out at my life, to the nice, safe middle class world where I
reside.
    ‘Stay away from
me Portia,’ he warns. ‘I came here tonight to tell you that. Our paths are
going to be crossing, I had no idea you were here when we moved, don’t go
getting any ideas.’
    ‘I’m not.’
    But I am.
    He knows what
I’m like, he knows my passion, he knows how I think, how frantic my thoughts
are right now.
    ‘Just stay
away.’
    ‘I intend to.’ I
tell him. ‘As if I need another controlling bastard in my life.’
    Ah, but there’s
control and then there’s Luke’s control and my stomach folds in on itself as I
remember. I turn and I look at him, still holding the phone to his ear, still
pretending that he’s not talking to me, but we both know that I can’t lie to
him, we both know it is an impossible ask. ‘What if I don’t want to stay away?’
    ‘I’d fuck your
life up again.’
    I stare back out
to the meeting my husband is lording over and my life is fucked up already, but
it’s steady, it’s safe, it’s predictable.
    It is everything
Luke is not.
    ‘And you’re not
fucking up mine.’ He says, ‘I’ve got a son…’ He warns, ‘It isn’t just about us
any more.’
    ‘Do you think I
don’t know that?’ I choke back my tears. ‘Because if it wasn’t for the twins…’
    I stop myself,
we cannot share details, we cannot have conversations, we