Free Particles of Obsession (A Shadow of Death Romantic Suspense Book 2) by Charlotte Raine Page A

Killer
    I danced around the main room of Alex’s apartment. The music wasn’t even upbeat and it had a slow tempo, but I felt too happy to not dance. I felt like I had never experienced true happiness until I had started planning these murders. I knew how psychotic that sounded, but I had purpose and I was actively trying to solve my problems for the first time in my life.
    Every dream, every thought, every breath
    It’s all about what I would do to get you by my side
    Call me obsessed, call me naive, call me whatever you want
    I’ll follow you to the grave, another Bonnie and Clyde.
    I heard the apartment door open and close. I turned around to see Alex. I shouldn’t have expected anyone else, considering neither of us had told anybody about this place, but there was always that bit of anxiety ramming in my brain, telling me that a SWAT team could come bursting through the door at any second.
    I lowered the volume on the radio and rushed over to him. I wrapped my arms so tight around him, I could feel his chest rise and fall with his breathing. He ran his hand down my hair.
    “You act like you haven’t seen me in a decade,” he said.
    “I’m just so happy,” I said.
    He stared me, trying to read every detail of my face.
    “She’s dead, right?” I asked. “I know you thought after Victoria and Everett, it would be harder to get it done, but since she’s at a different school, it was easy, right?”
    He frowned. “I wouldn’t use the word easy. I had to break into her apartment, but I managed to leave the pen there. I saw ambulances racing to the school as I left…but anyway, yeah, it’s done.”
    “How can you be sure she’s dead if you didn’t stick around?”
    “You’ve seen the results of the poison,” he said. “It kills within a couple of minutes. I ensured it was right where her hand would grip it, so if another person picked up the pen, it wouldn’t hurt them as badly because the poison had all been absorbed. I promise you: she’s gone.”
    I jumped onto the kitchen stool and drummed my hands against the counter. Joy was impossible to contain.
    “We should go do something,” I said. “Dr. Zimmer is doing a reading in the student union in an hour. We should grab some dinner and go listen to him.”
    “Really?” he asked. “I just drove back from the middle of godfucking nowhere and you want to go run and see your professor? I thought at the very least that we would spend some time together alone tonight. Do you ever think about that? The two of us, together? Or is your professor always involved somehow?”
    I flushed, but I kept my head bowed so he couldn’t see my face. I looped my finger through his jeans pocket and pulled him closer to me. He leaned away.
    “You know I love to spend time with you,” I said. “That’s what I figured we would do once we got back from the reading. But if you want to start right now, I’ve been working on my splits today, so I’m all limbered up.”
    I moved my hand toward his groin. He grabbed my hand and shoved it away from him.
    “No,” he said. “Don’t try to distract me with sex. I’m not as stupid as you like to pretend I am. I could look the other way from your obsession with Dr. Zimmer because I thought you saw him as a parental figure, considering the circumstances of your own family…but I’m beginning to doubt that’s what it really is. You’re in love with him and you just see me as a means to an end.”
    “That’s not true,” I said. “You know I only care about him when it comes to my work. I look up to him, but I love you.”
    “You’re so full of shit, I should have seen it from the moment I laid eyes on you,” he said. “Fucking gymnastics with that fake smile on your face.”
    He was nearly shaking with anger. It was frightening, but I’d seen it before. He had been rough with me a few times, but it never got to the point that I thought I was being abused.
    “Alex,” I said. “Come on. You know how I feel