All Chapters of CRUEL OBSESSION: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The next day at school, I moved through the halls like a ghost. I wasn’t sure if I had even slept. Everything felt hazy, distant, like I was floating outside my own body, watching myself go through the motions.People spoke to me—I heard their voices and saw their lips move—but none of it registered.“Elena? Did you hear me?”I blinked. Tiffany was standing in front of me, waving a manicured hand in my face.“Hmm?” I mumbled.She narrowed her eyes. “Are you sick or something? You look… awful.”I gave her a blank stare. “Thanks.”She huffed, clearly unimpressed with my lack of reaction.She flounced off, and I let my head rest against the locker for a moment, my body sagging with exhaustion.“Elena?”That voice.I knew it instantly.I turned my head just enough to meet Noah’s gaze. He stood a few feet away, hands shoved in his pockets, his expression unreadable.Something twisted inside me.I should have walked away. I should have ignored him, just like he had told me to.But I didn’t.

By the time the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows over the city, I was already on my way to the fight.The location was always different, always changing to keep the authorities off our backs, but the rules were the same—fight, win, get paid.I parked my motorcycle in an alley two blocks away and made the rest of the walk on foot. The underground ring was buried deep within the abandoned district, an old warehouse disguised as just another forgotten ruin. But inside, it was anything but empty.By the time I stepped through the side entrance, the place was alive.The scent of sweat, blood, and cheap alcohol hung thick in the air. The roar of the crowd was deafening, vibrating off the metal walls as two fighters tore into each other in the center ring.Kade was waiting near the back, leaning against a stack of crates with his arms crossed. His sharp eyes landed on me immediately, and he pushed off the crates with a smirk.“Didn’t think you’d show,” he said, his voice ba

The drive back was quiet after we dropped Tiffany off. Cameron didn’t say much, and I had nothing to say. My head was still a mess from everything—the lake trip, his words, and the way he kept watching me like I would run away soon.When we finally pulled up to my house, I reached for the door handle, but Cameron’s voice stopped me.“Elena.”I sighed, letting my hand drop before turning to face him. The way he looked at me made my chest tighten—like he was searching for something, some kind of reassurance that I wasn’t sure I could give.“What’s going on with you?” he asked, his fingers gripping the steering wheel. “You’ve been quiet.”“I’m just tired,” I said, the same excuse I’d been using for weeks.His jaw twitched. “You’re always tired.”I had nothing to say to that, so I just reached for the door again.“Elena.” His hand caught mine, gentle but firm. “Talk to me.”I forced a small smile. “We just had a long day. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”He didn’t look satisfied, but he nod

I wasn’t supposed to care.Noah had made it clear—painfully clear—that he wanted nothing to do with me. And yet, I found myself watching him the next day at school, my eyes drawn to him no matter how hard I tried to focus on something else.He looked different. Exhausted. Frustrated. Like the weight of the world was pressing down on him, and he had no one to share the burden with. His shoulders were tense, his movements sharp and restrained, like he was barely holding himself together.I shouldn’t care.But I did.I didn’t know why. But I felt for him; he looked so tired and I just wanted to take a little bit of the burden off his shoulders.I wanted to help.But I didn’t know how.And for once, I didn’t know how to feel about that.The day dragged on, but my mind remained stuck on Noah. Even when I was surrounded by my friends, laughing at jokes I barely heard, my attention kept drifting back to him.He moved through the halls like a ghost, detached from everything around him. He did

Lying in bed that night, I stared at my phone, my fingers hovering over the screen. I shouldn’t have been doing this. I didn’t even know why I cared.But the image of Noah’s exhaustion lingered in my mind—the quiet weight in his eyes, the tension in his shoulders, the way he barely reacted when I handed him that coffee earlier.Before I could second-guess myself, I typed out the message.Are you okay?I hit send and immediately regretted it.Seconds passed. Then minutes.Nothing.I exhaled sharply, tossing my phone onto the bed beside me. Maybe he wouldn’t reply. Maybe he was asleep. Or maybe he just didn’t care.I rolled onto my side, trying to push the thought of him away, but my mind refused to settle.And then, just as my eyes were drifting shut—Buzz.My breath caught as I grabbed my phone, my heart pounding for reasons I refused to acknowledge.I hadn’t expected a response.But he answered.Noah: No.A simple word. Just two letters. Yet, something about it made my chest tighten.