An Act of Obsession (Acts of Honor Book 3) by K.C. Lynn

crawl into bed and stare at the ceiling, listening to nothing but silence. My heart grows lonelier with each passing moment, and I begin thinking about my family.
    Glancing at the clock, I see it’s late, but now more than ever I need to hear my mother’s voice. To know they’re all okay. It’s been two months since my last phone call to them, and even though each time rips through my wounded heart, it also brings me peace.
    I reach for my prepaid cell phone and dial the landline before covering the bottom with my hand. My heart thunders with every ring until it stops altogether when my mom answers.
    “Hello.” Her voice is soft but she doesn’t sound asleep.
    “Hi, Mom,” I whisper, even though she can’t hear me.
    “Hello?”
    “I miss you guys,” I tell her, ensuring my hand is gripped tightly over the transmitter.
    “Sophie, baby, is that you?” she asks like always, her voice thick with the same searing pain tearing through me. “Please, honey, say something.”
    I bite my lip, tears rushing down my cheeks as I fight the urge to talk to her—to confirm that it’s me even if she already knows. “I love you. I’m doing okay and hope you all are, too.”
    “Is it her?” I hear my dad ask, sounding close.
    “Sophie, if you can hear me, please come back to us. Come home,” she pleads. “Everything will be okay. We’ll help you and get through this together. We’ll protect you.”
    She doesn’t realize that no one can protect me and this is the only way to make sure they stay safe.
    “Please, baby, we all miss you so much.”
    My throat begins to burn, and I feel myself weaken. “I love you all so much,” I say again. “Give Dad and Tess a kiss for me.”
    “Soph—”
    I hang up, cutting off my dad’s gruff voice. My phone drops to my chest the same time a sob explodes from me. Turning on my side, I hug my pillow and cry out all my pain and frustration. I cry until exhaustion sweeps over me and I’m pulled under, knowing I will wake up and live out another lonely day.

CHAPTER NINE
    Kolan
    M y thoughts are consumed with Lia as I drive home later that night. Even Benny’s incessant talking does nothing to distract me. When I walked out of the hospital room to see that asshole hitting on her, I was ready to rip him apart. I have no right to feel that way, no claim to her, and I know it. No matter how much I wish otherwise, it will never happen. It can’t. She’s definitely not the type to handle my kind of fucked-up.
    But that’s the only way I come—the only way I know.
    I need to remember that, especially for her sake. It’s clear she’s endured too much pain, and the last thing I want to do is add to it. But it’s getting hard. I’ve never wanted someone the way I want her and not just her body but her. Every time I’m not with her, I’m thinking about her—worrying about her.
    “Why are we at the beach?” Benny asks when I turn down the street that leads to the public beach.
    “Because I live here.”
    “You live on the beach?”
    “Yeah,” I reply nonchalantly. I don’t think it’s a big deal, but I guess to a kid it would be.
    “Sahweet! Guess it’s a good thing I brought my swim trunks. I was hoping for a pool but the ocean will do just fine.”
    “I’m sure it will,” I say blandly. “But for the record, I have a pool, too.”
    “Yes!” He fist-pumps. “Ocean or pool? Decisions, decisions. It’s gonna be a hard couple of days with you.”
    I grunt. “Don’t get too excited, kid. You have school then we have the gym, then you can decide from there whether it will be the pool or ocean.”
    “I say we skip school. I feel a tummy ache comin’ on anyway.”
    My eyes shift to his. “Nice try, but I don’t think so.”
    He shrugs. “It was worth a shot.”
    Shaking my head, I drive down the long stretch, passing by the few condos before we arrive at my place that’s situated all on its own, far enough away from everyone else.
    “You have your own