Chapter 15 Obsession: Black POV
SENIOR YEAR
Benedict Cargill is a dead man walking.
That asshole has been rubbing his budding friendship with Madison Smith in my face every single opportunity he gets.
We haven't fought in a while. Maybe this is the perfect time to bash his face in and blame it on rivalry.
And to top it all off, the asshole made the varsity swimming team. Of course he did, his father pays an exorbitant amount of money to hone his skills.
But he'll never be as good as me. I will make sure of it.
"You're going to kill yourself trying to be better than that asshole." Raul, my best friend and the only person I trust in this hellhole holds his hand out to help lift me from the pool.
Of course he knows all about my rivalry with Benedict. Raul and I have been friends ever since I can remember. We grew up in the same neighborhood, and I made sure he got a scholarship to come to this school. It helped that he is as fast as a bullet and the best receiver in football I've ever seen.
"He'll never beat me." I say, confidence dripping from my voice.
No matter how much training he gets, you can't beat natural talent, and I've been a natural ever since my mother took me to the public swimming pool for the first time.
"She's here."
I follow Raul's gaze and lo and behold, there she is.
Madison Smith.
The sunshine to my dull days.
She gets more beautiful every day that I see her. I don't know how it's possible that I can become more enamored by her, so I quickly have to tie my towel in a knot in my front before the whole fucking swimming team sees my boner in n the ridiculous Speedo they make us wear.
My boner deflates when she laughs at something that asshole says. What is she doing here anyway? Coach doesn't like spectators at practice and I don't want to see her being yelled at. I might choke Coach if he does that.
"Don't do anything stupid." Raul follows me where I walk over to where Benedict is clearly busy charming my girl.
I'm not a good person, and I know I don't deserve someone as pure and beautiful like her, but neither does Benedict. And if I shouldn't have her, he's the last person that should. I would even push her to date someone far better suited for her than either of us.
"No spectators during practice." I say as soon as I walk up to them, looking at Benedict. "You know the rules."
A faint floral smell drifts off her, and I can't help but to look at her.
A faint blush covers her cheeks as she looks nervously from me to Benedict. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I honestly didn't know."
"Why are you such a prick!" Benedict narrows his eyes at me. "It's fifteen minutes before practice even starts!"
"It's okay." Madison says hastily as she picks up her backpack and slings it over her shoulder. "I have freshman dance recital anyways, see you around Ben."
She calls him Ben. I hate that she has that familiarity with him in the short time that she's known him, because that means he's managing to get his claws into her.
I watch her as she walks away, before turning my attention back to the enemy. "Didn't I tell you to stay away from her? She comes from a powerful family, you're dead meat if they find out you're running bets on who can bag her first."
The slimeball has the audacity to smirk at me. "Who is gonna tell on me. You?"
The problem between Benedict and me is that he knows me too well. He knows that I will never snitch, no matter how much he pisses me off.
"Is she even worth the risk?" The lie slips seamlessly from my lips. She's so much more than the risk. If Benedict didn't have his eyes on her, I would've been hunting her publicly. The only reason I'm not, is because as soon as he knows I'm interested the way that I am, he will set out to destroy her. I've seen him destroy beautiful things, I can't let him do that to her.
"Have you seen her?" He asks me incredulously. "You know what, I have decided that I'm going to win the bet and make her my girlfriend."
Anger boils through my veins, but I keep a composed front. "You don't do girlfriends."
"Maybe I'm changing the rules." He shrugs his shoulders and chuckles. "She'll make the perfect wife to the Cargill family."
I walk away before I kill him on the spot, and I hear his taunting laughter following me.
That will never happen. I will make sure I throw a spanner in his wheel before she ever becomes his wife.
Benedict Cargill is a psychopath, and maybe I'm one too, and maybe Madison Smith is better off never having to deal with either of us.
I slip away from practice when the freshmen hit the pool, and I find my way to the auditorium, slipping through the doors unseen.
On the stage wearing nothing but a pink leotard and tights, is the graceful body of the girl dancing ballet that has infiltrated every part of my waking thoughts.
Her arms are gracefully above her head, and she's up on her toes like she was born like that.
It's the look on her face that captivates me most, though. Pure happiness radiates from her eyes even from where I'm hiding.
I want to bottle the pure joy she exudes and keep it inside me forever.
Madison Smith has become an obsession that runs through my blood that I don't want to get rid of.
I need to get her away from Benedict, before I finish school.
Otherwise, he might destroy her before I have a chance to catch her for myself.