I take one hand and lean against the ancient oak, my fingertips gripping into the crevices that run through the bark. My eyes come to rest on the pattern, chaotic like the crack in parched summer earth. Under my boots, the golden leaves are as noisy as the static in my head. Nothing is making sense anymore, not even the trees.

Why is he making it so hard for me to stay away? Is it a part of his masterful plan to deceive me? And why do I keep falling into his traps? Many questions, and no answers. So far, I was living in a holding pattern. My life was a film put on pause while the rest of the world churned relentlessly on, as if I were a ghost. But now...it's time to get some answers. Yes. Perhaps then, I'll be able to pick up the pieces of a life I had control over.

With determination written on my face, I walk back home, open the front door, climb up the stairs and enter my apartment. I am not surprised at all when I find him still asleep on my bed, his naked chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm. Should I let him sleep a little longer? He seems to need it after last night. What the hell am I thinking? I shouldn't even care about his need of sleep. God, I'm losing it.

I let out an exasperated sigh and hover above him, watching him. Who even looks that good so early in the morning?

"Wake up," I order him, but obviously my commanding voice is too hoarse to accomplish anything. I'm sure he would never pretend to sleep while having me barking over his head. "I said, wake up!" Still playing the dead, huh? "Okay, I've had enough." I reach out to grab him by the arm, but before I can do so, I feel a rough hand suddenly grab my wrist. What the fuck?

He pulls me down so hard that I think my head almost flew off, but only a bit, because it's still here, stuck to my neck. My feet slip over wood as I try to regain my balance, but it is inevitable. My face crushes on his chest with a loud smack and I instantly curse myself for being so stupid. When I struggle to my feet, Kai immediately pulls me down again and then seizes my neck into a tight hold.

"Tell me what to do one more time, Andrew, and I'll gut you like a fish," he whispers in my ear.

"Is that how you thank me for last night, you ungrateful bastard?"

"Thank you for what exactly?" he freezes for a moment, but doesn't break his hold.

"I shouldn't have bothered. I should have ditched you the moment you started flipping."

"What?" he immediately lets go off me, and I scramble off the bed, stretching my neck in the process.

I stare at him in suspicion. "Why are you acting so surprised?"

"Was it a full moon yesterday?"

"How does that—"

"Just answer the goddamn question!" he shouts, his jaw clenched in anger.

"Yes, it was! Are you pleased now?" He just stares at me in surprise, gaping like a fish. "I brought you here and forced you to sleep. You should thank me."

His eyes lock on mine, wide and wild. Shock, pure shock crosses his features at my answer, and he backs away from me, his back meeting the wall. "I—I slept? All through the night?" he stutters.

"Uhm, yes?" but the fear in his eyes tells me there is something going on; something he is not telling me, and I intend to find out what that is.