"And she hit me," I breathe out.

Gravel crunches under my shoes as I run on the path. Chris beside me snorts, prompting me to glance at him. Beads of sweat decorate his red face, little huffs of air whistling through his mouth.

"Okay, fine, she pushed me. Which isn't much of a difference, if you ask me."

"Uh, I think it's a huge difference, Nat." Chris lags behind, groaning like a kid who is told to go outside and play. "Can we take a break? Seriously, you're going to kill me one of these days with these runs of yours."

I quirk an eyebrow at him. "Are you saying you can't keep up with me?" I slow down a little so we are side by side again.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying." He stops and stumbles over to a large rock on the side of the trail. With an exhausted sigh, he plops onto the hard surface and collapses backward, spreading his arms out with his palms facing down as he stares up at the sky.

"Okay hen, I'll take a loop and meet you back here then," I shout back, not even bothering to halt my progress.

"Great! You can carry my limbs back when I'm torn apart by mountain lions!" he yells back.

Shaking my head with an amused chuckle, I continue to run. Tiny rocks crackle beneath me. I turn around a curve, the sun hiding behind the mountains showing itself. It's low enough to not pierce my face, but its rays are still strong enough to make me squint.

I keep my breathing even, my lungs burning inside my chest like a small fire. My legs are aching just a little as I pick up my speed, the tall rocks, trees, and bushes whipping by me. Wind breezes against my face as I push forward, faster, and faster. Desperate to feel the pain as it flows through my veins with each pump, each movement, and each breath.

It has been five days since the bathroom incident. When she managed to make me open up about my past. No matter how vague I was, it wasn't supposed to happen. Fuck, I was determined to not get close to her at all. For us to not know anything about each other. Although, okay, I actually do know quite a bit about her, considering I dated both her mother and brother. But she wasn't supposed to know shit about me.

But what irks me the most is not that she's never had a relationship or is demirose. It's not even about me opening up, or that she told me that I didn't deserve to have my heart ripped out and torn to pieces. Which I definitely do deserve, because why else would it happen to me?

It's when I caught her before she fell. When I landed on top of her. Fucking hell, she looked so... so angelic. Like, heaven sent. Cute. Pretty. And that look inside her warm, brown eyes.

She was confused, but curious. And when she actually leaned up and her lips brushed against mine, the soft, silky feel. Like goose feathers gently floating--

I push forward, exerting myself to my limits as I run. My whole body burns as if set on fire. My legs are ready to give out, but still, I force myself to the brink of exhaustion until the world around me shuts out as the only sound in my head is my hart pounding louder than the roar of a jet engine.

I want to forget about that moment, that brief moment when I wanted to kiss her. To run my hands through her hair, to grab her by her skinny neck, touch her, explore every inch of her, and turn her into putty as she succumbs to me. To hear screams and moans floating out of that pretty mouth of hers.

I didn't want to just fuck her. No, I wanted more than that. I wanted all of her. Her heart. Her soul. Her mind. Her body. Every single cell and part of her.

All of her.

She's everywhere, living in my head and thoughts rent-free. I've vowed to myself, after the whole shitshow with the Jungs, that I will never be close to anyone ever again. I won't let anyone get inside my head, gain my trust, my love. Not that I even have any love left in me to give out.

I'm the one who makes people addicted to me, not the other way around. Inadvertently, of course. I never purposely hurt others. It really isn't my fault that they still end up falling for me or can't get enough of me even after I tell them that there is nothing to expect from me aside from a good fuck.

Doesn't mean I don't enjoy it though. That ego and confidence boost I get when someone falls for me.

But with Mira? I actually don't want her to fall for me. I don't want to hurt her. She doesn't deserve it. She's too good, too sweet. She shouldn't know how it feels to have your heart broken.

What the fuck am I supposed to do?

Chris appears ahead of me, sitting upright on the rock. With my ears ringing and air clawing at my throat, my body finally gives out as I abruptly stop just as I pass him. Propping my hands on my knees, I breathe in through my nose and exhale through my mouth.

"Shit, Nat, you okay?" Chris asks, his voice dim as his footsteps approach me. I wave my hand at him to indicate that I'm fine, unable to speak as I continue to take painful deep breaths.

Even though that's the furthest thing from the truth.

It takes me about fifteen seconds to recuperate enough to straighten and roll my neck around as I breathe out a heavy sigh. Drops of sweat swim down my burning face, the evening air cooling them down enough to feel pleasant on my skin. 

I turn to Chris, who looks at me with an arched eyebrow as he wordlessly hands me my black Yeti bottle. Accepting it, I take a long drink, but not too much after running five miles, the last couple hundred yards spent as if I was in the Olympics.

"So... What happened after she-" he pauses with a snort. "-'hit' you."

With a roll of my eyes, I close the water bottle and proceed to walk, Chris following beside me. My legs still ache, but I'm already so used to it after running that it's nothing.

"She threatened to kill me if I hurt Mira." I shrug. "You know, the usual best friend bullshit."

"What else?"

I sigh. "Aside from finding out that Mira called me hot when talking to her friend? Nothing."

"Woah, she called you hot?" Chris nudges me playfully in the shoulder. "I knew it!"

"You knew nothing."

"She thinks you're hot!" A grin spreads across his stupid face in my periphery.

"Shut up,"  mutter, quickening my pace.

"So what are you going to do about it?" he asks.

I look at him. "Nothing, Chris. Okay? Nothing."

"Of course you're going to do nothing. You swore you wouldn't jeopardize the roommate thing this time, right?"

I cock an eyebrow. "Then why did you ask me what was--"

"To test you, Nat. I know your tendency to take your living situation with roommates to another level."

I scoff. "Says the playboy himself." A chipmunk scampers across the path in front of us, disappearing into a bush.

"Hey, at least no one tried to kidnap me."

I push him, causing him to stumble off the path as his shit-eating grin remains plastered on his face.

"You're an asshole."

"Says the playgirl herself," he says mockingly.

"Okay, that's it." I unscrew my water bottle cap and fling the rest of the water at him, drenching his blonde hair.

He yelps. "What the hell, Nat!"

"Last one to the car drives!" I yell, dashing down the path as the parking lot comes into view.

With a growl, Chris's footsteps thunder behind me, but he doesn't stand a chance when I reach the car first. I can feel people's stares on us, but at the moment it doesn't matter to me.

"That... was... unfair," Chris gasps out when he half-runs and half-stumbles up to me. "You had a... headstart..."

"Should have reacted faster." I give him a winner's smile and toss him the keys. He catches them as he glares at me. "Now you have to drive and don't ask me anything."

"Whatever, Nat. But if you sleep with that girl, you're going to let me make running schedules for both of us, and you're definitely not going to like it. Deal?"

Instead of a prompt answer, I actually think about it. What if I do want to sleep with her, and more? Even if there's a zero point one percent chance of that happening, it's a probability that I'm considering.

No, that's never going to happen. And maybe this deal will seal it, because I know that Chris will make a running schedule hat will torture me since running is basically my elixir in life (like some other stuff).

"Okay, deal."

A/N

This chapter was written from scratch (in my mind too) just today within 2 hours so apologies if some stuff is not good or confusing.

But how is the story going so far?