Kai smiled to himself as the door clicked open. Jenna was home and she'd only been gone for an hour. Things with Jacob were clearly not going so well. And this was good for everybody involved.Jenna entered the room, stared at Kai and pulled the strangest face.She didn't say anything for a moment, but Kai didn't want to push.After a second, her nose wrinkled up and she asked quietly, "Did you know Jacob is obsessed with you?"Kai laughed and nodded. "He's hated me ever since I met him. I never even did anything--I swear. I only started picking on him because he came after me," he explained. It was the truth."I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you," she said. "Really, I'm so freaking sorry."Kai smiled at her and shrugged. "You figured out what he's up to. That's a first. The other girls I liked still try to get with him now."He said the words before he realised he'd slipped up, and wondered if she'd notice he had just admitted to liking her.Her face gave nothing away."Honestly...
Gordon shifted nervously as he waited for the others to arrive. He watched as Charlene plumped her lips in the mirror, adding layer after layer of cherry gloss. It was obvious who she was doing it for because she never bothered wearing makeup when it was just the two of them.He noted the way her eyes kept checking the clock as if counting down the minutes until Jacob's arrival.'He doesn't even like you!' he wanted to scream at the girl. But that would only make him sound jealous. Besides, she would figure it out on her own once Jacob showed his true intentions and crushed her heart into oblivion.When Tom and Jacob knocked at the door, Gordon was horrified to see Damien with them.He pulled Jacob inside first, whispering, "Why on Earth is that lunatic here?""Love you too, Gordon," Damien shouted in a flat voice. When Gordon looked over, Damien blew him a kiss.'Damn, that freak has good hearing,' Gordon realised, turning red with shame."Turns out none of us regular people know ho
Gordon knelt in the bushes beside Charlene, waiting for Damien. From the description Damien had given, he had been picturing an open field. One where they would be able to hide and keep an eye on Damien as he did his part.It wasn't an open field, but more of a copse. The bushes were so overgrown it was difficult to see anything in the dark, and the paths through the underbrush were like a maze. Damien had left them in a nook that looked like either a homeless person's ex-hideout or a den for drug users. The muddy floor was dotted with sun-bleached litter, and one crusty old blanket lined a hollow tree stump. It wasn't quite big enough for four people to crouch in, so they were squeezed in like sardines. As he was standing next to Charlene he didn't mind the lack of space too much.After ten minutes or so, they collectively started to worry. "What if Damien gets hurt?" Tom whispered.They deliberated over what to do for another minute or two before a "Boo!" from behind made them a
Jenna and Kai were walking the dog later than usual—specifically to avoid Jacob. But there he was."For fuck’s sake," Kai hissed under his breath. "It's like he knows when we are leaving the house.""Maybe he does," Jenna muttered in return. "It wouldn't surprise me if he planted a bug in your bedroom."Jenna was half joking. The guy was clearly a little bit disturbed and completely obsessed. People like that did crazy things.Kai was obviously thinking the same thing. His face screwed up as he muttered, "It's just too often to be a coincidence."Today, Jacob did not have his mother's pair of dogs in tow. He wasn't even pretending to be out there for a particular reason. That, coupled with the fact he was staring them down, made Jenna nervous. Even though Kai was a lot bigger, stronger and faster. Even though there were two of them and one of him. Something about the line of his lips and the steely cold in his eyes made Jenna nervous. Eyes that she once found irresistibly gorgeous
Kai woke in a dark, groggy state. It took him a moment to realise it was daytime and that his eyes were covered. Tiny slants of light became visible as his eyes focused. His headache intensified as he concentrated on them."What the heck?" he mumbled, recognising the familiar situation he'd found himself in.He'd been tied up here before, many years ago. That was before he'd started working out on a daily basis. Before he'd learned self-defence. Before he'd been a 6 foot 4 guy with an eight-pack and virtually zero body fat. 'And yet... here I am again,' he thought, pulling at the knots around his hands."Damien?" he asked, hearing the shuffle of a footstep. "I promised I'd leave you alone and I did, right?"He sighed, hearing only silence. "I never touched you. I never spoke to you. Hell... I never even looked at you," he argued. "So why?"He felt a blinding flash of pain as the blindfold ripped away from his face. Squinting in the sunlight, it took him a moment to make them out.
It was dark. So dark. Charlene thought that her eyes had to adjust eventually. She waited and waited.The world remained pitch black.It was terrifying and disorienting, but it was not as bad as the cold. She was colder than she had been in her life. Here, on the hard, damp stone floor, she looked back to her days in the manky old shed with fondness. It had been like a holiday camp compared to this.After Damien had left, she had felt about her surroundings. Inside her box-shaped room, consisting of three stone walls and one metal bar wall, was nothing but a metal toilet. She couldn't see it, but through the sense of touch, she had a mental image of something like she'd seen in prison dramas.Was this place a prison cell?'How long have I been here?' she wondered. She had not needed to use the weird toilet, but then, she also had not had anything to eat or drink.There was nothing inside the room. Not even a bottle of water and stale bread. When she heard a lock click, a light fl
Jenna waited with Kenny, both of them huddled behind a wheelie bin on the corner of Jacob's street. "He's not usually late," Jenna whispered. "Hmm." Kenny nodded, his face taut with worry. It was strange to see him without a silly grin. He had to be really worried about Kai.'I'm worried too,' Jenna thought. She was deep in thought, imagining the worst when Kenny pounced out from the hiding place and landed on Jacob.Jacob's things spilt from his bag, splattering his lunch and notes over the pavement. He lay there underneath Kenny, looking shocked for just a second.Then he smiled."Hello, Kenny," he said in a creepy voice."If you don't tell me where Kai is, I'm going to break your arm," Kenny told him. He already had his arm cranked into a position that his arm did not usually want to bend.Jacob laughed. Even as Kenny pulled at him, he continued to laugh. "Go on," he taunted. "Break it. I'd break it myself to get a week off school if I had the body strength."As Kenny pushed h
After spending the morning at the police station, Jenna was no closer to finding Kai. They had listened to her statement and said they would take Jacob and Gordon in for questioning. But questioning them was all they could do without any actual evidence.Harry was pacing the waiting area when she got out of the interview room. He turned to face her so fast he spilt the paper cup of coffee in his hand over his jacket."What is all this?" he asked. "Who is this Jacob guy, and why do you think he has something to do with Kai going missing?"The barrage of questions—questions she had just spent hours answering—made her brain hurt."I honestly don't know. All I know is, Jacob pretended to shoot Angel, Kai chased after him and I haven't seen him since. Jacob is... weird. He's obsessed with Kai," Jenna said. She was trying her best to explain it, but it was hard to put into words. Jacob was an enigma."Do you know where this Jacob lives?" He asked. "The police said they were going there no