Obsession

Chapter 18

My eyes shoot open when there's a knock at the front door. Kai sits up and curses under his breath.

I jump up and hurry to the window to make sure it's Rue. When I see her curly brown hair, I almost cry out in relief.

"It's Rue."

I start for the door, but Kai grabs my wrist to stop me. "Don't. She can come back later."

"If she's here at this hour, something must be wrong. I have to..." I trail off when I try to pull away from him, but he doesn't let me. "Let me go, Kai!"

"Mara, please. I'm begging you. Don't go."

"She's my friend, I have to-"

"AND I'M YOUR BOYFRIEND!" he shouts.

My eyes widen in fear and I shrink back from him.

He squeezes his eyes shut and growls. "Just go," he finally says. "Go see what she wants."

I pick my shirt up off the floor and pull it over my head before hurrying downstairs to answer the door.

"Mara! Oh my God!" Rue cries, falling into my arms.

"Rue? What's wrong?"

"It's my grandma. She's- she's gone! My mom just called and...oh Mara, what am I gonna do?" she weeps.

It's seriously hard for me to keep my composure when she does this, but I know I'm gonna have to if I want to get out of this hell that I've created for myself.

"It's okay," I tell her, hugging her tight and running my fingers through her messy hair. "I'm here."

"I knew you would be. That's why I came here. I can't get through this without you, Mara," she sobs loudly. 

I hear footsteps coming down the stairs behind me and soon, Kai appears next to us, fully clothed.

"Kai, Rue's grandmother died. It looks like I'm gonna have my hands full for the rest of the day," I say, nodding down to her.

I can tell he doesn't like it, but thankfully, he nods. "Just call me later, okay?"

"Okay," I reply, kissing him on the cheek.

After he leaves, I pull Rue inside and close the door. "Oh my God! That. was. gold! You deserve an Academy Award for that performance!"

She takes a bow, laughing like an idiot. "So tell me, why did you call a code red? What happened?"

I press my back up against the door and sigh. "Rue, Kai is...weird."

"I know," she replies in a duh tone. "I've only been telling you that since the seventh grade."

"I'm being serious! Something's...something's wrong with him. He gets really hot when things start getting sexual between us."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"No, not like that. Like, hot hot. Like burning hot."

She looks at me like I'm crazy. "Doesn't everyone get hot when having sex?"

"It's not normal to be this hot. It's like he's burning up with a fever, but it only happens when we start getting...you know..."

"Did you ask him about it?"

"Yes, but he just brushed it off like it was nothing. He said he has a condition," I say, using air quotes.

"That doesn't sound like any condition I've ever heard of," she says, still looking a bit perplexed.