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Kai picked up a piece of glass and winced as it got wedged in his flesh.

"Come here." Darcy tutted, grabbed his hand looked up at him with a thin smile. "You're always so clumsy with your big sausage fingers."

"I don't have sausage fingers," Kai griped. He sat back and let Darcy clear away the glass and blood. She pulled a plaster from her bag—Darcy had everything you could ever want or need in her giant shoulder bag—and wrapped it over the cut.

He looked at her. Her layers of contoured foundation, thickly caked lip gloss and butterfly-like fake eyelashes. She'd always been considered the hottest girl in town, and yes, she did have an amazing body, but he'd never thought she might be intelligent also.

"That was pretty quick thinking, logging onto your channel like that," Kai said.

"Well, that was why I hid," she said, an air defensively. "I didn't want them to see me filming them."

"You did good, kiddo." Kai punched her lightly in the arm. He always called her names like 'kiddo,' and it drove her up the wall.

She frowned but said nothing, continuing to clean the glass shards from the carpet. Nobody else had stayed to help after the debacle with the police.

'I always thought my friends were a bunch of useless idiots,' he thought, watching her work. 'But Kenny and Darcy really saved the day.'

"Don't you have to get home?" he asked her. "It's almost 2 am?"

Darcy shook her head and brushed her hair out of her face. "Like my family have even noticed I'm not there. Can I stop over again?"

"Sure." Kai stood. "I'll go get the sleeping bag out."

"Erm—" Darcy twisted and grabbed his leg. "You have a double bed. Why don't we just take a side each?"

"Because I don't trust myself," Kai told her, flashing her a smile he hoped was endearing and not perverted.

"What do you mean?" she asked, staring up at him with wide, befuddled eyes.

'Okay... maybe she's not that clever,' Kai thought.

"I mean, if I have a hot naked girl in my bed, I might not be able to control myself," Kai told her.

"I can borrow some pyjamas," she offered, missing the point entirely.

Kai snickered. "Just... use the sleeping bag, yeah?"

He'd never thought of Darcy as a potential girlfriend, despite her good looks. They were friends and had been friends for years. To suddenly start putting his dick in her would feel weird at this point.

"Let me borrow a T-shirt," she said, letting him go. When he came back, she was using some sort of girly wipe product to clean the make-up off her face.

"Don't look at me," she cried, waving him away.

The funny thing was, she looked prettier without all that crap plastered over her face.

He dropped the sleeping bag and shirt on the sofa and left to put the kettle on. There wasn't much chance of him sleeping tonight, but a mug of hot cocoa might help.

After sprinkling a few mini marshmallows on top of the drinks, he took a mug through to Darcy. She was sat on the sofa in nothing but his T-shirt with her legs drawn up. He had to admit she looked good.

"Thank you." She took the cup and cradled it in both hands, warming herself.

Kai took a seat beside her and pulled the throw over the pair of them before turning on the television and scrolling through movies. He stopped on Thirteen Ghosts, remembering when he'd purchased the movie to watch with Jenna.

The memory of her clinging to Riley's hand in his living room haunted him.

'I've lost her,' he realised.

The initial flash of anger and jealously clouded his judgment for a moment, and all he wanted to do was lash out at the pair of them.

'I can't blame her though.'

He flicked past the horror section and found a comedy. It wouldn't cheer him up, but at least it wouldn't make him feel worse.

He didn't mean to fall asleep on the sofa with Darcy, but he woke with her head in his lap, drooling onto his shorts. As he nudged her, she groaned and mumbled, "Five more minutes?"

Being careful not to wake her, he slid out from underneath her and covered her with the sleeping bag before running to his room. A quick glance at the wall clock told him it was still early, but he knew he wouldn't get back to sleep—there were to many thoughts swirling about inside his head.

"No," he groaned as he checked his phone and found a message from Damien. His head hung as he went to throw the phone down.

'I may as well just get it over with,' he decided on second thought. Though he could easily tell the little freak to naff off, he didn't want to become the target of the lad's laser-like obsession and fury.

Leaving Darcy asleep on the couch, he slipped out, still wearing yesterday’s clothes and without washing. This was as much laziness as it was a sexual deterrent. Surely Damien would want to wait until he'd cleaned. He didn't strike Kai as the kind of guy 'dirty sex' would appeal to.

When he arrived, Damien was waiting by the door, wedging it open with his foot and wearing an awfully smug smile.

"Come in," he said, raising an arm and pointing at the staircase. "And take your shoes off. I'm precious about the carpets."

Kai kicked off his trainers, giving the 'precious' carpets a sour look before following Damien to his room for the second time. As Damien sat, smiling up at Kai, he felt a flutter in his chest.

'Why am I so nervous?' he wondered. When Damien patted the bed, indicating for him to sit, Kai realised the issue he was facing. He felt like a virgin again.

With the first-time nerve bubbling in his belly, Kai swallowed and bit his lip before taking a seat next to Damien.

"How did you know Felix was a massive fake?" Kai asked. It was a sad attempt at stalling the inevitable, but he was also interested to know.

"You can't become a master swordsman or jujitsu expert in a matter of a few years, especially if you're as lazy and entitled as Felix," Damien said.

When Kai pinned him with a knowing stare, he added, "Well, that and the hairdresser told me his stepmother had been complaining about how his dad paid hundreds on lessons just for him to quit."

Kai laughed and nodded. "Trust you to squeeze it out of some salon bimbo."

"They're the best people to go to for gossip," Damien said with a shrug. "And I can't keep my hair in this condition without regular appointments."

He flicked his shoulder length ebony hair and flashed a half-smile.

"But how did you know he was planning to set me up?" Kai asked.

"I infected his computer with a virus when he accepted me as a friend on social media." Damien smiled. "It allowed me to connect to his webcam and see everything he was doing."

"Wow." Kai was impressed. He knew he owed Damien big time—he'd be in prison right now if not for his help. Still... he didn't want to pay up his end of the bargain. Part of him wanted to beg out of it, but considering Damien's reaction last time, it probably wouldn't go down too well.

The boys stared at each other until Damien started to giggle. "You're giving me those big, sad, puppy-dog eyes."

Kai let out a quiet snicker and looked down, unsure what to say.

"Look, I think we both know I don't want to do this, but I'm a man of my word so..." Kai shrugged, unable to look up at the boy beside him.

"Hmm." Damien chuckled. He placed a finger underneath Kai's chin and forced him to look into his eyes. "I guess I could but you out of your misery now, though it has been a lot of fun seeing you squirm."

"Huh?" Kai frowned.

"I never had any intention of making you go through with it. I figured, after this, you could owe me a favour," Damien said.

"Seriously?" The wave of sheer relief knocked the air from Kai's body. "You aren't going to make me do anything with you?"

Damien's nose wrinkled as he pulled his head back, his face twisted in disgust. "I'm not a seedy rapist, Kai."

"Right." Kai looked down, wondering if he would show the same restraint.

"Thank you, Damien, thank you so much." He sniffed and wiped his nose. It wasn't due to tears, just the start of a cold, but it made him feel weak and unmanly all the same. "I swear, I will make this up to you—"

"Like I said," Damien interjected, "I expect you repay the favour if I'm ever in need, but aside from that, it's fine. Friends help each other, right?"

"Right," Kai nodded. Now he understood. Damien wanted to be his friend. "We're mates."

After everything he’d done to Damien, the least he could do was offer his friendship, as cheap as it seemed to Kai himself. It made him wonder about the question Riley had posed to him last night.

‘Why is everyone so obsessed with me?’