Obey.

26

"Welcome home," Cayden said as he opened the apartment door, wearing grey sweats and a almost tight white tshirt, stepping aside as I walked in feeling awkward, already scared as shit at what I had decided to do. Before I left the house, I had taken a bump of coke, to fuel my confidence in my decision. Now without my stash, I felt jittery and a nervous mess. "Well, not to say its your- I mean obviously me case su casa and all that but ya know, not like as if to- you know what, never mind," he finished as he closed the door. It seemed he was nervous too. "My dad is knocked out in his room and trust me, he sleeps like the dead, wont be up until tomorrow late afternoon from the reek of liquor he tracked in."

"Oh," I said, stepping away at the venom dripping from his tone. It was a tone I was terrified of, one that gave me a quick panic.

Dummy, why come alone into a male's house? Another wolf who reeked of alpha? This is what you get, whatever he does to you-

But the thoughts melted away as quickly as Cayden's sour expression as he smiled warmly at me.

"I'm so glad you came, do you like scary movies, action or comedy?" He said as he started to walk away towards the small living room. A breath I didn't know I was holding released as he turned away from me. I had been hyper aware with his eyes on me.

Did he know I was high? Could he read the terror in my eyes? Was there something on my face? Possibly white dust crusting at my nostrils?

"Um, comedy," I said because I had let the silence stretch and realized I hadn't spoken more than one word since arriving at his doorstep. And because I didn't want to see anything gory or painful. When people at school got into fist fights I couldn't even bare to watch it. I could relate too much to the pain.

At what point does one stop feeling pain? Surely after being beat over and over ones skin becomes tough, the pain receptors to the brain cut off?

"Here come pick from this titles, sorry we dont have internet, kind of old fashioned, only dvds and a player."

Putting down the single bag I had brought with me, knowing I was going to have to leave it here or dump it before I got back, Cayden's house scent would be all over it, I tentavly made my way around the three seater old styled, faded orange sofa, to sit next to the impressive pile of dvds. Most with sale stickers on them, or stickers from yard or garage sales. His apartment was pretty small, but it didn't feel suffocating and lonely. It felt warm and lived in. The place was filled with carpet other than the kitchen and it felt soft to sit on. It was cozy. And even though Cayden got up and went to the kitchen, he was still very much close by. In fact no matter where he went in his home, he would be close by. It would feel suffocating if he was Hunter, but he wasn't and so it felt safe.

This felt like a safe place.

Nothing like the wide open marble floored mansion I was used to. Where everyone was just as cold as the place they lived in.

Going through the dvds slowly, I realized I haven't watched a movie in a very long time. Hunter would come home sometimes and turn on the tv but with him around it was hard to focus on anything other than his intentions. When he was around I made sure to keep an eye on his hands. They were deadly weapons to me, he might as well walk around with knives or guns clutched, because that's how I saw it.

"This looks like it could be good," I randomly picked on out, with a familiar faced actor, Seth, before standing up. "Um, mind if I change real quick?" I asked as I made my way back to where I left my bag by the door, looking at it with a quick thought that I should abort and run now.

"Sure, its that door right there," he pointed, before looking back at me. "did you eat dinner? Like real dinner, none of that crumbs and a flower on a plate with a drizzle of mystery sauce fancy people eat?"