Maddy woke up by the rumbling of her empty stomach, a woozy sensation spread all over her wary body.

She was starving. She hadn't really had any dinner last night, her anxiety twisting her stomach and making her lose her appetite.

She pulled herself up and dragged her feet to the kitchen.

Time to make breakfast.

She opened and closed cupboards, drawers, the fridge, routing for something to eat. Her stomach made a low, rolling sound.

"Pancakes it is, then," she spoke to it, patting her belly.

She rummaged in one of the drawers in search of flour and sugar. Nothing. She pushed the drawer with her knee and it closed with a clang. Then she opened a high cupboard, standing on the tip of her toes to reach it. Her hands fumbled in it, fingering the various products.

"Damn it, where is it?" she mumbled.

"What are you doing?"

Startled at the closeness of the voice right behind her, she slammed the cupboard shut and twirled around, grasping the kitchen counter, made of light brown granite.

"It's literally five in the morning," said Carter, sleepily rubbing an eye with his hand. His morning voice was equal parts sexy and cute, making Maddy's stomach give a little jump.

She blamed it on the hunger.

He was only a couple of meters away from her in his black hoodie and sweatpants, his hair messy and his black eyes puffy. He had just woken up.

"Then why aren't you sleeping?" she finally spoke.

"Because you woke me up," he accused her. "I thought there was a mouse trolling in the cupboards or something."

Maddy ignored his last comment and asked: "Do you know where the flour is? Or the sugar?"

"I don't live here, princess. I have no idea."

"Great." She opened another cupboard. "Are you going to make yourself useful or are you planning on just standing there?"

"Nah, I think I'm good." He pulled out one of the kitchen stools and sat comfortably in front of the table.

Maddy wanted to punch him, but just when she was about to turn around, she finally found the flour and sugar. It was time.

"You're making breakfast?" asked Carter.

"Yeah, pancakes. And you won't get a single bite," she told him coldly.

"That's mean."

"You're meaner."

"You like it deep down."

Okay.

"You always have something to say, don't you?" she huffed, setting a frying pan on the stove and turning the burner on.

He didn't bother to answer.

She grabbed the milk, butter and some eggs from the fridge and kicked the door shut with her foot. Perhaps the milk was past its expiration date, but Maddy didn't seem to care much. She placed a large bowl on the table and started preparing the batter. Stirring the ingredients together with a wooden spoon, she could feel his eyes on her and thought she must look really bad with her untameable morning hair and sleepy, puffy eyes or swollen lips.

"What time are we leaving?" she asked, pouring some of the batter she just prepared onto the hot surface of the pan.

"I don't know. I guess as soon as the others wake up. We shouldn't have even come here in the first place."

Maddy stole a glimpse of him, casting a sideways glance at his handsome face. "Nothing's happened up until now," she reminded him, focusing back on her pancakes.

"Yeah, that's right. Until now. They could be here any second."

"They?"

"The police, FROST, Logan's parents..."

Maddy cringed at the thought. "And if they do come? What do we do?"

"If they come, we're screwed."

Maddy remained silent for a second, cooking her pancakes, immersed in profound thinking. She still couldn't believe she was an outlaw and a runaway now. She missed her home, her fluffy pyjamas, her mum's warm smile and honeyed voice, which could occasionally become extremely irritating, but which she still loved.

Her mum...

An absurd thought popped up in her head. She furtively peeked at Carter's face.

"Hey, my phone's dead, can I use yours?" she asked as politely as she could. She had went to use it last night, but the screen wouldn't lit up; it was just a black cracked mirror, and she didn't want to wake up Logan to ask for a charger.

I can't believe that out of all people, I have to ask him, she thought as Carter looked at her suspiciously, arching a dense brow. "For what?"

"I want to call my mother. She-"

"No. Bad idea."

"What? Why?"

"Because she'll tell the cops."

"She won't if I ask her not to."

"You don't actually believe that, do you?"

"I can explain it to-"

"No, we can't trust anyone anym-"

"And what makes you think I trust you?" she almost yelled as a sarcastic laugh got ripped out of her throat.

He locked his pitch-black eyes with hers, cold as ice. "You don't have to trust me. You're stuck with me."

The truth of his words hit her like a truck. She shrank back, red with anger and blue with hurt.

The worst part was that he was right. They didn't want her. None of them wanted her with them. She was a burden to them, an extra weight on their shoulders. They were childhood friends, and she was just a stranger that showed up out of nowhere to add another problem to their already long enough list.

"I hate you," she mumbled, a mixture of anger and hurt colouring her tone.

He struggled to keep the same mask of unbotheredness on his face, but Maddy didn't miss the way he clenched his jaw at the words she mouthed.

When he spoke, however, his casual mocking tone coloured his hoarse voice. "I know." His lips parted into his usual notorious smirk, showing his pearly white teeth.

Maddy wanted to strangle him. He was pissing her off so bad she couldn't handle him. She furiously grabbed the bottle of chocolate syrup she had found in one of the drawers, as if she was about to hurl it out the window. Popping the cap open, she squeezed the bottle with both hands and poured a waterfall of chocolate on top of her fluffy pancakes. She got up and went to head towards the tap, but seeing the way Carter was looking at the pancakes, ready to attack, she turned back and took the plate in her hand, narrowing her eyes and sparing him a glance that said: "Not today, Satan."

When she turned her back on him, he made a frustrated sound with his tongue, which gave Maddy a great amount of satisfaction. She placed the dish on the granite countertop, then threw all of the kitchen utensils she had used in the sink. She started washing them, trying her absolute best not to slingshot them at Carter's head.

Only the sound of the running water could be heard. At some point, Maddy wondered whether Carter had actually left the kitchen, but she didn't allow herself to look back and check.

When she was finally done, she turned around to reach for her pancakes.

And she almost slammed into his chest. Taken aback, she lifted her eyes on him, silently warning him to back off.

"What do you want?" she hissed.

Carter tossed her an innocent glance, his most angelic smile curving up one corner of his lips. "Hm? Nothing." He leaned forward, pressing his palms on the kitchen counter, trapping her between his strong arms. She panicked at their closeness, feeling paralysed.

Okay, he clearly wanted something. And she was well aware of what that was.

Huffing, she crossed her arms in front of her chest, pushing herself not to break the eye contact. "If you think I'll give you my pancakes, you're mistaken. I don't share my food."

His smile was gone in no time, an eye roll taking its place as his shoulders dropped in desperation. "Come on. Just a little bite?"

"Carter, screw off."

Something she couldn't define flashed in his black eyes. An ominous smirk appeared on his lips.

That smirk.

It did something to her.

"Are you mad, princess?" His tone was mocking enough to make her blood boil. The way he pronounced the word "princess", emphasizing it on purpose, drove her insane.

And so did that god damn smirk.

Her anger intensified, tearing through her veins, flowing in them like a toxic substance. She clenched her teeth, trying to swallow it. "No," she answered, her voice tight with rage.

Then her fingers tightened around the neck of the chocolate sauce bottle next to her.

And she splashed a very generous amount of chocolate. All. Over. Him.

The expression on his face was priceless. He went completely still, his eyes round. His mouth first hung open, then tightened in a thin line as realization of what she had just done started setting in.

But she wasn't done. Not quite yet. She raised a hand to his face, only to drag the sticky chocolate down the side of his cheek with her fingers, then smudge the side of his neck, hooking his collar to get some on his clothes as well, just to spite him even more.

His jaw tightened, eyes dangerously flashing with anger. His lips parted as he pushed out the inside part of his cheek with his tongue.

He was pissed.

Good.

His deathly glare pierced through her, but she didn't even flinch, holding her chin up.

"You did not," he said, a low, threatening growl rumbling through his chest.

"Oh, I did," she provoked him, eyes shooting blasting sparks at him.

"You're dead."

He grabbed the pancakes.

No, don't you-

But it was too late. He slapped the plate straight to her face. Her skin sank in the chocolate puddle gathered on top of the buttery pancakes; she could feel the texture of the sticky syrup all over her characteristics, rolling down her eyes and nose and lips, dripping on her neck, sneaking into her collarbones. When Carter placed the plate back on the kitchen counter, a pancake was still glued to her left cheek. She stood frozen as the delicious dough she had prepared dangled off her face and flopped down to smack against the shiny floor.

Her hand was shaking as she lifted it up to her face to wipe some of the chocolate away. She saw red, her anger escalating to a whole other level as her eyes roved up from the pancake on the floor to Carter's face.

"You..." she whispered in a low, trembling voice, unable to speak. She breathed deeply in a desperate attempt to calm down, her palm itching to slap him right there and then. She was only seconds away from screaming when she asked: "What the hell is wrong with you?"

A laugh bubbled up his chest. "With me? What the hell is wrong with you, you mean. You are always acting so-"

"You are the one who's always a jerk!" Her voice had lost every last hint of civility that had been left in it. "You literally can't spend a single second without-"

"Just because you can't take a joke doesn't mean-"

"A joke? Which part of this is a freaking joke?" spat Maddy, who had completely lost her temper. Her hands swept up and down in a frenzy, pointing at the liquid chocolate smudging her entire face.

"You were the one who started it!"

"You are the one who spites me all the time!"

"If you're so pissed about it, then why not just run to your mummy and cry, huh?"

Maddy felt as if someone had just cut her in two. She had basically asked him for his phone only a few minutes ago so she could call her mother, practically showing him her soft spot for her mum, and he really just threw it all back at her like a god damn boomerang.

He didn't just say that.

That was a hit below the belt.

She planted her palms against the hard surface of his torso, and pushed him away from her with all of her strength and hatred.

But he grabbed her wrist on the last second, pulling her along with him as he stepped back. Maddy clumsily stumbled forward.

This was starting to get old.

She tried to shake her hand out of his grasp, but his hold was too firm for her to escape it. She could feel her skin burning, and she didn't know whether it was from the tension, her anger or the sensation of Carter's long fingers wrapped around her wrist. She struggled to free herself from his grip, but it was in vain.

She stopped fighting, a pissed sound escaping her lips. But the fed-up look she had on her face was crushed to nothing as soon as she lifted her head and her eyes met his.

Which were darker than black. Only inches apart from hers. He looked intimidating as ever, even dangerous. Gasping, Maddy swallowed thickly, breathless. She almost shrank back at his deathly glare, but then she realised what she was about to do and lifted her chin up, returning his fierce glare with every last bit of her strength thrown into it.

"You're a jerk," she whispered through gritted teeth.

He cocked his head to the side, and the angle of his sharp jawline made Maddy think he might actually bite her, but she didn't let herself show her intimidation. The tension in the atmosphere was almost solid, nearly visible to the naked eye. She could smell the chocolate coating his skin, feel his heaving breathing brushing against her chocolate cheeks. He tightened his grip on her wrist.

Then he leaned closer.