My mind had gone completely blank and my legs felt leaden as I stared at Tyler's convulsing body, and the way his eyes rolled back into his head like he was going through a demonic possession. It was seconds later that I rushed out of the room and screamed for the maid downstairs. With shaky hands, I dialed 911 and told them this was urgent.

For a brief moment, I thought I would lose him and the thought of that happening made me so sick that I had to make a run towards the bathroom to throw up. I tried to calm myself down and tugged his body outside of the bedroom away from where the snake hid underneath the bed.

I had all types of scenarios play inside my head; scenarios of me attending Tyler's funeral and when I imagined it, my life suddenly appeared bleak, and lonely. Bile rose in my throat and my body was shaking with fear for what was to come.

When his mother stormed upstairs and saw him lying on the floor, she shrieked loudly and broke into uncontrollable sobs, "My baby." She whimpered.

"Tyler..." I touched his cheek but he lay there, unmoving.

Mr. Lockhart and Morgan came upstairs when they heard the commotion. "What happened?" the question was directed towards me and his tone damn near melted me on the spot.

Mrs. Lockhart turned to her husband. "Jasper, do something! He's not moving!"

"H-h-he was bitten by the snake. I called for an emergency." I held Tyler's hand which had gone cold all of a sudden, and I had a bad feeling about this. I turned to his mother, "I don't want to lose him..."

"Nothing will happen to him." She assured me wiping away my tears; it appeared like she was trying to console herself rather than me.

"We have to take him to the hospital within thirty-minutes or..."I said.

Mr. Lockhart decided not to wait for the ambulance as he scooped Tyler up in his arms and ran downstairs not bothering with the elevator. By the time they were putting him in an SUV, the ambulance arrived. They said family could only ride in the ambulance and I wasn't exactly family so I had to drive there myself and my hands were still shaking.

Luckily, Archer arrived on time and he offered to drive me to the hospital and I allowed him.

When I got a look at Tyler in the E.R, my heart plummeted to the ground. He was intubated and kept on life support. There were all kinds of tubes running through his body and to make matters worse, I heard the doctor say that Tyler's heart had slowed down and they were going to administer him with a dozen vials of anti-venom and there were still chances that he may not wake up after that.

It almost seemed like the doctor declared that my life was ending soon and I couldn't breathe.

This was my fault!

If I'd shut up and decided not to question him about the bracelet, none of this would have happened. I should have let Tyler do whatever he wanted.

I was so caught up with all the things going on in my head that I didn't realize what was happening to me, or that someone was telling me to calm down and keep breathing.

I ended up being hospitalized on the same floor.

Tyler slipped into a coma and didn't wake up for four days. It was four torturous days of me being jittery every time the phone rang, I expected the worst but on the fifth day when I was in the waiting room, the doctors said that Tyler was showing signs of consciousness.

Twenty more vials of anti-venom were pumped into him and it destroyed me to see him in so much pain. At one point, I wished I would have been the one to get bitten by the snake, but I knew that if it were me, I would have probably died on the very first day.

His swollen left arm where he was bitten looked better than before which was a relief.

Maya was at the school's girls camp trip, she was worried sick about her brother and was on her way home. She had to cancel her trip mid-way, the poor girl.

Kiara and Jasper Lockhart continued to quarrel even in the hospital, I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I still managed to hear bits and pieces of the conversation.

"The Cobra goes back into the wildlife, along with the Anacondas and those other reptiles! Tyler is not going to keep any of it!" Mr. Lockhart ordered in a menacingly low voice.

"You were the one who permitted Ty to keep the snakes as pets! If you force him to put the snakes back into the wildlife, he's going to be furious and he might find another way to get another one."

"Kiara, are you listening to yourself?" He bellowed in the privacy of their waiting room. "Your son's life is still in danger and his heart is slow because of those same pets, and now you're saying you want me to allow him to continue to keep them? Have you gone completely mad?"

"If we don't give him what he wants, we lose him!" She lowered her voice when she said the next words, "Vicky and Tyler had a fight, and as soon as she walks out of his room, he gets bitten by a snake. Do you think that it's a coincidence?"

"You're saying Tyler let himself get bitten because of a girl?"

"Losing her means losing his only friend so he did what he needed to so she could stay. Tyler seeks thrills, and getting bitten by a venomous snake was like getting on one of the world's most dangerous rides. This served him the purpose."

"Do you realize how fucked up that sounds?"

"Well, aren't all the Lockhart's fucked up? It's in your genes and now you passed it onto my boy."

I didn't stay there to listen to the rest of the argument and walked away from there. My mind was reeling on what Mrs. Lockhart had just said.

Tyler would have lost all his friends had he let me walk out of there, but after getting struck by the Cobra, not only he'd managed to make me stay with him, he'd also brought Archer back. His entire hockey team was here too.

It didn't matter if he'd orchestrated the entire thing; I decided not to push him to tell me anything as long as he lived. I was a little desperate; okay maybe a lot. I should probably feel lucky that he loved me enough that he hadn't thought twice before he jeopardized his life to keep me with him. Some girls would swoon at the notion of being loved so deeply, but I knew the truth behind it. I could lie to myself a thousand times, imagine that he was normal but the fact remained.

Tyler was a sick boy.

And if I loved him, I had to learn to live with it.

On the sixth day, the nurse walked out of the room saying that Tyler was asking if Bonnie and Clyde were okay. Everyone was confused at first; they knew the Bonnie and Clyde were serial killers from the 1900s. You could read the nurses and the doctor's faces, they legit thought the boy had hit his head along with getting bitten. Then they realized Tyler was talking about his pet cockroaches. The moment he woke up, he didn't ask for his mother or his girlfriend, he asked about his Madagascan Hissing cockroaches. Those vile and disgusting insects.

Typical Tyler.

Then he asked about Dagger which was the King Cobra. When they informed him that the snake was safely put back in Tyler's snake sanctuary, he calmed down.

Lastly, he asked about me.

So now I knew my position in Tyler's pet hierarchy. The first was the roaches, poisonous snakes came next and then good ol' Victoria Lane.

Max had been right. Tyler thought I was his pet, one that belonged to his species. He would go to any lengths to keep his pets safe and with him, and he would do the same to me.

"Vicky." He smiled broadly at me as if he'd just woken up from a good eight-hour sleep rather than being in and out of consciousness for almost a week, like he hadn't been breathing through a tube and constantly battling death.

At first, I couldn't believe he was alive, he'd survived an extremely dangerous snake bite.

"Well, it looks like the snake was harmless after all," I commented.

He chuckled and I smiled. Seconds later my smile faltered and I buried my face in his lap and cried, his fingers raked through my hair slowly and I had no shame that his parents and my family were looking.

"Why would you do that to me?" I whispered.

"Would it bother you if I died?"

"You're insane!" I said angrily.

"You're not the first one to say that." He chuckled.

I showed him the bracelet on my wrist, "are you happy now? I'm keeping it."

His eyes shone with admiration, and I thought I could never get used to him staring at me like that, with wild abandon, as if he would devour me the next chance he got.

"Can I tell you a secret? But you have to promise me you won't tell my mom or anyone else." He had the secretive glint in his eyes.

"Cross my heart."

"I feel amazing for some reason, and I think it has something to do with the snake venom."

"I don't understand. Aren't you in pain?"

"I was but not anymore. I can't explain the feeling, Vicky. I feel strangely euphoric. Imagine this." He flicked his gaze outside to see if anyone was around and then looked back at me, "Getting a shot of heroin into your system and this one gets ten times better. It's a good kind of pain."

"Wait? When did you try heroin?"

He pressed his lips together firmly, I'd caught him again. "That's not important. It was a long time ago. Anyway, when you called the emergency, I could hear you that day but the hit was so intense, Vicky, I think it's still there and I can't complain. It's like I had sex and it's on and on."

"You won't do it again, promise me, Tyler."

There was a moment of hesitation. "I promise"

"If you even think it, I'll tell your dad, and they'll find another place for the snakes."

Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said that.

His gaze turned dark and the smile faded, "Are you threatening me?"

"I don't want you to land up in the hospital again, or worse, die." I reasoned.

"But those are my snakes, I'll kill anyone who touches them."

"Snakes are not your friends, Ty." Archer walked into the room holding a balloon and a bag of Burger King. "I brought you lunch. Figured you might be bored with the hospital food."

Tyler snatched the bag out of his hand, "at least I know what to expect from snakes, it's the friends I don't know what to expect from."

A direct jibe at Archer.

Archer smiled, "it's good to have you back, man, you're mouthing off as usual. Coach is constantly on my ass, and I'm starting to get tired. You're better suited as captain of the team."

"What do you want?" Tyler snapped in a good-natured way, a clear sign that the two were going to let bygones be bygones. "What's all this ass-kissing for?"

"I want to apologize for the other day and what happened with Maya. I swear my intentions are noble."

"And I hope it stays that way because you touch my sister, Lane and I'll cut your balls and feed them to Diablo."

"Ew." I made a face.

Archer laughed, "message heard loud and clear."

Weeks passed and Tyler started becoming distant. I casually asked him what was wrong but he would find a way to change the subject or distract me with his mouth on my body. He had a talented set of hands and tongue. Let's say he got to do a lot of practice with me.

One particular evening it was different. We were lounging in the Tv area amid a sea of homework. Things were off, like wayyyy off and I should have left it at that but since I was a curious person, I decided to dig.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

He gave me his darkest looks. "You lied to me."

"About what?"

"Quit bull-shitting with me, Victoria. I heard what you said to Kayla in the hallways."

My eyebrow arched up. "I say a lot of things to Kayla every single day, what did you hear me say?"

"We decided to go to Yale together next year. And you told her that you planned on enrolling in a private college in town. Why?"

"I don't think I will get a scholarship, Tyler. That's why, and I plan on helping mom with the cafe so what should I do at Yale if I don't plan to use that degree?"

"And what about me?" He asked.

"What about you?"

"You promised we would stay together, now you're just breaking your word. How is that fair, Vicky? You planned something else in your head and decided not to tell me which means you either take me for a fool or have other things on your mind."

"Things like?"

"Oh, I don't know because I heard Noah say he planned on joining a college in Cold-Bay too." Tyler pinned me with the coldest stare, "Maybe I'm just your practice session so you could do the real deal with Noah in college."

Tyler is not a normal boy. Keep repeating that before you say something that might tick him off. He heard something in school and decided to put two and two together using his twisted logic.

Deep breaths.

The only way to handle him is through patience, not lashing out.

"Tyler, for the last time. Noah is just a friend, but you're not. I was going to discuss college with you."

"When? After we graduated?"

"We can talk right now. Like I said, I plan on staying here."

"You're going with me to Yale."

My face turned red. "And who is paying for my college? You do know that my dad's not in the picture anymore and my mom's the only one taking care of the business."

"I'll pay for your college." He said without hesitation. "For everything. I have it all planned out. Dad's gonna buy me an apartment close to uni and we're going to move in together."

"I can't."

"Yes, you will."

"We can have a long-distance relationship," I said and noticed how his expressions were turning darker by the second.

Tyler was attached to me and didn't want us to be separated, and I was flattered about that, but I couldn't go to Yale and let his father pay for it. That would be wrong.

I scooted into his lap just to try and simmer things down and kissed his lips, trying to get him to open his mouth, and guess he was really mad because he wouldn't kiss me back.

Instead he asked, "what are you doing?"

"Trying to make you feel better."

He stared at me in that strange way of his, and honestly, I was starting to feel a little scared by his intimidating gaze. He was capable of switching on and off certain parts of him and there was no way of knowing what he was thinking.

"Let's order pizza," I suggested.

"Get down on your knees." He ordered.

I gave out a half-laugh. "What?"

"You said you wanted to make me feel better, yeah? Get down on your knees."

I sighed and slid down from the couch onto the carpeted floor and kneeled in front of him. Maybe I should be ashamed for admitting that a part of me felt excited and the other part of me was terrified for what was to come.

"Take your clothes off."

"Someone could walk in," I argued.

"My eyes are on the door."

I took off my clothes and was left in a pair of bra and panties when he told me to stop and I watched as pulled his t-shirt over his head and unbuttoned his jeans, throwing it aside, along with his briefs. He nudged my mouth with the tip of his thick long cock.

I swiped my tongue and tasted the salty pre-cum. He groaned loudly and pushed his length in, all the way and I wasn't expecting that at all.

I gagged but it seemed like Tyler didn't care or he was pretending to not care.

I sucked him hard trying to take him into my mouth as much as I could but at the same time, this was only the second time I was doing this so I didn't know if I was doing it correctly.

He pulled away and pushed his entire length inside. I could feel him in the back of my throat. His fingers held my head roughly as he fucked my mouth relentlessly, his other hand closed around my breast as he squeezed, hard. He didn't even wait to think that tears were spilling out of my eyes. My mind had gone into a state of complete clusterfuck where I couldn't tell the difference between the right and the wrong.

The room filled with his grunts and moans. He moved my face in any direction that he saw fit so he could reach his pleasure. Moments later I realized he would spill, so I tried to back away but Tyler tightened his hold over my face, pumped hard and came even harder into my mouth. He made sure I swallowed every last drop.

After he was done, he quietly dressed up, leaving me there on my knees shaking like a leaf.

I continued to stare at the ground while he started ordering pizza. Even though he hadn't exactly forced himself on me, I felt completely and utterly humiliated at his indifference.

I understood this for what it was. I'd told him I wouldn't go with him and he was asserting his dominance, this was his way of punishing me for saying no. And I knew he would find a way to make me go with him.

I just didn't know what he would do next, and I wondered if I should have heeded his warning before we started dating.

Maybe no amount of mending would fix him. Maybe Tyler was wired in a way that he could never change.

And for the first time, I was scared for myself.