"What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way."

-Wicked Game, Chris Isaak

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I skip dinner that night, and instead lie in my bed, buried underneath the sheets with my arms gripping my shins, my body in a tight ball.

An image of Whiskers appears in my head, and the bad feeling in my gut returns, making me feel sick to the stomach. But it's not just that that's concerning me. It's the feud between Alec and Jasper. I like them both, and knowing that they have such a strong hate for each other makes my heart hurt.

Suddenly, just as I'm about to doze off, I hear a light tapping on my window. I jump out from under the covers and stare into the black abyss outside the glass, stars shining as bright as the shimmering in Alec's eyes.

Alec.

Alec!

I hurry over to the window and slide it open, watching as his crouching body doesn't make a move to come inside. "Alec, what are you doing here?"

He puts a finger to his lips and gestures for me to follow him. I immediately oblige, the feel of adventure crawling up my spine, triggering my excitement. I climb onto the desk and outside the window, steadily shadowing him along the narrow ledge. He stops and swings himself down, clutching a black pipe that stretches from the roof to the ground far below us. He confidently climbs down, and when he reaches the ground, he waves his hand for me to do the same.

"What if I fall?" I call.

"Then I'll catch you!" he says back, eager to escape to whatever plan he has up his sleeve.

I spin around and swing myself off the ledge, clamping my feet onto an unsteady part of the pipe that juts out. And now that I'm here, I don't let my nerves get the better of me. I clamber down- less gracefully than Alec- and eventually land on my feet beside him.

"Follow me," he whispers, and I do. Whatever it is that's going to happen will be a whole lot better than sitting in my room and sulking about the unfairness of the world.

We are quickly swallowed up by the trees of the woods to the right of the building, the low-hanging branches poking my hair every now and again. Once it becomes too dark to see properly, I begin to stumble over roots and rocks more often. Alec takes hold of my hand, steering the way, for which I'm grateful. His fingertips send jolts of electricity through my body, making me feel alive.

Finally, we stop, and I can vaguely see a metal fence in front of me. Without speaking, Alec takes hold of my waist and spins me around to face the fence. He then proceeds to hoist me up. Thankfully, the fence isn't too high, so I grab the top and swing myself over, landing on two feet on the other side. Alec is beside me almost in an instant, and takes hold of my hand once more.

"You're not taking me to be sacrificed to a cult or anything, are you?" I ask uneasily.

He laughs, which seems to warn away the darkness that surrounds us. "Nope. I like you too much for that."

I try to ignore the fluttering in my stomach, and try to focus on staying on two feet without falling into the dirt trail beneath me.

Finally, we reach a small clearing, and in the middle there is...

"A Harley?" I ask, completely bewildered. The light from the street lamps which line the road nearby illuminate its black shiny coat and monsters for wheels. It's beautiful.

"You know your bikes," he observes with a chuckle.

"I used to help my dad rebuild one in our garage before-"

Before you killed someone and you weren't his daughter anymore.

I pause for a fraction of a second, before shaking away the sorrow at the memory, and ask, "Why do you have a motorbike in the middle of the woods?"

"Because sometimes I get a little stir crazy and need a break from this place," he explains, sitting on the leather of the seat and pulling his key out of his jacket pocket.

"So you just drive out? Why don't you just run away if you have this thing?" I ask, curiously observing the motorbike.

"Because I have nowhere else to go. Now, are you getting on or not?" he asks, gesturing to the space behind him with his thumb.

"Me?"

He looks around and then looks back at me again incredulously. "Well, no one else is around."

My excitement is about to make me explode, and so I nod quickly and jump on the back, straddling the bike. He revs the engine and starts it up, the beast purring to life.

"No helmets?" I ask, wrapping my arms around his waist and clamping my hands together at his front. His abs are rock solid. Jesus.

He laughs like I said it to be funny. "If you want 'safe', I think you came to the wrong person."

"Hey, you came to me," I say over the smooth roar of engine.

"But you followed."

I grimace. Alec laughs loudly again, and the bike takes off into the night, the rush of freedom pumping through my veins.