“Why?”

“Because you belong with me. I belong with you. We were made for each other, and because I want to kill any other guy touching you,” he said, kissing me lightly. “It is also possible that I might be a little possessive of the first, and only, person in my life that I want to touch, and taste, and be with.”

I was silent, taking in every word.

“And if I want to go home with you?”

He sucked in a hard breath. “I will bring you to my car and take you home, without another word about you so clearly cheating on me,” he said, but I heard the smile on his lips. “We can eat or watch a movie, or both. I can hold you all night or we can have sex all night. Anything you want if you’re staying with me.”

I thought it over, knowing what I wanted to do and what I had to do were two opposite things.

I pushed off of him, opening the door as the screams and music overtook us again. 

A shudder went through me. I was ready to make a grand exit, except I forgot why I was happy to come in here in the first place. It wasn’t just Kye making me want to hide in the closet, it was the anxiety that came with the haunted house.

I hated them. It was like my body went into fight or flight, my heart racing and hands shaking from the rush of anxiety.

“Daisy?” Kye said, coming up behind me. I could feel him right there, the heat of his body covering my back, but he didn’t touch me again.

“Just the haunted house. I hate scary things, remember?”

He gave a small laugh. “Why did you come, then?”

“Because Mark brought me here and I don’t know how to say no.”

I was shaking now, my heart ready to burst from racing so fast.

“You should work on that. You look like you’re going to pass out.”

“Wow, thanks for the advice. Completely needed right now.”

He grabbed my shoulders, turning me around to face him, “Come on. We’ll get you out of here.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“What a bad time to start practicing standing up to people,” he mumbled. “Come on. Take a breath and try to not pay attention to anyone else.”

His hands wrapped around the back of my thighs and he lifted until my legs wrapped around him. He pulled open the door and stepped out, the loud music pulsing around us along with screams and chainsaws. The noise was deafening, but Kye leaned forward.

“If your anxiety is this bad, how did you make it this far in here?”

“I barely did. I was clinging to everyone like a madwoman.”

“I only want you clinging to me. Damn, I already want to fuck you again.”

“This is turning you on?”

“Yes. Your body so tight against mine in this stupidly short skirt is doing it. Sex with you is a drug. A high I can’t find anywhere else, with anyone else. Come home with me.”

I leaned in, kissing his neck as he carried me. Something jumped out at us, screaming to scare us, but Kye only held on tighter, his steps steady.

“We are at the end,” he said and I looked back, seeing the exit. 

“Okay, let me get off of you.”

“We could walk out this way. What a fun way to tell your date that it’s over.”

“You’re trying to start a fight.”

“Maybe. He did take my girlfriend on a date.”

“I’m not your —”

“Finish that sentence and I’m not setting you down. I’ll walk you out of this place with my tongue in your mouth.”

“You would do it, too,” I mumbled, pulling myself off of him.

“Of course I would. Do you want to stay with him or go home with me?”

“That’s a trick question.”

“How?”

“If I say him, then you’re going to be angry and stomp away, and then I’ll feel guilty and go with you anyway.”

He took a deep breath. “That’s a fair assessment. How about this? If you want to stay here, I will leave, not angry, and call you later, as long as you agree not to sleep with him or fuck around doing anything else, even kiss him, for tonight at least. If you want to come home with me, I will wait in my car for you to go make up whatever excuse you need to.”

My eyebrows jumped. “How mature.”

“I am trying to be fair because I do not want you to be a people pleaser to me, and I thought that us being together was clear.”

“It wasn’t.”

“I can assure you, it will be after tonight.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that whether you stay here on your date or come with me, I will be in a bed with you tonight, not him, and I will be making sure there is no confusion about where our relationship stands.”

“You would still come to bed with me to show me that even if I stayed on a date?”

“You could drag me behind my car right now and I would still do that tonight.”

“I think you have some issues.”

“I do. I’m currently trying to work on them but it is a very long list and I can only do one thing at a time.”

I smiled at the realization of how hard he really was working to make himself better. I could politely back out of my date with Mark, go home with Kye, and no one else would know. I could find an excuse for my dad and tell him that I tried to go on the date so he would be happy, too.