This chapter is dedicated to Small-Kitten12 for reading, voting and the awesome comments. Thank you!

I was so happy to be discharged from the hospital the next day that I could barely feel any pain. My mum and Laura came and checked me out of the hospital and Laura offered to drive both of us home.

Home...

A dark cloud of apprehension fell over me when I remembered what going home meant. Being in the same place where Michael had attacked me and the source of most of my Kyle-related memories. In all honesty I didn't really want to go back there but where else could I go?

"I booked a room for you at the hotel where I'm staying," mum said as we got into Laura's Honda civic.

"What? Why?" I asked surprised, but also relieved at the same time.

"Your apartment is still a crime scene and I didn't think you'd want to go there anyway," she replied.

Huh? Crime scene?

"But my minor injuries could hardly constitute a crime. I mean, sure Michael committed a crime by invading my home. And let's not forget Kyle's heinous crime of being a lying little dirtbag," I huffed.

"Who's Kyle?" mum asked.

"Oh don't get her started on that one. She gets crazy," Laura said pulling out of the driveway.

I shot her a dirty look through the rear-view mirror and she winked at me.

"Anyway. It's a crime scene because Michael attempted to murder you honey so it's not just about minor injuries and the police have reason to believe that he was breaking and entering into your apartment even before the incident so they are going through your apartment looking for any evidence that he was there before the day he shot you," mum continued.

I felt the strong urge to hurl at the thought of Michael being in my apartment and an involuntary shiver rocked me.

"Are you cold honey?" mum asked moving closer to me and wrapping an arm around me. I shook my head and settled back on her chest for the rest of the drive.

Unsurprisingly, mum had checked us into the hotel, Chez' Perfection, one of the classiest hotels in Pine hive. Our rooms were next to each other on the second floor of the hotel and once I had settled in, I promised mum and Laura to call if I needed them and then took a hot bath once they were gone. I changed into slacks and a t-shirt and settled on the bed to check my phone for the first time since I got it back. Tonnes of texts filled up my inbox and voicemail, mostly friends wishing me a speedy recovery and some from Tessa and Cole and my other workmates. My most recent messages though were from one person. Kyle.

I deleted every single text and voicemail without reading or listening to them and stuffed my phone under my pillow. A wave of serenity washed over me as I crawled into my blankets and settled in for an afternoon nap.

I awoke to a buzzing coming from under my pillow. I searched blindly for my phone, pressed the answer button and put it on my ear, all without opening my eyes.

"Hmm," I groaned unable to form a coherent word.

"Emily?" My eyes snapped open at the sound of Kyle's voice and I almost growled in frustration.

"Bye Kyle," I said.

"Wait, wait, wait! Please don't hang up."

"Give me five good reasons why I shouldn't,"

"Come on Em, be reasonable," he said.

"Fine. Give me ten reasons why I shouldn't hang up." I was being childish but I didn't care.

"Em..."

"Goodbye Kyle." I cut his call and tossed my phone aside and it started ringing immediately after. I stared at it, wishing I had a laser glare that could penetrate right through and burn a hole through Kyle's stupid face. I let the phone ring till it went to voicemail and I was about to go back to sleep when it rang again and again and again.

I finally picked it up after 27 missed calls. "Leave me alone Kyle. I don't ever want to speak to you or see you again."

"I'm sorry Em. I'm so sorry, please just give me a chance to explain myself. Please there's so much I need to tell you," he begged.

Tears threatened to fall from my eyes and I wiped them away furiously. "I can't do this. Please just let me be." I hung up again and this time he didn't call back. Going back to sleep was impossible now and it was six p.m. I called my mum to find out if she'd already had supper and she said she'd order for both of us and have it sent to my room.

She came in a few minutes later and sat on the bed with me. "How are you feeling now?"

"I feel fine. I got a bit of sleep  in the afternoon," I replied. She smiled at me and nodded.

"Glad to hear that." She hesitated eyeing me strangely.

"What?"

"The police called Laura and she called me. They need to speak to you about Michael," she said. I groaned and fell back to bed.

"I called them back and told them that you were still recovering and as soon as you are better, they can talk to you, so no pressure."

"Thanks mum," I said rubbing my temples.

"Sure honey." Our food arrived and we ate whilst watching a comedy on the telly. It felt like old times and it made me miss the times when we were a complete family with dad. She kissed me goodnight two hours later and went back to her room. I tried to go back to sleep but I felt restless and images of Michael pointing a gun at me kept appearing the minute I closed my eyes. I finally gave up on any pretense of sleeping and called Laura.

"Hie Em! I was just about to call and check on you."

"I can't sleep, I need a distraction," I told her.

"Okay. Want me to come over with some movies?" she asked.

"How about we go out instead?" I asked, surprising her and myself.

"Really?"

"Yeah," I said strengthening my resolve.

"Woow. I never thought I'd see the day," she laughed.

"Shut up. Please bring me something to wear. All my stuff's still at my apartment and all I have is one pair of jeans and a t-shirt and my slacks."

"Sure thing love. I'll get you something from Lisa's closet."

She arrived an hour later with a dress and heels she'd borrowed from her young sister who was my size. I put it on and Laura helped me fix my make-up and hair.

"We're meeting Lisa at the club downtown," she informed me. I smiled and nodded. I hadn't seen her little sister in a really long time but I remembered she was a bundle of energy with a real love for parties and clubs. She was only a year younger than Laura and I so we hardly considered her little.

Music blasted from the inside of the club, audible from a block away and I almost took back my decision to go out but Laura sensed my apprehension and looped her arm through mine. The comforting gesture made me feel better and I gave her an appreciative smile as we walked into the club. We found Lisa by the bar and she screamed excitedly when she saw me and practically tackled me with a hug.

"I've missed you so much!" she squealed still squeezing me.

"I've missed you too," I laughed.

"You're going to break her bones if you keep squeezing her like that," Laura shouted over the music.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just been so long!" Lisa said finally letting me go. "So how about some drinks?"

"I'd love one," I told her.

"Should you be having alcohol?" Laura asked worriedly.

"I'm not on any medication. The doctor gave me a clean bill of health and just some painkillers if I'm ever in pain but I didn't take any tonight so it'll be fine."

Laura eyed me skeptically.

"I promise it'll be fine and I'll just have one drink," I said.

"Fine, one," she finally gave in.

"Geez mum. Lighten up," Lisa teased her before turning to the bartender and ordering our drinks.

One drink turned into two, then five and at some point I lost count. By then I was plastered and rambling.

"Kyle is a fart-face," Lisa said when I had finished drunkenly telling her about the whole Michael-Kyle fiasco.

I downed another shot and shook my head vigorously. "He's not though. His face is so beautiful, I just want to grab it and eat it."

Lisa laughed at this and called the bartender for more shots.

"I'm serious! Laura tell her how amazing Kyle looks," I said shaking Laura who was sitting with her head on the bar top. She mumbled something incoherent and turned her face away from me.

"Lightweight," I snorted then turned back to Lisa. "I'm telling you, if you see Kyle, you'll never want to look at any other man again. He's so good looking and his kisses! You'll be drooling over him for weeks."

"Gross," Lisa scrunched up her nose. Something caught her eye somewhere behind me and they opened wider.

"I think I just saw someone who'll change your mind on Kyle's supposed drop-dead gorgeous looks," she said.

"What, where?" I asked turning around to look where she was staring but she grabbed my hand and made me swivel back to face her before I could see anything.

"Don't look! He'll catch you staring," she said.

"You're staring at him. How come you get to stare? When do I get to stare?" I whined. I was drunk off my mind.

"It doesn't matter if I'm caught staring. I'm not the one who's going to kiss him."

What?

"What?" I blinked stupidly at her.

"We're going to break you out of this Kyle-induced trance you're in. You're kissing that hot tall drink of wow," she said determinedly pushing me off the bar stool.

"I'm not kissing some stranger," I scoffed trying to climb back onto my chair but my locomotive skills were going haywire so I ended up leaning against the bar instead.

"Hot guys aren't strangers, just potentials for a good lay. It's just one kiss and I'm telling you. You'll forget fart-face just like that," she snapped her fingers at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Where is this 'wower' I'm kissing?" A giggle burst through my lips at the strange non-word word falling from my lips.

"Focus!" Lisa hissed at me. "He's standing behind you wearing a black leather jacket. The tall one with the glasses guy standing next to him."

I looked to where she was pointing and saw the man she was pointing out. He had his back turned to me so I couldn't see his face.

"His back looks hot. His face better be hot or you are kissing some frogs after this," I warned her flicking back my hair.

"Shut up, you love me. Now just walk up to him, grab him and kiss the hell out of him," she shooed me away.

"This is crazy," I said but I started walking towards him.

"Go get him tiger!" Lisa yelled after me.

My confidence grew with every step I took. Or maybe that was just all the alcohol I had taken but I finally reached him. I tapped him lightly on the back and he turned around to face me.

The smile on my lips fell and I sobered up so fast as I stared into the eyes of the man I had just walked up to. Standing in front of me was none other than non-fartface Kyle.