She woke up to her phone ringing but, when she tried to move Brandon's arm, he just pulled her closer.

"I bet it's your mother," he said to the back of her head, his voice heavy with sleep. "You can pretend you didn't hear it ring."

"She'll get worried," she said, but still stopped trying to move his arm.

"So what? As long as you're with me, you're in no danger," he said, and then started kissing her neck.

She giggled but still move her head a little to give him better access. She chose not to tell him that being with him at all would worry her mother. When he was turning her head so he could kiss her on the lips, her stomach rumbled and, as if on reply, so did his. He put his head on her neck again and this time she full on laughed.

"Guess we should eat something," she said after she calmed down.

"Yeah," he said, and then finally let her go.

She did the best she could to not stare at his bare chest while she picked up her phone. It was indeed her mother and there were ten missed calls from her. Frowning, she called back.

After one single ring, her mother picked up and all but screamed at the phone, "WHERE ARE YOU?"

She was taken aback, but then looked at the time in her phone and almost dropped it when she noticed it was ten AM. "I'm... at Carlos's? We slept in..."

"Don't lie!" Erica yelled. "I rang their home three times and nobody picked up and I went to your room and it looked as if someone had broken in!"

She cringed inwardly and, after silencing the microphone, she turned to Brandon, who thankfully had put his shirt back on. "You left my room a mess?!"

He looked at her and frowned. "I think so. I was in a hurry, you know?"

She barely listened to him, for her mother was again yelling from the phone. "Please tell me you're alright... Please tell me you're not with... with..."

"Brandon," she completed, rolling her eyes. "And yes, mom, I'm with him. He came back."

Erica was silent for a moment, after which she whispered. "Why is nobody picking up at your boyfriend's place?"

She couldn't bring herself to answer, but her silence was all her mother needed.

Erica started bawling. "Oh God... Oh God! He's going to kill you too, Caitlyn! I just know it, one of these days he'll get angry with you and he's going to..."

"Mom, stop!" Caitlyn yelled, deliberately ignoring her mother's words and how much weight they might or might not have. "Brandon is never going to hurt me!"

"What do you even see in that boy?!" Erica yelled back. "He's a monster! Look at what he's doing! He's probably the Devil himself!"

Caitlyn had enough. "You know I tried to kill him, mom?"

Erica shut up at that, and Brandon's eyes flashed red, but she ignored him and continued. "He didn't hurt me then, what reason would he have to hurt me at all now?"

That placated Brandon and he smirked, but Erica finally got her voice back. "Are you saying that he can be killed?"

Caitlyn cringed, but she wasn't deterred. "No, mom, that's why I said 'tried'."

Erica let out a sigh, and then continued crying. "Maybe he's not really let that go, or one day he'll get bored of you and then... and then..."

"He won't," she said, glad at the finality in her own voice. Brandon was never going to hurt her, that much she knew.

"Give me the phone," Brandon said all of a sudden and Caitlyn's mouth fell open.

"Why?" She asked.

"Just do it," he said, and extended his hand. Not liking that even one bit, she handed him her phone.

"Hello, Mrs. Connor," Brandon said, a smirk still on his face.

She couldn't hear what her mother was saying, but Brandon's eyes flashed red a couple of times. She was about to ask for her phone back when he spoke again, "no, Mrs. Connor, I won't 'leave your daughter alone' or find someone else. I want her, and she wants me, and nobody is going to get in the way of that."

She blushed at his words, but she sobered right up and gaped at him after his next sentence. "In fact, she will live with me from now on."

"What?!" She all but yelled but he raised a finger to silence her, which just angered her more. "You can't just decide...!"

"Goodbye, Mrs. Connor. Try to interfere again and I will hang you from one of the spires in the Hagia Sophia," he said before hanging up.

She glared at him and said, "I won't."

"Really?" He asked, and tilted his head much like he had done the night before. "Would you rather have me going to your house while your mother is there and risking her pissing me off?"

"I..." she couldn't say anything at first, but then she clenched her firsts and glared at him. "If you hurt my mom, I'll ki..."

"No," he interrupted, no longer smirking and his eyes flashing. She allowed herself a smirk of her own, having expected his reaction. "I let you say that once, I won't hear those words again. First, I wouldn't let you actually do it and if you did it while I'm not there, I will just get rid of this fucking world. And it will be on you."

"You can't just say that it..." she started, taking a step back.

"Yes, I can. I'd rather spend the rest of my life having fun seeing how scared they can get and what they do to try to stop me. But if you're not there... If you're not there..." he averted his eyes, clearly not wanting to even consider the possibility. He recovered quickly, though, and the smirk was back on his face. "You wouldn't be able to go through with it anyway."

"How can you know that?" She asked, glaring at him before turning away.

Suddenly she was in his arms, his face inches from hers. "I know you, you're too tough to just give up that easily. And if you were actually able to take a life, I wouldn't be standing here."

He was probably right; even without her mother, she would find a way to move forward. That threat was empty, but she had another, "fine, how about this? If you kill my mother, I will be done with you."

She could only stare at him when he threw his head back and laughed. "I knew you'd say that. Do you really still think yourself able to get away from me? You said it yourself, you couldn't stop thinking about me even when I wasn't there."

"Things change, your killing my mom would be a good way to do it," she pointed out.

"Maybe," he admitted. "But you'll get over it. You wouldn't be able to lose both your mom and me, and you would take me back. You know that there's literally nobody in this world better than me. And if you don't take me back then who knows, maybe you would be doing me a favor. There are plenty of girls willing to be with me. Girls who would do whatever I want them to, even spreading their legs..."

"You're an asshole," she interrupted, struggling to break his embrace, but he wouldn't let go. "Go with those girls then, I've read about people who think you're a god. Maybe you're better off with them than with me."

He chuckled at her struggles and kissed her on the cheek for a moment before talking again. "See? Look how jealous you got, you aren't gonna let me go. And relax, if I wanted something like that, I would've gone for it as soon as I heard about those cults. I want you. You want to know what would truly happen if you hated me for killing your mom? I wouldn't let you go, I would keep you beside me until you took me back, even if it took years."

"So you'd kidnap me and keep me locked until I accepted you again out of desperation?" She asked, glaring at him one more time.

"If that's what it takes, yes," he said with a shrug. "But I'd rather not to, which is why it would be best if you just agreed to live with me, that way I don't even have to interact with your bitch of a mother. Why are you even fighting it anyway? I know you like sleeping next to me. And you said you'd think about it, that day at the school. You've had more than enough time."

He wasn't wrong, she actually had no major objections to living with him other than the principle of fighting him for making that decision on the spot. She was being childish. After another glare, she sighed. "Fine, how about this? I will live with you some days and some others I'll live with my mother."

"Fuck, you're stubborn," he said before kissing her, fully on the lips this time. Resting his forehead on hers, he said. "Alright, I can deal with that for now."

"Good," she said with a smile. "But when you say 'live with you', what exactly do you mean? Something tells me that not with your relatives..."

"No," he agreed. "Like I said that day, name a place and we'll live there."

She thought it over for a second. "I mean, you're already living here, we might as well continue. I kinda liked coming back here and it's not far from Kingman so you could take me to school the days I stay here."

"Fine by me, I've also been going to school from here sometimes," he said.

"You're still going to school?" She asked.

"Yes?" He said, arching an eyebrow. "Like I told you once, I like school."

"I remember, I just thought that you wouldn't care anymore after... You know."

"After I let the world know about me? Doesn't mean I no longer like learning," he informed.

"I see, and where are you studying?" She asked.

"Stuckton," he replied. She smiled inwardly at having guessed his location right.

Before they said anything else, his stomach rumbled again. He smiled. "Right, where do you want to eat?"

"You've got money?" She asked.

"Yeah, some," he said, putting on his shoes.

"How..." She started asking, but stopped herself. She shouldn't ask questions if she'd rather not hear the answers. She just cleared her throat and said, "any dinner's fine."

"Alright," he said and a second later he was wearing his hood.

Taken aback, she asked. "Do you really want to fly with me right now? I'm sure there must be people watching this place, and it's the middle of the day."

He looked down at himself and then back at her, pondering her words. "I didn't think of that, but what other option there is? Walking to the next town over?"

She paused, looking at nowhere in particular. "How about this? I'll walk out of the house normally and go into the woods, you can get out using your speed so nobody sees you and we meet in the woods. We can fly from there."

"Alright, sounds good to me."

"Good, see you in ten minutes," she said with a smile, but stopped before leaving the room and turned back. "Wait, do you have any toiletries here?"

"Some, only one toothbrush though," he said.

"I guess I'll borrow it for today," she said, her face blushing a little, and she could almost see his smile from behind the hood.

Less than an hour later, they were at a dinner in Kingman. While they were waiting for their food, she checked her email. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except for a message from an account she didn't recognize with the subject "I know who you are." Probably spam that had somehow gotten past the filter, but she opened it anyway.

Listen, Caitlyn. I know that you're close to Brightburn. I still don't know who he is or what he wants, but all the evidence I've gathered points to the fact that he's close to some girl and I've ruled out all options, except for you, who are the most likely possibility anyway.

I know he isn't family of yours and I don't know if you're with him out of coercion or of your own volition, but it's still important to let you know that you're being watched. I doubt that I am the only one who's reached this conclusion so I decided to contact you as a peace offering.

I'mon your side and I'll be sending instructions of what you can do if he's keeping you against your will or, if he isn't, how you can keep yourself better hidden. Don't let him know about this email, we both know that he will turn murderous easily.

KC

Her blood ran cold and her eyes snapped up.