40

Kai woke in a dark, groggy state. It took him a moment to realise it was daytime and that his eyes were covered. Tiny slants of light became visible as his eyes focused. His headache intensified as he concentrated on them.

"What the heck?" he mumbled, recognising the familiar situation he'd found himself in.

He'd been tied up here before, many years ago.

That was before he'd started working out on a daily basis. Before he'd learned self-defence. Before he'd been a 6 foot 4 guy with an eight-pack and virtually zero body fat.

'And yet... here I am again,' he thought, pulling at the knots around his hands.

"Damien?" he asked, hearing the shuffle of a footstep. "I promised I'd leave you alone and I did, right?"

He sighed, hearing only silence.

"I never touched you. I never spoke to you. Hell... I never even looked at you," he argued. "So why?"

He felt a blinding flash of pain as the blindfold ripped away from his face.

Squinting in the sunlight, it took him a moment to make them out.