Wolke 4

"Wolke 4" - Philipp Dittberner & Marv

🎵 Lass uns die Wolke vier bitter nie mehr verlassen / Weil wir auf Wolke sieben viel su viel verpassen / Ich war da schon einmal, bin zu tief gefall'n 🎵

Who would've thought that the most comfortable place to sleep in Alaric's house was the couch?

For real, lying on the cushions was nearly on par with Dominik's warm memory foam mattress— no, it was a perfect match! My body seemed to mold into the cushions as if they made specifically just for me to cuddle into. And the pillows! Damn the pillows were the best because I could nuzzle my face into them since they were that cuddly and soft. The tiny ass blanket that Dominik and I had been sharing seemed to be doing a really great job at keeping me warm because I wasn't cold in the least bit! In fact, I felt one-hundred percent at peace on this couch.

That annoying hole in my chest that had been a constant pain ever since childhood felt significantly smaller. I don't know exactly how to describe it, but for some odd reason as I lied on the couch, I felt an unfamiliar sense of... belonging. Weird, yes. However, all I knew was that lying atop this comfy couch brought my inner self such serene bliss.

A dull, sleepy smile on my lips, I cuddled up closer to the comfy pillows, burying my face into them. In response, I could feel something tighten around me and a pleased sounding rumble emanating from my pillows—

My eyes sprung wide open and I lifted my head in horror to see that I'd been lying directly on top of Dominik!

That wasn't an exaggeration! Legit, my whole body was completely on top of his, with none of me touching the couch cushions beneath us. Seriously, my entire body fit perfectly on top of his, and due to his unnatural height, I'd been using his chest as my damn pillow! Which means...

*GASP!

When I thought I was nuzzling my pillow, I was really motor boating my stepbrother! And worse was that, based on the noises that he'd made, he liked it!

God, I know that I don't pray often, but if You could please put me out of my misery, I'd really appreciate it.

Even in my freaked out stupor, I had the wherewithal to push against Dominik in a frantic attempt to get off of him. I managed to put some space in between us—

"Grrr..." Dominik sleepily growled, snaking his strong arms around me and tightening his grip so that our fronts were pressed tightly together. The dude even had the absolute nerve to wrap his legs around mine, effectively trapping me. He even used his baseball mitt-sized hand to palm the back of my head to pat it back down onto his hairy chest.

"Mmrph!" I cried out, my words muffled thanks to my face being smothered by pecs!

"We still have an hour, mein Hase," Dominik yawned, his voice thick with morning sleepiness. The freak then had the gall to twist our bodies so that I was pinned between him and the backrest of the couch. He breathed a contented sigh as he settled deep into the cushions, his arms flexing as they tightened around me.

He even rested his head in a manner in which his neck was craned downward so that I could feel his stubbled chin against my forehead. However, there was something soft that grazed my skin.

"Um, Dominik?" my tiny voice called out. I pried one of my arms free from his kung fu grip and gave him a little shake. "You're, uh, accidentally.... um, hugging me." Cuddling was more like it, but I didn't want to voice such an atrocity out there into the universe.

And then I felt it.

My eyes nearly popped out of my skull and I swear that my skin caught on fire the mere second that I felt my stepbrother's morning wood pressed tightly against my fine body as he held onto me as if his life depended on it. At the risk of sounding like a sleazy perv, I could easily tell that Dominik's, *ahem, thingy was about as thick as my damn wrist and it had to be way longer than the average man's (and I've seen tons of porn, so I would totally know)! And he tightened his hold on me, and I swore up and down that I felt it throb!

...and oh no!

The bone marrow in my skull curdled and my heart exploded into a million pieces when I realized that the worst thing in the whole ass world happened! Nothing could ever compare to this travesty— not starving children nor nuclear war.

*Shudder, I also had morning wood.

It's a normal male bodily function, I swear! And I'm a young man, so sometimes I just pop one without even needing to think about anything remotely erotic. Shoot, I once got hard in math class!

But this was worse because in my panicked haze, I tried to jerk back; but thanks to Dominik's obscure hugging, all I succeeded in doing was jostle my dick against my stepbrother's (that's a sentence I never thought I'd say).

"D-Dominik!" I cried out, trying to thrash away from him but the freak was significantly stronger than me so it was futile. My frantic movements was enough to finally fully wake up the douchebag, and his yellow eyes shot open in an instant. He glared down at my creeped out expression, and thankfully it didn't take him long to put two and two together.

Dominik's face instantly turned bright cherry red and I could feel his body temperature rocket to obscene degrees as he held me. His eyes darted away from my scrutinizing glare and he gradually released his hold on me, sitting upwards and snatching his pillow to hold it in front of his waist.

I mean, I know I'm sexy, but eww!

I couldn't hide my embarrassed expression as I zoomed off the couch, feeling an intense need to bathe myself in boiling water as I shielded my own boner with my hands. "Do not tell anyone about this," I hissed at him. "Ever!" I scurried down the hall towards the stairs when I paused for a second.

The A/C was set to 10°C! What the hell is wrong with this damn house?! It's full of weirdo guys who like to rut their hard dicks against others, and full of people who like it freezing cold inside the damn house in the dead of fall!

I rolled my eyes and sprinted upstairs to the bathroom (thankfully having the wits to stop by the linen closet for a CLEAN towel), moving as fast as my little legs would carry my fine, but dumb, ass. I needed a chemical bath to cleanse myself from head to toe in order to rid my precious body of any of Dominik's nasty germs! Once I was inside the bathroom, I made sure to turn the water all the way to scalding so that I could boil off my stratum corneum! But the worst part of the morning was that, as I undressed... I was still hard.

"Son of a whore!" I cried out in frustration, even gripping at my messy bedhead.

This was horrible! Nothing in the whole world could ever top this tragedy! Seriously, a damn atom bomb could detonate in the middle of the most populated city, and I'll bet two-billion euro that the main headline on the news would be: MAXIMILIAN ESTRADA JOSTLED BONERS WITH HIS STEPBROTHER!

Looking into the mirror that was quickly getting covered with thick steam, I could see that my normally pale skin was bright red with humiliation (almost on par with Dominik's blush). Only under the threat of execution will I ever admit that, *gulp, it wasn't totally horrendous cuddling with another man— I just wish that said other man wasn't my fuckin' stepbrother!

As I got into the bathtub, I realized that I was confronted with three different scenarios:

1). I ignore my throbbing member and pretend that none of this ever happened. And then I move away, dye my hair, change my name, and never ever speak of this again!

2). I can take care of my biological urges, but just mentally transplant Dominik's head with that of Chris Evans's... except, it's kinda hard to ignore just how nice and cuddly Dominik's broad hairy chest had been; or how nice his scratchy stubble had felt against my forehead when coupled with his hot breath that wafted over my skin, giving me goosebumps.

3). I can get rid of my morning wood using a no-fail tactic. And then I can move away and assume a brand new identity and never ever speak of this again.

Yep, I'm going with the last one!

I took a shaky breath and braced myself for what was to come in order to stop my bodily urges from thinking over and over about the annoying man who happens to live in the same house with me. Raising my right hand, I took a deep breath and then swung downwards.

"Fuck!" I yelled out in pain as I clunked my own nads. Fire hot pain rippled throughout my body and I struggled to take my next breath of air as I doubled over and rethought my entire lame existence. But the good news was that I was totally flaccid.

Mission accomplished! *Sniffle.

"Mein Hase? Are you alright?" Dominik's migraine-inducing, deep voice called out from the other side of the bathroom door as he knocked on it.

"Go away!" I shouted through gritted teeth as I tried not to cry because of the immense pain I'd put myself through all for the sake of saving face.

There was a rumbling sound before he spoke up again. "Hurry up," he grunted. "I'm driving you to school, and you can't be late your first day." Luckily, I could hear the guy stomp off along with what sounded like a growl again. The guy must have a lot of phlegm in his throat or something because his voice always seems to sound scratchy and growl-y... usually whenever I do something that he doesn't like, but whatever.

However, why was he the one to drive me to school?!

Seriously?! What the hell? I knew that Dad worked early hours because of his job and Alaric seemed all too keen on driving him there because he was weird like that. Weird must run in the Stubbe Bloodline because Dominik seems to have the same 'tude that his father has when it comes to driving people. Emilia would sometimes tell me about it whenever she'd come back home after having visited Germany. She'd tell me that Alaric had always wanted to drive Dad everywhere like it had been some sort of creepy method of maintaining control. My own father was a simp because he always seemed eerily into it, unfortunately.

That's not gonna be me!

Regardless of the fact that Dominik referred to me as his, I am a smart and independent young man, and I sure as F do not need some guy with an edgelord personality trying to order me around. If Dominik even thinks for one millisecond that he's the boss of me, especially when it'll be just me and him when our dads are on their cruise, he's got another thing coming. I may normally be all sweet and nice, but I can be the biggest brat when I want to.

I've been nothing but cordial (sort of) and nice (sometimes) since arriving to Germany, but if Dominik insists on pissing me off and weirding me out all the damn time, then he's in for a world of hurt!

After my frustrating and agony-filled shower, I dried off and finished cleaning myself so that I could try to scrub myself clean of the irritating man who'd dared to cuddle me like I was his damn teddy bear! I had a scowl etched onto my face as I brushed my teeth, did my hair, and got dressed into my new school uniform.

Most schools in Germany don't require uniforms, but because my luck sucks, the Gymnasium that I'm attending does since it's technically a private school. Frowning, I stared into the mirror as I wore the pressed khakis and the white button down shirt that had a black sweater vest pulled over it. My shoes were tan loafers that felt really heavy whenever I took a step. I had to put on a tie (a clip-on since I still have no clue how to tie one), and there was a pin on my sweater vest that depicted the school's emblem which was a golden crest with a black wolf howling. Bedburg loves wolves, I guess. I'd decided on putting my hair into a simple ponytail, and I sighed when I studied my reflection. I looked like a straight up nerd! I mean, yes, I am one. Through and through, I am a nerd; but I didn't want to look the part too!

My disappointment over my lewk was so insurmountable that I hadn't noticed the lumbering footsteps of Dominik approaching. His bedroom door swung open with a loud bang, startling me out of my judgmental inspection.

Of course Dominik was wearing that usual black leather jacket that was quickly becoming his trademark, along with his scowl. With that, his black t-shirt was painfully strained to bursting over this large chest muscles, and his dark denim jeans already had a little coffee stain on them. There was a ring on his thigh from where he must've rested the mug, unaware that some of the dark liquid had spilt over the rim. As soon as his yellow eyes landed on me, they widened and his lower jaw dropped.

Oh great, he must also think that I look like a nerd!

"What?" I huffed at him, bracing myself for the insults to start flying.

"Um, here's your backpack," Dominik coughed as he tossed my black backpack at my feet, that familiar blush that is also his trademark forming on his cheeks. "Y-you look really... süß." He had to turn his face away from me really quickly for some reason.

"I look 'sus'?" I whined, taking another look into the mirror. Even the Brooding Douche of Bedburg thinks my outfit is terrible!

He ignored my question. "Here," he grunted again, tossing something else towards me. I barely had time to catch it.

"Huh?" I wondered aloud as I studied the shiny, red motorcycle helmet that was in my hands. It was a full helmet that would cover my entire head and face, complete with a mirrored glass that would protect my eyes so that I could see.

Then the realization hit me and my heart began to speed up.

"W-wait!" I stammered, feeling the blood draining from my face. "You're not driving me on your motorcycle, right?" I've never ridden a motorcycle before in my life! And autumn was known to be very cold and wet in Germany, and I didn't quite know the physics of riding on two in-line wheels on wet pavement going at high speeds. I do not think it's safe!

Even as he was turned away from me, I could see the way Dominik's jaw muscles seemed to flex as he smirked. "Yes," he chuckled. "So make sure to hold on to me tight. We don't want you falling off."

That didn't help my nerves at all!

I silently shuffled my feet behind Dominik as we walked towards the front door, my stomach feeling like it was all in knots. I didn't want to ride a motorcycle, especially with Dominik! Not only are motorcycles incredibly unsafe, but riding one with my stepbrother meant that I'd have to wrap my arms around him in order to survive the whole ordeal! Did he already forget what had occurred between us this morning?!

He must've, because any normal man would not be able to even be in the same room as his stepbrother had they just accidentally touched dicks! On second thought, maybe falling off wouldn't be such a bad idea?

We walked out the front door, immediately greeted with cold wind that whipped all around us. Dominik seemed unfazed as he continued over to the large black motorcycle that was parked in the open garage. The huge metallic contraption looked like it was ripped straight out of a biker TV show, but it didn't have those overly long handlebars where the rider would have their arms outstretched as much as they could be. Plus, with Dominik's own big build, it wasn't hard to imagine him sitting rather comfortably on the motorcycle— but there were no handles near the back for any passenger to hold onto. No, instead, it was if this motorcycle were built for just one person to ride. Hence, with me on it in the back, I'd have no choice but to literally hold onto Dominik for dear life!

"I can just wait for the bus...?" I tried.

Dominik shook his head. "Public transit doesn't have access to our neighborhood," he said blankly, swinging his leg over the motorcycle with ease to take a seat on it. His legs were long enough for him to walk the bike out of the garage, and on his way out, he slapped the white button that was on the side of the trim to close the automatic door. He stopped right in the middle of the slick driveway where I stood, giving me an expectant look.

"Um..." I stalled, trying to think up an excuse to not ride the bike.

"You're gonna be late for school, Mein Hase," Dominik had the gall to say as he narrowed his yellow eyes, his voice even taking on some sort of tone that was eerily close to whenever my dad would've told me to hurry up as a kid.

"Fiiiine!" I groaned dramatically as I tried to shove the helmet onto my head. My ponytail got in the way, so I had to tug my hair tie out and put it around my wrist, shaking my head as my black hair fell loose past my shoulders. Given my usual haircare routine, I'm damn positive I looked just like a Pantene model just then.

Even Dominik's narrowed eyes widened and I could see his Adam's apple quiver as he gulped. Yeah, he's hella jealous of my hair. I mean, I would be too if I had some sad haystack-looking mop.

I shoved the helmet on and instantly flipped the mirrored eye shield up to glare at Dominik the second the smell of musk and beef jerky hit my nostrils. It was obvious that he'd given me his personal helmet to wear, and that he'd been chomping down on Slim Jims as he rode his bike on the Autobahn! I hope he doesn't have lice. Why was this dude so hellbent on making me use his hand-me-downs?! What's the point? And why do they all reek of his B.O.? I swear he made himself extra smelly while he used these on purpose, most likely snickering to himself as he envisioned poor me wearing them and thus smelling of him wherever I went. Damn it all!

I stomped my feet over to the motorcycle and paused, sizing it up as I realized that I didn't really have a choice in the matter. I mean, I could just skip school. However, I didn't want Dad to kill me during my first week of living with him year round. That would be my luck. Sighing, I had to step down on one of the large shiny pipes to use as a step stool. I swung my leg over and placed my hands on Dominik's broad back to snatch a handful of his jacket.

As soon as there was some contact between us, I could feel the other man's muscles tense up.

He cleared his throat. "You need to hold on tighter," he told me.

"I have a good grip," I argued, tugging on the back of his jacket for emphasis. I had to lean to the side to see his annoyed expression in one of the small circular mirrors that was attached to the handles.

Dominik rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Gott..." he muttered. He then reached back and grabbed a hold of my arms, rearranging them so that they were wrapped around his torso. However, given his extreme bulk and my general smallness, my arms couldn't reach all the way around. "Now, hold on tight."

Yes, logic dictates that I hold on tightly to my stepbrother as humanly possible. However, given how awkward this morning had been, I really wasn't too happy to have to be so physically close to him. Shoot, just the mere thought of our, *ahem, thingies accidentally rubbing up against one another's was enough to make me blush so hard that I thought I'd burst into flames. Hence, I held on all loosey-goosey with noodle arms.

Dominik rolled his eyes again and kicked down hard onto some lever that caused the motorcycle to roar to life.

The motorcycle was so loud that I couldn't help but jump at the sudden noise. The engine rumbled with such power that it shook my bones and illustrated that I was an incredibly tiny human atop of a deathtrap! Without a moment's hesitation, I tightened my grip on Dominik as tightly as I possibly could— which was hard since I practically have zero muscle mass. I held on so tightly so that I even pressed my front all the way against his back, having to turn my head to the side so that I could even shove that against him too.

He didn't seem to mind too much, probably because of my lack of strength. In fact, I swore up and down that I felt Dominik tense up even more as his posture straightened. He briefly reached down and patted one of my hands reassuringly before we started to move forward.

The motorcycle started off at a slow crawl at first, gradually picking up speed until we were flying down the street. The yellow-orange trees of the forest blurred by at lightening speed and Dominik managed to maneuver the bike through traffic with ease, not even bothering to wait behind a slow moving car. He whipped right around it, somehow able to drive the motorcycle like it was a part of him. He drove with expert precision, avoiding every crack and bump in the road so that we had a smooth ride.

And dare I say it: It was kinda fun.

My heart was racing in my chest like crazy and I refused to lessen my hold on my stepbrother the slightest bit, but the wind whooshed around us and Dominik tilted the bike to the left and right to have us cruise back and forth. It was like a roller coaster!

Given that my head was turned to the side, I couldn't see the whole scenery; however, I was still able to see the town of Bedburg zoom by in a colorful blur. And sometimes people would shout out in German at us, most likely telling us to slow down as Dominik definitely drove above the speed limit— but that was part of the fun! I even had to giggle when Dominik flipped someone off for yelling "Miststück!" at us. I highly doubted that any school bus could replicate the thrill-inducing curves or the adrenaline-racing speeds that the motorcycle was able to create. There was no way on earth that I'd drive one of these things all by myself, but riding one with Dominik was nice because I knew that he knew what he was doing. As corny as it sounded, even though I was literally on a deathtrap, I felt safe with Dominik.

My mind couldn't help but go back to Nordwestmecklenburg seven years ago, when Dominik and I had accidentally gone there. He'd gotten us a bike to ride to the pier, and just like now, I'd had to hold onto him from the back as he drove us to our destination. For some reason, the more I thought about that, the less I felt that hole in my chest... actually, come to think of it, I could barely feel it at all.

A big two-story brick building started to come into view. On the front of it right above the glass doors was GYMNASIUM carved out of some shiny metal. Dominik pulled up in front, stopping so abruptly that the bike did some sort of reverse wheelie in which most of the weight tipped onto the front wheel. Because of the way we were seating, my whole body shoved against Dominik's as we tilted, until the back wheel hit the pavement with a thud.

"Oops," Dominik muttered as the rest of the students gave us the side-eye.

I jumped off the motorcycle, my legs feeling like jelly due to the immense vibrations of the engine. Plus, already my arms were a little sore from how tight I'd held onto the man in front of me. Still, I couldn't really complain too much about the ride.

I took the helmet off, giggling a little bit as I started to fix my hair with my fingers. "That was actually fun," I admitted as I handed the helmet back to Dominik.

It took Dominik a second to register what I'd said, but soon his usual gruff demeanor fell off his face. His mouth stretched out from ear-to-ear as he smiled a jubilant grin of utter glee, his sharp canine teeth even poking out over his bottom lip. The smile even touched his eyes as the little smile wrinkles formed near the edges, letting me know that it was genuine.

Dominik puffed his chest out as he grabbed the helmet from me. "Y-yeah, I'll have to take you for a ride again then," he beamed, placing the helmet down on the handles as he got off the bike.

Before I could wonder what he was doing, he placed an arm around my waist and led me up the stairs to the entrance of the school.

"Wha...?" I started, but then felt a little grateful once we were inside the school hallway. Nearly all of the signs and posters were written in German, preventing me from understanding much.

Every so often, Dominik would glance at the signs or the little plaques that acted as maps affixed to the walls, leading me down the student-filled hallways to wherever we were going. I don't know why he thought that holding me by the waist and walking us through the halls like the couples I'd seen at my high school back in Canada was a good idea, but I guess it did the trick. After all, the halls were stuffed to bursting with other students who already knew where to go, many of them bumping into us as we moved. Occasionally, Dominik would do that weird little rumble thing that resembled a growl, usually whenever someone bumped into me directly, and the student would either ignore him or back off as if they were terrified for their life.

Of course Dominik stuck out like a sore thumb in the hallway. The obvious reason was that he was the only one not in uniform; but secondly, he towered over everyone! That was not an exaggeration. The dude stood a head taller than anyone else, and he seemed to exude some sort of odd aura that made a lot of the other students steer clear of us... come to think of it, said students who avoided him all had yellow eyes.

Weird...

I didn't have much time to think about it because Dominik led me to a door that had a sign above it reading Büro des Schulleiters.

"'Principal's Office'," Dominik translated, just barging into the room like he owned the damn school.

A man, the principal I'm assuming, sat behind the desk wearing a gaudy tweed suit. He had the same exact yellow eyes that Dominik, and Alaric, and Sybille, and a few of the other students had. Okay, this cannot just be a coincidence, right? I mean, I have green eyes, and I know plenty of other people who also have green eyes. Yet, we're not all concentrated in one small area!

Dominik straightened his posture again for some reason, tightening his grip on me so much that I nearly stumbled against him. "Herr Fischer, hier ist mein Seelenverwandter, bereit für die Schule. Wo ist sein Zeitplan?" he said in German, preventing me from understanding what he was saying. Damn, I really wish I knew German better, then I wouldn't feel so out of the loop all the time!

Principal Fischer, stood up, a welcoming smile on his older face. He peered at me over the rim of his thick glasses. "Willkommen!" he grinned at me. "We are excited to have you here at Bedburg Gymnasium. Your Stiefvater already informed us that you are not fluent in Deutsch."

"...my what?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows in confusion.

"'Stepfather'," Dominik translated again for me, leaning down to whisper the answer into my ear. I never thought I'd say it, but thank God that Dominik was here!

"I was very impressed with your grades from your old school," Principal Fischer continued, "so I made sure to put you in some more advanced classes for the mental stimulation." The principal handed me a pink piece of paper that was almost as thin as tissue paper. The way the words were printed on it let me know that it was a carbon copy, which I guess made sense since Dad told me that Germany loves its paperwork, so there were bound to be at least twelve other copies somewhere in the school.

Again, my eyebrows were scrunched up in utter confusion as I read over the piece of paper that was my class schedule in my hands.

Name: Estrada, Maximilian Cristobal

Klasse: Unterprima

1). Deutsch für Nicht-Muttersprachler

2). Infinitesimalrechnung

3). Mittelalterliche Literatur

4). Anatomie und Physiologie

5). Chemie

6). Sportunterricht

Notfallkontakt: Stubbe, Dominik Matthais

I stared at the paper in my hands with no amount of comprehension floating around in my addled brain. I mean, I could take a wild guess and say that "Anatomie und Physiologie" was probably "Anatomy and Physiology", but I could be wrong!

Growing up, Emilia had been more than kind enough to inform me time and time again that I've always had a very expressive face, meaning that I'd never been able to hide my emotions very well. Hence, Dominik and Principal Fischer definitely knew that I had no idea what my school schedule was saying.

Dominik was quick to gently take the paper out of my hands, not even bothering to sigh or make a face about it. Instead, he snatched a pen out of the cup on the principal's desk and scribbled on the paper. He then handed it back to me, narrowing his gaze at the older man. "Er spricht nicht gut Deutsch," he huffed, sounding annoyed with him and not me.

I looked at the paper once more, grateful that Dominik had written the English translation of the classes next to them in big blocky letters:

1). German for Max (Pay Attention!!!)

2). Stupid Math

3). Old Ass Books

4). Body Stuff

5). Nerdy Science Shit

6). PE

"Gee, thanks," I muttered, not feeling any closer to understanding my schedule than I had before. I looked back up at the Dominik, eying him curiously. "What does 'Not-fall-kon-takt' mean? And why is your name next to it?"

The principal let out a booming laugh while Dominik blushed again.

"Don't worry about it," Dominik hurriedly said as he began to usher me out of the office. "Let's get you to your first class."

Principal Fischer chuckled again. "We're pleased to have you with us, Maximilian," he happily laughed. "You and your emergency contact have a pleasant day."

My emergency contact? What the—? Wait, no. There's no way, right?

As I was yanked into the hallway, I glared up with Dominik with accusing eyes. "You're my emergency contact?" I asked. "Why?" Shouldn't my dad be contacted in the event of an emergency as opposed to my stepbrother?

Dominik avoided my gaze as he led me down the hallway to my first class. "Paul is going to be in the Mediterranean for about a month," he stated, unable to look me in the face.

Oh yeah, I guess that makes sense.

The left side of his mouth pulled up to form a sinister smirk. "I suppose you can say that in three days, I'll be your legal guardian," he teased.

The dude's strange. "Pshh," I scoffed, rolling my eyes at his crappy joke. "Whatever you say, Daddy." I hope with me calling him that, he'll feel hella awkward over his actions. Sometimes, one just has to call someone out on their crap, point blank.

Dominik flinched for a moment and his Adam's apple quivered. He gulped loudly and cleared his throat. "Y-yeah, you can call me that," he stammered. "I-I mean, if you want to."

Ugh. Way to flip it back at me.

I could've sworn that Dominik didn't like me. I mean, after all, seven years ago he'd called me a nobody and had shredded up my self-esteem as if it were made of the same carbon paper as my school schedule. He'd been really good at making me feel bad. However, ever since I've moved to Germany permanently, I think that most of my time in the past few days has been spent with Dominik when compared with everyone else. Dad and Alaric had been the ones to pick me up from the airport. Dominik, however, was the one to take me to the Wasgau and to take me to school, and to share his bedroom with me, and to sleep with me— not like that! I meant to sleep on the same couch as me!

I mean, damn, he was even listed as my emergency contact! If I get hurt at school, then Dominik will be the first one notified. I bet he wouldn't even give two shits! He'd probably receive a phone call, hang up mid-way through the conversation, and then forget all about it.

Then again, Dominik was actually walking me to my first class right now, acting as my translator, and making sure that I wouldn't get lost. The whole time he did this, he kept an arm secured around my waist.

Oh and most importantly: He claimed that I was his the other day.

Why?

I didn't get it. Then again, there seemed to be a lot of things in Bedburg that didn't make sense.

We stopped in front of a classroom door that had a lot of desks beyond it. Dominik dropped his arm from my waist and fished into his jacket pocket.

"Here's your phone," he said in his normally gruff voice as he handed me my cell phone. "I went ahead and inserted your new SIM card."

I grabbed my phone from him. "Oh, that's so nice of you—"

"And," Dominik added, narrowing his eyes at me, "I went ahead and unblocked my number."

Oh yeah, that. "Your number was blocked?" I gasped, trying to look shocked as I put a hand over my heart in mock surprise. My shaky voice ruined my façade though.

Dominik just continued to glare down at me, not buying my lie. "Just call me during lunch," he grunted.

"Why?" I blurted. Why on earth would Dominik want me to call him during my lunch period?

He just glared again, mentally telling me to shut up.

A couple next to us walked by hand-in-hand, swinging their clasped hands together as they moved to look like some cutesy TV dream couple. Eh, they were kinda cute, if I'm being honest. The girl had gorgeous black curly hair that framed her round face perfectly, and there wasn't a single blemish on it whatsoever. She gazed up at her boyfriend with loving, chocolate brown eyes that showed nothing but the utmost love in them. The guy completely towered over her since he was crazy tall (Dominik was taller), and he stared down at her with his yellow eyes that looked like they were gazing down at the world's sparkliest treasure. They were completely smitten with one another, totally reminding me that I'm terminally single and without a man of my own.

I know that my mom and dad would whoop my ass if they knew that they'd sent me all the way to Germany and had spent tons of euro on a private school just for my main focus to be a relationship instead of my studies. I can't help it though!

After years of being alone, I longed for that human contact that only a man can provide! And yes, I am painfully aware of how thirsty that makes me sound. Whenever I look around me at the other teenagers my age, I feel like I'm stunted in my growth because I've yet to have a significant other whatsoever. Sure I haven't had a boyfriend yet, but I've also never had a "Guy I'm Seeing" or a "Dude I'm Going on a Date With". Nothing!

This year, I'm going to rectify that! I promise that this year will be Year of the Max, in which I'll go on my first date, get my first kiss, get my first boyfriend, and get fucked (in a good way). I am determined.

Oh, and I'll keep my 4.0 GPA all at the same time. Who says that I can't have it all?

"Ich hole dich nach dem Unterricht ab, meine Liebe," the boyfriend said to his girlfriend in a deep voice. I had no idea what he was saying, but I could hear the longing that he had for her in his words.

The girlfriend smiled up at him, showing off her braces that had bubblegum pink rubber bands on the front of them. "Ich vermisse dich jetzt schon," she cooed in a light, airy voice.

Then the couple leaned in and began to suck face as if they weren't in the middle of a high school hallway.

I had to avert my eyes so as not to look like a perv for staring, but I'd be lying if I claimed that I wasn't the smallest bit jealous. *Scoff, where's my man to kiss me before he drops me off at class?

Dominik cleared his throat, snapping me out of my petty, jelly feels. I half-expected him to call me out for so blatantly staring at the couple in front of us, but he did something totally different instead.

My stepbrother snatched a strong hold of the front of my ugly sweater vest, pulling me into him as he wrapped both of his buff arms around me. I was so stunned that my body was frozen as Dominik completely maneuvered us in the middle of the damn hallway. He was tall enough to where he had to bend down to nuzzle me... huh? Despite my shock though, I could still feel my body melting into his. I couldn't help it! No matter how weird and annoying Dominik may be, even I can't deny that the man seems to be the cuddliest guy in all of Germany! Sue me. I really hated how soft his massive chest was and how warm his embrace was, but I couldn't resist snuggling against him... for about one second. I then pushed away and blushed bright red as I hurried inside my classroom.

"See ya!" I blurted as I scurried away like a panicked mouse.

Dominik let out a low huff. "I'll pick you up after school!" he called out to me.

I just flashed him a thumb's up and took a seat at one of the desks near the back of the class. Out of instinct, I automatically unzipped my backpack so that I could snatch my notebook out of my bag and start jotting down whatever was written up on the whiteboard. When I had my backpack open, I stared down at the wolf plush that Dominik had sent me a few years ago when I was a kid, its black beady eyes looking right up at me.

Why did he put this in my bag for me?

I looked up from my bag to give him a look, but his broad back was already to me as he spoke to the tall guy from the couple in the hall. Dominik spoke in a hushed voice, and in German, so I couldn't quite piece together whatever he was saying. "Pass auf ihn auf. Oder aber," he growled at the other guy, nodding my way.

The dude looked frightened and gulped loudly. "Jawhol, Leitwolf," he squeaked.

Okay, so it looks like Dominik couldn't even make it out of the building without instilling fear into someone. I can't imagine what it would've been like to have actually been his classmate. Given my nerdy social status and the fact that he's scary beyond all reason like a bully, I'm fairly certain that we wouldn't have hung out. In fact, I'm willing to bet that he would've bullied me. *Sigh.

I moved to put my phone on silent so that I wouldn't get in trouble on my first day, but once I was on the home screen, there was an app that I didn't recognize: YAN-Tracker. The icon was in the shape of a magnifying glass with a heart in the middle of the glass. Out of curiosity, I clicked on it, but a pop-up box took up the whole screen. It asked for a password and wouldn't let me close out of it unless I put in the accurate log in information, of which I didn't know.

Did Dominik download this obscure app onto my phone after putting in my German SIM card?

Curious, I opened up my Chrome app and typed in "YAN-Tracker" into the search bar, my eyes widening at what they read:

"YAN-Tracker, short for 'Yandere Tracker' is an independent app developed by YANDERE Corp. It is a state of the art location tracking app that requires a password in order to disable..."