I first met Kai Valentine at the basketball court when I was ten years old.

Kai was taller, louder, and faster than me. And from that day on, Kai became my best friend, my safe place.

But then my parents passed away, and my family went bankrupt. After that, we weren't best friends anymore. We were just two strangers living in completely different worlds.

Then, Kai starts "stealing" from me.

He manages to steal every single girlfriend I've ever had.

The day he steals my eighth girlfriend, I finally break. That's when I decide to fight back and get myself a boyfriend instead.

That's right; I'm going to pretend to be gay! Let's see how he plans to steal this one.

However, I never thought that my actions would make Kai go absolutely berserk.

That night, Kai presses me against a dim corner in the stairwell. His fists slam into the concrete wall, his breath hot against my cheek.

"If even he can be your boyfriend," he grits out, "then why can't I?"

I laugh. "Are you out of your mind?"

Kai just keeps pressing closer, his scorching gaze burning into me as his lips inch closer until he is just a breath away.

"Do you still not get it?"

Something hot and erect presses up against me. He then growls softly in my ear.

"I never wanted to steal any of your girlfriends. The only person I ever wanted was you, Aiden Winston!"

I got dumped again.

Liesel Sawyer, my brand-new ex-girlfriend, gave me the same reason all of my past girlfriends gave me when they also broke up with me.

"You're such a boring guy, Aiden. Can't you be more like Kai? Look at how he treats us girls and sweeps us off our feet? Why don't you learn from him?"

I balled my hands into fists. It felt like I'd just been cucked.

Liesel was the eighth girlfriend Kai Valentine had stolen from me.

I pretended to be fine and agreed to the breakup. However, as soon as she left, I immediately shot up, grabbed my army knife, and dashed toward Kai's nest in eastern Deyork.

He'd stolen my girlfriends, and where we came from in Wooklyn, that meant blood and revenge.

Kai and I had grown up together and often played basketball in the streets. We also took part in underground activities and ran from the cops whenever we got into trouble. Kai had always looked out for me.

However, nobody expected that my family would suddenly go broke when I was just in high school. The mansion I lived in was swapped out for a run-down apartment in a housing project, and my only goal now was to get into military school so that I could escape this hellhole.

Kai had promised to always support me. But as I distanced myself from him, he began to change.

Every time I got a new girlfriend, he would always exact revenge on me and take her away.

I reached Kai's apartment and tried entering his usual passcode into the lock. It hadn't changed in years, and I barged in right after that.

I was planning to burst in and stab him the second I saw him with all the effort I had left. I was desperate.

When I kicked open the bedroom door, I suddenly froze.

Kai was shirtless. He was weight training with a dumbbell, and his body was covered in a beautiful sheen of sweat that made him look as perfect as a statue.

A nine-inch scar ran down his forearm, a relic from his past fights on the streets and a brutal reminder to me of the path he chose.

I wasn't the type who would simply ogle any man's body, but Kai's chest, abs, and beautiful V-line leading farther south had me enamored. I simply couldn't tear my eyes off him.

"Kai Valentine, you bastard!" I shouted, my voice a little shaky.

Kai slowly set down his dumbbell and shrugged on a bathrobe without tying it on, as if purposely offering me another glance.

"Why are you so worked up today, Aiden?" Kai asked, his voice low and scratchy. "I thought you'd already cut off all ties with me."

I stepped forward, the knife still in my pocket. My heart thumped loudly like it was playing the drum.

"You've stolen eight of my girlfriends, Kai Valentine! What is your problem with me?"

I gritted my teeth, barely able to hold back my anger. "What the hell do you want from me?"

Kai just glanced at me coldly and started coming closer to me.

He towered over me at six feet and two inches, and I was a whole head shorter than him. Suddenly, it looked as though I was losing ground.

"Was it because of Liesel?" he asked, stepping even closer. "Do you love her that much?"

I shoved him away. But when my hands pressed against his chest, I realized that it was warm and solid underneath my palms.

"Don't play dumb!"

I quickly pulled my hands away like I'd been electrocuted. "You always ruin things for me every time I find myself a new girlfriend. What are you trying to prove, huh?"

To my surprise, Kai just kept inching closer to me, backing me up against the wall. Then, his hand braced over my head against the wall, and his other hand slid under my chin.

"Did you really think that I was after your girls? Maybe I was just trying to tell you to stop wasting your time on them."

I laughed coldly and shoved at his chest once again, but he didn't budge. Instead, he pressed the lower half of his body against me, and I immediately felt a jolt of electricity when his burning-hot erection pressed up against me.

"Don't use this against me," I roared, unable to hold myself back. "You only stole my girlfriends to prove that you're better than me! Isn't that right?"

"I am better than you in more ways than one. For starters, I have a nine-inch monster in my pants, and I'm sure that I'm also better than you in that department. Wanna compare?"

His hands then slid to my waist, and he hooked his fingers around the end of my belt, rubbing against the edges.

I held my breath as my body began responding to his provocations despite knowing better. Soon, I felt the familiar heat pooling in my groin.

"That's enough!"

I finally shoved him off me and broke the awkward tension in the air. "I'm begging you, Kai. Please leave me and my girlfriends alone. I don't want to stay single for the rest of my life!"

"Are you seriously begging me because of a woman?"

Kai's face turned grim. "Where's that prideful attitude when you iced me out years ago? I thought you said that you were trying to get into military school. So, why are you thinking about dating all the time instead?"

I'd lost all of my leverage at that moment and slinked away in shame.

Kai had a point. I should pull myself together and do my best to get into military school.

Even so, that wasn't a reason for him to steal my girlfriends! I still needed to get revenge on him for that!

Soon, news that I'd been cheated on started spreading in the community like wildfire.

People were secretly calling me "Cuckden" and laughing behind my back.

When my roommate, Mick Kensley, heard about it, he patted me on the shoulders and gave me a pitying look.

"Aiden, it's not that embarrassing that Kai stole your girlfriend. It just means you both have the same taste!"

"If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all!" I exclaimed, lifting my leg to kick him.

Mick immediately ducked out of the way. He grinned and waved his hands around. "Relax. I've got a wonderful idea. If he keeps stealing your girlfriends, then just get yourself a boyfriend instead. Use that against him. Don't tell me that he's also planning to steal a guy too?"

I turned to look at him. That was a brilliant idea!

"That's perfect! I'd do that even if it was just to disgust him," I said with a final clap of my hands.

Mick then raised his eyebrow and waggled it at me. "So, where are you planning to find yourself a boyfriend?"

I hooked my arm around his neck and smirked. "That's going to be your job."

Before he could protest, I flopped onto my bed and fell asleep at once, the corners of my lips curling upward as I dreamed of revenge and the relief it would bring me.

Mick worked fast. He really managed to find me a fake boyfriend the very next day, and we agreed to meet at the bar the same night.

I didn't think much about it and went for the date excitedly.

The bar was dimly lit, thick with the smell of alcohol and cheap perfume.

My "boyfriend" was Cody Jepson, and he was the athletic, active type.

If Kai was a handsome character who looked like he just came out of a movie, Cody's handsomeness was more of the approachable, down-to-earth kind.

"You're a lot more different than I expected," Cody said with a bashful smile.

I cocked an eyebrow at him and leaned in a little closer. "How so?"

"You're less… rowdy," he answered with a low chuckle, the tips of his ears turning red.

I felt my heart drop to my stomach. I bet Mick must have painted me as some loud, obnoxious clown or something.

But why did tonight's date somehow feel more like a real blind date than anything else?

I couldn't be bothered anymore as long as it kept Kai away from me.

I copied my clingy ex-girlfriends' behavior and leaned closer into Cody's embrace, my shoulder brushing his firm, supple chest.

Cody froze as his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat. His face turned red like he'd just been set ablaze. I could even tell that his breathing went erratic for a couple of seconds there.

He hesitantly slid his hand down to my waist and carefully rubbed the thin fabric of my shirt in his fingers, as if testing the waters.

"Aiden, you…" His voice was hoarse, and a flicker of emotion appeared in his eyes.

Just as I was wondering if Cody's reactions were simply too naive and innocent for his own good, the door to the bar was suddenly slammed wide open with a loud bang.

And then, the worst possible person I could ever bump into walked in.

My eighth ex-girlfriend.

Liesel widened her eyes as she stared at me leaning into Cody's embrace. She was so shocked she might as well have seen a ghost. "Aiden Winston! You're gay?"

I caught a glimpse of Kai, walking in behind Liesel as he took his time, but his eyes were as cold as ice.

I made a decision then and there. I pressed myself closer to Cody, against his broad chest, and reached up to tug coyly on his collar.

Then, I acted as if I was smitten and said, "So what if I'm gay? Love knows no genders. I'm in love with him as a person, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Cody played along with me and slid his arm around my waist, pulling me flush against him.

I gritted my teeth and put up with it, sneaking a glance at Kai.

His face was as dark as thunder as he glared at my arm that was looped around Cody's waist.

I felt triumphant. Finally, I got back at him for something!

"Disgusting," Kai spat, turning to leave.

Liesel hurried after him. "Kai, wait! Isn't it your birthday today?"

As soon as they were gone, I heaved a sigh of relief and patted Cody on the shoulder. "Thanks, man. I officially owe you dinner for this. Just hit me up whenever you're free."

Cody looked at me with a conflicted expression on his face. Then, he answered in his low voice, "Anytime."

I hummed happily as I made my way home. I couldn't wait to tell everything to Mick and gloat in his face.

"Your genius idea worked! I've literally never seen Kai look so mad and disgusted before. He looked like he'd just swallowed a fly!"

Mick just coughed slightly and wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead. "But Aiden, there's something I think I really need to tell you…"

He paused. "Cody likes you."

I immediately sat up a little straighter.

"What do you mean? You mean he's actually gay?"

Mick nodded, looking like a tortoise retracting into its shell. "Cody seems to be really into you. He wants to meet you again."

My mind went blank. I then stared at my phone, vibrating with an incoming call from Cody. I felt so unnerved that I turned my phone off completely.

Some time later, in the middle of the night, someone hammered loudly at the door while I was in the shower.

I came out with a towel wrapped around my waist and dripped water all over the place as I went to answer the door, wondering what kind of idiot would be wandering around like a lost soul so late into the night.

As soon as the door was opened, I saw Kai standing there with his collar wide open and his collarbones on display.

He smelled faintly of alcohol, and the heat in his eyes nearly burned straight into my skull.

"Why are you here?" I asked, instinctively tightening my grip on the towel around my waist. I just couldn't forget the dirty things he'd whispered in my ear the last time I was at his place.

Kai narrowed his eyes and stepped closer toward me. His breath, warm with liquor, fanned across my neck as he demanded, "Why didn't you pick up my calls?"

I stepped backward and bumped into the door frame. My towel nearly dropped.

"My phone was off!"

Kai then grabbed my wrist. "You turned your phone off for hours? Trying to avoid me, huh?"

My heart began to race. My wet hair was still dripping, and the droplets fell onto my collarbone and slid down my chest.

Kai's eyes followed the droplets, his Adam's apple bobbing, looking so hungry as if he hadn't eaten for days.

"Why would I avoid you?" I shot back at him stubbornly.

The smell of smoke and alcohol on his body was making my brain go haywire. "Let go of me."

Kai didn't let go. Instead, he brought forward his other hand and pressed it into my side.

"It's my birthday today," he said. "Did you forget?"

"I didn't."

"Then, where's my gift?"

Kai then looked at the baseball cap on my bed.

"Don't even think about it," I warned. "I have to wear that cap every night if I want to sleep!"

Kai just pressed himself against me, and he nipped at my earlobe.

"I thought you promised to spend every birthday with me."

I swallowed hard. "Is it not enough having Liesel by your side?"

Kai's eyes darkened. He then grabbed my other hand and pushed both my hands above my head, pinning me against the wall. My towel immediately fell to the floor, the sudden coolness quickly dissipating as his warm body pressed flush against mine.

"Aiden," Kai said, his voice hoarse as he stared at my lips for the longest time ever before swallowing thickly. "If Cody can be your boyfriend, does that mean I have a chance too?"

My brain couldn't even fathom what he said and drew a blank. "What… What do you mean?"

Kai then reached down and grabbed me. "Still don't get it? I want to do it with you."