Authors' Note: We went out of town Saturday for coauthor Lois' early birthday present. Annnnd forgot to include that in our posting plans. So here is the next chapter, and we will post Holding On and Letting Go on Tuesday as planned.
…
The only good thing about action movies was mocking them. With the news that they were getting a night off from patrol, and Dickie-Bird's brilliant suggestion to make it movie night, Jay settled in to the whole acting-like-a-family experience. There was no point trying to get away; Kala was going to be there, and she'd hold it against him if he left.
Then again, he'd spent a few hours that morning holding her against him. And then seeing her dance—wow. Which he really couldn't contemplate while they were all sprawled all over and around the couch. Dick had taken one corner, Kala had sat down next to him, and Jay had quickly taken the other end of the couch. With those images of Kala in his mind, he really didn't want her too close to Dick.
Kala smirked at that, while Jay tried not to notice the thin little sundress she wore. He quickly found things to distract himself, like Kala stealing his popcorn with goddamn super-speed. He could've forgiven that, but she was also taking bites of his pizza whenever he looked away from the plate. "What the hell?" he snapped, staring at her as Kala smiled beatifically at him. "You've got your own food!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said sweetly, and the next time he looked down there was a big chunk of crust missing from his pizza slice.
"You missed that memo, Jay," Tim cut in from his own seat, a chair all to himself. "Her brother warned us all that Kala got the Lane woman food-theft gene. Nothing is safe. And for such a dainty little thing, she eats like a horse."
Kala lifted her chin and looked imperiously at him. "I beg your pardon, Mister Drake? I really have no idea where this is coming from." That time Jay felt the breeze, and Tim yelped to discover his soda empty.
"Kryptonian metabolism?" Dick chuckled.
"That, and my mom's metabolism," Kala said, grinning. "It all goes straight to producing the fantastic amounts of awesomeness that Mom and I are known for."
Tim faked a retch, and Jay noticed even Bruce smiling.
The movie itself was a smorgasbord of mockery. The very first scene, with Trinity's slow-motion not-quite-hover kick, got Jay laughing. He elbowed Kala's side lightly. "Did you see this when you were like six, K? Is that why you love those jump-kicks so much?"
"Bite me. You're the one who set me up with a catsuit so I'd be all Gleaming Leather Badass just like Trinity. Now who saw this movie in their formative years?" She stuck her tongue out to general amusement.
"Actually it looks less Trinity and more Selene. Underworld, much?" Dick asked, raising an eyebrow at Jay.
Tim burst into cackles. "Dressing up a Goth rockstar as a bloodsucker. How ironic."
"Oh, great. Now I have to keep explaining that I'm an alien, not a vampire," Kala sighed. She glanced back at the screen and added, "Oh, and now we're running across rooftops. I wonder if the Wachowskis ever spent time in Gotham?"
"Yeah, we don't hit the opposite roof with our guts," Jay said, sneering at the one cop who didn't jump far enough. They all laughed at Trinity defying physics—"Hey, look, it's you again, K!"—as she flew across empty space and broke in a window.
"Oh, now I get why we're watching The Matrix. It's 'Troll Kala Night' at the Manor," she said, smirking.
Keanu Reeves' acting abilities were called into question, as he appeared to only have two facial expressions: vague befuddlement, and equally vague terror. Kala ventured the opinion that he might be an android. A few minutes later, Neo's freak-out on the ledge got chuckles from all the boys, any of whom could've waltzed in that space.
The combat training scene immediately reminded Jay of sparring with Kala. Except she laughed more when she was soaring through the air and throwing him into walls. She leaned over, her hair tickling his cheek, and murmured, "Is this giving you flashbacks?"
"Kinda," he admitted. "I'm Morpheus and you're Neo, though."
"Eww! I have way more facial expressions than Neo. And I look better kicking ass than he does. Besides, by the end I was totally The One." She had also looked at lot more the worse for wear during their early sparring sessions, and Jay remembered that with an odd little twist in his stomach. The last time, though, when she'd been at full power … and their rooftop run to break in her suit against all three Bat-boys…
When Neo inevitably fell trying to fly, Tim turned to Kala and asked, "Isn't that how you learned to fly?"
"Minus the face-plant, yeah, kinda," she laughed right back. "Dad was flying us both, and I let go. Scared the hell out of him and Jase 'til I swooped back up. Although, I did break my arm when I was seven, trying to jump off a swing and fly."
The big rescue scene was when everyone turned on Jay. When Neo deadpanned, 'Guns. Lots of guns,' Dick just turned around and smiled broadly.
"Oh look, it's Jay packing for a vacation," Kala snarked.
"No, 'cause I wouldn't pack like five pairs of guns," Jay shot back. "Two pairs, and lots of clips. He could be reloading while he's hiding behind the pillars instead of having to jump out and take one of the guards' guns off the floor."
"I can't believe you've thought of this," Tim said, eyeing him askance.
Jay rolled his eyes at him, and then pointed out another discrepancy. "Okay, look. He's got a big-ass chain gun with like eight barrels and he's shooting the shit out of the room Morpheus is in. Obviously he can't aim the fucking thing, he's having to walk his shots to hit Agent Smith. So how the hell does he miraculously not shoot Morpheus in the process?"
"Because he's The One," Dick said. "He bends bullets with his mind."
"No, that's Wanted," Kala said. "James McAvoy was bending the bullet's path with the power of Angelina Jolie's cleavage." Jay snorted laughter and Dick actually brayed.
Once Morpheus and Neo were swinging on the end of a cargo line beneath a shot-up helicopter that Trinity was trying to control, all of the boys did various impressions of Tarzan yells. "Don't smack them into the buildings, oh shit, don't smack them into the buildings," Kala chanted as Trinity fought the cyclic and tried to keep them in the air. With the hydraulics blown, of course, it was a losing battle.
"Oh God, he's being a hero," Dick groaned, as Neo wrapped the line around his forearm. "I am The One! Watch me hold up this helicopter with the strength of my mildly-concussed expression!"
"He must be eating like six pizzas an hour to be that awesome," Jay muttered. Kala bopped his shoulder, and he shoved his half-eaten pizza slice at her face. "Quick! Eat more pizza! We need you to catch the helicopter, Neo!"
"Well if dipshit Trinity would quit fucking around and grab the damn line," she complained, but Jay noticed his pizza was minus another bite when she shoved it away. "C'mon, Trin, you can't fly a helicopter with no hydraulics, just get your skinny ass out of that seat and grab the damn line already!"
"And she shoots the line just in time!" Jay taunted. "Now it's too bad she's still fucking falling and she's gonna hit the windows hard enough to crack them."
Kala scoffed. "Yeah, and that exploding helicopter would totally crispy-fry her if they were being realistic. Fortunately, in the Matrix the fireball stops juuuust short of toasting the hero's love interest."
"Love interest? Boning interest, at best," Jay shot back.
Kala wrinkled her nose. "Oh, please. He'd cut himself on her hipbones. Besides, the romance subplot is so underdeveloped here. She whispers in his ear in a club, then she sucks a shrimp-bug-thing out of his navel, and she brings him dinner later after he got his ass kicked. Oh yeah, that's a basis for a relationship."
"He probably got into the whole electroshock thing," Jay opined.
"It's an action movie. Switch dies, so obviously the hero gets the remaining female character," Tim said.
"Yeah, and I hate that. Why doesn't anyone ever write a movie where the female character grows a brain, kicks the hero's ass, and takes over?"
"Because men statistically spend more money on movies and memorabilia," Bruce spoke up dryly. "And the film industry is essentially a numbers game, trying to get the maximum profit from each movie produced."
Kala did a dramatic double take, amazed that Bruce had spoken. "Well, I guess I'll have to settle for doing it in real life then," she replied. All three boys laughed with her.
As Neo fought with Agent Smith—which Tim referred to as 'the boss battle'—Jay and Dick complained about the fighting style. "Look how stylized it is. Obviously none of those blows are landing with any force. It just looks pretty. Especially the posing with the damn dust rising off him," Dick scoffed.
Jay rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and why is Neo so damn fast and strong, but when friggin' Elrond drags his dusty ass over to the tracks he just lays there? C'mon, it's only five or six broken ribs. You're getting whipped by a goddamn elf, dude."
All of them shouted, "My name is NEO!" together, but only Kala broke into song as he soared up to smash Agent Smith against the ceiling. "I believe I can flyyyyy…."
"Now he runs," Tim said. "Don't look around, you know he's there, just freakin' run already. Run, Neo, run!"
Dick deadpanned, "Here come the squiddies." The scene cut back to Neo stealing some random guy's phone.
"See, the guy there is more freaked out by losing his phone than Neo is by three agents chasing him," Kala pointed out. "His 'what the shit' line is more emotive than Keanu's whole performance."
"He runs like a muppet on crack," Jay said, raising both arms and waving them around. "I have no facial expressions! I must communicate my terror to the audience! I will flail all my limbs while I run!"
"And he doesn't know his left from his right, either," Dick laughed.
"Agent Smith! He's everywhere!" Kala shouted as the old lady turned into the agent and flung a knife.
"And now we have the action movie classic shot, the slow-motion leap into the garbage," Tim said. "Which is basically the plot synopsis of the next two movies."
"Aw, but Monica Bellucci was in them. That's reason enough to watch." Kala grinned.
The scene cut back to the ship, and Dick sighed loudly. "Mechanical death squid always show up when you're really busy not getting your savior killed. They're like telemarketers. And they never bring chips, either."
Tim chuckled. "And Trinity and Morpheus sound so concerned about the freaking certain death right outside the ship. 'Oh, no.' 'Here they come.' Even I would be freaking out. Seriously, did they get acting tips from Neo? Or did they think their characters read the script and know they won't die?"
Kala rolled her eyes at the screen. She hopped up and began to play air-violin, muttering, "Threatening strings for the squiddies! All bad shit arrives to the sound of a violinist who just snorted some Adderall!" Jay wheezed, trying to get some air.
Snickering to herself, she started to drop back down next to Dick, only to discover that he had put his feet up in her spot and almost into Jay's lap. Jay just shoved at his sneakers irritably, not making too much trouble over Dick's claiming of turf. She stood there for a moment, arms crossed and pouting at him, Dick chuckling at her and Jay with a little shrug of his shoulders as if to indicate 'you snooze, you lose'. Then rolled her eyes as she sailed over and dropped herself on the arm of the couch next to Jay, sticking her tongue out at him.
As Neo fled up a fire escape, Jay added, "I hate when the bad guys can't shoot. I mean really, these are agents, they should know how to shoot. And a target above you on a fire escape, it's not that hard. He should have at least three bullets in his ass by the time he gets to the room."
They came to the climactic scene where Neo got shot. All of them groaned aloud. "Right there he looks exactly the same as half of the rest of the movie," Tim complained. "Any screenshot from this film could be captioned, 'What?' or 'Oh crap.' Literally any screenshot."
"Have you seen The Day the Earth Stood Still? Emotionless anti-human alien. Perfect role for him." Kala snickered.
"Oh, and here," Jay bitched. "Look, first bullet does absolutely nothing. He just blinks. Second bullet throws him across the hallway. What the fuck, was that some extra-hot handload or something?"
"Not to mention, the sentinels are inside the ship this whole time," Tim commented. "Neo's whole death and revival and agent destruction all happens while the sentinels are just wandering around the ship like … like old ladies in a grocery store who can't decide what they want. 'Oh, should we kill these people, or just let the hero do his thing so we can get killed in the nick of time?' 'Gee, what do you think, Myrtle?'"
"Myrtle?!" Jay wheezed. "That ugly-ass spider-octopus with scorpion legs, you think it looks like a Myrtle? Damn, you're screwed up."
"Meanwhile Morpheus is so depressed he's just gonna let the squiddies eat the ship," Dick said. "Oh noes, Neo's dead, life isn't worth living anymore. Will to live, fading."
Jay snorted. "Meanwhile Tank's like, 'Hey dude, I didn't like him that much, can we please go now? Morpheus? Hello? Lasers, man, they've got lasers.'"
"Oh God, here it comes," Kala groaned. "Trinity's not afraid anymore, guys. This is a proud moment, she's conquered her fear of intimacy just in time to get some necrophiliac action. Oh my God, I can't watch."
All of them staring at the screen with distaste, and Tim just couldn't take it anymore. He slid off his chair toward the couch, grabbing Dick's shirt as he went. Shaking the fabric, he shouted in his most melodramatic voice, "You can't be dead! You can't be! Because I loooooove you! You hear me? I LOVE YOU!"
"Please don't kiss me," Dick pleaded, leaning back as far as he could.
Kala lost it then; she'd been chortling at Tim's reinterpretation, but that was the final straw. Laughing so hard she could barely breathe, she fell off the arm of the couch, directly into Jay's lap.
Jay looked down at her, thoroughly startled and hoping she would quit squirming with laughter. Meanwhile she pointed at the screen and managed to wheeze, "Kiss of life! He comes back from the dead once you let him know he can tap that! Kiss of liiiiiife!"
This was going to get really uncomfortable in a moment, with Kala lying across his lap on her side, her body vibrating with laughter. Yeah, no, not a good idea. "Get off, K. Personal space much?" he said gruffly, catching her by the hips and maneuvering her back up onto the arm of the couch.
She glared at him haughtily. "Personal space? Where was personal space when we were kicking the crap out of each other in your training room, huh?"
"That was training, and you graduated. I'm not your landing pad, flygirl." She kept giving him that imperious look, and for a second Jay thought she might bring up that last training session, when they'd gotten very personal indeed. So to distract her, he added, "Besides, your elbow almost landed on my nuts. So watch it, okay?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Kala said haughtily, as Dick and Tim laughed out loud. The movie's ending, with Neo discovering his awesomeness and killing Agent Smith, went un-mocked as they taunted Jay instead.
That was fine with him. He needed all the distraction he could get from the warm, live weight of her sprawled across him, the loose and trusting way her body had moved while she laughed. Snarking back and forth with the boys helped some. Tim's prissy scowl could ice down anyone's libido.
"Who's up for the sequel?" Dick asked as he pulled the DVD out and put it back in its case. Jay managed not to smirk; he'd almost been up for more than a sequel. And he really needed to quit thinking about it unless he wanted to embarrass himself.
"Monica Bellucci, and the chateau, and the creepy albino twins. I'm in," Kala declared.
"Freeway chase. I'll watch it for that," Jay chimed in.
"And on that note, children, I'm turning in," Bruce said. "Don't forget you have a plane to catch tomorrow, Kala."
She managed not to roll her eyes. "I won't, Uncle Bruce. Besides, I'm kind of used to late nights and early mornings, now."
Tim sighed. "Let's watch it, then. I'll make more popcorn." No sooner than the words left his mouth, Alfred arrived with a fresh bowl. "Perfect timing!" they all chorused, and Alfred merely smiled.
…
They'd lost Tim halfway through Matrix Reloaded, and by the end Dick was nodding. He excused himself as soon as the movie was over, heading for bed. All of them were exhausted that night, but Jay and Kala actually debated watching Revolutions before succumbing to better sense. Morning would come all too soon for both of them.
Heading upstairs, Jay fell slightly behind Kala, admiring the sway in her step. The feel of the curve of her hip under his hand had never left his mind, and now other ideas were starting to creep in. Shaking himself, he forced those thoughts down in a vain attempt to refocus on other things, but no matter how he tried, there she was, sprawled across his lap, tucked in against his side, prone on the training mats beneath him … steadily climbing the stairs just in front of him. Holy fuck, it was a view worth framing and hanging in the Louvre. He practically wanted to take a bite out of—
"Enjoying the view, much?"
Startled, Jay lifted his gaze to meet the look Kala was throwing over her shoulder at him, all knowing and shit, and for a moment, he felt like a deer in headlights. But then his senses returned, and he smirked up at her, taking a chance. "Not the worst view in the world. I'd take it over Nightwing's ass, anyway."
A brief flash of a smirk over her shoulder at him, one of her dark brows arched as they hit the third-floor landing. So she was in the mood still for a little cat and mouse. Jay caught up with her then, and he couldn't resist crowding into her space just a little, looming.
She didn't take the bait, though, and turned it right back on him, crossing her arms over her chest. The corner of her lip curled up in an impish grin. "Oh really? Dick doesn't do it for you? I'm surprised."
"Didn't say that, Princess. Let's just say that my hero exception list isn't laminated yet."
That got just the response he wanted, Kala giving a soft chuckle as she shook her head at him. "Uh-huh. Really? I take this to mean I should be flattered by that distinction, huh?"
Allowing himself a wry grin, Jay nodded. "Oh yes. And you should be thanking me, besides; you'll notice I didn't make one single comment about your trenchcoat tonight. You, Neo, and Trinity could've been triplets."
"Yes, well, thank you for your self-restraint, Mister Hood," Kala shot back cheekily, punching him lightly in the shoulder. "When I get home, I'll be sure to send out a card for helping me maintain my dignity."
For some unfathomable reason, that remark cut Jay wide open. When she gets home. … It was enough to make him want to roar and go off and sulk. Kala would be gone by tomorrow afternoon.
"Yeah, well, I'll be sure to write back," he managed to quip, forcing himself to keep up his cool facade. "'Dearest Princess, I'm counting the days since we parted, the endless monotony only interrupted by the cries of the wounded and the stench of bodies and gunpowder. Only my hope that we will one day be reunited keeps me alive and sane amongst the insanity of this damn'd war,'" he said mockingly, drawing on the image of a Civil War soldier writing to his beloved with highly educated tones. "'Yours forever, William Blatherington.'"
The eruption of a startled laugh from Kala told Jay that he'd hit the mark, and only her hand clamped over her mouth stopped her from being loud enough to wake the whole household. Again. Her shoulders shook as she forced it quiet, and suddenly she was leaning against him from the force of her laughter, her forehead buried in his shoulder. If he'd had any wonder that Kala was tired, this proved it without a doubt. She stayed there twitching as she fought her way through a round of snickers, one hand on his opposite shoulder for balance.
"Oh my God, Jay, you're certifiable," she wheezed, finally lifting her face to his, her eyes shining in the low light. "You are seriously crazy. And I'm nuts for hanging around you."
Dammit, how did it seem like they kept winding up like this, everything he wasn't supposed to want right under his nose, with her cackling and grinning and joking around and landing on him somehow, eyes all huge like an anime girl? He got that she was fairly touchy, well, Dick-level snuggly if he was honest, and yeah, she was over-tired and in a good mood from all the wise-cracks tonight. But every time she got this close to him—when she wasn't whaling on him, that was—it sent a little shock straight down his spine.
"Not exactly news," he said quietly, not quite moving to set her properly on her feet yet. Surprising or not, having her all up on him was very nice. "I've had a lot of practice with this bunch of yahoos. And dressing up like creatures of the night is a pretty big qualifier for all of us."
"Point," Kala agreed then, getting her feet under her and leaning more-or-less sideways against him, her chin lifted now. One eyebrow lifted, the look curious as well as teasing. "So, you gonna miss me, Professor Badass?"
For a moment, Jay's throat tried to close up on him, but he blew out a breath and shrugged with one shoulder. "I think that was the general idea I was trying to convey."
And holy fuck, if there was any better time to make a move, he didn't know what it'd be. Kala was right here, warm and soft, and probably likely not to haul off and punch his face in if he kissed her. Don't blow it, dumbass, don't blow it! he chastised himself. Her lips were right there…
Kala's eyes went even wider, and the look in them was nothing he could comprehend. The space between them narrowed a bit, one or the other leaning in just a little more. For a second it almost seemed as though she might kiss him. For an instant, the air almost crackled. The weight of portent made him tense; if he kissed her now, if she kissed him now, then God only knew what would happen next … and Jay didn't exactly believe in God, these days. Too much rode on that tiny space between them, too much could go wrong or way too right, and he didn't know which way to jump. Every relationship he'd ever been in, Jay had learned not to trust when things felt this right. It always meant the rug was about to get yanked out from under him any second now.
There was a moment, so close he could feel her breath; those hazel eyes of hers had to have seen something there because she gave a tiny smile, briefly regretful, before stepping back. Only the scent of her perfume lingered ghost-like when she moved out of his space.
So close. Dammit.
Yeah, something had scared her off. The balance was off now, Kala being uncharacteristically fidgety. Running a hand through her loose hair, she tucked a long lock behind one ear silently. Her gaze felt almost deliberately distant when she finally looked at him again. It was hard to tell in the dark, but her color looked a little higher. Like she might be blushing. Fuck, what had scared her off? He resisted the urge to reach out and feel how warm her skin was. "Yeah," she said quietly. "Gonna be impossible not to miss all of you, too."
All of you. That'll tell you everything you need to know. Good going, Jay. He forced a smile that felt like rictus looked. "If you miss us that much, your aim needs work," he joked feebly.
"Jerk. I mean, you've all grown on me, what else can I say? Like fungus. Really rare fungus." A slight lift of her shoulders and she shook her head. That little smile again, mysterious and sad, making him want to understand what was going on in her head. "It's been one hell of a long, hot summer."
"It has," Jay forced out. Not long enough.
Her reply echoed his thought. "But not long enough, I think. It never is in situations like this."
That lapsed them into momentary silence, both lost in their own thoughts, neither quite looking at the other. Finally, it was Kala who broke it. When he couldn't force himself to speak, she just gave that soft little laugh again, ducking away from both him and the wall. Yep, he'd blown it. "Well, on that note, it's late and I'm babbling. I'd better head to bed." And with a little twirl of her sundress, she turned with a parting flash of smile. "Night, Red. See you in the morning." Then she disappeared down the short distance of hallway and into her room, the door shutting silently behind her.
Feeling suddenly adrift, Jay dropped his face into one palm, reveling in the sting of the slap. Jesus fuck, he was an idiot. A complete, utter, idiot. Never mind that feeling that he was gonna fuck up everything, he should've just kissed her already.
Turning to head to his own room—his cold, empty room—he just knew he wasn't getting any sleep tonight. And tomorrow would be hell.
That's it, he resolved as he stripped and hit the bathroom before falling out, I'm joining a monastery. Or buying a liquor store. Whichever.
…
'Gonna miss me?' Oh, yeah, you're brilliant, Kal. What did you expect him to do?
In the back of her mind, several lines of thought had been going on since the afternoon. The time here at the Manor, in Gotham, was ticking down to mere hours. And any chance of understanding what could or could not be happening between she and Jay was fading away.
He'd given her the perfect excuse to go there at last, and she had let it slip away because she could just feel the anxiety in him. The worst part was knowing just what she'd felt flash through her mind when he'd cornered her on the landing. The tension had almost boiled over for her then, regardless of how calmly she'd played it off. And she'd blown it, too nervous to have read him wrong, and left him there on the darkened stairs.
It made her feel like an idiot to think it, but why did it feel so wrong to be alone in this room? Kala rolled her eyes; yeah, she was an idiot. It was better this way; the last thing she and Jay needed was her acting like a love-sick teenager and throwing herself at him right before she boarded a plane. Great way to make a final impression on someone. Especially when emotions had run high and your hormones had clearly gone insane.
That didn't stop her from opening the door a crack and glancing out. The anticipation, the hope that maybe he was still out there, charged her blood. In the most practical way of seeing things, he drove her crazy. The man she had spent her summer puzzling out was someone she'd found herself intrigued by, someone who made her laugh harder than Sebast did, and then there was the tension. The endless fucking tension. There were times when she was around Jay that she found herself breathless, intimidation being the last thing she felt. But Alan had taught her volumes about acting only on attraction and in her heart of hearts, Kala knew that she was still trying to run from Sebast. She wasn't even sure what the hell Jay thought about this little dance they'd been doing, other than he might be as aware of the interest as she was.
Acting on it would be idiocy, even if her lips had been burning earlier. She had wanted that kiss like nothing else.
And in the end, the deep introspection was all for naught. Jay wasn't there, obviously already having gone in his room. Kala sighed with both disappointment and relief, closing the door before smacking her forehead into it. Well, as if that wasn't like a sixteen-year-old hot for her crush. If you were going to act like a grown-up about this, you would have had the guts to just kiss him. If he hadn't reacted well, that would have been the end of it. You could have played it off as a counter-troll just to see his face. And God knows that you're too much of a Super to go over and knock on his door, take a chance under Uncle Bruce's roof. Kiss that chance goodbye, babe. It's over. Deal with it.
Kala shook herself, silencing the scolding voice. Maybe it was better this way. No irreparable damage could come of doing nothing about it. Especially if she was the only one who had let emotions get in the way. Her stomach was sick at the thought while she shed her sundress and forced herself into the shower, turning the spray up to full power and standing in the blast. What the hell had she been thinking, traitor thoughts still urging her across the hall.
She was vapor-locked, at cross-purposes with herself, lost in her own head. The need to run from what she suspected in herself, the urge to stay and see where this could go. The last wasn't an option. It had never been an option. Jay had never been a part of the plan; it was supposed to be a summer to become someone else, become someone she needed to be. And she had found that in training with the lost Wayne, whom she hadn't even known was in the city. In all ways, he had come out of nowhere and plowed like a tempest into her life. And had left the accompanying debris.
Tomorrow was going to be hell and she knew it. Kala had never meant to get everything so tangled and yet…
Goddammit, how had Jay gotten so far under her skin?