XXX

Katie and Roan held hands as they walked together through the city of the night. It felt nice to hold onto something in the dark. They meandered through the streets in no hurry, with nowhere to go. Roan had switched to the backseat approach to life, so it was nice to be led by a pretty face.

"They'll be looking for you," Katie said, glancing at faces on the street.

"Are you worried about me?" Roan asked.

"I'm not worried about anything," Katie answered honestly.

They were silent for a few blocks. "I wonder where Kyro's ran off to," Roan mused, looking up at the darkened windows above.

"I know where he is," Katie said. Roan stopped in his tracks and looked at her.

"You do?"

Katie nodded. "Do you want to see him?"

Roan shrugged. "Sure."

They walked slowly toward the bay until they reached a seedy bar along the waterfront. A heavy-set man with a moustache stood in front of a green door. Kate approached him and Roan trailed her like a puppy.

"Is Ferris Ember still here?" Katie asked the man. He jerked his head toward the inside in the affirmative. Roan followed Katie through the door.

XXX

"So, what did you do today?" Ugly asked Spot. They were laying on their stomachs amidst the white sheets of their king bed. Neither of them could fall asleep, so they talked by the light of a lantern.

"You mean besides look all over for you?" He asked, teasingly. He reached out and touched her hair to confirm that she was really there.

"Yes, besides that."

"Nothing." He responded.

She gave him a skeptical look. "Spot Conlon, never in my life have I know you to do "nothing." You can't even sit still for five minutes."

Spot shrugged. "Now you know how I felt," he mumbled, "not knowing where you'd gone." He was picking at something on his pillow, avoiding her gaze. He looked about ten years old.

"I'm sorry about that."

He looked at her. "Something could have happened to you, you know?" He said seriously. She had never heard him voice his concern for her like this. He tended to keep his emotions bottled up. His confession caused her to feel an outpouring of love for him. She slid over to him on the bed and he put his arms around her and pulled her to him. She could feel his hard body beneath the sheets. He kissed her forehead. "I don't ever want you to leave my sight again. Do you understand me? Ever again."

XXX

Kyro rolled his hand over. Yet another straight.

"This is fucking horseshit!" one of three other men at the table exclaimed. "How am I supposed to play with him staring like that?" He asked, motioning to Kyro. Kyro curled his lip in disgust. As if he actually wanted to look at this guy. He had a pock-marked face and an enormous nose. Kyro swept his winnings across the table.

"Just relax, Gary. Jesus," a man with large lips said in irritation.

"Then why don't you pay for my next fucking hand? I need to win my money back," the zitty one whined, shooting a threatening look at Kyro. "Where the fuck did you come from anyway, Ferris? You show up one day out of the blue, screw the boss' daughter, and I haven't won a game since." The man stopped when he realized Kyro was no longer paying attention to him. Instead, Kyro was using his 'stare' for two figures at the front door.

A boy and a girl stood at the entrance with their hands locked. The boy had dark, messy hair and a vacant look and the girl had a tiny frame and high cheekbones. The two boys' eyes are locked for a good minute. Whatever passed between them was a mystery to everyone else in the room. Then Katie took action, pulling Roan forward. "We'll be upstairs, Ferris," she said.

XXX

After several minutes of kissing, Spot and Ugly broke for air. Ugly rolled back onto her stomach. "What do you mean, 'you never want me out of your sight'?" Ugly asked. She couldn't help but feel that that was a sort of strange thing to say. Spot was staring at her with his big, blue eyes. His fingers were playing along her arm.

"I just think it would be safer. I don't like worrying about you," he said in a soft voice. Ugly realized that the events of the day had really shaken him up. And she had no desire to contest him because she didn't want to be without him either. She wanted him so badly; she wanted to be him, to be part of him. She closed the gap between them on the bed. They wrapped their arms around each other and held each other as close as they possibly could.

XXX

Katie led Roan to an apartment up the stairs. The front room opened out to the kitchen. A girl was cooking something over the fireplace. She looked up when they entered. Her face was deliciously plain and she had chin-length brown hair.

"This is Finn," Katie said to Roan. "Finn, this is a friend of mine." Finn lifted the corner of her lips the tiniest bit in recognition, then went back to her cooking. "Come back here," Katie said. She pulled up a blanket of cloth that hung across the corner of the room and pulled him down to a mattress and a bed of purple pillows.

They laid down, eyes fastened to each other.

"So, just to explain," Katie said breathlessly. "After you were arrested, he needed a place to stay, so I hooked him up with Finn. Her dad used to be my dealer...I came up with the name Ferris Ember, too. Don't you think it's pretty?" Katie was fast getting the idea that Roan didn't care. Not about that anyway. Katie felt her heart pounding. Her stomach was queasy. "Tell me about you," she said quickly. She felt scared, but in a good way.

Roan reached out his hand and ran his fingers through her fine, straight hair. "I feel like my life's just been going full steam since I was born. Lately, I just want it to stop," Roan confessed. His recent physical and emotional torment had left him in a position he never though he'd find himself in. He was vulnerable.

Katie couldn't understand why she felt so incredibly attracted to him. He looked the way she felt, like he was barely hanging on. But maybe, if they held onto each other…

Katie's eyes were wide as he slowly moved his body so that it hung over hers. They stayed frozen for a moment. His mouth was inches from hers. And then it wasn't. And they were kissing and kissing and she didn't care. She didn't care about anything at all.

XXX

A/N: Holy romance novel, Batman!

So, I know you all really missed Kinea in this chapter. But don't worry, she'll be showing her arithmetically-perfect features soon! Yippee!

So, Spot and Ugly are starting to smell like obsession, and I don't mean the Calvin Klein perfume…

And then there's Roan and Katie, who can care about nothing together forever and ever and ever…

Speaking of Katie, she seems to have a strange knack for distraction…hmm…suspicion…

And the return of Kyro, who is apparently taking a day off (haha I am so funny). So, what has he been up to with that girl that likes to cook?

Jeez, lots of romance! But love is key to the plot and I just kind of like it too, awww. Anyway, hmm…mystery and motives and more to come…