Note: this chapter takes place around the same time as chapter 6, but from Kyle's point of view.


He could hear her calling him in the darkness, willing him to her.

Kyle…Kyle…

He was on the bottom floor of their house, and he knew she was at the very top, in the greenhouse, surrounded by roses as beautiful as her. He began to climb the stairs, each step feeling agonizing as it meant more time spent away from her.

First floor, second floor, third floor…the ache got stronger and stronger. He needed to hold her, feel her wrapped around him. To be inside of her.

Finally he reached the roof and opened the door to the greenhouse he'd built with his own hands. The night was dark and clear, the sky full of stars. Where the white wrought iron patio table and chairs usually were, there was a bed, draped in pink satin and covered in rose petals of all hues. They represented all the many facets of Kyle and Lindy's relationship: friendship, attraction, sacrifice, romance.

And as he drew closer, he saw her lying on the bed, the curves of her body draped in a white sheet. She lay still, a red rose pressed to her heart.

He climbed onto the bed, hovering over her, ready to kiss those soft pink lips.

Except he realized that there was no light in her dark eyes. He looked down and realized that what he believed was a red rose on her chest was actually blood blooming from a gunshot wound.

His heart stopped with hers; he was sure of it. But something forced him to look up from his beloved's body. It was Victor, the man who'd vowed revenge, who'd been looking for Lindy all this time. He was still holding the smoking gun in his hands.

His smile was nauseating. "I told you I'd find her. I keep my promises."

"Bastard!" Kyle screamed out, his eyes flying open. He was looking up at an off-white ceiling. Frantically he sat up, looking around his bedroom as he realized he'd been dreaming. He put a hand to his chest and waited for his heart to stop racing. He then became aware that there were others in this house with him, and he hoped that none of them had heard him.

Panting, he looked at the clock and realized that it was still the middle of the night. He eased himself back into the bed slowly, tensely waiting to see if anyone had heard him and would come to check on him. After five minutes had passed, he realized that his scream had probably been more a part of the dream than something that had filtered into reality.

He dug his fingers in his hair, grateful once more to Lindy for breaking the spell so he had hair to pull on again. Kyle thought about getting up and going to his computer, and once again reading over the police reports he'd been able to get about Victor's arrest. Having a father in the news business came in handy, and Kyle was able to learn exactly what the man had been charged with and his punishment.

Armed robbery, possession of illegal drugs with the intent to distribute, multiple counts of battery and assaulting a police officer – Victor's charges all added up to over 20 years in prison. It could be easily more, should he not get paroled. Kyle was going to keep an eye on the man, of course.

Still, as much as Kyle feared and despised Victor, there was someone else he despised even more. Victor was just a mad dog that had been provoked; it was Lindy's father that had done the provoking through his selfishness, and Kyle would never forgive him for that.

Lindy didn't know that her father had killed Victor's brother.

It was the only condition, the only threat that the frightened man had used on Kyle when he asked to have Lindy stay with him. The two men stared each other down in the filthy fire escape after Victor vowed his revenge and escaped.

"What's she going to think of you?" Taylor had asked Kyle.

At first, Kyle had no snappy retort to the insult. But then he remembered the rapidly cooling body of the dead man lying at their feet and replied, "What's she going to think of you? Killing another human being—"

"Lindy can't find out! She can never find out!" her father burst out. "Please. I'll give her to you, but you can never tell her. If she knew—"

"You'd lose her forever," Kyle finished, a thin ribbon a morbid satisfaction running through him. "A little hard to keep something like that a secret, isn't it? She's going to wonder why her life is in danger, when you're the one who owes Victor the money."

But Lindy's father convinced him that she would believe it, if he made up an astronomical amount of money that he owed the brothers. That he'd been cheating them and stringing them along for months, and had convinced them he didn't have anything of value to pay them with. He'd tell Lindy that it was Victor who threatened to take her as payment for the "goods" her father had gotten from them.

Kyle had always felt guilty about knowing this and keeping it from Lindy. But as time went on, he realized that there was no reason to tell her. She was already hurt by her father's actions; why compound it?

It was easy to feel this way while she was with him, in his haven, slowly being won over by the little things he did for her. He was able to let go, at least in part, of his resentment for Daniel Taylor. But it began to build again, starting at the lake cottage. It was the perfect moment, lying together in the lush green grass, Lindy in his arms, looking up at him with a mix of excitement and anticipation. It was ruined by the chirp of her cell phone, her uncle informing her that once again, her father had screwed up and put himself in danger.

The man nearly cost Kyle his chance to become normal again. But everything worked out for him, and Lindy was with him once more.

And then Kyle found out about the scar she'd gotten because her father had put his addiction before his daughter's safety. And that was the last straw.

It made Kyle's blood boil to think of Lindy, his Lindy, scarred and threatened and wounded because of someone who claimed to love her. And what frustrated him even further was her loyalty to this man.

So in spite of his attempts to be supportive and understanding while she packed for her trip to visit her father, his bitterness towards her father came out.

Lindy was admitting to him that her uncle wasn't her favorite person, but that the next couple of days weren't going to be too bad, since she'd been through worse.

"Yeah. Like your first couple weeks with me, huh?" Kyle sniped. Lindy looked surprised and hurt by his comment, and a part of him was glad.

"It was a little weird in the beginning, I admit," she said. "But there was a lot that I didn't understand at the time."

"You know I had my reasons for keeping stuff from you." Stuff that I still have to keep from you, because your father's too weak to man up to his mistakes.

Lindy looked at him impatiently. "Kyle, why are we talking about this right now? You've explained everything to me, and I understand."

But you still miss Hunter, don't you, Lindy?

"Yes, I did. But…I don't know…you always seem like you're holding back." There, he said it. The elephant in the room, the black cloud that always hung over them.

"Funny thing about holding back," she shot back at him. "You lied to me for six months about who you really were, and you had everyone else around us lying for you too – including my father."

This took Kyle by surprise. Lindy had seemed awed and happy when she realized who Kyle actually was, if just a little taken aback. He'd had no clue that she'd thought of it as "lying." Kyle had never really thought of taking on the identity of Hunter as being a lie. He'd fallen into such deep despair in the months following Kendra's curse and was so sure he'd never be the person he was that he convinced himself he had become the thing he looked like.

Lindy's anger didn't end there. She added, "Another funny thing about holding back: I didn't play into your perfect little plan for me to fall in love with you, so you blew me off and wouldn't take any of my calls! Do you know what it was like for me in that hospital, watching my dad go through withdrawal? Listening to him moan and cry like a baby, begging for something to make the pain go away? All I wanted to hear was the voice of my friend, telling me it was going to be okay, but you wouldn't even pick up your goddamn phone!"

Kyle knew that he'd hurt Lindy with his silence during her father's detox, but her bringing it up now only reminded him of how much he reviled her father. No one forced the man to overdose; he hadn't been injured in an accident or attacked. He wasn't a victim; he'd done it to himself. He was a nothing but a self-serving, thoughtless child. And Kyle wasn't going to feel any guilt when it came to him.

"And you think it was easy for me – any of this?" Kyle argued back. "I tried to be understanding and supportive – I really tried. And Baby, I'm sorry – but yes, I was thinking about myself too. Thinking that I could be trapped in that scarred body for the rest of my life. I don't think you understand how horrible it feels to love someone so much, and be convinced in your heart that they'll never love you back."

Lindy opened her mouth to argue, but she stopped and sighed. "No, I guess I don't." She came back and sat down next to him. "Maybe it's a good thing that I'm going to visit my dad. Maybe we need some time apart."

This wasn't what Kyle wanted to hear, but he couldn't find any reason to argue with her. She was going to go see her father, and that was all there was to it. She'd always go back to him.

After Lindy left, Kyle sulked back into the apartment, passing Will, who was standing in a corner with his arms crossed.

"It's nice to see you returning to your roots as a garden variety asshole," Kyle's tutor called out to him. Kyle stopped and turned back to look at him.

"How about you mind your own business?" Kyle asked him. "You've gotten paid for over a year to do nothing, so how about you get to it?"

Upon seeing Will's hurt look, Kyle immediately apologized. "I'm sorry. You're right, I didn't handle Lindy's leaving in the best way. I just…I just hate her father, that's all." He sat down on the stairs and ran his fingers through his hair. "He's put Lindy through hell because he's a selfish, pathetic bastard, and she's still going to go see him."

Will contemplated this, then came and sat down on the stairs with Kyle. "You don't get to choose your parents, man. You of all people should understand this. And you know that this isn't easy for Lindy either. She's only doing what she thinks is right." Will clasped Kyle's shoulder comfortingly. "Why don't you help me run my errands today? It'll take your mind off of being without her."

"You have errands?"

"Ha! Yes. Occasionally I leave the fortress of solitude and venture out into the daylight amongst the natives. Today I've got a couple of appointments with some leasing offices."

Kyle frowned. "Leasing offices? So you're looking for a new apartment?"

"You're not going to need me much longer, Kyle," Will explained with a smile. "You're going to pass the GED, and start applying to colleges. My work is done."

Kyle hadn't thought about it before, but Will was right. He and Lindy were going to be moving on to the next step in their lives, and Will had to move on and find a place where he was needed. When he thought about it, Zola would be leaving too. Now that her family had their green cards, they'd be coming over soon, and she obviously couldn't keep living there with him.

"Have you already found a new job?" Kyle asked his tutor.

"No, but I've got a giganto nest egg saved up, so I should be good for a while. Your father paid me handsomely to tutor you, and even more handsomely to keep my mouth shut."

"Hmph. I bet. We all know how important handsomeness is to Daddy Dearest."

"Aw come on, no sour grapes unless they're being turned into a kick-ass merlot. Let's roll."


They spent the day looking at apartments around the city. Will thought they were all fairly nice places, but Kyle would have none of it. He grilled the leasing managers mercilessly, demanding to know about the noise level, the age of the building, the demographics. One manager got so frustrated with Kyle's interrogation that he finally conceded that his building wasn't "good enough" to pass his standards. Will tried to reason with him, but Kyle insisted on his questioning.

"I'm not going to have you living in some dump. I don't care if I come across as crazy," Kyle said. "A holdover from my 'spoiled brat' days. But it's for your benefit."

By the time they'd visited all the apartments Will was interested in, it was evening and they were starving. They made their way to a tavern, strangely one that wasn't too far from Kyle's old home with his father, to grab some dinner.

"So could you see yourself living in any of those places?" Kyle asked as they tucked into their burgers and fries.

"You mean even after you ripped them to shreds? Well, I liked the garden apartment at Juniper Meadow."

"Mmm," Kyle agreed. "That was a nice one."

"Dost mine ears deceive me?" Will declared in a British accent, holding his hand to his chest in mock dramatic fashion. "Lord Kingson doth approve of the living conditions his former squire hath chosen?"

"It hath a certain appeal, I shall admit," Kyle replied in a similar accent, then slipped back into his natural voice. "Besides, it's close to the apartment we have now, so I can keep an eye on you." Kyle felt like they were being watched, and finally turned to see a table of two young women taking quick glances at their table and smiling to each other. "Geez, those two girls over there won't stop staring at you. Could they be more obvious?"

Will's eyes grew wide and he leaned forward in surprise. "What, did you catch my blindness at some point? I swear I only used your toothbrush once." When Kyle looked genuinely confused, Will explained gently. "Kyle, they're not looking at me. They're looking at you. I mean, I've always thought I was a pretty decent-looking guy, but I easily become the Invisible Man when you're around."

Kyle glanced uneasily in the direction of the girls at the table across the way, then quickly turned his attention back to his plate. He'd forgotten what it was like. The old Kyle would have flirted mercilessly with those girls (they were attractive enough, by his standards), perhaps even gone out with them, if he could get away with it without Sloan knowing.

He still wasn't comfortable around people. He still had to remind himself sometimes that the tattoos and mutilated flesh were gone, that he didn't have to hide his face when there were people around. Most importantly, he had to remind himself that it was a face that people would want to see – especially women.

Not that it really mattered now. There was only one woman for him. The one woman who made him feel beautiful when he wasn't.

Will finished the last of his fries and wiped his mouth as he slid out of their booth. "I'll catch you later. There's a dartboard with my name on it." Will ignored Kyle's pleading look and left their table.

Not too long after Will left, Kyle heard a familiar voice from behind his booth say, "Hello, Stranger."

He felt his heart pound. Slowly he turned around and smiled uneasily at her beautiful face. "Hello," he said in an octave deeper than his natural voice, because he hoped it would keep it from cracking.

Without being asked, she walked around and sat across from him at the table. They sat in silence for a few seconds, and then she said, "It's good to see you again, Kyle."

He nodded. "You too, Sloan. How have you been?" His words felt empty, but they weren't forced. Kyle realized that he wasn't hurt by what she'd done anymore.

She smiled, but her face was sad. She gestured to her dark blue tea length gown. "My cousin Danielle got married today. Bridesmaid. That's why I'm in town. I just started at Northeastern."

"Congrats to your cousin," Kyle replied. "And congrats on Northeastern. I thought you had your heart set on the west coast, though."

Sloan laughed uncomfortably. "Didn't get into Stanford like I hoped. But, at least I'm several states away from my family."

"I never knew you didn't like them that much."

"Ha! Well, now that I look back at it, there were a lot of people I didn't like very much. But you do what you have to to get through it."

Kyle felt a twinge of resentment in his heart when he remembered what she'd said about him last Halloween. "And how's Trey?" he asked sweetly.

Sloan's Barbie Doll smile quickly fell. "Wouldn't know. Don't really care. He found out he got into Princeton in March. He didn't really have much to do with me after that."

He shook his head in a mock display of sympathy. "So sorry to hear you two broke up." He didn't miss the look of surprise and fear on her face.

"Y-you know…about us?" she asked in a small voice.

"I've got ears," he said pleasantly. But he decided to follow up with something sincere. "I abandoned you both last year, and I'd never been a good friend or boyfriend up till that point anyway. I don't blame you two for ending up together."

She smiled flirtatiously at him. "I can't believe I ever chose Frog-Face over you. You've changed. I like it."

But Kyle wasn't going to fall into any trap. "Well, you can thank the girl I love for that."

"Oh." She said, her tone falling into bitter. "Well. Anyone I know?"

"Lindy Taylor."

At first Sloan looked like she was about to sneeze. Then she face contorted into a laugh that seemed to burst out of her. She saw Kyle's look of surprise and curbed herself. "Oh, oh goodness, sorry." She sniffled and took a breath. "Well, I have to say that at least she's doing better for herself if she's with you."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, that's right, you weren't there. Last May, you should have seen her. Sucking face with this freak-job full of tattoos and scars. She'd been out of school for like, months, and then shows up to go on the Machu Pichu trip. Then she just runs out of the school to chase after Slash-Face, or whoever the hell he was. Just plain weird. Not that I'm trying to influence you or anything."

Kyle looked at Sloan and realized he'd done the right thing – staying away from her once he was cursed. He'd considered trying to get her to help him break the curse, believing that maybe, in her heart or hearts, she really did love him and could see past the ugliness as if it were a temporary condition. Now he understood that Sloan had once been the perfect girlfriend for him because she was exactly like him. Except it was like she'd said – he had changed. But she hadn't.

Kyle started to make a move to stand. "It was good seeing you again, Sloan. Good luck with everything."

She began to stand as well. "Kyle? Wait! Look, I'm sorry if I offended you. Really. I-I said some really mean things about you after you left, and I see now that I was wrong. I was just…mad that you left the way you had. Please, will you stay a little longer?" When he still hesitated, she added, "I can't go back to that reception hall with all those happy people there. I just – I can't act right now. Please, can we talk just a little longer?"

He sighed. "All right, fine," and got back into his seat.

As they both sat down, the tavern started playing "So Much Closer Now" on the jukebox. Sloan looked around and smiled. "God, I love this song. Remember when we danced to it at the Valentine's Day dance sophomore year?"

Kyle smiled, but he felt disgusting inside. He remembered that all he'd been thinking about that night was taking Sloan back to his dad's loft and finally losing his virginity. He and Sloan weren't exactly a couple at that point, but he'd gone through the Facebook pages of all the girls in their grade, rating them on the three F's: Face, Figure, and Finances. Sloan had rated the highest in his book, so he'd asked her out months before the dance so that no one else could snatch her up. He wanted to make sure she'd put out before he invested the money and time in taking her to the dance.

And he was successful. And it revolted him now.

"Kyle?"

He looked up. "Sorry, what?"

"I asked if you wanted to dance to it. You know, just for old time's sake?"

He felt like the biggest douchebag in the world at that moment. Who was he to deny her one request? "Sure."

They went out to the small tiled floor near the bar and swayed slowly to the beat of the song. Kyle had his arms around Sloan, and he had to admit, it felt good to hold someone like that again.

"So what are you up to now?" Sloan asked him.

"Catching up. Took the GED a couple days ago. I'll have to start the college application process all over again, since I missed senior year."

"Yes," Sloan looked away. "How um, how was rehab?"

Kyle could see that she, like so many of their other classmates, didn't know what to think of his "rehab" excuse he'd given for leaving school. When he thought about it, however, he had been to rehab. He was being rehabilitated from a disease – an addiction to cruelty to others and an inability to see the beauty in all things. It had been long, and painful, and nothing like what he had been expecting. But he emerged from the experience a better person. And he wouldn't have traded it for anything.

That's exactly what Kyle ended up telling Sloan – in so many words. She looked surprised. She dropped her hands from his shoulders. "You know Kyle, when I first saw you here, I just thought about having a "blast from the past" quickie. I was relieved to see you hadn't let yourself go or anything and I just wanted something to make me feel better. And since you've been so down and out, and I figured I'd throw you a line. But…I think…sleeping with you would just make me feel even worse about myself. You're not the same guy I knew."

Kyle leaned over and whispered in her ear, "You have nothing to worry about. It was never a possibility." He smiled at her wounded pride and left her standing on the dance floor.

He found Will showing off his skills on the dartboard to a group of people. His friend smiled uncomfortably. "Having fun?"

Kyle shook his head. "Not really. You wanna leave?"

"We can. I'd rather end on a high note anyway." Will put down the darts and followed Kyle out of the tavern.

They rode the subway mostly in silence. Kyle swore he could still smell Sloan's Chanel on his shirt, and it made him feel even lonelier than he'd felt before. Lindy didn't wear perfume – at least, not the way Sloan wore it. It was the natural milky-almond smell of her skin that had stuck in his brain and made her irresistible to her. He was having trouble remembering it, feeling drowned in the artificial spices of his ex's fragrance.

Finally Will asked, "So who was the blonde chick you were dancing with? It looked like you really pissed her off."

Kyle chuckled bitterly. "Ghost of Christmas Past."


He didn't sleep much that night, so instead of fighting in vain, he decided to make the most of it. He wrote letters for Will and Zola, hoping that it would help them find successful employment when the time came to leave him. Before he knew it, it was early morning and the sun was streaming through his window.

He knew Will was probably still asleep, but Zola would be up and having her breakfast. He ventured downstairs, finding his friend in the kitchen with her back to him, stirring a pot.

"Morning," he called out cheerfully.

Zola didn't return the greeting. She stopped stirring the pot, straightened, and said in a stiff voice, "I make oatmeal, if you want some." Without looking at him, she turned and reached into the nearby cupboard to get a bowl.

Frowning, Kyle walked into the room and leaned against the counter. "Zola, what's wrong?"

"Nothin'. I make your breakfast, like I supposed to." She poured out half of the oatmeal and opened a drawer to get a spoon.

Kyle crossed the kitchen quickly and stood in front of her, blocking her way. "Come on. I know you. What's up?"

Zola slowly raised her eyes to him, and he could see that she was angry. "Will tell me last night he see you dancin' with that big-headed flying crappo you used to mess around wit'."

Kyle sighed. "Zola-"

"I know, I know, I jus' your maid, it none of my business," she interrupted, putting up her hands in acquiescence. She turned to go, but Kyle put grasped her gently by the arms and held her still.

"Okay, two things you need to understand," he said firmly. "Firstly, nothing happened between me and Sloan. I don't want her back, and I love Lindy too much to ever do something like that. Got it?"

"Yes," Zola said, looking away.

"Good," Kyle said, releasing her arms. "And the second thing is, you're not 'just my maid.' You-you're the closest thing to a mother I've ever had…and I love you." He leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"Ay ay! See what you do!" Zola said, throwing up her arms and shooing him away while she began to get flustered.

Kyle smiled. "I have something for you," he told her. He reached into his pocket to pull out the recommendation letter he'd wrote for her, but just then, his cell phone rang. "Sorry," he said guiltily.

Zola shook her head. "No, no. Get it, darlin'. It might be Lindy."

Kyle walked out of the kitchen, looking at the number on the cell's display. It wasn't Lindy's number, who knew for sure? Maybe it was her uncle's home number.

"Hello?" he answered flatly, waiting to see if it was her before he'd get too excited.

"It's-it's Taylor," a familiar voice stammered in reply.

It was Lindy's father. Kyle felt his blood pressure rise. It was ironic, truly it was, that for the last few days he'd been wrestling with his feelings for this man, and when he'd finally started feeling some peace, who of all people should call?

"What do you want?" Kyle asked harshly. He wasn't going to give this man the time of day, if he could help it.

"I…need you to do something for me. It's important. And…I think you owe me."

Kyle scoffed. The nerve of this self-centered druggie to not only call him, but to ask a favor. "I owe you? Oh, that's rich. And just how do you figure that I owe you?"

"Because you have the only thing that's ever been worth anything to me. She doesn't belong to me anymore, she belongs to you. I see that now."

Kyle felt dizzy and confused for a moment, surprised by Daniel Taylor's relinquishment. "So what do you want?" he asked.

"I need you to come to Great Neck, right now. Don't spare a second. Lindy's going to need you to be there for her when she finds out what I've done."

Kyle found himself clutching the phone in fright. "What are you going to do?"

There was a pause, a sniffle, then a deep breath. "She's never going to see me again."