Freeze (The Jewel Project #4)

20.1|| Love and Hate

Kay's muscles were on fire. As she searched her rucksack for her pajamas, she kept cursing inside her head. Yes, training had been a great idea. But why did it have to be so intense. Not even a good night's sleep could make the pain go away. She'd be a total mess in the morning.

She finally pulled out her pajama top and decided it was enough for now. The wet clothes had to go. Still on her feet, she pulled off her hoodie and thermal shirt and replaced them with the dry shirt, then lay the soaked ones on a intricate coffee table.

For a second, she hesitated. Maybe the moisture would ruin the furniture. Who knew how old that table actually was? But it wasn't like she had many places to hang laundry and she needed her clothes dry for the next day.

With a shrug, she focused her attention back on her rucksack and the dire need for dry pants. Then she could go search for the room Jessie had picked for them, because she wasn't entirely sure where it was. Jessie had mumbled some halfassed directions as if she really wanted Kay to get lost along the way.

As she bent double and sank her hand inside her rucksack, she wondered why she wasn't just picking it up and going to her room. Who'd ever come up with the sudden rule that all luggage must not be moved? Because she'd missed the logic in that. It felt really weird to take her pants off with two doors leading out of the place, none of them locked. Sure, anyone coming in would knock, but it was still weird.

As if to confirm her fears, someone grabbed her hips. Her body jerked in surprise and a short scream escaped her even if she knew there was nothing to worry about. There was only one person who would do that. So she turned and punched Kyle in the chest.

"You scared the crap out of me, you moron." She punched him again, just to get her point across.

"How'd you know it was me?" he asked with a grin, completely and annoyingly unaffected by her hits.

"You and Jimmy are the only ones who would think this is funny. And the only ones who move like freaking ninjas." She wanted to poke him again, rage about the grueling workout, but the fact that she had punched a battered metal cage with its door hanging open stopped her.

She traced the letters Unchanged with her fingers. It had been years since she'd last seen Kyle's band t-shirt. She'd gotten used to him wearing very basic stuff. Normal jeans, black or dark blue, t-shirts and hoodies, but that was about it. Now his jeans were a lighter shade, looser on him, and he wore a denim shirt over his t-shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He looked a lot more like he used to when they were back in Texas, falling in love.

"It feels like a million years ago," she whispered.

"Yeah," he whispered back. "Like another life completely."

"You don't sing anymore." She'd noticed that a while back and it made her sad. When she'd met Kyle, he would sing along to anything playing around him, however silly and in whatever language. Not anymore.

"I haven't much, not since I moved to Chicago." He took her hands and lowered them. "I mean I wrote some new stuff for a while, but it just never felt right."

"I sometimes wonder what it would've been like if we'd gone to Dallas with Joey and Kelly." That had been their initial plan before they were torn apart by unreasonable parents and a jealous ex-boyfriend. The thought of normality felt odd, like a long forgotten daydream from childhood.

Kyle huffed. "Don't get ahead of yourself, sweetheart. You're already imagining a world without Snitch Gravel in it. Imagine being there and getting attacked all the time, having no idea what's going on, putting Joey and Kelly in danger. I already almost got them killed once."