Kyle came home to a dark apartment. Again. He dropped his keys on the nearest table and turned on the hall light.
"Kay?" he called.
There were three options. Either she'd collapsed from exhaustion and was fast asleep, which had happened before, or she was waiting for him with candles in the bedroom, which had also happened before, or she wasn't home.
A quick sweep of the apartment made it pretty clear that it was option number three. The place was empty even if it was almost ten at night. With a heavy sigh, he dropped on the couch and called her. She didn't answer, but rejected his call. A message came through the following moment.
What? I'm with Angie and she's almost asleep.
He cringed because he was an insensitive moron and this hurt. Are you coming home after she falls asleep?
Pause. Then she finally answered. I'm tired, too. I'll just crash here.
Kay, you need to come home sometimes. I haven't seen you in two days. You've been at Angie's place every damn night for the past week. He stopped and looked at the message, then deleted it. He could already imagine Kay's rant on how he was an independent grownass man who could handle himself alone.
Okay. Sleep well.
Kyle tossed his phone on the coffee table and slouched on the couch, rubbing his eyes. He was exhausted too, but he always found time for her. To text and ask how her day was going, to call and share a laugh, to come home in the evening and talk, watch a movie, cuddle her until she fell asleep.
That had been his life for a such a long time, it was weird to return to nothingness. The apartment somehow felt so cold and devoid of life without her there. And it wasn't even the lack of her presence that got to him most. He could handle being apart. It had happened before. She'd left on surveillance missions and so had he. But they'd still talked while they were away.
Now she didn't call, didn't have time for talking, was always so burnt out when they did, as if she was trying to give her life force to Angie and help her get over her gloom. The thing was, Angie had told Kay to go home. Kay insisted Angie wasn't ready yet. Kyle's opinion didn't matter.
So here he was, in a cold empty apartment. He picked up his phone again. I miss talking to you.
Just go to sleep already. We'll talk tomorrow.
"Alrighty, then."
He tossed his phone away again and lay back on the couch, his hands under his head. No point going into the bedroom. This was as good a place as any to sleep for a few hours. And he was way too pissed to handle an empty bed.
♠️
"Why are you sleeping on the couch all dressed up?"
Kyle jumped awake as Kay brushed past him and into the bedroom. What time was it and more importantly, was he hallucinating? Nope, since she came back out and headed for the closet in the hall from where she took out a carry on.
"What are you doing?" he asked, his voice still groggy from sleep.
"I need to get more stuff. You always bring me so little and I'm out of a lot of basic necessities."
He bit back a curse as he followed her back into the bedroom where half her clothes were already spread out on the bed. Another round of cursing deployed inside his head as his sleepy mind started putting two and two together.
"You're moving out?" he asked.
Kay stopped and put her hand on his cheek, though she looked a little annoyed. "Of course not. I'll be back. I just need to be somewhere else for a while."
YOU ARE READING
Lose Control (The Jewel Project #5)
Adventure"It's never going to end, is it? The rivalry, the hatred, the madness. Not even now. Not even after so many years." It has been three years since the last jewel was recovered, and the Agency seems to have put the project to rest. They have a new tar...
