Coffee {Jaya AU}

Chapter 18

***I feel weird not posting A/N's before I write a chapter, so here's your A/N.***

***(Jay's POV)***

Just like Ethel said, on the way to Homer Smiddy's, there's a fork in the road with a tire on one side. Kai parks his truck beside said tire and looks over at me solemnly.

"Homer will shoot our tires out if we drive all the way to his house, so we're going to have to walk. And we'd better be quiet – he really does shoot trespassers. He also has a dog with a really, really good sense of smell."

"I like dogs." I open my car door and slide out.

"Not this one." Kai climbs out his own door, then quietly closes it and comes up around the front of the truck. I fall into step beside him.

"So..." He trails off, his voice barely a whisper. "How's...Nya?" His voice breaks on her name.

I pity him for how much he must miss his sister. "She's doing really well. Um...at least, she was before she was kidnapped by one of Sanders' people." Panic rises in me. "Oh, gosh, I hope she's okay."

"Quiet," Kai bids me. "We don't need Homer shooting us down before we can rescue my sister."

"I'm sorry, okay?" I snap, hushing my tone. "I just...I'm low-key in love with your sister, minus the 'low-key' part. And if anything happens to her and it's my fault – "

"Wait," he frowns. "Are you and my sister...like, a thing?"

"Um...well, not exactly. Like, we almost kissed one time and stuff, but Nya's not ready for romance yet, as she puts it." Wait until Kai figures out that I just started talking to her today.

"Huh. You guys must be pretty close, if she's willing to trust you with the truth about her story." He steps around a large rock illuminated by the light of the moon.

"That's...one way to put it."

He's silent for a moment, then speaks up, "I'm just going to warn you that if you're anything like Brookstone, I won't hesitate to bring you down before you can bring Nya down. I've already made the mistake of letting Nya date the wrong guy once. I'm not going to make it again."

I sputter. "She's twenty years old, you doofus. I think she can make her own decisions. Plus, I am nothing like Nya's former boyfriend. I've never done drugs, I've never robbed a bank, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!"

He gives me a loud, "Shhhhhhh!"

"You shhhhhhhhhhhhh," I growl. "Look, I'm trying to save your sister's life here, okay? That has to say something in my favor."

"You're not lying, but you're also not being quiet." He releases a strangled breath. "So she's clean? Off drugs?"

"Yeah. Her mind is mostly recovered, from what I can tell. Just some memory gaps and stuff." I'm glad she didn't get as hooked on drugs as some people.

"And what does she do for a living?" Kai asks desperately.

"She works at a small convenience store." She mentioned that earlier. "It's just a place for people passing through Ninjago City. She didn't want to be identified by regular customers or anything, so she went someplace where she could avoid being recognized."

"Oh." He pauses for a moment. "With the crowd she was involved with at the time she left...it was hard not to think she was a victim of human trafficking or something at this point."

I stumble over the gravel driveway. "She never mentioned anything like that, no worries. I mean, I think she would've told me if something like that was happening. I hope." I stuff my hands in my pockets against the chilly night. "The only time she ever said something to that effect is when she explained how she was drugged before she ran away."