"Here." Joey shoved a plastic bag in Kyle's hand.

Kyle raised an eyebrow. "What's this?"

"Two cans of coke, croissants, a bag of chips and a bag of sunflower seeds," Joey answered, looking everywhere except at Kyle.

"Sunflower seeds," he said skeptically. He knew very well what this meant, but he wasn't going to make it any easier for Joey.

"Look, I don't know what proper stargazing food is, okay?" he said exasperated. "Just take it and have a lovely evening outside."

To do it, or not to do it. This was so hard. Ah, screw it, he couldn't help it. "Cause I may be bad, but I'm perfectly good at it," he sang.

Joey blanched and held up his hands. "No, Kyle, please."

"Come on, the next verse was the relevant one. And I didn't even get to the chains and whips part."

"Stop it, seriously."

"Why the hell are you so nervous? It's not like it's your first time."

"No, it's her first time." He paused. "And the first time it actually matters for me, too."

Oh. Now Kyle felt bad for teasing him. He still didn't know why Joey was so nervous about something good about to happen. He should be excited, but whatever. Kyle was done making fun of him, at least until the morning.

"Okay, just give me some blankets. It's probably gonna be a while."

It was Joey's turn to raise his eyebrows. "Blankets, huh? Want a condom, too?"

Before Joey could make a move to dodge or open his mouth to laugh, Kyle punched his shoulder.

"I have a girlfriend, asswipe. And even if I didn't, Kay's just a friend. And even if she weren't, I wouldn't take advantage of her when she's so vulnerable."

"Wow, you've given this a lot of thought," Joey said rubbing his shoulder. "When are you breaking up with Cecily anyway?"

Kyle halted just as he was about to bump his fist against Joey's shoulder again. He wasn't sure he still had the girlfriend. "Actually, we're kind of on a break."

This drew Joey's attention from imminent love making because he looked fascinated. "Really? But just a break. Not broken up for good?"

He couldn't even tell the difference. Not that Cecily had spoken to him since. He'd sent her a text at one point asking if she was okay, but she never answered.

"I guess not. But why would you even care if we broke up or not?"

"I don't know, probably because the two of you have nothing in common? What do you even talk about?"

Kyle frowned. "I don't know. What she did that day, what her friends did, what she thinks about certain things. Never a dull moment with her."

Joey rolled his eyes, but dropped it and pushed him toward the door. "See you in the morning."

"What, really? You expect us to stay out all night? For something that will probably take you ten minutes?" Kyle said to the closed door. "Ten minutes is me being optimistic," he mumbled to no one in particular and headed around the cabin to the patio. Joey forgot the blanket.

Just as he turned the corner, Kay stepped out and pulled the screen door closed behind her. She smiled when she saw him, but it looked a little strained. Kyle smiled back and headed for her, though he felt a little uneasy. Ever since he'd told her about his blackouts, she seemed a bit more guarded.

He wasn't even sure why he told her. It was something he hadn't even shared with his family or Joey. Yet, in that moment, he wanted her to know every last bit of him, just like she'd finally showed him her heart. It was only fair.

"Oh, you got one of those too?" Kay nodded towards the bag in his hand. She stretched two blankets on the wooden floor an put down her own plastic bag of supplies.

"What did you get?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"Let's see..." She rummaged inside the bag. "Cherry Cola. Ugh, you can have this." She threw the can at him.

He caught it with ease in his left hand. Kay froze and stared at him as if he'd grown an extra head or something.

"What?" he asked.

Kay picked something else out and, without warning, threw it at his head. Kyle caught the bag of sunflower seeds, torn between the desire to laugh and ask why she suddenly wanted to kill him with snacks.

"How can you move so fast?"

Kay's question only made him frown in confusion. "I didn't move remarkably fast just now."

"Yes, you did!"

"That's because I'm a... Say it, Kay!"

"What, that it's your turn to make dumb Twilight jokes?"

Yeah, that sounded about right. "It's just a reflex. You can do it, too." To prove his point, he tossed the bag of seeds back to her. It hit her straight in the face. "Shit, I'm sorry."

She raised a hand, rubbing her nose with the other. "You just helped me prove my point," she said, her voice muffled. "Let's just drop this and stargaze, okay?"

Kyle nodded and looked at the stars. It was hard when what he actually wanted was to look at her. He gave her twenty seconds then sneaked a peek.

She sat with her forearms resting on her knees, looking upwards. Her golden hair shone in the light coming from the kitchen and her forget-me-not blue eyes reflected the stars above them. He studied the fine line of her face, her high cheekbones, her small, full nose and the way her hair curled around her ears. She had hoop earrings in and wore no makeup. Her lower lip was a little fuller and it gave her an adorable, slightly pouty look. Just above the delicate line of her jaw, he could still see the shadow of a bruise.

Anger rose inside him and he looked away from her, trying to focus on the stars, on the crickets chirping and wind blowing through the forest. How could anyone hurt her? Dare hit her? Touch her skin for any other reason than to kiss and caress her? She was so soft, so vulnerable so... Real.

He closed his eyes, trying to get a hold of himself, shake off the image of her coiled around him in the car. He hadn't slept. Who could in a moment like that? But he'd forced himself to focus on her to avoid thinking about Donnie and losing it again. He'd charted all the little things, like how well her body seemed to fit against his, how her breathing calmed him down, how she smelled like lilies. Simple things.

But why couldn't he get that out of his head now? This was nothing similar. It was just two friends spending an evening out together while their other friends were getting to more lucrative things. Ugh, he didn't want to think about that.

He looked to her again just to see her watching him. She blushed and lowered her eyes immediately.

"Do you think the outer walls are sound proof?" she asked.

"Damn, never thought of that. Should've left the TV on."

"Um, we could go do that now."

Crickets chirped, but neither of them dared go in just in case the outer walls were sound proof. Hearing Joey getting it on was the last thing on his list, even lower down than heartfelt conversations in the shower. Kay seemed to be thinking along the same lines because she busied herself with tying the shoelaces of her converse.

"I never asked you," she said all of a sudden. "How were... How were the police?"

Well, he'd completely forgotten about that. "I'm used to dealing with police. I was in jail after all."

"You're never going to let that go, are you? You're starting to make me think that you really were in jail."

"Maybe I was."

"Okay, Mysterio."

They both shared a laugh, but he realized she really wanted an answer.

"They just asked me what happened, read the complaint to me, asked if I had anything else to declare, and then decided to let me spend a night there just to get Royce senior off their backs."

Kay's eyes widened. "No! It was self-defense! You should've told me! I would've come over and set them straight."

He stifled a laugh. She probably had no idea how attractive she was when she got so fiery. "I didn't spend the night in jail, Kay. Despite what you may think of me, Max wouldn't let that happen. And when Max Tanner wants something, he gets it."

Her eyes widened even more if that was possible. "Your uncle is Max Tanner? The one with the huge ranch and the oil fields and the refinery in which half the town works?"

Kyle nodded. Wow, she really was living under a rock. Who didn't know that?

"That explains the Ferrari," she mumbled.

He smirked and turned back to the sky. The stars really were beautiful in the middle of nowhere, with no city lights to blur them out. He didn't stare at the sky often enough.

"Maybe that's why they did it," Kay whispered and he turned to her confused. She took in a deep breath and nibbled on her lower lip. It was very distracting. "Your family," she finally said. "Maybe they left you with Max to give you your best chance."

Kyle stared at her, dumbstruck. She was trying to figure out why his family had abandoned him when even he didn't care about that anymore. Why?

"I don't think so. When they left me with Max, he wasn't this well off. Plus, my family's loaded. Not like Max, but pretty similar."

"Oh." Kay looked away and nibbled on her lip some more. Very distracting. "Maybe that's just who they are and children weren't in the plan..."

"I have two brothers," he said before she could go any further with this. It was touching that she tried to justify the unjustifiable, but he hated thinking about this.

"Oh," she said again. "Younger, older?"

"Younger, but no, my parents didn't send me away so they could get their business running or anything because my dad comes from old money. And my brothers are two and three years younger, so the age gap isn't big enough to justify anything either." He took in a deep breath, trying not to sound bitter. "It's just the way it's always been. I've been with Max since I was two."

"But why?" Kay asked, throwing her hands in the air. "Why would anyone not want you around? I mean, look at you!"

Okay, that was really sweet. He shrugged. "I don't care anymore. I'm happy here."

After throwing him one more look, Kay turned back to the sky. "My parents took Donnie's side. They think part of this is my fault and that I'll go back with him after he comes out of rehab."

"Will you?"

She glanced at him, eyes shiny with unshed tears. "I wish I could yell no, but I don't trust myself."

"Don't worry, after I'm done with you, you'll be able to scream it from the rooftops." He'd make sure of that. He paused for a second,  realizing the innuendo of his statement. What was wrong with him? Joey's earlier comment must've gotten to his head.

"I want to learn how to hit properly." She got to her feet and leaned her back against the patio rail, obviously missing it. "Does my coaching include that?"

She had legs for miles. Kyle shook his head. "Sure."

He stood too, took her hand and led her off the patio and towards where the cars were parked. She looked a little apprehensive, as if she didn't really want to learn right then, but he needed a distraction from all the jumble inside his head and this was a good one.

Once they reached even ground, he let her go, faced her and bent his knees slightly. "Hit me."

She looked at him amused. "As inviting as that sounds, I have to ask why."

"Because I want to see where we're starting off."

She tilted her head and studied him for a moment, then bent her knees too and raised her fists. As tall as she was, she looked tiny. She charged forward and punched his shoulder. Pathetically.

"That was embarrassing," he said. She punched him again, with a little more force, but she wasn't swinging right. "Still embarrassing. Distribute your weight evenly on your feet, and when you throw the punch, swing with your whole body. Use the impulse in your favor." He crossed his forearms in front of his torso. "Now try again."

Kay bent her knees a little more, pulled her fist back and swung with her whole body. It was much better, even slightly painful. The girl had potential.

"Again." She complied, though with a little less force. "Again." The third punch was once again pathetic. "What are you doing? You're getting worse instead of better."

Kay combed the stray locks out of her face with her hand. "Look, it's kinda hard to keep punching you when I actually like you."

Aw, sweet. Stupid, but sweet. "Imagine I'm Donnie then. Would you like me to call you a boring nag to set the mood?"

Her eyes narrowed and darkened. Kyle barely had time to cross his forearms again before her punch collided with him. And this time, it actually hurt. He didn't have to ask her to do it again. Her punches landed on every inch of him she could reach, growing weaker in intensity as tears filled her eyes.

She came closer, punches turning into slaps against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and immobilized her before she fell off her feet. She dipped her head, sobbing silently.

"I'm so sick of this," she whispered, her voice hoarse from repressed tears. "Of crying over that asshole. Of crying in general." She lifted her eyes and Kyle could count the teardrops hanging off her long lashes.

He wished she would stop suffering over Donnie too, wished she wouldn't cry anymore, and he especially wished he could pull away and let her go. But just like when he'd held her in the car, he felt he shouldn't, that this was somehow making things better and that he couldn't let her fall apart. Because every time she hurt, a part of him ached as well and he wanted nothing more than to mend her and see her smile.

She tilted her head, watching him curiously as if waiting for him to make a move. Her parted lips and warm body invited him to hold her tighter, kiss her until her lips grew swollen, splay her over the patio floor, touch and kiss every inch of her, take her right there and then, condom be damned.

What the hell was he thinking?

He let her go and stepped back. His head cleared almost instantly and he blinked to make sure he wasn't hallucinating anymore. He wasn't. Kay was back to being Kay, his heartbroken friend and he was once again aware that he actually had impulse control.

Kay wiped her eyes and smiled weakly at him, fortunately unaware of his brief moment of insanity. Or maybe he just had a mini blackout or something.

"I think I'm going for a swim," he said, already stepping backwards.

"What, now?"

He shrugged. "Yup. See you in the morning." And he turned around and hightailed it out of there before his stupid body got out of control and planted more insane images in his brain.

🧩🧩🧩

Honestly, on a scale from 1-10, how much do you hate me for what just happened? And how much do you hate Kyle?

I know you missed Kyle's POV, so you're welcome. I know you also missed looking at him, so you're welcome again.

I'm really curious what you think about this chapter. I had fun with it and it also answers a few questions. Really, I wanna know what you're thinking right now about the story.

Thanks so much for reading and don't forget to vote and comment. Also, shoutout to @meghahn for helping me reach into my inner dirty self ;)