Temporal Tantrums by Storm Song

Author:Storm Song [Song, Storm]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-24T00:00:00+00:00

Streetlights streaked by in a blur and cast ghostly halos through the mist that clung to the windows. Kylo's hands were white-knuckled on the steering wheel, his silence as loud as any words.

"Kylo, would you just⁠—"

"Would I what, Averill?" he snapped, finally breaking his silence. "Listen to more lies? More excuses?" His sliced through the heavy air between us.

"Damn it, they're not lies!" My temper flared, hot and quick. "You think I planned that?"

"Didn't you?" The accusation hung there, heavy and suffocating.

"Of course not!" I shot back, turning to face him fully, trying to find the man I knew underneath layers of anger. "I was working an angle. You know how this goes."

"Working an angle," his words dripped with disdain. "And I'm sure you let him work your angle, and work it, and work it again, huh?"

"Jesus, Kylo, do you even hear yourself?" I screamed. "I'm out here playing fucking 3D chess with these sleazebags, and you're stuck on checkers, questioning my loyalty."

"Maybe because I can't see your fucking board, Averill!" His gaze flicked to me, raw and searching, before it returned to the road. "I'm in the dark here, left guessing what move you're going to make next!"

"Welcome to my world," I muttered under my breath.

"Speak up if you've got something to say," he demanded and tension radiated from him like heat from an oven.

"Fine! Look, I know it looked... compromising, but it was a means to an end." I struggled to keep my voice even, to explain without revealing too much of the vulnerability I kept locked tight.

"Compromising doesn't even begin to cover it," His knuckles strained against the leather of the wheel. "Do you have any idea how that looked?"

"Like I give a damn about appearances," I shot back and the bitterness seeped into my tone. "We're not at some high school prom, Kylo. This is bigger than that."

"Is it?" His eyes met mine again, and I could see the hurt that lurked behind the anger. "Because right now, it feels pretty damn personal."

"Everything's personal with you," I said, the words laced with the signature sarcasm that I used like armor. "God forbid someone else has a life beyond your field of vision."

"Stop deflecting!" His shout echoed in the confined space of the car, and I flinched. "You're always pushing people away, hiding behind your fucking dark humor. When are you going to let someone in?"

"Maybe when someone proves they're not going to use it against me," I countered and the old fear creeped into my voice despite my best efforts. "You want to know what I'm really thinking? That maybe I'm terrified of letting anyone get too close. Satisfied?"

"Terrified?" He shook his head and his expression softened slightly. "Averill, all I've ever wanted is to be there for you. To help shoulder whatever burden you're carrying."

"Then why does it feel like you're just adding to the weight?" My question hung in the air, heavy with a truth I rarely acknowledged.

"Because I care, dammit!" He slammed his hand against the steering wheel, his frustration thick in the air.

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