Fic: The Right Kind of Wrong (16 / ? )
Title: The Right Kind Of Wrong (16 / ? )
Characters: Owen Harper/OFC
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): none at the moment
Spoiler(s): Thru "Out of Time".
Summary: Kayla is dealing with Jack and Owen's betrayals. Will she forgive either of them?
Disclaimer: Alas, I do not own Torchwood and its associated characters and places and things. I wish I did, but I don't.
Author note: A HUGE thank you to mrs_cj_harkness for her awesome beta skills, and for helping me to write the end scene of this chapter when I got stuck. Hugs and thanks to phantomreviewer and haces222 for cheering me on and listening to my ideas.
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
CHAPTER 16
Lying in the middle of the living room floor, Kayla stared morosely at the ceiling, ignoring the insistent knocking on her front door. Was it too much to ask to be left alone when all she wanted was to wallow in her misery and drink herself into a forgetful state. Sighing heavily, she pushed herself up on her elbows to glare at the door as the knocking continued. "GO AWAY!"
The knocking subsided before a muffled voice called back to her. "Kayla, its Tosh, I came to see if you were ok." There was a pause. “Open the door, its freezing!”
"I don't want to talk to anyone," Kayla shot back, slumping back on to the floor, knocking over the empty wine bottle next to her. “And I’m fine!”
She could hear Tosh sigh even from the other side of the door. “Come on, Kayla. We both know you aren’t, I saw the state you were in when you stormed out.” Silence. “You should have seen the confusion you left in your wake…”
With a groan, Kayla sat back up and climbed to her feet. Wobbling, she opened the front door slightly and peered out at Tosh. “You aren’t going to go away, are you?”
“Nope, and if it helps my being here, I’ve brought a very big bottle of wine.” Tosh grinned holding up said bottle. “I figured you could probably use a drink.”
Opening the door wider, she allowed Tosh to come in.
********************************************
“Are you going to tell me what was going on back there?” Diane gave Owen a questioning look as he drove the car. He’d not said a word since they’d all witnessed Kayla shouting at both him and Jack. The next thing Diane knew, she was being herded back out to his car and they were driving away as fast as they could. “Owen, are you listening to me?”
Owen took a deep breath, glancing at her out the corner of his eye. “Yeah, I am, it’s just complicated…”
“You had a relationship with her, didn’t you?”
“Not sure what I had with her,” Owen said quietly as he concentrated on driving and not looking at Diane. “I thought we had something, but she walked away and left without a word to me; more than once.”
“I take it this was quite recently, and from her reaction back there to seeing me with you, she didn’t know it was over.” Diane studied him closely. “Did you love her?”
Owen changed the subject quickly, avoiding the question as usual. “So, what do you want to do tonight? We could go see a movie; you’d be amazed at how they’ve changed since 1953 or maybe dinner-”
“You didn’t answer me.”
“It doesn’t matter; it’s over and in the past.” He sighed deeply, fingers tightening momentarily on the wheel, before he relaxed and flashed a charming grin in her direction. “It doesn’t matter, only here and now matters.”
Diane studied him in silence the rest of the way back to his flat, turning over his words and what had happened back at Torchwood in her mind. A small voice in her head warned her that there was more to the story than Owen was telling her.
********************************************
Tosh smiled sadly at Kayla, who was currently drunkenly sprawled on the floor in front of the couch once more. “So, let me get this straight. That day we came back from the scene of Eugene’s death, your mom called you?”
“Yes.” Kayla sat up enough to sip at her wine.
“And she was calling you to let you know that your grandmother was ill in the hospital, asking you to come home because she wanted to see you?” She paused as Kayla nodded. “Jack hurried you off before you could tell anyone, Owen included, what was going on but told you he would tell us what was going on.” She nodded again. “And Owen seemed to take it personally that you’d left, so therefore didn’t answer his phone every time you tried to call him while you were away.”
Kayla climbed to her feet, leaning on the couch for support and began to pace back and forth unsteadily. “Yes! Jack did this on purpose.”
“But why would he do that? That’s not like Jack at all.”
“It is when he bloody well thinks he knows what’s best for everyone else, and instead of just butting out and letting me make my own decisions, he has to interfere.” She paused to refill her glass. “And Owen isn’t much better! It was like a competition between the two of them, with Owen getting his knickers in a twist if he thought I was choosing Jack over him or walking away from him.” With that Kayla dropped heavily on to the sofa next to Tosh not spilling a drop of wine - she was getting better at that. “Jack’s not been exactly happy about me being involved with Owen.” She glanced at Tosh. “I’m surprised you don’t hate me for being involved with him.”
Tosh looked at her in surprise. “What makes you say that?”
“You were in love with Owen at one time, weren’t you?”
“I realized a long time ago that there was no chance for him and I,” Tosh replied with a rueful smile. “That all we could and would be was friends.” Kayla gazed into Tosh’s eyes opening doors. “I’ll admit I was jealous at first when it looked like things were happening between the two of you, but you both seemed so happy for a time, and I was happy for the both of you.”
Kayla let loose a small watery smile. “Why are men such idiots?” Kayla sniffled as she drained her glass and set it on the floor. There was a moment’s silence before she burst into tears once more.
Making a dismayed noise, Tosh set her own glass down and pulled the younger girl into a hug, rubbing her back soothingly. She let Kayla cry against her shoulder for awhile, noticing when the sound of her tears began to subside into silence once more. Exhaustion, sadness, and alcohol had combined to draw Kayla into an uneasy slumber. Tosh eased her onto the sofa without waking her and once she was comfortably settled, she grabbed a blanket from the chair by the window and covered Kayla with it. Tosh watched her sadly for a few moments, knowing sleep would help somewhat, but knowing it was going to be a hell of a morning. Her cell phone rang and she scurried to answer it before it would wake Kayla up. “Hello?”
“Tosh, is she ok?” Jack’s voice on the other end sounded strained with concern.
She stepped into the small kitchen, speaking quietly. “Yeah, she’s ok. Might have a hell of a hangover in the morning, but she’s asleep right now.” Tosh paused, pooling her thoughts together before speaking again. “Why did you do it, Jack? Do you realize how much you’ve hurt her?”
“I thought I was doing what was the best for her! Damn it, Tosh, do you think I want to see her hurting like this?”
“No, of course you don’t, Jack. And you aren’t solely to blame here; I know Owen is just as much at fault, but still…” Tosh made a weary noise. “You should have told us why she left, told Owen! It might have prevented what’s happened.”
“It’s too late, all I can do is try and fix things now, Tosh. Are you going to stay there with her tonight?”
“I was thinking about it, considering the amount of alcohol she’s had.”
“You should go home and sleep - it’s okay, I’ll be there in a few and I’ll watch over her tonight. Just stay with her till I get there?”
“I don’t know how happy she’d be to wake up with a hangover in the morning and find you here, Jack, she’s pretty angry,” Tosh warned him.
“As she has every right to be, but I want to be there when she wakes up. I’ll take my chances with her wrath; I just need to be there for her right now.”
“Alright, Jack, it’s your funeral. But I’ll wait till you get here to leave.”
********************************************
Kayla moaned pitifully, her head pounding like a drum as she shifted on to her side from her stomach. She grimaced, her mouth feeling like it was stuffed with cotton and tasting like….well, she really didn’t want to think on just what the taste in her mouth reminded her of. Pushing back the blanket from covering her head, she groaned and screwed her eyes shut at the bright morning light streaming in the windows.
“You’re awake.”
She opened her eyes fractionally at the sound of Jack’s voice and looked at him blearily before pulling the blanket back over her head. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Come on, time to get up.” He made an exasperated sound when she didn’t move and reached out to pull the blanket off her. “I’ve made you some coffee.”
She sat up, squinting angrily at him through bloodshot eyes before gripping her head painfully with a small moan. “Just get out, Jack. I don’t want to see you; and I sure as hell don’t want to talk to you.”
“Drink some coffee, it will help.” He sat on the edge of her coffee table, holding out a mug to her as he took a sip from his own. “It’s not as good as Ianto’s, but it’s passable.”
“Fine, I’ll ask it again. What the hell are you doing here, Jack?” She took the mug from him with a sulky look and sighed as she took a drink, letting the coffee wash the fuzzy feeling from her mouth.
“I’ve been here all night, shortly after you passed out. I called Tosh to find out how you were, and she told me that you’d basically drank yourself into oblivion, so I sent her home and sat and watched over you to make sure you were ok.”
“I don’t need you to watch over me. I can take care of myself.” She glared at him. “But then, you don’t trust me to make my own decisions, do you?”
Jack flushed guiltily at the pointed question. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell him or the others, but I was right! He ended up hurting you.”
“For Christ’s sake, Jack! He ended up hurting me because of you.”
“That’s not true.”
“It’s not? You have to be kidding me…” Kayla laughed bitterly. “Do you honestly think what’s happened would have happened had he known where and why I’d gone?”
“Maybe not this time, but something would have happened eventually.” Jack’s tone was defensive.
“Maybe, maybe not, but what right did you have to do what you did?” Kayla drained her cup and stood up shakily to head for the kitchen.
Jack followed close behind and stood in the doorway, watching as she rinsed out the mug and placed it in the sink. “I’m sorry.”
“You say that so often, Jack, I have to wonder if you mean it sometimes.”
“I really am.” Setting his own mug down on the counter he moved closer and folded her in his arms, hugging her tightly. “I’ll find some way to fix this.”
Kayla leaned her head back and looked up at him. “No, you won’t. You’re going to stay out of this and let me handle it on my own.” She glared at him as he started to protest. “I mean it, Jack, stay out of it. This is between me and Owen now, and whether things work out, it’s got nothing to do with you now.”
“I just want to help.” He gave her a fatherly kiss on the forehead. “Am I forgiven?”
“Yes, if you promise to butt out from now on.” Pushing away, she walked out of the kitchen. “I’m going to grab a shower and get dressed for work.”
“You don’t have to come in today,” Jack called after her.
She paused for a moment and looked back over her shoulder at him, her mouth set in a determined line. “Yes, I do. I’m not going to hide and make this easy for him.”
********************************************
The cog door rolled back, entry alarm sounding and alerting the team of Owen’s arrival. Tosh and Ianto exchanged worried glances before looking towards where Jack stood in his office doorway.
“Morning,” Owen said to all of them as he came up the stairs and headed for his desk. He paused in the process of pulling off his jacket at the silence that greeted him. “Don’t everyone talk all at once.”
Jack was the only one who responded as the others made themselves busy. “I need that report on the alien compound we found last week, on my desk by the end of the day.” The look he gave Owen was unreadable as he turned and walked into his office.
Shaking his head, Owen tossed his jacket over the back of his chair and headed down into the autopsy bay. With his mind on other things, Owen remained oblivious to his surroundings until he collided with Kayla just as she was coming up the stairs, knocking her off balance.
Reacting instinctively, she grabbed at his shirt to keep herself from tumbling back down the stairs. Steadying herself, Kayla glared at him and let go of his shirt the moment she was stable. Owen glared right back at her; she’d almost ripped his new shirt and he wasn’t pleased. They stood facing each other, just waiting for the other to back down or give in and say something, but neither did. The silence began to get uncomfortable, and Kayla flushed under Owen’s gaze.
“Excuse me.” Kayla quickly moved to the side, stepping around him to continue on her way up the stairs.
Without thinking, Owen reached out and grasped Kayla’s arm, bringing her back in front of him. “Look, I think we need to talk.” Kayla looked up, meeting Owen’s eyes, her own eyes ablaze with defiance.
“I can’t possibly think what we have to talk about Owen,” she said with a soft sigh. She held up the blue folder in her hand as she tried to step away from him. “If you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”
Kayla tried to move away once more as he tightened his grip on her arm to keep her from walking away.
“Just listen for once!”
“Oh, that is rich, coming from you.” She gave him a disgusted look.
“I never planned this, any of this, I swear. I mean, you’re the one that swanned off-“
“Oh, well that just makes me feel so much better. At least I know you weren’t plotting your little affair. And you know where I was!” Kayla interjected, her face like thunder.
“But I didn’t at the time, did I?”
“But you would have, if you’d acted like any other normal being and answered a phone call from their supposed girlfriend.”
“Kayla…” Owen said frustratedly, his other hand clenching into a fist.
Kayla cut off his protest. “Did you bother to listen to any of the numerous messages I left you? Just one?” The look on his face told her everything she wanted to know. “Too busy shagging that other woman, huh?”
“No.” Owen muttered guiltily, his grip on her arm loosening.
Kayla used that to her advantage, wrenching her arm away from him and continuing up the stairs out of Owen’s reach. Turning back, she shook her head gently, her hair falling into her face, hiding her expression from him as he turned to look up at her.
“That’s your problem, Owen,” She paused, tucking her long hair behind her ears. “You never listen.” And with that, she walked away into the hub, leaving Owen standing on the stairs alone.
Characters: Owen Harper/OFC
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): none at the moment
Spoiler(s): Thru "Out of Time".
Summary: Kayla is dealing with Jack and Owen's betrayals. Will she forgive either of them?
Disclaimer: Alas, I do not own Torchwood and its associated characters and places and things. I wish I did, but I don't.
Author note: A HUGE thank you to mrs_cj_harkness for her awesome beta skills, and for helping me to write the end scene of this chapter when I got stuck. Hugs and thanks to phantomreviewer and haces222 for cheering me on and listening to my ideas.
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
CHAPTER 16
Lying in the middle of the living room floor, Kayla stared morosely at the ceiling, ignoring the insistent knocking on her front door. Was it too much to ask to be left alone when all she wanted was to wallow in her misery and drink herself into a forgetful state. Sighing heavily, she pushed herself up on her elbows to glare at the door as the knocking continued. "GO AWAY!"
The knocking subsided before a muffled voice called back to her. "Kayla, its Tosh, I came to see if you were ok." There was a pause. “Open the door, its freezing!”
"I don't want to talk to anyone," Kayla shot back, slumping back on to the floor, knocking over the empty wine bottle next to her. “And I’m fine!”
She could hear Tosh sigh even from the other side of the door. “Come on, Kayla. We both know you aren’t, I saw the state you were in when you stormed out.” Silence. “You should have seen the confusion you left in your wake…”
With a groan, Kayla sat back up and climbed to her feet. Wobbling, she opened the front door slightly and peered out at Tosh. “You aren’t going to go away, are you?”
“Nope, and if it helps my being here, I’ve brought a very big bottle of wine.” Tosh grinned holding up said bottle. “I figured you could probably use a drink.”
Opening the door wider, she allowed Tosh to come in.
********************************************
“Are you going to tell me what was going on back there?” Diane gave Owen a questioning look as he drove the car. He’d not said a word since they’d all witnessed Kayla shouting at both him and Jack. The next thing Diane knew, she was being herded back out to his car and they were driving away as fast as they could. “Owen, are you listening to me?”
Owen took a deep breath, glancing at her out the corner of his eye. “Yeah, I am, it’s just complicated…”
“You had a relationship with her, didn’t you?”
“Not sure what I had with her,” Owen said quietly as he concentrated on driving and not looking at Diane. “I thought we had something, but she walked away and left without a word to me; more than once.”
“I take it this was quite recently, and from her reaction back there to seeing me with you, she didn’t know it was over.” Diane studied him closely. “Did you love her?”
Owen changed the subject quickly, avoiding the question as usual. “So, what do you want to do tonight? We could go see a movie; you’d be amazed at how they’ve changed since 1953 or maybe dinner-”
“You didn’t answer me.”
“It doesn’t matter; it’s over and in the past.” He sighed deeply, fingers tightening momentarily on the wheel, before he relaxed and flashed a charming grin in her direction. “It doesn’t matter, only here and now matters.”
Diane studied him in silence the rest of the way back to his flat, turning over his words and what had happened back at Torchwood in her mind. A small voice in her head warned her that there was more to the story than Owen was telling her.
********************************************
Tosh smiled sadly at Kayla, who was currently drunkenly sprawled on the floor in front of the couch once more. “So, let me get this straight. That day we came back from the scene of Eugene’s death, your mom called you?”
“Yes.” Kayla sat up enough to sip at her wine.
“And she was calling you to let you know that your grandmother was ill in the hospital, asking you to come home because she wanted to see you?” She paused as Kayla nodded. “Jack hurried you off before you could tell anyone, Owen included, what was going on but told you he would tell us what was going on.” She nodded again. “And Owen seemed to take it personally that you’d left, so therefore didn’t answer his phone every time you tried to call him while you were away.”
Kayla climbed to her feet, leaning on the couch for support and began to pace back and forth unsteadily. “Yes! Jack did this on purpose.”
“But why would he do that? That’s not like Jack at all.”
“It is when he bloody well thinks he knows what’s best for everyone else, and instead of just butting out and letting me make my own decisions, he has to interfere.” She paused to refill her glass. “And Owen isn’t much better! It was like a competition between the two of them, with Owen getting his knickers in a twist if he thought I was choosing Jack over him or walking away from him.” With that Kayla dropped heavily on to the sofa next to Tosh not spilling a drop of wine - she was getting better at that. “Jack’s not been exactly happy about me being involved with Owen.” She glanced at Tosh. “I’m surprised you don’t hate me for being involved with him.”
Tosh looked at her in surprise. “What makes you say that?”
“You were in love with Owen at one time, weren’t you?”
“I realized a long time ago that there was no chance for him and I,” Tosh replied with a rueful smile. “That all we could and would be was friends.” Kayla gazed into Tosh’s eyes opening doors. “I’ll admit I was jealous at first when it looked like things were happening between the two of you, but you both seemed so happy for a time, and I was happy for the both of you.”
Kayla let loose a small watery smile. “Why are men such idiots?” Kayla sniffled as she drained her glass and set it on the floor. There was a moment’s silence before she burst into tears once more.
Making a dismayed noise, Tosh set her own glass down and pulled the younger girl into a hug, rubbing her back soothingly. She let Kayla cry against her shoulder for awhile, noticing when the sound of her tears began to subside into silence once more. Exhaustion, sadness, and alcohol had combined to draw Kayla into an uneasy slumber. Tosh eased her onto the sofa without waking her and once she was comfortably settled, she grabbed a blanket from the chair by the window and covered Kayla with it. Tosh watched her sadly for a few moments, knowing sleep would help somewhat, but knowing it was going to be a hell of a morning. Her cell phone rang and she scurried to answer it before it would wake Kayla up. “Hello?”
“Tosh, is she ok?” Jack’s voice on the other end sounded strained with concern.
She stepped into the small kitchen, speaking quietly. “Yeah, she’s ok. Might have a hell of a hangover in the morning, but she’s asleep right now.” Tosh paused, pooling her thoughts together before speaking again. “Why did you do it, Jack? Do you realize how much you’ve hurt her?”
“I thought I was doing what was the best for her! Damn it, Tosh, do you think I want to see her hurting like this?”
“No, of course you don’t, Jack. And you aren’t solely to blame here; I know Owen is just as much at fault, but still…” Tosh made a weary noise. “You should have told us why she left, told Owen! It might have prevented what’s happened.”
“It’s too late, all I can do is try and fix things now, Tosh. Are you going to stay there with her tonight?”
“I was thinking about it, considering the amount of alcohol she’s had.”
“You should go home and sleep - it’s okay, I’ll be there in a few and I’ll watch over her tonight. Just stay with her till I get there?”
“I don’t know how happy she’d be to wake up with a hangover in the morning and find you here, Jack, she’s pretty angry,” Tosh warned him.
“As she has every right to be, but I want to be there when she wakes up. I’ll take my chances with her wrath; I just need to be there for her right now.”
“Alright, Jack, it’s your funeral. But I’ll wait till you get here to leave.”
********************************************
Kayla moaned pitifully, her head pounding like a drum as she shifted on to her side from her stomach. She grimaced, her mouth feeling like it was stuffed with cotton and tasting like….well, she really didn’t want to think on just what the taste in her mouth reminded her of. Pushing back the blanket from covering her head, she groaned and screwed her eyes shut at the bright morning light streaming in the windows.
“You’re awake.”
She opened her eyes fractionally at the sound of Jack’s voice and looked at him blearily before pulling the blanket back over her head. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Come on, time to get up.” He made an exasperated sound when she didn’t move and reached out to pull the blanket off her. “I’ve made you some coffee.”
She sat up, squinting angrily at him through bloodshot eyes before gripping her head painfully with a small moan. “Just get out, Jack. I don’t want to see you; and I sure as hell don’t want to talk to you.”
“Drink some coffee, it will help.” He sat on the edge of her coffee table, holding out a mug to her as he took a sip from his own. “It’s not as good as Ianto’s, but it’s passable.”
“Fine, I’ll ask it again. What the hell are you doing here, Jack?” She took the mug from him with a sulky look and sighed as she took a drink, letting the coffee wash the fuzzy feeling from her mouth.
“I’ve been here all night, shortly after you passed out. I called Tosh to find out how you were, and she told me that you’d basically drank yourself into oblivion, so I sent her home and sat and watched over you to make sure you were ok.”
“I don’t need you to watch over me. I can take care of myself.” She glared at him. “But then, you don’t trust me to make my own decisions, do you?”
Jack flushed guiltily at the pointed question. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell him or the others, but I was right! He ended up hurting you.”
“For Christ’s sake, Jack! He ended up hurting me because of you.”
“That’s not true.”
“It’s not? You have to be kidding me…” Kayla laughed bitterly. “Do you honestly think what’s happened would have happened had he known where and why I’d gone?”
“Maybe not this time, but something would have happened eventually.” Jack’s tone was defensive.
“Maybe, maybe not, but what right did you have to do what you did?” Kayla drained her cup and stood up shakily to head for the kitchen.
Jack followed close behind and stood in the doorway, watching as she rinsed out the mug and placed it in the sink. “I’m sorry.”
“You say that so often, Jack, I have to wonder if you mean it sometimes.”
“I really am.” Setting his own mug down on the counter he moved closer and folded her in his arms, hugging her tightly. “I’ll find some way to fix this.”
Kayla leaned her head back and looked up at him. “No, you won’t. You’re going to stay out of this and let me handle it on my own.” She glared at him as he started to protest. “I mean it, Jack, stay out of it. This is between me and Owen now, and whether things work out, it’s got nothing to do with you now.”
“I just want to help.” He gave her a fatherly kiss on the forehead. “Am I forgiven?”
“Yes, if you promise to butt out from now on.” Pushing away, she walked out of the kitchen. “I’m going to grab a shower and get dressed for work.”
“You don’t have to come in today,” Jack called after her.
She paused for a moment and looked back over her shoulder at him, her mouth set in a determined line. “Yes, I do. I’m not going to hide and make this easy for him.”
********************************************
The cog door rolled back, entry alarm sounding and alerting the team of Owen’s arrival. Tosh and Ianto exchanged worried glances before looking towards where Jack stood in his office doorway.
“Morning,” Owen said to all of them as he came up the stairs and headed for his desk. He paused in the process of pulling off his jacket at the silence that greeted him. “Don’t everyone talk all at once.”
Jack was the only one who responded as the others made themselves busy. “I need that report on the alien compound we found last week, on my desk by the end of the day.” The look he gave Owen was unreadable as he turned and walked into his office.
Shaking his head, Owen tossed his jacket over the back of his chair and headed down into the autopsy bay. With his mind on other things, Owen remained oblivious to his surroundings until he collided with Kayla just as she was coming up the stairs, knocking her off balance.
Reacting instinctively, she grabbed at his shirt to keep herself from tumbling back down the stairs. Steadying herself, Kayla glared at him and let go of his shirt the moment she was stable. Owen glared right back at her; she’d almost ripped his new shirt and he wasn’t pleased. They stood facing each other, just waiting for the other to back down or give in and say something, but neither did. The silence began to get uncomfortable, and Kayla flushed under Owen’s gaze.
“Excuse me.” Kayla quickly moved to the side, stepping around him to continue on her way up the stairs.
Without thinking, Owen reached out and grasped Kayla’s arm, bringing her back in front of him. “Look, I think we need to talk.” Kayla looked up, meeting Owen’s eyes, her own eyes ablaze with defiance.
“I can’t possibly think what we have to talk about Owen,” she said with a soft sigh. She held up the blue folder in her hand as she tried to step away from him. “If you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”
Kayla tried to move away once more as he tightened his grip on her arm to keep her from walking away.
“Just listen for once!”
“Oh, that is rich, coming from you.” She gave him a disgusted look.
“I never planned this, any of this, I swear. I mean, you’re the one that swanned off-“
“Oh, well that just makes me feel so much better. At least I know you weren’t plotting your little affair. And you know where I was!” Kayla interjected, her face like thunder.
“But I didn’t at the time, did I?”
“But you would have, if you’d acted like any other normal being and answered a phone call from their supposed girlfriend.”
“Kayla…” Owen said frustratedly, his other hand clenching into a fist.
Kayla cut off his protest. “Did you bother to listen to any of the numerous messages I left you? Just one?” The look on his face told her everything she wanted to know. “Too busy shagging that other woman, huh?”
“No.” Owen muttered guiltily, his grip on her arm loosening.
Kayla used that to her advantage, wrenching her arm away from him and continuing up the stairs out of Owen’s reach. Turning back, she shook her head gently, her hair falling into her face, hiding her expression from him as he turned to look up at her.
“That’s your problem, Owen,” She paused, tucking her long hair behind her ears. “You never listen.” And with that, she walked away into the hub, leaving Owen standing on the stairs alone.