Too late

Strangers, friends, lovers then strangers again

I laughed as Calvin showed Kian on his butt for what must have been the tenth time that afternoon. Kian grumbled and glared at me as he rubbed his elbow. "It is not fair: You've practiced this for years, I am kind of new to it!" He complained.

That made Calvin laugh too. "You think a vampire would go easy on you?" He asked jokingly. "Give you a headstart before sinking his teeth in your little fairy neck or breaking your precious wings?" That is what I liked about Calvin, he had this way of talking about our lethal enemies in a way so it was bearable.

"No, and I don't have wings! And I have got a feeling that as long as Haley is in my life, I'll have to deal with vampires regularly," Kian grumbled then looked at me sourly. "You know, it was awfully quiet while you were gone. Almost couldn't handle the calmness you left behind!"

I smirked at him. "Is that your way of saying you missed me, Sidekick?" He just stuck out his tongue in response.

Stretching my back I felt a deep humming noise coming all the way from my stomach to my lips. "Guys I am exhausted. As much fun as this is, I need sleep if I am going to be able to face parents and ex-lovers in the morning." Both guys nodded and shook each other's hands in that 'bro-I-like-you' way.

"It was great meeting you, Kian," Calvin said.

"An honor," Kian greeted back then looked at me. "But I'll be seeing you both tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, Calvin has to leave early to catch a meeting trough," I explained.

"Then I'll better head home, it is late anyway." It was, we had spent a few hours at Kian's before heading to the gym. Kian had gotten a little too arrogant after the alcohol set in and bragged about how his magic was better than our fighting skills, and Calvin had decided to challenge him to an old-fashioned sparing. He and I had taken turns in swooping the floor with Kian's butt.

Taking his coat from where he had thrown it on the floor, Calvin came up and nudged me with his elbow. "Want me to walk you home?"

I rolled my eyes. "Why is everyone asking that? No, I can walk by myself, thank you very much!" I told him off but smiled at him.

He shrugged. "Whatever you say, Wright, whatever you say."

The walk home was quiet, the sun wasn't up yet but it was close to sun-rise. I came across a few guards returning from their respective shifts, but no one I knew. Until I got to my building that is. I walked on the stone patch, lit by old fashioned street light. Due to the darkness, it took me a while to realize there was a figure waiting there just out of ear reach from the doorman inside. It was too late when I figured out who it was.

I tried to ignore him and stroll past him but he blocked my way. "Leah-"

I flinched back, uncomfortable at how close we had been to actual contact. "Going back to stalking, Jack? Thought you left that with your old life, or well lack of same. You know just because the doorman can't hear a conversation, I am pretty sure my high pitch scream can still get to him," I told him sternly, subconsciously arranging myself in a position where I could easily counter an attack and started scouting for escape options.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his silky, smooth hair. "Haley please, I am not going to hurt you!" He begged and I might just have believed him had I not heard those words before. I let out a humorless laugh.

"Yeah sure, you'll just throw me in a sack and leave me outside the wall for someone else to deal with right? Still got your spies out there?"

He actually looked hurt, but did I care? No, not after all he had put me through.

"Haley please, if you would just listen to me-" He reached forward and I shrieked and flinched back, almost falling over. I didn't lose my balance through and stayed on my feet, this time moving into a defense position. His eyes filled with guilt and hurt, but at least he stayed back.

"Please. Leah?" He begged and the longer I looked into those big brown eyes the softer I got.

I shook my head. "Alright but not here. Somewhere… heavily guarded. There is a room beside the foyer in my building, we can talk there." I told him and this time he let me past and flowed me quietly to my building. The receptionist looked at me questioningly when I came in.

"Haley, you are unusually late. Bringing in guests?" He asked sternly looking at Jack who had stayed a few steps behind me.

I smiled as charmingly as I could. "I've been out with some friends. Not him. Could you do me a favor?" He looked confused but nodded.

"I am taking him into the lounge - could you keep an eye on us and call security if anything happens?"

He looked shocked but nodded. "Sure, do I need to call them now?" He asked staring at me intensely and I shook my head.

"No, but just if he tried anything – I am not sure that he will but could you?" he nodded, and I felt relieved someone would be watching us, then I turned around to face Jack.

"It is right in there." I motioned to the double doors leading to the lounge. He nodded and went in quietly and took a seat at a table for two. I took the other chair and moved it as far from him as I could without it being weird. We sat there for a moment uncomfortably, neither of us wanting to make eye contact.

"So," I started, "How did you know I'd be here?"

His eyes sought mine but I refused to look at him. "I waited around till you either left or got back," he confessed and I felt a chill down my spine. I had been gone all day, there was no say when I would return or how long he had been there. If he was willing to stay outside my building all day, then there was no say what length he would go to if he decided to hurt me.

"How long have you been there?" I asked in a shaky voice that I desperately tried to calm down.

"About three hours." I nodded and suppressed a shiver.

He seemed to notice my discomfort cause he took the lead after that. "Haley, I know you have no reason to even be near me. I am sorry, I know what I did was terrible, but… I want you to know that I didn't have a choice at the time. If I could do it all over then I would, but I can't. I can't turn back time no matter how much I want to." His voice was thick through his apology. That is what made me even consider talking to him.

"I just want to know why." My voice was surprisingly harsh and dry, I didn't even recognize it myself.

Jack blinked a few times and furrowed his brows. "Why?"

I nodded. "Yeah, why did you do it? Why did you give me to them? Were you really that eager to get rid of me?"

He flinched, remembering our last conversation. It had been in front of the city hall right after that unfortunate meeting with the D.A. It was funny really, he had insisted then that I couldn't possibly imagine how it felt, yet here we were three years later, and I had been through hell and back and I still somewhere deep-felt that love flaming inside me. "They had Alishia. They wanted you in exchange for letting her go. We had no option and even if I did, then I was following orders from Mr. Richard. It wasn't my choice. I know it looked like it but it wasn't."

I already knew that, the video they had shown me told me that much. He didn't get it, I wanted to know why he didn't even try to find a way out. "Why didn't you try to find another way?" Since he wasn't looking at me anymore I had gotten comfortable looking at him, but now his eyes whipped up to meet mine.

"There wasn't any other way, Haley! It was a hostage situation, and we didn't have time to make some big heroic plan to save you both. We had to make a choice!"

I smiled a wry smile, though flinched a bit at his raised voice. "Yeah well, a great choice you made there, huh? That is the difference between you and me Jack: You always settle for what is given."

His eyes suddenly turned darker. It made me a little scared as it reminded me of something more sinister. "You wouldn't have done the same if things had been reversed? Think about it Haley - Alishia on the line."

I shook my head. "We both know I wouldn't, Jack. I would have found another way. It would have been risky, and hard, and possibly suicide, but I would have found another way. That is the difference love makes." It was true. We both knew my crazy mind would have been able to come up with something that would have either killed us all or saved us.

He suddenly looked haunted. "Haley, the city hall was. What happened there was-" I held up a hand to stop him.

"Don't Jack. I don't need to hear your guilt-filled apology just because you feel sorry for what happened to me after. I just want to move on." I felt a little proud of how mature I sounded. I got ready to get up and leave, but his hand caught my wrist and pulled me down.

"No Leah, please, you don't understand. What I said at the hall-"

I pulled my wrist from his grip and backed up towards the door. "Jack, I understand okay? The hall- You don't need to feel guilty about it anymore. I pushed you and I shouldn't have. I was being childish and trying out limits. I don't blame you for that, but I blame you for giving me up. I blame you for spending the last three years in hell. I blame you for the nightmares that make me wake up screaming and crying. I blame you for the scars that cover almost every inch of my body. I blame you for having to fight the urge to cover and hide every time a bell rings, or someone lets out a high noise. Every. Single. Day, and for never being able to feel safe even when I am alone. But everything that happened before that? I don't blame you for any of it. Not Baltimore, not the Cityhall or anything else before the attack."

He stood up with a frantic and sad look in his eyes and stalked towards me, and I started walking just as fast towards the door when he stopped, noticing my distress. Then a voice broke in. "Is everything alright?" The receptionist was standing at the door looking at the scene in front of him. I wasn't sure what he saw, but he didn't seem to like it cause he turned to Jack with a hard expression. "Sir, I am going to have to ask you to leave, or I will have to call security." His voice was stern and left no room for discussion. Even Jack seemed faced and backed off, letting me walk through the door before exiting himself and walk towards the front door in the opposite direction of my elevator.

"I didn't mean it." His voice ran through the tension-filled air. I stared at him trying to process his words and put them into context. "I didn't mean any of it, Leah, not a word." He looked into my eyes and it felt like time froze until at last, he left the building. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and felt my entire body relax. I thanked the receptionist for his help then went to my room. I fumbled with the keys, unable to control my trembling hands. I finally got it open and quickly went in, making sure it was locked behind me before checking all windows and closing the curtains. Then I collapsed on the queen-sized bed and held a hand to my chest where my heart was racing like I just ran a mile. This was all too much and I didn't know how to handle it. Did Jack really just say he still loved me? How was that even possible after… I couldn't, I just couldn't take this. This afternoon I had almost felt normal, at peace even, but now it was all crashing down on me. How was I supposed to be around the man that after having rejected me and broken my heart, offered me up to a ring of criminal vampires, haunted my dreams for years, then told me he never stopped loving me? I couldn't, it was impossible. I didn't even know how I felt towards him, the anger was so overwhelming everything else seemed to get crushed under it. Frantically, I started undoing my boots, feeling suffocated by the heat. Finally getting them off, I fell back against the mattress. Sleep seemed so far out of reach, I just settled on staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow I had to face him again. I would be protected by protocol and my parents, but he would be there. How was I supposed to be a guard when I couldn't even be in the same room as the man I used to, possibly still, loved?