Page 20 of Sparks Fly

A sudden knock at the door startles Kaia out of her spiraling thoughts so violently, she almost jumps out of her skin. She ignores it at first, content to pretend she isn’t home just to avoid speaking to anyone. But the knocking persists, growing louder with each passing second.

With a frustrated growl, Kaia drags herself off the couch and stomps to the door. Yanking it open, she’s poised to tell whoever it is to leave her the hell alone. But the command dies on her tongue when she sees Hallie standing there, fist still raised as if she were prepared to keep knocking all night.

“What do you want?” she bites out through a clenched jaw.

“Kaia, I’m so sorry, please let me explain.” Hallie’s voice is soft and pleading, the sound so foreign it only makes Kaia angrier.

“Oh, now you want to talk?” she snaps, clenching the door handle like she might slam it shut at any moment. “Seemed to me like all you wanted to do today was yell at me.”

She starts to close the door, but Hallie quickly puts a hand up to stop it.

“Kaia, please! I was an ass, okay? I know I messed up, just let me explain.”

“Explain what exactly?” Kaia scoffs. “How you decided to throw me under the bus in front of the entire squad? And for what, huh? To remind everyone that you’re the bitch in charge?”

Hallie winces at Kaia’s harsh words, but she refuses to back down.

“It wasn’t like that. Come on, how can you think I would do that to you?” She takes a step closer to the doorway. “Please just let me in. I don’t want to do this in the hall.”

Kaia hesitates for a moment, the pleading in Hallie’s glistening, blue eyes making her second guess her anger. This is the side of Hallie that she’s only ever seen in their moments alone together, when the mask of the fierce lieutenant slips away. At last, with a heavy sigh, she steps aside, ready to hear Hallie’s explanation at the very least.

The two of them stride into the living room, the tension thick and suffocating in the small space. Kaia crosses her arms over her chest, glaring at Hallie expectantly.

“Well?” she demands, raising an eyebrow. “You wanted to explain. So, start talking.”

Hallie takes a deep breath.

“I overheard a couple of the rookies talking after the meeting this morning.” Her words tumble out in a garbled rush. “Well, they were looking at us first—in the meeting, I mean—and I thought something was up.”

Hallie begins pacing, nervously wringing her hands and struggling to make eye contact. Kaia tries not to gape; she’s never seen this fearsome woman crumble like this.

“And then I heard them talking. And they were making crude jokes about whether you were trying to fuck your way to the top. I just—I panicked!” She spins on her heel then, reaching out to Kaia and then pulling her hands back again as if she’s not confident Kaia would let her hold her right now.

“I thought…” Hallie’s mouth opens and closes a few times, as if she’s struggling to get the last part out. “I thought if I came down hard on you, if I made it seem like I didn’t even like you… then, I could kill the rumors and we’d stay a secret.”

Kaia’s chest tightens, the hurt and the anger warring for dominance against the part of her heart that understands exactly what Hallie was trying to do.

“Why didn’t you say something?” she breathes. “We could have come up with a plan together. Instead, you made me look like an incompetent idiot in front of the whole team.”

Hallie claws her fingers through her messy, golden curls, pure anguish written across her face. “I know, it was stupid,” she admits. “I just… I’ve worked my whole life to get to where I am. If word got out that I was sleeping with a recruit… it could… it would ruin my shot at becoming captain.”

At that, Kaia huffs a bitter laugh, shaking her head. “Wow. So, that’s what this is all about? Can’t have a dirty secret hurt your precious career?” She throws her hands in the air and steps back, needing to put as much distance between them as possible.

“And what about me, Hallie? What about my career, huh? The guys on that team are just itching for a reason to get me booted. You made me look like an incapable child!”

“Kaia, please,” Hallie begs, her voice cracking slightly. “I never meant to hurt you. I figured I could just explain afterwards. I made a mistake; I see that now.”

“A mistake? Is that what you call it? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you made a choice. Your career over me, Lieutenant Hunter.”

Hallie shakes her head, her eyes starting to glisten on the brink of tears. “No, that’s not true. My career would have been hurt, sure. But I can take a hit. Yours has just begun, Kaia, you wouldn’t be able to come back from that kind of scandal.” She takes a step forward, reaching for Kaia again. “I wanted to protect you too. I wanted to protect us both.”

Kaia turns away, wrapping her arms around herself and squeezing, as if she could physically hold herself together. “I want to believe you,” she says in a small, timid voice. “I want to believe that you won’t chuck me away the minute things get too real.”

Hallie comes to rest a warm hand on Kaia’s shoulder. “They’re already real for me, Kaia.”

Kaia closes her eyes and exhales a shuddering breath. She had needed to hear those words from Hallie, to believe that everything she thought was between them wasn’t one-sided.

“You mean that?” she murmurs, turning back to face her. “This is… this is something real for you?”

---