glass piano

If drinking had been or his problem – or any of the vices that his brother indulged in – Kace imagined he coulda just walked down the block and found a meeting for it. Some church basement, or a community centre. Rich folks with the money to support a dozen vices creeping in to share their stories. He coulda slotted in, telling them how he drank himself to sleep some nights to keep the nightmares at bay. What caused them? That was the real fucking sticking problem. They’d think he was still whacked out on something if he propped his forearms on his knees and told them all the story about how he’d been stabbed to death by his PTSD riddled brother and come back to life. He couldn’t even bullshit his way through being kidnapped by a bunch of cowboys and held against his will for months without it sounding like some bad fucking movie.

Instead of buying the Diner, maybe he should’ve gone with something charitable instead. A help group for formerly dead boys, or just the victims of the shit that seemed to plague this town even worse than anywhere else he’d ever been. People like him, like Winter and Mikey, pulling up chairs on a weekly basis to get the weight off their chest. People who understood what it felt like to have been wiped out of existence, to fear that you were never gonna get home. Maybe at some point he’d get shit straight enough in his head to try and make that move back home.

The wall was still there in his mind as Winter headed off home with dinner and he tugged open the front door of the Diner. Not going home meant avoiding all those questions he had no answer for. Kamilla would probably turn it into a chance for some fresh publicity – her darling son back, she’d probably parade him as the new Jesus, painting Kit as Judas in the whole thing. Kandace might throw her arms open to both of them. What had happened with her visiting while he was gone had to be proof that her daughter didn’t need to be shielded from her uncle. Him dying had been a tragedy, but not one he’d ever blame Kit for.

All his brother had ever tried to do was protect him and like an ungrateful son of a bitch, he’d spent too much time throwing it back in his face. If this third chance was gonna stick, then he needed to change that. Pie probably wasn’t gonna do it, but he’d take some home tonight anyway, the first in a long line of thank yous that should’ve been pouring out long before now. Kace slipped back behind the counter, eyeing up the pie stands to see what’d be left after closing.

He glanced up as the door opened, ready to pull the menus and show someone to a table, but it was Hazel standing there instead. The corners of his mouth lifted into a smile, thoughts of all that was fucking up in his life dissipating like steam. Thanks to the people who’d taken Kit into their lives here, he had a family around him. Kandice’s kid would only have known him as Uncle Kace from his photos, for Hazel he was there almost every Sunday for dinner. ”Hey, Hazel,” he said, his tone almost as bright as hers. ”I’m .. uh … good. You wanna grab a seat? Tell me how school’s goin’? He tipped his head towards the stools at the counter, then went still as Hazel took an awkward side step I the conversation.

Kace looked back at her, his brows drawing together faintly. Winter was definitely younger than him, maybe she was still at school. Between the local high school, that fancy place that’d been set up in town and Whitmore, a good chunk of the population had to be in school in here. ”I don’t know if you could really call us friends …” he started. He started pouring Hazel’s diet coke, then shrugged his shoulders. ”I met her a few weeks ago, got talking. I guess you could call us friendly. I didn’t realise you knew her. Is she at Whitmore too?” The way Hazel was stumbling through asking about her had him studying her as he set her glass down in front of the stool he’d nodded to. Maybe she was friendly with her too, but that stuff was always hard to tell with teenaged girls.

Tagged: HAZEL DAMASCA * Word Count: 751

Sitting around the dinner table every Sunday night with Frank’s ever growing family hadn’t been easy to start with. That many people, that much noise, it had felt like he was a blind man suddenly able to see, dazzled by the whole thing. Kace guessed it was something Theo would’ve understood if the two of them had sat down and had a meeting of the formally dead boys club. He’d been stuck on the Other Side for months, watching life pass by without him, and that was on top of actually having his hearing suddenly fixed when he was a kid. Maybe Theo and Freyja had got it, or maybe it was just Christian charity, but either way he was eased into it all, gradually feeling like he belonged as part of the family.

There were still moments, especially in those troubled weeks after Kit and Katja’s relationship had imploded, sending his big brother off the rails, and after he’d been pulled out of the train station, when he’d sat there wondering if all of that was what it woulda eventually been like if he hadn’t driven Kit into a PTSD episode, or even better, if serving his country hadn’t fucked his brother up all together. His own blood family gathered around their dad’s table (Kamilla thankfully staying back in LA). Kit settled and married, a couple of kids of his own parked up next to their parents, Kandice’s little girl wrapping her grandpa around her little finger. All of them happy without the scars carved into their memories. Fuck, it was probably too Hollywood perfect, but after all the shit they had gone through, he wasn’t crazy to want a taste of that for Kit. His brother deserved better than what he’d ended up with.

Maybe one day, Kace had figured, when some of those scars had faded to near invisibility – and he’d grown a big enough pair to try and at least take a tentative step back into his old life. Until then he was just Uncle Kace to Theo and Freyja’s kids, practicing how to do that shit without fucking up. It helped that Bo and Hazel were such good kids. ”That’s great,” Kace murmured. His lips tipped up for a second. ”Bet you’re glad it’s almost summer break.” Getting out of school for the summer had always meant heading for Cali. Long days spent on the beach without an ounce of parental supervision. It’d just been the Clarke brothers against the world.

Missing those easy days with his brother, Kace felt his throat go a little thick. Even if they couldn’t go home for a while, maybe they could road trip it somewhere else. Load up a couple of boards, head up to Montauk maybe, or bask in the sun in Florida. A break from the shit that constantly seemed to go down in this town would be good for both of them.

The thought of it cut off as Hazel mentioned Winter. The town was small, there was a chance they could’ve known each other, although he’d got the impression that Winter was a couple of years older than Hazel maybe. Kace made a low sound in his throat as she told him Winter didn’t go to college. She’d said something about being caught by those things when she was leaving work, hadn’t she? Little facts about her life had leaked out while they’d been talking in the station and here just now. "Just a mutual friend? Or a boyfriend?” Kace questioned, grinning. At her age he mighta worded it that way too, if he cared about his parents finding out. Winter had mentioned a coworker, someone here she’d hoped would remember her, had it been Lex she was talking about?

Kace shook his head as he poured himself a soda. He took a deep sip of it, giving himself a moment to figure it out. What was gonna happen if he said yeah? Not all good friends worked the way his did. Lex woulda had to be blind not to see Winter’s assets, but that wasn’t everything. The guy wuold’ve had to be nuts to look in some other woman’s direction while he had Hazel – especially since any news of her heart being broken would’ve ended up with a handful of highly trained, seriously pissed off people arriving on his doorstep then. ”We’ve never really shared that much. She mentioned a boss, some friends in general, but not him, I don’t think. You think somethin’s goin’ on between ‘em? Usually friendships are just that, you know. Male or female.” There was a hint of a white lie about that. He had said usually, but practically every friendship he’d ever had with the opposite sex had ended up the same way – mutually satisfying. Remembering what had happened with Cassie before he’d left, Kace winced and reached for his soda again. He definitely wasn’t telling Hazel about that.

Tagged: HAZEL DAMASCA * Word Count: 825

He’d never been one of those kids who’d hated school, especially not in those years where he and Kit had been in the same school. Homework had been done at the kitchen table without much complaint, decent grades littering his report card when he brought it home. It had been enough to get him into UCLA. Atmospheric and Oceanic Science sounded fancy and maybe it would’ve offered him a decent job after, but school had only ever been a side hustle. All he’d wanted to do was get out on the waves. Kace glanced at the window as he grinned back at Hazel’s cheerful agreement. There wasn’t any of that here, making it a hundred times harder to clear his head. He doubted those wizened fuckers in their jangling boots would be able to get him a couple hundred yards out from land.

Some part of him wished he was back there. No grief, no regrets threatening to crush him. Just sand, sea and blue skies that felt like they were going on forever. No responsibility too. That’s what he thought was really keeping him tethered here most of the time – that sense that he had to somehow make up for what had happened with Kit. The pair of them were still wrapped up in the nightmare of what had happened that night and he wasn’t about to leave his brother alone in it.

What had happened with the Ghost Riders had added another layer of swaddling, one that he was sure Winter would understand. They’d both gone through being shot, being kept prisoner in that place. If gave you a mutual understanding that cut through the differences between you. Winter worked at the museum, he probably hadn’t been near one since his last high school field trip. He had a huge extended family here (one he hadn’t expected to remember the guy who’d tagged along just because they’d adopted his brother into their midst), from the sounds of things Winter just had the boss that’d been trapped with her and Lex.

To the outside world, what had been going on with Gage and Ronni and whoever else had drifted in and out had probably looked like a clusterfuck waiting to happen (in more ways than one), but it’d worked for them. There was no nailing down commitments, no getting bent out of shape if someone wanted out for a while. He hadn’t sat down at the dinner table and explained it to anybody here, but he figured Kit had known at least. What was going on with Hazel felt far more innocent. Maybe she just had a crush on Lex and was trying to figure out if she had a chance, but from the dip of her gaze towards her soda, he figured it was more.

Kace squashed his grin, not wanting to embarrass Hazel too much. He nodded, concentrating on pouring his own drink for the second. ”Got it. If you did want him to be somethin’ more, I don’t think you’d have any problems with Winter over it.” Unless Winter was in the same boat, hiding the feelings she hadn’t got the guts to open up about yet. She had ordered dinner for the guy after all. You’d do that for a roommate, making sure they didn’t starve themselves, but maybe there was something more.

Whatever was going on between Winter and Lex was obviously playing on a loop in Hazel’s head, stuttering when he tried to help her understand what was going on between them. Kace set his drink down and leaned his elbows against the edge of the counter. With amusement stripped back, his blue eyes were serious. ”It’s got somethin’ to do with you or you wouldn’t be askin’,” he reminded her. ”I never asked what was goin’ on there, but so far I’d say they’re just friends, roommates. If anythin’ has ever gone on there, then she hasn’t told me about it.” That would’ve been none of his business anyway, except where Hazel might get hurt in all of this.

Telling Hazel that he’d only really spoken to Winter a couple of times probably wasn’t gonna reassure Hazel much more. Those few conversations were enough to get a feel for someone. Kace nodded, glancing at the door like Winter was really standing there. ”She’s always come off that way to me, yeah. Friendly, sweet, generous. I think if you got to know her, you’d probably like her. You worried that she’s a shitty friend to Lex? Or that she’s not gonna like you hangin’ around?” Hazel had never seemed the cat fighting kind, she was too sweet a kid for that, but once hormones came into things, it could all change in a heartbeat. Heartbreak was probably inevitable in the end, he just wasn’t sure he wanted to see her heart break.

Tagged: HAZEL DAMASCA * Word Count: 809

Hazel might already have been in college, but Kace could see an innocence to her that he was sure had already been long gone by the time he’d headed to UCLA. Some of that had probably been to do with half growing up in LA, although the first time he’d really realised what could happen when you were sleeping with someone had been when Kit had gotten Patty pregnant. Up until then relationships had been judged by what had gone down between their parents, that odd balance between traditional, seemingly happy families that surrounded them in Texas and the glitzy Hollywood bullshit where nothing seemed real. He’d realised then that he wasn’t sure he wanted any of that. In real relationships you were tied to people, mostly out of love, but still they came with like a whole bunch of rules. In the bullshit ones you were lucky if a single feeling was real. Maybe there was some middle ground, but it had always seemed easier to just avoid those ties all together and just let things spill over occasionally between friends.

Thankfully all the Hollywood bullshit had stayed back in LA. Hazel had grown up with both her parents, and a solid extended family. She hadn’t spent most of her childhood shuffled between two homes, watching their mom entertain other B-list assholes with a glass in her hand day after day. If she had some of that tarnish might’ve already been there, leaving her aware of what might have been going down between Lex and Winter in that shared room. Winter had never hinted that something was going on there, but she’d seemed a little bummed out in the train station over not being remembered. ”Really,” Kace said, shrugging at her. ”Maybe it’s a cost thing, it’s cheaper to get the one room. She definitely just called him her roommate.” That didn’t mean there wasn’t room for with benefits after that description though.

If Hazel hadn’t been feeling something for Lex he doubted she’d have been as fixated on what was going down with Winter and Lex in that shared room. Kace hated seeing her shoulders droop, Freyja would probably head straight over there to chew Lex out for it if she could see her kid like this – if only Kamilla’d had half that sorta mothering instinct. At her admission, the corner of his mouth kicked up in a small, reassuring smile. ”It ain’t, but if he’s smart, he’ll see how great you are. If he ain’t smart and he doesn’t see it, then he’s not worth it, trust me.” The only person who got hurt when you put that much more into a relationship than they did was you.

He doubted that Winter would’ve stuck around with Lex if he’d been that big an asshole, but being friends with someone was definitely different to being in a relationship with them. Maybe Hazel hadn’t wanted to hear him praise Winter, but he wasn’t about to bad mouth her, when she’d been nothing but supportive through the shit they’d both gone through. If she gave Winter a chance she might see that for herself. That was probably easier said than done though. ”Then I think he’s safe. I don’t get the feeling that she’s gonna end up hurtin’ him or takin’ advantage.” His smile brightened a little as he stood up. ”I think the coast is clear if you did end up interested.” And if Lex ended up being a not-so-nice-guy he’d probably spend a few weeks in the hospital here, bruises the size of her mama’s fists littering his face.

Kace tilted his head back towards the kitchen. By now Winter was probably halfway back to her place, already planning what to put on the TV while she ate her burger and fries. ”You sure you don’t want me to get Mikey to throw a burger on the grill for you? Or cook up some fresh fries?” There wasn’t much in a teenager’s world that couldn’t be solved by a little reassurance from family and a basket of hot fries. Oh, sometimes he wished he could turn the clock back to when it had been that easy.

Tagged: HAZEL DAMASCA (finish with yours?) * Word Count: 698