Perspectives

Chapter 33

The familiarity of his face was almost painful. Piper despised the fact that seeing it again could bring back even one nice memory. She just wanted to hate him, to have an unmitigated loathing for the person who had caused her so much suffering. She didn't know what was holding her back from that.

"It seems you two know each other fairly well..." Piper heard Devon say with a nervous chuckle, but she barely took notice of it.

Kalen was looking down at her as if he was seeing a ghost, and maybe to him seeing her again was like seeing a ghost. After all, he had practically left her for dead. He just stared at her for a long moment before he finally said something, "Piper how..." he trailed off.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Piper instantly shot back. She glowered up at Kalen, ignoring the discomfort caused by having to crane her neck back far enough to be able to meet his gaze. Piper only turned away when she heard the sound of Celia's chair pushing back as she got to her feet.

Slowly Celia stepped up beside where Piper stood on the floor before lowering down into a crouch next to her. "Perhaps you would prefer a place at the table?" She suggested gently, offering a palm for Piper to step onto. Piper threw one last glare at Kalen, who was still ogling at her, before stepping up onto Celia's hand.

A moment later, Piper hopped off of Celia's hand and onto the tabletop. Kalen had turned back around in his chair, but was continuing to look at her with eyes widened. "You want to stop staring at me anytime soon, asshole?" Piper demanded. To her surprise, Kalen actually physically flinched at her words.

Devon gave an uncomfortable cough. "Do you two need some time alone...?" He questioned, turning to look at his wife for some kind of guidance.

"Piper, if you would like, we can give you two some privacy." Celia said politely. "But if you wish for us to stay, we certainly can." She added, casting a scolding glare at her husband, who had already been eagerly rising out of his chair. 

As much as Piper loathed the idea of being left alone with Kalen, she had no desire for Celia and Devon to know the gritty details of she and Kalen's complicated and messy history. Piper also felt she'd more easily be able to unleash her full fury onto Kalen without any witnesses.  "Just give us ten minutes." She said, to which she received an understanding nod from Celia and great sigh of relief from Devon.

The moment the two giants had left the room, Piper turned to Kalen, murder in her eyes. Although still looking rather shocked, Kalen seemed to have regained some of his composure. He opened his mouth to say to something, but Piper quickly cut him off. "If you're about to spout your pathetic explanation--don't." She warned.

"I was going to ask what you're doing here actually." Kalen told her, his tone lacking the usual bold arrogance. 

Piper's clenched fists tightened. "Really? That's what you're leading with?" She hissed. "Not even a half-assed attempt at an apology?" She could feel her face beginning to redden in her anger. If the shade it became had anything to do with how mad she got, surely it would be the color of a tomato before long. 

"Wait, hold on--" Kalen instantly began to backpedal. " You're right, I was just caught off guard seeing you here. I'm sorry." 

Piper rolled her eyes. "That wasn't even half-assed, more like a quarter-assed." She retorted with a dry humorless laugh. 

"Listen, you need to understand that I did what I did to help you." Kalen explained defensively. 

"In what fucking universe is leaving me defenseless in a gigantic public park helping me?!" Piper cried incredulously as she threw out her arms in disbelief. 

Kalen crossed his arms on top of the table, leaning forward slightly so that his face was nearer to being at her level. "If I didn't get you far away, the council would have taken you into custody for scientific testing." He stressed, voice lowered. 

A shiver ran across Piper's skin. She had known that the council had been planning on taking her into custody from what Devon and Celia had told her, but the fact that they had intended to put her through scientific testing was new information. The horrible image of giant scientists poking and prodding her with foreign instruments invaded Piper's mind. Her face must have shown the horror she was feeling, as Kalen seemed to have taken note of it.

"You see that I had to do what was necessary." Kalen stated, sounding relieved that he had managed to convince Piper of how noble his actions really were. 

A dark glower quickly returned to Piper's face. "That's bullshit." She growled, taking internal pleasure at how caught off guard Kalen appeared. "Even if what you're saying is true, it doesn't warrant what you did to me." She told him, her tone colder than ice. 

"There was no better option, I couldn't leave you anywhere near the estate, their scanners would have found you!" Kalen exclaimed, now sitting up straight in his chair, the better to tower over Piper. 

"You could have told me!" Piper yelled, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "You could have told me what was going on, explained it to me so that I didn't think I was being left to die by the single person in this place I had somewhat trusted." Once she had finished, Piper instantly turned away to hurriedly swipe away the tears that had begun to drip down her face. 

"I thought you would object and argue with me about it if I told you anything, and I was in such a rush to just get you out of there before Rothgard showed up..." Kalen explained, voice low and tentative. "I figured you would somehow be safer if I kept you in the dark, I don't know. I'm sorry." It was an apology that seemed entirely sincere, but Piper couldn't say she forgave him. Whether or not she would ever be able to forgive him, she didn't know. It was possible she would hold this grudge for the rest of her life, but maybe for now she could repress it in the interest of dealing with the countless other problems she had facing her. It certainly wouldn't be the first time she had repressed forceful emotions or memories.  

Just then there was soft knocking sound. Piper looked around Kalen to see Devon standing on the stairs, having just rapped on the wall in lieu of a door. "Uh Celia asked me to check on the two of you..."

Piper sighed, "It's fine, you can come back now."