Raye Vance
"I'm back stateside," Jones told me.
"And I'm not," I told him as I walked up and down the dock pontoon. I'd been here a couple days now and I was actually enjoying the break from other jobs.
"I thought you were taking a break, seeing the family," he said, "we could spend time together somewhere without sand and with good coffee," he told me and I sort of wanted that, a normal coffee shop date.
"I decided to go on a spiritual retreat, well a retreat that had an unforeseen spiritual component," I told him, "taking a real break," I said and I spotted Red going for his run.
"You do not take breaks, Raye," he said bluntly.
"Okay fine, what was essentially a private army kept trying to hire me but I kept turning them down," I started to explain, "didn't take it badly, the boss was just fascinated with me, so when I found out he'd split from his own organisation to start this retreat thing..." I trailed off.
"Oh you got piqued, something about it piqued you," he realised and I hated how well this man knew me.
"Okay so I was piqued and decided to go check it out and get a holiday in one go," I said and watched Red go past. "There's this guy here, I'm convinced I recognise him but I don't know where I know him from," I told him. There was definitely something familiar about him but I didn't know why I knew him.
"He military?" He asked me.
"Doesn't hold himself like it, not even like disgraced military," I said and continued to watch him. "He's apparently from Gotham but I haven't been able to get anything else out of the guy," I said and I was really bothered by the fact I couldn't place him.
"How long you planning on staying?" He asked me.
"Until I get answers, or until someone calls in a paying job," I said and went back to pacing, "of places to be suspicious, at least the weather is nice, and there's a sea view from my window," I told him.
"So where is this place?" He asked me.
"It's not an official job but you know I don't talk jobs with people outside them," I reminded him.
"So next time we see each other..."
"...will probably be in a desert with gunfire," I confirmed, "this is our lives, Jones, what we both signed up for in different ways," I reminded him.
"Yeah I know, Raye," he said, "my parents are back in Gotham, they'd been asking about you and I hoped we could all get dinner," He said and he said it in a way that made me real suspicious.
"What did you say?" I asked him.
"I told them we'd run into each other and got caught up and that you were heading back to Gotham last time we'd spoke," he told me and he was definitely holding out on something.
"And I said we were dating," he added and there it was.
"We slept together a couple times, Jones, that does not make us dating," I told him bluntly. "You told me you could separate your feelings from sex," I reminded him.
"I thought I could, Raye, and I thought I did until you left camp," he told me and I groaned loudly.
"It's because I was the only actual ten in that place and now you're back stateside, there are other tens now," I told him and I didn't know how I'd deal with this if he kept on this path.
"I've got to go, just fix this with your parents," I told him and hung up on him. "Note to self, never believe anything anyone tells you about separating feelings," I muttered and headed back up to the keep.
