Vale was late.
Of course Vale was late. Vale had turned lateness into a philosophical position, a thing he did to me specifically because he found my irritation nutritious.
I stood outside the Summit gym at five in the morning with the ocean throwing salt up the cliffs and the sky doing the thing California skies did where they went from black to bruised purple to gold like someone was adjusting a dial. The door blinked red. Locked. The way it always was until Vale reached through space with his stupid untouchable Limitless ability and popped it open from wherever he happened to be lounging.
Five-oh-four.
Five-oh-nine.
