Page 2 of Choosing Jenny
A rare flicker of amusement passed over his handsome face. “In the Ladrian army, one must wear many hats.”
His faint smile told me I didn’t want to know much more than that, so I merely nodded and continued to stare at the monitor that displayed the island.
Screams from inside the house echoed onCheesecake’sspeakers, before they were cut short. Tiger and I lunged for the hatch, but Longshot was faster and grabbed both our collars.
“Wait.” He barked the order.
I spun on him, glaring at the tall Ladrian. His calm brown eyes were infuriating. “But Mal is in that house!”
“And of anyone I know, he is most likely to be thecauseof screaming, not doing the screaming himself. So we wait,” he demanded, releasing us both.
When he ran his fingers through his short gray hair, worry lines faintly showed on his grey face. He was an oddity. I’d never seen a pale Ladrian before him, but like all Ladrians, he toohad a tinge to his skin tone that only showed under direct light. Longshot Griel’s was a stunning brilliant green.
Tiger wasn’t having it. Like me, he was worried about our boyfriend. Unlike me, he was more headstrong and tried to lunge around Longshot to get to the hatch’s ladder. When Longshot grabbed his collar the second time, Tiger shrugged him off with a snarl.
“Fuck you, Longshot, I’m—”
“Look.” Surge pointed at the monitor. “There.”
The tall, handsome, well-built man we had seen go into the house from the imperial cruiser was now coming out with Mal.
“Cheesecake, diminish the background noise so we can hear them,” I ordered.
As she focused on them, the cameras did, too, and my heart stopped. So much blood. It covered both Mal and the other man.
I gasped. “What the fuck?” I jumped toward the ladder for the hatch to go rescue him, but Longshot again grabbed me.
Furiously, I said, “He’s hurt—”
“Look!” he ordered, jabbing his finger at the monitor.
I frantically tried to find what he was indicating. “What am I missing?”
“No manacles. No gag in his mouth,” Longshot said. “He has a bloody bone knife in his hand, for moon’s sake, Jenny.”
I studied the scene. Longshot was right. Mal was not in distress. In fact, shockingly, he was smiling. “Cheesecake, turn up the volume on them.”
The ship complied, and their conversation crackled over the speakers.
“…can’t believe you’re here.”
The handsome man with Mal laughed, the sound rich and unapologetic. “I can’t believe you’re still so surprised. I told you I’d be back.”
“Yeah, but…you really did it.”
“I am many things, and a man of my word is only one of them,” Handsome said confidently. “Don’t you remember?”
Mal smirked. “I remember everything.”
“Do you?” Handsome’s voice lowered, smooth and heated.
Mal looked him over, shocking me with the familiarity in his eyes as he did so. “Yes, though it looks like you’ve made some improvements.”
The other man stepped closer to Mal. “Let’s just say, as good as things were before, I’ve made somebigupgrades.” He chuckled, the sound filled with lewd inuendo.
“I don’t know,” Mal said, grinning at him. “I have fond memories of the good old days.”
“I could show you some goodnewdays. And even better nights.”
