Page 49 of Sky Song
“Are you alright?” she asked him.
“Me? Of course. All things considered, I’m more than alright.” He smoothed his large hands down her back, resting them briefly at the swell of her hips before moving back up. It was a blatant caress, and he did it again, leaving swathsof warmth everywhere he touched. Cricket closed her eyes, savoring the simple pleasure of his touch. His nearness filled her senses, and that improbable connection between them strengthened, grew.
His cool lips touched her forehead and rested there. She could feel his breaths fanning both sides of her face. She was drowning in him, and it was a strange sensation, being filled to the brim with light and going down, down, down…
“Lyle…”
“I’m here.” He kissed her forehead and rubbed his lips back and forth.
“For how long?”
He lifted his head. There was a small but notable pause before he answered. “I will stay with you until time runs out for us.”
It wasn’t a definite answer. It was Lyle blowing smoke in her face, saying everything and nothing.
Cricket opened her eyes. “You know, my past life on Earth was rather hard, but my perfect life here on Meeus has been like a dark, hidden dream where everything I desire is wrong or forbidden. Their mandatory values are strange to me. Self-expression outside your role is shameful. I feel trapped, I can’t connect with the people who are supposed to be my people. And then I meet you. How can I feel closer to you than all the humans around me?”
He blinked again, and she perceived a deep pulse of something, of energy coming off him that was almost painful in its sorrow. “Don’t question why. Think only about us, now.”
She laughed. “But can’t you see, I can’t lose you. And I can’t grow any closer to you because I know I’ll lose you. It’s driving me mad. Why? Why why why?”
“Don’t,” he ground out and turned her around, pressing his body to her back. “Nothing lasts forever.” His breath touchedher ear in a whisper of sound. “Life’s but a moment. We were lucky to meet, you and I. I never expected my wreck of a life to give me a gift this rich. For as long as you’re mine, I’ll never let you go.”
“And after?”
“There’s no after.” He let her go and stepped away.
The move was sharp and he wobbled a little, as if he forgot his balance wasn’t where it used to be. With a practiced movement, he rotated his head slowly, recalibrating.
Cricket hugged herself. “You’re sick, aren’t you?”
He blinked a couple of times, steady now. “My world goes out of whack sometimes.” That was all the explanation she was going to receive.
“I could ask for meds around the hospital if you need any. I know what it feels like to be sick.”
Lyle lowered himself in the chair and put his head back against the wall.
She doggedly went on. “I’ve been fortunate to recover. The doctors here on Meeus are the best. You must agree, don’t you? That’s why they invited the alien guests for the symposium.”
Lyle made a noncommittal sound.
“What, you weren’t impressed? Is Rix medicine more advanced?”
He stirred and a pulse of funny energy entered the room, his anger. “Rix medics can do a lot to a body.” There was heavy irony in his tone, and Cricket surmised he was thinking about something she wasn’t privy to.
Her head tilted sideways in contemplation. He was being evasive about his issues. She should respect that. Besides, did she truly wish to know so much about him? Yes and no. She sensed there was a wealth of painful history hidden behind Lyle’s charmer facade.
She went to the kitchen and brought back a small tray of cold cuts from the fridge. “I had trouble sleeping, too, when I first came to Meeus,” she said conversationally. “The atmospheric pressure is different here, the very air here is different. Maybe Meeus is taking its toll on you.”
He was silent. Finally, he raised his head a little, as if coming to a decision. “It isn’t Meeus. My balance and my resting pattern are out of whack because of a drug I’m on.”
Cricket turned sharply. “You’re taking a drug?”
“I have it implanted.”
“To help you achieve that stasis thing?”
“More like to stop me from freaking out running up and down the road in my pink underwear and pants around my ankles.”
