Page 20 of Auctioned to the Convicts
Just her.
Hannah bent over Ky’Li and kissed his forehead. “Rest easy, Ky’Li. I’ll see you soon.” At least she could trust Vaughn to take care of him. The doctor may not be thrilled with her right now, but he wouldn’t make another suffer because of her.
Chapter Six
REN
Transforming his reading room into a second bedroom took less than an hour. Ren cleared out the reading chair and built two platform beds. The room, which shared a wall with Ren’s bedroom, had enough room for two beds to be placed on adjoining walls, unlike the adjacent storage room. One problem at a time. First, he needed to locate four mattresses. That meant finding Brody.
After a quick railcar ride toward Mine #17, Ren knocked on the house that looked almost as sturdy as his own. It should. Ren had rebuilt most of it over the years. Every time he needed something from Brody, he worked it off by rebuilding a piece of the man’s house. Brody belonged to a unit of three. The other two men were miners. Ren didn’t know their names. Didn’t want to. Brody was the only one that was worth knowing. The man worked in communications, but his real skill was in procuring goods on Narkos. He probably had a connection at the port, but Ren had never asked. Didn’t care to ask. Just needed what he needed, and he was happy to work in exchange for what Brody got him.
“My favorite customer!” Brody said upon opening the door.
“I need four mattresses.”
The tall man with brown curly hair leaned against the doorjamb, arms folded across his chest. He had a grin a mile-wide as if he had the upper hand before the negotiating had even begun.
“No problem. I can get them within an hour.”
Ren hated Brody’s grin almost as much as he hated the fucking unit he’d been sucked into. Another month or so, and Ren would be gone. For now, he’d cooperate with his fucking unit—do anything, really—to keep Dresden out of his hair.
“What’s it going to cost me?”
Brody smiled at that. “That’s the beauty of this little exchange.”
“Meaning?”
“Won’t cost you anything.”
“That would be a first.”
“Some time with the woman. A few hours, nothing more. And I won’t hurt her like Griggs would. She’ll be in perfect shape when she leaves here. Ready for you to fuck her the moment she gets back to your place.”
* * *
Ren tookhis anger out by pounding the hammer into the tiered bunk beds he was building in the storage closet. Brody had just dropped off four mattresses. Ren should be bashing Brody in with the hammer instead of the bed frame, but he needed the man.
This is what being in a unit would be like. . . needing others. Hell, he didn’t deserve being stuck with that woman and the others, no more than he deserved being sent to Narkos.
Ren still hadn’t calmed down from the conversation with Brody, a man he’d dealt with fairly for six years. Already, that damn woman had changed Ren’s life and more than his fucking house.
The storage room with its odd shape barely offered enough room to work, but he managed to fit two beds into the compact space, using the natural slope of the wall and support beams to add a second bed higher and offset from the first. Not traditional bunk beds, more like side-by-side with one elevated and overhanging the first by a foot. Vaughn and Sersie would have to make do until Ren had the time to design an addition or build out from the living room. At least he’d have extra hands to help him build this time.
The proximity alarm sounded. After Ren finished bolting the second bed in place, he glanced at the security feed he’d rigged on the panel in the hall. The second he spotted that long, flowing, dark-red hair, the anger rose, as did other parts of him. He wanted her, and yet he hated what she had done to him, pulling him into this unit, trapping him. Thanks to her, he may never get off this blasted rock.
The alarm buzzed again. Ah, fuck, he had scanned Vaughn’s palm print at the med-center but hadn’t waited to get hers. He’d been too afraid of running into her after carting that beast in for treatment. He tended to run his mouth when he was mad, and he was fuming earlier. Still was, but not as much. Clearing out the storage closet and building the tiered beds had taken his mind off his problems and allowed him to calm down.
Now she was standing at the gate to his little haven in the jungle, waiting for him to let her in. The anger returned, all too fast.
Ren barreled through the front door to the outer gate and put his palm up to the scanner. The gate clicked open.
“Hi,” she said, her smile weak and her hands trembling. He didn’t like that he’d scared her, but that was her fault for putting him in this position.
He punched a code in, snapped open the locking mechanism, and grabbed her hand, pressing it to the plate. The device scanned her hand. He punched in a few more commands, then secured the box.
“Now you can enter at will.” Without waiting for a response, Ren turned and headed back inside.
A moment later, he heard the proximity alarm screeching for being open too long. He jumped out of his chair to see the damn woman had wedged a box in the gate, leaving it open for anyone to enter. She was dragging several items with her from a pile just outside the gate. How the hell did she bring so much with her on the transport shuttle? He’d only had the clothing on his back, literally.
