Page 33 of Auctioned to the Convicts
“You gonna turn me in?” Sersie asked.
“Why would I—” She noticed the yellow tinge on the tips of his nails. Hell. Sersie was high. “Flight or Crash, Sersie?” she said, trying to hold back her anger. “What have you been using?” And here she thought she had left that behind on Argus.
“Don’t touch Crash. Nasty stuff.”
Flight then. “Both are nasty.”
“You’re gonna turn me in.”
“I’m not going to turn you in. We’re a unit now, a family, which means we watch out for each other, right?”
He stared at her. “You’ll turn me in. Just like her.”
“I’m not turning you in. I want to help you.”
“Don’t need help.”
“You’re using a dangerous drug.”
“Not dangerous if you know how much.” He swung a finger in the air, back and forth like a pendulum, utterly mesmerized by the motion. “And which plant extract to use. You know, to mute the dangerous side effects. Affects. Effects. Ah, fuck. Thingies.”
“You made it yourself?”
“Nope. Stole it. From the lab.”
She hissed. That was worse. Theft from The Company. “I stole Flight,” he yelled at the top of his lungs.
She placed a hand over his mouth, trying to quiet him. “Don’t tell anyone that!”
“You’re gonna tell, aren’t you?” he said again as he pushed back the blankets. He was turning various shades of green now. A second later, he bolted out of bed, ran into the door, and then stumbled his way to the bathroom on the other side of the house where he proceeded to vomit.
She followed him, glancing at Ky’Li standing at the door to his, formerly Renzel’s, bedroom, naked as can be. The soldier’s face was hard, disapproving, but he said nothing and made no move to help.
“I’ve got this,” she said as she raced after Sersie.
“None of my business,” Ky said. “Just making sure you’re okay, sha’vi.”
Ky was wrong. It was his business. It was all of their business now. Sersie was part of their group.
Sersie sank against the bathroom wall. She wet the towel by the sink and started wiping his cheeks and brow. There wasn’t much to do for a person on Flight except watch him to make sure he didn’t hurt himself. Vomiting was the first step of the drug clearing a person’s system, so this was a very good sign.
As she got up to find a cup for Sersie to rinse his mouth, he grabbed her hand. Sersie was stronger than he looked. He wasn’t nearly as broad as Vaughn even, but he had plenty of muscles and he wasn’t letting go.
“You’ll leave too, won’t you? After you turn me in.”
“Is that was Rissa did?”
“Got me hooked,” he slurred.
She looked into those hazel eyes of his. “I’m sorry she did that to you.”
“Then turned me in.”
Hannah winced. No wonder Sersie was so unsure about her. “I’m not Rissa.”
He released her hand. “You’re gonna turn me in.”
She kneeled beside him and gently eased the wayward locks from his eyes. “No one benefits by turning you in, least of all you. I need to find Vaughn. Ask him if he can get hold of some Lift to help you come clean.”
