Page 21 of Auctioned to the Convicts
She was female. She got what she wanted. Or she traded favors for what she wanted. That wouldn’t fly here, not with him.
“Shut the damn gate,” he yelled as he tripped on a vine overtaking the path to the gate.
Maybe Sersie could mix up a poison to get the fauna under control. The man was a genius with plants, not to mention chemicals. At least Sersie had some value in this new unit of theirs. As did Vaughn. How many times had Ren sliced his hands open on exposed metal on the ventilation unit in the mines or broken a rib from the kickback in that damn excavator? Hell, even the beast could be of some use, protection against any new upstarts that managed to climb the fence and make it past the barbed wire at the top.
Ky-whatever-the-hell-his-name-was could keep the thieves on this planet from helping themselves to Ren’s belongings. But the woman. . . She was nothing but trouble.
“I’ll shut the gate when I’m done,” she called back, a note of annoyance in her voice. She set another package inside the gate and stood, breathing heavily. She’d lugged a lot of stuff with her, but man-oh-man the site of her breasts moving and her cheeks all pink and flushed went right to Ren’s cock. How long since he last had a woman? Six, seven years? No, twelve fucking long years. That’s how long he’d been on Narkos.
Ren strode up to her, and she backed up, her eyes filling with fear. She wasn’t so brave without her soldier around.
“The gate stays shut,” he said, pulling it shut with a bang.
“I’m not done,” she bit back, despite how she was shaking.
“Yes, you are.” Ren turned and marched into the house.
Five minutes later, the alarm screeched again. He charged out of the house, ready to yell at her, but Sersie was there, helping her carry the rest of her stuff in.
“Sorry, Ren,” Sersie called over to him with his usual smile. “Vaughn has a lot of stuff. We’ll be done in a minute.”
Vaughn’s belongings. Oh. “Take your time,” he said to Sersie.
Hannah put her hands on her hips, pushing the loose frock of hers in, showing off curvy hips. Hell, that wasn’t helping, not at all. Ren’s pants were already tight from having held her goddamn hand to the security lock. Her skin was soft, and she smelled nice, feminine.
Ren retreated to his room and paced. He could take care of business in the shower or read a technical journal to get his mind off of her. He shut his bedroom door when he heard Sersie and Hannah enter the house.
“The first bedroom is Ren’s. He messaged me. We’ll take the middle bedroom,” Sersie said.
Damn walls were too thin. He never had to worry about that before.
“What about Vaughn and Ky’Li?” she asked.
“Ren’s building a set of bunk beds in the storage room. I guess Ren thought Vaughn should stay will Ky’Li, to monitor his health while he heals.”
“That makes sense.”
Ren flopped back onto his bed. How was he going to survive this? They’d discover his secret. And what about Dresden? Did the man know, or was he bluffing? Ren couldn’t take another year let alone the five Dresden tacked on last month when Ren had failed to prevent the lichen from catching fire and leaking gas into Mine #19. The damn lichens were an ongoing problem that no one had been able to solve. Sersie had had a few good ideas, but he’d moved onto another project, leaving Ren responsible.
Ren couldn’t take much more of Narkos or the bastards here. There was no joy here, nothing but crude men who took pleasure in pounding one another into the ground when they weren’t in the mines pounding rock.
“Kitchen’s over there. Ren has the place rigged for solar power, but I’m not sure how much power he collects in the cells. It’s a jungle planet. A lot of sunshine but a lot of rain too, which means fast-growing trees, like the ones overhanging the house. He’d get more sunlight and a better charge of his solar cells if he cuts down those trees.”
Ren hadn’t thought of that. He should have. Leave it to a botanist to notice those details. Ren started devising a plan to clear the trees. He could bring the laser cutter home to work on improvements and then use a pulley and harness to control the fall of the trunk. Or maybe soldier-boy could just lean against the trees and uproot them. Ren smirked as he pictured that.
“Why does he hate me so much?” Hannah asked Sersie. “Because he’s in this unit?”
“We’re loners, Hannah. Solitaries. We don’t really care about anyone. Ren included.”
That comment hurt, especially coming from Sersie, but not as much as her question. Ren didn’t hate her, not really. He hated himself for being here, and for not guarding his secret better. Fucking Dresden knew, he had to. What the hell was Ren going to do about that? And why hadn’t the manager busted him to Level 5 yet?
“Why don’t you get settled? Leave Vaughn’s stuff by the door. He’ll take care of it when he’s off shift. I have to get back. I’m only on a fifteen-minute break, and it’s been thirty already.”
“Thanks, Sersie.”
Complete silence overtook the hallway. Except for a slight moan. Sersie from the sound of it.
Fuck, she was already getting started. Kissing Sersie, maybe even giving him a blow job out there. She’d be screwing every male in this house soon enough. Except him. He’d lost his home and part of his hard-earned credits to this unit. He wasn’t going to let her wrap him around her finger and start calling the shots here too. Not in his home. Not when he had plans. Nothing, not even one sinfully curvy woman was going to stand in his way.
