Page 22 of Auctioned to the Convicts
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HANNAH
Despite all that had happened yesterday, Hannah slept like a rock. Even Sersie’s tossing and turning in the bed next to hers hadn’t kept her up long. She hoped the poor guy finally got some sleep.
He was gone by the time she woke. As were Vaughn and Ren. She wasn’t even sure Vaughn had returned from the med-center. His belongings had been moved into his room, but his bed was perfectly made as if he hadn’t slept in it. As for Ren, well, she avoided knocking on his door, but the walls were thin here. She would have heard him moving around like she had last night when he left the house and walked the interior of his fence. The man was tightly wound.
At least Sersie didn’t mind her being here. He’d caught her off-guard yesterday afternoon when he kissed her. Not a full kiss, just a sweet kiss on the lips as if he didn’t know what he was doing. She wondered if he had any experience. He was roughly her age, so he’d had to have some experience wouldn’t he? He was too goddamn sexy not to have had a girlfriend or several.
The colony. Level 4 infraction. Sersie said he’d been here seven years, and he was around her age. It’s possible he never had a girlfriend. She didn’t know the exact ages of anyone in her unit, how long they’d been here, or why they were sent here.
They knew so little of one another.
Hannah opened the chiller and was surprised to see a few pieces of fruit. She hoped Ren wouldn’t begrudge her grabbing a paoli shoot. Or maybe three. She didn’t know if they’d give her lunch at her job at the port or even allow her to leave during her shift. She tucked two shoots into her pack as she munched on the third and checked the datapad Vaughn had given her. That man thought of everything. He had preloaded maps, schedules, even the best paths between various facilities and work stations.
There was already a work notice in her inbox for the first shift of the day. Human Resources had assigned her to inventory management at the port. Leave it to The Company to find a position for her similar to what she’d been doing on Argus, and yet at the same time ignore the crime that had earned her this lovely and very permanent trip to Narkos in the first place.
Her work orders said to meet at Transport Station B1 near a group of buildings at the western end of the colony. The map indicated those were the botany and chemistry labs, probably where Sersie worked.
Hannah ventured out, starting to regret eating that paoli shoot. Her stomach knotted up from nerves. New job, new manager. What if she didn’t get along with them?
By the time she found the precise spot, the railcar was already filled with workers. All men. All staring at her. Of course.
Standing room only on the railcar.
The ride proved long, with too many grabby hands, and yet she knew her day would only decline. As expected, the day dragged, her focus split between learning the systems and watching the men around her who stared at her and made lewd gestures. Several rubbed up next to her during her tour of the Intake Management Office, or IMO as her boss, Conway, called it.
By the time he assigned her to a computer, she wanted to fade into the chair, turn invisible to her co-workers, except she didn’t have that luxury. As best she could, she kept her eyes on her terminal while she listened to Conway’s instructions. Once or twice, Conway yelled at the others to get back to work. That helped, but it was a temporary reprieve at most.
At the end of her double shift, she raced out the employee exit at the port, sprinted down the long hill to the railcar and hopped on, only to repeat the experience of that morning. More grabby hands, suggestions, offers. . .
When the car stopped and the doors opened at West Side, Hannah shot out of the car, away from the men who thought they could take any liberties they wanted with her. Even as she ran she tugged at her crappy Company-issued dress, trying to cover more of her legs where the men’s hands had found their way up her thighs. When she earned enough credits, pants would be the first thing she’d buy.
She found a spot in the shadows by one of the buildings where she could catch her breath. She could see the hospital from here. At that moment, her stomach growled. In all the confusion of learning her job site and trying to stay clear of the men, she’d managed to lose her bag of paoli shoots. Per Vaughn’s notes, the dining hall would close soon, but she wanted to see Ky’Li. She had been denied entry to the med-center last night. Only staff was allowed in after third meal. If she waited to finish third meal, she would be locked out again.
Hannah found the dining hall and managed to convince one of the workers there to allow her to leave with two meals. To her surprise, when she entered the med-center, she found Ky’Li awake and sitting up in bed. Vaughn was nowhere in sight. She placed one meal bag for Vaughn on a worktable and the second bag by Ky’Li’s bed. She’d share with Ky’Li if he was okay with that.
Stormy gray eyes locked onto her. His color was good, and he had been washed. He lay in the bed, with only a sheet covering him from his abdomen down. Her eyes fell to his mid-riff. No bandages. He hadn’t needed surgery, thankfully.
“How are you feeling?” Hannah asked. Her fingers itched with the inexplicable need to touch him. Lightly, she trailed two fingers over his forearm. The feel of his skin, warm and healthy, calmed her.
“Like I ran into a wall. And then it collapsed on me.”
“You did. His name is Griggs.”
Ky’Li didn’t smile, but his eyes held a fire for her, a fire that seared past what little defenses she had. She’d known the guy less than three days and yet she felt at home with him. Maybe it was the way he was so blunt and straight forward or the way he’d fought for her when no one else had.
“If I haven’t said it, thank you, for yesterday. You didn’t have to accept that challenge.”
“You would not have defeated Griggs.”
“No, I wouldn’t have.”
She liked that he didn’t ask her why she had challenged the man when Griggs clearly would have broken and then humiliated her in front of everyone. Ky’Li held his arms open, and she slid onto the bed and leaned back against him as if she’d done that a million times before. It sure felt like it.
For the first time in days, Hannah allowed herself to relax. Over and over, her mind returned to the challenge, and what would have happened had Ky’Li not taken her place.
With a single finger beneath her chin, Ky’Li lifted her head. “Challenging Griggs was brave. And stupid, sha’vi. You will not take such risks again.”
