Page 37 of Auctioned to the Convicts
Oh, how he tempted her, but she wanted more than sex with him, and she wasn’t sure he was willing to give more. The man was too closed off.
Her nipples formed tight peaks as he pressed himself against her. Her peaks weren’t all that was hard.
“I could scream for Ky’Li,” she whispered, knowing she wouldn’t. She needed to find a way past that hard exterior of his. . . and his touch was doing something unexpected to her.
His finger circled her tight bud. She forced back a moan. “Your soldier doesn’t scare me.”
“I didn’t make a mistake choosing you,” she said, hardening her voice.
“Are you sure?” His hand moved lower, curving over the swell of her ass.
“If you want to fuck me, then just do it, Vaughn. As you said, I’m yours by right.”
Vaughn hissed and pulled away. The lust she’d seen in his face disappeared, replaced by that mask of stoicism he wore. “You need to understand that Company rules and Dresden’s rules are not my rules, Hannah. Yes, I could fuck you if I want. No repercussion from Dresden or the Company.”
“But?” she prompted.
“I’m not Dresden.”
Meaning what? Dresden didn’t abide by The Company’s rules? Images of tucking that small package into her jacket back at the receiving dock on Argus struck. “I’m glad you’re so virtuous. Someone has to be around here.”
Hannah ducked under Vaughn’s arms and slipped into the hallway, waiting for the soft click of the door closing before she let herself reach up and feel the heat in her cheeks. That wasnotVaughn who had just sent her pulse racing, was it? She was overtired, emotionally zapped, and reading into the doctor’s behavior. He didn’t want her. He simply wanted to make her pay for dragging him into this mess.
After splashing some water on her face in the kitchen, she felt cooler, calmer, and in desperate need of sleep. She faced the three bedroom doors along the one wall. Vaughn and Sersie were in the middle room, Ky’Li was in the right-most bedroom, closest to the front door, which left the only empty bed in the storage room, with Renzel.
Crap.
She couldn’t return to Ky’Li. The man needed to understand he wouldn’t be the only man in her bed. Renzel, then. She took a deep breath and lightly tapped on the door in case he was sleeping. She hoped he was sleeping.
When he didn’t answer, she entered. Sure enough, he was on the bottom bunk, facing the wall, fast asleep. The room was an odd shape, the outer wall sloping inward from the ceiling down, pushing the bottom bunk out into the middle of the room with the top bunk pushed back into the wall and overhanging the lower bed only by a foot. She’d have to ask him about the odd design tomorrow. If and when they ever learned to speak to one another civilly outside of a crisis.
Effectively, her bed was only raised a few inches above his, despite the foot overlap. His head practically rested against the frame of hers. If she rolled off the side, she’d land in his bed or on him. She used the wooden crate at the foot of the bed to climb up to her bed without having to step on his.
She closed the bedroom door, shutting out all light except for what peeked under the door. It was enough to see the outline of the bed and strip without banging into the beds in the tight space. She only had the one dress, and tomorrow was her third day. Her personal belongings, a change of clothes and pictures of her family, had never been returned to her.
The thought of showing up at the port in a dress again made her shudder. All those men leering at her. And then there was Max and the way he’d gotten all handsy in the breakroom.
Maybe she could ask Vaughn for some credits to buy pants until she earned her first credits. No, he’d paid for enough. She sighed as she neatly folded the dress and placed it on the foot of her bed. She’d figure it out tomorrow when she wasn’t so exhausted.
Hannah climbed into bed, trying not to shake the structure and wake Renzel. She slipped under the blanket. It was clean, warm, and dry here. She could easily have ended up in a worse situation.
“I didn’t mean it earlier.” Renzel’s voice pierced the silence as she started drifting off to sleep.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Everything I said about you. Letting go of the anger is hard, and you. . .” He exhaled a long, deep breath. “You pulled me into this unit, and I don’t do well in groups. Never have.”
The desire to be sarcastic, to unleash some of her own frustrations was strong, but this wasn’t the same angry man from earlier, the one who had wanted to punish her through sex.
“I don’t want to rob you of your freedom, your home, or anything else, Renzel, and I’ll do what I can to make it up to you, but I. . .” The words in her head sounded lame, but she didn’t know what else to say. “This wasn’t my choice, none of it was. I don’t want to be here, and I never expected to be mated tofourmen. Two maybe, like my mom. Technically three by the time I left home, but the third wasn’t exactly her choice. That situation didn’t end well.”
Hannah fell silent, wondering how much of her stressful homelife contributed to Amelia’s dependence on Flight. That’s why Hannah had to find a way to make this work, so no one felt left out or less valued. Sersie had already relapsed, and they were only two days into this arrangement.
“I don’t do well with people telling me what to do or taking my freedom away.”
“Are you saying you’d like to be in charge, Renzel? I mean it is your house so you’re in a good position. I guess we should vote. Or does Dresden decide these things?”
“Fuck Dresden. And I’m not saying I want this unit, but if I’m stuck with it, we’ll do things our way, not his.”
