Page 39 of Auctioned to the Convicts
“And you didn’t want me.”
He fell silent for a minute. “I never said I didn’t want you. Just this unit.”
Her eyes sprang open to see deep blue eyes staring at her. He had propped himself up on his bed and was practically face to face with her.
“You want me, Renzel?”
He leaned forward to kiss her, but she pulled back. “Sorry.”
“You need to stop doing that,” he said, his tone harsh and unyielding.
She swallowed and turned her back to him before she could cry. How the hell did her mom juggle so many men? She swiped at the tears filling her eyes. Her second day here and everything was such a mess.
“I only meant you need to stop apologizing. Apologizing will make you look weak, more than those tears.”
His hand sifted through her hair, smoothing it down her back. A gentle touch from Renzel—that only made her feel worse somehow.
“I didn’t mean to cause trouble. For anyone. If I could do it all over—”
“You’d do the same thing, because you were in a bad position and that asshole Dresden likes to force us, hiscolonists, to make snap decisions. He takes perverse pleasure in tripping us up. You probably didn’t even see him grinning up there when you chose me. He’s been trying to saddle me with a group for a long time. Thinks I’ll be easier to control. And he’s right.”
She turned over to face him. Renzel really was a striking man, with the thick dark brows, dark hair, and a narrow nose that balanced his face so nicely. His lips weren’t exactly thick, but not thin either. What would it be like to kiss him, with all his intensity funneled into passion instead of anger?
“Eyes up here, Princess.”
She lifted her eyes, thankful that he couldn’t see her blushing in the dark. “What do you mean by control, Renzel?” she asked finally.
“Never mind. And it’s Ren, by the way. No one calls me Renzel unless they’re looking for a fight.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Remove that word from your vocab. As for this unit you’ve assembled, it’s done.” His hand trailed down her jaw. “I’ll learn to live with it. Just don’t expect me to get all buddy-buddy with that bodyguard of yours.”
“Ky’s not my bodyguard.”
“Sure he is. He was your first choice, and he was a good one, despite the bastard having no regard for anyone else. The problem is, there are a lot of men down here that want what he has and most of them play dirty.”
“And what exactly does he have that everyone wants?”
“You.”
Chapter Nine
SERSIE
Sersie slumped against the kitchen table, glad the other men were on shift at the moment. Enduring the embarrassment of using was hard enough around Vaughn and Ren who knew of his addiction, but he preferred not to see Ky’Li again so soon. From the way the man looked at him, it was clear he thought Sersie was prison-scum who belonged on Narkos.
Then again, he was. Unlike Ren, Sersie belonged here. He still couldn’t believe he’d taken Flight last week. Nearly an entire year of hard work down the drain and all because he liked Hannah, a lot. He had stolen a kiss from her on their first night in Ren’s house when she hadn’t been expecting it. The look she had given him—shock, fear, repulsion—had hurt. It shouldn’t have, given that she didn’t know him yet, but it did. Know him. . . Hell, now she knew too much about him, that he was weak-willed and unable to deal with life here.
“How are you feeling today?” Hannah asked with a smile on her face as she sat down in the kitchen with plates of steaming kinnus. She placed one in front of him. It smelled good, like all of her cooking.
“You’ve been kind of holed up in your room for most of the week. I was starting to think you were avoiding me.”
He shoved a forkful of kinnus in his mouth so he wouldn’t have to talk. The woman certainly could cook, that was for sure. She’d been leaving him food by his door, and he’d eaten every bite in the privacy of his room, where he wouldn’t have to talk to her, face her. . . explain why he’d given in to Flight.
Despite his attempt to isolate himself, Hannah had made it her mission to keep him company when she was here. When she wasn’t here, the task fell to whoever was off shift. And there was always at least one other person off shift. He suspected Ren had a connection to someone in scheduling. Ren’s skills were in high demand. That’s how life worked here. Trade services on the side, without The Company noticing, or they’d take their fair share,morethan their fair share.
“I’m clean, if that’s what you’re asking,” Sersie said without looking at her. “No secret stash in the house.”
