Page 49 of Auctioned to the Convicts
“She has a broken hand.” Vaughn’s voice came through the door.
“Broken how?” Sersie now.
Someone pounded on the door, which made her jump and yelp in fear.
“Wh-where’s Ky?” she called out, her voice shaking so hard she wasn’t sure they could understand her.
“In the mine still,” said Vaughn. His voice was level, soothing even. “His shift ends soon. Can I come in and treat your hand, Hannah? We can leave the door open if you’d like. I won’t touch you, I promise.”
“You touched her?” Ren asked.
“What the fuck did you do to her, Vaughn?” Sersie’s voice was raised.
What if Sersie got upset? Would he start using again? Fear struck her to her core. She couldn’t chance Sersie using again. Each time would make it harder for him to bounce back, and then eventually he wouldn’t bounce back at all. Like Amelia.
Hannah gathered up her courage, unlocked the door, and opened it.
The arguing ended immediately. The three men stood back. They thought she feared them. They had it backward. They should fearher. Her actions had already caused Sersie to use Flight, and now the three men were fighting because she’d forced them into a unit. And Dresden. . . He’d send them to Veenith if she did anything he didn’t like.
She held out her shaking hand toward Vaughn who led her to the armless sofa in the common area. He eased a cushion under her hand to support it. “Get her a glass of water, Sersie.”
Seconds later, Sersie handed her a glass, his eyes betraying his concern. She tried to smile for him. He must have noticed, for he relaxed.
“Ah, hell,” Vaughn said as he fished around in his pants pocket. “Can’t find the vial. Must have left it in my lab coat. Sersie, can you run to the med-center to retrieve my coat? I’ll send a message over the datapad and have someone hand it to you at the door. You won’t need to go in.”
“I can do that.” Sersie leaned over Hannah and kissed the top of her head. “Take it easy, okay? I’ll be back soon as I can with the nanites.”
As soon as the front door shut, Vaughn winked and smiled. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out the vial of nanites.
“You’re afraid I’ll stress him, cause him to use again?” she asked.
“I’m afraid the situation will stress him.” Vaughn removed a nanite from the vial.
“What is the situation, Hannah? What did Vaughn do to you that you broke your hand punching him?”
“I did nothing.” Vaughn snapped at Ren. “Almost nothing.”
“I broke my hand on the railcar.”
“The door closed on your hand?” Ren asked.
“This is from punching.”
“You punched the railcar?” Ren asked, totally confused now.
“No, just the asshole who—” The words caught in her throat and she tried to blink back the tears.
Vaughn shot a look at Ren a moment before he made a small incision in her hand, close to the broken bone. He inserted the nanite and pressed a clean cloth against the opening. “Hold this and sit there. I’ll get you some medicine to dull the pain.”
“Who?” Ren asked. Angry blue eyes that could pierce steel demanded an answer.
She shook her head.
“I hope you at least broke his fucking nose.”
Somehow that made her laugh, taking away much of the tension. It was so like Ren to fight back. Very similar to Ky’Li, though Ky had a subtlety to him. “I didn’t know you cared, Ren.”
It was the wrong thing to say, even though she’d meant it light-heartedly. Ren stormed out the front door.
