Page 51 of Auctioned to the Convicts
“No one’s going to—”
“You think there’s some magic shield around you and the rest of us? Didn’t whatever happened to you today prove that’s not the case? Fuck, Hannah, I had an offer for you before I even had the extra beds built.”
“What offer?” Vaughn asked, his voice impossibly hard now.
“Four mattresses in exchange for a few hours with her. And it’s not a new concept around here. There’s a woman on the other side of the mountain who from what I hear earns her quota on her back.”
“You d-didn’t say yes, did you?” Hannah asked, her voice trembling.
“Fuck! How can you even think that?”
Hannah felt sick. She was messing everything up. She’d never be able to bring these guys together.
She turned away from Ren, right into Vaughn’s path. Vaughn reached out to steady her, but when she pulled away as fast as she could, his hands dropped to his sides. All expression disappeared from his face.
“Hell, maybe Vaughn and I expect too much of you,” Ren continued. “You clearly don’t know what it means to take care of someone like Sersie battling addiction.”
Anger bubbled to the top. She didn’t know where it came from, whether it was Max feeling he had a right to touch her, people offering to fuck her as payment for mattresses, or the fact that these men had made up their minds about who she was without trying to get to know her.
Cradling her hand, Hannah surged forward and got right in front of Ren, enough to make him back up a step.
“I know what it’s like to watch your sister battle and lose to her addiction. To see her rise up only to fall harder and faster every time because you didn’t have the credits to buy her enough Lift to make a difference or to pay the doctors who wouldn’t treat her unless we had enough to pay The Company, which we didn’t. I know what it is to hear your sister curse you when you keep her from using, to have her steal from you, to have her ultimately. . .”die on you.
Hannah’s knees buckled. Vaughn caught her.
“Enough, Ren,” Vaughn said as he scooped her up.
She didn’t fight him. She had so little fight in her left. Instead, she focused on Vaughn’s face as he carried her into the house. The man never seemed to smile, and she had a feeling Ren would blame that on her too.
She curled up against Vaughn’s chest. He smelled nice, and he’d gotten Ren to stop yelling at her. She wanted to sleep, just like this, curled up against Vaughn who took charge when life spun out of control.
If he’d been there for her when Amelia had been dying, perhaps Hannah wouldn’t have acted on her desperation. She needed someone to center her, help her put life into perspective when she got too trapped by her emotions to think clearly.
She reached up and touched the scuff of Vaughn’s beard. He was so handsome and so hard to figure out. On the outside lay a cold, hard man who seemed void of compassion, and yet she’d seen him sacrifice for others, shove his personal feelings aside to help those who needed him, like Griggs and Sersie, and now her. It wasn’t enough, it wouldn’t be enough until she had the part of Vaughn’s heart he’d closed off long ago.
Chapter Eleven
VAUGHN
Vaughn had no idea what he was doing when he scooped Hannah up and carried her into the house. The need to get her away from Ren and all the man’s anger had been paramount at the time, especially with how pale she’d turned. Carrying her into the master bedroom and locking the door behind him though, that was just plain stupid. If he was still here when Ky’Li returned from his shift, Vaughn doubted the door would keep the man out.
“I’m sorry,” Hannah said, her head buried in his chest.
“For what?” he asked as he laid her down on the bed.
“For everything. For nothing.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
She lifted her head, wiping away the tears as she met his eyes. He’d never seen such beauty back on Argus. The green in her eyes swirled with a fire that wouldn’t let go, even when she looked defeated.
He’d underestimated her from the start. She had an inner strength that he suspected would bind them one day, whether Vaughn and the others wanted that or not.
And he didn’t want to be in a unit. Didn’t deserve it.
As for Hannah. . . she wanted nothing to do with him. He was nothing more than a source of credits and free medical services to her.
He tore his eyes away from her exquisite face, with her smooth, soft skin over delicate cheekbones and dark eyebrows that beautifully framed her deep green eyes, glancing at her broken hand. The cut from the incision site had closed, and the skin had turned varying shades of purple.
