Page 68 of Auctioned to the Convicts
“He’ll think I’m a trouble-maker.”
That made Sersie mad, that she’d blame herself for what had happened. “You did nothing wrong. And before you say more, we did not tell Conway why you’re on sick leave. It’s not required, but we should, to make sure the asshole who touched you is kept away from you.”
She wiped at the tears forming in her eyes. “I told Conway. I messaged him yesterday. He threatened to give me extra shifts if I cause trouble. He said I distract the men and anything that happens will be my fault.”
“He’s an asshole,” Sersie swore.
“I need to go back, Sersie. You guys shouldn’t have to cover for me when I’m fine.”
“Spreading your quota over the four of us for a few days is no problem.”
She slumped against the counter.
“Why are you rushing? You deserve the time to heal.”
“I’m healed enough.”
“And yet you’re shaking.”
“I’m just cold.”
The house was never cold, except at night. She didn’t like to show any weakness. Maybe that was just as well in a colony full of men. Ren, Vaughn, and Ky’Li had already chewed him out for kissing her in front of all the men at the rail platform last week. They were right; He hadn’t been using his head, which he needed to start doing if he was going to keep her safe.
“Wait right here,” he said as he rushed into his room and pulled out the black leather pouch from under his clothes. “I was going to give this to you at third meal, but I think you need it now.”
Her eyes lit when he presented the leather case to her. “That’s. . . mine. The guards took it the day I arrived.”
“Go ahead, Hannah, take it.”
With a smile, she eased the folder from his hand and withdrew the small pile of photos. Old fashioned, printer-based photos were rarely used or seen because photos were taken, stored and displayed in homes digitally. No one needed printed photos. . . unless they knew they were heading to a prison colony.
“I haven’t looked at them, but the guard said they’re yours. It took a while to track it down and then some dealing to get hold of them.”
“Pictures of my family,” she said as she spread them out on the table with the utmost care. Treasures. . . personal treasures and the only tie she had to home.
Her fingers slowly caressed the images of what had to be her mom, a very beautiful woman with dark red hair and green eyes, much like Hannah, but older. In another picture, three men and two young girls.
“Is that your sister?” he asked, pointing to the smaller of the two, the one with the same dark red hair but brown eyes.
Hannah nodded as she traced the edges of another photo, the same young girl, but older. “That’s Amelia. She’s fifteen in this photo. That’s the last picture we had before she started using.”
Hannah threw her arms around Sersie, crying again. “I never thought I’d see them again.”
She still had ten years to serve before going home to her family, and her sister was dead, so that picture probably was the only reminder she’d ever have of her.
“Fucking Ren,” Sersie mumbled as Hannah hugged him tightly. He shouldn’t have let the engineer push him into giving her the photos so soon. Hannah was too vulnerable lately.
Hannah pulled away and wiped her tears. “I don’t understand. Why are you mad at Ren?”
“He pushed me to give them to you today. I wanted to wait a few weeks. Having reminders of home isn’t always easy to handle.”
“I think it’s perfect,” she said, neatly gathering the photos into a pile and replacing them into the leather case. “Thank you so much, Sersie. This means the world to me.”
Sersie forced a smile. “I wish I could take the credit then. But Ren’s the one who got them. He’s working it off, fixing the air conditioning in the guards’ quarters. He asked me to give them to you. He doesn’t want you to know they came from him so don’t let on, okay?”
“Why wouldn’t he want me to know?”
“He didn’t say. I’m guessing he’s trying to apologize for the rough start you two had.”
