Page 7 of Protected By the Convicts
Hannah cleared her throat, rose on her toes, and kissed Ky’s cheek. “Thank you.” She slipped past him and had just opened the door when Ky’Li grabbed the edge of the door.
“Please don’t keep me from seeing him,” her voice squeaked. “This is hard enough, embarrassing enough. . .” she swallowed.
Ky’Li’s fingers combed through her hair, and then he opened the door all the way. “He’s been sleeping at his workshop. I will escort you.”
“Thank you, but I’ll need privacy with him, to be able to talk freely.”
He opened his mouth, then shut it and nodded, adding a slight smile as he stroked her cheek. “Whatever you need, sha’vi.”
Ky’Li slipped his arm around her waist, and together they walked in silence. She had no idea what she was going to say to Ren. Her soldier kissed her goodbye at the door to Ren’s workshop. The kiss was slow, sweet, and yet reserved. He didn’t like leaving her. If he truly believed Ren a danger to her, Ky would never have left her alone with him. Did he worry about losing her? Ky’Li didn’t know about Ren’s ship or his offer. No one knew.
She could hop on that ship with Ren and disappear tomorrow, except she wouldn’t leave Ky’Li. And not just her soldier. What would happen to Sersie if she left him like Rissa? She’d promised him she wouldn’t do to him what Rissa had done.
“I’m headed to my shift. Make sure Ren walks you back,” Ky’Li said as he opened the workshop door for her. “Stay strong, sha’vi.”
“Always, pa’vi.” His grin surfaced as he closed the door behind her.
“Ren, where are you?” she called out. Her words bounced off empty walls even as the lights turned on automatically. Each step sounded foreboding as her boots tapped against the cement floor and ventured into the long building. Nothing and no one stirred. Ren wasn’t there.
There was one other place he might be. His ship.
It took her a while, but Hannah finally located the few markers she’d memorized when Ren had brought her to his ship. A tree with a split base that acted as a small throughway, a red flowering bush that attracted dozens of tiny, yellow and orange birds with a deep scratchy call.
As she emerged from the tunnel through the rock wall and entered the hidden clearing, bright blue eyes looked up at her from a worktable set in front of the ship. Neither of them spoke. She wrung her hands in front of her. Ren set his welder down.
“You should be home, recovering.” His voice was deep and serious, but not as harsh as usual.
“I’m fine,” she said. And just like that, her fear of talking disappeared. This was Ren, the man who was filled with anger and harsh words, but was genuine and honest too. He didn’t hide behind a mask. She felt at home with him, as she never had before. Was it the fact that they’d had sex? No. She didn’t remember much of it, just enough to feel embarrassed, ashamed, helpless even.
“I’m not exactly sure what to say,” he began without waiting for her to explain why she’d intruded on his work. “What I did. . .”
“That was the drug,” she piped up quickly. She didn’t really want this conversation any more than he did, but they had to get past it, especially since he’d be leaving soon.
“What are you saying, Princess? We forget it and move on?” He returned to the table and the dozens of small parts laid out, picked up a drill, and then toss it down again making the contents of the table jump and clank back into place. Ren refused to look at her.
“I can’t blame it all on the drug.”
“No, you can’t. You can blame me.”
“That’s not what I’m saying, Ren. I remember what happened. I mean some of it. The drug made it easier, that’s all. But it was me, Ren. My thoughts, m-my desires.” She couldn’t stop wringing her hands.
Then his hand was on top of hers, easing her hands apart. “I’d love to say we could start over, but I can’t forget you, Hannah. Maybe it wasn’t real enough for you, but it was for me. I can still smell you, feel you, taste you, and I was completely sober. I can’t push what happened away like it’s an old photo that you can shove to the back of a desk drawer.”
That’s exactly what she’d been trying to do. Maybe if she simply accepted it, gave in to the fact that she’d wanted him for a long time. . .
“Come with me, Hannah, please. I leave in a few days. You don’t belong here. And I promise I’ll do everything I can to make it up to you. To make you feel safe again.”
Safe was an illusion, as was happiness. She’d never understood that, not until lately.
“I can’t go. I know you don’t care about them, but I do. I’m not even sure what Dresden would do if we both left, but I’m sure he’d punish them.”
Ren’s eyes widened. Ah, he hadn’t considered that.
“When he discovers you’re gone, Dresden will make us suffer, won’t he? Do you care about that Ren? Do you care about the others at all?”
Hell. She hated trying to guilt him, but if he left, he could get killed. And if by some good fortune he didn’t get killed, The Company would catch him sooner or later and then they’d make him a 5 for sure, send him to a colony worse than Narkos. Veenith. Dresden had threatened her enough times, promising to ship her guys to Veenith if she didn’t behave.
Ren wouldn’t survive. He already hated Narkos, but at least here he had some measure of friends, a home he’d built. . . and a unit who would fight for him, even if he didn’t believe that yet.
