Page 109 of Freedom Mine
Chapter Twenty-Four
KAYO
“Where’s Jace?” Ranth asked.
Kayo untied the last bag of pozite from the harkifa and let it fall to the ground. “Still out searching for her.”
“I don’t get it. Why’d she run from him?”
“Doesn’t trust him,” Kayo said. What else would it be? The girl had been beyond abused, from what he’d seen of her when she’d freed him at Garitt’s. She’d been quite content to hide in the mine, but she hadn’t stayed there.
Jace had made it to her within a week, but something had happened between them and she’d run from him. Now he was working a grid, searching for her. He’d had help at first, but when Masher had unintentionally scared her away, Jace had decided to go it alone.
“Think he’ll find her again? I mean, it’s been nearly two months since he last saw her.”
“If she wants him to. She’s small, but far from helpless.”
“Reminds you of Blue, doesn’t she?”
No, his Alli was courageous in a way this girl wasn’t. Though comparing the two wasn’t fair. They’d both survived horrible ordeals and the girl was alone. Hopefully, Jace would find her before the storms returned. Kayo leaned against the stables, his mind wandering again for what seemed like the hundredth time today alone. He didn’t think he’d ever get used to Alli being gone.
“You think she made it home?”
“Who, Blue?” Ranth chuckled. “No reason to think otherwise. She’s smart. You wouldn’t be sitting here a freeman if she weren’t.”
“I saw her that day,” Kayo said. He’d never told anyone before, not even Jace.
Ranth stopped conditioning the harkifa’s harness. “Where?”
“At the port, in line with Garitt. He had his hand all over her like she was one of the women at the brothel.”
“Geez, Kayo, I wish you hadn’t seen that. It’s not right. You know that she didn’t want that, right? But she did what she had to do.”
“Yeah, I know.” The image of Garitt pawing her still set a wave of rage through him. She’d endured Garitt groping her to save him, and Kayo had sworn to never let anyone touch her.
“She’ll be fine,” Ranth added. “Probably forgot all about it by now. She left three months ago. She might even have a new man in her life by now.”
Kayo hadn’t thought about that. He didn’t want to think about that, but he hoped she was happy.
“Why did you go to the port, Kayo? Were you planning to sneak aboard a transport?”
“Hardly, though once I saw Alli, I was tempted. I never would have made it through, not with how tight security was.”
“Then why?”
Why, indeed. After he’d taken the girl to the mine, he’d planned on getting as far away from her as he could, which meant town, not the port.
“Don’t know,” he answered. He wasn’t ready to talk about any of this, not yet. He wanted to hold Alli in his arms again, to smell her sweet scent, and to see the life and determination in those beautiful blue eyes of hers.
“Maybe you wanted to go home, deep down, that is. I mean it’s something we all think about.”
“I guess.” He couldn’t go home. Alli had helped him come to realize that’s what had been plaguing him for years. At least nothing held her back. She’d made it home. He’d focus on that.
“We wanted to pool our money so she’d have the money to come back, but Jace talked us out of it.”
“Good. There’s nothing here for her. She’s better off on her world.”
Ranth tossed the harkifa’s harness off his lap and strode over to Kayo, practically getting in his face. “Nothing for her? Kayo, if you weren’t still healing, I’d kick you so hard you’d never walk again.”
