Page 26 of Freedom Mine
Jace pulled off Kayo’s shoes and trousers next, leaving the man thoroughly naked. She averted her eyes, which caused Jace to laugh.
“Well, slave? What’s it going to be? You staying to help or are you leaving?”
“Not slave,” Kayo mumbled. “Blue. Pretty blue eyes. Pretty mouth. Pretty, pretty, pretty.”
“Shut up, Kayo. You’re soaked to the bone, and your manhood’s not looking too manly right now. Save the sweet talk for when you’re sober.”
“Sweet Blue,” Kayo mumbled then drifted off again.
Jace wiped his muddy hands on one of the towels she’d brought, then tossed it on the floor. “He’s all yours now. I’m heading over to the longhouse to make sure the men are ready to go up the mountain when the storm breaks. Finish cleaning him up, slave.”
“I’m not a slave,” she said, looking Jace straight in the eyes.
Jace shook his head, and for the first time she could recall, he smiled. “Glad to hear it.” He walked out without another word.
Not a slave. Those were words that she hadn’t believed until now. Because Jace had pushed her? Or because he wasn’t Kayo who ‘owned’ her? She didn’t think of herself as a slave around Ranth and the others, only around Jace and Kayo. Was that because the others had been slaves too and she saw them as equals?
“Cold,” Kayo mumbled, as he started shivering.
She got to work, quickly washing off the remaining mud and drying him. She had to roll him onto his side, then the other to remove the sodden sheets as well. She should have thought to do that before Jace had left. All that muscle made him heavier than she had expected. Muscle everywhere, from his strong arms and chest to his powerful thighs.
After she finished drying and covering him with a clean blanket, Alli pulled a chair by the bed and smoothed his hair out of his eyes. His hair needed to be cut and washed. It was still grimy with mud, but she’d cleaned the area around the gash the best she could with a wet towel. He’d need to shower when he woke.
She must have nodded off in the chair at some point, woken by the voices of the miners outside. Her eyes creaked open, protesting the bright light streaming through the window. The storm had passed and the miners were heading out. No one had come to collect her.
Alli spent the morning organizing Kayo’s office down the hall while he slept. It never seemed to take him long to make a mess. She found a few books on Varkos with interesting titles about property ownership and even the history of the planet. Perhaps she’d find something useful to help her once she left here. Her chip still showed slave status. What if Garitt couldn’t help her as he said? She needed a backup plan, and anything she could learn about the planet would be helpful.
As she headed out of the office to check on Kayo again, she noticed the picture that she’d righted when she’d cleaned the office yesterday was again lying face down on one of the lower bookshelves. The photo itself was old style, 2 D imagery, showing a group of five young men and two older men, one at each end. The older men wore huge smiles, as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Even a few of the younger men appeared relaxed if not happy. She inspected the faces. It wasn’t hard to pick out Kayo. His face years younger but no more handsome than now had a vacant look, despite the old man having his arm casually draped over his shoulders, as a father would hold a son.
The picture only added to the mystery of Kayo. She stood the picture upright and headed back to his room.
* * *
KAYO
Kayo woke somewhat groggy and with a headache that he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy. He didn’t remember climbing into bed last night, or know why he had dried mud in his hair, but he was sure it had to do with Blue. She was the last one he remembered seeing yesterday, and the image in his head, of her backing away from him, sent a jolt of fear through him. What had he done to her?
“You’re awake,” Blue said as she entered. “How do you feel?”
“Like I ran into a wall,” he said, eyeing her. She appeared fine, although she seemed more distant than usual, as if she’d thrown up an invisible wall between them.
“Did you?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I was hoping you could tell me.”
“One of the men found you face down in the mud. Do you remember going out in the storm?”
He sank back into his pillows. Hells, it had been a long time since he drunk himself stupid like that. This wasn’t how he wanted her to see him.
“You were drinking.”
“Yeah, kind of hard to miss that fact.” Bits and pieces of a conversation between Jace and her floated to the surface. They’d been with him, in the middle of the night. And Jace had accused her of thinking of herself as a slave still.
“Why do you drink so much?”
Hells, why did she have to go there? “Doesn’t matter why.”
“It should matter. To you at least.”
