Page 50 of Freedom Mine
Chapter Twelve
ALLI
Alli’s fingers glided over the flowers Kayo had left for her three days ago. The white ones had a velvety texture, but the pink ones released a fresh, citrusy scent into the air.
Because you’re mine!
What the hells did that mean? The obvious explanation was that he owned her. But he’d just denied that he’d bought her to use. His voice deepened and his face hardened, almost primal.
A delicious shiver went through her. The idea of being Kayo’s, but not as his slave, thrilled her. She wanted to let his hands travel all over her body, to seat himself so far in her that they’d feel and move as one. Most of all, she wanted to help him, to be there for him, but he wouldn’t allow it. Something was stopping him.
There was no sense sitting around the attic trying to figure Kayo out. She patted her pocket, feeling for her knife. She needed answers, and that meant entering the longhouse.
Masher had been taking second shift lately, so he’d still be at the Longhouse. Unfortunately, so would Bawson. His leer hit her like a branch whipping around in a storm the second she entered the men’s quarters. Of course, Masher’s bunk was at the far end, next to Bawson.
“Hi,” she said as she stood at the end of Masher’s bunk. He and Eight were playing cards on a crate pulled between their beds.
“Blue!” Eight said. He always had a smile for her. She returned the smile.
“Sweetness,” Masher greeted, with a shy smile. “Kayo’s not here.”
“Looking for you. You’ve been here the longest, right?”
“Aside from Kayo and Jace,” he said.
“Well, Jace doesn’t talk much.”
“And you thought Masher does?” Eight said, laughing hard. “I thought you were smart, Blue.”
“Leave her alone,” Masher said, with a slight growl to his voice.
“It’s fine,” Alli said, brushing off Eight’s harmless laughter. “Kayo seems down. I was hoping you might know something I could do to cheer him up.”
“That’s an easy one,” Bawson said, with a leer.
“Shut it or I’ll shut it for you,” Masher warned.
She avoided glancing in Bawson’s direction.
“I meant alcohol,” Bawson said.
“Sure you did,” Eight said, throwing down another card atop Masher’s last throw. “Quarks! That’s four to two now, Mash. Ready to give up?”
“Just deal,” he said, glowering at Eight before turning back to Alli. “Sorry, Sweetness. Not sure what to tell you. Kayo’s a private guy. Maybe you need to stop trying to please him and just be yourself.”
“I am being myself.”
“Nah, I mean show him who you are, without thinking so hard.”
“I don’t overthink things.”
“Sure you do. We all did when we first arrived. You assess everything and everyone around you. You make plans whether to squirrel away food or escape or maybe to find out how to avoid the owners and overseers when they’re mad. And then you’re told you’re free. It doesn’t sink in for a while, so you continue watching, planning. Hard not to when you’re a slave, fresh in. But you’re never yourself. The person you were before you became a slave.”
“Never gonna be that person again,” Bawson said. “No one is. Not you, her, me, even Kayo.”
Masher nodded. “But she’ll be close. You can tell by looking at her. As soon as she adjusts her thinking a bit.”
Was she still thinking like a slave? Maybe at first, but not now. Though she had been pushing Kayo about why he’d bought her. Maybe she was stuck on the past more than she’d thought.
