Page 49 of Taken By the Convicts
Jayce dealt in assets, could read people, and knew how to give them what they wanted.
Except she didn’t want this. Not with him. Not like this.
Melina closed her legs and pushed up on his shoulders. Green eyes stared down at her. Jayce rose, his head slightly bowed as his hands hung at his side, not clenched, not angry, just. . . defeated.
She felt that defeat in him as surely as if it were her own. Too many times she had pleaded with Tristen and Patel, only for them to tell her that she was not worth the risk of defying Namir, but mostly that she had no worth. They had never tried to get to know her. They’d used her when Namir allowed it, but she was nothing more than another ornament in that overindulgent mansion.
“Jayce, I want to get to know you first,” she said.
“That’s not a good idea,” he said as he headed to the door, completely naked.
“Why?”
“Because that will ruin my chance of ever having you.”
The clicking of the door shutting reverberated through her. Rejecting Jayce had left her feeling empty, as empty as the look on his face.
Chapter Twelve
REECE
“The ‘g’ has two sounds. Like in grease and justice. Gouge is a good example, actually.” Zev wrote out the words in the notebook he’d found on the counter and pointed to each ‘g’ as he pronounced the word. “Two different sounds, one letter.”
Learning to read was so fucking slow. Reece knew his letters. He’d learned them before his parents had been killed and he’d been sent to live with Farlis. He could even write the letters fairly well, but learning all the combinations of sounds took time, and he wanted to be able to talk to Melina now, to tell her how he felt. He’d gone to her room last night after he’d showered, but she’d been asleep. The very fact that she’d moved to her room wasn’t a good sign.
She thought he was mad at her for blowing Zev in the stairwell. It hadn’t been Reece’s first choice, but she’d wanted it. He’d seen the longing on her face and had sensed her attraction to Zev. By Bacculan standards, Zev was the ideal man. Tall and lean, but still muscular. And he had flawless skin. Hell, Reece had never even seen the man shave. He’d probably paid for permanent facial hair removal at some point. The man was a natural charmer as well. Of course, he’d appeal to Melina, especially compared to Reece who was broad, had light hair and light eyes. Reece looked more like the demon-god Bizell than one of the Bacculan elite.
Zev had saved Reece’s life soon after arriving on Veenith, and he’d been a strong ally ever since. Reece’s only friend on Veenith, in fact. On Kordon, Reece had had friends, but that was back when he had a voice before Crimshaw ordered his vocal cords cut. Here, no one wanted anything to do with him. They all treated him like he was an idiot. Except for Zev.
Reece could deny the man nothing, not even Reece’s female. Ultimately, the choice had to be hers though. But Reece drew the line at Ivan. The man would take her from him if he found the chance. He was an opportunistic bastard. And yet they all needed him. He controlled Jayce, and Jayce controlled access to the bunker. Melina was safe down here.
“You’re not listening,” Zev said as he closed the notebook he’d been using to write letter combinations and basic words. “You’ll get it in time, but for now I think you need a break. I’m still amazed no one ever taught you to read.”
He hadn’t been allowed to read. He didn’t even have access to books as a child or teen. Farlis preferred it that way as it made it easier for him to keep his secrets. Crimshaw had paid Farlis extra for him because of his illiteracy. After all, Crimshaw had his secrets too. Most execs in The Company did. Ultimately, being illiterate had made Reece more dependent on the man too. Most Company jobs required a person to be able to read and write. Being a bodyguard did not.
Zev slapped Reece on his back. “We’ll continue this later,” he said as he slid away from the table and moved to the pantry.
“Am I interrupting something?” Melina asked from the doorway. Reece motioned her in. She tossed a weak smile his way as he joined Zev in the pantry and grabbed three tins at random and sat down at the table. He popped the tins open and frowned. Beans, beans, and what a surprise. . . beans.
“Those will go right through you,” Melina said as she pulled two tins from the pantry and sat across from him. She opened her tins. Meat and fruit. “How about we trade? I’m not one for meat in the morning.” She pushed the meat over toward him. He gave her one of his tins of beans but left the meat in the middle of the table. He knew it was a waste not to eat it, and he needed the protein, but he couldn’t make himself take it. He didn’t want her pity, and he certainly didn’t need her covering for him just because he couldn’t read the labels.
“I see you put the labeled items by food group,” Zev said as he perused his choices. “Protein, fruit, vegetables, starches, and unlabeled tins arranged by size. We can do some guesswork based on the size and shape of the unlabeled cans. Smart.”
It was smart. Melina was smart, as was Zev. He’d been college-educated like Melina. At least he came across that way. Reece hadn’t found a way to ask him that yet. Fuck, he shouldn’t be getting jealous of Zev.
“Morning, Jayce,” Melina said.
Reece straightened in his chair. Melina had greeted Jayce. She’d been scared shitless of him yesterday.
Jayce ignored Melina and Reece and went straight for the cabinet, pushing Zev out of the way as he started searching. “Where are the damned potatoes? I need them for a trade.”
Melina joined him by the cabinet. “Here, let me find them.”
“I’ll see you later, Reece,” Zev caught Reece’s glare. “You’re mad at me. Why?”
Damn, he hadn’t meant to scowl at Zev, but ever since Reece had fucked Melina in the stairwell, there’d been a tension between them. She’d become skittish around Reece, and he couldn’t ask her why. Zev could, if Reece could convey the issue to him, but he didn’t want to involve Zev, especially since he was likely at the heart of the problem.
Fuck, her having more than one guy shouldn’t be a problem for Reece. They were both from Baccula. Every woman on Baccula had three to five men. Was that it then? He was a replacement for the men she’d left behind?
