by Kali Argent
“Listen,” he began. “Let me—”
“Please,” she interrupted. Scarlett was right. Cami had tried to help, to play the hero, and so far, she’d only succeeded in making things worse. “Just take me back to the room.”
“Okay, angel.” Gathering her hand in his, Tariq held it loosely as he escorted her out of the atrium. “We’ll try again, tomorrow.”
“No.” She’d do what she should have done in the first place and let the Alliance conduct their investigation without her interference. “You were right. This doesn’t concern me, and I’m finished. I don’t belong here.”
Some days, it felt like she didn’t belong anywhere.
CHAPTER NINE
Cami hadn’t left their quarters in nearly three days, and Tariq had no clue what to say to get through to her. He’d tried apologizing, though he didn’t know what he’d done wrong exactly. She answered pleasantly when he asked her questions, but beyond that, she rarely spoke.
Tariq wouldn’t call it sulking, exactly. While quiet and somewhat detached, Cami didn’t mope or pout. She simply didn’t say anything, as if she’d become so lost in thought she’d forgotten the rest of the station existed. Whatever the case, she’d retreated within herself, and despite all efforts, he couldn’t pull her back.
“Naira asked about you today.”
Curled up in the armchair with a blanket over her lap, Cami looked away from the small, circular window and smiled. “How is she?”
It was the first time she’d showed interest in anything for days. “Come with me to dinner and you can see for yourself.”
Clearly, that had been the wrong thing to suggest, because the smile immediately disappeared, and she went back to staring at the blackness through the window. “I’m not very hungry. Tell her I said hello.”
In his frustration, Tariq slammed his hand down on the tiny end table hard enough to dent the metal. “Get dressed,” he ordered with only slightly more calm. “You’re not hiding in this room any longer. Now, go get ready, because I’m taking you to dinner.”
“Okay.” She rose to her feet and began folding the blanket.
“Damn it, Cami!”
“What?” She appeared genuinely perplexed as she turned toward him. “I thought you wanted me to get ready for dinner?”
“I want you to want to come with me.” With a heavy sigh, Tariq sank into the cushions of the sofa and rubbed both hands over his face. “At this point, I’d settle for you telling me off. Hell, I wouldn’t even care if you cried.”
“There will be no crying,” Cami muttered. “That was one of your rules, right? We also shouldn’t talk,” she added, throwing his own words back at him. “So which is it, Tariq? You can’t have it both ways, so what do you want from me?”
By the gods, he could have it any way he damn well wanted it, even if he had to turn her over his knee and paddle her ass red. “I want you to scream or curse. Throw something. Get mad. Cry.” Tears made him anxious, but he’d take them over this emotionless robot. “Just do something, anything, besides sit in this room and stare out that fucking window.”
“I tried to do something!” she snapped. “I tried to help the general, and you see how well that worked out. Then, I tried to help Scarlett, and apparently, that was wrong.”
Well, at least she was talking to him again. “You charged headlong into a volatile situation without thinking, and worse, you knew exactly why those idiots were looking for you when you did it.”
“Of course I knew, but what did you expect? For me to run and hide while they hurt my friend?”
A small part of him admired her loyalty, and an even smaller part respected her courage. “They wouldn’t hurt her, not in front of all those people.”
“No, they’d have waited until she was alone.” Linking her hands together behind her back, she turned around to face the window again. “Becks is loud, demanding, and rude. He does all the talking, but Parsons…” Cami shook her head, and several seconds ticked by before she answered. “Parsons is dangerous.”
Tariq arched an eyebrow at her at her back. “So am I.”
“That’s kind of the point.” A visible shiver rippled down her spine as she turned to face him once again. “They know where I am, Tariq, but they’re not going to start anything with you. As long as I stay in this room, no one I care about gets hurt because of me.”
Jumping up from the sofa, Tariq crossed the room in three strides and held her by the shoulders. “How do they know where you are?”
Cami shrugged as her gaze slid to the door. “Lorelei. They may have insinuated that if she helps them, they’ll help her.” Lifting her chin, she stared up at him and smirked. “You have quite the admirer.”
He should have dealt with Lorelei that day in the docks. If the girl had delusions of some fairytale romance, he needed to set the record straight before things went any farther. Other than instructions and passing hellos, he’d never had an actual conversation with the woman.
“So,” Cami continued, “you can see that me staying here is best for everyone.”
Best for everyone except Cami. She’d spent ten years of her life locked away in some ivory tower, and Tariq refused to be her new jailer. “To hell with Lorelei, Becks, Parsons, and everyone else. We’re going to dinner. You’re going to talk to your friends. We’re going to have a great evening, and fuck anyone who doesn’t like it.”
“That’s sweet.” Her bottom lip wobbled, and she shook her head. “You don’t mean it, though. I’ll just do something else stupid that you’ll have to rescue me from, and then we’re right back to where we started.”
“What you did with Scarlett was reckless, but not stupid.” He’d always be there to rescue her, but not for the reasons she believed. “Yes, I get angry with you. Yes, I want to throttle you sometimes.”
“There you go, making me all weak in the knees again.”
Stars, he loved that sharp tongue and quick wit. “I can be overprotective, overbearing, and a lot of other ‘over’ words you can tell me later.” Tariq grinned at her adorable laughter. “It’s not because I think you’re incapable, though.”
Skepticism showed clearly in her eyes, but she tilted her head and looked up at him through her long, dark lashes. “Then tell me why, because from where I’m standing, that’s what it feels like.”
“Angel, I do it because I don’t know any other way to be.” Sliding his fingers into the belt loops of her jeans, Tariq pulled her closer, molding her to his body. “I do it because I’d lose my fucking mind if something happened to you.”
Placing her hand on his chest, just over his heart, Cami stretched up on her tiptoes to kiss him. “That might be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
He’d threatened murder on her behalf several times, and she thought he was sweet. Therein lay the reason he’d go to the ends of the universe and walk through the burning sands of Reema for her. Not only did she make him want to be a better person, she already believed he was.
“Don’t be afraid. I’d never let anything happen to you.” If it convinced her to leave the room, he could make one extra concession as well. “I won’t let anything happen to your friends, either.” Since he liked his balls right where they belonged, he just wouldn’t tell Scarlett about it. “Come to dinner with me.”
“For the record, I’m not afraid.” She set her jaw and stuck her chin out in mock defiance. “However, I am hungry, so you’ve got yourself a date.”
She brushed another kiss against his jaw and sashayed into the bedroom to dress. No sooner had the door closed behind her when the intercom buzzed, announcing a new visitor. Glaring at the speaker on the wall, Tariq grumbled under his breath as he went to answer the call. More people had visited him in the few days since Cami’s arrival than had in the last nine years, and he didn’t necessarily consider that a good thing.
“What?” he demanded into the intercom.
“I’m looking for Tariq Navarra.”
It had bee
n a long time since he’d heard that voice, and Tariq hadn’t thought he’d ever hear it again. Mashing the small, black button beneath the speaker, he opened the door and looked right into the face of a ghost.
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
Standing a couple inches shorter than him, but just as broad in the chest, Sion Jabari stared through the doorway with a crooked grin. He wore his auburn hair a little longer, and his whiskey-colored eyes had a hard edge that only came with age and experience. Otherwise, he looked just as Tariq remembered him—apart from the deep scar that ran from the corner of his left eye to his jawbone.
Without waiting for an invitation, he stepped across the threshold and jerked Tariq into a crushing hug. “Greetings to you, too, old friend. You are hard to find, but it’s good to finally see you.”
Stunned and more than a little confused, Tariq returned the embrace, but pulled away quickly. “You’re supposed to be dead,” he repeated.
“Clearly, I’m not, and that’s why I’m here.”
“They told me you were dead.” Tariq couldn’t wrap his mind around it, not until he had an answer that made sense. “What the fuck are you doing here—alive?”
Laughing, Sion wandered into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. “I see your time with the humans hasn’t improved your manners any.”
“How did you find me?” If he kept asking questions, maybe he’d finally land on one Sion would answer.
“We’ll get to that.” He scanned the room with a curious gaze. “Have you really been here all these years? How do you stand it?” With a curled lip, he gave an overly exaggerated shudder and shook his head. “I’ve been here for ten minutes, and I’m already claustrophobic.”
“You get used to it.” He missed the jungles and open skies of Helix, but at least on Station 4, no one had tried to have him executed. “What about you? What happened? I mean, how are you even standing here?”
Before Sion could answer, the bedroom door opened, and Cami emerged with a bright smile. “Is someone here? I thought I heard—oh. Oh, my.” Recovering quickly, Cami stepped forward to offer her hand. “Hi, I’m Cami. It’s nice to meet you.”
Straightening, Sion took her hand and brought it to his lips with a charming smile. “Well, hello, beautiful. My name is Sion Jabari, and I assure you, the pleasure is all mine.”
Tariq had seen enough. Baring his fangs, he grabbed Cami round the waist and pulled her back to his side. “Sion is an old friend.” He had been Tariq’s only friend once upon a time, but he barely knew the man standing before him. “We were just leaving.”
“Rude,” Cami muttered out of the side of her mouth. “Sion, would you like to join us for dinner? You two can catch up, and I’d love to hear more about Helix.”
“He can’t.”
“Of course, I can.” Sion’s grin turned downright wicked. “I’d be honored to join you, Cami.” He waved a hand toward the door. “Lead the way.”
Seemingly pleased, Cami bobbed her head and started toward the exit. Though it went against every one of his instincts, Tariq let her leave first, giving her a small head start. When Sion moved to follow her, Tariq stopped him with a hand to the center of his chest.
“If you so much as look at her sideways, I will destroy you, and this time, it won’t be an accident.”
Sobering, Sion met his gaze with a calmness Tariq had never been able to master. “She’s important to you.”
“She’s everything to me.”
“Yet, you haven’t marked her as yours.”
“It’s…complicated.”
Sion laughed. “When it comes to females, it usually is.” Then he clapped Tariq on the shoulder and nodded. “I understand. If she’s important to you, however, perhaps you shouldn’t let her roam this shithole on her own, hmm?”
“Right.”
Tariq led Sion from his quarters as he hurried to catch up with Cami. To his intense relief, however, he found her waiting in the corridor just beyond the door. She greeted him with a bright smile and a swift kiss before tucking herself against his side.
“Are we ready?”
“Almost.”
Gently, Tariq tilted her face up and bent to cover her mouth in a proper kiss. It had been too long since he’d had her taste on his tongue, and he groaned as she opened for him readily. Aware of their audience, he kept the kiss brief, though what he really wanted was to drag her back to their room and spend the rest of the night there. Before moving away, he nuzzled her face and neck, rubbing against her until he’d saturated her in his scent.
It wasn’t nearly enough, but it would have to do until he could mark her properly.
“Now we’re ready.”
“Well, that wasn’t awkward or anything,” Sion mused, interrupting the moment.
Tariq glared at him. “Shut it, asshole.”
“Okay, everyone play nice.” Though a pretty blush stained her cheeks, Cami held her head up as she took Tariq’s hand. “Sion, what brings you to Station 4?” she asked when they started walking again.
“I just came to see an old friend.”
Cami frowned. “No, that’s not it. You have information.”
Tariq had guessed as much, but he still enjoyed the look of shock on Sion’ face. “What information would that be?”
“We can discuss it later.”
“The D’Aire visited your home planet,” Cami announced at once. “They’re questioning everyone about the black market trade of something called xili.”
“You didn’t tell me your companion was a telepath,” Sion accused as his lips twisted into a sneer. “She’s correct, though. The D’Aire have been to Helix. A lot has happened since you left.”
Sion made it sound like he’d departed Helix for a relaxing vacation. The reality couldn’t have been further from the truth. Entering the atrium, Tariq held his hand up to halt any further conversation on the subject.
“This isn’t the place.” Too many prying eyes and eager ears lurked in the common area of the station. Tariq also didn’t want to draw the attention of the pirates who made their living in the black market trade. “We are going to discuss this, though, and you’re going to tell me everything.”
Xili had grown on Helix for as long as anyone could remember, but the trade and shipment of the plant had been highly regulated for years. Used as a drug, the plant had the ability to alter the mind, leaving gaping holes in a person’s memory that could then be filled with suggestions. In the Helios, the drug went a step farther, sending them into a wild rage and forcing their shift. In some cases, it even induced full blown hallucinations.
Cami squeezed his hand. “It sounds like you know from experience,” she whispered. “Will you tell me about it sometime?”
Tariq didn’t attempt to feign ignorance. He’d grown accustomed to her rooting around in his head, so much so, that he didn’t even chastise her for it. Sion’s arrival had brought back dark memories and old resentments he’d spent years trying to bury. Secrets had a way of coming out, and Cami would eventually learn the truth, whether he told her or someone else did.
“Sometime,” he agreed. “Right now, let’s just enjoy dinner.” Gesturing to the front of the restaurant, he winked at her. “Naira looks happy to see you.”
“Naira!” Releasing his hand, she jogged the remaining distance to greet her friend.
The two females spoke in quick, hushed voices, both laughing while Cami waved her hands in big, animated gestures. He’d missed this, missed watching her light up with enthusiasm. Tariq had never been particularly fond of crowds or excessive conversations, but Cami thrived in social settings. In a short time, she’d made herself a central figure in the atrium. Most of the vendors knew her by name, and they all greeted her with warm smiles and kind words.
“It’s impossible not to love her,” Tariq said to no one in particular. He’d been hooked from the moment he’d seen her. He’d just been too stubborn to admit it.
“She’s beautiful,” Sion agreed
. “I like my females a little less fragile, though.”
Tariq snorted, tucked his hands into his pockets, and started walking again. Only someone who didn’t know Cami would ever call her fragile. She might be small physically, but she had the biggest heart of anyone he’d ever met.
“Tariq.” Cami met him when he entered the restaurant and grabbed both of his hands. “He’s here. Tariq, I heard him. He’s somewhere close.”
“Slow down, angel. Who are you talking about? Who’s here?”
“He’s moving away.” Dropping his hands, she hurried back into the atrium to study the people milling around the area. “I think…that way.” Pointing to the left, she wound her way through the scattered vendor stands while she continued to sweep the crowd.
Following closely behind her, Tariq waited for her to stop walking before he spoke. “Cami, what’s going on? Who did you hear?”
“Crap,” she fumed, “I lost him.”
When he’d told her not to be afraid, he hadn’t actually meant for her to go looking for confrontation. However, he’d learned not to underestimate a woman on a mission. “Angel, talk to me. Maybe I can help.”
“The man who killed Dennison. I lost him, but he was here. I know it.” Cami angled to the left and marched toward Scarlett’s stall.
“What the hell is going on?” Sion demanded when he caught up to them. “Where is she going now?”
Tariq sighed and jerked his head for Sion to follow him. “To catch a killer, apparently.”
CHAPTER TEN
“Cami?” Standing from her squashy purple chair, Scarlett rounded the small table she used to conduct business, and poked Cami in the sternum. “Where the hell have you been?”
“I was worried sick about you. I didn’t mean to piss you off, but I don’t trust those elites. They’re trouble, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Well?” she demanded out loud.
