by Autumn Dawn
His eyes grew colder, but he didn’t say a word. Not that she let him.
“Were you certain I’d stumble? Is that why you did it? Did you get any satisfaction out of the charade? You always were a whore to your badge.”
His jaw tightened. “You always were a hotheaded fool.”
She stepped closer, stared into his eyes. “I want you to drop dead, Azor. I’d like to see it happen. You deserve it for what you did to me.” She headed for the door, but he grabbed her arm.
“You need to listen. There’s a lot you’re not hearing.”
She couldn’t stand the smell of him, not now. She trembled from cold and pure, unadulterated fury. “You want to kiss a girl in the dark, Azure. Find someone else. I’d rather find a real man.”
His hand tightened, giving her a fission of fear, mostly that he would make her finish this now, when all she wanted to do was hurl spite at him. She couldn’t think straight, not with anger beating inside her head like some monstrous drum.
Maybe he realized that. He stared down at her face, his own a mask of cold resolve. “We’ll finish this when you’ve calmed down.”
She sneered at him, unwilling to waste more words. He let her go.
Three days later, she still hadn’t forgiven him. She’d successfully avoided him the first day by staying in her room. On the second day she stayed glued to Gem’s side as they made arrangements to land on Ictharus II, or made certain she had a nephew with her at all times, knowing Azor wouldn’t start a serious conversation with them in the room. After that there was the bustle of transferring to the hotel. Brandy and Gem’s family had rooms right next to each other, so as long as she didn’t linger in the hall, it was difficult for him to catch her alone.
Once her sister was settled, Brandy immediately hooked up to the web and started researching the best way to get to Xera’s star system. Gem had made vague noises about Azor taking her farther, but that was not going to happen now. She wouldn’t allow it.
She told Blue as much that night when she found him alone in the hall.
Blue looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. “You haven’t heard him out, have you?”
She didn’t budge. “And I’m not going to. There’s no excuse for what he pulled.”
“Hm. I thought so at first, too, but I changed my mind after I heard him speak. He cares about you, you know.”
She held up her hands. “I don’t want to hear it! He’s been tried, found guilty and unfortunately, not executed. On the bright side, he can be left behind, which is what I’m going to do. I’m giving Gem five days, and then I leave. Don’t worry, I won’t let the kids and her down. You just keep Azor off my back, okay?”
He smirked. “That’s your job. You’re the one who won’t listen, and I’m not aiding and abetting. I think you’d feel a lot better if you just let him talk to you.”
“Not happening.”
He shrugged. “Are you still going to walk down to the beach with us tomorrow? The kids are excited about seeing pink sand and they’ll be a handful. We could use your help.”
“I’m up for that. Like I said, I’ll be spending my time with my sister and the kids. I’ll see you at breakfast.”
She wasn’t spending the evening with her family, however. Though she was never one for the nightlife, she’d been cooped up on a ship for far too long. She needed to get out, and she wanted to be alone.
The dreams were back. Since the night she’d argued with Azor, they’d begun to torment her. First she’d see the lovers, the woman with the boots. Last night she’d discovered that the man had green hair. It raised the down at the back of her neck as she considered the implications. For a dream, it packed on heck of a wallop. She took it as a warning to get away from Azor. What if the woman were her? Could it have any real meaning?
And if it did, what was the connection with Ryven? She’d begun to see his murderous face in her dreams so often, she’d developed an intense aversion to him. Could the dreams be a warning? She’d been over it so often, her head ached. If it kept up, maybe she would call her doctor.
She called Blue’s cell once she left the building and told him she’d be out. After all, it was a strange place, and Gem tended to worry. “I’ll have my com on if you need me,” she assured him. “I’m just going to the Pentagon to stretch my legs, maybe buy something for the boys.”
“Do you want company? I can come with,” he said, though he didn’t sound enthusiastic. She knew he’d rather be with his family.
“I’ll be fine. Catch you later.” She hung up and dropped the com in her pocket. Now they could all have an enjoyable evening.
The Pentagon was a huge mall that was right across the street from her hotel. She took the sky bridge over the busy road, admiring the city lights as she walked. There were floating holo-signs advertising a carnival at the Pentagon, and she regarded it with mild interest. She’d long since been bored with the ones on Polaris, but maybe she’d see something new here.
The sky bridge took her to third floor of the mall, and she ascended the elevator to the fourth floor and worked her way down. She saw a lot of interesting trinkets, but few that were practical for travel. She did buy the boys each an interesting wrist light that was powered by the body’s electrical system, figuring that it might help to drain off some of their energy. As an afterthought she grabbed a couple more. She’d need a gift for Xera’s kids, too, and one never knew.
In the future Gem would have to do her shopping for her, and though a great deal of her capital was funding the trip, Brandy had left a sum at home to pay for future gifts. Hopefully wherever she was on the holidays, she could send in a shopping order and have it delivered.
The thought of being away from home saddened her, so she tried to distract herself. She was supposed to be having fun.
She bought a hot drink and looked down at the open center of the mall to the carnival below. When was the last time she’d played an arcade game? Suddenly it seemed like a good idea. She rented a locker that the mall provided for shopper’s convenience and entered the arcade, choosing an interesting robotic exoskeleton with holographic interface. She climbed into the mechanical suit and it automatically snapped closed over her body, engulfing her in vaguely sweaty smelling metal and padding. She chose a desert world program from the visual interface and waited as sand dunes assembled before her. In moments she was happily immersed in blasting blood-sucking alien scum.
Several games later, she took off the helmet. She was drenched in sweat from the workout, but it had been a long time since she’d had such fun. She was smiling…until she saw Azor waiting for her.
“Gem worries,” he said in explanation.
“I’m a little old to believe in fairytales,” she said in annoyance as she shed the exoskeleton. She instantly felt thirty pounds lighter. Funny, it hadn’t seemed so heavy while wearing it. “You guys use her as an excuse.”
He shrugged and followed her out of the noisy arcade. “The deal is, you let me follow you around and I don’t bring up things you don’t want to talk about—tonight,” he added, just to be clear.
She considered him with some skepticism. “Aren’t there things you’d rather be doing?”
“I’m doing them.” He wore his usual cool expression, the one that was so good at hiding lies. It was impossible to tell what he really thought.
She looked around for something he might find less than thrilling and smiled. Right next door was a funhouse where people threw cream filled balloons at each other. She watched a balloon miss a guy’s head and smack into the clear glasstick wall. Unable to stick to the slick surface, the pink blob slowly trailed to the floor, leaving a clean wall behind. Everywhere pastel blobs splattered against the walls and the players, causing hoots of laughter.
She sent Azor a challenging look and got in line to buy a ticket. He might follow her in, but she couldn’t imagine the ever-immaculate cop enjoying himself.
He smiled slowly back and bought his own. “I hope you’re a good aim.”
He grinned and ducked her first toss, then lobbed a wobbly ball that hit her square in the chest. It hit her with a loud SPLUSH!
She gasped as wetness seeped through her shirt and hit him in the shoulder with her first toss. After that the balls flew fast and furiously. She ducked behind padded pillars, but he still had excellent aim. It didn’t take long before she was completely coated in pastel foam.
“Hold!” she said, stepping from behind a pillar. She wiped away wet fluff from her eyes and grinned as she lobbed one last ball at his face. He ducked and it landed in his hair, leaving a pink mess in the emerald green locks.
“I let you have that one,” he bragged. “You looked winded.”
She huffed at him. “Not everyone is a health nut, Nutty. Ugh! I need to hose off.” They trooped to the end of the enclosure, dodging the occasional stray ball. There were hoses at the end where the players could hose each other off, getting in a little more fun.
She wasn’t shy about turning hers on him full blast. Maybe she should do this sort of thing more often. It was a great way to get out her aggression. Maybe that’s why Xera had always been so fond of martial arts—a girl could hit something legally.
Azor returned the favor, spraying her until there couldn’t possibly be a speck of cream left. When they’d finally had enough of trying to drown each other, they trooped out of the enclosure, looking like a couple of wet cats.
Brandy sat on one of the benches meant for drying. There was a steady stream of hot air blowing out of the large vents at their feet. She took off her wet shoes and finger combed her hair, knowing it was going to come out looking wild.
Azor slicked back his hair and sat beside her. They watched the others in the funhouse in silence as the water evaporated from their clothes. It was fairly peaceful.
After a few moments, she glanced at him, only to find him watching her with a gentle expression. Her stomach fluttered. She quickly looked away, unwilling to ponder what it meant.
Seeking distraction, she pointed at a vender across the way. “I want one of those bubble things everyone’s drinking out of. Maybe they have something good to eat, too.” She shoved her mostly dry shoes on and headed over, trying to ignore the awareness of him as he walked by her side. The man had a way of consuming her thoughts, and that wasn’t healthy. He was deceptive, and she was leaving. They shouldn’t be together like this.
Azor got ahead of her and slipped his cash card into the pay slot before she could. She frowned at his old fashioned manners, but waved her hand for him to place the order.
“I’d like two garizini bladders, please,” Azor said nonchalantly, grinning at her surprised expression. “We’ll take an order of road kill, too, and a bag of corbat wings.”
She grimaced. Road kill? A garizini was a kind of translucent fish, wasn’t it? Was the name some kind of slang, or were those drinks really fish organs? A glance at the menu didn’t enlighten her. Wondering if she was about to be poisoned, she wandered over and found a clean booth that was partly screened by small herb trees. Azor joined her in a couple of minutes with their order.
“Here you go.” He placed a somewhat squishy, crystal clear globe in front of her. It was flat on the bottom, with a nub on top. She frowned at it. It looked more like female anatomy than a fish bladder. She looked at him quizzically.
He grinned and took a pull of his. “Try it. It tastes like sweet water. Very healthy.” A drop of liquid slipped out and he caught it with a quick lap.
She looked away, uncomfortable in a way she didn’t want to examine. She was breathless, couldn’t seem to sit still. She didn’t think it was all do to the titillating jug.
Everywhere she looked, people of all ages were drinking from the orbs. No one else seemed phased. “Is this really a fish bladder?” she couldn’t help asking.
“I’m not going to tell you,” he said, amused. “Here, have some road kill.” He set a paper container between them that was filled with steaming brown chunks. There were long, flat crackers to scoop out the food. She tried a bite and found it was sweet, pleasantly salty and spicy, which forced her to take a drink from the jug. She nearly choked when she caught the intent expression on his face as she drank.
“Easy,” he said, reaching over to hand her a napkin. “Take it slow.”
She grunted and tried a corbat wing. It was too leathery and chewy for her tastes, but Azor had no problem finishing them off. He seemed to be having a good time.
She wasn’t so sure that was a good thing, so when they were finished eating, she said she was going back. “You can stay, though. Enjoy your vacation.”
“I’ll walk you back first,” he said, dumping their trash in the recycling unit. “We nutty types need our exercise.”
She didn’t know what to make of this teasing, smiling Azor, so she didn’t say much as they walked back, and he seemed content with silence. The thought occurred to her that perhaps she didn’t know him as well as she thought.
Of all the things he could have gone undercover as, why pose as a stripper? If it didn’t mean bringing up things she’d rather not discuss, she’d ask him. The question had been eating at her.
She glanced casually at the crowd as they left the mall. There were lots of tourists among the locals, she supposed, and the occasional Kiuyian, though not as many as there were back home. She wondered about that. There did seem to be more of them every year. She was about to ask Azor about that when her eye caught a particular face in the crowd. Her step hitched, but no, it wasn’t M’acht. How could it be? Yet she stopped to watch the man, ignoring the crowd that flowed around them.
The man was roughly M’acht’s age, and he seemed to be looking for someone. He glanced down, then smiled and lifted a little girl in his arms. She had pale green hair that curled charmingly around her ears. She smiled at the man—her father?—and rested her head against his chest. She was about the age her daughter would have been, if she’d had one. M’acht just didn’t have any interest in trying.
With her, at least. Her former father in law had taken the trouble to visit her one day, with the express purpose of crowing about his son’s new wife. His Kiuyian wife.
“She’s pregnant,” he’d gloated, for he was the type who loved to salt a wound. “I knew once he’d found a proper woman that things would work out.”
She’d opted against subtle and had him thrown out of The Spark, with a warning never to return.
A woman with long, pale green curls walked up to the man and gave him a hug. She had a little boy by the hand, and the father proceeded to speak sternly to him. Maybe he’d run off? That was dangerous to do in a crowd.
Azor touched her arm, startling her out of her reverie. The perception in his eyes shamed her, though it was probably not his intent. “It’s not him.”
She stiffened and subtly pulled away. “I know.”
They were silent as they rode a lift to the upper floor and crossed the skywalk. They entered the hotel and rode the elevator up. He walked her to her door and looked down at her. She could tell he’d like to talk to her. It scared her. Getting too close to this man was a mistake. She tried to forestall him with a quick goodbye. “Sleep well.”
He considered her for a moment, then slowly reached out and smoothed her stiff hair back from her face. It hadn’t recovered from the cream conditioning yet. “I could.”
Her breath stilled as she realized what he was implying. It wasn’t polite to trap a woman on the rebound, even if she was only reeling from memories. “I don’t…tonight wasn’t an invitation, you know.”
“I know,” he said agreeably, then kissed her. It was sweet, hot, and demanding. It also left her as dizzy as a Tilt n’ Spin carnival ride. He pulled back and
looked at her a touch sternly. “Tomorrow, we talk.”
She pulled away. “No.”
He shook his head, but didn’t argue. With one last, burning look, he left her at her door. She noticed he went two doors down and went in. Maybe he wasn’t going out again tonight, after all.
Brandy went into her room and leaned against the closed door, ignoring the ache in her feet. She didn’t want to talk to him. Refusal was her best defense. She felt so stupid for believing in his ruse. Sure, he was a shape shifter, and apparently a good one, but she could have stopped to think, to analyze the situation. Instead she’d acted like a teen with a crush. Hadn’t she developed any sense?
Besides, he was a Kiuyian man. Even if she gave him what he seemed to want, she didn’t believe she could satisfy him for long. M’acht had been difficult enough, and he’d cared for her. Hadn’t they been friends for years?
She sighed and moved away from the door. M’acht had seemed like such a good choice. She’d been so careful with her heart, and they shared affection. He hadn’t cared about her past, and yet, it had all gone so wrong. Then she’d thought she’d found another man who didn’t mind her reputation and she’d started to hope, only to be cruelly disappointed. Of course Azor would care. Azure might not have.
She ran her hand through her hair as she paced. Azor was Azure. Argh! Why did all the whacked out ones gravitate to her? Was she really a lodestone for weirdoes? No wonder she couldn’t find a decent guy!
Not that Azor was weird, exactly, her conscience forced her to admit. Trouble, oh, he was definitely trouble. She’d never been more confused about a man in her life. He’d wanted to kiss her…twice. No, three times. Surely that wasn’t coincidence. But why did he want her? Was she just forbidden fruit?
The thought stopped her in her tracks, made her curiously numb. Could that really be it? Surely not. She realized with surprise that she had a higher opinion of him than that. When had that happened?
With the realization came another question. Why was she being so stubborn about listening to his side of the story? The very thought made her nervous. She suspected that given a chance, Azor would apologize very well. Worse, she might actually like him afterward. Liking Azor was…terrifying, actually. She practically got hives just thinking about it.
