Dark Expanse (Bright Beyond Prequel)

by Theresa Kay

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Title Page

  1- Then

  2- Now

  3- Then

  4- Now

  5- Then

  6- Now

  7- Then

  8- Now

  9- Then

  10- Now

  Also by Theresa Kay

  About the Author

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2014 Theresa Kay

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Theresa Kay

  www.theresakay.com

  Cover design by Nicole Spence at Cover Shot Creations

  www.covershotcreations.com

  To Lenore, thank you for your last minute help with this. I hope this dedication makes up for ripping out your heart, stomping on it and leaving it bleeding on a planet far, far away…

  DARK EXPANSE

  (A Bright Beyond Prequel)

  By Theresa Kay

  1- Then

  The first time I met Thomas Markham I punched him in the nose, right between his ice blue eyes. In my defense, I’d had a bad day and he acted like a complete asshole.

  It was the first day of school and my first day in that school in particular. Two weeks before the beginning of my freshman year, my dad got reassigned to the newly expanded M-Station in the Hadrall Quadrant. A great opportunity for him, but not so much for me. It required us to move immediately. I had three days to say goodbye to my friends and pack up my room before my whole family, mom, dad, my little brother and me, had to board a ship that would take us to our tiny new living quarters light years away.

  My morning hadn’t gone well. Although my parents were both in the corps, we’d lived on planet before and I’d gone to a civvy school, which was nothing like the regimented on station school, and I was already struggling to fit in. My math teacher was a conceited jerk. Most of the other kids had known each other since they were in diapers and had already formed their little cliques. Even worse, I was stuck in a class with a bunch of kids whose parents far outranked my own. And just to top it all off, I was smaller than everyone else and my parents hadn’t been able to afford to buy me a new bodysuit, the required uniform, and I was stuck with a secondhand one.

  So there I was, already pissed about the whole moving thing and feeling out of place amidst all the officer’s kids, when this blond-haired, blue-eyed guy strode across the multi-room. Two other boys flanked him, both as prissy perfect as he was, not a single hair out of place.

  His eyes flicked up and down, taking in the cuffed legs and rolled sleeves of the stupid gray bodysuit and pausing at my face. He smirked. “Hello, new girl.”

  The two nimwits beside him hadn’t even gotten to my face, much too busy staring at my boobs.

  I scowled at all three of them and crossed my arms over my chest. “How original. I haven’t heard that ten times today already.”

  “Aren’t you a spunky little thing.” He winked.“What should I call you then? How about small fry?” He made another slow perusal of my body with his eyes. “Though there are at least a couple things not so small— ”

  And that’s when it happened. All the frustration and anger that had been brewing from the moment I heard about the move just exploded. Almost without thinking, my fist swung forward and made contact with his nose.

  “My name is Eva.” I spun on my heel and walked away from the trio without another word, a nasal sounding curse from blondie and the laughter of his cohorts ringing in my ears. My knuckles stung, but damn it felt good.

  When his two lackeys showed up in my next class, I slumped down in my desk a little, hoping they wouldn’t notice me. Of course, they walked right up to me.

  “Hey little spitfire, I’m Nathan,” said the taller, black-haired one. He jerked his finger at the other guy. “And that’s Harvey.”

  I sat up a little straighter. It didn’t seem like they were mad about it. In fact, both of them looked pretty amused.

  Harvey grinned. “Great shot out there girlie. First time I’ve ever seen someone put Thomas in his place like that. I think we’ll keep you around to shut him up. How about it?”

  Before I could respond, my comlink dinged with an incoming message: “Ms. Braebel, report to the office immediately.”

  “Well boys, I guess I’m off to face the music.” I gave them a jaunty salute, but their smiles had faded and they didn’t say anything else.

  My day got even worse when I got to the office and found out that Thomas’ father was General Markham, not only my father’s boss, but the commander of the entire station, the M in M-Station and I’d broken his son’s nose.

  Really, a broken nose wasn’t that big of a deal, a pain pill and a single dose of boneknit and it would be as good as new. You wouldn’t know that from the look on the General’s face, though. He showed up in the office only minutes after my arrival and spent most of his time there trying to kill me with his stare. That is, when he wasn’t sending the same disgusted glare at his son for lying and saying it was an accident.

  I’m still not sure what made Thomas lie for me that day, I had punched him over a relatively benign comment. My actions gained me the ire of the General, but I’d also gained three new friends. The three boys adopted me into their group and the four of us developed a bond that would take us through high school and beyond.

  2- Now

  My sharp intake of breath pulls Nathan’s eyes to me, a questioning look on his face.

  “What’s up spitfire?”

  I shake my head. I’ve worked hard to earn my place here at flight school and I’ve even managed to earn the position of squadron leader. I can’t let him get to me now. I point across the room to the stark white uniform moving among the black-garbed pilots. Nathan narrows his eyes and scowls glancing back and forth from the pale blond form to me. His hand finds mine under the table and he gives it a squeeze. I take a deep breath and squeeze back.

  Harvey, oblivious as always, grins and shoots up from the bench. “Hey, Tommy! Over here!” His voice rings out through the mess hall and almost every face in the place turns to our table. He waves his hand over his head frantically.

  Thomas returns his wave from across the room with a smile and starts wading through the room, the sea of black corps issued bodysuits parting to let him through. What is he doing here? I mean, I invited him but…I can’t believe he actually showed up.

  I grab Harvey and pull him into his seat “Sit down! Everyone’s staring.”

  Harvey slings an arm over my shoulder. “Eva, my dear, everyone was staring anyway. It’s not every day that a newbie girl gets one of the best training scores ever and attains a squadron leader position right out of flight school. And such a tiny little thing at that. Plus you’re sitting next to the most attractive guy in the place.”

  I elbow him in the side. “I’m not that tiny.”

  “Ah, but at least you admit I’m attractive.” He grins and winks, brown eyes twinkling.

  “Yeah Harv, about as attractive as one of those Greesers. Now scoot over so I can sit down,” says Thomas a brief flash in his eyes when he takes in Harvey’s arm across my shoulders. A soft smile appears on his lips and the next words are quiet and meant only for me. “Sorry I’m late. Congratulations.”

  I hold his pale blue eyes with mine
and my cheeks heat. “Thanks.”

  He was a cute boy who has grown into an incredibly attractive man. Not that Harvey isn’t, but he’s got nothing on Thomas’ perfectly mussed pale blond hair and eyes so icy blue you’d think they’d be cold. They aren’t of course. In fact, right now they’re rather heated… and still pinning me to my seat.

  Nathan speaks up and I finally manage to tear my eyes from Thomas.“So you’ve heard then, even in that fancy commander school? Our little spitfire is the best of the best. I’d wager she’s even better than you Tommy boy.”

  “I’m sure she is.” His words, soft and warm, are directed to me. When I raise my eyes, he is still looking directly at me and hasn’t even moved to sit in the spot Harvey made for him.

  Why is he even here? I sent the vidmail over a month ago and haven’t heard a word from him. After all we went through, the promises he made…and he has the nerve to show up here and act like nothing has changed? I’ve spent weeks planning out what to say to him, crafting the perfect verbal barbs to cut him, to hurt him, to make him feel like I do. And now he’s here, right in front of me and I’m completely tongue-tied, trapped in the intensity of his gaze. Maybe I should just punch him. That worked out so well for me before.

  But then he sits and the spell is broken as Nathan reaches across and ruffles his hair roughly and Harvey slings his other arm around Thomas.

  “I must say Tommy boy—”

  “Stop calling me that.” There’s a hardness to his words that doesn’t match the smile on his face and now that I look closer I can see he looks strained. “And would you please sit the hell down?”

  Nathan backs up with his hand up by his shoulder. “What’s got you so touchy?”

  Thomas’ eyes dart around the mess hall. “I’m not supposed to be here and you’re just calling attention to me.”

  “Hate to break it to you man, but the ghost uniform is what’s doing that,” says Harvey. He pulls his arm away. “Why’d you show if you didn’t want to be here?”

  Thomas’ shoulders slump. “That’s not what I said.”

  Nathan narrows his eyes. “Seems to me like the high and mighty Thomas Markham has decided he’s too good for us now. I dunno Harv, when’s the last time you got a vidmail from him?”

  “A few weeks ago?” says Harvey, shrugging.

  “He doesn’t write, he doesn’t call and then all of a sudden he shows up here in his pretty new uniform to what? See how the other side lives?”

  Redness rises from Thomas’ neck into his face.“It’s not like that. My father—”

  “Since when do you care what your father says!” Nathan is leaning across the table and his words, though low in volume, cut the air like a scream.

  Thomas leans forward until he and Nathan are inches apart. He opens his mouth to speak, but I break in before he can say anything.

  “Stop it. Just stop it.”

  Nathan sits back in his seat looking sheepish and Thomas darts his eyes to me and presses his lips together before doing the same. The two boys nod at each other with a quick jerk of their chins.

  “Now that that’s out of the way, let’s eat!” says Harvey, digging his fork into the lump of nutri-meat on his plate.

  Nathan and I start eating too and an uncomfortable silence falls over the group. Tension vibrates the air between us and it’s all I can do to choke my rations down. Thomas is not eating. He simply sits and stares down at his hands.

  As soon as my fork hits the table, Thomas jumps to his feet. “Eva, will you walk with me, please?”

  We exit the mess hall and stroll down the hallway. Side by side but what feels like miles apart. Now that I’m not locked in Thomas’ eyes, my anger at him is starting to rise.

  After a few minutes of uneasy silence, he finally speaks up. “Why didn’t you tell me Nathan was angry with me?”

  I shrug. “I didn’t know he was.”

  Thomas stops and reaches for my arm. “Are you mad at me?” His brow furrows. “Should I not have come? I thought….”

  I pull away from his grasp and place my hands on my hips. “You thought what? You’d show up here two hours late for my graduation? To do what exactly? I sent you a vidmail a month ago and nothing, I got nothing, not even a congratulations?” I close my eyes and turn my head away from him. “And not a single word since. At least the guys heard from you more recently than that. And the grad invitation last week? I sent that on a whim, I didn’t think you’d even respond, much less actually show.”

  “I’m sorry. After… you said you needed time and I’ve been in training. You know that. We’ve gone weeks without talking before. What—”

  “Yeah, but I’d never sent you a vidmail to tell you I was pregnant before.”

  The color leaves his face. “You’re pregnant?”

  “Oh don’t pull that crap with me, Thomas. It’s not like you didn’t make your thoughts on the matter clear enough last time I saw you. You’ve been stringing me along for years, but I thought we were friends at least.” I spin away from him and start back toward the mess hall.

  “Eva wait!” Footsteps pound down the hall after me and Thomas pulls me to a stop by grabbing my arm. “I didn’t get that vidmail. And I’ve sent you one almost every day this week to let you know I was coming.”

  “What? I haven’t heard from you…”

  He runs his hand over his face and sighs. “I can’t believe he’d resort to this.”

  “Who?”

  His jaw tenses. “My father.”

  3- Then

  By the time the four of us hit our senior year of high school, we were near inseparable. Parties, pranks or just hanging out, everyone knew that where one of us was, the other three weren’t far behind. We’d all joke and flirt, but I’d never developed romantic feelings for any of the guys. That is, until mid senior year. And of course, my heart decided on Thomas, the only one of the three I knew I could never have. Not only because at that time he already had a girlfriend, but because even then I knew that with his father’s position, Thomas was destined for better things than the rest of us.

  Nathan knew, of course. I’d always been closest to him even within our little group and he was the one that always looked out for me, beating up the idiots who messed with me and even helping me out with my little brother when my parents were too busy. If I’d had any say in my heart’s decision, I would have ended up with Nathan. Solid, dependable and just an all around great guy, but both of our feelings were purely platonic. Believe me, we tested this theory with a couple drunken kisses and there was just no spark.

  Graduation itself was entirely uneventful, but at the party afterward, things between Thomas and I started to change.

  We were allowed the use of the multi-room for the party and some bozo had rigged it so it kept cycling between the gymnasium, a science lab and a star covered sky. Strange and more than a little disconcerting after a couple drinks. The alcohol was forbidden, but we were teenagers who just graduated and most of us, me, Nathan and Harvey included, were headed off to corps boot camp in the morning. Did they really expect us to be sober?

  Last I’d heard, Thomas had made plans with Serena and wouldn’t be attending, so I had a few more drinks than normal. I was wedged between Nathan and Harvey on a bench, one arm around each of them, telling them how great they were and how glad I was that ‘my boys’ were headed to Urias with me when Thomas walked in.

  “Thomas!” I sprang up and ran across the room, throwing myself into his arms. “You came!”

  He smiled down at me, not bothering to release me from his arms. “Of course I did. I couldn’t miss seeing my favorite girl before she ships off now could I?”

  I pressed my face against his chest, not so subtly inhaling the scent of his cologne. The tequila had nixed my stringent control over my feelings for him… and apparently my verbal filter. “Isn’t Serena your favorite girl?”

  “Not at all.”

  The heated conviction in his voice brought my face up until I was lo
cked into his eyes. “Huh?” So eloquent.

  Thomas chuckled. “Serena was….expected of me. I’m eighteen now. I’ve graduated and tomorrow I’m off to command training. He has no say in my life now.”

  Slowly, the connections formed in my brain. “Your father? He wanted you with Serena?”

  “Yes.”

  “But now… you don’t want to be with Serena?”

  “No.”

  “Huh.” I nodded my head. My tequila numbed brain was still chugging along, and my heart decided to take advantage of its distraction to take control of my mouth. “Do you want to be with me?”

  He leaned down and rubbed his nose against mine. “I was hoping to make a slightly more romantic declaration, but yes, Eva. I’ve always wanted you.”

  Brain and heart worked together this time to grab his shirt, pull him down and slam my lips to his. His mouth twitched into a smile under mine and then he wrapped his arms tighter around my waist and deepened the kiss. I reached up and ran my fingers through his hair, bringing a rumble from his chest, and then nipped at his lower lip and pressed my tongue into his mouth. The taste and smell of him overwhelmed everything else and my fingers had started inching down the zipper on his bodysuit before his hand came up and stopped me.

  Nothing quite like being drunk, making out with the guy of your dreams and trying to undress him in public only to realize the entire room is staring at you. Flames filled my cheeks and I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my face into Thomas’ chest. “Shit. I’m sorry.”

  “Nothing to apologize for.” He raised my face with a finger under my chin. “I’m ecstatic that you’re so enthusiastic about it.” Then he threw his head back and laughed.

  I narrowed my eyes. “Watch it Mister Markham. Your nose knows what happens when I get angry.” I giggled. “Nose…knows…”

  He reached up to cover the body part in question. “Does it ever.”