by H. E. Trent
The woman tapped her tongs some more, staring at him as though she could shoot lasers through them. But then she sighed and looked over her shoulder at the grill. There was a younger man turning the meat over. “It’s all good, but we have a lot of beef today. Took too much out of the freezer.”
“So, I’ll take two of the beef, please.”
“You ordering for me?” Oreva asked.
“Make that three,” Alex said to the woman. “If you have foil for one, I would appreciate it. It will have to sit for a while.”
She tapped the order into her tablet. “What do you want to drink?”
“What do they have?” Oreva asked.
Alex really needed to figure out how to mute his mic when he was using his COM’s listening bud. He had no idea when Oreva had learned Jekhani. He’d never been on the planet before. The man had more mysteries than Alfred Hitchcock.
“I’m parched,” Oreva said. “The ship’s water tastes stale. I’d like something refreshing. Get me something refreshing.”
Alex was probably going to end up giving his friend a swift kick in the ass by the time the day was over, but he asked the woman anyway. “My friend says he wants something refreshing to drink. Suggestions?”
“We have some ale. Five credits per bottle.”
Oreva whistled low. “My math says that’s high.”
It was high, but Alex also knew alcohol was hard to come by on Jekh. There were few brewers and distilleries on the planet. He made a mental note to look into business opportunities.
“How many do you have, mother?” Alex asked her.
She cleared her throat and proudly straightened her gnarled spine. “Six left.”
He could see her doing the math in her head. Thirty credits was a lot to spend on beverages and few of the natives would have been able to afford the expenditure. Alex had money to waste, though. The money felt even better to spend when it was his father’s, given how the man had been a hapless fool who’d done his own part to screw over the Jekhan population.
“I’ll take the six.”
The woman moved spryly then, or as spryly as she could, boxing up the bottles and wrapping the food into foil packets.
“Sixty credits.”
He held out his wrist to tap the electronic currency receiver against his COM band, but hesitated, remembering the transaction rate on those things. He liked to keep some cash in case of emergencies, but he had more in his ship, stashed away in his safe along with his traveling papers and a few other important odds and ends. He dug the small red discs that served as Jekh’s most stable currency out of his pockets, did a quick count of the total, and handed all hundred jekhuns over.
The woman stared down at her palm in silence.
“I can use credits if you’d prefer not to make a trip to the bank.”
She shook her head and dropped the jekhuns into her till. The clatter as they hit the tray suggested that they were the only ones in it. “I see so few now. I forget what the denominations look like. Never see twenties.”
Ah.
If he’d had more in his pocket to give her, he would have, only so that she could keep one or two for her collection. It was a shame that their currency had become a historical curiosity in fifteen years’ time.
She gestured grandly to the side of the cart. “You stand there. We’ll bring everything over.”
“Thank you.” Alex moved out of the way and let the next in the line take his place.
“What did you buy me?” Oreva asked.
“A sort of beef sandwich and beer.”
“That’ll hit the spot.”
“Where are you supposed to be when you get off the ship?” Alex asked. “I’m certain you already have your trip scheduled down to the minute.”
“Nothing as aggressive as all that, my friend. I have general knowledge of the planet and what the major hubs are, but I figured I’d spend a few days simply absorbing the culture first and understanding firsthand how Jekhans do business.”
“That’s wise. They’re far less cutthroat here, but that doesn’t mean they’re stupid or that they’ll let you swindle them.”
“I’ve never swindled anyone. I take offense to the insinuation.”
“I wasn’t insinuating that you had. I was using a general ‘you.’ For all the damage the Terran occupation did to the planet, the Jekhans came out far less trusting than they were before. Anyone you do business with is going to vet you heavily and think thrice before working with you.”
The vendor woman shuffled over with his bag of food.
Alex gave her a shallow bow and squeezed her hand. “I know we will enjoy the meal. Thank you, mother.”
She patted his head and limped back to her station.
Alex carried the bag to the depot. “I’ll see you shortly. I’ll be in the waiting zone, likely sitting near a man who’s behaving as though he was just released from a year in solitary confinement.”
“Be kind. You never know what strangers have endured.”
“Not a stranger. Luke Cipriani.”
There went that loud laugh again. “Your little sister’s second-favorite champion, you mean? Why are you near him? Freak coincidence? Is the planet really so small that you run into people you know all the time?”
“Yes,” Alex said flatly.
Hardly.
Jekh was approximately twice the size of Earth and had far lower population density.
“Well, do the best you can to get along for my sake,” Oreva said. “At least pretend to. I won’t have my grand arrival on the planet spoiled by a pair of bickering fools.”
“I can’t make any promises.”
Alex tapped his COM to disconnect the call, put his shoulder to the depot door and stepped inside. The interior was markedly dimmer than the sunny outdoors. He stood in the atrium until his eyes adjusted to the change in light.
The ship was the same as it had been before—none of the passengers had disembarked. His gaze went next to the seating area, quickly sweeping side to side in a desperate search for the man that should have been there.
There he is.
Luke was slumped even lower in his seat than he had been, making himself nearly impossible to see, but he was still there.
Alex wiped the stupid smile off his face and weaved through the milling crowd.
Luke’s feet were up on the railing and his eyes were closed when Alex arrived at his seat.
Alex pushed his feet down.
Luke sprang up, ready to fight.
“Simmer down,” Alex said and set the bag on the railing. “If you have such a hair trigger, perhaps you shouldn’t fall asleep in public places.”
Rubbing his eyes, Luke settled back into his seat. “Didn’t get a damn wink last night.”
“I see.” Alex thrust a sandwich at him and reached into the bag for another. “I suppose I would have been restless, too.”
“Don’t even try to put yourself in my shoes.” Luke peeled back the wrapper and carefully set the meal onto his lap. “You have no idea what’s going through my head right now.”
“You think I’ve had no experience with awkward encounters with women who have been groomed to marry men like me?”
“You sure as hell don’t act like you do.”
“What do you mean?”
“You get around. Everyone knows that.”
“I certainly do.” Alex sank his teeth into soft bread, tender beef, and well-seasoned vegetables, and let out an indulgent moan as sauce hit his tongue. Street meat was the best meat.
Apparently, Luke thought so, too. His enthusiastic bites verged on pornographic. He ate with abandon; careless that more than one man was watching him. In fact, there was a Jekhan man three seats down looking his way, eyebrow quirked with curiosity and one of those tight smiles that was easy enough to read as “I like what I see.”
Alex expelled a frustrated grunt and tossed a napkin to Luke. “You’re a fucking animal.”
“So stop watching.” Luke
took another big bite, sending a gush of sauce down his chin and onto his fingers, and Alex didn’t know what had gotten into himself.
Maybe Luke was too slow in cleaning himself up, or maybe he didn’t care to, but that Jekhan man was far too enthralled and his interest verged on predatory. He was hitting Alex’s radar as a competitor. So Alex grabbed Luke’s sauce-slicked fingers and pulled them into his mouth. He licked off every drop of sauce and meat, and Alex was so stunned he didn’t fight him.
And Luke would have.
He was the kind of man who would have hauled off and slugged someone who’d offended him in that way, but apparently, he didn’t know what had gotten into himself, either.
Alex let Luke’s hand drop, cleared his throat, and gathered his sandwich back up.
Luke stared at him.
“You’ve got sauce on your chin,” Alex said.
“Gonna lick that off, too?” Luke’s voice was tight as a harp string, and Alex’s show of dominance had failed.
The Jekhan man was staring even more openly.
“Because I’d caution against it,” Luke said. “Sunblock doesn’t taste amazing. If you’re really in a licking mood, though, I could steer you toward some other things.” He let his knees fall apart and glanced down between his legs. “Not even illegal to do that in public on Jekh.” He looked to his nosy neighbor. “Is it?”
“No. It actually isn’t.” The man grinned as if he knew from experience. He grinned as if he wanted to broaden the depth of his experience.
Alex gritted his teeth.
“Hey, where do you live?” Luke asked him.
“Yist.”
“Wow, that’s far.” Sandwich remnants in hand, Luke turned toward him, crossing his legs in his general direction and putting most of his back toward Alex.
That bastard…
“Who are you waiting for?” Luke asked.
The guy let out a breath. “A woman I’ve been corresponding with. I’ve never done anything like this before but I figured I should get on the list before it gets backlogged.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“We’ve been corresponding,” the stranger from Yist said. “She seems nice, but I worry she’ll be unhappy.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. Most of the folks who’ve signed up supposedly know what they’re getting themselves into, and you seem like a nice guy. I hear Yist is a great place for folks who love the outdoors. Lots of hiking opportunities and mountain-climbing and stuff.”
“Well, that’s what the brochures say. Those are Terran activities, but I’m certain I can learn to like them if that’s what she wants.”
“You’re a good sport. She’ll be thrilled you’re so open.”
Alex ground his teeth some more. Luke wasn’t a man who made small talk. He was doing it to infuriate Alex.
“I hope so,” the man said. “And are…you waiting on someone?” His pitch rose with curiosity and gaze flitted to Alex and then back to Luke.
Alex was about to tell him to mind his fucking business, but obviously Luke was in a sharing mood.
“Yeah,” he said with enthusiasm. “Taking a lady back to Little Gitano. Everyone around me was hooking up. Sucks feeling like you’re the only one who doesn’t have someone.”
Alex put his booted foot on the edge of the seat between Luke’s legs in warning, but Luke was set on running his mouth.
“I followed my best friend here, you know. He’s married, and my brother and sister who came here are both shacked up, too.”
“In the Jekhan way?” The man gave a querying lift of his brow.
Brazen bastard.
The man from Yist didn’t have the makings of what Jekhans called a “leading” male, though. The “Jekhan way” was a trio consisting of two men and a woman. One of the men was typically more aggressive and other more conciliatory. An unattached male with the potential to be a leading male would have behaved a lot like the man was at the moment, but Alex was getting the feeling that he was just trying his luck and seeing what would stick. Jekhan men tended to be more outgoing with humans than they would have been with other Jekhans. They knew they didn’t have the same cultural hang-ups.
“Nah,” Luke took a bite of his sandwich and chewed thoughtfully for a minute. “Didn’t shake out that way for them. My brother’s in a trio, but not like that, and my sister has a girlfriend.”
The man’s eyebrows went up.
“I wouldn’t mind if I ended up in one, though. I’m used to sleeping three to a bed.” Luke straightened up just as Alex angled his foot down toward Luke’s manhood.
Luke had plenty of opportunities to sleep three to a bed in recent weeks, or even four. There was a certain pair of playful twins who regularly visited the planet and Alex, and they’d been begging to get Luke onto his back. Luke had summarily refused every overture, just like Alex knew he would. He said no out of spite. But they’d made do, just the three of them.
“Pity we didn’t meet sooner,” the stranger said. “I would have considered a move to Little Gitano, not that I could compete. I hear the men there are extraordinary.”
“Oh, they’re extraordinary everywhere here. Not a dud amongst you.” Luke cut an incendiary glare toward Alex. “And you’re all so giving.”
“It’d be a pleasure to give you—”
Alex scoffed loudly, interrupting the bullshit. “Okay. Perhaps this isn’t obvious to you, but he’s flirting with you at my expense.”
The man gave his head a slow shake. “I don’t understand.”
“He’d fuck you to spite me.”
Luke nodded and grinned like a loon. “I sure would.” He extended a hand to the man. “Lucas Cipriani, by the way.”
“Lorn.” Lorn shook Luke’s hand.
Luke kissed the back of Lorn’s.
“I will kill you,” Alex said under his breath.
“Oh, you can try, and maybe that’ll turn you on a little.” Luke let go of Lorn’s had. “I doubt that’s what you want, all things considered. You should be doing all you can to keep your passions at a low simmer.”
“He refused you?” Lorn asked Luke.
“Kinda. How’d you guess?”
Lorn shrugged. “That’s the way they always act when they can’t get what they didn’t want before. My former lover does that.” Lorn rolled his eyes and twined his fingers together. “Five years together, and he wanted to wait to finalize our trio. I grew tired of waiting.”
“Good for you. You deserve better.”
“This is unbelievable,” Alex murmured, rolling his gaze to the high ceiling.
Luke scoffed and pushed Alex’s foot off his seat. “You made your choice, and I was very clear about what I’d accept. I don’t take anybody’s scraps.”
Lorn interjected, “If you’re looking for a second male to—”
“No, and please mind your business,” Alex said. “I assure you that he already has a list of interested second males the length of his arm to choose from, but he doesn’t need a second male.”
Luke ground his teeth.
Lorn’s lips quirked at the corners “I see.”
“Oh?” Luke asked.
Lorn gave a knowing nod. “Happens every so often. You get two very strong personalities in a trio, and there’s constant passion. It’s fun to watch.”
“Well, we won’t be in a trio.” Luke eyed the remnants of his sandwich and turned it to the other end. “It’s gonna be me and the lady coming off that ship. That might be it for me. For all I know, she’s all I need.”
But what about what I need?
“Perhaps she will be,” Lorn said. “And I wish you luck, Lucas Cipriani.” He leaned over and gave Luke’s thigh a squeeze.
I will kill you.
“Yeah,” Luke said, taking another bite of his sandwich. “Good luck to you, too, Lorn. I hope your lady is amazing.” His gaze panned away from the adoring spectator and fixed squarely on Alex. “I hope she can give you everything you need.”
C
HAPTER THREE
“Don’t panic,” Autumn Ray whispered to her little sister when the immigration authority passed by their open stateroom door for the third time in five minutes.
Autumn had known before leaving Earth that she was taking a risk not forcing Cree off the vessel, but she hadn’t known what else to do. She couldn’t just leave the young woman behind once she’d gone to all the hassle of sneaking on. “I can’t believe you’re leaving me already!” Cree had said.
It was true that the match process had transpired far more quickly than Autumn had anticipated. She’d expected to be on Jekh in a year, not three months after submitting a matchmaker profile. She’d barely had time to get her business transactions tidied up and had to move quickly or else risk losing her spot. She’d heard of that happening. Women took too long to make the trip, and the men on the other end changed their minds.
Autumn needed to be on Jekh. There was opportunity there. On Jekh, she wouldn’t be in anyone’s shadow. She’d be successful on her own terms. She’d be away from the long reach of her father.
And apparently, she was going to be the guardian of a stowaway unless Cree got immediately deported.
Cree paced in front of the open door and chewed on her already raggedy cuticles. “I’ll be eighteen in three weeks, and it’ll take that long for this ship to even get back to Earth. By the time it gets there, I could say that I’d rather be on Jekh. I mean, if you think about it that way, they can’t send me back. It’d be a waste of space.” She balled her hands into fists and shook with overwhelm. “I can’t go back, Autumn.”
“Okay, honey,” Autumn said quietly. “I hear you.” She tapped the end of the stateroom’s environmental control remote against the desktop and watched her sister pace. Talking to Cree when she was in that harried state was pointless. Cree wouldn’t retain any information. Her panic got in the way of her memory.
Cree stopped suddenly then as the immigrations official hovered in the doorway.
Oh, hell.
Autumn was good at reading faces. She had to be in her business. Real estate development was a boy’s club, and they all thought they could pull the wool over her eyes. But she knew their tricks. She knew what gambits her bankers and competitors would try before they dared to pull them. That official’s face had a level of gravity etched into it that made Autumn’s stomach lurch.
