The same fiery emotions as the first time she’d kissed him spread in his body. He embraced her and drew her closer, deepening the kiss. Her fingers dug into his back as she pulled him to her, but then she ended the kiss, breathing heavily.
“You’ve gotten bigger,” she said.
Keelan smiled and ran his fingers through her dark blond hair.
“So, even though there’s no fence to breach—”
“Oh, there’s a fence all right,” he said. “Just not in a literal sense.”
“How do you mean?”
“It means that I can’t stay for long,” he said and looked at her mournfully.
“Long?”
“A few days tops.”
She nodded and looked down, but he gently tipped her face up to look her in the eye again.
“Guess we’d better take advantage of the time we have, then,” she said.
He smiled and pulled her in for a kiss more passionate than the first.
Keelan tried to keep calm, but his desire for her was burning in him. Now that work had ended, she moved differently. Everything about her seemed different. The unapproachable persona was replaced by a more lovable one, but there was no doubt that she was a woman who knew what she wanted. She came over and took Keelan’s hand.
“See you tomorrow, Billy. Lock up, okay?”
“Yes, Boss,” he said and looked at Keelan the way a big brother would the guy taking out his little sister. Keelan liked that.
Alice showed him to an apartment upstairs from the bar. “Get comfortable. I’ll just grab a quick shower.”
Keelan nodded and looked on as she pulled her shirt off on her way to the bathroom.
Yeah, I won’t be comfortable before we’re both naked and pressed tightly against each other.
Keelan undressed and followed her to the bathroom.
“Thought I told you to get comfortable in the living room,” Alice said as soon as Keelan had opened the door to the bathroom.
“Have you ever known me to play by the rules?” he asked in a husky voice while studying her figure through the frosted glass. She giggled, so he pulled the shower curtain aside. “Besides, you didn’t specify where I was to make myself comfortable.”
She turned to face him, her gaze raking his body. He admired the sight of her but sucked in a breath as she reached out and put a hand on his chest. Discreetly he moved to stand so that his rap sheet was hidden. Looking down at her hand, he noticed that she was following little scars. Having grown up on Verion four herself, she couldn’t be surprised at them, and she didn’t seem to be. He certainly wasn’t surprised to find a big scar on her arm. It looked like it was made by a knife.
“Wow,” she whispered.
Keelan covered her hand with his before sliding it up her arm, over her shoulder and down to rest between her breasts. She gasped, and he smiled at her reaction.
“Come on.” She stepped back to make room for him, and he sighed heavily at the feel of her warm body against his.
“Turn around,” he whispered and kissed her neck.
“You in a hurry?”
“No, are you?”
She smiled and turned. Keelan bit his lip and fought his dwindling self-control as he took the soap and washed her in slow and caressing movements. He took his time massaging her neck and shoulders and back. It didn’t take long before a blissful sigh escaped her. His body reacted promptly to the sound, and he stepped up close.
She reached up to brace herself against the wall and shoved back against him, coaxing a moan from him.
“I’m not gonna last long if you keep that up.”
“Want me to stop?”
“No,” he croaked.
She giggled and commenced more eagerly and committed than before. As stated, it didn’t take long before Keelan pulled her close and buried his face against her neck to smother a roar as the orgasm swept over him.
For a while, nothing but her in his arms mattered. She turned and kissed him greedily.
“Did you like that?”
“Yep,” he said and smiled lazily.
“Then let me hear... what will you do for me?”
“Anything you want,” he whispered and kissed her gently. “But where were we? That’s right. I was giving you a massage.”
She snickered and turned around again. “Think you can control yourself for a while now?”
“A minute or two, yeah... I think.” He gently tilted her head back to wash her hair.
“I could get used to this on a daily basis,” she said, but then stiffened. Keelan chuckled and embraced her. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“You mean you weren’t proposing to me?”
“You’re not staying,” she said quietly.
“I wish I could. Maybe one day I can,” he whispered and tightened his grip around her. But much to his dismay he found that he didn’t trust her. Not enough to tell her the reason, at least.
It looks like everybody has a reason to sell their loyalty. She has her bar. Would she sell me out to keep it?
“That fence you talked about?”
“Yes,” he growled.
“We won’t talk about it,” she said. He turned her to face him and kissed her before rinsing them both off. They stepped out, and he dried her off, hoping she felt pampered, but he was mindful of her not seeing his rap sheet.
She smiled up at him, and he found the same peace in her green eyes as he had through the fence. Her eyes held something different now, but the lust for him was the same. After all these years apart, she still wanted him.
Alice took the towel from him and tossed it aside before grabbing a dry one to towel him off.
He smiled and closed his eyes to just enjoy her caresses.
She laughed and opened the door, took his hand and guided him to the bed. He sat and pulled her with him onto the bed. They kissed gently, savoring the taste of each other. But Alice soon turned greedier and demanding in both the way she kissed him and the way she touched him.
“You in a hurry,” he asked, laughing.
She looked at him with heavy lidded eyes. “Yes!”
That look fueled Keelan, and he wouldn’t deny her anything. She took control, and he let her, smiling over how less reserved she was compared to when they’d met. It had been the first time for both of them back then, but they could enjoy all the experience each other had had since. Or the experience she’d had, as his was rather limited. He knew one thing for sure, though—he was going to be a very diligent student.
Keelan collapsed but managed, despite his burning muscles, to end up with his head resting on Alice’s sweaty stomach. Her heart pounded as much as his, and for a while, the room was dominated by their heavy breathing.
“Wow.” Keelan sighed before once again moving around to crawl up to lie next to her. She snuggled closer and rested her head on his chest. They just lay there and enjoyed each other’s company.
“What happened to you back then? I mean... after we...”
“After we got caught?” he asked. “They beat the ever-living shit out of me and threw me in juvie for rape.”
“Hmm... sorry,” she whispered.
“What about you?” he asked, looking at her while raking his fingers through her damp hair.
“They locked me up for a very long time. Long enough for them to...” She hesitated.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“Actually, you deserve to be told. They kept me locked up long enough to notice that I skipped my period.”
Keelan froze. “What?” he whispered.
She sat up and looked at him. “They took it away from me. I don’t even know if it was a boy or a girl. I didn’t even get to hold it.”
Keelan didn’t know what to say, so he just pulled her down to hug her. He’d expected her to cry, but she didn’t. He let the news settle. The conversation with the varanuides on the freighter surfaced in his memory. Back then he’d said that he’d never thought about becoming a dad and, as th
ey talked, he was trying to see himself as one.
It finally dawned on him that it didn’t change how he saw himself, but it changed how he saw Alice. She became beautiful in a whole new way.
Finally, he forced himself not to think about the child somewhere out there. They’d taken it away from them, so it was a life out of their lives... out of their hands. But a new emotion was settling within him—one he couldn’t identify.
He pulled her closer and explored the new feelings through a kiss. Something felt different, and he had to know what it was. It wasn’t just his lust for her, and by the way she returned his kisses, her lust for him was intact as well.
He pulled back to look her in the eye. “Alice?”
She smiled at him, but he didn’t know what he wanted to say. He felt vulnerable. A part of him wanted to run away. The other wanted to stay and hold her close. That was where she belonged—in his arms.
Could he trust her?
Keelan got up early the next morning and took a quick shower. Alice was awake and watched him from the bed as he came in from the bathroom, partly dressed.
“Is it now?” she asked.
“No, I just have a few things to take care of. I’ll be back before tonight.”
She sat up and reached for him. He took her hand and perched on the edge of the bed, brushed a strand of hair from her face, and kissed her gently.
“You promise?”
“Yes,” Keelan said and felt sad that her eyes didn’t hold much trust in his promise.
Trust is earned.
He kissed her forehead and left the apartment.
Chapter Ten
Keelan found his spot on a rooftop and looked at the door to the motel Mike had gone into the night before. It was still early, but if Mike were to find a hop off the planet, he’d have to get going soon. Keelan just hoped he hadn’t left already.
A little over an hour later, Mike left. He turned toward the spaceport but took a detour that meant that Keelan had to leave the heights and follow him on the streets. Mike went into a kiosk and bought what looked like a news update. Then he went to a bank. Keelan figured Mike was transferring funds for a ferry, so he waited to see which departure it would be. Mike then continued to the port, where he talked to so many people that Keelan got bored. But Mike found a ship and Keelan made a discreet inquiry about its departure. That gave Keelan nine hours to plan and until Mike would be at the port again.
Keelan returned to Alice’s bar and knocked on the back door.
Billy opened and let him in. “Hope you’re here to offer a helping hand.”
“Sure,” Keelan said, took the crate from Billy, and headed for the door to the bar. He stopped and looked through the porthole in the door to watch Alice tend to a patron. She seemed happier today. He smiled and was about to push the door open when he saw Ratkins walking her way.
“What’ll it be?” she asked and looked down the bar as if she was already scouting for the next customer.
“Have you seen this guy?” Ratkins put a holo-pad on the bar. Next to it, he placed his badge. A picture of Keelan from the waist up pirouetted slowly above the holo-pad.
Alice’s body language changed. “Keelan?”
“Is he a patron here?”
“No, he—” Alice stared at the picture. “We grew up in the same orphanage. Churchburrow. He got bigger.”
“When did you last see him?” Ratkins asked as if he wouldn’t believe her no matter what she said. Either that or he didn’t care. Alice’s body language changed again, and she was the tough lady behind the bar. She tore her focus from the picture of Keelan and shot daggers at Ratkins.
“I haven’t seen him since the night they hauled his ass off to juvie!”
Ratkins looked at her skeptically and closed the holo-pad. “He’s one from the past you might want to avoid rekindling with to—”
“Why are you here?” she demanded—her man-eating-attitude in place.
Ratkins looked surprised—the skepticism was all but gone, and she certainly had his full attention now. “Uhm, he’s an escaped convict. A murderer.”
“If you’re here to catch him, please do!” she said. Keelan gaped. “You know his rap sheet, right?”
Ratkins thought for a second and nodded. “I do.”
“And since I haven’t seen him since, do you really thing I intend on rekindling anything, as you so eloquently put it?”
“No, Miss,” Ratkins said.
“Good! He hasn’t been here, and if he had, you can bet everything you got on the fact that my boys would have left him stiff, cold, and with no pulse in a dumpster out back!”
“Yes, Miss,” Ratkins said and left the bar.
“Billy!” Alice bellowed and turned. She pushed the door open, and Keelan barely retreated to the corner in time to not get it slammed in his face. “If anyone comes here and asks about the man I was with last night, then you have never seen him, is that understood?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Tell the others, now!”
“Yes, Boss,” Billy repeated and glanced at Keelan who still stood in the corner with the crate. She turned, and the weathered expression turned to something between loving and hurt.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to involve you. Didn’t want to put you in danger,” Keelan said, feeling touched by the loyalty she’d just shown.
“Run. I can’t lose my bar. It’s all I have. Hurry, I don’t want them to catch you.”
Keelan nodded at walked to the back door. Then he stopped and thought. “Do you have another way out?”
“Do you really think he’s watching?” she asked.
“He’s the best on the market.”
“How much are you worth?” Billy asked.
Keelan glanced at him, but the question was mirrored in Alice’s expression. “I’m a max prisoner, so a lot.”
“Okay, you can leave through the sewers. Down here.” Billy began moving crates.
Keelan saw the edge of a hatch under there and helped him clear the area.
Billy pulled the hatch open and revealed a small basement. “In the corner to the right, there’s another hatch in the floor. Jump through it. You’ll be almost knee deep in shit, but you can follow it all the way to the Mining-steps or the spaceport.”
“Thank you.” Keelan stepped down the first few rungs of the ladder, but he stopped and looked at Alice. “You’re the best that ever happened to me,” he said and smiled.
Her eyes welled up with tears, and he hurried down.
“You too,” he heard her whisper before Billy closed the hatch and the sound of crates being placed up above made it impossible to hear anything. He found the hatch and opened it, gagging as the stench of bodily fluids hit his nostrils. But he bit it back and jumped in and ran as fast as he could to the Mining-steps. He had to get his clothes and take another shower before going after Mike.
Hidden between some old buildings close to the ferry, Keelan waited for Mike. At least waiting was something he’d become good at, and he’d been there for nearly six hours. The ferry had landed, and people were disembarking. The boarding hall was filling up, but the crew wasn’t even done with the luggage. It would be at least two hours before they would begin to board new passengers.
Evening and thus Verion four’s darkest period was closing in before Keelan spotted Mike staring at the boarding hall, overcrowded with humans and other species. He finally shook his head and went into an old abandoned building.
Ha, are you trying to hide from me? Still no good with overcrowded areas?
Keelan had counted on that and tiptoed closer, making his way around the building until he found a window frame with no window. Carefully, he crawled in and prowled closer in the shadows.
Mike stood up ahead in a lonely beam of light. He tossed his rig on the table, causing a cloud of dust to rise.
“Nice place,” he mumbled and looked up at the light. Then he tensed—he’d sensed Keelan’s presen
ce. Keelan let him be and waited for him to relax and believe that he was alone. Once that seemed to be the case, Keelan snuck closer and grabbed him from behind.
Mike yelped as Keelan lifted him from the floor and threw him against the table, causing Mike to cry out in pain from the impact. Keelan then jumped him. Mike turned his head in time to see him, but Keelan ignored his mournful expression.
“No, wait!”
Keelan landed heavily on top of him, and Mike had to use all his might to lift himself enough to breathe.
“The only thing you had to do was keep trusting me,” Keelan sneered. “You broke the deal, not me!” Being that close to Mike broke his heart. He was angry, hurt, and confused about how he felt now that he saw him again. More than he’d thought possible.
Mike continued to fight to get air while Keelan’s emotions kept him from thinking clearly.
Now it ends.
Keelan pushed all the thoughts away, and he felt the sorrow tear at him. He pushed himself away from Mike, grabbed his knife, and cut a gash deep enough to reach the abdominal aorta. Mike screamed again and gasped for air before falling to the ground.
Keelan watched as the blood poured out of Mike’s back while Mike’s voice echoed in his head. Do you ever regret a kill?
Keelan noticed his hand was shaking. “Yes,” he whispered.
A loud ruckus sounded, but Keelan barely had time to react before he felt a powerful blow to the back of his head. He collapsed next to Mike, and the whole room sailed.
“Keelan,” Mike whispered, but Keelan couldn’t focus. He saw Ratkins turn Mike onto his stomach and straddle his legs to press against the bleeding.
“Mike, god dammit,” Ratkins said. More steps sounded, but Keelan didn’t register to whom they belonged. The last thing he saw was Mike’s sad eyes and Ratkins’ orders for Mike to stay awake.
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