Lie to Me (19 page)

Kella shoved hard on his chest, and he flopped to her side with a heavy thudding sound that echoed in the metal cavern. She secured the blanket around her once again and scooted to the end of the airplane as far away from him as she could go, burrowing into the corner to find as much warmth as she could in an upright fetal position.

“One thing you should know now, Kella.” His husky voice was quiet in the metal tube, the pelting of the rain almost silencing him, but she heard him loud and clear. “We will
never
be over.”

A shiver raced through her. Closing her eyes, she attempted to plot another escape, but all she could think about was the way he’d stared at her while he kissed her. Like she mattered to him. A painful reminder of the days when she
had
mattered to him because of who she was, not what she was.

Fuck it all, but she’d delighted in the way he’d felt against her too. The hard planes of his body pressing her into the floor should’ve had her feeling trapped and out of control, but instead she’d become even more aroused. Being dominated by Regent Stone Emmerson excited her. The only thing that terrified her more than him was her reaction
to
him.

––––––––

S
tone woke to silence and heat so bad he struggled to breathe. Humid heat usually followed a bout of crimson rain, but it seemed this climate called for a dry heat.

A dull glow of light filtered in through the broken windows, evidencing the approach of dawn. Not intending to sleep for fear Kella would run in the middle of the night, he’d been determined to watch her through the long hours before daylight. But at some point, he’d fallen asleep sitting straight up, and woke with his head angled to the side.

Alternating between appreciating her physical appearance and cursing her stubbornness, he couldn’t get a solid hold on his emotions. The last thing he wanted was to argue with her. Their differences couldn’t be resolved overnight, if ever. The struggle of his emotions annoyed him too. The all-consuming need to protect her one moment, while wanting to punish her the next, the hodgepodge of feelings was too much.

Stone rolled his head, but winced at the stiffness in his neck. Groggy from a few hours of sleep, he wished he’d managed to stay awake so he’d be more clearheaded to deal with Kella first thing this morning. He pushed his hair out of his face, vowing to cut it as soon as he returned to the Quad if for no other reason than Kella seemed to like it. Maintaining the length in her memory had been a mistake.

Time to quit pining for a girl who was lost to him.

He looked in the direction of Kella’s sleeping spot. Empty. Even her supplies were gone. Only his clothes and what she’d given him remained.

As he sprang to his feet, he noticed the door wide open.

Dressing as fast as possible, he laced his boots up and took off out the door—and halted. Her buggy was cocked up at an angle with a jack, and she was working on the tire. Retro sat near watching, with her tongue lolling out of her mouth.

He walked toward Kella, taking his time so his heart had a chance to slow down before he reached her. Making no effort to quiet his approach, he knew she heard him, but she never acknowledged his presence. Not even when he stood over her and blocked her light.

He nabbed the heli light and angled it to provide her with better illumination. “You’re up early.”

Kella kept her gaze on the tire. As she scraped a gooey, tar like substance along the blowout in the rubber, she said, “Archeologist curse.”

“Is that going to fix the bullet hole?” He didn’t see how with that huge gash.

“Doubtful.”

“I’m impounding your vehicle anyway.” Her head jerked back at his announcement, and her eyes narrowed. “For your own good so you can’t run again. Come to think of it, everything you have is mine.”

“I hate you,” she said with such quietness her calmness alarmed him a little.

“Finally we’re on the same page.”

She flinched, but he felt little guilt since she’d resorted to the vile words first.

In an abrupt manner, she stood and shoved the tire into his gut. An
oomph
of air exited his lungs.

“Fix your own fucking tire then.” She grabbed her backpacks out of the buggy, slung one over each shoulder, and took off walking in the direction of town. The kippy peered between them as if deciding whom she wanted to stay with, but in the end she took off after her owner.

Grinning at Kella’s tantrum, he let her go if for no other reason than to work off some steam. Ten minutes later he remained standing there watching her, as she grew smaller in the distance, and she was a background image against the skeletal remains of the airplane. For the first time he noticed above the windows of the plane, the faded words “United States Navy” amongst the graffiti etched into and drawn on the metal tubing. A time forgotten when they’d been one nation. Now they were broken up into twenty Quadrants, with each Quad having its own Regent that governed with total dictatorial law.

When he returned to his hotel, he’d file a formal claim for this piece of property and the aircraft. He’d acquire a rental home until he squared away Kella’s affairs and could take her home, back to where she belonged in Quadrant13. New credentials would be required for Kella. He’d talk with James, and her friend, Reaper, and meet with Regent Jones soon.

Letting her go was no longer an option. She was his, had always been his. He just had to convince her of that reality. He was a master at seduction, but he’d never had to slowly seduce someone important to him. Women fell into his bed. Kella wouldn’t be so easy.

That last year before her genetic testing, she’d been interested in him. He wasn’t stupid, he’d known. Even as an adolescent teen he’d known playing with her then could ruin any future chance of a real relationship. Kella had always been his end goal. The chances of her having the Xeno gene had been a one in ten thousand. The positive had sideswiped them both. He’d been forced to alter his plan, purchasing her to keep her near.

Yeah, he understood her gripe about the way Xeno’s were treated. And she wasn’t wrong. But she still should’ve come to him for answers before jumping to conclusions and putting herself at risk.

Last night solidified her future. She just didn’t know it yet. He’d been willing to let her go until she responded to him. If he hadn’t just witnessed the fear in her eyes from the nightmare she suffered, he probably would’ve slid into her wet heat and claimed her permanently right then and there.

That she’d sold herself to survive...his fingers curled into fists. Who’d he blame for that? Someone else had known his woman intimately because she needed to eat.

Frustrated with the lack of a guilty party, he strode to his flyer, and swiped his fingers through his hair. Tangles caught on his digits, and he yanked them free. He would ring for a barber the moment he got back to town and cut off the length. Time to grow up. Show her a new man resided in the place of the boy she’d once known. She’d been the carrot on the stick leading him around to her tune back in the day. Soon he’d show her how a real man indulged in the fruits of his rewards.

After cranking the flyer, he pushed the lever forward and went after his woman. A couple of minutes later, he slowed beside her. “Get in.”

“Fuck you.” She kept her stride steady and her face turned away.

Even though it was coated in a layer of grime, her black hair shined in the sun’s rays. What he wouldn’t give to bathe her. “The chances of that outcome are still high.”

She stopped, and he threw the flyer into park. The conveyance continued to float several inches above the ground.

“You want me, you don’t want me.” She huffed. “Make up your mind because you’re driving me crazy.”

He could say the same about her. Her mouth said one thing, while her body fed him the evidence of a much different desire just last night. “At the moment I want you to get in my flyer without further drama.”

Making no move to get in his vehicle, she glared at him.

“I’m tired, hungry, and I stink. I want to shower, eat, and sleep, so get in the goddamn flyer.”

Kella slung her packs inside, one bouncing up off the seat and hitting him in the arm. He was pretty sure the violence had been her ultimate goal, even if she pretended it was unintentional. She settled Retro in the back seat, and hoisted herself into the flyer.

In retaliation, he chucked both her packs out of his flyer and punched the conveyance into drive.

“Stone,” she screeched, turning around in her seat to look for her bags.

“Keep fucking with me, and I’ll show you how I fuck back.”

“Go back, please.”

Caving would be too easy, so he settled on shaking his head and keeping his gaze straight ahead.

“All my clothes were in there. Everything I owned.”

It displeased him that all of his wife’s possessions could fit into two backpacks. “Don’t you mean everything
I
own?”

She punched him on the arm hard enough the blow stung. That was the Kella he remembered.

“Go back!”

“I’ll buy you new clothes.”
Better clothes. Clothes that’ll reveal her delectable body.

“I don’t need new ones. They’ll just get ruined. All I do is work and sleep.”

Oh, that would change too. “I’m hiring a work crew to excavate
my
dig. You’re no longer working it.”

She was silent so long he had decided she wouldn’t respond until she said, “I thought you were letting me go.”

“I’m rethinking that rash promise. It’s unwise to make decisions in an emotional state of mind, don’t you think?” From his periphery, he caught the way her eyes slid slowly closed as if her foundation was being ripped out from underneath her. Probably was since she’d always craved an archeologist career. Craved independence too. Free spirited by nature, Kella would’ve become the shell of herself in the hands of the wrong buyer. One day she’d thank him for saving her ass.

She should already be thanking me for saving her ass.
If he hadn’t bought her, one of the assholes in the crowd would’ve purchased her. Given the same circumstances, one of those assholes would make an example out of her now.

“My wind-up dog was in there,” he thought she said, but her voice was so soft, and it trembled just a little making it hard for him to be certain. Of course she wouldn’t mention the toy verbally because then she’d have to admit he still meant something to her. It was the only plausible explanation if his gift carried value to her.

That or she cherishes it simply because it’s a relic from a long-dead society.

Stone made a mental note to send someone after it immediately. “Even if I let you go I’m keeping the claim. Payment for eight years of mental anguish.”

He knew he was being an ass, but riling her up was part of his strategy, and he wanted her always guessing at his next move. When she said nothing, he looked over at her. She’d turned her head away from him to stare at the landscape. “What? No smartass or scathing comment, Kella?”

She shrugged, but with the movement he caught the tremble of her chin.

I will not apologize. I will not apologize
.

After a long moment, she said in a small voice, “I told you, every spooner screws me eventually. You’re no different. I’m practically best friends with the short end of the stick.”

But she’d expected him to be different. He was certain of that. She didn’t know it yet, but that short end of the stick was a fucking lie in this instance.

He parked the vehicle at the city gate near the private door where she’d attempted to escape him yesterday. After he stepped out, she remained in the flyer staring at the massive, forty-story-high wall. Her expression pensive.

“Kella?”

“I have one hundred thousand frams.” She picked at her nails, so he filed away her nervousness, along with the large sum of money. Impressed with the amount, he was equally impressed with her frugalness. “Can I buy my freedom with that?”

Shocked by her offer, before he could think through a response, he blurted the truth, “You’re worth more than that.”

She nodded, a sad movement as if she comprehended her value. “You should know a doctor told me I’m damaged and I couldn’t conceive a child.”

Fury raped him. Not because she thought she was infertile, and he knew the truth that the cybernetic doctor had fixed her, but because she thought childbearing was her only value.

Stone kicked the flyer with his steel-toed boots, leaving a nice dent in the side that pleased him. Startled by his outburst, she jerked and gave him a wide-eyed stare.

“You’re making me even more furious.”

“I don’t know how to play this part,” she said as he stomped around the vehicle to her side.

“What part?” She’d lost him.

“The docile slave.”

Chuckling at that, he lifted her from the flyer and set her on her feet. “Sunshine, there’s never been a damn thing docile about you. Don’t change. It’s one of your traits I fell for.”

Adorable grooves hit her forehead. “Fell for?”

Mentally cringing at that confession, he disregarded her question, grasped her hand, scooped up the kippy in his other palm, and led her to the door. He thrust the mongrel at her and placed his palm on the scanner as he laced their fingers together. The door swished open, and they went through the doorway.

It was still early, but the vendors were busy setting up as they walked up Main Street toward hotel Ritzzy. In the middle of the square people milled about, a commotion of some sort taking place.

“I need to go home.”

“Later.” He had to decide what to do with her shanty. When he’d seen it, he’d been horrified she lived in such squalor. “Wonder what’s going on up there.” He paused at the door to his hotel, and Kella glanced in the direction he nodded.

“Most likely nothing good.”

Altering their course, he led her to where everyone crowded about. As they neared, he could make out four individuals restrained on racks. Their punishment obviously for the crimson rain to melt away their skin.

TERRORISTS