Royal: A Sci-Fi Romance (The Jekh Saga Book 5) Page 22

  She fondled her tote’s straps with her thumb. “I wanted to make sure it was done right. After everything those people have been through, they deserve to have places to live that aren’t beneath their dignity. I know how to squeeze every last penny out of a budget without cutting corners, and I don’t care who I have to fight. I’m going to fight for this. No one else is going to handle that project with as much deference as I will.”

  She’d never begged before, but that job was important to her. Brainstorming for that job had kept her up late for countless nights because it was going to be hard and required construction skills most workers didn’t have.

  But she was going to do it no matter the personal cost, because it needed to be done right, and no one had as much to prove as she did.

  So she was going to beg.

  “Let me go with you,” she pleaded, curling her fingers into Luke’s sleeves. “Please. Let me do this. I have to stand apart from him. Don’t you understand?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “Persistent wretch,” Alex muttered.

  He eased away from the front door and bounded up the steps. He didn’t need to hear any more of Autumn’s conversation with Luke. Luke would be inside the house in moments to confront, lecture, or demand something of him, and Alex was ready for any of those.

  The screen door snapped closed as he pulled on his boots and scanned the bedroom for things he’d forgotten to pack.

  Luke stepped inside and leaned against the doorframe, arms folded over his chest. “How much did you hear?”

  “Everything but goodbye, probably.”

  No response from Luke, so Alex looked up from his boots.

  Luke was staring at the ceiling and drumming his fingertips against the sides of his arms.

  “Was there a goodbye?”

  “No. I sent her over to the main house.”

  “Why? Is her blond spy waiting there for her?”

  “I don’t know where Cree is. I sent Autumn over there so I could deal with you.”

  Alex scoffed and leaned back onto his forearms. “Deal with me? Is that where we are again? I thought we’d come so far, with me offering to give up my entire life for you and all.”

  “You know what I meant, Duke. Be serious.”

  “How much more serious can I be? We’re having a discussion about the competition you introduced into our scenario. A man can’t help but assume the worst.”

  “You shouldn’t.” Luke quit propping up the doorframe and strode to the bed slowly, his gaze on Alex’s. His smile tight. “I guess I just have a bad habit of wanting people to prove they’re as decent as they claim they are.” He squeezed in between Alex’s legs and slung his arms over his shoulders. “She seemed sincere.”

  “Sociopaths generally do. They’re good at making you believe what they want.”

  “Alex, come on.”

  “So it’s Alex now?”

  Luke furrowed his brow, probably not realizing which name he’d used. The fact his usage slipped there whenever he was scolding him wasn’t lost on Alex.

  “I just don’t like the guilt,” Luke said. “I want to give people a chance.”

  “You gave her a chance by bringing her here, and what did she do? She came under false pretenses.”

  “No, she came under a perfectly acceptable one, but she’s an opportunist and probably too practical for her own good, and she figured she could make a profit while she was at it.”

  “So you’re forgiving her for all the bullshit?”

  “I never said that.” Luke grabbed Alex’s chin and gave it a squeeze. “Don’t try to read too much between the lines.”

  “So, what are you doing?” Alex let his gaze fall to Luke’s wrist, his hand. He swallowed, wondering if he’d tighten his grip. Wondering if it was normal that his loins were stirring with the suggestion of a little rough play.

  Luke put his hand back where it’d been and let out a breath. “Answer one question for me first, and I’ll answer yours.”

  “What, then?”

  “Did you report her? She got sent a form demanding that she legitimize her projects here.”

  Fuck.

  He should have known that Luke, of all people, would find out, but Alex hadn’t thought that the Jekhan government would be so efficient in processing anonymous tips. They’d been severely backlogged with every other aspect of their outsized workloads.

  “Shit.” Luke stepped away and, swearing angrily his breath, paced in front of the dresser. “I guess I have to take your lack of response as evidence of guilt. Fuck, Alex, why did you do that?”

  “Are you joking? The woman is a competitor to me in numerous ways, and you’d seriously ask why I’d use legal means to get rid of her? Where is your head right now? Have you not forgotten that to her, you’re only a means to an end?”

  “I haven’t forgotten that.”

  “So explain to me where your head is. Explain to me what you think will come of you extending an olive branch to her. I think I have the right to know.”

  “The right to?” Luke guffawed.

  “You might be married to her, but let’s not forget that you brought her here because of me.”

  “Yeah, I sure as shit did, because, at my age, you gotta assume that you’ve got to be your own fucking Cupid, and the guy wasn’t doing his job well where you were concerned. Cupid’s not supposed to pair folks with people who aren’t available.”

  “Well, apparently, he’s still having some trouble getting his shit together, because now you’re the one who isn’t available.”

  “I’m here, aren’t I?”

  “Are you?” Alex barked with laughter. “Are you really? Because it seems your brain is at the farmhouse, and what’s standing in front of me is a body that’s just going through the motions.”

  Luke pushed Alex back onto the bed and, straddling him with dizzying speed, grabbed a hank of his hair and tugged. “Don’t insult me, Duke,” he whispered, putting his lips against Alex’s forehead. “Don’t treat me like I’m stupid and like I’m not thinking through every contingency. Do you understand me?”

  Alex dragged his tongue across his lips and turned his head away from Luke’s fist, wanting to feel to feel the pain of the tug on his hair, even if that was ill timed and inappropriate.

  When it came to Luke, he couldn’t help what he wanted. The man brought out cravings that Alex didn’t want to ignore.

  Luke let go, though, smoothed down Alex’s hair, and dragged his lips across his forehead. “I’m putting the ball in her court, okay?” He lowered his kisses to Alex’s lips, softly bussing along the top.

  Alex moaned reflexively, writhing against the other man. The more time he spent with Luke, the more he wondered if he’d ever really felt anything at all. “And then what? What do you expect will come of your generosity?”

  “I’m hoping that she’ll just…look away.”

  “From us.” Alex snorted.

  “Yeah.”

  “I doubt she’ll allow that. I wouldn’t.”

  “Because you’re a petty bastard, but she may not have a choice. She needs me. Remember? Not just me, but the people on this farm. If she’s going to get a competent bureaucrat to believe that she’s genuine about her intentions here, the farm residents will all need to vouch for her.”

  “So you’ll help her now and divorce her later?” He slid his hands up Luke’s naked back, kneading the muscles—wanting to reciprocate the massage of the night before, but there was no time for that. “Is that the plan you came up with while standing outside with her, letting her look at you?”

  “You’re not the only one who gets to look at me.”

  “I should be. If I had my way, I’d find a castle tower to lock you up in. No one would ever see you except for me.”

  “Actually, dungeons are more my thing, and it wouldn’t be me chained naked to the wall.” Smiling, he gave Alex’s chin a light slap. “That’d be you.”

  “You’re an insufferable tease.�
�

  An insufferable tease whose pants were bulging at the front and who was tugging Alex’s nipples through his shirt.

  “It’s only teasing if I don’t mean it.” Luke bent down again and kissed him rough and deep, leaving Alex breathless and his nuts throbbing. “Never assume I don’t mean it.”

  Alex gulped. Nodded. “Understood.”

  “Good.” Luke eased off him and the bed, stealing his warmth away. “Finish up. She’s coming with us to The Barrens.”

  Alex opened his mouth to rebut, but before he could get a word out, Luke said, “Keep your enemies close, Duke. Right?”

  God knew he wanted to dissent, but Alex couldn’t argue with the logic. So he gritted his teeth and nodded again.

  He’d have to bide his time, but he’d find a way to be rid of her, even if he had to relinquish his own privacy to do it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  “Gonna have to get Precious her own ship,” Luke murmured and drummed his fingertips against the foam rests of Alex’s navigator’s seat. “You might have a soundproof separation between the areas, but my ship has a bigger ass and more places to hide.”

  Alex cut him a scathing, eloquent, sideways look and steered his ship over a thunderstorm. He’d held his tongue for much of the two-day trip, but as they neared their destination in The Barrens, Luke got the sneaking suspicion that the man was reaching his limits.

  Suited Luke fine, because so was he. He hadn’t endured such silent, uncomfortable company since the time his father had to drive down to Baltimore to pick him up from the police department after a joy ride gone wrong.

  Oreva had tried to lighten the mood and had been successful at pulling some conversational nuggets out of his friend, but they were terse, and the discussions always fell off after a few minutes. Obviously, the elephant in the room was affecting his sociability as well.

  Autumn sat primly, gaze generally focused on her tablet or out the window. She rarely made eye contact. Rarely spoke, except at mealtimes when a certain amount of courtesy was expected.

  Luke felt like he was constantly tempering his words with Alex, too—not only because Autumn was in their company, but because Oreva was, and he didn’t know if Alex was ready to explain the nature of his and Luke’s camaraderie. For all Luke knew, he’d be perfectly understanding in the same way Owen was for him. Either that, or he was a bigoted asshole who needed his ass kicked.

  Time would tell.

  “We’re about fifteen minutes from the site,” Alex said. “Oreva, if you can call ahead to your contact on the ground, we can avoid taking them by surprise.”

  “They didn’t know we were on the way?” Luke asked.

  “They had a vague idea of when I’d make a return visit,” Oreva said, pulling his briefcase down from an overhead storage bin. “Their COM access is still extraordinarily spotty compared to some other encampments. Should be easier to connect from this distance.”

  “It has something to do with the minerals in this part of the continent, supposedly,” Autumn murmured. She was looking out the window again, but she had to know they were all looking at her. Alex’s seats needed oiling, and they squeaked when they were turned.

  “What do you mean?” Luke asked.

  “There’s metal in the rocks that creates a suppressing effect on satellite equipment. Supposedly, that’s one of the reasons so many of the microchipped Jekhans fled to this area during the early occupation and later during the riots. The chips can’t be tracked from a distance because the equipment can’t overcome the interference.”

  “How do you know that?”

  She shrugged. “I make it my business to know about the people I’m supposed to be working for.”

  Oreva crossed his legs and settled his portable COM booster box on top of his lap. “That’s not printed in any of the official literature about the place.”

  “Why would it be? If you were them, would you trust us?” She turned to look at him. Her expression was coolly neutral. In most corners of Earth, that meant she was being an out-and-out bitch. Women weren’t allowed to be confrontational unless they were smiling and appending things with “In my opinion” and “Sorry, but…”

  Precious had taught him that. He hated that he hadn’t realized the disparity in treatment between aggressive men and assertive women until his little sister opened his eyes to it.

  “Of course not,” Oreva said. “I’m a businessman. I assume that people won’t trust me, and I treat them accordingly.”

  “But do you treat them like you can trust them or does it depend on what they can do for you?” She turned back to the window.

  Oreva looked at Luke, and then Alex, but said nothing.

  Alex cleared his throat and turned to face the window. He had a good enough excuse. He was going to have to start the ship’s descent soon and needed to get them past the storm.

  Luke didn’t turn, though. Someone needed to defuse the mess before they set down, and he was the only one who didn’t have stakes in the project. “So, what kind of stuff did you build back on Earth?”

  Oreva’s shoulders relaxed from their high-up position and he depressed the power switch on the communications power box. “Mostly, eco-friendly luxury resorts.”

  “That’s not residential,” Autumn murmured.

  Oreva took a breath. “I said mostly. Alex and I have also provided capital for several planned communities in burgeoning areas.”

  “How nice. You’re gentrifiers.”

  “Excuse me?”

  She turned back to him, then, still wearing the same neutral look as before. “Isn’t that what burgeoning areas is a code for? I imagine that’s how you see Jekh on the whole.”

  “You’re one to talk, Miss Ray.”

  The emphasis he put on her name was obviously purposeful, and no one in that ship was stupid enough to know why he’d done it.

  Luke shoved a hand through his hair and let out a breath.

  Fuck.

  After what she’d done, he should have given her leave to fight her own battles with Oreva or anyone else, but the risk of escalation was too likely. They couldn’t land and let those people see them squabbling like a bunch of fucking children.

  “All right, listen,” Luke said. “Let’s can this conversation until later. I’m sure we’ll find an appropriate time for it. Oreva, make your call, please? I’m sure Alex could use some guidance on landing.”

  “Indeed,” Alex said.

  As Oreva called down to the surface, Luke checked the tightness of his harness and rubbed his burning eyes. If he hadn’t been sitting there in the flesh, he wouldn’t have believed any man could find himself in such a situation. Crazy shit happened to people like Marco who were used to letting others walk all over them. They wanted to assume the best of people. Luke wasn’t that charitable and never had been. And yet, there he was, crammed into a flying vehicle with his lover, his wife, and his lover’s selectively antagonistic business partner.

  Luke thought there was a really bad sitcom script just waiting to come out of the ordeal.

  “Maybe Precious’ll write it,” he murmured.

  “Hmm?” Alex asked.

  “Nothin’. Just thinking about unnatural disasters that may soon befall me. Don’t mind me.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “I wanted to thank you for keeping the conversation on the ship from swirling too far down the drain,” Autumn murmured to Luke as The Barrens’ temporary site manager led the group around the proposed building site for the transitional housing project.

  Oreva and Alex were walking ahead, their heads lowered in intense conversation with the manager as he led them. Alex had been on hyper-alert to hear every word that had come out of Luke’s mouth for the better part of ninety minutes, and Autumn had been afraid to say anything for fear they’d get into an argument again. She didn’t want Luke to think she was oblivious to what he’d done, though, and was a staunch believer in the wonders of positive reinforcement.

  He sh
rugged and adjusted the tilt of his hard hat. “I didn’t see the point of you going at each other’s throats. Actions speak louder than words, I think.”

  “I need this project, Luke.”

  He stopped them in front of a low cave and waited for the trio ahead to round the rocks. “You realize who gets it isn’t up to me, right?”

  “Of course I understand that. I just want to be sure that you understand the stakes. This is a big deal for me.”

  “Why? Tell me the specifics.”

  She’d known that she’d eventually have to give him more than empty words. They weren’t going to be soft or flowery or sweetly pretty, but honest. She could always give him honesty.

  Now or never, I suppose.

  She took a deep breath and gestured toward the path. She didn’t want to get too far behind Oreva and Alex. There was probably some trivia about the site she was missing, and she’d need to incorporate that information into her preliminary plans for the project. Details mattered.

  “I don’t know what you know about the projects my father has built in recent years.”

  “Gotta say, not much.”

  Autumn fixed the focus on her camera and got a long shot of the narrowness of the plot and the height of the spiky rocks that thrust from the ground.

  Jekhans had been using The Barrens as a hiding place because even if the Terrans had been able to get readings on the Jekhans’ implant chips, they probably still wouldn’t have cared to follow them there. Resources were limited. Very little vegetation grew. Surface water was scarce. The terrain was not only inhospitable with its huge rocks jutting like porcupine quills but because of its susceptibility to flash flooding on the rare occasion there was rain.

  Autumn had been researching desert architecture for a year before she started brainstorming the plans for the project, but the landscape of The Barrens was a step beyond desert. It wasn’t a desert of sand and sparse foliage—it was a landscape of rock. Still, she could work with it, and she knew all the right people to help her put the dreams in her head into action.

  Luke helped her up and over a rock the height of her thigh that Alex and the others had crossed over ahead of them. “Obviously, your father has a certain notoriety, but I can’t say I know anything about his projects or the condition of them.”