“Why can’t you just charge more so this doesn’t happen?” I ask, fishing a nutrient packet out of my harness.
She thanks me, takes the packet with cold fingers, and downs the solution. “Regulated pay from Sol Federation Shippers. They just give me the one-ways, so I get half the pay of most.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Doesn’t matter. Just how life is.” Zariah checks her wristband and gets up. “I need to go.”
I promptly stand beside her, not ready to part with her. “I’ll walk you to the shuttle to make sure no one harasses you.”
“Thanks, but I don’t have funds for your services.”
“Friends don’t charge friends.”I wish we were more. I should tell her, take her.The need in my core soars to painful desperation. I’ve held back my feelings and dwelled on them for too long. They have consumed me in her presence.
I need these thoughts to stop, right fucking now!
My core compels me closer to her. I bump her as we hike the stairs, distracted by the scent of her hair and the sway of her hips. She glances back at me, her gaze dissecting me with curiosity.
I’m not tainting her before she enters. That will surely void her entry. And it’s clear the ticket means a lot to her.
“Can’t you just trade in your ticket for cash if you don’t want to go?” I ask.
Zariah rests atop the landing of Level Three. “Not that I’m aware. But I’ve thought a lot about it. I’m not going to find a safer place to vacation or get so much value for the same money anywhere else. I just want to sleep without having to watch my back for once.”
“Trouble with Cazir’s crew?” I ask as we make our way to the ABR shuttles. They gleam in pearlescent whites against the darkness of space. Blue lights fill the cabins and illuminate the checkpoint Zariah must pass through.
“I guess everyone knows my father’s dead,” she mutters. “Everyone wants a piece of what he stole from so many. Evenfellow bounty hunters before he went rogue have been harassing me for some sliver of whatever he was stealing in the end.”
She stops halfway to the terminal and throws her hands in the air. “I don’t want shit from that monster. They think I have a magical key to his vault, wherever it is. I don’t know. I don’t care. I mean, if I had any of that, and I was any normal person, I’d be in a better starship don’t you think?”
I smile a little. “Yeah. You really need an upgrade.”
She makes a disgusted noise. “Badly.”
“So you’re not hauling in treasure out in the boondocks of fed territory?”
She turns to face me. “Are you interrogating me?”
“No.”Kind of.“Teasing. I just– I care about you. I’m only here, only what I am, because you helped me escape the corrupt spaceport police all those years ago. They were running an unauthorized orphan corps. I feel like I owe it to you to check in now and then in case you need help.”
Zariah moves closer to me. “What I do out there, I don’t get paid for in any tangible way. Do you understand?”
In her eyes is a plea to never bring it up again.
I nod and scan the floor as she turns to continue to her shuttle, feeling like I’m losing her. But I see no moral way to keep her. I won’t ask her to waste her ticket, one that means so much. I won’t take her if she doesn’t clearly want me. Maybe I’m not destined to be wanted for who I am, only what I am, and thinking she’d see me differently than others was a foolish idea.
I wish we had more time.
“Me too.”
Oh, shit. Did I say that out loud?
Zariah gets in line with other women and a handful of staff in ABR uniforms. I stay outside the digital ribbon and scan the area for Lingon and his crew. I count three security teams from where I stand. The radio chatter I overhear tells me they’re not seeingany threats either. Lingon and his crew are still being hunted. A few have been captured. But they’re closing down the port after ABR shuttles depart.
“Everything okay?” Zariah asks.
“You are currently clear for departure, Miss Zariah.” My throat aches as she nears a checkpoint that I can’t go through without a ticket. “I hope you have an enjoyable time. If anyone harasses you, give me a call. I’ll come kick their ass.”
My core disagrees. It begs me to run to her, rip her out of line, take her with me. But Zariah is not Lazariot. She is human. And the Alien Bride Race is the only place in the federation where such action is legally permitted.
