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“Sarah,” he said, approaching her cautiously. “This isn't what it looks like. I know that is cliche to say on your planet, but…”
“Old flame? New flame? Flame that you call up when you’re feeling randy? Booty call?”
He frowned. The terms were likely not translatable in his language, but Sarah didn’t give a shit. She scoffed at him and turned to go upstairs with the bedsheets.
“Sarah, please wait,” he said impatiently, trying to reach for her.
She swiped at him rather aggressively. She knew he was strong and not physically hurt, but the look on his face said that he was rather disturbed. She snapped at him, standing on the second step of the staircase and finally able to line up with his gaze.
“If I’d known that it was your practice to get into bed with so many, I wouldn’t have jumped so freely. I don’t give a shit about who you are on this planet. Where I come from, there’s this thing called fucking decency. Look it up!”
Sarah felt somewhat lame about her last statement, but it was too late to reconsider. Her vision was blurry from her tears, and Kael had stopped trying. She moved quickly, not wanting him to see how much the betrayal had injured her delicate heart.
“Sarah!” Suki called out.
“One minute, honey. I’m coming.”
She placed the bedsheets in her bedroom and closed the door for a brief minute alone. She cried hot tears, feeling like a fool who had climbed into bed with her boss after a mild flirtation. The sex had been spectacular, but maybe that was how he hooked in these women. He could use the widower card, and he knew the female anatomy well. That was all the arsenal he really needed.
Sarah wiped away her tears and pulled herself together, returning to Suki and trying to cast Kael out of her mind. He didn’t approach her for the rest of the day, which made her feel even more lonely and sorrowful.
She thought she found someone special. But maybe he wasn’t anything different than the assholes on Earth.
SIXTEEN
KAEL
Kael knew he had royally fucked up. Sarah had overheard snippets of his conversation with Rosemary … who was obviously not shy about her interest in him … and made her own snap conclusions. Despite the hurt he saw digging deep grooves on her face, it also painted a truth that raised his feeling of being torn. She had feelings for him blossoming, the way his feelings for her had come to a crescendo when making love.
Still, he didn’t like the idea of causing her any hurt. He had to make up for it and straighten out the misunderstanding.
All thoughts of Aric and the forged scandal evaporated out of the Captain’s mind as he planned a mini-getaway with Sarah to his best friend’s cabin, one that was far outside the city in a more idyllic and picturesque setting. The industrial aesthetics of the Drakonian city could be rather dull and uninspiring. Whereas Conrad’s cabin was more fanciful, quiet, and plentiful in majestic auras.
Suki stayed at her grandmother’s for the night so Kael could remedy the situation. Despite the guilt and divided sense of thinking, he preferred it over the politicking of the atmosphere at his workplace.
Sarah accepted his invite rather reluctantly and was cold toward him the entire drive to the cabin. He only made the basics of conversations, receiving disinterested nods and civil replies.
He really couldn’t blame her. For all she knew, he was a widower playboy, using his power and grief to manipulate women into bed with him. It was less of a jealous sensation that he was able to intuit, but rather, one of being used and tossed away like a junkyard scrap.
Kael wanted to assure her that she was nothing of the sort. She was a decadent flower budding in the crevices of his heart that he once believed were no longer fertile.
He had no way to relay that to her other than his gestures and influence. He hoped that time at Conrad’s would be sufficient enough for forgiveness.
When they arrived, his old friend greeted them, standing under the crisp, blue light of dawn, gentle whispers of wind swaying through the ancient saplings. Conrad was a former officer of the King’s guard and was one of the most loyal and respected men on the force.
He had come across misfortune during the wars when he’d lost both his legs from the thighs down, but the advanced technologies of the Drakonians caught up with him, providing robotic prosthetics that gave him a younger man’s edge.
Sarah looked a little shocked when she first saw him. He wasn’t that much older than Kael. He would still be working as a high-ranking officer if he wasn’t forced into retirement from his injury. But his face had grown weary from the challenges of adapting to new legs.
Still, Conrad was all sunshine and smiles. It was how they differed, the more beautiful things a preferred topic of conversation for Conrad, whereas Kael had the tendency to become deadlocked within tragedy.
It was what held them together as friends, their dichotomous natures.
“Kael! My good man!”
Conrad held his arms out to the Captain, and they embraced as if it had been years since their last interaction. Sarah approached, looking long and lean in her fitted polka-dot dress, her eyes still the same curious jewels Kael could lose himself in for eternity.
“And who is this darling young lady?” Conrad said, eyes sparkling.
