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I sighed, looking aside, all of my previous excitement swept away.
“I found a way into Conii’s office.”
He shrugged and scoffed. “Okay.”
The look in his eyes was cold. The stupid feeling intensified within me as I tried to keep justifying my presence at the club. “I just wanted to update you on the mission. I didn’t want you to think I wasn’t working hard.”
“Working hard and being stupid are two different things,” he stated before sighing and hanging his head. He chuckled before looking back at me, his face so close to mine that I felt the warmth of his breath on my lips. “But you have worked very, very hard.” I felt my muscles tighten as I looked at his lips. “And you deserve a reward for that.”
I closed my eyes and parted my lips, ready for him to kiss me like he did in the alleyway. To my surprise, my percomm dinged and vibrated in my back pocket. I opened my eyes to see him putting his own percomm back in his pants pocket with a grin.
“That should be enough payment for you,” he stated.
“Credits?” I asked, annoyed. I didn’t even care that he knew I was. He saw me going in for a kiss, and he justpaidme?
“Three thousand.” He shrugged. “I think it’s a substantial amount.”
“I mean, yeah, it is, but…”
“There you go, sweetness.” He grinned. “Like I said,” he sighed while backing away from me, “a substantial amount.”
I was mortified. I couldn’t even say another word. I walked out of the room, furious with myself for getting so wrapped up in a stupid fantasy. I walked past the supermodels on the poles and only felt more shame. My eyes watered when I finally walked through the exit of the Fallen Star.
He wasn’t attracted to me. He didn’t even thinkabout me in such a manner. He probably just thought I was a stupid human woman, and at that moment, I thought I was, too.
TAZHR
Ipaced the cramped, filthy passageway, frustration simmering through me. No matter how many times I replayed it in my mind, I couldn’t understand why Emma seemed so upset when I transferred those credits to her.
I meant the money as a gift, a small token of appreciation for all her risky efforts so far. Surely she realized that the work she was doing for me was dangerous. She deserved some kind of compensation for the danger she put herself in.
When she gazed up at me in that dingy back room at the Fallen Star, her full, tempting lips parted invitingly, I was certain she anticipated a passionate kiss. In that charged moment, with her bright eyes fixed on me and her body angled toward mine, I was convinced she wanted a physical reward, one I was happy to give her.
Yet as soon as I sent the funds, her eyes flashed with anger and that delicate mouth twisted into a scowl. She stormed away without another word, leaving me confused and unfulfilled.
Clearly, I misread her intentions. But why? What else did she want from me? We barely knew each other. Was she truly so incensed at the idea of accepting payment from me?
Bah, there was no time to dwell on the mystery of her moods now. I had an urgent meeting to get to, and these informants were notoriously unpredictable. If I showed up late, or seemed distracted, they might scatter back into the shadows with their secrets. I couldn’t risk that.
Rolling my shoulders to loosen tense muscles, I set off through the winding backstreets. I kept my pace unhurried, my posture relaxed. But all my senses were on high alert for signs of surveillance or traps. These contacts were jittery at best, paranoid at worst. If they suspected betrayal or capture, the situation could spiral violently out of control fast.
My meet point was a filthy, rarely-used back room at one of the seedier drinking holes in the ring district. I slipped down the narrow stairwell into the dank room, nose crinkling at the mingled stench of vomit and unwashed bodies.
In the farthest corner, obscured by deep shadows, two cloaked and hooded figures sat waiting at a rickety table. I recognized them as Arkani, a race of shifty information brokers. Their features were completely obscured by the hoods drawn low over their faces.
I sauntered over casually then slid into the seat across from them. Under the table, I rested my hand near the handle of the wicked blade sheathed at my belt. Its familiar weight offered some reassurance.
“You have something useful for me?” I queried, keeping my tone light despite the tension thrumming through me.
The Arkani hunched lower over the table, glancing around nervously despite the empty room. This cloak and dagger routine was their trademark, but it wore thin on me.
“Yes, very useful,” one finally muttered. “But don’t talk so loudly here. Too exposed.”
I clenched my jaw, fighting the urge to grab and shake them. Their games grated at me. “Then speak quickly,” I bit out. “I haven’t got all night.”
The other leaned incrementally closer, pitch black void under his hood giving no hint of his expression. “There’s a very large shipment of glitterstim spice arriving tomorrow. The Karavak gang has all the details on the exchange.”
Now this was interesting news. I sat back, thinking rapidly. “And how have you come to possess this information?” I asked. Their intel was usually good, but I had to be sure.
