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“Raven,” a young woman approached me. I hadn’t noticed her before, but a man I guessed was her husband stood behind her. “I hoped I could say hi and welcome. My name is Chanel. This is my brother, Jova.” She smiled. Okay, I read that wrong. “We were hoping we could invite you to dinner sometime. There aren’t a lot of new people in this area, and we’d love to get to know you.”
Her smile was bright, but I gaped for a few seconds, completely at a loss. “Sure, I’d love that,” I sputtered.
“Great.” She smiled at me again. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ll come by when you’re less busy, and we can make plans. Have a good night.”
Well…that happened. I turned to Ransom but he wasn’t smiling. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t like how Jova looked at you.”
I blinked. “For real? He didn’t look at me any particular way, and I notice those things. It was my job for a long time to notice them, if you remember correctly. I promise, they were just being friendly.”
He leaned on the bar. “Butterfly, I can hear things you can’t. I promise you, he likes you.”
Well, that’s neither here nor there. I shrugged. “A lot of men have liked me. I really only like you guys.”
It must have been the right answer, because he leaned over and kissed me roughly, his lips both possessive and claiming. “Good,” he said once I was breathless.
I picked up another glass, preparing to dry it to keep my hands busy as heat flooded my cheeks. “Butterfly?”
“It fits for you, so I’ve decided to use it as a nickname. I hope you like it, since it’s what I’m going to call you.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Unless you don’t like it.”
The intimacy of having a secret shared name that only he could use for me somehow pleased me. “Amias used to call me sister, as if I was his sister just because I was Stone’s sister. My brother called me Little Sis. Those are the only nicknames I’ve ever been given before. Butterfly sounds nice. Do I have wings I don’t know about?”
I mock looked at my back and he winked at me. “You do. You just can’t see them. I can. It’s part of my Super Soldier powers.”
“I see. I’ll add that to what I know about you guys. Can see invisible wings.” I patted his arm, his muscles stretching his shirt out under my touch making me smile.
“Do that.”
Mace joined us and set down glasses fresh from the dishwasher. The tech they owned sometimes startled me, since wilderness surrounded us, but I reminded myself they brought in what they wanted when they took over the planet. Amias had called their world uncivilized, but I thought it just the opposite. The longer I stayed, the more clearly I could see it. At home, the ones in power maintained access to all the tech in the known universe. Sure, only certain people of their selection got to use that tech, but they had access to it nonetheless. Conversely, on their planet, they did without most things, yet they lived like they were the people with everything because they shared their resources. They were grateful, happy, and kind.
Will I someday think of this place as home?
“Thank you.” I took the glasses from Mace then scanned over his body with my gaze. “I like you in that color.”
He looked down like he wasn’t sure what he wore. The soft blue shirt flattered his coloring, bringing out warmth in his skin tone and his darkly fringed eyes. His smile was huge. “Thank you, Raven. Your words mean a lot to me. I…I like that you think I look good in this color.” His cheeks reddened just a bit. It was so sweet; I had to lean over and kiss him—right there on the spot that turned red.
He stared at me for a long second before he kissed me back. “Please keep doing that forever.”
My heart turned over, bottoming out in my stomach somewhere. It was so easy to make them happy, and I wanted to do it over and over.
“What does it feel like?” One of the Super Soldiers—I had to get used to calling them that instead of enhanced, since they preferred it—that I didn’t know spoke to us. Despite the ambient noise of all the people in the room, I felt absolutely sure he spoke directly to me as he stared us down. “To have that kind of thing? Kissing? Affection?”
Mace and Ransom made eye contact, and finally Mace spoke. ‘Like we’re human. Like we’re real.”
“You okay, Scotch?” Ranson lifted an eyebrow “Dark night? Where are your people?”
“Going home to them.” He said with a nod as he rose from his chair. “If I found the kind of jewel you have, I’d go off the machine, too. We all would.” He smiled, but there was no mirth in it. “But I doubt that’s going to happen for the rest of us.”
With that statement, he disappeared into the night. Mace grimaced, and it was like some of the warmth of the night leaked out with the other man’s departure. “Shit. I’ll go make sure he gets home okay. I know he can go to bad places in his head, with what happened.”
“What happened?” Maybe it wasn’t my business, but he brought it up. Mace turned and ran out the door after Scotch instead of answering. The movement seemed to spur others to follow. With mostly laughter, and some of the regular people singing, customers started to exit the bar.
Ransom sighed, waving at departing guests. “It’s a sad story. Goes back to our Earth battles, but it’s not really our story to tell.”
I shook my head, touching his arm again. “Don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have asked. You’re okay?”
His eyes shone for a second. “I’m better than okay, butterfly. I’m alive, maybe for the first time in my life, and that’s because of you.”
