Fall of Icarus (30 page)

           
“Come on now, Keryn,” Merric said, leaning in closer.
 
“Everyone in the Fleet heard about your lover’s quarrel after your promotion.
 
You and Magistrate Xiao have been avoiding each other like you’re each carrying a plague.
 
It’s obvious you’re not together.”
 
He ran a finger suggestively up her arm.
 
“It’s probably for the best anyway.
 
You deserve a better man than that.”

           
Keryn turned and looked Merric in the eye.
 
She couldn’t deny that she found him attractive, but she also couldn’t deny that he was arrogant.
 
As much as that might be true, she realized, he was no worse than Yen, and she had almost immediately fallen for him.

           
“Buy me a drink and I’ll decide who is the better man,” she said with a smile.

           
Ordering two drinks, Merric led Keryn to a back table where they would have more privacy.
 
As they talked, Keryn was not surprised to find that Merric had graduated top of his class both at the Academy and Pre-Captain Course.
 
The second-in-command of the
Revolution
had been promoted early all the way up the line, much like Keryn was doing now.
 
In fact, professionally, they were very similar.
 
It was pleasant for Keryn to find someone who nearly matched her own occupational ambitions, if not personal goals.

           
They talked for a couple hours, though when Keryn tried to figure out what, specifically, had been said, she found it all to be one big blur.
 
In part, she blamed it on the strong alcoholic drinks that Merric had ordered throughout the night.
 
Part, though, was the fact that she hadn’t truly been overly interested in the topic of conversation.
 
She had taken her shore leave begrudgingly and at the command of Captain Hodge, but she had every intention of avoiding the topic of work while relaxing.
 
Instead, she found herself deep in conversation with her immediate supervisor.

           
Draining the last of her glass, Keryn looked at her watch and was stunned to realize how much time had passed.
 
Though there were no true days and nights on the space station, her body still aligned itself with the watch on her wrist, which told her it was now creeping into early morning.

           
“I’m sorry, Merric,” Keryn said apologetically, “but I really need to get some sleep.”

           
Merric dropped his hand onto her thigh and suggestively rubbed the inside of her leg.
 
“You know, you don’t have to go home alone tonight.”

           
Keryn wondered what it would be like to be wrapped in his muscular arms.
 
It had been quite some time since she’d been with someone and the blaring opportunity almost made her immediately agree to his proposal.
 
Still, she felt uncomfortable with the thought of sleeping with someone she just got to know, even if she had known him as a supervisor for over a month.

           
“I can’t,” she said, shaking her head.
 
“Not tonight at least.
 
Sorry.”

           
Merric nodded and withdrew his hand.
 
“The invitation is open ended.
 
Just give me a call if you change your mind.”

           
“Thank you for the drinks and the company,” Keryn said as she stood.
 
Politely, Merric stood as well until she had turned toward the door.

           
Exiting quickly, Keryn was surprised by the heat outside the Frozen Nebula.
 
The scent of sweating bodies and other unnamed bodily fluids assaulted her and she suddenly remembered how distant a world the inside of the bar had been.
 
For a moment, she turned around and looked back through the window to make sure the entire evening had not been a hallucination.
 
Reassured by the still clean white bar front behind her, Keryn walked into the street and began heading back toward the lift that would take her to the residential level.

           
After making it nearly halfway down the street, she had to pause as one of the movie theaters opened its doors and the patrons of the late night film exited.
 
Standing patiently, leaning against a nearby building, Keryn alternated between watching the crowd leave and remembering her enjoyable evening with Merric.

           
As the crowd thinned and Keryn prepared to step back into the street, she found herself frozen in place as an unusual couple exited the theater.
 
Linked arm in arm and laughing at one another’s jokes, Keryn couldn’t believe her eyes as Yen and Iana walked out, oblivious to Keryn’s presence, and turned away from her, heading back toward the stairs and elevators.

           
She seethed with anger as a deep seeded sense of betrayal settled over her.
 
The sight of her best friend and former love walking so casually and, apparently, affectionately together infuriated her.
 
The feeling of a knife being plunged into her back made Keryn stagger backwards and lean even heavier against the stone fronted bar.
 
Her lower lip quivering, Keryn bit back the tears that threatened to fall.
 
Unable to stop them, she angrily wiped away the few tears that did stream down her face.
 
Turning away, not eager to follow the new couple, Keryn looked back the way she came.
 
A few blocks away, shining white against the other dark bars, the Frozen Nebula called to her.
 
Wiping her face with the back of her hand once more, she regained her composure before walking back to the bar.

           
Opening the door, she immediately saw Merric, still seated at the table she had left him at a few minutes before.
 
She walked over slowly, holding back her desire to rush over and simply sit in his lap, and stood beside his shoulder.
 
Merric seemed genuinely surprised to see her, but found himself unable to misinterpret her sultry look.

           
“Does this mean you’ve changed your mind?” Merric asked smugly.

           
“Any port in the storm,” Keryn whispered.

           
Merric furrowed his brow.
 
“I didn’t quite catch that.”

           
“I said this means that I would like to go back to your place tonight,” she said more confidently.

           
Smiling, Merric stood and slipped an arm behind her back.
 
Leading her out of the bar and back toward the lifts, they didn’t say a word to one another.
 
Keryn still brooded silently over what she had seen and savored the warm, strong hand gently caressing the small of her back.
 
They rode the lift together up to the residential level and walked the short distance to his
hotel which
, as she had assumed, was significantly nicer than the one she had been staying at.
 
Passing through the lobby, they entered one of the elevators.
 
She smiled as he pushed the button for one of the top floors, the floors that contained the hotel’s suites.
 
No sooner had the elevator doors closed than he leaned over and kissed Keryn passionately.
 
She responded quickly, pressing her body against his and wrapping her arms around his neck.

           
They entered his hotel room in a whirlwind of sexual activity.
 
Clothing was quickly peeled away as his hands rolled over every inch of her body.
 
Her own hands fumbled clumsily with his tight shirt, pulling it over his head hastily before his lips were able to find the side of her neck and shoulders.

           
That night, their bodies were twisted into a myriad of positions well into the morning, until finally both of them collapsed into the bed from exhaustion.
 
He was every bit the lover that Keryn expected him to be: he was a rough lover with wandering hands, but took care of her every need.
 
After they were done and they lay panting and sweaty in bed, Keryn realized that she was content but not satisfied.
 
With her anger sedated and the adrenaline fleeing from her body, she immediately knew the reason why, and hated herself for thinking it.

           
Merric was a lot of things, but he was not Yen Xiao.

CHAPTER TWENTY

           
Yen awoke and stretched, feeling the tension in his back and shoulders ease.
 
Though rested, he had slept awkwardly on his side with his head unsupported and his arm pinned beneath him.
 
Now, as blood flow returned to the limb, he could feel the pins and needles spread painfully from his elbow to his fingertips.
 
Flexing the numb digits, Yen sat up on the couch.

           
He wasn’t in his room.
 
Yen doubted he was even in the same hotel.
 
The layout of the room seemed somehow wrong.
 
The curtains lacked a certain luster that he had found in the room Adam had rented for them.
 
Even the material of the sofa on which he sat felt rougher and less refined.
 
Slowly, as the cloud of weariness fled from his mind, Yen remembered where he was.
 
The night before had been spent with Iana; first at the café, then at the movies.
 
When she had offered to take him back to her hotel, he had readily accepted her invitation.
 
Yet, he wasn’t waking up in her bed, nor was she beside him.
 

           
“Good morning, sleepy head,” a female called from behind him.

           
Turning stiffly, Yen saw the short blonde Pilgrim exit from the bedroom.
 
A large towel was wrapped firmly around her torso, hugging her breasts and hanging loosely over the rest of her body.
 
She used a second towel to dry her still dripping hair.

           
Yen smiled at Iana.
 
“How did you sleep last night?”

           
“Hmm,” she said as she furrowed her brow in thought.
 
“I was both cold and lonely last night.
 
How about you?”

           
Yen scratched his head, feeling slightly uncomfortable.
 
“I’m really sorry about that.
 
I really didn’t think that was how the evening was going to turn out.
 
Not after I had such a good time with you all afternoon.”

           
Walking around the couch, Iana sat down next to him, throwing her naked legs over Yen’s.
 
The slit on the towel fell aside, opening dangerously far up her thighs.
 
“Don’t worry about it.
 
I understand, I really do.
 
I’m not going to lie to you though.
 
I can’t remember the last time I was so disappointed by someone not sleeping with me.”

           
Yen caught his gaze falling to where the two sides of the towel, and subsequently both her legs, met.
 
“It’s not because I don’t find you attractive, Iana.
 
You really are beautiful.
 
I just can’t do this right now.”

           
Iana sighed as she slid her legs off his and covered herself again.
 
Looking straight ahead, she refused to meet his stare.
 
“You really love her, don’t you?”

           
“Honestly, I don’t think I realized just how much until last night.
 
I had an incredible time with you, but when we got back here and I saw you naked…”

           
Iana blushed at last night’s memory.
 
“We don’t have to talk about that.”

           
“Sorry,” Yen apologized, blushing slightly
himself
.
 
“You looked beautiful, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Keryn.
 
It was her I wanted to be standing in front of in a random hotel room.
 
It just felt like I was betraying her by spending the night with you.”