Red Sky at Night (Home in the stars, #0.5) (2 page)

*

"Da, she doesn't need to be seeing this boy." Arden glared hard at his father who was being blind to it all. "He's a Carnes, as if that weren't reason enough. Beyond that, he's going to completely destroy her future. You should have seen them, Da. In plain view on the street!"

His Da sat at the table carving a shape into a large piece of Banyan wood. "She's got to learn to make her own choices, Arden. And, I don't get that impression of the boy. He is a good kid."

"He's a spoiled brat," he said pushing up suddenly from the table. "I need some air."

Leaving the apartment, he used the nearby exit stairs to the roof, his favorite place to think or cool off when the world made him crazy, like his Da was doing right now.

The hydroponics he’d been working on for a month weren't running yet, so the night was silent but for the whooshing of ships taking off from the space dock. It was becoming the family joke. His Da wanted a community garden for the residents, but he'd yet to figure out what was wrong with the hydro unit.

Arden could have told him it was too out of date, but his Da was stubborn and idealistic, just like he was being over this Carnes boy. Da was a dreamer who expected the best out of everyone.

Arden sighed and leaned on the rail looking out across the lights of Taarken City and beyond into the desert. As they always did, his eyes tracked up, to the stars.

He found himself distracted by a small squeak in the night, and turned to see another of the exit doors open and shut. He almost cursed. He'd needed to be alone, to think. Then, he saw who it was, and he smiled in the darkness.

Brinn emerged on the other side of the roof, never looking his way. He let himself have the luxury of time to study her, puzzle her out. He'd been completely confused by the encounter on the stairs.

She wore her hair back, as she always did, pulled back at the top into a clip and the rest hanging soft and wavy to her shoulders and just past. It was the brilliant orange of the sunset just before dark. Her skin had a pink tone, and he'd seen that she burned easily a time or two. Brinn wore one of her simple house dresses.

God, he loved those things. They were demure and wholesome, usually covered in flowers, and he had this fantasy of slipping his hands beneath the bell of the skirt and pulling it up to bunch around her hips. He adjusted himself at the thought. How could could something so innocent in appearance cause such fevered imaginings on his part?

He'd had more dreams about those dresses than he'd care to admit. She might not meet the usual standard of beauty, being rounder than the vids thought was proper, but she had made Arden change his own standard for years now. These days, he had a thing for broad hips, belled skirts and aprons, and button noses.

He slid a hand over the metal safety railing as he strolled the distance toward her quietly in the dark, trying not to startle her. "Brinn.”

She jumped anyway, putting a hand to her chest. "Arden. What are you doing out here?"

"Getting some air," he rumbled. She looked... rumpled and windblown and worried, if he didn’t miss his guess. Her hair flew in loose tendrils, escaping from the clip. He leaned on his elbow propped on the rail. "You look beautiful."

It was an impulse. One he would pay for, he saw, when she got mad and did that little right foot stomp that made him want to smile, but he knew, when she did it, he shouldn't smile. That’s the last thing he should ever do. She was so serious, his Brinn.

"Would you stop?"

"Why is it you're so convinced I'm lying to you? What did I ever do to make you think I'm a liar?"

"You are a heart breaker, Arden Badu, and well you know it."

She started to leave in a huff. Arden reached for her elbow and pulled her in close, enjoying the lift of her pink and white floral dress as he did so. "Is yours in any danger, Brinn? I find that hard to believe."

She opened her mouth like a fish and closed it again, making him smile in spite of himself. She was soft and warm, and entirely too tempting.

"I'm not the kind of girl you like, so it must be that you're exaggerating, or bored. Or, maybe you want something. I don't know."

He tucked her body in close, smelling the sweet scent of baking on her, above the scent that was hers alone. "What kind of girls do I like, Brinn?"

Arden knew he had her at a disadvantage, and he didn't care. She was in his arms. He knew this would be one of the moments he remembered all his life, the first time he held Brinn Lako in his arms under the stars. The time he'd kissed her didn't count because she'd believed he thought she was someone else in the dark of a moonlit garden at a party, but he relived it enough that it should count.

"What kind of...? How about the Sal Winters kind?"

He curled his nose up. "She's snotty and spoiled, and way too skinny."

Brinn started to pull away in earnest. "Hey, what did I say?" He asked her in the gentling tone of a man trying to steady a mount.

"She's ridiculously attractive, and you know it!"

He stared, flummoxed, but he continued to hold on to her. Women confused him mightily. "If you like her so much, you kiss her."

Barely keeping her temper, she replied, "Look, men who have access to women like Sal do not notice women like me. She’s been after you for years, and she’s not through with you yet, my friend. Weren’t you waiting for her in the dark at the Solstice Ball, and then, when you couldn’t find her, you settled for me?”

Realization dawned, and he was again completely baffled. She thought she was his second choice. It didn't compute very well in his brain because Sal Winters was a woman he seldom thought about at all. She was brash. He didn’t like brash women. 

"You don't think I find you attractive?"

She pulled away with a blush on her cheeks, and the saddest expression he'd ever seen her wear. "Of course not."

Of course not.
He pondered that.
Of course not.
He’d put money down on this being her Mam’s fault. That old harridan found fault with anyone in her sphere.

He didn't actually think about what happened next, just pushed her back against the wall behind them. The one with a door leading down to the main stairs that was always locked. He crowded her body with his, let her feel his desire for her where their bodies met. His big hand wrapped itself into her fiery hair and he pulled her mouth to him in a hot press of soft lips and exploring tongues.

Somewhere in that kiss, he let the fantasy take over, and his hand bunched in that skirt, pulling it up and over his questing left hand. He groaned when his fingers met soft, warm flesh, felt that forbidden line of fabric that were her undergarments. He thought his heart might explode at the thought of actually living his every fantasy of Brinn Lako. But, he knew he couldn't, not tonight. One day, one day very soon, he would. He wanted this woman. Maybe, he wanted her more than he wanted to fly.

She would, however, leave this roof with no doubt of his intentions. He tightened his fist in her hair and dragged her mouth from his.

She whispered, "Stars.” Making him smile against her cheek, he held the word to himself like the prayer she meant it to be. Knowing he'd affected her was more than enough. For now.

He leaned to her ear and said, "I haven't said anything because you weren't ready, but I want you, Brinn. And, I'll have you. Mark my words, Brinn Lako. You're gonna marry me one day."

She started to protest, and he lifted a forefinger to rest against her lips. She closed her mouth. "For once in your life, don't argue with me."

"Why?" She asked it with a tremor in her voice.

He shrugged. "Well, it wasn't from encouragement, I can tell you that. It was just you, from the first moment I saw you on the schoolyard. It’s always been you."

"That makes no sense."

She disentangled from him and slid away, and, for his own sanity, he let her. Still, his eyes tracked her nervous movements.

"Love, men aren't nearly as complex as you seem to believe. It's pretty much, see something, like it, pursue it. We are not complicated."

She threw him a wry glance.

"Hey, I'm not saying that's good. I'm just saying that's what we do. What a woman has to watch is which kind of guy she stops running for. Some men aren't looking for the long haul."

"And, you are?"

"Absolutely. Trouble for you is that I'm that type. If you don't want to marry me, you better start running right now, because I won't give up till you make me."

"I," she began shakily. "I can't get married. I have too many responsibilities. My work, and mother."

He scoffed at that. "A woman like you can do anything."

"Like me?"

"Yeah," he told her. "Smart."

She shook her head side to side as she looked at him. "I don't know what to believe of you, Arden Badu. This time last year you were sneaking kisses from Sal Winters."

Arden fixed his gaze on Brinn's shorter frame. "I wasn’t looking for Sal. I was out in that garden waiting to get you alone. Believe that I mean it, and I won't give up."

She wiped her hands in the skirt of her dress like she might be trying to control them. He smiled broadly again in the dark. She made him so damn happy just being there sometimes.

"I should go, Arden."

"I'll be right here."

She shook her head in confusion, and walked toward the door she'd come from earlier. He watched her go, wanting to call her back, and knowing that would be the worst thing he could do.

*

The employment line was long, stretching out beyond the marketplace. Arden was thankful he wouldn't have to stand in that line. He had his job lined up, if things went all right this morning. Arden walked to the other side of the street to get more easily around the gathering crowd looking for work.

You couldn't even say times were tough on Taarken when you looked at the faces down on their luck, out of work and out of hope. This was normal for Taarken.

Arden jogged across the dusty street, around a trash transport and recycler, and straight up to the Carnes Syndicates' Mining Office.

Inside, a young woman sat at the desk glancing back and forth between a datapad and a spreadsheet hard copy. You didn't see those every day, he thought as he noticed. The woman looked up to see him in the doorway.

"May I help you?"

"I'm here to speak with Dante Olen." She smiled.

"You must be the new hotshot pilot he's waiting for."

"Oh," he wavered. "I don't know about that."

"I'll show you straight back."

With that, she led him back down a hallway and past a far more utilitarian section of the offices than the lobby had been. No soft seating and flowery watercolors.

She tapped a comm panel to the right of the door, and it slid aside to reveal his good friend, trapped behind a desk piled high with work and multiple datapads. The larger man rose with a broad smile that was his usual jovial expression. His dark skin was a rich contrast to his white business shirt.

"Oh, Dante. I'm sad to see you this down on your luck," Arden joked.  The two men shook hands. "This is just so sad to see. You're getting soft around the middle."

Arden playfully punched his friend in the middle where he’d put on some weight, and his friend returned the horseplay. "Thanks, Millie," Dante said to his assistant as he hooked an elbow over Arden's neck pinning him. When the door slid closed, Dante let him go as Arden laughed.

"Impressive scores at the academy, Arden."

"Only if it gets me the job."

Dante gestured to one of the chairs before his desk, and took the other one, instead of walking around to sit in his own.

"Oh, you have the job. That's not the worry; The worry is whether you'll want the job I'm offering." The man tapped his knee twice.

"I have a problem, losses, theft. I need someone I can trust on this particular crew."

"What kinds of losses?"

" Cargo, little more every trip. And, whoever is responsible is padding the books to hide it."

Arden whistled. "Well, that is a short list."

"Yes, it is. I know who's dirty on the crew. That's not what I need.

I want to know who is receiving our goods. This could get dangerous, Arden."

"Because you basically want me to play dirty, and then give you the names?"

"Yes."

"Anything for a friend. I assume that the salary is in line with the danger?"

The other man laughed. "Of course, it is. What do you take me for?"

The two men stood. "Where do I report?"

"The Bolavon docks in three days. She'll unload and start taking on new inventory and crew the day after. You're the copilot and new armory officer."

Raising his left eyebrow, he said, "Handy. I assume they'll be eager to be my friend."

"That's what I'm hoping for. He who has the armory has the ship, you know that old saying."

They talked about the local hauler races a bit longer, until Arden left the office to get some of his gear out of storage and get ready for his new assignment. He’d need that side iron, it appeared.

It wasn't exactly what he'd expected, but it was a good job. It was also a favor for a good friend. He and Dante went way back.

*

B
rinn met Arden by accident enough on the roof that it was getting to be difficult to pretend it wasn't a prearranged date each time. She'd tell herself she needed air, and usually she did need to escape the close confines of the tiny apartment and her mother and grandmother's constant bickering. Like magic, within minutes of her taking a seat in her favorite spot, a long day bed designed for naps, Arden would appear.

Tonight, she was especially upset. Brinn had processed payroll all day, and one new hire in particular had her nerves on high alert.

She looked at him as he sat down beside her. "What did I do?" He asked without preamble lacing his fingers over his folded legs.

"The Bolavon is a terrible ship!"

"It's a job, Brinn." She could see she'd baffled him. Brinn slapped the flat palm of her hand on the chair cushion beside her.