Slow Burn (32 page)

“You know, he does,” said Griffin. “And I can see why. He’s got his kid, he’s free. Everything’s all right.”

“Sure,” I said. “But I mean, I don’t ever want to have kids.”

Griffin turned the key in the ignition. “Never?”

My eyes widened. “What? You do?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess we got time to talk about it, huh?”

“I’m not having kids, Griffin. There’s no way. You see this stomach?” I pointed. “I’m not doing that.”

“You don’t even want to talk about it?”

I glared at him. “Of course you want to have kids. You don’t have to
do
anything.”

“Well,” he said. “You should probably finish college first.”

“You think?”

“So, I guess I better get you back to Thomas, so you can finish out the semester.”

I folded my arms over my chest. “Yes. Drive. And no more crazy talk of babies.”

He leaned across the car. “You’re all I need, doll.” And his lips found mine.

I banged the door of my apartment closed behind me and rushed down the steps. I was angry. We’d been back in Thomas for a month, long enough for me to get caught up on all my classes. I’d taken my last final exam earlier that afternoon. I’d come back to the apartment, hoping to celebrate with Griffin.

And then we’d gotten in a fight.

A bad fight.

We’d never fought like that before. Not once.

I made my way downtown, seething, turning over things he’d said to me, feeling angry about them, thinking of the perfect come back. I wished there was some way I could go back in time and tell him off, because I obviously hadn’t done it right the first time.

How dare he say things like that to me?

The jerk.

I went into The Purple Fiddle, made my way to the counter, and ordered a beer. The Holy Ghost Tent Revival was playing tonight, and they were setting up. That was part of what we’d argued about. I loved this band. They were high energy. They had brass musical instruments. They wore suspenders and button-up shirts. They sang harmonies together into their microphones when they weren’t jumping all over the stage. I wanted to see them.

And then he’d accused me of all kinds of stupid things.

I screamed at him. We weren’t in danger anymore. We were safe. I could go see a band and drink some beer if I wanted. He didn’t have to stop me from having a life.

But as I sat down to nurse my drink, watching the band do their sound tests, I didn’t feel vindicated for coming out on my own. I only felt lonely. I’d wanted to share this band with Griffin. I’d wanted to show him something fun and normal, since he’d lost so much of his life to violence and fear.

How had that turned into yelling at him? It should have been a good thing. Now, it all felt ruined.

My anger was draining away. I mostly felt sad now. I wished I could take back half the things I’d said. I fiddled with the salt shaker on the table. It was the male half of a pair of kissing hippies. The girl was the pepper. I pulled them away from each other, so that they stood back to back.

Now even the salt and pepper were fighting.

I sighed. Seeing this band wasn’t going to be worth it without Griffin. I’d wonder about him all night. I couldn’t be out here while he was at home. I couldn’t have fun if things weren’t right between us. I needed to apologize.

I got up. I wouldn’t get to finish my beer, but that was okay. I carried it back to the counter and set it down.

“Something wrong with that?” asked the guy working.

“No,” I said. “It’s fine. I just have to go.”

The door to The Purple Fiddle opened and Griffin walked in.

I ran to him. “Griffin, I was just coming to—”

“I was out of line, doll,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I am. I shouldn’t have said the stuff I did.”

“It’s okay,” he said.

“Is it?”
“Yes.” He fitted one of his hands behind my head, tangling his fingers in my hair. He kissed me thoroughly, right there in the doorway. I felt the kiss everywhere, from the top of my head to the ends of my toes. My limbs went shaky. I had to hold onto him to stand upright.

He broke the kiss, but we were still close.

“Let’s never fight again?” he murmured.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Will we always kiss like that afterwards?”

He chuckled, winding his arm around me and walking with me into the Fiddle. “So, this band isn’t religious?”

“Ma’am?” said the man at the counter. “You still want your beer?”

“Thanks,” I said, scooping it up. I looked up into Griffin’s gray eyes. “You’re going to love the music. And I’m going to make you dance.”

He cringed. “I don’t know about that.”

I smiled up at him. “If you love me, you will dance.”

He grinned. “Way to lay down an ultimatum, doll.”

I giggled. He kissed me again. My laughter filled both of our mouths. And I knew that everything was okay. We were safe. We were together. We were happy.

Release
by V. J. Chambers
Chapter One

When Miss Ariana Gilit, daughter of the duke of the Planet Wendo, heard the news that her suitor the Duke of Risciter was leaving the Planet Hallon, she wasn’t pleased. For one thing, Risciter had promised he would call on her later that afternoon. For another, she’d been absolutely certain that he would ask her father for her hand in marriage by the end of the week. For Risciter to be leaving so abruptly made no sense whatsoever. Furthermore, she was furious that he was leaving without saying goodbye to her.

The news, however, was all over the public nets. Risciter was her dream man. She, like nearly every other girl her age in the Evon Sector, had grown up with quite a crush on him, collecting pictures of him on the nets and following everything reported on him on the vids. When he’d begun courting her, nearly two months ago, she’d been out of her mind with joy. It was at his suggestion she’d even come to Hallon for the summer season. This season, it was in fashion to spend the summer on her homeworld, Wendo. And she would have been there with her family if it hadn’t been for Risciter.

His leaving her without so much as a word was completely unacceptable. She’d followed him to the ends of the universe—well, to Hallon, anyway, which was so unfashionable this season as to be synonymous with the ends of the universe—and he’d ditched her. Or at least, he was going to ditch her. In approximately one hour, according to the nets.

Ariana buzzed for her lady’s maid on her comm.

“Miss?” came the maid’s voice from the square communicator.

“Is Miss Vintro awake yet?” Ariana asked. Miss Vintro was her Aunt Tildy. She and Aunt Tildy were staying in her family home on Hallon. Her father had a house on every planet in the Evon Sector and four on their homeworld of Wendo. But her family hadn’t accompanied her to Hallon, considering how out of fashion it was these days. Ariana was hardly permitted to travel alone, however, and so Aunt Tildy had been sent along as her chaperone and companion. Unfortunately, Aunt Tildy, who’d never married and showed very little interest in ever getting married, showed a great deal of interest in alcohol. Which meant that she slept off a hangover nearly every morning. By the time Aunt Tildy deigned to get out of bed, it was generally after one in the afternoon.

“No, miss,” came the reply. “Shall I have her maid wake her?”

That was probably a terrible idea. Aunt Tildy was generally in an awful mood when she woke up, owing to her hangovers. But Ariana wasn’t supposed to leave the house without a companion, and she had to get to Risciter before he left the planet. What was she going to do? Ariana chewed on her lip. “No. Just come up here and braid my hair and help me dress.”

Ariana was formulating a plan. It was a plan that flew in the face of decorum and propriety, but this was a desperate situation. Her fiancé was leaving. Technically, of course, he wasn’t her fiancé, but he
would
be. She had to confront him, give him a chance to explain it all away. And if she didn’t see him before he left, then her life would be ruined. Possibly forever, but definitely for the rest of the week.

Her maid appeared in the doorway to her chamber. “Miss,” she said, “you aren’t planning on leaving the house without Miss Vintro, are you?”

Ariana tossed her hair. “Braid.” She gave the maid a sharp look. “It’s not your business what I’m planning, is it?”

“No, miss.” She began braiding.

Going to rendezvous with a man without a chaperon was indeed scandalous. But once she arrived, it wouldn’t be as though Risciter didn’t have his own entourage with him. They wouldn’t be alone then. So, really, she would only be unsupervised for a very short speeder ride to the spacedock. And that wasn’t that scandalous, was it?

After her hair was braided and her maid had helped her into a no-nonsense jumpsuit suitable for the spacedock, Ariana told her, “Have the driver get the speeder ready for me.”

The maid’s jaw dropped. “Miss, you
are
going to go out alone, aren’t you?”

“Just do it,” said Ariana. Of course, she didn’t need the maids’ gossiping about her either. That would get around society quicker than if she posted her intentions on the nets. “And don’t go spreading it about either. This is an urgent situation, and there simply is no way around it.”

“It’s about His Lordship, isn’t it? Duke Risciter? I saw that he was leaving today.”

“Get the speeder,” said Ariana.

The maid hurried out of the room.

And so, within fifteen minutes, Ariana was in the backseat of a speeder, rushing towards the spacedock. For good measure, she kept the divider between her and the driver up and opaque, so that he couldn’t see her. Surely, that was enough to protect her privacy.

Once at the space dock, she leapt out of the speeder and began rushing towards the bay where Risciter kept his ship. The driver got out of the speeder and yelled after her, “Miss, you need to be careful out here all alone! Why don’t you let me park the speeder, and I’ll come with you?”

“I’ll be fine,” she threw over her shoulder. “I’ll be with Duke Risciter in a few moments.” And she ran on. The docking bay was crowded in the public area, where people could catch commercial ships to other planets, but relatively empty once she got away from the common area.

Ariana had to swipe her access card to get into the docking bay where Risciter was leaving from. Luckily, her own ship was docked in the same bay, so she had no trouble entering at all. She inserted her card, pulled it out quickly, and the doors in front of her slid open diagonally. She stepped inside.

And was greeted by the sound of blaster fire.

Blasters? What was going on in here? She turned back to the door she’d just come through, but it was an entrance door only. The exit door was all the way on the opposite side of the massive room. And between her and the door was a man with a blaster.

Ariana surveyed the scene. She could see Risciter, standing outside the loading ramp to his ship, his arms in the air. Beside him were his valet and his pilot, also with their arms up. On the ground, Ariana could see a body. It wasn’t moving. The man with the blaster must have shot him. Who was it? Another of Risciter’s servants, perhaps? She put a hand to her mouth.

The man with the blaster turned his head in her direction.

Ariana dove behind another ship in the docking bay, out of sight. The man with the blaster was wearing a speeder driver’s uniform. She could almost swear she’d seen him before. He might work for the Duke of Hallon, in fact. Why was he shooting people? Why was he threatening Risciter? She peered around the ship and could see her love there, his cherubic face obscured by his blond curls. But even though she couldn’t see him clearly, she could see he was alarmed. Her heart went out to him.

It didn’t matter why this madman was threatening Risciter. She was here, by luck, and she had to save her fiancé. Well, her almost fiancé. After she saved Risciter’s life, he’d have to propose.

Ariana found her comm in the pocket of her jumpsuit. She switched it on, but in the upper corner of the screen a red light blinked at her. That was right, damn it, there was no comm service in the spacedock. It interfered with the tower’s ability to communicate with ships or something. She couldn’t call the police, then. What could she do?

She couldn’t get all the way across the bay to the other door and run for help.

The man with the blaster was talking. “I don’t have anything against your men. I only want you, Risciter.” Ariana watched as he gestured with the blaster to the valet and the pilot. “I won’t shoot either of you unless you get in my way, like he did.” He pointed to the body on the ground. “You understand?”

“Now, look here,” said Risciter. “I don’t know who you are, but if it’s money you want—”

“Don’t know who I am?” interrupted the man with the blaster. “Well, perhaps it
has
been seven years. Perhaps you wouldn’t recognize me.”

Recognize him? Maybe he did work for the duke of Hallon. But why should Risciter recognize him? He was clearly lower class. He wasn’t important to someone like Risciter. The man with a blaster had obviously lost his mind. Ariana had to do something. She looked around frantically, trying to get some kind of idea.

There was nothing in the bay except ships. Risciter’s ship. Her ship. Two other ships. What could she...?

Her ship!

Ariana was nearly positive that it was outfitted with a few ion canons, in the case of running into skirmishes in deep space. If she could figure out how to use them, maybe she could injure the man with the blaster, or at least frighten him.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t recognize you,” Risciter was saying.

Ariana dashed behind the ship closest to her towards her own.

“We met in Rilla Alley,” said the man with the blaster.

Rilla Alley? That was ridiculous. That was the place prostitutes and drug dealers were always found. Risciter wouldn’t ever go there.