The Other Side Of Gravity (Oxygen, #1) (32 page)

It stunned me how accurate that statement was. I was getting good at it. In fact, thinking about going back to being just me alone made me feel so empty. I gripped his hand tightly as he tugged me along until we came to a couple vendors who were packing up. They had been selling water and juice containers to the beach-goers.

Maxton stopped and let some people go past us before turning and looking at me. “Will you stay with the twins while I go take care of something?”

I wanted to ask, like really wanted to ask, but I nodded.

He kissed my forehead. “I’ll be right back,” he muttered against my skin, causing my eyes to close. He looked at Fletch. “She’s on you now.”

“We’ve got her,” he promised.

He nodded quickly once and then sprinted over to the vendor. They began talking. I watched them, trying to figure out what Maxton’s end game was.

“Your boyfriend’s attitude is terrible.”

I shook my head with a scoff and looked back at the man who had joined our group, for only a second. “You’re only saying that because his ire was directed at you. When it’s directed at the enemy, it’s very useful. You should have announced yourself a little sooner, buddy.” When I heard nothing, I looked over to find him gaping at me. I shrugged. “What?”

“People are usually…afraid of me.”

I looked at him objectively. “It’s the muscles. You can be very intimidating, I imagine.”

“But you’re not afraid.” He said this like he was saddened by the fact he couldn’t make me shake in fear.

“Nope. That ship has sailed. Sorry.”

“Okay,” Maxton said as he came back and took my hand, “I’ve got your way out. Come on.”

He explained the vendor was out of beverages and was taking his cart back to his shop. He would be going through the sentry checkpoint just like the rest of us, but he would let me get inside his cart and hide through the checkpoint for an undetermined amount that Maxton had worked out on his own.

“Just tell me what you’re giving him to do this.”

He sighed. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.”

“It’s a favor someone owed me. I’m calling it in. That’s all. It’s part of the life I left behind. But don’t worry. They’ll both be getting what they want out of the deal.” He tugged me. “Come on.”

We reached the older vendor and he eyed me up and down. “Oh, yeah. She’ll fit.”

Maxton gave him a dull look. “I know she will. You can keep your comments to yourself.”

He raised his hands. The new guy who had joined our group gave me a look that said
See!
as I turned to face Maxton. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“Me?” he scoffed. “Am
I
okay?”

“Well, you’re biting everyone’s head off.”

He sighed long and hard. “I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all. I don’t like the fact that all these people are showing up out of nowhere, staking claim to you. I don’t like the fact that we’re blind as far as the Militia is concerned. I don’t like that fact that one misstep, it goes wrong, and they could take you and… I don’t like the fact that you’ve been on this planet this whole time and I could have known you.”

I sucked in a startled breath. “Maxton.”

“This is not goodbye, or any other version of farewell you can come up with. That’s just me simply stating the facts. I
don’t
like this. But I don’t have a choice, so I’ll put you in this box and walk beside you all the way until we get beyond the sentries, and then we’ll get you out of there and begin our journey again.”

“Why do I get to go into the box? They know your face, too.”

He shook his head. “They know your face more. And I don’t have a bounty on me. I’m just wanted.”

“I’m not going to be able to stay in there and think about them snatching you while I’m safe and sound inside.” I steeled my voice. “No, Maxton.”

He smirked. He actually smirked right now. “There she is.”

“There who is?” But I knew exactly what the next words out of his mouth would be.

“The girl I met on the ship. The girl who fought a handful of men on a rooftop. The girl who’s evaded an entire planet full of people looking for her. The girl who has tried to fight me at every turn until she could no longer resist.”

A little scoff-laugh slipped through my lips causing the side of his lip to tilt up. “If I recall, it was you who tried to fight me off the first time,” I spouted back, putting my hands on my hips, remembering that first kiss and the misunderstandings that stemmed from it.

“Oh!” I heard Fletch mutter off to the side. “That’s totally hot.”

Maxton ignored him and smiled a little wider. “And what a stupid mistake that was.” He stepped toward me until our boots were touching. “I promise you it’s one I won’t make again.”

I nodded, not realizing I was shaking until Maxton’s hands rubbed my arms to soothe me. Knowing our banter was winding down and the plan was about to be put into play made my heart ache in a way it never had. I didn’t understand it, even to put a name on it. He pressed his lips to my forehead. “Shhh. I’m not the important one in this scenario. You are. People need you, are waiting for you. You have to find out what your mom’s sacrifice was all about.” A huff of pain-filled breath released from my lips. “I’ll be right outside the whole time. I won’t go anywhere.”

“I’m not so much worried about me,” I told him, but he pulled back to look into my face without a word before nodding to the vendor.

“It’s cold in the box,” the vendor said and lifted the lid. “It’s made for beverages not people, but she should be all right in there.”

“Should?” Maxton questioned quickly.

“It’s a cooler, not a freezer. It’s still cold inside, but the cooling fans are off because of the EMP. She’ll be fine. In you go,” he urged me.

Maxton’s eyes latched onto mine as he leaned down and kissed me quickly but solidly. Then he lifted my bag from around my shoulder. “Here. Let me keep this for you,” he told me quietly before taking my hand and helping me step into the big cart on wheels. I threw my leg over the side and climbed in as quickly as I could. The twins had turned to look and keep watch, but the bridge was to our backs and there were people everywhere, all aggravated and doing their own thing because they wanted to leave, and now had to wait to be checked individually. All because of me. I really was public enemy number one.

With them standing around the cart and the big lid doing most of the hiding anyway, I doubted anyone saw me as I climbed in and settled along the bottom, on my back. I hissed at the cold I could feel even through my jacket.

I let my eyes find Maxton’s. “You’d better be right there when this box is opened.” I’d done it. I’d opened myself up to him and now, I couldn’t lose him. I knew what it was like to have someone again. To go back to being alone would hurt too badly.

My teeth were already starting to chatter.

I saw Maxton’s jaw clench. “Close your eyes, sweet. When they open again, it’ll be on the other side of the security check, safe and sound.”

They all looked down at me as he closed the door and I was plunged into darkness. I felt the cart begin to move and tried to breath slowly. The chilled metal all around me was doing nothing to make me feel better. Keeping my breaths slow would also help me to not waste my oxygen.

They were fine.
He
was fine.

It was so loud outside the cart, and with the thick cart walls, it was impossible to hear anything going on. I felt us stop. I waited. We started moving again and then stopped, then moved and then stopped once more. I was going crazy with all the stops and starts as it kept going like that for long, long minutes. I had to know what was going on out there.

I was trusting the twins to look out for Maxton and vice versa. It was a hard thing to do, especially since I knew they’d be thinking about me. But I was the safest one in that metal box.

We lurched what felt like to the right, causing me to bang my head against the side. “Ow,” I hissed quietly.

Suddenly, the lid was yanked open to reveal a sentry grinning down at me, his eyebrows raised, his teeth showing. “What have we here?”

Oh, no…

He took my arm and pulled me up roughly, making me stumble out of the container. “What have we here?” he repeated louder.

I looked around and Maxton and the twins were nowhere to be seen. I glanced at the vendor, giving him a questioning look. He shrugged in apology. “The guy with you, miss,” he whispered. “He gave you up.”

“The wondering star?” I wondered aloud because I didn’t know his name.

“Shut up, the both of you,” the sentry yelled. “Time to go.”

He punched something into the screen on his arm before a SkyLark came down in a clear spot on the pavement next to us. Keeping a tight grip on my upper arm, he pulled me over to the machine. I didn’t see a reason to fight him…it was over…until I saw them. Maxton, Roddy, and Fletch were standing at the end of the street where the road ends right before the beach begins. They were around the side of a building. Maxton’s hands were in his hair.

I started to struggle against the sentry, but he wasted no time in leaning back and smacking my cheek with his palm. I’d been hit lots of time in my life, but with the sentries and the little kick they had that we didn’t, the vitamins they took, it hurt a lot worse than any of the times Rivers had ever hit me.

I tried to see through my swimming vision as he continued to take me to the SkyLark. Around us were sentries, everywhere, in every direction. My eyes found Maxton again and his hands were fisted by his side. He shook his head. He pointed at his chest and then and me a couple times before letting his hand drop back to his side, sagging in defeat. I understood. He was coming for me with the twins. I wished they wouldn’t. I wasn’t worth all this.

The SkyLark door opened, only able to fit two people, but really fit for one comfortably. Standing upright, it hovered a little bit above the ground. With no seats, you stand in it for the quick trip back to Congress Hill, because that’s what they’re for. Super-fast, even faster than the hover rail system, the only people who had access to them were the Militia. And the only people who took rides in them were convicts.

So I didn’t exactly feel privileged.

He put me inside and then climbed in beside me. As we lifted into the sky, I looked down at Maxton and I wondered if that was the last time I would ever see him, if the last thing we ever said to each other was a broken promise as he told me to close my eyes and he’d be there the next time I opened them.

Why had the man let us go through with that whole thing if he was going to turn us in anyway? Why not just do it on the beach? Unless he had made a deal of some kind. Unless he was trying to keep the money for himself.

“You’ve caused a lot of problems, little one.”

I jolted as the man next to me finally spoke, breaking me out of my thoughts. I didn’t look at him, just continued to look out the window, pretending that Maxton was still there and his pleading, soul-chasing, dark brown eyes were still on me, keeping me strong.

The world flew by so quickly, but I was still shocked when Congress Hill came into view under us. The SkyLark landed on the hill on a big gray granite slab that had been marked with a large circle with an “X” inside it.

“Home sweet home, convict,” he joked as the little tall door opened and he yanked me out by my arm. As soon as I was outside the SkyLark, he touched the side of my neck. I reached up and felt a magnetic pulse pad and looked over to see he was holding the holographic tether, which made it impossible for me to run. I would be shocked more and more the further away I got. “There’re a couple people with grievances who’ve been notified that you’ve been found. They’re here to see you, I believe.”

“Goody,” I muttered.

He took me in through the heavily-guarded underside of the hill, where the building faced the city, me following behind with the tether. I could see a tattoo of flames on the side of his neck. They reached up into his hairline and looked at if they were catching his hair on fire. I would have thought it was cool if he wasn’t such a—

“The whole planet was looking for you. I’m going to get a nice big bonus for bringing you in. The boys will be toasting to my honor tonight at the bar.”

“That’s great. You all go have a drink on the fact that you subdued a girl with no weapon whose only crime was that she couldn’t pay her taxes.”

His eyes cooled, his head tilting, his lips thinning. He took a step too far, going a little faster than me so the tether would send me a jolt. I hissed. “What was that now?” he asked as I yelped.

“What, did they run out of puppies to kick? You had to move on to females? Are kids up next?” I cleared my throat a little and rubbed my neck.

“Keep talking,” he warned as I followed him down a few steps and into a long stone hallway under the hill. “There are a few who come in here and think their sense of humor will hold out.” He looked back at me over his shoulder and grinned. “But it doesn’t. It never does.” He chuckled. “Just ask them.” He nodded his head to the right.

I looked over and saw several women and men lying in their cells. There was no privacy whatsoever with the holographic barrier doors that you could see through. Some of them stared at the wall, some of them had their eyes closed, some of them cried, but it was obvious that they’d been pushed beyond their limits, physical and mental.

We reached the end of the hall. I basically had to sprint to keep up with him. The woman in the cell on the end turned just as I passed her. The right side of her face was so badly wounded—it looked like they had burned her.

“Wow, you bunch of bastards,” I hissed between my teeth, making the profanity sensors go off. As soon as the red laser finished scanning my face, he surprised me and pushed me against the wall, face-first.

“Shut. Up.” He ripped the thing off my neck so hard it felt like it took flesh with it. The tethers were thumbprint coded, so only the person who put them on could take them off. He pressed my hand to the screen by the door to a cell. It began to burn and I tried to yank my hand away, but he held it tight. Then I felt a prick on my palm and the screen beeped to life, stating everything there was to know about me.