Breakeven

by Michelle Diener

When she turned, he was right in front of her, leaning back with arms crossed over a muscled chest.

  Her heart leapt into her throat, so that she actually felt a vein throb there.

  He was coiled power, and she wanted him.

  Really wanted him.

  He watched her, and the silence spun out, building between them like a massive static charge.

  When they came together, it would be explosive.

  She jolted at the thought, because there was no doubt in her mind. They would come together.

  She didn't know who moved first.

  Maybe him.

  Maybe he started to push away from the counter before she stepped forward, but it didn't matter.

  She met him halfway in a clash of lips and a clutch of hands, their bodies flush against each other, every touch like a lick of lightning against her skin.

  She tipped back her head, and his teeth grazed the side of her throat as his hands slid under the thin fabric of her shirt.

  She groaned as he cupped her breasts, her own hands sliding down the loose waist of his pants. She gave a hum of delight in finding he was wearing nothing beneath them, and the sound seemed to snap something in him.

  He hauled her up on the counter's edge, stepped between her thighs. “I want you.” His voice was hoarse.

  “I want you.” She used her position to unsnap the fastening on the top of his trousers.

  They fell to the ground immediately, and she had just a moment to feel a stab of anger that he'd gone hungry, that he was too thin, before he was lifting her up with one arm, and tugging down her own pants with the other.

  She helped him, wriggling until she was naked from the waist down and they were both panting.

  “I'm not going to survive this.” He rested his forehead against hers, suddenly slowing things down, his fingers gently rubbing between her legs in a slow, almost languid pattern.

  It had been a long time for her, and she went from highly aroused to orgasmic in moments, shuddering in his arms as she came with an incoherent cry.

  He swore as he lifted her a little higher, and she held his gaze from beneath heavy lids as he thrust into her.

  He braced one hand behind her on the wall, and she could see the sweat beading on his forehead as he looked down at where their bodies were joined, his face almost grim with concentration.

  And then he started to move, and she stopped thinking at all.

  Chapter 20

  Sebastian managed to get them to his bed.

  He didn't know how, because he didn't think he'd walk again.

  They'd fallen together, and her laughter had loosened something so tight and hard in his chest he hadn't even realized it was there.

  He felt like he was breathing easy for the first time in longer than he could remember.

  He rose up over her, pulling her tight black shirt over her head and then nuzzling his way down her body. Her laughter turned to a soft moan, but even as she arched under him, someone started pounding on the door.

  They both froze, and then Dee sent him a pained grin.

  “Looks like the fun is over.”

  He closed his eyes, fists clenched beside her head, and she lifted up and touched her lips gently to his.

  “We'll find time later,” she whispered, and he opened his eyes, looked down into a warm golden brown gaze filled with wry humor.

  The pounding started up again, and with a low curse he levered himself off the bed, and walked through into the living area, scooping up Dee's pants as he buttoned up his own.

  She was standing by the door of his bedroom to take them from him, top back on, naked from the waist down.

  He felt his legs go a little weak as he pulled her to him, and then took a deep breath, inhaling her scent, before he pushed her gently away and closed the door to give her privacy.

  Fluffy hissed from the counter, and while he couldn't see her properly, he guessed she was looking at the front door.

  “Sebastian!”

  He sighed as he pulled the door open.

  Koan was almost hopping from foot to foot in agitation, and behind him Mona, Karr and Luschka stood together in a tight little group.

  Koan blew out a breath of relief at the sight of him. “Good. We need to talk. What took you so long?”

  Sebastian let his gaze move over the group. Karr looked pale, but much better than he had last night.

  He stepped back to let them in.

  “This couldn't wait until I came into headquarters?”

  Koan walked into the room, then went still as Dee stepped out of his bedroom.

  Fully dressed and in the presence of strangers, she looked her usual sleek, dangerous self.

  Her hair was loose, swinging over her shoulders, but the black outfit she'd taken from Rina Fattal's things made her look anything but soft.

  “The Garmen woman,” Koan said.

  Dee inclined her head. “The Garmen woman.”

  Fluffy took that moment to leap from the counter into Dee's arms, and she caught her, then lifted her in what was becoming a practiced move onto her shoulder.

  “I knew I heard something last night.” Mona stared at the talu. “What is it?”

  “It's called a talu.” Dee watched them carefully, and Sebastian realized she was trying to see who reacted, who knew what a talu was.

  No one said anything.

  “It was in Rina Fattal's suite on the pleasure cruiser.” Karr flicked a hand in Fluffy's direction. “It's attached itself to Dee.”

  “You sure she really isn't Rina Fattal?” Koan asked.

  Dee lifted an eyebrow at him and said nothing.

  “I'm sure.” Sebastian's tone was short. “What was so urgent, Koan?”

  He moved behind the counter. If he couldn't have more time in bed with Dee, he needed more jah.

  Laschka cleared her throat. “Maybe if . . . Dee could give us a bit of privacy?”

  Sebastian handed Dee a cup of jah, and then turned to get his own. “Dee stays.”

  He heard Koan's shocked grunt. “This is important, Seb. We've got to continue last night's discussion--”

  “Dee stays. If it comes down to it, she's the only one here I know I can trust.” Sebastian braced his hands on the counter. “I was completely behind the plan to kidnap Rina Fattal, but someone knew the Caruso were involved. Even one of our low-level informants in town knew, but for some reason, that wasn't passed on to me.”

  Karr winced and looked away.

  “I don't just mean you, Karr. Someone told Frino about the Caruso. So that makes me wonder. Who thought it would be a good idea for me to be off-planet on a risky trip while the Caruso made themselves at home at the Cores' hover base? When I asked that question last night, all I got back were blank stares.”

  Mona sucked in a breath. “That's not fair. With Suski and Darren away, we don't have all the information, and there have always been a few Caruso ships coming in to the hover port. The Cores do carry out some trade with them.”

  “Not a warship though,” Karr said.

  “No.” Mona glanced at Koan. “Wasn't Huti watching--?”

  “Huti's missing.” Koan clenched his fists at his side. “He never came to our last meeting, and I admit, I didn't think anything of it. I assumed he had nothing to pass on, but I asked around after our meeting last night, and no one's seen him in two weeks.”

  “An informant reporting in from one of the most sensitive areas of Cores control never turned up for a debrief, and you didn't follow up?” Sebastian stared at Koan in disbelief. He'd been in charge of the resistance in the far-flung pipeline communities around Dar Raca until six months ago, so he'd never worked closely with Koan until he was voted in by the resistance members as leader after Vahn disappeared, but since he'd stepped into the role, he'd sensed some simmering resentment from the burly lieutenant.

  If that resentment had led Koan to disregard vital signs of danger, he was done. Sebastian wanted him out.

  Koan's gaze snagged on his, an
d the smaller man took an actual step backward.

  “Things were shook up after Vahn disappeared. People started to think we were finished. That there was no hope left. I thought Huti might be one of them. That he'd given up his duties to focus on putting food in his children's mouths.” Koan narrowed his eyes accusingly. “All I remember is that you were as eager as anyone to take the risk of grabbing Rina Fattal.”

  “That's because it seemed like the last chance we had.” Sebastian watched him, didn't like what he saw.

  Laschka cleared her throat. “If grabbing Rina was the last chance we had, then what do we do now?”

  There was silence for a long beat.

  “I'm not giving up,” Sebastian said at last. “But we have no resources left. I spent the last of my personal ports and whatever was left in the resistance coffers on hiring the ship we used to follow Rina Fattal. We're going to have to get creative.”

  A pall seemed to settle on them all.

  “What do we do about Frino?” Karr asked.

  “Hunt him down.” Sebastian was tired of playing nice with people who were supposed to be his allies.

  “We need to tread carefully, Seb. Things aren't like they used to be. People are living too close to the edge.” Laschka waved her hands. “Asking them to put themselves even more at risk has to be done with a bit of finesse.”

  “Asking them to help us save them and their families, you mean?” Sebastian kept his voice low. “Either everyone's with us, or we give up now. When the Caruso finally take over, we won't be dealing with a group like the Cores that at least has to pretend to treat us like we matter so the VSC will keep doing business with them. When the Caruso take control then everyone on Lassa will either be useful, or a nuisance. And they will rid themselves of any nuisance very quickly.”

  “You can't know that for sure, that the Caruso are going to take over.” Koan's mouth was a thin, sulky line.

  “They certainly tried on Garmen. They attacked the Cores openly on the Deck of Felicitos.” Sebastian straighten up. “It was a surprise attack, and the Cores guards fought the Caruso in front of us.”

  “It's true.” Karr slid his hands into his pants pockets and hunched his shoulders. “The Cores have finally let greed interfere with their own sense of self-preservation.”

  There was a light knock at the door, and a young woman Sebastian didn't recognize leaned in. “Gert's at headquarters, wanting to speak to Sebastian.” She looked them all over with bright interest.

  Sebastian wondered if he'd ever looked that young and enthusiastic.

  “What's that about?” Laschka asked, and he turned to find her watching him with a considering expression.

  Might have had something to do with the way his fists clenched at the sound of Gert's name.

  “He and some friends tried to rob Dee last night.” Sebastian glanced over at her, remembering how the four men had hemmed her in, and the cool way she'd faced them down.

  She lifted a shoulder. “They thought I was a Cores brat. It was no big deal.”

  “It's a big deal to me. Gert knew you were with me.” He looked up at the messenger. “Tell him I'm coming.”

  He leaned over and kissed her on the temple, unwilling to leave without some acknowledgment that he was barely able to keep his hands off her.

  She looked up at him, face serious, and brushed her own kiss on his cheek, sliding her arm around his waist and drawing him in for a quick, tight hug.

  “I'll see you for lunch.” He glanced at the cooler, realized there was nothing inside it. “We'll probably have to go shopping first.”

  Then, unwilling to lose a chance to talk to Gert, he forced his legs to move, jogging out the door.

  Karr fell in beside him, but the others followed more slowly.

  He'd seen the looks as he'd kissed Dee, and he knew they didn't know what to make of it.

  Truth was, he didn't know what to make of it himself. But there was no way he was giving it up.

  Chapter 21

  Sebastian left with a crowd on his heels, but Laschka stayed behind.

  Dee watched her turn with the group and then slow walk to the door. She stopped, one hand braced on the door frame.

  Dee took the last sip of her jah, one leg crossed over the other as she leaned back against the counter and waited.

  “You and Sebastian seem close.” Laschka kept her voice even as she pinned Dee with a hard stare.

  Dee said nothing. She put down her mug and the silence stretched out between them.

  Laschka made a sound of frustration. “I'm watching you.” She pointed a finger at Dee then stepped away from the door and closed it with a bang.

  Dee lifted Fluffy from her shoulder and scratched the top of her head. “I don't know about you, but I think she's suspicious of me.”

  She herself had been very suspicious of Leo's girlfriend, Sofie, so she understood the instinct.

  She sighed, and then put a hand to her stomach as it grumbled.

  “I can't wait for lunch.” She rounded the counter, opened the cooler, and found it empty. Sebastian had not been lying about needing to shop.

  “Let's do some exploring.” She lifted Fluffy into the bag, sliding a few of Rina Fattal's ports into an outside pocket before she stepped out of the house.

  She had been too tired, and it had been too dark, for her to work out the lay of the land last night. Now she stood in Sebastian's doorway and found herself on a twisting thoroughfare that wound its way through the forest. Huts and shanties were set right on the road or just beyond it, nestled beneath trees so big, she gawked in wonder at them.

  This was nothing like the low, thorny scrub of Garmen.

  The path was well-worn, although unpaved, and a spluttering, battered hover coughed its way past her, going slowly as it passed pedestrians.

  Most of the people were headed to the right, the same direction Sebastian had gone with his entourage.

  She had a vague memory from last night of stumbling out of the rough shack built over the tunnel entrance into a central square, with actual buildings, rather than makeshift wooden huts, and the massive screen that she'd caught a glimpse of from the alley in Dar Raca had dominated the skyline.

  She sniffed the air and headed in that direction herself, certain she could smell some open-fire cooking.

  The road meandered, and she turned a corner to find the number of buildings on either side of the road had increased. They stretched back from the path, two, three, even four structures deep rather than the single line of dwellings that was the pattern where Sebastian had his house.

  The sound of a chair scraping back caught her attention, and she peered down a narrow pathway to find a tiny square set behind the first row of houses, and people sitting hunched over small tables with steaming bowls in front of them.

  A group of ragged children stood watching as those seated at the tables ate in quick, almost guilty bites.

  She sniffed the air again and walked cautiously down the narrow path.

  The people in the square looked up at her, and some continued to stare, but most went back to the hot porridge in the bowls in front of them.

  It was like they'd been broken.

  She'd seen defeat like this on the faces of some of the inhabitants of Tether Town, especially if they were the victims of the oppos, the opportunistic criminals who grabbed what they could from people who couldn't afford to lose anything. But that was individuals.

  It seemed to her that that broken spirit hung over everyone here.

  Quietly, she found a free table and sat, and the children's attention focused on her. It made her heart squeeze tight in her chest.

  She didn't know the dishes of Lassa, and last night, Sebastian had ordered the food in the restaurant, but she didn't have to make a decision, she found.

  A young girl came out with a bowl and set it in front of her, hand out for a port. Dee pulled out all the ports she had.

  “How much to feed the children?” she asked.

/>   The girl turned and looked at the crowd.

  “If you buy them breakfast, they'll be here all the time, hoping.”

  “How much?”

  The girl sighed. Named a price.

  Dee looked at the ports she'd taken out, handed most of them over.

  The girl took them, turned to the children, and made a gesture. They moved hesitantly toward her, and then looked at Dee, shocked, when she murmured something to them.

  They followed her inside, absolutely quiet.

  Dee looked at the food in front of her, but now she had to force herself to dip a spoon in to what looked like cooked grains. Her stomach felt full of rocks.

  This place was so wrong, she wanted to rage.

  She swallowed her first bite and found it was thick and rich, nutty with a slightly sweet aftertaste.

  There was no saucer or small bowl for Fluffy, and the serving girl was busy feeding innocent children, so she scooped Fluffy out of the pack, put her on the table and then put some of the food into the palm of her left hand, and held it out like a bowl.

  She ate her own food with the ticklish rasp of Fluffy's tongue on her skin, and it comforted her. Helped calm her rage.

  About halfway through her meal, everyone seemed to get to their feet, as if on a schedule, and more than one lifted their faces upward, over the low roofs.

  Dee looked herself, and saw the big screen that sat on the Dar Raca city wall had lit up.

  They were about to announce how many were needed to work for today.

  People moved quickly, and while they'd eaten together peacefully enough, no one looked at anyone else as they disappeared down the pathway toward the big square.

  The door to the kitchen, which had been open before, was now closed, and there was a silence to the place that disturbed her.

  She hadn't seen the children leave, but they'd possibly used another entrance.

  She felt invisible eyes on her and shivered.

  She got up, put Fluffy back in her pack, and then took the narrow alley back to the road, stepping out into the main street with a sense of relief.

  A crowd was gathering in the square, and she hesitated, not wanting to get caught up in what was obviously the push and shove as people vied for a job.