"Bought some things," she said.
"Good." The pilot nodded, as if she'd completed her mission satisfactorily.
Two Intergalactic Space Force pilots in uniform stared at her as they walked past, appreciation written on their handsome faces. A trio of women passed the other direction, eyeing her ensemble avariciously.
Daanel winked at her."Don't forget to take that look to the clubs."
She liked him, and she liked his cousin, but she wasn't really up for clubbing.
On the other hand, Stark was in New Asia watching naked women slither all over a stage and probably his lap—or he would be when he concluded his business. She could go out too. Surely it was all right for her to enjoy herself a little. Didn't mean she wasn't still working toward what was most important.
Also, showing these pretty clothes off in public might mean more business for Daanel. She seemed to be his only customer this afternoon. She knew how hard it was to gain recognition in this frenetic, crowded city.
"Know any good places?" she asked. "Maybe you and Taara could join me tonight."
He gave her a look of exaggerated delight that made her laugh. "Do we know clubs? Darling, have you never been to Le Tigre? I'd love to show you off there."
"My favorite." It was the best dance club in the city and always packed. Kiri had heard it was owned by Chaz Jaguari, although she'd never seen him there. Tal hung out there when he was flush, with some lovely on his arm. Kiri wouldn't mind him seeing her looking successful.
"Excellent. We'll pick you up. Where?"
Kiri turned to Rak, who managed to convey his disapproval without moving a facial muscle, like the good soldier he was. "Stark quadrant, Landing One."
Stark owned the whole quadrant? She might have known.
"See you," Daanel caroled.
Rak led the way along the concourse to the landing pod, his posture stiff. "I'm supposed to be with you when you're out, ma'am."
"I don't want to get you in trouble, but I don't want you to be up late just because I am." She stopped inside the slider and watched as he tipped Daanel's assistants, who hurried away looking very pleased. "Want to drop me off? They could bring me back to Stark's place."
"I'm paid to stay up late." He closed the hatch with swift precision. "I will deliver you, wait for you, and bring you back to Landing One, miss."
"Okay." Kiri sat down in the passenger seat in the rear of the slider and then stood up and hurried after the pilot. "Can I still sit up here?"
He nodded, already powering up the sleek craft, and Kiri belted herself in. All right then. She could do this; adjust to living in the lap of luxury … just for a while.
* * *
Flying in to Le Tigre was like approaching a battle site in one of the action videos Kiri loved to watch. Colored lights pulsed across the low clouds hanging over the club, which was on the top of a building. Fireworks shot into the night, with the low rattle of their explosions. Vehicles jockeyed to land on the small space port pad, and far below in the streets people swarmed like bugs. Against the grim backdrop of the city, the club exuded an edgy glamour.
Rak sent a droid to park the slider and followed Kiri into the foyer. He had a disapproving scowl on his face again, but she was going to ignore that.
The high-ceilinged gilt and mirrored area was crowded with beings, all dressed to party, with shimmering, glittering clothing and cosmetics. It was an upscale crowd, though, even the druggers with their eerie dilated eyes looked pretty healthy.
"We'll probably have to wait for a while," Kiri warned Rak.
He shook his head and marched through the crowd. The guards—huge Argonautians in matching brief orange that showed off their impressive musculature—took one look at him and Kiri and gestured them into the club. She followed the stocky pilot, grinning with delight as those in line watched enviously. She was used to dawdling in the lobby, waiting for the mysterious moment when the guards decided it was her turn to enter.
Kiri caught sight of Daanel's crest of hair, highlighted to startling chartreuse, near the doors. She beckoned. The couturier slid through the crowd, his pretty cousin behind him. Tonight he wore black snakeskin. Taara wore a tiny, clinging gold dress.
"We're in," Daanel crowed. "Darling, we must party together more often."
Daanel eyed Rak, striding ahead of them in his gray flight suit. "Is he supposed to help you get men or keep them away?"
"Daanel!" Taara hissed.
Kiri shook her head at the irrepressible Serpentian. "Rak is a good guy. Be nice to him."
"I'll be at the bar," Rak told her, ignoring Daanel, "keeping an eye out. You don't go anywhere without me."
Kiri saluted, but she smiled as she did so. "Okay. See you later."
"Table," Daanel shrieked. Kiri and Taara dove after him to a tall table. Another couple was approaching from the other direction, but Daanel slithered onto a stool first and simpered at them, tilting his head coquettishly. "Sorry. Taken."
They glowered but turned away. "First round on me," Daanel said. "What will you have, ladies?"
"Blue star for me," Kiri said.
"Same," Taara agreed.
Daanel slid away through the crowd, and Kiri looked around. This club was definitely more upscale than those around the port. The crowd was well-dressed and for the most part well-behaved. Probably due to the Argonautians patrolling the periphery, their craggy faces stern.
"Ooh, look." Taara pointed up.
Overhead, huge holovid cats prowled through the dark air with careless, predatory grace, their sleek fur striped with orange and black. Tigers. Kiri shivered pleasurably. Must have been really something when the deadly cats roamed the wild places of this planet.
"This place is starry," Taara said in her ear. "It's so nice of you to invite us. So tell me about Mr. Stark. What's he like at home?"
"Dance?" A well-dressed blond man leaned over the table toward Kiri.
She shook her head, smiling. "Just got here. Maybe later?"
"He was hot." Taara widened her eyes at Kiri. "You should have danced. Except maybe Mr. Stark doesn't want you dancing with other guys, hmm?"
Kiri shrugged. "I want a drink first. I don't need a partner to dance." Wasn't like she'd be going home with one of them, or to some back hallway.
"I know," Taara agreed. "I love to dance." She waved her slender arms over her head, and Kiri admired her shimmery gold halter and tiny fuzzy skirt. With gold glitter sprayed on her eyelids and hair, the blonde looked like some sexy fey creature.
She smiled gleefully at Kiri. "I'm so glad you snagged Stark. I think that bitch Slidi is jealous, you know."
"It shows." Kiri leaned closer. "What about Haassea?"
Taara looked uneasy. "She and Mr. Stark had a thing, years ago. Before she married her boy toy. Oops, I probably shouldn't call Traay that. Don't tell." She grabbed Kiri's arm for emphasis, and Kiri shook her head, grinning.
"He's absolutely moonbeamy," Taara added. "Golden, if you know what I mean. He helps run the business, so he comes in sometimes."
"But she still wants Stark?" That was disgusting.
Taara shrugged gracefully. "Serpentians have a hard time letting go, you know? Takes us a long time to uncoil once we get wrapped around someone."
Kiri understood the difficulty of letting go, but that bitch had bared her fangs the moment Stark turned his back. And her prime assistant had hissed to back her up, or to try and get him for herself.
Daanel reappeared, his hands full of tall, fizzing beakers with glowing sapphire contents. "Blue stars."
The three of them saluted each other and drank. Kiri winced at the intense cold and prickle of the drink and then sighed at the tart flavor and glow of well-being that filled her. The drinks were a study in pleasure-pain, but delicious. Made her think of Stark, and the twisty sex he'd hinted at, as well as what he'd already talked her into.
Like that anal plug and the way it had felt awful and then so very good with his cock inside her, filling her almost more than she cou
ld bear. What else would he want to do? She squirmed in her chair, the seam of her tight leather pants abrading her through the thin lace of her panties. Quark, she was getting turned on just wondering.
Two Serpentians appeared, smiling at Daanel and Taara. Relieved by the distraction, Kiri grinned behind her glass—the men were identical twins, with the auburn hair that was so common among their kind.
"Dance, gorgeous?" they asked in unison.
Daanel and Taara exchanged a look of mutual thrill and nodded. "Watch our drinks, or shall we take them?" Daanel asked Kiri.
"I'll watch them for one dance," Kiri said. The cousins hurried off to the huge dance floor, and Kiri took another drink as the singer slid into a throbbing love ballad. Would Stark enjoy this place? Did he dance? She tried to picture him waving his arms over his head like a nearby dancer and giggled because neither the dancer's loose action or shimmery orange shirt translated to Logan Stark.
Stark was a tough guy, hard and honed. He could definitely move but in a very private way, tuned in to his own pleasure and hers. She squirmed again, crossed her legs and took another hasty drink. Okay, time to stop thinking about Stark or she was going to be linking him for long-distance sex right here from the bar.
Taara and Daanel reappeared long enough to claim their drinks. Kiri finished hers, and when the blond man reappeared, she accepted his invitation to dance. The music was fast, she knew she looked her best, and it felt good to move her body to the beat.
She took off her little jacket and tied it around her waist, raising her arms to the music. Her partner moved in, his hands on her waist. She let him do that much, but when he would have locked their bodies together, she put her hand on his chest and shook her head.
He disappeared after the song was over. Kiri danced again and again, enjoying the music. Other men and women joined her, then drifted away. That was fine with her.
After a while, she made her way back through the club toward the glowing galactic sign for restrooms—a circle with a stream of droplets burbling insouciantly through it. The passageway was crowded, with people coming and going from the restrooms and from other doors that lined the passageway. Two men and a woman emerged, all three of them flushed and mussed. The woman seemed barely able to walk but smiled beatifically.
The light above the vacated room changed from red to green. Another couple pushed toward it, jostling Kiri off her feet. She reeled backward, to find herself caught against a wiry, tough body. Another woman had broken her fall.
"Thanks." Kiri made to step away, but small hands tightened on her waist, yanked her backward and through a door into a dark room that smelled of sweat and sex and perfume, the odors so strong in the small space it nearly gagged her.
"Hey." She writhed, ready to claw, bite, whatever it took to get away from the bitch.
But her assailant was abruptly gone, the door thunking closed behind her.
"Hello, Kiri te Nawa."
Chapter 17
Kiri whirled, panting, her heart still pounding with fear. A man leaned against the end of the narrow bed, arms crossed over his chest. He wore a black leather duster, his black hair hung in long braids, and his face was tattooed so heavily that his light eyes gleamed in startling contrast.
He smiled, baring white teeth, beautiful and feral as one of the tigers prowling overhead.
Recognition jolted her. "Tal? What are you doing here?" So it had been one of his gang who shoved her in here. "Why aren't you at your own club?"
"Man gets tired of his own establishment once in awhile." He looked her over, fingering the narrow beaker in his hand. The contents sparkled crimson, like fresh blood, only with light captured inside. "You're looking ... starry."
She bared her teeth at him. "Thanks. What is this all about? You want to talk to me, I'd appreciate if you did it out in the club."
Tal laughed, a whisper of sound that sent chills ghosting over her skin. "Too many eyes on the front entrance, if you know what I mean. One thing about my place, I control who goes in and out."
"Too bad for you, but I don't like being shoved into a sex cubby."
He cocked his head. "But we've been here before."
Kiri's face burned with embarrassment. They had, in a similar cubby at his club.
"We could dance first. You liked that. You let me put my hands all over you. You were hot as a flashbomb. Did everything but fuck you on the dance floor. Then I had you—twice."
Oh, she remembered. She'd barely been able to walk afterward. "That was all the blue stars I drank."
He laughed that chilling laugh again. "No, that was you and me. I could have you on your back in a few secs right now, if I wanted."
"No, because I'm with someone now."
Something moved in his eyes. Kiri stiffened her legs against the urge to back away from him. He was a predator—any sign of fear and he'd seize the advantage.
"That why you wouldn't stay with me when I invited?" he asked softly.
She shook her head. Their hookup had been months ago. She'd met the ganger lord when she let one of her friends talk her into going out with her and her boyfriend, a member of Tal's gang.
Tal Darkrunner was a beautiful man, and sex with him had been hot and daring, but when he'd invited her be his woman, she'd said no and meant it.
His gangers had been loitering when they emerged, a slick and rowdy lot, inked and leathered, the gazes of his men rapacious, the women envious. They lived on the edge of the law, roaring through the city in droves, driving other traffic out of the airways before them with savage glee, their women hanging on the back of their sound-enhanced sliders.
Their presence had snapped Kiri out of her sexual daze. She wasn't ending up like them, hanging around waiting on him, drugging and drinking to fill the empty hours.
"Didn't know him then. Turned you down because I'd just as soon not lay my head where the police may come raiding any night."
She'd let Tal talk her into going out with him a few more times, but she'd regretted it when she woke with a splitting head and the knowledge the credit he'd blown on her could have been put to far more worthy use in her life. At least Stark was helping her build her business.
Tal toasted her mockingly. "Here's to safety." He tossed back his drink, then ran his tongue over his lip, considering her. "You think he can keep you safe, whoever's buying you pretty things?"
His gaze sparkled, as if he was still laughing silently. As if he knew things she didn't.
"I'll keep myself safe," she said. Show no fear; that was the only way through the maze of the tough streets, where choice hung on a razor's edge. "Great seeing you, but I'm here with friends."
He spread his hands in mock innocence. "Then go back to them. No one's holding you."
She shook her head in disgust as she turned away. Ganger lord, showing how tough he was.
He slid off the bed behind her and stepped close. "How about a kiss goodbye, starry girl?"
"How about not," she retorted, the hair on the back of her neck standing up. He was hot as a flashbomb, but she had no doubt Stark would throw her out on her ass if she let another man touch her in any way except a public dance. She slapped her hand on the control panel.
"I have something you want."
His taunt made her pause for a sec. "Really? What?"
He leaned closer, and she shivered, half with attraction, half with repulsion as he inhaled her scent, his braids brushing over her cheek. "Stay, and I'll give it to you."
Kiri closed her eyes, shivering as warm lips brushed her skin. But they were the wrong lips.
"Yeah, not happening." He wanted to give her something, all right.
The door hissed open, and she emerged into the passageway and stopped short. Rak was stood there and he looked angry, although his face relaxed slightly after he looked her over. Several of Tal's gangers waited, too, but they were giving the stocky ex-ISF pilot room. A small redhead with facial piercings and eyes rimmed with heavy cosmetics smirked at Kiri. Kiri glare
d back.
"You okay?" Rak demanded.
She nodded. "I'm fine. Tal just wanted a private word."
Rak glared over her shoulder. "Don’t much care for his way of having that word."
"Rak, please drop it, okay?" Kiri asked. "I'm fine."
The gangers stayed out of their way as Kiri followed Rak from the passageway. The last glimpse she had of Tal, he held the redhead in his arms, his beringed hands on her ass, his head bent to give her a deep kiss.
That could have been her. And if Stark hadn't stepped in to rescue her after her life went to black, probably would have been her, at least for a while. She'd been so off-balance, she would have turned to Tal for help, and then she'd have ended up mired in his world.
She shuddered and turned away to hurry after Rak.
Out in the club, the singer gyrated on the stage, ululating a wild song in some other tongue. The dance floor was a mass of writhing bodies. The noise and lights throbbed overhead, but now instead of an upscale club, Kiri saw a threatening maze. The faces turned her way held leers instead of smiles.
"I'm ready to go," she yelled to Rak over the music.
They found Taara and Daanel, both of whom were still draped over a twin each, and said goodbye. Taara hugged Kiri exuberantly. "Bye. Let's get together soon. Girls’ night! I'll bring Daanel."
Kiri nodded, grinning. She liked the bubbly Serpentians, and a girls’ night in, even one that strangely included a man, sounded fun.
In the glider, Kiri turned to Rak. "I want to learn self-defense. Will you teach me?"
He gave her a narrow-eyed look. "That ganger pull you in there against your will?"
"Not him, one of his stupid friends. Showing off for him." This time. But there'd been some unspoken message behind the whole encounter. "But next time ... let's just say I'd like it to be my choice."
"Staying out of the clubs would be a good start."
"Yeah, and I could give up my business at the spaceport and hide inside all day, too. Trouble is everywhere."
Rak looked over at her. "Sure seems to find you, if you don't mind my saying."
She hugged her arms around herself, gazing into the past. "It always has. So, you gonna teach me to fight?"
Nebula Nights: Love Among The Stars Page 90