Coming Together: At Last, Volume One

by Alessia Brio, L. A. Banks, Lisabet Sarai

  Andrea hugged her again and Kit cuddled closer, her entire body screaming weariness and defeat. Andrea wanted to put her in bed and keep her there, hide her from the world at large.

  Oh ... “Stay with me,” she blurted.

  Her moral code didn't make as much as a squeak. She'd broken it completely by kissing Kit in the parking lot and this was like an emergency. That and Andrea was pretty sure she was in love with Kit Morgan. She'd risk her job and so much more just to keep her.

  And now, she'd risk it all to protect her too. “Kit?” she said when she received no answer. “Honey?

  The soft snuffle answered her. Kit had worn herself into sleep. Half wanting to wake her up and get an answer, Andrea instead, maneuvered them until they were against the pillows. If she couldn't get an answer tonight, she mused, there was always tomorrow. After all, Kit had no way of escape without a ride and Andrea intended to keep her close by all night long.

  Tomorrow, she decided, tugging the sheets up and over them. Tomorrow would be good enough.

  * * * *

  As Kit woke up, she automatically listened for the sound of Dina's music as she sped away to work, signaling that Kit was safe for the moment. Except the music never came and for a moment, she was struck with panic that Dina was staying home.

  Then Kit woke up completely and felt the warmth of another body and knew she was far away from Dina and her influence. The urge to simply burrow back into the sheets and cuddle with Andrea again compelled her. But her brain was remembering bits and pieces of last night and her body was bare and...

  Oh shit.

  She'd gone and told the one person in the whole world she shouldn't have told, her biggest, darkest secret. Kit's stomach spasmed and she couldn't bite back a pitiful moan. Andrea shifted beside her and in a panic, Kit lunged for the bed only to stumble half out, her foot buried beneath the covers.

  And Andrea's hand shackled around her ankle. Trembling, Kit looked over and met alert brown eyes. “Come back to bed,” Andrea said softly. “There's nothing to fear here."

  Kit swallowed. She wanted so badly just to lay back down but there was school ... and work ... and Dina would blow up when Kit came home, ranting about her late night partying and rude morning arrivals. She'd never hear the end of it and if she was still hungover, Kit knew there'd be a fight.

  And new brusies to cover. She trembled hard when Andrea's fingers stroked over her trapped ankle. “Kit?"

  She stared at Andrea, warm, probably still naked and safe. Her heart punched hard and Kit felt an unexpected burst of love rise to her lips. Then she swallowed it and shook her head. “I have to go ho ... back. I have to go back or it'll be so much worse."

  "Stay with me.” The words grabbed Kit in the gut and twisted. “Kit, it would kill me to see you go back to pain. I want you to stay with me."

  Kit shook so hard that she could feel the bed vibrating beneath her foot. “I ... but I ... Dina will be so angry that I just left ... my half of the rent ... all my stuff..."

  "Can be taken care of,” Andrea sat up some and the sheet rolled down, exposing one heavy breast, its pale brown nipple soft. Kit had to fight to keep her gaze on Andrea's face. “Or does she really need your help?"

  Kit shook her head slowly, her mouth tingling with the memory of Andrea's taste. That pouty nipple taunted her. “No. She's a bank manager's secretary. She doesn't really need my money, it was sort of an unwritten agreement that I pay something since she says I broke her heart,” she mumbled.

  Andrea stared at her, her fingers warm around Kit's ankle, a gentle shackle that she could easily break but didn't particularly want to. “Do you believe you did? Do you stay because of some misplaced guilt?"

  "I...” Kit tried to think of her reasons for staying. She'd always convinced herself that she'd had no other choice. She'd never asked Jamie if she could bunk with him because she'd assumed there'd be too many people. If she were truthful, she'd admit to a certain amount of pride. Moving in with someone else because she was afraid of her ex's abusive nature sounded so pathetic.

  So talk show. And telling anyone about it, when Kit had worked so hard to not think about it ... she just couldn't do it.

  But you told Andrea, a small voice whispered. It was the same voice that reassured her when she'd simply wanted to give up, unable to take Dina's abuse anymore. You told her and she still cares. She wants you to stay with her and be safe.

  Pride be damned, Kit decided with a nervous burst of determination. She was so sick of being afraid. Of cowing to Dina and hiding in her room, fighting not to cry lest Dina hear and come back to mock her.

  Dina's voice snarled in her head, the voice of her doubts. Why are you so pathetic? Can't you stand up for anything? Pitiful, worthless bitch.

  Kit swallowed and met Andrea's dark eyes. There was no pity, only compassion. Outrage, yes and anger directed at Dina, not Kit. She didn't blame her, Kit realized with a jolt. Andrea really did want to protect her.

  Kit shuddered. “I think ... she still had a grip,” she said quietly. “She called me weak and I acted weak. She told me I'd never amount to anything and you can still smell the onion ring grease on me. A few days ago, she yelled at me for the phone bill and I almost groveled in apology."

  Remembering that made her sick but not with self-disgust like it used too. It was directed to Dina, who'd held that ‘you owe me for life’ anvil over her head for so long now that Kit had slowly accepted it as part of her life.

  Not anymore. Andrea's eyes were steady. “Had a grip?"

  "Had,” Kit said though her voice was still nervous. “I don't want her to control me anymore. That's why I left her in the first place. I thought she was trying to help me become a better person but she was building me into her lapdog.” Kit stared at her hands, at their jagged, nail-bitten tips. “I guess even when it ended, she was still doing it."

  Andrea gave a gentle tug on her ankle, which reminded Kit that she still stood there on one leg. That tug, soft as it was, was all she needed to fall back onto the bed, facing Andrea. She sighed when Andrea's hand drifted up, touching her knee and sliding along the inner seam of her thigh.

  "I want to start over,” Kit said when her breath returned. “But ... I'm so afraid to leave.” If she thought too hard, she'd wonder about why she was spilling her guts so easily. But Kit didn't want to think. She just wanted peace. She could finally accept that Dina and her past with her needed closure. “If I begin again, will I go back to being nothing?"

  Kit groaned out the question when Andrea's hand closed over her mound, long fingers curved inward just so.

  "I think,” Andrea whispered, her fingers stroking over Kit's hot, wet folds. “That Kit will remain Kit but without Dina's mess, she'll get stronger."

  Kit shuddered, thighs shifting open, hips arching. “St-Stronger?"

  "Better.” A hand drifted up to cup Kit's breast, a thumb kneading the hardening nipple.

  "I ... want to be ... perfect for you,” Kit ground out, sensation shooting up her spine. Andrea's fingers, two slim digits pushed in determinedly, stretching her so nicely she wanted to beg for more. “Not wimpy. Or pathetic. Perfect."

  "You are,” Andrea's mouth lowered to Kit's. A kiss rolled over them and then another, making Kit groan. “You're so absolutely perfect. You take my breath away."

  Her fingers pushed. Kit's hips lifted, her spine bowed. She whimpered, begging, losing her train of thought. “Please ... Andrea, please..."

  Andrea's thumb found her clit as her thumbnail flicked over Kit's nipple. It was all she needed. She tumbled into heaven with a howl, Andrea's name running off her tongue like a blessing. Words of love, too soon maybe but so right, jumped out with it and the last thing Kit saw before she crested again was the answering emotion in Andrea's eyes.

  Then she fell again and the world went deliciously black.

  * * * *

  "Did you mean it?” Kit murmured, hours later. She was still boneless, sprawled on her belly with the taste of Andre
a on her tongue.

  Beside her, one hand stroking idly up and down Kit's back, Andrea had one leg tangled with hers and the sheets were damp and crumpled all around them. “Mean what?"

  "Me movin’ in with you.” Kit couldn't look at her, afraid of what she'd see. Or what she wouldn't see maybe.

  Andrea didn't answer and Kit finally glanced over to find Andrea smiling gently. Her heart melted. “Of course I did. I told you, I can't stand the thought of you going back. I want you here with me, safe so you can heal properly. Most of all, I just want you here, with me, every day."

  It sounded so wonderful that Kit almost cried. But someone had to be the voice of logic. “What about your job? You said you couldn't date a student."

  Andrea snorted and butted her head gently against Kit's side. “Silly girl, I've got so much farther than that. And who's to tell the school? You're not underage and I have no intentions on letting you skim through my class. You'll get the exact same education even if you do wake up beside me in the morning."

  Waking up next to Andrea every morning ... it sounded like paradise. “I think you should know ... I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you,” Kit blurted, figuring she should say it when she wasn't coming her brains out. “If I stay here, I know that ‘pretty sure’ will turn into ‘definitely'."

  "Good,” Andrea's mouth pressed sweet kisses all the way to Kit's elbow. “Because I know I love you. Now, please say yes so we can have...” she glanced over her shoulder. “Mid-morning sex and then get your stuff from Dina's house before school? I want to come home with you today."

  Kit peeked at her through a shock of sweaty black hair and her heart swelled at the teasing smile on Andrea's sweet face. “Yes, I'll move in with you, Andrea,” she whispered and felt something warm and wonderful immediately wash over her.

  She was finally getting away. After today, Kit Morgan would be a new woman. Well, she'd be the same woman because Andrea loved her the way she was but, she'd definitely be the better upgraded version.

  Kit 2.0, now available with happiness, she mused and burst out laughing at herself, feeling free to share the sound with the world ... and the beautiful woman who'd made it possible.

  * * * *

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  Independence Day

  © Seressia Glass

  "I told you he wouldn't come for you."

  Ananda Perez-Smythe refrained from wincing at the pain Jack Nelson's words caused. Barely. “Kee's been busy. You know, that whole thing about forging a new republic for his homeworld."

  Nelson's sandy good looks sneered at her through the holovid. “We do them a solid, help them kick Imperial Earth's ass, and what thanks do we get? Booted off-planet, without even a word of acknowledgement from their fearless leader."

  It had taken two years for the Taurins to win their independence from the Imperial Earth Alliance, but win they did. After signing the treaty that ordered most non-Taurins off the planet, they'd released the political prisoners, including Taurin Kee, the father of the rebellion. Ananda knew the moment he'd been granted his freedom—it was the exact moment that he'd stopped “sending” to her mind.

  "Is that what you did it for, Nels?” she wondered. “So you could be lauded as a hero and have statues erected in your honor? I did it because it was the right thing to do."

  "Tell that lie to everyone else all you want,” he retorted. “We both know you did it because you wanted Kee."

  "I will always consider Taurin Kee a friend, a compatriot,” she said evenly, gripping the holovid display in an effort to keep from shouting. “But make no mistake, Nels—even if Kee hadn't been there, I would have still fought for the Taurins."

  "Ananda—"

  "I lived on the plains with Kee's tribe for three years. I lived and learned and laughed with the Taurins. It may be stretching it to say they became my family, but they did become my friends. Imperial Earth made a mistake in assuming that because the Taurins preferred to live simply that they were primitive. Don't make the same mistake by assuming things about me."

  Nels blew out a breath. “I'm sorry, Ananda. I just want you to come back with me. This place isn't for you."

  Somehow she dragged up a laugh. “If this place isn't, then which one is? You know I'd be arrested the moment I stepped onto an Imperial ship. As far as Earth is concerned, I'm a traitor. I certainly wouldn't make it to the Inner Nine or a court martial—they'd immediately execute me by blowing me out the closest airlock."

  "Then forget Earth. Come with me to the Outer Planets. These Taurins obviously don't care how much you've sacrificed for them, they haven't once tried to repay you or give you a place here, so I say so long and good riddance!"

  Ananda stared at the holovid, grateful that she'd never fallen for the pretty surface that hid such an ugly interior. “I think I've heard all that I need to hear from you, Nels. I wish you safe journeys."

  She stabbed the disconnect button, ending the transmission. For a moment she stood still, clenching her fists and breathing deep against the emotion bubbling up from her toes. Finally her vision cleared.

  "Damn you, Taurin Kee,” she muttered, then returned to her packing. It had been two weeks since he'd been released, but the eviction notice had been announced as part of the treaty nearly three weeks ago. If she didn't hear anything about her citizenship application by nightfall, she'd have to head off-world on the next transport.

  She missed Kee terribly, but she'd understood—at first. Leading his people through a new stage of life took time and energy, time Kee could no longer afford to spend with a human traitor. She'd been his eyes and ears and voice to the outside, her military training and passionate belief in the Taurins’ plight helping him gather his people and forge them into something they weren't used to being: freedom-fighters.

  Having him imprisoned had been a blow not only to the Taurins but to Ananda—it had been her personal mission to have Kee's back since throwing her lot in with the Taurins. It was the least she could do for the people who had made her feel more welcomed than her fellow humans.

  That was cold comfort now, when she hadn't heard from Kee or felt his presence since his release.

  A muted chime sounded, alerting her to a visitor. She crossed the short expanse to the door, palmed the viewer on. Taurin Kee's stern visage filled the matrix display. With her heart suddenly and loudly pounding in her chest, Ananda called out, “Open,” then stepped back.

  He entered her egg-shaped quarters, dominating the space with his presence. She was tall in her own right, 6'2", but Kee had another six inches on her, as did most of his people. Their height was an advantage on the grassy plains that comprised the majority of Taura and with gravity lighter than that of Earth, having a large skeleton wasn't as much of a burden.

  She had always thought the Taurins impressive, but Kee even more so. His skin was the dark chocolate of the Taurin plainspeople. Strength emanated from his features, from the proud nose to the full lips, the dark goatee on his chin. He seemed thinner since she'd seen him last, but that wasn't the only difference. Every time she'd seen him before, he'd worn his long black hair in a thick warrior's braid at the back of his head. Now, it flowed freely to his waist over the grassy-green fabric of his formal tunic and pants, a softer material than the grasscloth leggings most Taurins wore.

  Her hands shook with the sudden need to sink her hands into his hair, to see if it truly felt as silky as it looked, to let it slide across her skin. She wanted to go to him, to hug him to her, tell him who much she'd missed him and vow to never let go. But this Kee was different from the one who'd smiled at her clumsy attempts at his language before gently correcting her, different from the Kee who had kept her at his side during their rebellion, different from the Kee who had given her so much pleasure when merged with her mind.

  Instead, she crossed her arms, extended her right leg, and bowed low in the formal greeting to a Taurin of greater rank. “My heartfelt congratulations on your
release, Taurin Kee. My self rejoices to see you safe."

  A brief smile curved his lips. “Your Taurin has improved."

  "I had to become proficient in a hurry after you were taken,” Ananda admitted. “Despite months sharing your mind, you speak my language far better than I speak yours. I'm sorry for that."

  "No sorrows. If you had spoken Taurin in the beginning, there would have been no need for you to invite me into your mind, and this freedom we have forged would not be."

  She bowed low again. “I rejoice in the freedom of the Taurin people."

  Pleasure faded from his mahogany features. “You are so formal now, friend Ananda. And you are here, instead of Mar Blythys."

  Why did he sound surprised by that? Yes, until Kee's capture, Mar Blythys had been her home, its sweeping plains and rolling hills her solace. Living with Kee's extended family, witnessing their joy in hard work and leisure and pleasure, had been the closest she'd felt to belonging since she'd been recruited into the Imperial Ground Forces. Then he'd gotten captured while she had just been injured, and she could no longer bear to see Taurins Lai's and Rea's grief-stricken features.

  Surely he knew that she couldn't have remained there, safe, while he'd been imprisoned. Surely he knew that she wouldn't go back to Mar Blythys when he hadn't even acknowledged her at his release. “Things are different now, Inaritu."

  He regarded her silently, eyes unreadable. Long strands slid over one shoulder as he turned and regarded the open flight case on her elevated sleeping pallet. “Taurin Rea spoke to me that you are going."

  Of course his second mother would tell on her. Ananda thwarted her body's desire to touch him by grabbing a pair of trousers, folding them into the bag. She'd already stripped the room of valuables—she'd need those to barter her way through the rougher outposts. “Yes. The peace accord stipulates that humans without diplomatic ties leave your world."

  Kee frowned. “You are diplomatic ties. You are Taurin freedom."