Wild Card (The Drift Book 3)

by Susan Hayes

  “T’arv! It’s good to see you. I thought you’d be too busy setting up for tonight to come visit with us.” Mack greeted his friend with a smile. “I’d like you to meet someone. T’arv Anas, this is Lieksa Kiv. Lieksa, this is T’arv, one of the galaxy’s greatest music lovers.”

  “It’s nice to meet you.” She turned to stare at Mack. “You sing?”

  “And plays the guitar. He’s the best student I’ve ever had. It’s good to see these two out with someone for once. When I heard they weren’t alone, I had to come see for myself.”

  “It’s just a drink,” she said, but her cheeks heated as T’arv only grinned wider in response. “I still can’t believe you sing, Mack. Dash, are you a secret drummer or something?”

  “There’s not a musical bone in this sexy body. I’ll share my passions with you some other time, angel.”

  Lieksa shivered as the sensual undertone of Dash’s words flowed over her like a silken caress. Her body responded as if he’d actually touched her; pulse racing, skin feverishly hot, her pussy suddenly slick with need.

  “Angel?” T’arv's brows raised in surprise. “Not the angel?”

  Mack nodded. “The one and only.”

  T’arv looked about ready to burst with questions, but Mack cut him off with a slash of his hand.

  “We’ll tell you all about it another time. Tonight, we’re celebrating.”

  “You have more to celebrate than I thought. Dash, it’s good to see you back on your feet. I hear we nearly lost you.” T’arv absently tugged on a lock of his blue-black hair before continuing. “I was going to ask a favor of you, Mack, but since you’re celebrating…”

  “I’m not here to sing, T’arv. Not tonight.”

  “Why not?” Lieksa asked. “I’d like to hear you perform. I mean, if you want to.”

  “You would?” Mack asked. “You sure?”

  “I’m sure.” She forced a note of confidence into her response. It was insane that she could be utterly sure of herself when it came to her job and abilities, and useless when it came to taking control of the rest of her life.

  “Wonderful! Two songs is all I need from you, Mack, and you can return to your date.” T’arv winked at Lieksa. “I wouldn’t dream of keeping you away from this lovely lady for long. Enjoy your evening.”

  When he was gone, Dash raised his glass. “I think we should start this night off right. A toast. To finding each other again.”

  They touched glasses and drank. Lieksa took several sips of hers. She was going to need a little liquid courage to get through the night.

  Dash set his drink down on the table and turned to look at her. The time had come for answers. The sooner they had this part out of the way, the sooner they could move on with their lives. “Alright, sweetheart. This is the part where you tell us why you ran.”

  “It was the only way to save you. The upgrade worked too well. My superiors would have wanted to run tests to find out why, and when they did, they would have realized you had defeated your behavior programming and become entirely self-aware. I filed a false report stating the experiment was a total failure and shouldn’t be repeated. I made sure you were transferred off the hospital ship and back to combat before anyone could double check my findings. Then I resigned and took the first transport out.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us what you were doing?” Mack asked.

  “I couldn’t. It wasn’t like I could send you a message, and if I saw you again…” she shook her head and sighed. “I knew if I saw either of you again, I’d be tempted to do something foolish. It was too risky. There hasn’t been a day since then that I haven’t thought about the two of you. When the war ended, I did what I could to help the other cyborgs gain their freedom. If Astek ever finds out what I did, I’d be fired so fast I’d hit light speed on my way out the door.”

  “Your secret is safe with us.” Dash gave in to the need that had been pushing him since the first time he’d seen her again. He tangled a hand into the thick fall of her hair and drew her in close. When she didn’t pull away, he leaned in and brushed a delicate kiss to her lips. He only intended to kiss her once, but all his good intentions vaporized the moment his mouth met hers. He’d been waiting for this moment for years, reliving their brief time together time and again in his memories. They were nothing compared to the reality of having her back in his arms again.

  Her lips were warm and tasted of champagne, and her hair was the same silken weight he’d caressed a thousand times in his dreams.

  “Does this mean I’m forgiven?” she asked between kisses.

  “I’m pretty sure there’s nothing to forgive. You did what you thought you had to. You were trying to protect us. I just wish you could have found a way to tell us what you were doing. Fraxx, it would have been nice to know your real name.”

  She laughed and for the first time, leaned in to kiss him, branding his mouth with hers for several slow, delicious moments before answering him. “It never occurred to me you didn’t know it, but how could you have?”

  She took her hand, running her fingertips over the barcode imprinted on the inside of his left wrist. Every cyborg in existence carried that same mark, a permanent reminder of a time when they were thought of as commodities instead of living beings. “I don’t know how I missed the signs. I worked with cyborgs every day. How could I have been so blind?”

  “You weren’t blind. Even when you didn’t know the truth, you treated us with kindness and compassion,” Mack said, moving in close enough to be able to nuzzle Lieksa’s hair. “That’s what I first noticed about you. You cared about us. How was I supposed to stay away from you once I realized that?”

  “Red hair, a kind heart, and a gentle touch. We were doomed right from the start.” Dash turned his hand over and captured hers in his fist.

  “Afterward…I swore I’d never work on another cyborg or anything that could possibly be sentient. After everything I did to you, how can you forgive me so easily? I’ve never forgiven myself.”

  “You saved our lives the first time we met. More than once, it turns out. The second time we crossed paths, you saved mine yet again. I think that’s grounds for a little forgiveness and understanding. If we couldn’t do that, do you think we’d be working for a corporation like Astek?”

  “I wondered about that. At first, I thought it was the only work you could find. But Alyson told me you two have been here since the Drift was first set up. You really don’t mind working for the corporations after all they did to cyborgs?”

  “After the Resource War ended and the spoils had been divvied up, there weren’t many jobs left that didn’t involve some sort of corporate connection. Most of the freighters, mining ships, and stations in the galaxy either work for them directly or depend on them for their livelihood. Our choices were simple. Sign on for more fighting with the IAF, work for the corporations, or go live in a backwater colony somewhere and try to eke out a living as a farmer.” Mack snickered. “Do you see either of us as the farming type?”

  Her musical laughter was a song Dash’s heart wanted to dance to.

  She was still laughing when their meal arrived. All conversation faded to appreciative silence as Jinella and another server set out the feast Nadia had arranged for them.

  “I haven’t met Nadia yet, but I think she’s already my new favorite friend,” Lieksa declared with a grin.

  “She’s an amazing cook. Great voice, too. In fact, she’s almost perfect.”

  “Yeah, apart from that one flaw of hers,” Mack muttered and glanced around as if he was expecting Nadia to appear at any second.

  “What flaw is that?” Lieksa asked.

  “She’s a hugger,” Dash whispered with a theatrical shudder.

  “And that’s a flaw?”

  “A big one,” Mack chimed in.

  Lieksa nearly choked on the first mouthful of her dinner. “Big, scary, cyborg soldiers turned Corp-Sec officers should not be afraid of hugs.”

  “We’re not the tou
chy-feely type,” Mack said.

  She set down her fork and looked first at Mac, then at Dash. “Really? Because I don’t recall you two ever having trouble getting touchy or feely with me.”

  “You’re the exception to the rule.”

  “You’re the exception to all our rules, sweetheart.” It was the truth. Since the day they’d woken up and found themselves under her care, she’d affected them in ways no other woman had. Dash didn’t understand it. He didn’t need to.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Lieksa couldn’t remember the last time she had been out enjoying herself like this. Mack and Dash focused all their attention on her, engaging her with questions and stealing the occasional kiss as they ate, drank, and talked. They told her stories about Corp-Sec and how the Drift had slowly evolved into a community over the years, and she filled them in on the jobs she’d held and the places she had visited since resigning from Nobar Tech.

  They particularly liked hearing stories about her time on a passenger liner that made a continuous circuit between Earth and the Pheran star system. Officially, her job was to repair and maintain the numerous robots that catered to the every need and whim of the passengers. The reality was that she spent most of her time rebuilding child-tending models torn apart by their spoiled charges and making repairs to overworked sex-bots. Three months of that was more than enough for her. That led to a short stint on a freighter headed to the Drift. The moment she stepped foot on Astek station, she knew it was the right place for her.

  It felt like no time at all before T’arv appeared again, this time carrying a guitar case which he set down on the recently cleared table.

  “I juggled the schedule a bit so you’re up first, Mack. I really appreciate you doing this for me. Nadia nearly had my ears when she heard I’d asked you to sing tonight. My beloved vardi accused me of having no romance in my soul. Me! She sends apologies by the way. She’s been trying to get out to say hello, but we’re short-staffed tonight, and the kitchen’s a bit of a madhouse. Not that I’d say that to her face, or she really would have my ears,” T’arv said, wiggling his tufted blue ears for emphasis.

  “Tell your vardi that I asked him to sing for me. I’ve never been serenaded before.”

  T’arv grinned and winked at her. “I’ll do that.” He rapped his knuckles on the table and turned to go. “Backstage in five minutes, Mack.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “Are you going to tell me which songs you’re going to sing, or is it a surprise?” she asked him.

  “You wouldn’t know the song even if I told you the title. This club is the only place it’s ever been performed.” Mack leaned in and kissed her before she could ask him anything more about it.

  Where Dash’s first kiss had been gentle and coaxing, Mack’s was a sensual assault. His lips slanted over hers, sending shockwaves of pure desire tearing through her body.

  “I should have kissed you the first second you came back to us. I’m sorry I waited so long.”

  “You were hurt and angry, not to mention the fact Dash had gone and gotten himself shot again.”

  “Yeah, there was that,” Mack murmured before kissing her again.

  “I’m going to develop a complex if you two keep this up. I do not get shot that often. Three, no, four times in a lifetime is not that many. And the first time we met, it was because both of us got shot, remember?”

  “The only reason I was injured was because I was carrying your wounded ass at the time.”

  Dash spluttered and started to argue, but Mack cut him off with a wave of his hand. “You can defend your honor later, I’m due backstage.”

  “Don’t fraxx up, my friend.”

  “I’ll do my best not to.”

  She didn’t care if he screwed up or not, he was going to sing for her.

  “I’ll see you soon, angel,” he said to her. Grabbing the guitar case as he got to his feet, he headed in the same direction T’arv had gone.

  “He never forgot about you. Neither of us did. And if it took getting shot again to bring you back into our lives, then I’m glad I never learned to duck.”

  “Do you remember anything yet? I think the data is still encoded in your hardware, but I’m not sure how to retrieve it. Whoever shot you couldn’t have picked a better spot to aim for. If it had been any other cyborg, they would have died. The only thing that saved you was the upgrade I gave you the first time you were in my care.”

  He absently touched the spot behind his ear where he’d been injured. “It’s all still a blank. I hate not being able to remember anything.”

  “I can imagine. You’re not having any trouble remembering things since the injury, though? Your memory and digital recall are working fine?”

  “They are. I’m going to be able to remember this night perfectly.”

  She blushed but ignored the blatant flirtation. “I’ll keep working on the problem. And you might still remember something about the attack on your own. Give yourself time to heal and recalibrate. The mind is an amazingly resilient thing.”

  “You are utterly irresistible when you’re like this,” he declared and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, tucking her in against his side.

  Their bodies were in contact from thigh to shoulder, and she was aware of every hard, muscled inch of him. “When I’m like what?” she managed to get the words out despite the distraction of having him so close.

  “Like this. Concerned and wanting to take care of me. You get this little furrow between your brows, and your voice goes soft. You’re the only woman in the worlds who has ever looked at me that way. Like I matter.”

  “Of course you matter! You’re a ranking officer in Corp-Sec. You’re part of the community here.”

  “That’s not what I meant. You’ve always looked at me that way, sweetheart. Even when you didn’t know the truth about what we were, you still cared. You’ve got the kindest heart of anyone I’ve ever known.”

  Her cheeks burned, and she looked down at her hands.

  “I’m glad you found your way back to us. You need someone to tell you how special you are. Judging by the way you’re blushing right now, you don’t hear it often enough.”

  She lifted her head to deny it, and he sealed her mouth with a kiss that blasted away every argument she had. His tongue stroked hers, lips mated, breath mingled. Before she could think about it, she had her hands in his hair, pulling him closer.

  He groaned her name, and she whispered his back. Then, there was no need for words. One kiss led to another, then another. She lost track of the world around them until Dash lifted his head with a rueful chuckle. “If you miss Mack’s performance, he’s going to be royally pissed at me.”

  Sure enough, the lights had dimmed, and the stage was now lit, though no one was on it, yet. “He’s really going up there?”

  “He really is. Music is his passion. Has been since the first time T’arv handed him a guitar. It’s the one thing that’s all his, you know?”

  She nodded, even though she didn’t truly understand. How could she? She had a family. A childhood. No one had ever treated her the way the cyborgs had been treated.

  T’arv walked onto the stage and walked up beside the single stool that sat in the center of it. “As always, I want to thank you all for coming tonight. Now, it’s been a while since he’s been up here, but I know you all know our first performer, so give him a big round of applause and welcome him back to the stage. Mack Darian’s singing for us tonight!”

  The applause and cheers were louder than she expected. Mack apparently had a fan following. She also didn’t expect him to walk out on stage wearing a completely different outfit than he had worn at dinner. The black slacks and charcoal top were gone, replaced by black denim pants that fit sinfully well, and a blue silk shirt beneath a black leather jacket. It was an old fashioned look, but he made it work.

  He sat on the stool and settled the guitar he carried into his lap, running a hand over the strings before looking out at the audi
ence. “Good evening everyone, and welcome to Amped.”

  Sound amplifiers carried his voice to every part of the bar, and there was another round of cheers in response to his welcome. When it was quiet again, he strummed another chord and then looked straight at her. “Tonight, I’m going to sing a personal favorite of mine. This one’s for you, Lieksa. It’s always been for you.”

  Her heart pounded in her chest, and a thrill chased down her spine as he started to play.

  A long time ago

  For one brief, shining moment

  I had everything I dreamed of

  In the palm of my hand

  But dreams don’t last forever

  And loss is part of living

  I’d give up all my tomorrows

  To go back to yesterday

  She was my heaven-sent angel

  With a heart made for caring

  A soul as gentle as her touch

  And starlight in her eyes,

  She left and took my heart with her

  Now my universe is darker.

  Her star’s gone out, but I know,

  She’s forever in my heart.

  “Hey, no tears,” Dash whispered as Mack continued to sing. He wiped away the tears she wasn’t even aware were falling.

  “But, it’s about me. Isn’t it?” She knew the answer already. Mack wasn’t only a singer, he was a songwriter, and he’d written this song about her.

  “I told you, angel. He never forgot about you.”

  Mack reached the chorus again, and the last words were enough to make her tear up all over again. It was the most amazing, beautiful thing anyone had ever done for her.

  Before she could say anything, Mack started to play again. It was an upbeat song, and vaguely familiar. She was still trying to figure out where she knew it from when Dash rose from the table, grabbed her by the hand, and pulled her up into his arms.

  “Dance with me.”