Ever So Madly

by J. R. Gray

  “Touché, as I have myself.” I paused a second for effect. “It is I who should be shocked, as you come from the outlying worlds. Your accent and vocabulary are refined.”

  He gave me a slow clap. “Nice save. I almost wrote you off as a bitch.”

  My lips twitched up again. “I prefer assy.”

  He made as if glancing around me. “I think I’m going to enjoy your assy.”

  I burst out laughing in spite of myself.

  He waited a moment before replying, “I thought these fringe things were avoided by the likes of you. You know since they are quite often put on by the Reds.”

  I kept my face blank. Jacob hadn’t mentioned them, but I was smart enough to keep my annoyance off my face. Now the red made sense. “I followed my brother here for a promised good time. I stay out of politics.” I wanted to stay out of them at least until they were thrust upon me.

  “And I followed some from my planet here for the same, but I educated myself a bit before I did.” The air between us was thick. “Now, are you going to give me something to call you? I wouldn’t want to give those around us the wrong impression of your character, whatever Jo might portray.”

  I hesitated for a moment. “J, if you must.”

  He stepped into my personal space, tilting his head to whisper in my ear. “I must.”

  I shouldn’t have liked the feel of his hot breath trailing down my neck, but I did.

  He pulled back, all charm once again. “My apologies, J. Can I buy you a drink to make up for the confusion with your name?”

  Smooth. “I have no objections to a drink with an entertaining stranger.”

  He linked his arm through mine and led me toward the shady-looking lean-to bar, staffed by people I wouldn’t have trusted with dishes, let alone something I would consume.

  “What do you want?” He flipped his comm around so it could be scanned by the crude reader, which was at least three generations out of date.

  What had Jacob said about the drinks? It had flown right out of my head. “Er…”

  He chuckled and turned to the man waiting for our orders and mumbled something. My eyes scanned the room for my twin. I wanted to kick his ass right about now. He’d always had more freedom than I did, and he readily indulged. I spotted him surrounded by a group of half-naked and sweaty men. I blew out a breath. It wasn’t shocking. His secret was well kept from the Baron, but common knowledge among the lower classes.

  Mad turned back around with two fizzy, neon blue drinks. There were small tabs in the bottom releasing bubbles that swirled around the liquid, creating a tornado-like effect in the glass.

  “Thank you.” I took the drink but didn’t bring it to my lips, staring right at my brother.

  “If you think I’m going to drug you and or try to poison you, you’re quite wrong. I prefer your dry wit to unconsciousness.” He took a long pull from his glass, and when he lowered it, his lips were stained blue at the seam. “I’m not attracted to unconscious.”

  His tongue licked over them, which caused my hands to sweat, and I absentmindedly brought my drink up, taking a small sip. It was like a sunburst in a glass. A cosmic explosion bottled and subtly sweetened to perfection. I took another drink, holding the liquid in my mouth, letting the bubbles pop over my tongue.

  “Good, eh?” I looked up at him, and he wore a coy smile.

  It was nothing, and yet it was everything.

  Chapter Three

  Madden

  “Finish and we’ll go dance.” It may have sounded too eager, but I’d never been good at concealing my feelings. I wore my heart on my sleeve.

  Obliging me, she brought the plastic cup to her lips and pressed her eyes closed as she took another swallow of the intoxicating liquid. When she closed her eyes, her light brown lashes lay against her cheek. She wore a touch of face paint and a hint of glitter on her lids, above a thin professionally applied black liner around her almond-shaped eyes. Her red lips shimmered when they caught the light, and I hoped I’d put the blush on her cheeks. She had long blonde hair tied up in a twist at the back of her neck, and her blue eyes were lively from the ruckus she and her companion had made at their entrance, which had drawn my attention immediately.

  “You might have to buy me another drink to get me out there.” She wrinkled her nose at the idea.

  I had long since learned looks rarely held me to a person. At first glance, I’d expected to find her as shallow as every other pretty face on this planet. She was everything, but I had been here less than a week, and Trenton had already put a bad taste in my mouth. It was fake and cold. I missed the empathy even if it came with the heat and labor of the mines.

  Strangely, she hadn’t fawned all over me like other girls here had. Her poise never faltered as she threw my jibes back. Her wit was more intoxicating than the drink, and I doubt she knew it. When she opened her eyes again, I could see her pupils reacting slower, as the drink took hold.

  “It would be—” But I was cut off by the striking boy she had come in with.

  “J, what are you drinking?” He grabbed the glass from her delicate fingers and downed the contents, shooting a hard look in my direction. “Didn’t I warn you?”

  “If you hadn’t left me to fend for myself, maybe I’d know what I was drinking.” She reached for my arm, linking hers through it to pull me along as he dragged her off the dance floor.

  I knew she was only dancing with me to irritate her companion, but I willingly followed her to where the bodies writhed in the center of the large warehouse. She wasn’t intoxicated. Even with low tolerance, the drink shouldn’t have given her more than a warm tingly feeling. I had chosen it for a reason. I could feel the young man’s eyes on me, and I looked up to find him back with his friends on the edge of the mass of people, staring me down. Their appearances were similar, and I guessed he was her brother, not a suitor. She started to sway to the music, and everything else in the room faded. I was drawn into her, moving in to her personal space to mimic her movements. Song after song we stayed like this, not quite touching but rhythmically reacting to one another on a purely biological level.

  We were both sweaty by the time the music slowed. I leaned in to offer her another drink, but she cut me off, sliding her fingers around the back of my neck, drawing me in to close the last bit of space remaining between us. We fell in sync, and I rested my chin against her temple, feeling as if all the blood in my body had drained from my head, pooling below my belt. If she noticed, she didn’t care. Forward as it was, I slid my arms around the small of her back, solidifying the connection so we could absorb the feel of one another.

  She pulled back, and I tightened my grasp on her, not wanting to let her go just yet—or ever. She kept me close, tilting her head up to look into my eyes. Hers were deep swirls of blue, a raging storm of crashing hues. Before I could stop myself, I leaned down and brushed my lips over hers. I froze when they didn’t immediately mold to mine. Lingering there, I was relieved when she parted them and ran her tongue over the seam of mine. I opened my mouth to allow her entrance. My heart picked up speed, and the tips of my fingers tingled as I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck. She gripped me by the ear, moaning softly and rubbing up against me, deepening the kiss. The taste of her frayed my nerves, leaving me desperate like an Ore junkie.

  She was yanked out of my grasp. My eyes snapped open, and I growled, seeing the boy.

  “What the hell?” he asked.

  She looked between us and then focused in on the boy. “Jacob?” The words were calmer than I felt.

  I knew it was stupid and forward of me to feel this way over someone I’d just met, but she had been the first girl I’d ever felt a connection with. I didn’t want to let it go.

  “Keep your fucking hands off, Scab.” He shot me a look. “We’ve got to get going, Jocelynn.”

  That got me hot in the ears, and I knew I could take the skinny prick. I took a step toward him, but her eyes met mine, and she frowned.

 
; “Why do we have to go?” she asked. “You are never home this early.”

  “I got a call asking where you were,” Jacob replied, keeping his eyes on me.

  I could tell he was lying. His eyes darted around seeming to keep track of the Red Stars in the room. I watched him. He had gone from cool and collected to jittery. Something had to have happened. It was the only explanation. She sensed it, too, because she nodded without further questioning, something which seemed to go against her personality.

  Her whole face fell, and she turned to me. “I have to go.” She didn’t wait for a reply, letting Jacob lead her away.

  I reached a hand out for her, but I didn’t follow. I knew I wasn’t near her league. The mirage was a punishment sent by the universe for my past transgressions. The room moved around me, but I stood still, watching how meaningless this all was.

  My chest ached, and I craved the idea of her. Intelligent and unobstructed by class, she wasn’t worried about saying the wrong thing. On a planet with four million people, a million of them in this city, could I have any hope of finding her again?

  Chapter Four

  Jocelynn

  “I feel like a pincushion,” I groaned in frustration.

  A sharp pin stabbed my side. I grunted, certain the tailor stuck me on purpose.

  “But you look so lovely.” Jacob leaned against the doorframe, sinking his teeth into an abba fruit and letting the juice run down his neck, not bothering to wipe it.

  I held up my middle finger and smiled sardonically.

  “One of these days you’re going to have to learn how to be a lady. Half the known universe depends on it.” He licked at his lips.

  “Sometimes I wish you were born first.”

  “And I thank all the great powers of the universe I wasn’t, so I’m free to fuck off,” he shot back.

  We both knew with his “defective” attributes, as the Baron saw them, it was better for him not to be required in the spotlight.

  “Clean yourself up. You have juice running to your collar.” I pursed my lips. “Just because you are second doesn’t mean you won’t be subjected to as much prodding as I am.” I growled and shot another look at the little man fixing my clothes who’d stuck me again. I tried to be nice to every last person who worked for us, but because of all the tight clothes the tailor was on my last nerve. He didn’t so much like my unladylike behavior.

  The tailor muttered apologetically and shrugged, but I saw his smirk.

  “Be happy you didn’t smell my breath before the fruit.” He took a step closer to me, grinning wickedly, as he wiped his fingers on a bolt of expensive fabric behind the tailor’s back.

  I laughed in spite of myself. “Gross, I didn’t need to know about your early morning activities.” We both knew I was curious.

  “Don’t be jealous. I saw how you looked at that scab last night.” He played it off as he smoothed his fingers over the day of stubble around his mouth, wicking away what was left of the juice, but there was a hint of something there.

  “Says the boy who undoubtedly sucked a slave’s cock this morning?”

  There was a moment of thick tension, and the tailor looked between us. I didn’t back down.

  He pushed his tongue into the side of his cheek, grinning coyly. “I’ve never agreed with the separation of classes as such.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Then why did you take issue with the scab?”

  I knew he had as many friends and lovers among the slaves and scabs as he did inside our own sect.

  “Because he wanted to fuck my sister.”

  “I’ve never thought of you as the possessive type,” I said.

  The tailor finished with me and nodded, helping me out of the uncomfortable heap of fabric before gesturing for Jacob to take my place on the pedestal.

  “Don’t use that fabric.” He waved at the one he had smeared juice on and glanced at my dress. “The Barron wishes for us to complement each other while he stands alone in the house red.”

  The tailor barked at him in common, so fast I had a hard time following.

  “Yes, yes, I know he originally wanted me in the red, but we are to be presented at the aging ceremony, and he wants us to look striking together.” He winked at me. “The white and purple like my sister’s gown will look better with my alabaster skin tone, don’t you agree?”

  The only reason I wasn’t wearing it was because the Baron had forbidden it until I was named as his successor.

  The tailor said something about having said so in the first place and went about his work.

  “You are so bad,” I said when the man stepped away.

  “But at least I won’t be washed out in red.” He shrugged coyly. “We have the worst house colors for our complexion.”

  I tried to resist the smile spreading over my lips.

  “See, you know how the Baron looks on the vids!” He bounced his brows. “Looks like a Scilian fruit.” He held his arms out in front of his stomach and puffed out his cheeks.

  I repressed a laugh. “Hurry up. We have orientation to get to.” I ducked out of the room to pull on a large cotton shirt with sleeves that passed below the tips of my fingers and a pair of wool pants that tapered down my legs, hugging them to my ankles.

  When I walked back in the room, Jacob was back in his clothes and waiting.

  “Damn, boys get off easy.”

  He offered his arm, and I took it. We didn’t have far to go as the palace was placed across the great square from the Imperial Institute. I pulled my jacket tighter around me and left my shirt hanging around the tips of my fingers. I would have caught hell for going dressed this way to an official event, but the last thing I wanted was to stand out in a place I’d been attending for years. I already had to be a public face for the House of Akillie. There were some places I tried to hide in plain sight.

  The sun shone through the thin layer of clouds that lingered high up in the atmosphere, causing the bright red glow of the sun to turn the skin an amber hue in the full light. The star above Trenton was dying. Black cracks spidered over the surface, and it cooled by the year, but the home world was such a pride to the Akillie house they refused to abandon it. My boots clicked over the large gray stones that made up the square. They were mined from Becca, one of the hot planets, at the rim of known space and brought in as a sign of wealth. It was one of the planets in Akillie rule and possibly where Mad had come from. I wondered if I would see him again.

  He had to be here to work the Worlds’ Fair. It was unlikely I would cross his path again. But I wanted to.

  He felt so familiar, while at the same time exciting and exotic. Behind my closed eyes, I could see the way he looked at me before he touched our lips together. My lips burned in memory. I licked over them, inhaling, almost thinking I could bring back his scent. Instead I inhaled the clean ocean air I breathed in and out every day.

  “Come on, we are going to be late.” Jacob dragged me up the large stone stairs, out of my fantasy.

  We took seats toward the back, with some of our friends. My brother liked to sit here so we could make an easy escape when the time came, or leave early if he got bored. I tended to zone out during these things so it never bothered me. It was more a formality I attend than anything. My whole existence was tailored to this life. If I didn’t know it at this point, I wouldn’t.

  I stirred, feeling eyes on me, and I scanned the coliseum-shaped room to see if someone had turned in their seat to stare at me. It wasn’t until my eyes reached the edge of the aisle we sat in that I saw him.

  Chapter Five

  Madden

  My mind hadn’t left her in two nights. I ran through our conversation over and over in my head. Why hadn’t I asked for her scan? Why hadn’t I gone with her? I tried not to live in past actions, but I found it impossible not to run through every scenario that would have left me with a way to contact her. I had myself so turned around and distracted, I almost missed my first lecture. The morning bells rang, and I had minutes to g
et in and take a seat. I slipped into a row near the back to avoid unwanted attention. Already out of place with these people, the last thing I wanted was to be anything but background noise.

  I scanned the row to see what I’d gotten myself into. There wasn’t a single face like mine. Deep down I’d known it would be the case, but it was harder in person. Like a moth to the flame, my eyes fell on her. Not four seats down, she sat with Jacob. She looked up at the same moment.

  “J…” I didn’t know what to say to her. I’d run through a million things from that night, but not one plan of attack for this occurrence.

  She looked down at herself for a moment like she was nervous, but she replaced the mask over her emotions and looked me in the eyes. I moved closer.

  “You’re a jumper. Interesting.” She stood and took a step toward me like I was a game that became much more intriguing.

  Her brother laid a hand on her shoulder. They exchanged something in a look.

  “You worry too much. Let’s go sit with him.” She turned to me. “If that’s okay, Mad?”

  I was stunned, but I did my best to keep my guard up as well. “Please do.”

  They followed me back to my seat, and we blended into the crowd as the spaces around us filled in.

  “More than a scab, I see,” Jacob said. “And here I thought you were only here for the fair.”

  “Some people are more than they seem,” I commented looking at J, holding my hand out to her. “I’m Madden, and since we’ll be seeing more of each other, it might be better to be on a first name basis.”

  She placed her hand in mine, but she had changed. As if dictated by protocol, she slipped into an almost regal figure. She must have been the daughter of some dignitary or adviser to the House of Akillie. The breeding seemed so ingrained it had to be instilled with generations of snobbery.

  “J. Let’s stick with J.”

  I hadn’t noticed it before, but her voice was articulate. It spoke of her birthright. She wasn’t a jumper. She wasn’t here because she had earned her place like I had. She was here because her place was garnered at conception, but it hadn’t changed her. She treated me like anyone else from the moment I met her, while her brother seemed to hold some air of pretension. It was a puzzle I turned over in my mind. I wanted to figure her out as much as she did me.