by Autumn Dawn
Regardless of Gem’s fears, Xera would arrive in three days. And their single conversation hadn’t gone well:
“What did you think you were doing, waiting days before you told me Brandy was in the hospital? All it would have taken was a simple pin beam. Three minutes, Gem! Don’t you think I deserve to know that people beat the hell out of my sister?”
Gem held the communicator away from her ear and winced. “Xera, you were in the middle of a flight to—”
“I don’t care! Get that through your head, Gem. If my family is harmed, I need to know. Why would any amount of distance change how much I care? And this would never have happened while I was home.”
Wondering what Xera thought she would have done, Gem rolled her eyes. Her sister had always had this Amazonian protective streak. Still, she tried to reassure her. “Look, Jaq and Blue—”
“Blue! That worthless drifter? As if he could do anything I’d be remotely reassured by. All he does is eat and try to crawl into your bed.”
Guilt strangled Gem. Thank God her sister couldn’t see her face.
Xera took her silence in stride. “Look, this is what I want to you to do. Stay close to home, close to Jaq. I talked with him, and it sounds like he has the bar and the staff under control. Keep Blue in the gardens, working on something there—you don’t need him for a distraction. You’ve got the local police and that Narc guy—Azul? Azor?—on quick connect, right?”
Gem ground her teeth. This was an aspect of Xera she hadn’t missed: her bossiness. “I’ve got things under control, sis. Just get yourself home.”
“As fast as this ship can fly,” Xera agreed. “But before I get there, is there anything else I should know?”
The urge to lie and deal with her sister later was strong, but Gem knew she’d rather have Xera a solar system away when she exploded. Yes, better the people on the other end had to deal with Xera than Gem suffering her rage in person. So, quickly she gave Xera the full scope of what they were dealing with, including the background on Blue, Chief Blackwing’s assessment of him, and the fact that he was now her bodyguard. She could almost hear her sibling’s fury quivering over the communicator’s pinbeam.
Surprisingly, Xera’s voice, when it came, was tight and controlled. “Gem, I will be home in three days. When I get there, we are going to make some serious changes. Until then, don’t do a thing. I’m afraid of what you might screw up next.”
As soon as the communicator clicked dead, Gem got a stomachache that wouldn’t go away.
Blue didn’t help. He wasn’t subtle about the change between them, and the way he looked at her—all smoky heat—made her weak.
Jaq noticed. The first time he saw, he raised his brows, considered her, and smiled. Then he went back to polishing shot glasses.
Gem knew her new manager noticed, too. Mr. Rasheed often sent both her and Blue faintly suspicious looks, but since they were never making out directly under his nose, he seemed to reserve judgment. Gem did her best to remain professional around him, and that seemed to settle his mind. She hired an assistant whom she let Mr. Rasheed train. The time this saved was freed up for her to visit and help out Brandy.
Brandy. Gem’s sister was a situation of her own. The swelling was going down, but she still looked terrible. Talking hurt, so they did little of that. Mostly Gem kept silent company while Brandy watched comedy broadcasts.
Worry hounded Gem. Not only because Brandy was so badly hurt, but because there was still the matter of her involvement in the drug smuggling operation. That problem wouldn’t go away simply because the girl was recuperating from assault. And yes, she’d been blackmailed, but Gem could hardly believe the lengths to which Brandy had gone in trying to protect her partners in crime. It just wasn’t in character.
The unhappy thought occurred to Gem that Jean Luc held something else over her sister’s head. Could the two have been lovers? Gem grimaced. She couldn’t see it, herself, but she also hadn’t seen this drug operation. Her sister was a passionate person. Perhaps she’d been lonely. Maybe she’d thought she’d never do better.
Gem didn’t want to bring it up, didn’t want to deal with the pain and deception, but she also was never the kind to let things fester. The only choice was to ask Brandy about it.
Her sister’s eyes bugged out when the question was posed. “No! How could you even…? No!” She winced, for her healing jaw protested. Even with healing accelerators, wounds didn’t vanish overnight.
Quickly raising her hands in defeat, Gem tried to appease her sister before she hurt herself. “I’m sorry! Really. I’m just trying to figure things out. It seems so incredible to me that you’d let Jean Luc blackmail you for so long. You’re not a weak person, Bran. I know that. Was there something else he used against you? We need to get it out in the open if there was. These secrets are killing us.”
A cynical look came into Brandy’s eyes. She looked away for a long moment, as if thinking. When she met Gem’s eyes again, it was with bitter self-disgust. Nonetheless, she admitted: “Xera. I covered for her.”
Gem just stared.
“I walked in on her and a guy in bed together last year. Jean Luc overheard us arguing about it.”
It was lucky Gem was sitting down. She hadn’t had a clue.
A good thing, too, that she’d been unaware. If word of this kind of indiscretion had leaked out, Xera would have had to move off-planet. As all three sisters knew, Polaris society didn’t tolerate people bedding down outside of wedlock. Sure, if she’d married the guy, the furor would have eventually settled down, but it didn’t sound as if it had been that kind of alliance. Of course, Xera’s plan had always been to join the Galactic Explorers, and Gem knew how stubborn she could be.
What burned most was, Gem had never met the man. Had she? “Who…?”
Brandy shrugged. “Some drifter.”
A drifter? Oh, Xera had some gall, throwing Blue in Gem’s face. At least Blue had proved he would…She frowned. What? What had he proven? That he would stick around? Maybe for a while. She didn’t know anything more than she had before he’d taken her body so thoroughly and—
She wrenched her thoughts back to Xera. “Were there…any complications?”
Brandy sighed. “She says they didn’t get that far; she just wanted to explore. They looked pretty naked to me, so I don’t know if she was telling the truth.”
“Naked?” Gem repeated.
Brandy glared at her. “What do you want, a book on it? Here’s what happened: They were in bed with the covers over them. They were kissing. How graphic do you want me to get? He wasn’t on top of her.” Brandy colored suddenly, obviously feeling she’d gone too far.
Gem felt her own face burn and wanted to get away from the topic. “Okay. That’s that. But about the other situation: I assume she didn’t know you were covering for her? Dumb question—of course she didn’t. She would never have allowed that. So, how about I stop asking you questions? Your jaw must be sore.”
She needed to think. No wonder Xera had wanted off-planet so badly. She’d made an indiscreet choice and it was haunting her. Not that Gem could point fingers. It seemed all three of the Harrisdaughters were long overdue to settle down and therefore making rash decisions.
Which circled her around to Blue. What was his deal? She clearly believed that she needed to settle down to be happy, needed to create her own little family. But making that family wouldn’t be done with him. He wasn’t going to stay and she knew that. That whole thing with him was an aberration she needed to squelch. She’d been so controlled her whole life, and so maybe she’d been due for a crack in the dike. She’d been under a lot of pressure lately, and she’d chosen a dangerous release. She wasn’t the only one to have done so.
No, she decided, she had to work on making herself happy in her life. Until then, she’d just have to find a better way to relieve the stress.
She had to remind herself that a healthy release just couldn’t happen in Blue’s arms.
Chapter Eleven
“What are you doing?”
Gem pulled another weed before she looked up into Blue’s furious face. “I’m reclaiming my sanity.”
“Is it worth dying over?”
It was late afternoon and she was in the gardens behind the inn, hidden from casual observers by the tall hedges. The flowering berry plants released sweet perfume into the breeze. It had been a relaxing ten minutes until he’d stormed up, breathing fire.
“Perhaps not, but it’s an improvement over going crazy, pacing inside my room. I don’t take confinement well.”
“Yeah? Then you’re going to love a coffin. Come on.” He reached for her arm.
She calmly whacked his hand with the flat of her trowel. “Thank you for your concern. Why don’t you spend your time protecting instead of badgering me?” She’d decided working in the garden was one of the ingredients of normalcy she’d been missing. Since the whole thing with the sniper had begun, she’d barely had access to her own front yard. Kept from the regular release of tension that gardening gave, she’d slid into something explosive with Blue. If she wanted to regain control, she needed this.
His eyes narrowed as he shook his stinging hand. “Do you have any idea how easy it would be to shoot you in the open like this?”
“No. That’s your job. Well, to protect my family is your job. If you’d been doing it the night Brandy and Jean Luc were attacked, my sister wouldn’t be in the hospital.” All feeling of relaxation had begun to vanish from Gem: Blue had a talent for stealing it.
“Thank you for the reminder. Yes, I think I will do my job,” he said. Then he stooped and gathered her up in an armful, then began striding for the inn.
She’d just opened her mouth to lambaste him when she felt his body jerk. Blue staggered as if struck by a club, then dodged right, left and pitched through the open kitchen door and into the inn.
Gem landed heavily on her hip, the wind knocked out of her. Tears sprang to her eyes, blurring the rising chaos. Someone dragged her away from the door, bumping her cheek on a chair leg as he did. She didn’t realize it was Blue, or that he was bleeding all over the floor, until they both staggered into the taproom.
“Jaq, help him!” she gasped as Blue collapsed into a chair. He listed forward, and she tried to steady him.
Ignoring everyone and everything else, Blue summoned all his strength to raise his head and meet Zsak’s shocked gaze; his friend had been prowling the bar.
“Get him,” he commanded hoarsely. There was grim purpose in his eyes.
Zsak nodded, grabbed a gun from under the bar and took off.
Gem didn’t have time to wonder. Blue had been shot in the left shoulder and was bleeding buckets. She and several waitresses formed compresses out of bar towels and laid him on the floor, but Gem didn’t like his pallor.
“The ambulance is on the way,” Jaq said, alerting her to the fact that he’d made a quick call. Then he muttered, “They ought to have the route memorized by now.”
“Stay with me, Blue,” Gem warned. Nothing felt real right then, nothing except her fear.
Blue’s lips curved in a weak grin. “Bossy,” he rasped.
“Scared,” she whispered into his ear, resting her temple against his as she corrected him. It was a moment of honesty brought out by terror. “I don’t want you to leave me.”
“I won’t,” he said softly. Then he could say no more.
Gem was learning to hate hospitals. Worse was the knowledge that this visit was entirely her fault. Blue wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t irrationally acted on impulse, told herself the danger had passed and gone into the garden. It wasn’t like her to be so fluff-brained, but apparently her common sense had taken a permanent vacation. First she’d had that intimate interlude with Blue; then she’d almost killed him trying to avoid another indiscretion. Maybe it would have been better if she’d just hopped into bed with him and stowed her fears—at least then he wouldn’t have been shot. No matter what he believed, the man would be better off if he put a few lightyears between them.
She put her head in her hands and silently groaned. This thing was bringing her to her knees and there was no comfort anywhere. Xera would bring strength but not comfort. Jaq could run the inn, but she was sure he knew nothing about the care and feeding of a heart. She hadn’t realized before how dry her life had become. She had no friends outside of the family, no girlfriends to calm and boost her spirits. Had work really consumed the last few years? Had she become so good at shutting out her feelings, hiding her loneliness?
She’d wanted her father to be proud of her, so she’d thrown everything she had into his baby, this inn. Once she’d attained excellence, she knew she was expected to maintain it. After he died, she’d used work as a distraction from the grief—and her sisters had needed her. Only now did she realize what carrying all those burdens had done for her: Nothing. She had nothing in her life of any value, save her family, who were leaving one by one. The only thing that might stay and be hers was bleeding somewhere in the bowels of this hellhole of a hospital.
The tears came, and she didn’t try to stop them. She did move from the waiting room to the chapel, though. Tears were expected there, even if no one was present to see them.
She went through half a box of tissues and had to find another. The very act of looking sobered her. Bawling her eyes out wasn’t going to help Blue.
Maybe it helped a little, though, because she was a lot calmer when she rose to leave the room. But that calm vanished the moment she opened the chapel door and saw Zsak.
“What are you doing wandering around without someone watching over you?” he demanded when he saw her. He stood right in front of the door, his hand outstretched as if he’d been ready to walk in.
She scanned his disheveled hair. It always looked ruffled, but now there was a bandage taped to his brow just under his hairline. He had a scrape on his chin and there was a fleck of dried blood in his mustache. The rest of him looked all right, but she couldn’t tell for sure through his clothes.
“What happened?” she asked.
He looked around at the hallway, which was busy with traffic. “Not here. Come on.” He first glanced into the chapel, then seemed to decide against it and led her to an empty conference room. When they were both inside, he shut the door. “You want the good news first? Your sniper is dead.”
Gem stopped breathing. “Dead?” It took a moment, but her next thought was: “It’s over?”
He propped a hip on a table. “That’s the bad news.”
Captain Azor suddenly walked into the room. Gem wasn’t certain whether he’d been summoned by Zsak or found them on his own. “Ms. Harrisdaughter,” the policeman greeted her. “You’ve had an interesting day.”
She frowned and sat on the edge of the table, wincing as her bruised hip protested. Azor’s dark eyes flashed to her expression, but he didn’t comment. If her eyes were still red from crying, he didn’t mention that, either.
“I’d like to hear your statement,” he said.
She sighed. “I was tired of being in the house, so I went out into the gardens. I deliberately ducked Blue so he wouldn’t notice. He paid for my mistake.” Her eyes dropped and lost focus. She fought tears; she would not cry in front of this man.
He didn’t act impressed. “I hope you’re not prone to repeating mistakes or you’ll solve all our problems for us. We’ve identified the people who hired the sniper—they’re not the kind of men you should make enemies of.” Her eyes snapped up to his, and he smiled without humor. “Are you familiar with the drug trafficking problems they’ve been having on Enjor?”
She glowered at him. “Why wouldn’t I be? It’s all over the galactic news, and I run both an inn and a shipping company.” She immediately regretted saying the last bit; there was little question her family’s foray into exports was on everyone’s mind.
Azor didn’t comment; he simply looked grim. “One of the major smuggling operations has put out a contract on
your life. The Spark was a profit-eating upstart, they decided—one they’re determined to rub out.”
She blinked. Blinked again. Her mind just wouldn’t form coherent thought.
Azor continued. “Let me just be upfront with you about our perspective on your situation. In Jean Luc’s quarters we found a box full of Pax, an herb native to Polaris. It seems to be one of the main ingredients in his beer—the beer you’ve been exporting. In its original state, it’s mildly addictive, like coffee or chocolate. Once illegal chem labs get their hands on it, the stuff can be refined down to some pretty potent pills. Some of your recent exports contained a very high percentage of Pax, cleverly hidden among bottles with a lower percentage. This failed to tip off the narcotics teams. If you hadn’t particularly mentioned your brewmaster’s attitude toward his recipes to Blackwing that night, we might never have checked this out. This is one point in your favor.
“On the other hand, your master brewer is being charged with drug manufacturing and trafficking. It seems he was involved in discovering Pax, and also the process to enhance it. Your own role in this whole operation is quite unclear. Public knowledge of it could be very bad for your business, don’t you think? At least among the law-abiding set.”
He was threatening her. After all she’d done to keep her family’s inn respectable, he was threatening her. And what could she do? She simply crossed her arms and waited. What could she say? He knew more than she did.
“I’ll cut you a deal, Gem. You fill in the blanks. Tell us everything we don’t know yet. In return, we’ll save your life. You’ve had a taste of what these men who want to kill you can do. Next time, they’re not going to miss.”
She shook herself back to life. “Wait a minute. You’ve already decided I’m guilty! These people think I’m…!” She shook herself again. “No.”
Azor looked at her carefully. “No?”
“No, to everything.” Rage welled in her, rage at the whole situation. “I’m not guilty! Whatever Jean Luc—or even my sister—might have done, I had no knowledge of it. I’m not going to play your game. But I’m also not going to let these gangsters do me in.”