Taking Liberty

by Jodi Redford

  Chase’s admission stunned him but he was nowhere near ready to let him off the hook. “Let’s not forget the four payments you forgot to deliver to the UGG office.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Can the act.” Lucus shoved his arms over his chest. “So what’d you do with the money? Blow it on booze and prostitutes?”

  Deep furrows homesteaded the middle of Chase’s forehead. “Bro, I made the payments every time you asked. Swear to God.”

  He wanted to believe Chase. The drunken marathons and constant fuckups made it hard though. “You’ve got a lousy track record.” Just like I did at your age. The inner dialog slammed him out of the blue, leaving him stunned. He’d never consciously compared Chase’s irresponsibility to his own innumerable faults—the same faults that more or less contributed to the breakdown of his marriage fifteen years ago. Rather than pick apart what it could mean, he pushed the thought to the farthest corner of his mind. He had too many other things to worry about at the moment.

  Instead of resorting to his typical M.O. of launching into argument mode, Chase hung his head. “Yeah, I’m real sorry for that too. In fact, I’ve been kinda meaning to talk to you about it.”

  Lucus tweaked the bridge of his nose. “Could we do it at another time?”

  Chase didn’t completely hide his disappointment. “Sure.”

  “Since you’re here, mind giving me a ride home?”

  “Uh, bro, I think it’s the least I owe you.”

  Shooting a glance towards the wing housing the medi-ports, Lucus steeled his spine. “First I’ve got to take care of something. I’ll meet you outside in a few.”

  With a nod, Chase ambled down the corridor. His heart hammering like he’d run fifty laps around the hospital complex, Lucus made the short journey to Rini’s room. He stepped inside and his stomach cramped. Rini lay curled with her cheek pillowed on her hand, her face relaxed in sleep. She was so damn beautiful it hurt to look at her.

  Dusky eyelashes fluttered open and she gave him a dreamy smile.

  “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “It’s okay.” Her mouth stretched in a hearty yawn. “I need to get up anyway. I’ve been a regular sloth the last twelve hours.”

  He crossed to the bed and she hiked into a sitting position. “Hey, how about I order room service? I hear the food here is actually decent.” She stretched her arms out to the side and laughed. “Maybe they never got the memo that hospital food is supposed to be unappetizing.”

  “I already ate.” Or at least he tried to. His gut had pretty much nixed the idea of allowing more than a few bites of the hot turkey sandwich.

  “Mind if I get something? The surf-and-turf special sounded yummy.” She wrinkled her nose. “As long as it doesn’t come with calamari. I never want to see another squid for as long as I—”

  “I’m leaving.”

  She blinked. “Oh. Well, guess I’ll see you in the morning then.”

  “No. You won’t.” Scrubbing his face, he tried to swallow past the ball of misery anchored in his throat. “I’m returning home.”

  “Can’t say I blame you. Soon as I get the go ahead from the doc, I’m so out of here.” She reached for the clip resting on the nearby cart and secured her hair in a loose updo. Her fingers played nervously with one of the escaped tendrils. “Speaking of which, I…have a large apartment back on Warddok Seven. Lots of extra closet space.”

  The vise cinched around his heart. “Rini, this isn’t going to work. We’re better off stopping things between us now.”

  Her hand plummeted to her lap. The two minutes spent staring at each other were the longest two minutes of his life.

  “You said you loved me.” Her voice came out small and uncertain. “Why?”

  He stared at the wall behind her. No way could he witness the pain and anguish washing across her face and be able to spit out the necessary lies. “We didn’t know if we were going to live or die. People facing death say things they don’t really mean.”

  “I meant it.” She hurled the recriminating words at him. “Lucus, we made love in this bed less than an hour ago. Love. Not sex. You’d be lying if you called it anything less than that.”

  She was right. What they’d shared had been amazing. Brain-frying. He’d never experienced anything that came close to touching it. And he probably never would again. “It was just sex. Incredible, yes. But don’t read any more into it than that.”

  Rini flinched like she’d been slapped. “Why are you doing this to us?”

  I’m trying to protect you, baby. He couldn’t tell her the truth. She’d be stubborn enough to downplay the inevitable shitstorm surrounding his dealings with Quarrel. And fifteen years from now, she’d look at him with contempt and realize she wanted more out of life.

  “Rini, there is no us.” Before he could do something monstrously stupid, like take the words back, he turned and left the room.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Damn, girl, this is the eighth repo you’ve brought in this week. Keep it up and ain’t no one gonna be flying the friendly skies.”

  Rini ignored the mechanic’s rusty laugh and instead nodded to the series eleven Air Commander parked in the crowded hangar. “Noticed this one has a touchy brake stick. Might want to give it a good overhaul.”

  “Will do.”

  Fritz gave a cheerful whistle and started to mosey away. Rini gritted her teeth. Though she tried to temper the urge, she spilled out the question that had been circling in her head the last few days. “Did Martin have a chance to drop off the replacement star cruiser to Lucus Granger?”

  The whistling petered off and Fritz swiveled, a mile-wide grin stamped on his grizzled face. “Yup. According to Martin, Granger just about fell over in shock when he saw the agency pony-upped for the newest model.”

  She’d almost keeled over too. Her parents generosity had been a little over the top, particularly considering they hadn’t been too thrilled about her involvement with Lucus. Maybe they’d felt the need to repay him for saving their daughter’s life. And breaking her heart.

  Refusing to dwell on that pathetic reality, she abandoned the garage and made her way to the agency’s main headquarters. A handful of her colleagues stood clustered near the receptionist’s desk, trading war stories while they attacked the tray of donuts like a pack of wolves with bad table manners.

  Jean, the front receptionist, smiled in apology. “Rini, I tried saving you one but Paul found it.”

  Paul mumbled around a mouthful of donut. “How was I supposed to know you were saving it for someone?”

  “Having it locked in my file drawer didn’t clue you in?”

  “It’s okay, Jean. I’m not hungry anyway.” Rini stepped around the reception desk. The only thing she cared about at the moment was sealing herself inside her office and logging in the reports. Much as she despised paperwork, the monotonous job would be a welcome reprieve.

  “I don’t care what the computer tells you. It’s fucking wrong.”

  Rini halted dead in her tracks. Heart racing, she glanced towards the familiar baritone coming from Jeffrey’s cubical. Even while she wondered why the hell she was torturing herself, her feet carried her to the other side of her assistant’s partition. A mix of disappointment and relief swirled within her as she scrutinized the broad back facing her. She’d only gotten a brief glimpse of Chase that fateful night three weeks ago, but she knew every curve of Lucus’s body intimately. It definitely wasn’t Lucus standing in front of her.

  “Jeffrey, is there a problem?”

  Chase pivoted, his hot, angry focus transferring to her. “Hell yeah, there’s a problem. You people are making me look like a goddamn loser in my brother’s eyes and trust me, I don’t need any extra help in that department.”

  Behind Chase, Jeffrey glanced from his monitor screen, his effeminate features locked in a frazzled expression. “Mr. Granger, like I explained to you fifteen minutes ago, your best bet is going to
the UGG payment office. They’re the ones who have the most up-to-date records.”

  A growl came from Chase. “And like I explained to you—fifteen minutes ago—I already tried that. Those morons have their heads so far up their asses they can’t see daylight.”

  A weary exhale rolled from Jeffrey. “I’ll give it another look.”

  Before her assistant could tap his network screen, Rini spoke up. “I’ll take care of this one, Jeffrey. Mr. Granger, would you follow me, please?” She strode into her office. After a responding grunt, Chase stepped inside and loomed over her paper-strewn desk.

  His attention zeroed in on the bronze nameplate holding down the largest stack of files. “Rini?” Hazel eyes pinned her in place. “You’re the one who was stranded on Aquatica with my brother.”

  She nodded and a flush crept towards his ears.

  “Shit.” He scratched the back of his neck. The gesture so reminded her of Lucus it actually made her chest ache. “Sorry for coming across as such an a-hole earlier. This business with the missing payments has me ready to bust some heads open. Not yours of course. That’d be pretty damn ungrateful of me considering the trouble I put you through.”

  The last thing she wanted to do was mentally relive the bittersweet memories of her days with Lucus. Holding out a hand, she indicated the chair near the wall. “Take a seat.”

  He did and she moved behind her desk. While she booted her system, he thumped the chair closer. “Wow, Lucus was holding out on me. He didn’t say how pretty you are.”

  Rini’s fingers hovered over her network keypad. Maybe that’s because he doesn’t think I am. “What makes you suspect the payment office messed up?”

  “I dropped off every single check like clockwork. Pretty damn obvious they fucked up.” He coughed. “Pardon my French.”

  “Did you get a receipt?”

  “Damn, was I supposed to?” He scrubbed his jaw. “Son of a bitch.”

  “Do you recall the name of the processor you dealt with?” She reached for the telecom resting on the corner of her desk and highlighted the number for UGG’s payment center. “If we’re lucky, she might remember you and help us get this straightened out.”

  “Can’t say I do. But she had these enormous…”

  She looked up when Chase’s voice trailed off. Flashing back to the female hologram dancing over the Liberty’s system’s panel, she held up a hand. “Say no more.”

  A perky female voice chirped from the telecom. “Good morning, this is Candace. How may I assist you?”

  Rini introduced herself and fumbled her way through an awkward explanation of the situation.

  “Sounds like you’re talking about Adrianna,” the receptionist said. “She quit two weeks ago to take a month-long cruise around the straits of Vortega. Don’t ask me how she could afford that kind of trip on the salary she made here.”

  Peering across the leaning stack in front of her, Rini met Chase’s darkening glower.

  “Thanks, Candace. You might be hearing back from me soon.” She ended the telecom transmission just as Chase leapt from his chair.

  “I’ll tell you how she could afford it. With my and Lucus’s money!”

  “We don’t know that for sure.” She smothered a sigh when Chase shot her an irate stare. “Okay, it’s a high probability.”

  “You bet your sweet ass it is.”

  They spent the next hour in a tense telecom conference with the bigwigs at the payment center. With a little digging, they discovered a quarter of the accounts assigned to Adrianna ended up being turned over for repossession—an inordinately high figure. Embarrassed and spouting effusive apologies, the head honchos promised to correct the false calculations on Lucus’s statement and look further into the matter. By the time she clicked off the speaker, Rini’s temples throbbed and a fifth of vodka sounded real tempting. Lifting from her seat, she escorted Chase to the door.

  “Can’t wait to make Lucus eat his words on this one.” Grinning, he trapped her in a hug. “Thanks for doing that. Don’t think I would have gotten far if you hadn’t stepped in.”

  They use the same soap. Extracting her nose from the soft cotton of Chase’s T-shirt, she pushed away from him. “It’s no big deal. If you don’t mind, I’ve got a ton of paperwork to catch up on.”

  “Sure.” Chase started to swagger from her office but hesitated. “Hey, why don’t you swing by our place sometime? I know Lucus would get a kick out of seeing you.”

  Yeah, right. “My schedule’s pretty full right now.”

  “Well, the invitation stands. Drop by whenever.”

  She watched Chase walk away. The second she lost sight of his white shirt and jeans, she quietly shut her door and cried.

  “Hey, handsome, you lookin’ for a good time?”

  Tuning out the catcalls coming from the prostitutes plying their trade from their front stoops, Lucus cut across the street and entered the sports bar situated in the middle of splashy and tacky Pleasure Row. He found an empty booth near the back, far from the noisy drunks trying to make time with the local ladies.

  An animatron waiter strolled to his booth and took his order for a Flyboy beer. Raucous hooting shot from the drunks when one of the ladies whipped off her top. Why the hell did I come here? He shifted his attention from the voyeuristic party at the front of the room to the line of hover screens rotating the perimeter of the bar. Most featured the mutant bowl-a-rama taking place on Warddok Fourteen. His thoughts drifted to Rini. Nothing new there. She was a main fixture inside his head these days. Still, when one mutant with a foot growing from his back nailed a strike on his first play, Lucus couldn’t help wondering if Rini had followed through on her boast and wagered a week’s pay on the home-team champs.

  “You look like you could use some company.”

  Reluctantly tearing his attention from the game, he eyed the prostitute sliding onto the vinyl bench across from him. He barely registered the miniscule sequined tube top she wore. Her hair—a dirty, washed-out shade of red—shone lifeless beneath the harsh, unforgiving glare of the track lighting.

  Without uttering a word, he shoved from the booth and exited the bar. Cajoling propositions trailed after him as he returned to the Liberty II. He fired her up and wasted precious fuel slumped in the pilot’s seat, staring blindly out the viewing shield. Not giving himself time to rethink his decision, he eased back the throttle and nosed the star cruiser in the direction of Warddok Seven.

  Thanks to the million times he’d flown this particular route the past couple weeks, the Liberty II practically found its way to Rini’s apartment community on its own. The adjacent lot couldn’t accommodate his ship so he parked a few blocks away and took the bullet-rail. Debarking with the other passengers, he made his way towards Zennecka Boulevard. He approached the intersection just as Rini exited one of the restaurants lining the strip. His heart thundered. God, I’ve missed her so much.

  He had only a moment to catalog the basics—her dark green top and cream slacks, the faint shadow of fatigue beneath her eyes—before a tall, impeccably dressed man joined Rini. The guy leaned close to her and whispered something that earned her animated laugh.

  Lucus’s gut pitched. He should be the one tickling her funny bone and getting showered with her sparkling smiles. Battling the jealousy raging inside him, he shook his head. No, this is what he’d wanted. For her to be happy. After a final glimpse that did nothing but feed his agony, he turned and wove his way back to the bullet-rail station.

  Less than an hour later, he arrived home. Shutting the lights on the Liberty, he stalked into his arro hut and went in search of Chase’s stash of Flyboys. Popping the top on the chilled can, he slugged half of it before his brother trekked into the kitchen.

  “Where the hell have you been?”

  Wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, Lucus slammed the beer down. “That’s hilarious coming from you of all people.”

  Chase’s jaw went rigid. “Yeah, I’m a fuckup. I know. Just like I
know I’ll always fall way short of living up to the perfection that is Lucus Granger.”

  “Have you been drinking?”

  “No, haven’t touched a drop all day. Shocking, huh?” Chase leaned against the countertop. An air of pensiveness clung to him. “If you want to know the truth, I figured it best we have this conversation with me stone-cold sober.” He scuffed the heel of his boot on the tiled floor. “Bro, I don’t wanna be partners anymore.”

  The tumultuous emotions Lucus had harbored the past hour ripped open their cage doors. “Fucking typical. Springing your bullshit on me when I least need it.”

  “If you’d listened to me three weeks ago when I asked, we wouldn’t be dealing with this now.”

  Lucus granted Chase a blank stare and his brother scowled. “Did you even hear anything I said that day?”

  “I had a lot of shit on my mind.” Why the hell he felt inclined to explain himself was a mystery. If anyone should be defensive here, it was Chase. “So you’re saying you tried to tell me then that you wanted out of the business?”

  Chase relaxed his combative stance. “Amongst other things.”

  Shit, this was all news to him. “You’ve been walking around with this idea for three weeks?”

  “Actually more like three years.”

  “What?”

  “Bro, I never wanted to be a trader. I only stuck with it this long because I wanted to make you proud of me. But it’s pretty damn clear that’s never gonna happen.”

  The weariness in Chase’s tone twisted a knife in Lucus’s belly and made him feel like a universal bastard. “Don’t say that.”

  “Why not? It’s true. I’m a big fucking loser shitting my life away. I can see it in your eyes every time you look at me.”

  Tell him. The inner voice prodded at his conscience, demanding he acknowledge the uncomfortable realization he’d avoided for so long. “What I see when I look at you is me—fifteen years ago.”

  Chase’s mouth went slack. Clearly he hadn’t been expecting that answer.