“If that’s what you need to tell yourself, Dr. Voss.” Cold hate pooled in his stomach. Damn Voss for lying. For saying the one thing that would poison the well with Meja. He dialed Pierce on his omni. The man’s silky basso responded on the first ring. “You can do what you wish, Sean. Take them if you want them.”
The stock alarm went off again on the other omnis in the lobby, including Meja’s. Gideon looked at Layth, then at her. “You signed a noncompete. If you ever try to work in this field again, I’ll see you arrested.” His voice broke in a panic.
“That’s if you still have a job,” Layth muttered, just loud enough to be heard.
Meja moved toward Gideon, but Layth caught her by the arm. She whirled on him, and the anger and hurt in her eyes was no less than it had been for Gideon. “We should go. I’ll explain in the car.”
Her shoulders slumped, but she followed him to the autocab outside. Layth let out a long sigh as he relaxed into the seats. The easy part was over. Now all he had left was the tough part.
18
Layth caught the door before Meja could slam it in his face in frustration. He slid into the seat opposite her and tapped his omni onto the scanner before giving the address of an inexpensive hotel near the spaceport.
“What do you think you’re doing? How were you able to threaten Voss, of all people?”
“In a minute.” He exhaled quietly. “You know I would never buy your indenture, right?”
She folded her hands into her lap. The idea of being indentured, of being trapped under someone else’s thumb, created such a visceral response that she hadn’t had time to process it. “Yes. I’m sorry. I just wasn’t thinking.”
Wasn’t listening to my heart.
“Once I knew you were in GRCA’s hands, it couldn’t be willingly. I had to convince them that letting you go was in their best interest.” He looked tired, she realized, as though he’d been running full tilt since Gideon insisted she rejoin Golden Ratio’s ranks.
“So, they just let me go?”
“They needed persuading. I had to talk to them in the only language they understood.” He sighed and collapsed back against the seat. “Or rather, I paid someone to do that for me.”
She shook her head, confusion replacing the fear and adrenaline that had charged her nerves. “What are you talking about?”
He gripped his thighs tightly, as if steeling himself for the fight to come. “Mr. Pierce is Sean Pierce, of Arrow Dynamix. Our families did business together, once upon an age.”
She knew the name, but she thought the person in charge of Arrow was someone else. An older brother or something. Her mouth opened, but he cut her off by continuing.
“I paid him forty thousand to initiate a hostile takeover of GRCA. He figured, worst case, he could sell back his shares if he decided he didn’t want to own the company, but he wasn’t opposed to having a new business, or access to the best vet service he could want for his new cats. Rather than lose his job, Voss released you.”
“That doesn’t make sense. You don’t have that kind of money—”
“I had about ten, in case there was an emergency purchase needed for the medical bay, like a new scanner. Plus…” His voice drifted off, and she could easily fill in what he’d left unsaid.
He had the thirty thousand for the crew. The payment she’d given him to settle her debt with Captain Barnes. A chill settled in her belly. “Layth, where’s the Sentinel?”
“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “I think they were headed to the Calypso system.”
“You stayed behind?” That made even less sense than his taking the money meant for the ship. They were the only people who believed in him, the only people he trusted. He wouldn’t—couldn’t—give up his family. Not just his family, but without the money they needed, he’d given up keeping his medical bay up to date.
Not for her.
Outside the autocab, the buildings rolled past in silence. It was still early enough in the day that traffic was minimal as they approached Londinium’s often bustling spaceport. Layth folded his hands together, as if to keep them still. “You were in trouble. I wasn’t about to leave you in a bad situation. Now that you’re free, you can…you can do what you like. I wanted to make sure you were free to make your own choices.”
He isn’t just talking about my indenture, she realized. The air in the cab felt too hot, too close, and despite his small size, there seemed to be entirely too much him in the space. She lowered her window slightly and lifted her face into the stream of air.
“I’m bad at this. Have never been good at this,” he said quietly. “I didn’t want you to feel like I was pressuring you, and in the end, I was afraid.” He let his breath out in a huff. “I’m bad with emotion, and I’m worse with fear. So I just avoid the things I’m afraid of. After Jayme died, I couldn’t even say goodbye to her. I bottled everything up and got off-world as fast as I could. It was easier not letting people get close, then I couldn’t get hurt again.
“And you. You didn’t care. You kicked past my defenses and dragged me out of my shell, and I found that I started liking who I was around you. It’s been a long time since I liked me. And then you got hurt…” His voice cracked.
“You were afraid it would happen all over again. And then it didn’t.” She reached across the small space and squeezed his clasped hands. “I’d hoped, for days, that you’d ask me not to leave after we got the cats sold, but I’d pushed so much that I didn’t want to make it feel like my idea. Just once, I wanted to be something you wanted, instead of something foisted off on you.” She could feel the hot slide of tears on her cheeks but didn’t care. If he muted his emotions, then she could have enough for both of them.
“It took me too long to realize that, and by the time I knew what I wanted, it was too late.” The tremor in his voice made her blink, and she realized he too was crying as he spoke. “I wanted to explain it better to you when you returned, but then you didn’t. And then he brought you to the spaceport—”
“I thought you were going to do something stupid,” she admitted. “I was so scared when I saw you there.” Her pulse spiked again in memory, even knowing he was safe in the car across from her.
“I thought about it,” he said. “But I couldn’t figure out a scenario where I had any chance at getting you free. Not by myself. I had to pick a different solution. So, I did.”
“Yes, you did.” She squeezed his hands again, and he smiled at her.
He swallowed, squeezing her hands in return. “What I’m saying—badly—is when I leave this cab, you can make whatever choice you want. But I’d really like it if you chose me.”
Her vision shattered into diamonds as tears started up fresh with his words. She pulled his hands to her lips, kissing his fingers. “You silly, perfect man. I wouldn’t choose anything else.” Suddenly, his hands weren’t enough, and she crushed herself against him in the small space, her lips finding his. His mouth opened on a groan of desire, and she chased after it, her whole body winding tight.