Caught by Menace (13 page)

don’t enjoy having other people in my space.” He

hesitated. “If you’d prefer, I can request those services.”

Naya understood what he was asking. “I’m not going

to lie. I’m not the world’s worst housekeeper but I’m not

the kind of girl who embroiders tablecloths and cooks

five-course meals.”

“Neither am I,” he said with a smile. “Between the two

of us, I’m sure we can make it work.” He motioned to

her plate. “Eat. It’s getting cold.”

“Yes, sir.” She gave a mock salute and tucked into her

meal. It was actualy quite good. She looked around his

home as she ate. “At least you don’t have a lot to dust.”

home as she ate. “At least you don’t have a lot to dust.”

“I haven’t been here long enough to clutter up the

place.”

“No?”

He shook his head. “I lived in a section set aside for

bachelor officers until a month ago. When I put forth my

name for this quarter’s Grab, the housing department

offered me a choice of married housing units. I picked

this one because it’s close to friends who have taken

wives. I thought it would be good for you to have

support nearby.”

His consideration touched her. Even before he’d taken

a wife, he’d put thought into how to make her transition

to this new and scary life easier. “What made you decide

to enter the Grab now? Earlier you said you’d been a

soldier for twenty-four years. Why not do it earlier? Did

you not have enough points?”

“I had the points.” He drank some juice. “I’ve had

enough points for years, but we were on the front lines

for so long. Fighting in the field for months on end isn’t

conducive to building a new relationship. It’s one of the

reasons why they rotated our battle group out here. It’s

stil dangerous but it’s much quieter. It’s our reward for

fighting in the very worst battles of the war.” He suddenly

fighting in the very worst battles of the war.” He suddenly

had a far-off look. “There were battles where less than

twenty percent of our forces returned. It was more than

the enemy, but just barely.”

Naya tried to reconcile those figures. To go into battle

knowing that only twenty out of one hundred men would

survive must have been harrowing. Menace had been

one of those lucky ones. Of course, she wasn’t so sure if

lucky was the right word for surviving an experience like

that.

“I was happy living my single life. I didn’t realy see a

reason to change anything until Halie.”

She remembered the woman’s name from earlier.

“Your friend’s wife?”

“Vicious,” he said. “He’s a general and the highest-

ranking member of the land corps in this sector.”

“So he’s your boss?”

Menace nodded. “He’s a good one. There isn’t a man

I’d trust more with my life. Wel,” he hesitated, “maybe

Terror. He’s just as honorable and brave. The three of us

were raised together at the academy and fought side by

side in the worst of it.” He took another drink. “I never

thought Vicious would take a wife, but he found Halie

thought Vicious would take a wife, but he found Halie

down there in Harper’s Wel and his whole life changed.

In a good way,” he added. “I grew envious of his

happiness and thought, why not me? Why shouldn’t I

take my reward?”

Naya tried to process the idea that he considered her

his greatest reward. “Menace,” she said gently, “you

shouldn’t put so much stock in me. I don’t want you to

be disappointed.”

His gaze snapped to her face. “How in the world

could I ever be disappointed in you?”

She blew out a noisy breath. “I’m a nobody. I’m

nothing, okay? I’m just some poor kid who never

finished school. I’m not the kind of person most men

would consider worthy of being deemed a reward.”

“Don’t say that.” Menace looked irritated. “You’re a

survivor. You had a successful business. You showed

loyalty and honor during the Grab. You’re a good

person.”

“You don’t know me.” She dropped her gaze to the

plate of half-eaten food. “I’ve done things that you would

not understand.”

“Look at me.” She didn’t dare refuse him. His gaze

burned her skin. “We al have a past, Naya. I don’t much

care about yours. It’s done. It can’t be changed. Let’s

leave it where it belongs.”

“You make it sound so easy. In my experience, the

past has an ugly way of finding its way right back into the

present.”

“If it does, we’l deal with it.” He spoke with such

definitive finality.

She arched an eyebrow. “Just like that?”

He nodded. “Just like that.”

She marveled at his certainty.

Menace reached for an orange. “What’s that look?”

She shrugged and picked up the last bit of bacon on

her plate. “I was thinking about how nice it would be to

have an ounce of your arrogance.”

Menace laughed and sat back in his chair. “It’s a

cultural thing, apparently. At least, that’s what Halie is

always teling me.” He jammed his thumb into the bright

orange peel and nicked the skin. “I think you’l like her.”

“We’l see.” Naya didn’t want to tel him that she’d

never been particularly good at making friends, especialy

with other women close to her age. She had always been

awkward and a bit strange. Other girls couldn’t relate to

awkward and a bit strange. Other girls couldn’t relate to

her. “You said she was from Harper’s Wel, right?”

“Yes.”

Naya shuddered to think what her life had been like.

“She was lucky to escape that place.”

“She’d been in trouble with their law once or twice. It

didn’t end wel for her.”

Her gut clenched. “Oh, Menace, you have no idea

how barbaric their laws are. At least when I was

arrested, I never had to worry about having my head

shaved or being beaten in a public square.”

The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted

them. Naya bit her lip and dared to look at Menace. His

hands had gone stil. He leveled a calm stare at her. “You

were arrested?”

There was no use denying it now. “Yes. Three times.”

“I see.” His jaw tightened. “I suppose that explains

why you weren’t thriled with being cuffed.”

“Basicaly,” she agreed.

“You should have told me.”

“When? Like right after you put a colar around my

neck and carried me back to your warship? Or maybe

when your doctors were asking me al those personal

when your doctors were asking me al those personal

questions and jabbing me with needles? Or maybe later

when you left me tied up in your dungeon?”

He frowned. “Playroom.”

“You know what I mean.”

“What were you picked up for, Naya?”

“Twice for theft,” she reluctantly informed him.

“What kind of theft?”

“Food.”

“Food?”

“I was hungry,” she answered honestly. “I was eleven

the first time and thirteen the second time.”

His expression softened. “You were a minor. Those

wouldn’t count against you in our society. I hope you

learned your lesson.”

“To steal with more stealth? Yeah. Sure did.”

He didn’t appreciate the humor. His lips settled into a

grim line. “You wil not steal aboard this ship, Naya. Is

that understood?”

“As long as you provide me with food and clothing or

a way to earn an honest living, I won’t have to, Menace.”

“I’m not being funny, Naya. I’m deadly serious.”

“I’m not being funny, Naya. I’m deadly serious.”

“Yes, I got that.” She placed her fork back on her

plate. “I haven’t stolen a damn thing since I was

fourteen.”

“Then what was your third arrest for?”

“It wasn’t officialy an arrest.”

“What was it?”

“I was picked up and held for three weeks without

charges. They released me and that was that.”

His face slackened. “You were held for three weeks

without charges?”

She didn’t understand why he was so surprised.

“Sure. I mean, the secret police don’t exactly have to

abide by the laws. That’s why they’re the secret police.”

“Why?”

“Wel, they do the bidding of the central government

and they don’t officialy exist so—”

He shook his head and interrupted her. “No, I meant

why
were you held?”

“Oh.” She figured a watered-down version of the truth

was in her best interest. She didn’t know Menace wel

enough to realy and truly trust him with al the sordid

details of her life. He said the past was in the past, right?

details of her life. He said the past was in the past, right?

“I was suspected of smuggling.”

“Smuggling?” He laughed. “You?”

Naya bristled at his insinuation that she was some

stupid, helpless little thing. “You don’t know me,

Menace. You don’t what I’m capable of or what I did to

survive.”

His eyes narrowed. “So it was true?”

“Of course it was true. I was helping smuggle people

off the planet and moving medicine and other contraband

around Connor’s Run and the nearby towns from the age

of ten.”

His jaw dropped. “Ten?”

“I had to eat. My parents were gone. My brother was

totaly useless. It was the only way I could make money

to keep us alive. I was quick. I was smart. It was good

work for me.”

“Good work?” He spluttered and sat forward,

slamming the orange down on the table. “You were

engaging in criminal activities, Naya.”

“Yeah, Menace, I know. I was there, remember?”

“You’re lucky you were a child when you were doing

these things.”

“Why? Because you’d turn me in for being a

criminal?”

He looked aghast at the very thought. “I would never

—”

She put up her hand. “Spare me. I’ve heard that line

before and both times it ended with me getting royaly

fucked over by someone.”

That time he didn’t correct her blue language. Voice

laced with irritation, he declared, “You should never have

been put in that situation. Someone should have been

looking out for you.”

She scoffed. “And who would that be? My dead

father? My loser brother?”

“What about your mother?”

She stiffened. “What about her?”

“Where was she during al of this?”

“Far away from me,” Naya said and rose from her

chair. She gathered together their dirty dishes. “I was six

when she left with a sky trader from Jesco.”

“She left you behind?”

Naya blinked rapidly to force away the tears

threatening to spil. “I should have wised up then and

realized she was just going to be the first.”

“Your brother?”

She took his empty glass. “He hopped a transport ship

to the colonies six years ago.”

“But you would have been just a teenager then,” he

said in obvious confusion.

She felt his stare boring into her back as she carried

the armload of dishes into the kitchen. “What can I say,

Menace? I guess I’m just not the kind of girl people want

to fight for.”

“Put the dishes down right now and come here.”

His angry tone shocked her. She complied instantly

and slid the dirty dishes onto the closest countertop.

When she spun to face Menace, he’d risen from his

chair. The stony expression on his face struck fear in her

chest. Swalowing hard, she made her way back to him.

Menace snatched her by the waist and dragged her

close. He reached back and turned his chair around

before sitting. He hauled her onto his lap and forced her

to straddle his thighs. Those skiled fingers that had

shown her so much pleasure cupped the back of her

head and tangled in her hair. The pain in his pale eyes

stunned her.

stunned her.

“Naya,” he said with force, “you are worth fighting

for.”

“Wh-what?” She could barely form the word.

“You are worth fighting for,” he repeated just as

firmly. “Those people? Your blood? They abandoned

you, but I never wil.”

He seemed so honest and sincere. She had never

wanted to believe a man so much in her entire life. She

opened her mouth, but he shook his head and pressed

his fingers to her lips.

“I know what you’re going to say, but I’m not those

men.” He seemed to be struggling for the right words.

“Do you have any idea what you mean to me? What I

went through to get you?”

Menace gripped the bottom of his shirt and puled it

up and over to display the right side of his body. Those

tattoos she’d studied earlier were in clear view now.