If she really wanted to, Elodie could find him. She knew her dad well enough to know what he would do and where he would go. There were only so many jobs he would take, and even if he changed his name, she would always be able to recognize him.
Elodie followed the yellow light of passageways that signaled the direction of the landing zone. Her nerves were frayed and her feet felt heavy, but she’d made up her mind.
I just have to convince Gunner... if he needs convincing.She wasn’t sure if he would need it at all, but weighing all of the odds was safer. It guarded her heart.
They were on opposite sides of a vast spectrum, after all.
If her feelings for the Cyborg were one-sided, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. At least that’s what she kept telling herself.I have a whole universe of options now.
She repeated that over and over in her head, but her thoughts always drifted back to Gunner. There was only one option she wanted. Ely never thought freedom would feel so burdensome.
Her chuckle was filled with self-deprecation.I don’t think I have a taste for it.
Some of the others had taken jobs with the Peace Keepers. They had all been offered positions within hours of their innocence. It was surprising, but she supposed it made sense. There were far too many jobs on a space-faring vessel and far too few people interested in filling them. With the experience she and the other prisoners had shared, working for the government was a far safer option than working on a ship that could be brought down again.
The hallway abruptly ended in an atrium and a giant archway, beyond which was the landing zone. The air grew colder as she stepped into the large space, and pungent grease and oil hit her nose. She was bombarded by loud noises from the ships being worked on and repaired in the zone.
The landing zone was cavernous—larger than any port she’d ever been on. A seemingly endless amount of ships, and the machines that maintained them filled her vision. Her brow creased as her eyes roamed over everything at once.
Gunner was here somewhere, but she never expected that somewhere would be the end of a labyrinth filled with men and metal. People and androids passed her by with little more than a glance, each heading to a destination set out before them. She envied that they knew where they were going.
Elodie stepped into the void.
It was so different from the cramped, dark spaces she’d worked within most of her life, and she craned her neck to take it all in. The liveliness felt unnatural to her. Her fingers curled into her hands and then her hands crawled into her long shirtsleeves.
The machines she worked on in the bowels of starships were always in motion, but it was a predictable, rhythmic motion. To her untrained eye, the loading docks looked like a small battle.
She tempered her uneasiness and began her search.
Before long she was among the flyers and the entry hall was lost behind her. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for but she believed that when she saw it she would know. Gunner had a way of drawing eyes.
The ships towered above her like skyscrapers and she was lost in their shadows. Some were so large that she couldn’t see the top of them while others were barely big enough to hold one person comfortably.
Elodie stopped. The hair on the back of her neck rose and she felt eyes on her. She turned slowly around, her gaze darting everywhere, scanning everything.
Then she sawhim.
Gunner was up a ramp, leaning inside the open hatch of a ship, his body relaxed and yet still menacing in his prowess. Even in his leisure, he demanded caution from those around him. There were androids, ships, and small machines between them, walking and moving through her line of sight, but his watchful stare never faltered.
Elodie stood motionless, staring right back.
He’s waiting for me.
A small smile tugged at her lips. Suddenly, all her worry and uncertainty vanished. Every other option she’d forced herself to consider died like starving weeds in her head.
In a flash, she ran to Gunner, grinning like a lunatic while dodging the obstacles in her way.
Elodie slammed into his body before he even had a chance to uncross his arms, hers banding around him. There was no way she was going to let him go. No way was she going to give him a chance to reconsider. She burrowed her face into his chest and clasped him tightly, rubbing her brow back and forth, feeling her Cyborg take over her soul.
His arms came around her slowly and she tightened her hold. His rough hands touched her back lightly until they moved. One shifted up to cup the back of her neck while the other slid down, positioning under her ass. Gunner abruptly jerked her up—her legs hooking his waist—and caught her upturned mouth. He kissed her desperately, filling her up.
Elodie slipped her hands all over him, grasping and touching anything in her reach, unable to stop feeling him. It wasn’t until he hefted her further against him that she realized he’d carried her into his ship and away from prying eyes. She continued to press herself into Gunner and held onto him as he lowered her feet back to the ground, his lips chasing after hers the whole way. Breathless, she cupped his cheeks and broke the kiss to meet his eyes.
Red and bright.
“You waited for me,” she said.
“I did.”
