She glimpsed his expression, and once again, it was unreadable. She frowned but hid it by taking a bite of egg. He sat across from her and sipped his drink.
He watched her, staring hard like he often did, and it always made her self-conscious. Vee took another bite of egg as her palms slickened under his scrutiny.
One would think that after weeks of sharing a bed with the Cyborg, she’d be used to his perusal.
But she wasn’t.
The intimidation he made her feel persisted.
I don’t belong with him.It was that thought alone that kept her unsettled. She couldn’t quite convince herself that this wasn't all an elaborate dream, and that she was going to wake up at any second.
I don’t want to wake up.
Vee looked down at her plate.
“We’ve been called to NeoElite’s headquarters,” Cypher said. NeoElite was the gaming company that owned Terraform Zero and funded the championship each year.
“We have?” She frowned, swiping on her wristcon. Lo and behold, there was a message waiting for her from NeoElite. She skimmed the material. She and Cypher, and all competitors and teams participating in the event, were required to officially sign in and meet with the managers tomorrow.
They were to be given the scenario for the semi-final event for the following day. A lead-up that would directly relate to what was given for the championship.
It’s happening.Vee shut off her network access. She looked up to find Cypher still staring at her.
She crossed her legs.
“So we leave tomorrow,” she said. A shadow of something darkened his expression for a split-second, but it was gone before she could read into it.
“Seems so,” he rumbled.
“In two weeks, this will all be over,” she whispered.
He didn’t respond. He only looked at her.
Vee licked her lips. “Thank you for everything.”
“Stop thanking me.”
“I can’t. I won’t stop thanking you.”
Cypher gulped down his coffee and got up. At the door, he glanced back at her, as if he hadn’t heard her. “Are you coming?”
She nodded and stood, following behind him as he strode toward the rig room.
They spent the day in her game. But unlike all the others, the disquiet between them continued.
One of the Yria aliens gave birth today, and though they didn’t need to be present for it, they were. Despite everything that had happened on the planet, even the potential of a disease outbreak, Yria was nearly finished and deemed a success.
She should be happy, excited, pleased, but she wasn’t. All she could think about was her time with Cypher would soon be over.
Her favorite planet had becometheirplanet. And like everything else, it was coming to an end.
When evening came around, she was exhausted. Not even an alien baby, her first one ever, had lifted her mood. Not even seeing Cypher holding it in his arms and checking its health with a delicacy that didn’t belong to him lightened her heart. Instead, her mood had grown heavier.
Then it hit her, when she stripped from her suit and put it away to be sanitized overnight, that she was going to miss him.
She picked up her jeans and shirt and clutched them to her chest. Her gaze followed the powerful muscles rippling across Cypher’s back as he pulled off his shirt.
I’m in trouble.
