“Not a chance,” Christian said as Gemma’s hands balled into fists. He nudged her and Lysa toward their tent openings. “Let’s go.”
“Aw, but I so was looking forward to telling your girlfriend about all those nights we spent together.” There was laughter in her words.
Gemma’s heart fell to her knees.
Christian froze, spun, and spoke venomously. “You stay the fuck away from me, Gemma, and Lysa. Do you hear me?”
The girl raised her hands innocently but gave Gemma a mischievous grin.
“I mean it, Cho.”
“Heard ya the first time, Christy.”
Christian gently pushed Gemma into their tent and followed her inside. The heavy flap of their canvas door fell into place behind him, leaving them beneath walls of fabric with only the battery lamp for light.
“I’m so sorry, Gem,” he said within seconds. “If I’d known she was helping Lysa, I would’ve warned you about her.”
Her hands were already clenched into fists, nails biting into her palms. “She talks like she knows you well.”
“Not as well as you do. Not even close.”
“I don’t know about that. You shared a bed.” She couldn’t contain the flare of jealousy that shot through her. “How long were you two together?”
He took a slow breath. “We were never ‘together.’ I never had feelings for Cho. She was convenient. And she came from the same pit I did.”
“‘Convenient?’”
He offered a loud sigh and ran his hand down his face. “That wasn’t the right word. After the hunts, when my head was too loud, she was there. And she understood. But I promise, it was never more than that.”
The shame in his gaze when his eyes found hers annihilated any lingering thread of jealousy. His past was just as dark as hers, and he needn’t feel guilty over what he’d had to do to survive.
Gemma put her hand on his chest. “You’re a good man, Christian. I’m sorry I let myself feel a bit jealous.”
He placed his hand over hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You have no reason to be. You’re the first person I’ve ever been with where it meant something. There’s nothing in my past I want more than I want you. No one I’d trade you for. Not Cho. Not anyone. I haven’t shared much about that part of my past because—maybe naively—I thought it didn’t matter. It was over, and I’d hoped you’d be my future. I love you, and only you. Therewas no one before you, and there won’t be anyone after. You’re it for me, Gem. You always have been. Maybe even seven-year-old me knew, and it just took me thirteen years to find you again.”
She tilted up her chin, and Christian’s lips found hers. Gemma breathed in the smell of him, reveled in the taste of him.
Unwillingly, she pulled away before her body could crave him in all the dangerous ways. He brushed her cheek with his thumb.
“You’re it for me too, you know,” she said, staring into his hazel-green eyes.
“Glad to hear it.” He smirked. “Though there is one matter we still need to settle.”
She cocked her head, brows furrowing. “Which is?”
“What devious schemes did you and Lysa plan? Is my life in danger?” The grin on his face reached his eyes.
She offered a mischievous smile. “I shall never tell.”
Days later, Gemma was bent over a makeshift table in the med tent, splinting a boy’s wrist after he’d fallen off one of the scaffolding ladders. He was lucky to only have a sprain, a notion she’d tried to share with him. But like most typical young boys, he just nodded and gave her the look that said he’d try it again tomorrow.
She was surprised how much she’d already begun to feel at home and at peace here. Tent City was more than just a haven for these people. They were each other’s family. And the more stories she heard about how and why they’d come to join the Dissent, the more Gemma realized how much she hated theSystems after all.
And how much Nadine had been telling the truth.
Governor Gallowood was infamous for his manipulation and dictator-like control over the Oranos Space Station. Hawk had withdrawn into himself over the stories of how his father was behind the plot to keep the people of Perileos subservient. How it was because ofhimthat newfound technologies were kept on Oranos and not sent to the people in Perileos who needed them.
Gemma shook her head free of these thoughts as she tied off the last strip of spidersilk wrap. “There. Keep it elevated, and no climbing for at least a week.”
