Page 53

Chapter 16

Ivy’s head pounded, and her vision blurred as she blinked her eyes open. She stared at an unfamiliar white ceiling. Where in the hell was she?

Rolling onto her side, she discovered she was on a bed. Her clothes were different. Rather than the usual jumpsuit she wore on the station, she had on an almost sheer white floor length dress and no underwear.

Marcus! Not only had he drugged her, he’d stripped her and changed her clothes. What the fuck was he thinking?

Ivy shook her head as she tried to get rid of the grogginess and focus on the burning anger in her gut. She would rip him apart when she found him.

She gripped the side of the bed as the room tilted. That wasn’t her feeling the effects of whatever drug Marcus had used on her. It felt like she was inside a small ship. She was no longer on Prodigy. Whoever was flying was doing a lousy job.

Ivy sat on the bed for a couple of minutes to make sure she felt stable enough to walk. She stumbled to the door, and it opened.

Ivy stepped into the corridor and looked both ways. She’d been right. This was a small shuttle, the kind used for making short space flights. She headed in what she thought was the direction of the cockpit.

When Ivy got there, the door opened to reveal Marcus in the pilot’s seat.

He glanced over his shoulder and grinned when he saw her. “Finally, you’re awake.”

Ivy stared at him, her mouth open. She didn’t know what to confront him with first. “You drugged me.”

“You left me no choice. You were being stubborn and irrational. I had to have a backup plan in case you didn’t agree to come back to me.”

“Your backup plan was drugs. You think knocking me out will make me like you?” Her hands clenched into fists as she pondered which part of him to punch first. Between the legs looked like an excellent target.

“I wanted to give you more time to see sense. You have a tendency to act first and think later.” The shuttle lurched to the right.

Ivy grabbed the doorframe to keep from falling. “Like I did when I found you naked with my best friend?”

“You tried to throw her out the window,” Marcus said, his attention on the controls. “That was instinct. You weren’t thinking things through.”

Ivy took a deep breath and tried not to let her rage take over. “Moving past that hideous memory, you’ve drugged me and kidnapped me. Where in the hell are we?”

Marcus grinned at her again. He looked like an excited schoolboy. That only made her want to hit him harder. “We need to spend quality time together, just the two of us, away from the station, your job, and all the distractions there.”

“Every second I spend with you makes me hate you even more. You’re wasting your time. We aren’t getting back together.”

“I know you were tempted with my offer. Things aren’t so great for you on Prodigy. See this as a new start.”

“Did you get drunk and stumble into a radiation zone on Earth? We are over.”

“Whatever you say, beautiful.” Marcus’s smile grew smug. “Now, stop frowning. It will give you wrinkles, and you know I don’t like those.”

The shuttle lurched again.

Ivy’s scowl only deepened. “How do you know how to fly this thing?”

“It turns out our government is so desperate to get people off Earth, not only are they providing grants to ship us off the planet, but they’re also giving free lessons on how to pilot a ship. I’ve had six weeks of simulator training. Are you impressed?”

“No. I want you to turn this thing around and take me back to Prodigy.”

“What about our adventure? You’ll have a lot more fun with me then you will back on that boring station.”

“That’s not for you to decide.” Ivy grabbed a handful of the fabric she wore. “What’s up with these clothes? I want my old clothes back.”

“I always liked you in dresses. That jumpsuit did you no favors. And I was right. You have put on weight. I had to peel that jumpsuit off you like a banana skin. Time to go up a size, gorgeous.”

Ivy bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. “Turn this ship around.”