Chapter Three
Giselle glared up at him, disbelieving. After all that had happened, how could the bastard still think she was for sale? She’d had him beaten and arrested, for love of the Goddess! Her eyes narrowed as she thought about that. “How did you get out so quickly?”
He smiled at her, a disgustingly smug look coming across her face.
“I’ve found that justice is for sale here on Transit Station Three,” he said slowly. “Remember, I told you everything was for sale if you were willing the pay the right price. Why don’t you tell me what your price is?”
“How did you manage to pay a fine that big so fast?” she asked. He merely looked at her, one eyebrow cocked in amusement.
“Your price?” he prodded after a moment.
“I told you, I’m not for sale!”
“Then why are you here?” he asked. “If the only reason you came here was to rob me, it seems that it may be in my best interest to call the guards and report you. What do you say to that?”
She froze, terrified. She had more than a guess as to what the guards would think of that… Time to try a new approach.
“Can we just forget this ever happened?” she asked suddenly, giving him her most winning smile. “I only came here because I needed a place to stay and I didn’t think you’d be around. I made a serious mistake, and I’m sorry for that. Can you just let it go?”
“Why did you need a place to stay?” he asked. She shook her head, disgusted for revealing so much.
“Tell me, or I call the guards,” he said with sudden insight. He knew something was up; she could see it on his face.
“Look, you’re imagining things,” she replied. “I’m sorry I bothered you, but there’s nothing to this. I was just locked out of my apartment, and I figured your room would be empty. I wasn’t carrying any cash to get a room of my own and Manya had already left for the cycle.”
“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “You didn’t need a keycard for your apartment; you already used that little excuse to fool me once. After that, I think it’s very generous for me to offer you money. Some would say you owe me.”
She rolled her eyes, forgetting to smile.
“You don’t want me to call the station guards for a reason, don’t you?” he asked. “You’re here because you’re in trouble.”
She shook her head, denying it. His grin grew broader.
“No, I’m right,” he said, “I can tell. There’s a little twitch by your eye. You’re lying.”
“No,” she said softly. “No, just let me leave. Please.”
He sat up abruptly. She felt exposed, insecure. Why was all this happening at once? Why had she been so foolish as to come to his room?
“You’re running from something, probably the station guards,” he said shortly. “Tell me what your problem is. Maybe I can help you.”
“You’re wrong.”
“If you have nothing to hide, you won’t mind me calling the station guards. Computer, open a connection—”
“No,” she whispered. “Don’t call them. Please.”
“Tell me.”
“I saw something,” she whispered, defeated. “I saw one of them commit a crime. Justice is for sale here, you said it yourself. They’ll kill me if they find me.”
“The guards?”
She nodded quickly, hoping desperately that he would have the decency not to turn her in.
He smiled broadly.
“I take it they know where you live,” he said slowly. “That you came here as a last resort?”
She didn’t reply. He was right, of course, but she’d be damned if she’d admit it openly.
“You need to get off the station.”
She nodded.
“And you don’t have any money? Or not much.”
She stayed still, once again unwilling to confirm how desperate her situation really was. Something about saying it out loud would make it too real.
“I can take you off-station,” he said slowly, his smile growing broader. “But I won’t do it for free. Can you pay me?”
“No,” she said shortly, suddenly beyond lying. She needed to get off-station, and he was her best bet. “I don’t have any money. I came here because I was hoping to find some.”
“That’s a real shame,” he said. She was starting to hate that smile of his. He was enjoying her pain, there could be no doubt. Bastard. “Because I won’t take you off the station unless you can think of a way to pay me.”
Silence fell between them.
“I don’t suppose you need a crew member?” she asked hopefully. He actually laughed at her then, and shook his head.
“You know what I want. Of course, I understand you aren’t for sale.”
She felt a slow rage start to burn within her. The bastard had no morals at all.
“You want me to have sex with you.”
“More than once,” he said lightly. He leaned forward, and his face grew intense. “In fact, I want to f*ck you. I want to f*ck you long and hard, and I want to keep doing it until you start screaming at me from need. I want to lick you and bite you all over your body, and push inside you long and slow. Later I want to take you fast, ram into you and fill you with my seed. And I want you to love every minute of it and beg me for more.”
She gazed at him, mesmerized and horrified at the same time. He actually licked his lips as he stopped speaking.
“What if I won’t do it?” she asked softly.
“Well, then,” he said. “I’ll just have to call the guards and let you work things out with them yourself.”
“You wouldn’t,” she whispered, but she knew he would. She could see from his face that he was dead serious. He had no softness, no mercy. Only lust. She closed her own eyes, trying to escape from that terrible, hungry gaze.
A scene from a vid she had watched as a teener popped into her head.
“When I was a kid, my friends and I went to see a show,” she said slowly. “The heroine, a beautiful Imperial princess, was being held captive by a pirate. He forced her to choose between her life and her virtue. That princess chose to die rather than allow her touch. My friends thought it was very romantic.”
“Your friends sound stupid,” he said abruptly. She could hear him walk across the room.
“That’s what I thought,” she replied, opening her eyes again. He was sitting on the small couch across from the bed. She looked at him closely, taking in his cold, hard face, the black leather breeches, and the spacer’s belt with the blaster hanging off it casually. “I guess I’m for sale after all.”
“It’s a good price,” he said softly. “You won’t regret the transaction.”
She nodded, knowing he was right. She wanted to live, dammit. “Now what?”
“We seal the deal, of course,” he said.
“Let me guess, with a kiss?”
“Hell, no,” he said. “Kisses are for princesses. We’ll seal this deal with a f*ck.”