Handsome Devil by Gael Romer

Author:Gael Romer [Gael Romer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rocket Dame Publishing
Published: 2024-07-29T00:00:00+00:00

It wasn’t until the platform vanished from sight completely that they breathed easy again. Sonia passed out from exhaustion, curled in a little ball on her side of the cart, her hair in disarray. Haez stayed alert and watched her, one hand hovering slightly in case she woke suddenly and panicked herself overboard. It wouldn’t have surprised him if she had nightmares—if not about the litto, then about the previous events of the day.

He couldn’t understand what had happened at the casino. He had worried about his inability to stop when he needed to, but it was the clearest and most controlled he had ever felt while gambling. And he knew the reason was Sonia—focusing on her presence quieted the part of his mind that said more, more, more, and left behind her, her, her. Stopping wasn’t an issue; even when he was taken to the private game, being able to watch her through the gap in the guards was all he needed to stay in control of himself.

Until that yreet. Seeing his hand on her thigh made Haez’s blood boil, even with her redirecting the touch. He could have gone longer, and the sharks at the table had been griping as he’d started to gather his winnings. But his mind was clear. It was time to stop for both of them. They would find a lead on a transport another way—one that wouldn’t have strangers pawing at Sonia.

The last thing he remembered was looking up again to see Sonia’s heels squeaking uselessly against the polished floor, dragged by the slimeball who was already tenting his pants. The next second, he was covered in blood and looking in her horror-stricken face. She had looked so scared.

Of you, he thought. Thinking about how he might be the fresh subject of her nightmares made his heart clench. And now, she was truly trapped with him until they escaped or died. He was disgusted with himself for feeling a dark curl of pleasure at the thought. It didn’t matter how nice she smelled or how infuriatingly cute her smile was or how her hassling felt like home. He didn’t deserve her presence. And she didn’t deserve any of this.

After his outburst, she would probably want to board whatever transport was going far, far away from him. He wouldn’t blame her, but that didn’t stop the thought from making him desperately sad. As quietly as he could, he dug a cloth out of his pack and scrubbed the remains of the yellow makeup off his face, along with the lingering splatters of blood. He could only hope that if he changed back to his regular clothes and regular face, it would help him look less like a nightmare when she woke up.

If he was very lucky, maybe he would still look like a friend.

As they descended into the city, the towers became more crowded-together as shorter towers joined the others and narrowed the spaces between them even more. The spokes projecting from each tower dwindled to scrape back a little more space for narrow glider openings in each layer.

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