Dealers' Choice - Susan Hayes Page 0,14
the way she held herself and the micro-expressions she was doing her best to hide.
“It’s your choice,” Vic conceded.
“And we’ll respect it,” Ward stepped in and offered her his arm. “But that doesn’t mean we like it.”
She flashed him a tiny but genuine smile, then settled her hand on his forearm. “Noted.”
It was all he could do not to bend down and kiss her, or pull her into his arms and hold her until all the stiffness melted away.
She must have sensed it because her eyes widened and she leaned back from him a little.
Vic moved to the door, triggering it to open, then flung out one hand in an overly dramatic gesture. “Shall we?”
Xori relaxed again. “Indeed, we shall.”
They walked the short distance to the checkpoint in silence. It wasn’t the way he’d wanted this evening to end. Next time, they’d have to do better.
Chapter Four
Xori was hiding from them, and it was pissing him off.
Victor stomped through the staff-only entrance to the backrooms of the Nova Club. The thumping music and the incessant drone of the crowd cutting off as soon as the door slid shut behind him. He exhaled and let the relative quiet wash over him, trying to smooth away at least some of the tension that crackled around him since Xori had canceled their next appointment.
By text message, no less.
That had been two days ago, and she’d ignored every attempt to contact her. She had just been in the club, doing a sim-pod session with one of her other patients. He knew that because Jaeger—who by some strange twist of fate had gone from his subordinate soldier to his supervisor—had made it clear that he and Ward needed to stay in the gaming area for the past hour. That had never happened before, and there was only one reason it was happening now.
Xori didn’t want to see them.
He stalked through the corridors, heading for their quarters and a shower to wash away the lingering scent of booze and food that clung to the place no matter how well the air-scrubbers were functioning.
Ward’s shift didn’t end for a few more hours, which meant he had a little time to himself. Maybe he’d go for a walk, check in with Corp-Sec and see if that asshole Pheran had been behaving himself. They hadn’t filed a formal complaint, but he’d given his friends Mack and Dash a heads up about what happened and they’d noted it in case there were further issues. The odds of Xori crossing paths with the high-ranking jerk were low, but if it did… his hand closed into a fist and bounced off his thigh a few times before he realized what he was doing and forced himself to exhale. Getting worked up wasn’t going to solve anything.
Xori was only one of his problems. Ward was the other one. They’d talked about what he’d experienced, the sudden transition from anger to calm, the momentary sense of utter peace. And every time they spoke of it, his brother’s voice held a note of longing he’d never heard before. It worried him.
They both believed Xori was involved. She had to be, but neither of them understood how she’d done it, draining Ward’s fury before he could do something there’d be no coming back from. She’d saved him from himself. But if she could do that, then why hadn’t she done it before? Why were they struggling to heal themselves when she could have fixed them months ago? He had too many questions, and the only one with the answers was hiding from them.
He turned and started back down the drab corridor he’d just come from, his boots ringing on the dented floor as he picked up the pace. At some point in the last few seconds, he’d made a decision. She might not want to speak with them, yet, but he needed to talk to her. They’d been on the brink of something special the other night. He wanted to pursue that and get the answers he and Ward needed. It didn’t matter if she wasn’t ready to face them. Her time was up.
Xori made the walk back to her office faster than usual, ignoring the occasional twinge from her still-healing knee. Since the incident with the Pheran male, her anxiety kicked up every time she ventured into the station. She felt vulnerable in a way she hadn’t in years, and she hated it, even if it was only temporary. Her fear, like the bruise on