gaze tracing the long length of her legs. Kal was filled with the sudden urge to punch his brother in the face.
He rolled his shoulders and forced himself to lean back in his chair and act as if he were enjoying the show. And it wasn’t much of an act. The woman wasn’t really dancing, more sensually undulating to a rhythm far different from the music filling the room. He caught his breath when her hair slid to the side, exposing one perfectly shaped plump breast for a split second before her hair covered it again.
Kal’s dick sprang to life, and he shifted to get more comfortable. No doubt about it, she was beautiful. There was something almost … innocent about her. Yeah, that was it. Impossible considering where she was. No one aboard this floating pleasure barge was innocent. Even if they started out that way, it didn’t last for long.
He fought to bring his body under control, feeling like a jerk for getting aroused. He knew a good percentage of the women here had been bought from slavers. His fingers tightened into fists. There was nothing he hated more than slavers. Those low-life bastards all deserved to be shot out into deep space without a protective suit.
If he could, he’d rescue all the women here. That just wasn’t possible, but he could rescue one. He let his eyes drift over her right arm. The tattoo on the woman was an unusual one, a stylized pattern of flowers that covered her left shoulder and ran all the way down her arm to her hand. There was no missing it. At the very bottom, a thorny vine wrapped around her wrist. Exactly as Digger had described.
“So how are we doing this?” Garth asked.
Kal rubbed a hand across his scruffy chin. He hadn’t bothered shaving in a few days, and it added to his disreputable appearance. The jagged scar on his left cheek didn’t hurt either. Both he and his brother were wearing the drab shirt and pants that labeled them as laborers from the planet below. But beneath them, both of them wore battlesuits, body armor that was practically indestructible while being totally lightweight. That kind of protection didn’t come cheap, but all the brothers owned a suit.
“You create a diversion, and I’ll get the girl. As soon as I’ve got her, we make a run for the ship.” It wasn’t much of a plan, but Kal and his brother had worked with worse.
Garth stood and hitched up his pants. At six-one, he was the shortest of the brothers, but he was the widest, and not because there was an ounce of fat on him anywhere. No, Garth was built like a bull, thick and muscular, and always ready for a fight.
“One diversion coming up.” He swiped up his drink and weaved his way toward a table filled with miners. They were a rough and rowdy lot and were known not to tolerate outsiders.
Kal shook his head. His brother was crazy. But then again, the same could be said about all of them. Garth pretended to be drunk when Kal knew he hadn’t so much as taken a sip of his drink. Neither of them had. No telling what was in the rotgut they served aboard this ship.
Garth was almost on top of the men now. “Harcon, old buddy. Haven’t seen you for a while.” He held his arms wide open as if he were going to hug one of them men.
“Piss off,” the man growled. “You got the wrong guy.”
Kal stood and slowly began to meander toward the cage containing the woman they needed to talk with. He didn’t hear the next thing the miner said to his brother, but he heard Garth’s reply.
“No need to be so unfriendly.” Garth waved his arms wide and spilled his drink over two of the other men seated at the table. “Whoops. Sorry about that.”
Kal bit his bottom lip to keep from smiling. Garth was enjoying himself just a little too much. Kal was right next to the cage when one of the miners slammed his fist into Garth’s jaw. Kal winced and not for his brother. It was well known that Garth’s jaw was as hard as granite. The blow didn’t even knock his brother back an inch. Instead Garth shook his head, roared his displeasure, and rammed his fist into the miner’s gut. The man dropped like a stone, and the fight was on.