Vin's Rules (Outer Settlement Agency) (7 page)

There were other sounds too.

The kinds best suited for private bedrooms. She’d seen two penises too many and enough boobs to last a lifetime. “I think you’ve made your point, Vin. You’re drunk, they’ve seen it. Let’s go.”

“Ishonhur.”

“What?”

“I can... concur.” His head slammed into his plate and stayed there. “Help.”

Any other time this would have been hilarious, but she had a billion and one reasons to be angry and a little nervous too. Roughly grabbing his cheeks, she rotated his head and slapped him. “Get up.”

“Gimme a minute.”

“You’ve had hours. The mood’s changing in here, and I don’t want to be around for anymore. I’m not saying I’m scared but—”

He jumped, kicking away the chair with such force that she howled, much to the delight of the room. As far as anyone saw, here was a man dragging his woman off for whatever he wanted. She frowned and twisted her free hand to add to the scene.

A scene that was terrifyingly devoured. Some men cheered. Most clapped. Others looked downright envious. Yet, Mama and Graham had a sudden alertness to them, and both shot her devious, dark grins.

Bastards.

Fear
. That was what this chest quaking feeling was—the natural, ingrained kind that sensed imminent threat. She held her breath and kept her head down until they reached the hallway.

The door of the dining room slammed shut, sealing off the evil behind them. Vin slumped against the wall. “My legs are goo, and I can’t see.”

“Literally?”

“Figuratively-ish. Everything’s spinning. Including you. And there are two of you, by the way.”

“Vin!”

“Both are pissed. Both are hot. With hair that I just wanna grab in my hands while you...” He dragged his palms down his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. “This sucks. Never drinking again.” He winked and smoothed his shirt. “Sorry. I still look good, right?”

And just like that, her Vin was back.

Together they ambled down the hallways to their unlocked... and unlockable... room.

That fourth round of alcohol must have hit him along the way. Vin stumbled, rolling onto the bed, and he had several false tries of toeing off a boot. She took a knee to help him with the other.

A shaky finger waved in front of her face. “Regulations.”

“Stop.”

“I, uh, can’t get my pants off either.”

“You don’t need to.”

Vin, the drunkest dramatist on any planet or moon, threw his hands above his head and crashed back down again. “You’re mean. You were mean before too. That’s okay. I like my women strong. When this is over...”

She kissed him to shut him up.

Or maybe because she wanted to. If he brought it up tomorrow, she’d tell him it was a fragment of his liquor-induced imagination. It should have been a light peck, but Vin returned her kiss with unexpected strength. His arms tightened around her and his tongue demanded entry into her mouth.

She gave it.

Not that anything happened.

Because not one split instant later, Vin fell back, mouth open and drooling on the pillow. She cupped his almost angelic face and wiped some of the fried fat off his cheek. When the snoring started, she kicked off her own shoes and paced around the floor.

Every so often, she’d glance at Vin. Still out cold.

Mostly.

Whoever said that liquor hurt a man’s ability to perform hadn’t met Vin Dhoma. A very impressive bulge had changed the shape of his trousers. She grabbed a blanket from the table to drape over him, fighting the urge to take a peek.

The room’s one window was barred, even though it was too small for the slenderest of persons to escape through. She sat on the table for a while to look on the street below, resting her head on the cool wall. Drunken Tans walked the streets, laughingly pushed in the right direction by their sober comrades on duty.

One of them shouted and pointed to the sky. Allie gave her hidden weapon a reassuring pat as she repositioned herself for a better view.

She caught it just in time to see something fizzle and spark above in a light so blinding that she shielded her eyes.

Whatever had just happened didn’t faze the men. They high-fived one another and went about their patrol up and down the street.

That meant one thing - an electrical security net. So
that
was how they kept the creatures out of town. What had Mike said? That people could come and go as they pleased?

Of course they could. They’d have a few hours of freedom before nightfall when mutated freaks of nature did Graham’s handiwork.

She bent, straining to look upward, but didn’t see any gooey remains. Maybe they didn’t shock to kill them, just to deter them. Good to know.

It would have also been good to have someone to discuss this with. One look over at the felled giant confirmed that said discussion would be delayed.

She’d read Vin his rights first thing in the morning. For now, she secured the door with the table and for the pleasure of anyone watching, slid into bed and curled up next to Vin.

V
in cringed against the morning sunlight and ran to the sink for the fifth time. He hated life. Hated liquor. Hated everything.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, Vin Dhoma.”

And temporarily hated her.

“I’m dying, Allie. Can it wait?”

“And whose fault is that?”

“Seriously? The crazy guy’s.”

“Yours.”

He braced himself against the metallic edge of the sink and waited for the world to stop flipping around. Had this been any sort of real quadrant, he could have dragged himself into a cleansing unit, waited a few moments, and walked out not reeking of sweat and vomit. “I need a tab for my mouth.”

“Doubtful they’d have them.”

He turned some knobs until water came out and rinsed his mouth as best he could. “I don’t want to be a diva, but—”

“Next time we talk things out before you rush into something stupid.”

“My stomach is rioting.”

“We’re in this together. We discuss and plan and—”

He slid down the wall, cupping his head in his hands. “My liver is giving up on life.”

“Do you think that because I’m a woman I can’t protect myself? News flash, I’m tough. I’m smart. I’m OSA. I’m not saying it wasn’t a good idea, or that it was. Who knows one way or the other? I don’t, because you couldn’t be bothered to talk to me.”

“Allie—”

“You’re almost as misogynistic as they are. So paranoid that...well... that I’ll...that some man...you know.”

“Say it. Get raped?”

She slapped him, but he didn’t move, and his eyes never left hers.

So she slapped him again.

“Say it, Allie. The word. Rape. Too hard for you? Too ugly a word?”

“How dare you?”

“Because it happened to me.” He rose then, unblinking, solid and unshaking. “A long time ago, when I was a new recruit. He was my commanding officer. Get gender out of your head, Allie. It’s not about what’s between the legs of the survivors or the attackers. It’s not about sex or...fuck.”

“Vin, I’m sorry and—”

He wiped his face, pathetically gone wet, then shoved a finger in her chest. “There’s a whole bunch of power play crap going on around here. It breeds that shit.”

“I didn’t know.”

Vin’s hand dropped and he let out a deep breath. He tried to force a smile, but knew he hadn’t come close. “I know it pisses you off sometimes, but it took years and lots of work to get my smile back. I didn’t have a chance to fight, Allie. Last night, I couldn’t get us out of there. They wanted us drunk...there was no way around it. I needed you to have a chance in case...”

“In case I had to fight.”

“No one knows, Allie. Not even my brother. I prefer it stay that way.”

“Of course. Can I hug you? I mean... is that even okay to ask?”

“I’m not glass, Allie. It didn’t break me. I don’t need to be coddled.”

“I know that. Maybe I just want to hug you for caring about what happened to me.”

He chuckled, hoarse and low even to his own ears. “I dry humped you once, so I guess.”

She walked the few steps over, slow and measured. A source of strength and warmth, something true in this disgusting place.

Then for the first time in many years, he cried in front of a woman. It wasn’t sexy or alpha or anything he’d ever dreamed of doing in his life. Only a small group of other survivors of their attacker ever saw him like this.

Belatedly, it occurred to him that they might still be watched, but today he and Allie would make a move one way or the other, and he needed her to know what was on the table. She’d have to fight and never stop fighting.

Her hands patted up and down his back, but he didn’t feel small in anyway. Just secure. Safe. Everything he’d worked so hard to make sure she felt. His chin rested on top of her head and she turned a little.

“What about... I mean, it’s not my place, but was he prosecuted?”

“My commanding officer? You’re right, not your place to ask,” he said but softened it with a reassuring squeeze. “But he died a few years ago - knife in the skull.”

She didn’t ask any more questions, and for that, he was grateful. As grateful as he had been for a knife that day and a group of angry young men desperate to make sure the bastard never attacked anyone else.

That same flame of vengeance lit anew.

“Allie?”

“Yes?”

“I think it’s time we take a walk.”

H
ow was it that someone else’s horror caused doubt within herself?

As Allie straightened her dress and walked outside with Vin, the idiotic thought occurred to her that she didn’t know him. The more quiet, yet supremely rational side reminded her that she’d never bothered to learn.

For the first week she’d known him, she’d followed him around the base, omnitablet in hand, looking for ways to lay marks against his personnel record.

Now what would she say? That the man was a quiet hero, hidden below a gallivanting, smiling mask?

She wove her arm through his, too ashamed to look up as her feet shuffled along the wooden sidewalk. Maybe it wasn’t a mask but just him, and as it turned out,
just him
wasn’t so bad after all.

Just him
was not only working out how to save their butts but had been both smart and generous enough to use her in the process. He didn’t have to. A lesser person of his speed and skill could have snuck out and made a run for it alone.

Or worse.

She didn’t give credit for being decent. Everyone had an obligation for that. But Vin had been kind in a situation in which cowardice, cruelty, and self-preservation could be forgiven.

“You hold my hand any tighter Inspector Ert’zod, and I’m going to start thinking that you care.”

“Against all better judgment, I think I do.”

Vin sighed and slowed to a shuffle. His bright smile shone down on her in sadness. “That’s why I don’t tell people. It’s not the shame—I didn’t do anything to be ashamed of. It’s the pity.”

“It’s not that. If I pitied you, I wouldn’t be cataloging all the billion and a half infractions you’ve racked up since we met.”

“Fuck,” he said with a laugh. “Fuckity, fuck, fuck.”

“However...”

“Yes?”

“There’s not a single man I’d rather be here with.”

Vin brought her hand up to his lips. “Yeah, weird, ain’t it?  There’s no other woman I’d rather be here with. Except for one with a very big rocket and lots and lots of guns. I might rather have such a woman here, but...” He shrugged and looked back to the street. “Whaddya gonna do?”

She tapped her forehead. “Brains beats guns, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive.”

Vin’s blond, bushy eyebrows drew close in a deep V. “Go on. ‘Cause if you’ve got guns, we don’t have a problem.”

“Not yet, except there’s kinda a massive one right above us.”

Vin’s veiny, muscled neck snapped up and his eyes scanned the skies. “Where?”

“Everywhere.”

He let her go and moved a few steps up then back. “The light’s glinting off something.”

“Sure is. I’d have never noticed if I weren’t by the window last night. It’s electrical netting.”

“The thing’s damned near invisible.”

“Yep.”

The smile on his face warmed her heart.

No. That wasn’t right.

Allie amended the thought to his smile filling her with hope. That was much safer. She ignored the twinkle in his eyes too.

Or at least put up a good effort of trying.

“So what you’re saying is that my plan last night helped us? Basically, me being drunk saved our lives. I mean, if you hadn’t been sober and I hadn’t been wasted, you’ve have never seen it.” He bent until they were eye level and snapped his teeth like an eager puppy. “Say it.”

“Say what?”

“The one thing that can make this day better.”

“We’re being rescued?”

“Okay, the second best thing.”

“Fine. You were right.”

“Hah!” The fool clapped and fist-pumped the air, drawing looks of surprise and a few smirks from people on the street.  That was the other bizarre thing.

People were friendlier today, at least to him.

And at least the men. With the way he’d dragged her out of there, they must have seen him as one of their own.

Last night changed things in many ways, she supposed and all for the better. “Finished gloating?”

He patted his stomach. “Yep. Things still aren’t so settled on the home front anyway. So we have an electrical net. If we can find the control panel—”

“We don’t need to. It shocks, and just like anything electrical, it needs to complete a circuit to do its duty. All wires eventually lead to a charger and grounding unit.”

Vin pulled her close as they passed a group of Tans. “We destroy that—”

“Or break the connection and the netting goes.”

“Brilliant Allie, but how does that help us now?”

It didn’t, not directly. Still... “We threaten Graham and Mama with wrecking it.”

“That puts innocent people in danger. Can’t do it without a damned good reason. Plus, we’d have to be separated. One with the target and one talking to Graham and... look, I ain’t calling her Mama. Anyway, we’re not splitting up. That’s what they want.”