Free Solar Storm by Mina Carter Page B

hands of some asshole pirates.  
    The corridor was empty. Two rooms down, a door was open and light streamed into the hallway. More muttering and the sound of things hitting the floor issued from inside. Kel shook his head and moved up to the side of the doorway.  
    The pirate was in the back of the room, to the right. Kel’s fingertip stroked the safety catch as he stepped into the doorway. “Hey, fucktard. Didn’t your mama ever teach you stealing isn’t nice?”

Chapter Eight
    The pfft-pfft of energy bolts shattered the silence in the narrow corridor. Nerys jumped at the sound and bit her lip to stop herself crying out or doing something equally stupid, like dropping her gun. Despite her bravado in front of Kelwin earlier, she’d only ever had to use her weapon once before.  
    She worried her lip with her teeth. The darkness surrounded her in its comfortable cocoon of heat and dampness. She’d told him pirates were a problem. They were, but not on Icaria. Even the pirates were more sensible than to pull a heist on the most dangerous route in existence. It wasn’t a random attack, though. As soon as Kel had said “client”, she’d known.  
    Her father had found her.  
    Kelwin appeared at the corner, urging her on. Without a word, she pushed off and followed him. They didn’t speak; there was no need for words. Violence and death hung in the air like an expensive perfume. She turned the corner. Ahead, the light from an open door splashed across the darkened corridor in an oasis of color. Kel walked on ahead, his shoulders creeping up as he passed the door. Tension radiated from every line of his body as he turned to look at her. His expression was grim, the expression in his eyes resigned as he waited.  
    Unsure, she paused opposite the doorway. Why had he stopped?
    “Take a good look, Rhys. This is the kind of man I am.” His voice was soft but tinged with sadness. “When this is done, I’d like to see you again…see where this thing between us goes. But I can’t do that unless you see who I am. What I am.”
    He wanted more than a one-night stand. For a second, she focused just on that point, her heart leaping in joy. The fact that he found her interesting enough, pretty enough, the fact that he wanted to be with her when most of her own family had ditched her at the first sign of trouble with her father… Warmth spread out from the center of her chest, a fuzzy feeling she instantly clamped down on. She didn’t believe in love. Did she?
    Curiosity won out. She glanced sideways. A quick look. Death looked back in the form of the guy sprawled out over the floor, a blast burn in the center of his chest. His open eyes stared sightlessly up at the ceiling. The smell of burnt flesh and leather lodged in her throat. Before tonight, she’d never seen death up close. In her father’s house, people just disappeared or “moved on”. She’d been eleven when she realized that meant permanently, and her charmed existence had become a gilded cage.
    “Oh…”
    “Breathe. It helps.”
    Taking a deep breath—and regretting it as the smell crawled into her nostrils and took up residence—she turned back toward Kel. Her gaze traced the geometrical pattern of the flooring plates. She didn’t need to keep looking at the body. The image was indelibly marked in her memory. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to look at Kelwin.
    Sadness framed his features, the expression on his face heart-wrenching. Whoever said guys didn’t wear their hearts on their sleeves didn’t know jack-shit. Kel’s heart was out there and bleeding on the deck.  
    She nodded, released the breath she was holding, then smiled at him. “Okay, that’s three down, one to go? You want to make him walk the plank, or should I?”
     
    Walk the plank indeed. Trying to contain the sappy grin that wanted to spread over his face, Kelwin led the way up to the bridge deck and the lone remaining pirate. He had to admit, as positions went, the bridge was