Chapter 18 #2
I hand the comm over to Isha and Kolos, letting them review the details so I don't have to go into too much detail explaining why Skia is taking the job.
The job requires intelligence gathering, and since Skia is the only one who has worked with these people before and is the only one I trust to be serious and not make rash decisions, it'll go to him once he's done with the human trial happening here on Earth.
"Reese, you're not going to be bad for business," I tell her, cupping her face and keeping her from looking away. She places a hand over mine, and my gaze snags on the middle finger where it's lost its hot pink nail.
"What happened?" I ask, flipping my hand to take hers into mine and bringing attention to the nail.
"Oh, I chewed it off," she tells me, her lips pressing together while she looks at the offending finger.
"Do you still have the fake nail?" I ask.
She gives me a confused look before pulling it out of her pocket. "I'm going to glue it back on when we get back up to the ship."
"I got it," I tell her, pulling out the little kit of supplies I've been carrying around with me since Mauve gave it to me the day of the photoshoot.
I didn't even question the gift. It's not the first time I've done something like this.
I turn to face Reese as best as I can in the seat and rest her hand on my thigh while I get everything out.
"You just have that?" she asks me, a little confused, but also grateful.
"I just have this," I tell her, keeping her eyes for a moment, hoping to convey to her that I'm in this. With or without the bond, I want to be it for her. "Now, let me get your nail back on while I tell you why you're not going to ruin my business."
She looks like she wants to argue, but I pick her hand back up and begin to file away the old glue on her nail.
"We've been doing this for seven years. We're good at our jobs. Some say we're the best, and that's not going to change because I've found my soulbond. If anyone thinks it's an issue, then we aren't the right company for them."
I put the file back into the kit and pull out an alcohol swab.
"Sombrans take on soulbonds, and we share everything with them.
It's something all of our clients are made aware of before they hire us and during the onboarding documentation.
You signed a document that said if I were to find my soulbond during my time working for you, you understood the risk of your information being shared, in its entirety, with another unnamed entity. "
Next is the glue, which I dab lightly on the fake nail before pressing it back onto Reese's fingernail. I hold her finger between mine as it sets.
"You're not an unnamed entity any longer, you're Reese.
And as much as I'd like to say it makes you mine, it undoubtedly means that I am yours.
Whether or not our relationship ever progresses to a full bonding or not, I'm yours.
Anyone who has an issue with that is someone we don't want to work with. "
I release her hand, letting her check to make sure the nail looks good, but she doesn't even do that before wrapping her fingers around the back of my neck and pulling me in close so her lips can brush against mine.
"You should read my contract sometime," Kolos says, breaking up the moment Reese and I are attempting to have.
Getting to the port can't come soon enough.
"My entity isn't unnamed, and trust me when I tell you that if our clients don't mind the heiress to one of the biggest weapons manufacturers on Earth, they won't care about a pop star who dresses a little provocatively.”
I glance over at Isha, who has her eyes lifted up from the comm just enough to catch my eyes.
Kolos bringing up Skye twice in one day is unheard of.
Even getting him to say her name is always iffy.
I know all about her because he had to let me into his mind before I hired him, but she's always been a sore subject for him.
"Huh," Reese says as if Kolos isn't acting profoundly unlike himself. "I guess that's a pretty good point."
"Docking in five minutes," Marr calls from the front of the transport.
"Skia's getting this job?" Isha asks, and I can already hear how unhappy she is with the decision. She doesn't like it when any of us takes dangerous jobs.
"Someone's got to do it, and Skia's worked with them before," I tell her, motioning for my comm back. "I'll talk to him about it, though. If he doesn't think it's a good idea, Kolos is next in line, and then me."
"Why not, Isha?" Reese asks, her brows pulling together. Isha snorts, the only indication she's listening in on Reese's thoughts.
"They're more likely to try to figure out a way to smuggle me too if I were to show up," Isha says.
I cut in, not wanting Reese to think our line of work is as dangerous as Isha is making it out to be.
"Skia is going to appear at a gala of sorts, where there could potentially be others there who don't wish to be.
If there are, he alerts the Intergalactic Alliance, and they handle the rest of it.
Isha, being female and not knowing anyone at the gala, will be seen as more suspicious. "
"But none of you are attracted to anyone, or well, you know what I mean," Reese says, her cheeks flaming as she thinks she made some kind of faux pas in mentioning it.
Kolos merely smiles and leans back in his chair, not caring to remind her that he definitely feels attraction now.
Though to what extent, I couldn't tell anyone.
I know when I think about anyone other than Reese, I don't feel the same things I do when I see her.
Even when I've seen other beautiful women, they don't stir in me the same things Reese does.
Kolos has been without his soulbond for a lot longer, though.
Maybe our bodies adapt, and our desire for just one person lessens if that person isn't around.
"We're not, and anyone with half a brain knows that," Isha says, her features tight as she speaks.
"But there are plenty of others who think we're exaggerating or that, since they feel a certain way, everyone feels that way as well.
I don't know what Skia does to make them think he's one of them, but he's done it.
It's been convincing considering he remains in contact with a few of them for the Intergalactic Alliance. "
"He's probably the one who told the IA about this gala," I tell Reese. "The only reason they sent the job to me is so it can go through the proper channels for us getting paid. If they could work directly with him, they would."
"But why would you be third in line to go?" Reese asks, her mood shifting into something that's making me feel like I might be wading into dangerous territory.
"Because I'm male?" I say, the answer comes out as more of a question.
"And what would happen to me?" she asks.
Now I'm truly confused. "You'd be on the ship with whoever else isn't working. There's always someone."
I pause, swallowing hard because what if she didn't realize this would be her life if she chose me?
"Reese." I grab her hand and hold it close to me, not caring that Isha and Kolos are now purposefully looking away. Her thoughts must be on a whole new level of disaster if they're not even looking at us. "I'll have to be away from you sometimes. It's not ideal, but this is my job."
"What?" she asks. This time, she's the one looking confused. "I know that. I don't want to go on your jobs with you. If you said I was going to have to go deal with smugglers and bad guys, well, that wouldn't be ideal."
"If I have it my way, you're never going to be close to danger ever again," I tell her, "Plus, we don't take untrained personnel into the field.
That's a good way for us to get hurt and put them in danger.
It would be absolutely reckless if someone were to accompany any of us on one of the undercover missions. "
"Docking," Marr calls out from the front of the transport. The vehicle pulls to a stop, and we all begin to release ourselves from the safety belts and gather our things.
I grab Reese's hand as we exit the transport, my shadows already wrapped around her. She turns to look up at me, a smile in her eyes. "Thanks for making me feel better."
"Of course," I say, leaning down to kiss the top of her head.
"I'm so curious how you learned to do nails, though," she says, a giggle in her voice.
"Is it really a surprise that I would know how to do them? You've met my mother," I tell her, looping my arm over her shoulder. "You have to know she taught us how to do her nails when we were children, right? That woman hasn't paid for a manicure since she found my father."
"Lucky woman," Reese murmurs.
I cock my head to the side, "And what about you? Do you feel lucky?"
She nuzzles in closer to me, her hand resting on my abdomen. "The luckiest."