Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
EDDIE
“Someone once told me that we were all born under fortunate stars. That no matter what we could find some joy in life.”
Jett looked at Eddie, sadness and amusement evident in the way that his eye flashed.
“Do you believe all that shit? What good can come from the Stars of Violence and Solitude?”
Jett scoffed but curled closer, one scarred arm crossing Eddie’s chest.
Eddie turned over and wrapped Jett in his arms, tangled their legs in the sheets, and pressed soft kisses to his lover’s lips and cheeks.
“Can you think of nothing good to come from those?” he asked as he kissed lower, across Jett’s neck to his throat and down to his collarbone. “Nothing at all?”
Jett pulled Eddie up and met his mouth with a ferocity, a hunger that had grown over the months they’d been together, as they stole moments like this just for each other.
“I know,” Eddie whispered between kisses. “Mmm…I know I feel fortunate now.”
Eddie slid back, away from the gentle press, hands framing Jett’s face. He brushed dark hair back over his shaved scalp, and let his hand linger over the fine texture there. He marveled that the most beautiful man in the System was in his bed.
“What makes you feel so fortunate, Edward Stone?” One arm wrapped around Eddie’s lower back and pulled him back down.
“You do, Jett Valla. You and all that you’ve brought into my life…” He trailed off, stared into Jett’s eyes. “You are my fortunate star, Jett. And I will follow you wherever you go.”
They tangled together, each caught up in the pleasure offered by the other. Caught up in hands, on hips, pressed between their lips. And when they were sated once more, Eddie felt overflowing emotions in his chest.
“Stay with me, Jett. Here on the Neo-Tokyo, here in these rooms.”
Sleepy though he seemed, Jett’s eye burned golden in the dark.
“I think you’re right, Ed. You are the star I orbit around.” They kissed again. “I’d be lost without you.”
Eddie smiled, one he felt with his soul. “I love you, Jett.”
For the first time in his life, Eddie was in love. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t worked out all the bumps, or shared all the secrets and traumas they both hid. They would get to that one day.
“I love you, too, Ed.” Tears slipped down one cheek to curve into Jett’s plump lips. “I’ve loved you for months now.”
Eddie kissed the salt from Jett. “I’m sorry it took me so long, Little Rose.”
There was an absence in Eddie’s chest, an aching hollow newly formed, a Void where Jett once lingered.
Slumped over Jett’s pale, blood-stained form, he felt the man’s chest heave and then go still. Pain shattered Eddie as the bond broke, and he cried out, a wordless bellowing scream.
“I love you, Jett Valla.” Eddie whispered the tear-choked words as his hands pulled on the hatches securing Jett’s helmet to his suit. His vision lurched as the ship rocked beneath them, sending others barreling into the walls.
“Jett!” he yelled, hands wiping blood from Jett’s cheeks, reaching up to feel for the pulse in his neck. But it, like his chest, was still.
Jett was dead.
“Sir, we need to take him to the infirmary now.”
Sorrow pulled Eddie under to a place of dark loneliness where the shredded ends of the bond hung loose. The distance between them was now on the cosmic scale, and his sorrow was Jett’s dirge.
Eddie rose, all hope for any future lost, and followed the medics carrying the heart that beat within his chest away.
Ra’ana and Captain Ro-nold were waiting in the hangar when the Shibuya returned. Eddie watched as medics ran, wheeling Jett’s body on a gurney before them. He was too numb to question where they were going.
“Edward.” Augustus said as Eddie approached. His eyes narrowed, concern spreading across his wide face. “What happened?”
“Sir,” Eddie responded. There were few words left in him after the day he’d had.
“When you are ready, begin your report. Just the high level information.”
Eddie continued to stare as he spoke. “The Golden Lion is gone. It was in meltdown when we arrived: the engines were sabotaged and life support dangerously low.
“The crew were either dead or missing. Only a few lifeboats launched before we arrived, heading for Caelus Station. The remaining ones are heading for the Neo-Tokyo as we speak.
“We had a handful of injuries and…casualties.”
“How many did we lose?” Ra’ana’s voice was business-like.
“Three. Jade Hash and Larry Fall were killed and their bodies left behind.” Eddie sighed. “Jett Valla is also dead.”
Silence fell, deeper than the Void was dark. Eddie didn’t want to look up, didn’t want to see the realization and pity in Augustus’s face, or the lack of sympathy on Ra’ana’s.
Augustus patted Eddie’s shoulder and pulled him into a hug, a rare display of affection. “I’m so sorry, Edward. I can’t imagine how you are feeling right now.”
Eddie knew he couldn’t express his pain or loss right now. It would hit him later, at the least convenient time. “Thank you, Augustus.”
“I’ll contact the Board so that we have someone to hear your debrief when it is time.”
Eddie’s tab dinged with an urgent call from medical.
“Yes,” he answered, ignoring the pinched look on Ra’ana’s face.
“Captain Stone? I need you to report to Medical right now.”
Eddie turned away from Ra’ana and Augustus, and quick as he could, left the hangar.
Eddie met a member of the Medical staff at the entrance to the critical care ward who launched themselves down the hall without a greeting.
“Has something changed?” Eddie was numb, wondering why they would call him down here.
He followed the medic to a room filled with beeping, whirring machinery, that smelled of astringent cleaning solutions and an undertone of iron and flesh.
The thought almost made Eddie lose what composure remained to him. Jett would never be merely meat; he would always and forever be the warm, loving man that Eddie loved. Even when his ashes fed the stars, he would remain in Eddie’s heart.
Eddie stepped up to the gurney where Jett’s body was laid out. All the tawny warmth to his skin was gone, replaced by blood-stained white. Gauze peeked out from under bandages wrapped around his hips and abdomen, and Eddie wondered what they were for. Didn’t blood stop flowing when you were dead?
The machines around the room were hooked up to Jett. Saline dripped into his arm, monitor disks stuck to his chest and arms, an oxygen mask covered Jett’s face.
“Why is he hooked up?” The words were out of his mouth almost as soon as Eddie saw the gentle rise and fall of Jett’s chest. He slipped around the medic and stepped up beside the bed where Jett breathed and his heartbeat pinged on a nearby screen.
Jett was alive.
“He’s alive.” Eddie whispered the words, as if saying them louder would cause the opposite to be true. He’d felt Jett’s body, cold and pale, with blue lips and unfocused eyes, as he heaved his last breath and died.
“He was resuscitated on the Shibuya and transferred here for emergency surgery. He’d lost a lot of blood and the glass shredded his intestines, so we had to stitch the intact sections back together.”
“Why wasn’t I told?”
The medic shrugged. “I was not aboard the Shibuya so I cannot answer that question.”
Eddie looked between Jett and the medic. “He’ll be okay?”
“He’s still in critical condition, and in a coma. It could be days or weeks before he regains consciousness…” They trailed off. “If he wakes up at all.”
Eddie nodded. He hadn’t even processed Jett’s death, and now there was a chance that he could still be a part of his life. Eddie brushed a lock of hair back from his brow The chill from before was warmer now and his chest continued to rise and fall and Jett was alive.
Jett was alive.
Eddie reached back into that deep part of his being, where the bond to Jett lived, and found the frayed edges reattached. It was a tenuous hold, barely there, but it existed once more.
Eddie took Jett’s pale hand in his own, started talking to Jett, and dared to hope.