Chapter 5
Lacey plopped down on Cole’s hand-crafted chaise lounge, which sat on the far edge of his deck, overlooking part of Kaldarak and the jungle beyond.
The frame was sturdy, the wood smooth, and the thick cushion, stuffed with fluffed silk, was extraordinarily soft.
It even had an attached head cushion. Overhead, a tall umbrella made of large, thick leaves provided shade from the bright sunshine breaking through the jungle canopy.
Reclining, she stretched her legs, crossed them at the ankles, and settled her bowl of sweetseeds on her lap. The breeze caressed the bare skin of her belly, arms, and legs with cooling mist and fluttered the long, white, slitted skirt tied around her waist.
Plucking a blue sweetseed—which resembled a pomegranate seed—from the bowl, Lacey smirked. “People back on Earth would spend a fortune to vacation in a place like this. And here I am, enjoying it for free.”
After seven days of suffering, she was finally over her period. Today, she was going to relax and enjoy doing absolutely nothing.
She tossed the seed into her mouth and chewed. It burst between her teeth, flooding her tongue with sweet juice.
Lacey looked down from her high perch as she ate.
Trees far larger and thicker than any sequoia held Kaldarak far above the ground.
Wood platforms ringed the trunks and rested on the boughs, serving as foundations to the leaf-roofed buildings.
Silk rope bridges linked it all together, running in patterns that looked just a little like a spiderweb from below.
Thornskulls of varied colors, male and female both, went about their daily routines, working, eating, playing, sunbathing, chatting. Somewhere on a lower level, someone plucked the strings of an instrument, sending melodic notes to drift through the air above the waterfall’s constant drone.
Lacey turned her gaze outward, away from Kaldarak, to look between the trees.
What else was out there? She’d only seen a teeny, tiny sliver of this world.
How much of it was jungle? Were there deserts, snowy mountains, vast oceans?
Had any thornskulls ventured far enough to see any of those sights and returned with stories of their adventures?
“Stealing my throne, I see.”
Lacey started, turning her head to see Cole grab one of the smaller wooden chairs and drag it toward her, his boots thumping upon the wooden planks. He wore a pair of dark blue shorts, leaving his tanned upper body on display. And for the first time in months, his face was clean shaven.
She grinned. “Never learned the golden rule? You move your feet, you lose your seat.”
Cole chuckled as he positioned the chair beside her and dropped onto it. He leaned back, spreading his legs wide, and rested his folded hands on his belly. “We didn’t have that rule in my house. Probably because I was home alone most of the time. I sat wherever I damn well pleased.”
“Awww, does Cole still need to learn how to share?”
He waved a hand, his blue eyes glinting with mirth. “Today I am a generous king.”
“Well, thank you, your majesty. Because I am not giving up this seat without a fight.” She wiggled, settling deeper into the cushion. “This has seriously got to be the best chair in the world.”
“I know! Comfortable as hell, right? Told you guys I know what I’m doing.”
“Unless you shoot butt silk from your ass, you can’t take all the credit.”
Cole laughed. “I’ll humbly admit the butt silk makes a huge difference, but a chair is nothing without good bones.”
“True.” Lacey tilted her head. “Got tired of the beard?”
Cole rubbed his smooth jaw. “Yeah. It was getting long enough for me to realize just how much food falls out of my mouth when I eat.”
“Gross.”
“Mmhmm. Some things are better left unknown.” He turned his head toward her and looked her up and down. “You finally feeling better?”
“Yeah. I survived.”
“Of course you did. You’re tough as fucking nails.”
Lacey hummed as she glanced down at the faint scars on the side of her calf. They were small and close together, forming a large circle that ran behind her leg, left by the sharp teeth of a muckstalker. That encounter had been only one of her many brushes with death since waking up in this world.
But she’d held on through it all, even when things had been at their bleakest. Just like she had on Earth.
Lacey held out the bowl of sweetseeds to Cole, and he scooped up a handful, popping a few into his mouth. Silence stretched between them, though it wasn’t at all unpleasant. They were simply two friends quietly enjoying nature.
Staring out at the jungle, she watched leaves sway and colorful, alien birds flit from branch to branch. She would never stop being amazed by how much her life had changed…and yet was the same.
Back on Earth, she had lived in a tiny, one-bedroom fixer-upper on a small patch of land.
She’d owned two goats and a little apiary, and had run her own business from a climate-controlled shed, selling honey, homemade bath salts, bath bombs, soaps, lips balms, lotions, incense, and teas. She’d been damn proud of it.
And what was she doing now?
Making many of the same things, except without all the stress of bills and taxes.
“What would you be doing if you were still on Earth?” Lacey asked.
“Right now? Probably either working or sleeping.”
She chuckled. “You know that’s not what I mean.”
Cole tossed a couple more seeds into his mouth, chewing contemplatively as he looked out at the trees. “Same thing I was doing before. Building shit.”
“You’re still doing that here.”
“Yeah, but I’m doing it for my own enjoyment…
and it makes everyone else’s lives happier and easier.
I call that a win-win. Back there, I was just doing as I was told.
I was up before sunrise every day, lucky to be home before sundown, busting my ass to pay my bills and keep a roof over my head.
During my free time, I’d go drinking with my buddies, work out at the gym, or bury myself in my hobbies…
basically as a way to run away from the truth of my life. ”
Lacey frowned. “What truth?”
Brow deeply furrowed, Cole dropped his gaze to his lap. His voice was soft when he answered. “That I was alone.”
Her lips parted in surprise. She never would’ve expected such an admission from him.
Cole always presented himself as a strong, capable, confident man, seemingly without a care in the world.
He joked and laughed and was always in good spirits.
This was the first time she’d seen him so vulnerable, and her heart went out to him.
Reaching out, she lightly touched his arm. “Wanna talk about it?”
“Not really. But at the same time…” He let out a slow breath that ended in a humorless chuckle. “You really want to hear about my shit?”
Lacey withdrew her hand and gave him a little smile. “Wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”
“Fair enough. You may find this hard to be believe, but back on Earth, I was a complete dick.”
“Was?”
“Yes, was. I identify as an asshole now, thank you.”
Lacey laughed. “No argument from me on that.”
Cole scoffed. “Not even a little? Not going to say, you’re actually not a bad guy, Cole?”
Something in her softened, and she smiled. “You are a good guy, Cole.”
He stared at her, opened his mouth as though to reply, then snapped it shut again. Drawing in a deep breath, he let it out in an audible exhalation. “Thanks. I know I wasn’t before.”
He ran a hand through his short hair as he turned his gaze forward.
“My mom died when I was little, and my dad worked a lot, so he wasn’t around much.
He was a no-bullshit man’s man, right? A tough guy.
He taught me a lot of the stuff that’s helped us out here.
But he never set an example beyond that.
I never learned how to, like…express my emotions in positive ways, or what a healthy relationship looked like.
“I thought being a man meant being strong and never showing any emotion but anger. That real men don’t cry.
That I was always right because I could hit harder and talk louder.
And my friends and coworkers… Most of them were the same.
We reinforced that behavior in each other.
Everything around me, everything I listened to, encouraged it.
“But I wasn’t happy. If I stayed on Earth, I would’ve spent my life in the same routine, wondering why my relationships never worked out, probably drinking more and more as time went on.
Joining the Initiative changed my life. Crash landing here, meeting all of you and the vrix, it set me straight.
Taught me that my whole damn perspective was wrong. ”
He waved vaguely toward the other human dwellings below them.
“Like, look at Diego. Dude is scary calm when shit goes down, but he gives everything he’s got to help everyone out, and he’s so gentle and caring.
You can talk to the guy about anything, and he’ll never make you feel judged.
And Will’s not afraid to admit when he doesn’t know something or when he’s scared, and he never lets those things hold him back.
He just learns what he needs to learn, faces his fears, and pushes on.
When they fuck up, they don’t get defensive.
They take accountability and do all they can to make it right.
“I love my dad. Always will. But sometimes, I wish I had a father like one of them. Someone who could’ve shown me a better way, you know?
And that’s not even touching on Ketahn, Rekosh, Urkot, and Telok, or you, Ivy, Callie, and Ahmya.
I’ve learned so much from all of you about what real strength is. About the person I want to be.”
Leg bouncing and eyebrows angling down, he looked at Lacey. His voice was thick when he said, “I know this is real sappy, but… Thank you. Truly. For putting up with my shit and for being my friend.”