Maybe that was why the redhead seemed close to tears.
He reached across the table and put his hand over hers. Then she slipped her fingers through his.
The gesture had a lot of tenderness, on both sides.
The tenderness made Skye’s heart hurt.
She wasn’t jealous. She had nothing to be jealous of. She had no relationship with this man. Just a great night, one she would always treasure.
Or maybe she was jealous, but not of the other woman’s relationship with Jack. Maybe she was just jealous because no one in her entire life had treated her with such tenderness, in a restaurant, in the middle of a conversation.
Or anywhere. No one had touched her out of love, not even her parents, who, if she told herself the truth, had abandoned her when she was ten, which was how she ended up on the Guild’s doorstep. Not because they had brought her there, but because the man they had left her with finally gave up on them ever returning, and dumped her on the Guild.
She always took responsibility for that. When that “uncle” had dropped her at the Guild, she had not researched where her parents had disappeared to. She hadn’t tracked them down for the very first time. Before that, she always had. Before that, she’d catch up with them, and then they’d find a creative way to dump her again.
She blamed herself for the Guild because she just didn’t want to trace her parents all over the universe again.
She’d been following people for her entire life, spying on them and tracking them, and she was getting tired.
Just like she was tired of the fact that no one had ever touched her the way that Jack touched the redhead.
Jack hadn’t even touched her that way. Not last night. His touch had been gentle, yes, but it had had purpose, and that purpose had been brought him as much gratification as it brought her.
This touch with redhead seemed like something he did for comfort, something that was selfless.
Skye blinked. She had something in her eye. She ran a finger over her lashes, found moisture. Odd. She usually thought it too dry on Krell.
But it was a sign. She needed to put Jack in her past. She had Liora to worry about and a few other jobs to finish.
First, however, she needed a room. And it wouldn’t be the one she shared with Jack. She couldn’t think about him any longer. She’d get something small and unobtrusive.
And if there was a God, she would never ever come back.
Chapter 10
Skye made her way to Upscale Reservations. It was a hole-in-the-wall, given to past guests who had paid a lot of money on Krell. Too many of Krell’s customers specialized in identification theft, so Krell used all sorts of methods to ensure that each “guest” was the one she was supposed to be.
The higher up Skye went on their guest list, the more in-person hoops she had to jump through. She always thought it strange that Krell allowed her through, because she had never once stayed here under her real name.
Still, the name she used made the folks who ran Krell sit up and take notice—primarily because she had been a regular guest for four years.
She opened the door and stepped into an antechamber. To her surprise, the scruffy guy stood off to one side, talking with two other men. They wore similar clothing to the scruffy guy, and had the same scrawny power. They moved away when they saw her, standing outside of normal ear range.
Fortunately, she didn’t have normal ears.
She moved toward the main door, but made it seem as if she had a few other things to prepare before she entered. Then she focused her hearing on the scruffy guy. With luck, he would tell her what job he was doing for Liora.
Instead, Skye heard a name she hadn’t expected.
“…yes, Jack Hunter,” the scruffy guy was saying. “At the Starcatcher.”
“He’s probably working for someone else now,” one of the other men said.
“It doesn’t matter who he’s working for,” the scruffy guy said. “He’s still our problem.”
Skye’s mouth went dry. How many conversations like this had she overheard over the years? None had made her heart rate increase like this one was.
She had to work hard to continue to feign disinterest. She pulled a small reservation tablet from the stand near her. She fiddled with the tablet as she listened.
“You know he won’t do anything,” the other man said. “He’s a good guy.”
“That’s our problem,” the scruffy guy said. “He doesn’t think we are any longer.”
A light went on near the door. It meant that the reservation room beyond was empty. Skye moved slightly to block that light from the men. She wanted to listen to this conversation for another minute.
“So?” one of the men said. “He’s not going to be a problem. He’s just an investigator.”
“He’s talking to Rikki Bastogne right now,” the scruffy guy said. “He may be an investigator, but she’s not.”
“She left long ago,” the third man said.
“To go freelance,” the scruffy guy said.
“You think she’s going to come after us?” the second man said.
“You want to wait to find out?” the scruffy guy said.
Skye frowned. Rikki Bastogne. Why did that name sound familiar? She would have to check it as well—and not just because Jack seemed to know her well.
“She can’t take on all of us by herself,” the second man said.
“Probably not,” the scruffy guy said. “But she can go after some of us one at a time.”
“He’s just afraid she’ll come after him,” the third guy said to the second.
“I am not,” the scruffy guy snapped. “Just get rid of Hunter. He’s a problem.”
“Get rid of?” the second guy said. “Are you serious? I’m not killing one of us.”
“He’s not one of us, don’t you get that?” the scruffy guy said.
“He is to me,” the second guy said, then pivoted and left.
“You going with him?” the scruffy guy asked.
“Naw. I figure there’s money in this. You gonna pay me to take out Hunter?” the third man asked.
“Only if you manage it here,” the scruffy guy said. “Otherwise, I’m bringing in real experience.”
Skye’s breath caught. She pressed her hand on the door frame and let herself inside the empty room. She wanted to flee Upscale Reservations and warn Jack, but she didn’t dare—not from the antechamber, anyway.
If she registered again with the hotel part of Krell, she could leave from the back.
She forgot her resolve to get a new room. It would take too long. Instead, she went to the desk. A woman appeared. She was a hologram. Apparently the day was too slow to bring in a real person.
Skye asked to extend her reservation, noting with satisfaction that her voice remained calm as she did so. She had no idea what Jack was into, and she didn’t really care.
She liked him. And that was enough. She would warn him about these men.
And Liora.
She wondered what Liora’s involvement was. Had the Guild sent her? If so, why would she hire someone else to take out Jack? Liora was an assassin. She could easily kill someone. Liora could have killed Jack as she walked past the open-air part of the Starcatcher, and probably not have gotten caught. She was that good.
Skye didn’t know what was going on, but she would figure it out.
She would warn Jack, find out what he knew, and get him out of here.
After that, he was on his own.
