I made my way toward his corner, doing my best to ignore the planes of tanned skin outlining his back and shoulders under his white tee. With fabric that thin, he might as well not be wearing a shirt. Maybe that was the point. The humidity and heat were ridiculous in here. I peeked back at the front door. From the entrance, anyone sitting in this corner would be completely out of sight — just what I needed.
“A beer, please,” I said to the bartender. She ignored me, pouring an amber liquid into several shot glasses she had lined up in front of her. “Hey.” I raised a hand when she squinted in my direction.
“She’s in a mood today.” With a chuckle, the guy in the see-through shirt turned to face me, and I fell back on the barstool behind me. Dark, tousled hair brushed his forehead above that intense green gaze I’d come to know so well.
I’d wandered into my dream, except this time I was wide awake. A raw current spread across my chest and down my legs. I wanted to tunnel my fingers through his hair and touch the stubble on his cheeks. The thought alone sent tiny flutters to my stomach. But I couldn’t go through with it, so I smiled at him instead. He returned the gesture and shuffled closer.
“Come to think of it, the whole town is in a mood today.” He stood taller, brows furrowed. “Fucking QEC.”
I opened my mouth to tell him I wasn’t QEC but stopped myself when he relaxed and flashed me a grin. Everything about him felt familiar, his chiseled jaw, straight nose, and the small wrinkles lining the corner of his eyes. But most of all, I recognized the loneliness in his eyes. The same eyes that stared back at me every night while I watched him die in my dreams.
I swallowed. “I just need to talk to her.”
The bartender set a glass in front of him and turned to me. “What are you supposed to be? Are they cloning people up there now?” She pointed toward the ceiling, as if Mars were directly above us.
“You know my sister, Ry?” I asked.
“You can say that. She comes in here when she needs to get away from her military shit. I haven’t seen her in over two years. She never mentioned a sister. Is that even possible for a Martian? Don’t they breed you in test tubes?”
“Alexa.” The guy next to me reached for her hand. “She came in peace. Here.” He pushed his glass toward me. “Have a drink. On the house. It’s not beer, but it’ll do the trick.”
I took the shot he’d offered and knocked it back. I’d turned twenty-two last month. This wasn’t my first drink, but I’d never had anything like this. The firewater cleared my congested sinuses in a rush and burned its way down to my stomach. I blew out a hot breath. “That’s stronger than Ukruum wine.”
“It’s bourbon. I think she likes it.” The hint of humor in his voice made me feel like I knew what he’d say next.
“It’s nice.” By the Titan, did I pass out in some alley? Was this a dream?
He surveyed my eyes, his all-white-teeth smile on full blast. He laughed, and I found myself chuckling along with him. “I’m Tek Dar.” He stuck out his hand.
“Catita Johns.” An intense charge passed between us when his skin met mine. The current inched up my arm and across my chest. By the look of him, he’d felt it too. I pulled away.
“Why are you here?” Alexa’s question broke the spell. “Is Ry coming tonight?” Her features relaxed when she said my sister’s name.
“She’s meeting me here. There was trouble down in the fields.” I met her gaze.
“Yeah, you can say that.” She exchanged a glance with Tek. “Try not to start up any trouble while you’re here. The uniforms will use any excuse to shut me down.”
“And then, where would we get our booze and top-notch service?” Tek braced his hands on the counter. Alexa shot him a blank stare before she walked off.
“At least she didn’t kick me out.” I sat back on my barstool.
“I thought they didn’t let the young ones download on their own.” The curiosity in his tone and the gleam in his eyes drew me toward him. I wanted to touch the stubble on his face, make sure he was real. If I tunneled my fingers through his hair, would it be as soft as I knew it to be?
“They don’t. This is my first tour.” I swallowed to clear my throat.
“Is that why you’re out of uniform?” He glanced down at my bare shoulders. A tingly current spread through me, warm and slow like honey. Or maybe that was just the effects of the firewater he’d given me.
“No.”
“Oh yeah?” He braced his arm on the bar. His musky scent dulled my senses. “Did you escape?”
“Why would I do that?”
He jerked his chin toward the window behind me on the opposite end of the room. “Uniforms’re here. Friends of yours? In my experience, whenever the QEC swarms the streets like that, it means they’re looking for someone.”
Shit. They couldn’t be looking for me. I turned around to see if I recognized anyone from Ry’s unit. One of the commandos looked familiar. I’d seen him a few times training next to Ry. Shit. He was Ry’s peer in Captain Weston’s unit. I had to stay out of sight. “Hide me? They can’t see me.”
He pinched his nose. “Of course, you’re on the run. I’m a fucking magnet for this kind of shit.”
“Forget I asked.” I turned
