“Hey. Where are you drifting off to? Stay here with me.”
“Sorry,” he said, looking away.
I brought his face back toward me and looked him in the eye. I kissed him on the tip of his nose.
“You don’t need to disappear anywhere else when you’re with me. You can talk with me about anything. You know that, right?”
“Yeah,” he said, but his eyes still weren’t fixed on me, weren’t in this room.
“What is it?”
“I was just thinking… The galaxy… it’s a dark and dangerous place sometimes. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Sometimes it’s easier to go with the flow. Sometimes bad things happen and you’re afraid so you don’t do anything about it.”
“What bad things?”
His expression turned dark and distant. There was a lost look about him.
“Terrible things,” he said, peering over my shoulder once more at that invisible scene.
Something was troubling him, something he couldn’t shake free, no matter how hard he tried.
He pulled the blankets to one side and threw his legs over the side.
“Trayem,” I said, “if I said something that upset you, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not you.”
He ran his hands through his hair.
“This is a mistake.”
“Sh,” I said. “It’s okay. Whatever it is, we’ll get through it.”
Something had spooked him, that was for sure. But what was it?
He sat up straight.
“You need to go,” he said coldly. “We never should have done this. I’m sorry. It’s my fault. You need to leave before it’s too late.”
My heart was in my throat.
Don’t do this to me now. Not after last night.
“Why are you saying this?” I said. “You don’t mean it.”
“Yes, I do,” he said icily, looking at me over his shoulder. “You are nothing to me. You were never anything to me. You are a Prize, nothing more. I never felt anything for you. You need to forget me and move on with your life and pretend like this whole thing never happened.”
My lips trembled and my breath hitched in my throat. I backed away from him, resting on my heels.
He stood up and moved away from me. He picked up his clothes and slipped them on. He got ready quickly and didn’t turn to look at me.
“The guards will be here soon. I suggest you stay here until they do. It’s not safe outside.”
“Trayem…” I said, but my voice cracked and I couldn’t say another word.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything.”
He opened the door and stepped outside, leaving me in his wake, a broken shard, left to wonder when everything had turned so bad.
Unable to hold back my tears any longer, and with no one there to feel embarrassed about shedding them in front of, I let the tears stream down my face.
Lily had been right all along.
Never fall in love with a fighter. They’ll only ever end up breaking your heart.
I don’t know how long I cried but it wasn’t long before the guards came and took me away from that cell.
I was pleased to go.
I thought about leaving sooner but as much as I might hate to admit it, Trayem was right. It wasn’t safe for me to wander around the prison alone.
I’d seen what happened to a Prize when the prisoners thought they weren’t being watched and could get away with whatever their sadistic minds could conjure up.
I wiped fresh tears from my cheeks as the guards led me through the hallways back to the Prize Pool.
I knew the way so well I could have walked it without looking up.
What had made Trayem say the things he had? Why had he ruined everything after our amazing night together? Why had he thought it better to do that than keep the incredible event as a memory? Why did he have to dump me after the best night of my life?
I knew he enjoyed it and I felt certain he loved me too.
I wiped the tears from my eyes again and tried not to think about Trayem again. It was harder than I thought.
When I passed the other prisoners, still toiling under armed guard as they repaired the damage caused by the riot, a couple wolf whistled and howled at me.
The whistles usually passed over me without a second thought but this time it had a terrible effect on me.
I hated this place. I especially loathed my place in it.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to figure out a way to get out of there.
Did I really want to spend the rest of my life cooped up in here?
I was going to die here, or worse, get sold to a whore house somewhere. I would be worked to death and then there would be no hope for me.
Lost in my own thoughts, I bumped into something. I peered up at the guard who’d come to a stop. He motioned with his shock rifle to the stairs leading to the science lab.
Of course. It was a recent addition to the trip back home and one I hadn’t gotten used to yet.
I moved up the stairs. One of the guards followed me and took position on the other side of the door.
The scientists were busy when I arrived. One paused from consulting her clipboard and bid farewell to her coworkers and joined me at the door.
I was still very much in a world of my own. There was no shaking me from it.
“Hello, Harper,” she said.
“Hi, Junic,” I said.
She was the only member of the science team I’d ever spoken to. She was kind, with slimy orange skin and red patches that looked like liver spots but weren’t.
She had no hair and instead, where her hair should have been, had writhing masses of skin shaped like tubes. They never stopped moving as if there was an invisible wind affected her and no one else.
“Hop on,” Junic said, motioning to the chair between us. “So, how was it this time?”
She referred to my recent sexual experience. I spoke with the other Prizes and we all agreed Junic’s questions about how we mated with
