Payton

PAYTON

The dormitories on Deathgate weren't luxury hotels, that was for sure.

Then again, an asteroid didn't have a whole lot of options in terms of lodging.

A biodome held ramshackle dormitories that all connected via rail shuttle to the main prison complex.

A variety of shops and merchants—some legitimate and others I wondered about— lined the path to the shuttle entrances and the occasional restaurant and tavern rounded out the rest of the commercial ventures around.

The lack of any real choices meant those offering goods or lodgings could charge whatever they wanted and provide as little service as possible.

They weren't terrible like the Under of Thodos III, so that was a step up from what I was used to, but they still needed work. There were shared bathrooms in each hall, and the shower I used that morning had a problem with the drain, leaving water piling up until it was almost up to my ankles.

It was a long week, and I wasn't sure what I was doing here. I filled the time watching endless hours of reality programming on the tri-vid. Who knew there were twenty-seven seasons of Survival Planet ?

I hadn't heard from Tessi, and Havek obviously didn't want my help.

While walking back to my room, I passed by various forms of aliens down the hall. There were some of every species in the dorms, it seemed. Some were more intimidating than others, but I wasn't afraid of being hurt. It took over five years to get a law license on Thodos III. No one with that level of education would risk losing their license to do something stupid. At least, that's what I hoped.

"Excuse me," I said quietly while sneaking past a large alien with tentacles on his head. I hadn't seen that kind before.

It was interesting. Being there made me think of how little I knew of the galaxy. It was also an interesting paradox that the price of my freedom was to be trapped on the asteroid and sentenced to helping a Vinduthi who, clearly, didn't want my help.

I returned to my room and shut the door quickly behind me. Just because I didn't think the real advocates wouldn't hurt me didn't mean I liked them seeing me in a towel with wet hair.

While getting dressed, a knock sounded on my door. "Yes?" I asked, knowing it was locked.

The handle jiggled before a voice called back. "Your client has requested a meeting with you and you're scheduled for today. Shuttle goes out in ten minutes."

"What?"

"Sorry, the message just now came through." A bright laugh. "You know how bureaucracy is!"

Right. Just a snafu.

An experienced advocate would be prepared for this.

I glanced in the mirror.

Shit. I looked terrible.

"All right, thank you!"

I scrambled to throw my hair up in a bun and put on one of the suits provided to me by Alkard. At least he had some sense of style. Most of them were black, and they contrasted well with my blue eyes. Hopefully, they would pop to Havek.

I froze. What? Why am I hoping he'll notice my eyes?

When I was finally somewhat ready, I left my room and walked down to the shuttle, my heels clicking on the concrete floors while walking down with a group of advocates. The real advocates.

"What's your degree in?" a kind Mondian woman asked.

"Oh." I looked away. "Criminal law."

She chuckled. "Not one to share specifics, are you?"

"Hey, what do they teach us? Trust no one, right?" I laughed nervously.

She shot me an odd look and continued walking in front of me.

I'm never going to last here.

I was briefed with a quick cover story before getting on the shuttle over to the asteroid, but there wasn't time for me to get into the specifics, and so, I studied my own ‘files' at every possible moment.

Apparently, I graduated from Tindemitus University three years ago and represented multiple Vinduthi who were suspected of war crimes. I guess that was related to a possible mass murderer.

Tessi told me if they tried to look me up, they would see fake cases I won posted under my profile.

She even told me that, typically, they would have Havek implant the information since he was so great at hacking computer systems. In his absence, she figured out how to do it. I still don't know how she learned, but I was grateful she did. If I got caught and sent there to live on the other side of the bars, I would have been miserable.

While boarding the rail shuttle and sitting down next to a purple sentient, I didn't recognize, my anxiety heightened. Being there made me even more nervous about being caught. I glanced at the Mondian woman I talked to earlier and saw her staring at me suspiciously from across the shuttle.

She knows. She's going to tell someone. I'm going to get caught. I shouldn't have done this.

"Please hold onto the bars on either side of you or above your head to prevent sliding. Estimated arrival time is fifteen minutes."

That fifteen minutes felt like hours. I felt so out of place. I just prayed the whole ride that no one else would try to talk to me.

Or if they did, I hoped I would think of something smart to say instead of sounding like an idiot.

We finally arrived, and I darted out of the shuttle before anyone else. I wanted to get to Havek, hear whatever protest he had about my existence, and get out quickly so no one had a moment to notice me.

Going through security, I held my breath.

After passing through the scanners the first day, I relaxed a little bit coming back through with the scrambler. But only a little bit. It seemed like at any moment one of the guards was going to grab me, demanding to know what I was doing there.

Once I passed through security, a guard led me to a different room than the one I met Havek in before. It was just as small and dull but felt different. "He'll be in shortly," the guard informed me before closing the door behind him.

As I clasped my hands on the cold table and stared at the wall, my mind raced.

Why do I feel like this? Why do I care how he sees me? I need to do this job to get out of my contract. That's all I care about. I can't be distracted by anything else.

The side of the room leading to the prison opened, and Havek was brought in, walking toward me with his hands cuffed in front of him. He was striking, not only because of his height and muscle build but also because of his tracery.

It almost seemed to speak to his personality. Startling, yet subtle, with more detail than one can see at first.

The guard cuffed him to the table and left after giving me a nod. When we were alone, I activated the scrambler in my jacket. Once I was sure it worked, I nodded at him.

"You wanted to see me?"

"I have a plan."

"A plan for what?"

"To break out."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "Well, I hope you're not trying to do that in this room. As you know, the scrambler works very well for audio, but the visual part is something I can't help you with." He glared at me, and I threw my hands up and smiled. "Look, do whatever you want, but don't try escaping while I'm here. If you want to get a longer sentence, if that's even possible, go ahead. I'm not joining you on this asteroid."

He leaned forward and stared at me intensely. "Do you think I'm stupid?"

I smirked. "Even if you're not stupid, you're insane."

He laughed and shook his head. "It's always funny when a human thinks they can upstage a Vinduthi."

"Even if I can't upstage you, I get to walk free today, and you don't."

He looked shocked by my words for a moment before clearing his throat. "I can handle this. I can get out," he replied in a calmer tone while meeting my gaze. "I just need a few small parts. You can get them. They'd be easy to bring in." He paused and ran his eyes down my body before leaning back in the chair. "All you have to do is pretend to be…" He cleared his throat. "My girlfriend and my advocate."

I laughed, raising my eyebrows in disbelief, before I realized he wasn't joking. Once my face fell, I leaned forward and frowned at him. "You really are insane, aren't you?"

He shrugged with a smirk. "Maybe I am."

"How would that even work, huh? What good would that do? They don't allow conjugal visits here. They don't even allow regular visits from partners here. You and me sitting on a couch talking while you pull an electronic part out from beneath my blouse isn't going to happen, Havek."

I expected him to retort with something sarcastic or get angry with me. Instead, he leaned forward and took my hand in his. The warmth of him shocked me. What surprised me even more was that he did it so naturally.

Touching him felt right, and that terrified me.

"You're my advocate. While they'll watch anything we do in here, they can't stop us."

I blinked rapidly, trying to regain my balance.

It was true. Anything that happened between an advocate and her client was permitted, as long as the cameras were on.

That was why Tessi and Alkard came up with this plan in the first place.

I just didn't expect Havek would use that rule quite like this.

"Listen," he whispered. "The plan is to get on the Deathgate Express."

"What?" I asked, trying not to think about his hand on mine. "The ship that takes away the dead bodies?"

"Yes."

"So you're going to kill yourself?" I asked, pulling my hand away.

My theory of him being insane got stronger and stronger with every word he said. My cheeks were on fire and I didn't want him to think it was from his touch.

"No! I'm not going to kill myself," he scoffed and leaned back again. "Don't be so uptight."

Don't be so uptight.

I heard that phrase at the Fallen Star a million times. It was code for ‘Why aren't you letting me touch you?' or ‘Stop being such a prude.'

The phrase must have triggered something inside me because I went into defense mode as soon as the words left his mouth.

"I think you're just using this as an excuse to get your hands on me," I snapped, looking him over and crossing my arms. "Not very smooth, I might add."

He shrugged. "Don't be so sure. But remember, you work for my brother, and that means you work for me, too. So…" He grabbed my hand again and ran his thumb over the back of my palm. "Are you going to help me, or do I need to find another advocate?"

I can't lose my chance at breaking the contract. I need to be free of servitude.

That was the only reason I was doing this.

Not because just being in the same room as Havek was enough to make me dizzy.

And when he spoke my mouth went dry.

Nothing to do with that at all.

Maybe it was a terrible idea, but maybe, just maybe, it could work.

"Fine," I agreed with a sigh. "I'll do it."

He smiled slightly and looked at me with a glint in his eye. I don't know what emotion it was, but it struck me like lightning. "Good," he replied. "Now, we need to set the stage."

"Okay," I said sheepishly while looking at his hand on mine. "But how do we do that?"

"Like this," he said before leaning over the table.

His hand wrapped around the back of my head, and he pulled me in for a kiss. I was shocked, and my muscles tensed at first, but as the kiss deepened and as his tongue snuck in through my lips, I relaxed into it.

I could definitely get used to this.