3013: MENDED Read Online Free PDF Page B

dropping into his own seat.
    Once situated, Cami blinked several times when a server appeared, seemingly from nowhere, to take their order. Before she could even request a menu, Tariq began speaking. “Two waters and whatever Naila has on special today.” Leaning closer, he glanced around the room and lowered his voice. “Did she get a new shipment in yet?”
    The server, an Amazon of a woman with untamed dark curls and eyes just as black winked at him. “Not yet, but come back tomorrow, sugar.” Then she smiled at Cami before marching away.
    “What was that about? What shipment?”
    Tariq shook his head. “You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow. It’s a surprise.”
    Fine, she could play along. If Tariq intended to bring her back to Starscape for a special meal, that obviously meant he planned to stick around for a while. Besides, as much as Cami liked surprises, she had more pressing matters on her mind.
    “Tariq, can you help me get a message to my family?” She’d expected a begrudging agreement, or at worst, a grunt and a scowl. Nothing could have prepared her for his deep, rumbling laugh. “Did I say something funny?”
    “You want to send a message to your family? On Earth? From here?”
    Irritated, Cami stuck her chin out and squared her shoulders. “Well, yes.”
    “Angel, the comms barely work between station sectors half the time. There’s no way you’re getting a transmission to Earth.”
    “General Whitmore has to communicate with the Alliance,” she argued. “There must be some way to send a message that far. My father and my brother are going to birth kittens when they find out I’m not where I’m supposed to be.”
    “Kittens?” Tariq snorted. “Okay, I’ll make you a deal.” Rocking his chair back on just two legs, Tariq linked his fingers together behind his neck. “Tell me why you’re really here, and I’ll see what I can do about getting a message to Earth.”
    “I told you, it was a mistake. I’m supposed to be on X4 with Commander Quinn.”
    “Right.” Tariq inclined his head. “Why were you going to X4?”
    “That’s not really any of your business.” Hoping to give him a taste of his own rudeness, Cami asked the question she’d been holding back since he’d told her everyone on the station was trying to escape something. “Why are you here? What are you running from, Tariq Navarra?”
    A mask of indifference slid over his face as he dropped all four legs of his chair back to the floor, but he answered without hesitation. “I’m here because my tribe betrayed me and my mother banished me. Now, tell me, little angel, what are you running from?”
    “The same as everyone else, I guess.” Cami stared down at the scarred tabletop and shrugged. “My past.”
    Neither of them spoke after that, and dinner passed in awkward silence. The special of the day turned out to be a sort of “everything” soup, and while Cami couldn’t decipher all the ingredients, she loved it. It reminded her of the soup her mother used to make, and the memory brought with it a wave of homesickness, not just for Earth, but for the life she’d once known.
    By the time she and Tariq had finished eating, the sadness and depression felt like a heavy blanket wrapped around her, suffocating her. With her emotions unstable, she couldn’t maintain the focus to keep her mental guards up.
    So when the voices began, they all came in one deafening rush.
    “I should have gotten the special.”
    “My ship better be refueled by the time I get there. I’m ready to get the hell off this shithole.”
    “What is he doing with her? He can do so much better.”
    Merchants calculated prices, servers repeated orders, and somewhere a man wondered if his lover had strayed. On and on it went until each separate voice coalesced into a brain-shattering roar.
    “Cami? Cami, look at me. Open your eyes and look at me.”
    Warm hands cradled her face, bringing some semblance of reality back to her. Prying her