Page 86 of Tail, Dark and Handsome: Celestial Mates
She did not believe either one. Still, Zero had a competition and no matter how often she checked her messages, nothing was canceled due to weather.
“Are you sure?” She peered out the vehicle’s window at the iron-gray sky.
“Running in inclement weather and adverse conditions is part of the challenge of cross-country. If I wanted a perfectly dry, smooth surface, I’d be on the track team.” Zero’s ears fluttered as he laughed at the idea.
“How silly of me,” she replied dryly.
“Can we stop at the ship? I need to get something.”
“Theshipship? The one parked at CayneTech?”
“Yes, please.”
She had no idea what he could need that morning that he hadn’t required the last two months. “It’s not too far out of the way, but it’d be faster to stop at a store in town. What do you need?”
“No, Merry-gold, it has to be from the ship,” he said quickly, staring out the window and not being completely shady while avoiding her gaze.
“I suppose.” Mari did not want to push the issue. She saw the disappointment on Zero’s face when Winter left to go into CayneTech for some super important project. She felt some sort of way about it, too, when she found Winter and Peaceable having tea in the kitchen. Oh sure, he quickly explained that he knew Mari had to take Zero to his team event, and this meeting was last minute. Peaceable was his new assistant—a cute, clever assistant—and he’d try to hurry the meeting along and join them later.
Maybe a visit to CayneTech wasn’t a bad idea.
Jealousy, foul and totally tainting her aura, sat heavy in her stomach. She didn’t doubt Winter’s fidelity, not really, but she didn’t doubt Tomas either.
No. She wasn’t going down that path. There were plenty of unanswered questions to worry about—like the locked attic—that she did not need to invent more.
“Sounds good,” she said, before ordering the computer to change the destination.
The CayneTech campus and other industrial buildings dominated the horizon as they approached. On the outskirts of a major metropolis, empty fields had been slowly consumed by spreading industry. Cargo traffic buzzed overhead, lights blinking faintly while the matte gray body of the ships blending in with the clouds.
CayneTech sprawled out over several buildings and warehouses. Most were low to the ground with a gently sloping shape to withstand the Corravian storms. At the back, the manufacturing hangars were larger to accommodate ship cradles, retractable roofs, and the other necessities of a working shipyard. Mari recalled that when they arrived on Corra, the ship had landed near the shipyard.
At the center, a tall tower rose above them. Lights glowed sulfurous against the dim sky.
She shivered, loathing this place. Not to sound flighty, but it had a negative energy. Maybe it was the way Winter visibly diminished when he entered, like his own aura was being smothered, or how the entire place reeked of Chase and his smarmy Chase-ness.
“Mrs. Cayne? Are you expected?” A guard asked at the security checkpoint.
“Not Mrs. Cayne,” she answered, feeling guilty for using another woman’s name. Rebel was Mrs. Cayne. Mari was just Mari. “We’re here to pick up some items behind on Mr. Cayne’s ship.”
The guard waved them through. Briefly, Mari wondered why Winter did not have a security detail of his own, considering how much he worried about the media and protecting Zero’s privacy. Perhaps he saw no need when they lived on the ship and traveled frequently, but an overzealous fan could easily find their address or learn their schedule.
Maybe her perspective was skewed. On Olympus Station, every wealthy person hired a security team. How much was for show and how much was necessary, she couldn’t say, but bodyguards were definitely a status symbol. Hired muscle was less prestigious on ships—well, not the touristy day trips she ran with her mother. At first glance, security would be required for long haul transport ships to protect the cargo, but pirates were often better armed and more vicious than whoever the freighter hired. It was safer to pay off the pirates in untraceable credits than risk lives, and everyone knew pirates were more interested in credits than the latest shipment of stuffed toys or whatever the cargo was.
Mari found the landing pad and the ship, untouched since their arrival.
“I’ll just be a minute,” Zero said, unbuckling his safety harness before the vehicle stopped.
He was not just a minute.
Mari climbed out of the vehicle to stretch her legs and back. The sensation of being watched crawled over her skin. Hastily, she zipped up her jacket, not like that would help with being watched but she felt more professional.
She glanced around the landing pad, neatly lined with the company’s fleet of ships. Some were private vessels, and some were destined for retail. Every single ship was cold and dark, as if slumbering. No random mechanic or pilot was around, fiddling with the ships or prepping for a journey.
A light rain splattered against her face. Mari pulled the hood on her jacket. She and Zero were the only ones foolish enough to be out in the miserable weather and yet...
“Hello?”
No response. Nothing. No other noises either, no banter from CayneTech employees strolling by, or the machine sounds from the shipyard, or even the security making their rounds. The only sound came from the idling engine of her vehicle. She and a fourteen-year-old boy were very much alone, hidden in a labyrinth of giant metal vessels, and if anything happened, no one would hear.
