Page 43 of Breakaway
Kolos holds his hands in the air, his smugness still heavy. "Very well."
Reese does a little wiggle as though she's pleased with herself, and now I genuinely want to know what she's said to Kolos to get him to relent in his teasing. I look between Isha and Kolos, but neither of them looks like they have any plans to tell me. Reese is back to looking out the window as my shadows wrap around her. I let out a little huff, but other than that, I just let her enjoy the view as we slowly make our way planetside.
After we enjoyed each other's company last night, I finally checked my comm for the message that came in right as I stepped onto my ship and saw Reese clothed in barely anything. It was a single charge request from Kolos for the amount of ten credits, and I sent it over to him without hesitation. He'd been right about Reese's plans for me after all.
"Want to go over the plan so you're not just sulking for the next half hour?" Kolos asks me, and when Reese snaps her attention in his direction, he holds his hands up again. He looks at me, amusement all across his features. "Vicious little thing you've bonded. Did you know that?"
I glance at Reese out of the corner of my eyes, thinking to myself that Kolos is talking about someone else entirely. Reese looks fierce, though, as she glares at Kolos. My shadows and I decide we're into her being vicious so long as it isn't directed at us.
"He doesn't because he treats me right," Reese says.
My chest swells with pride at my soulbond thinking me a fit male for her. My shadows also lift off her skin enough to sway, celebrating how Reese speaks of us. I rest my arm behind Reese on the seat, and she scoots closer to me. It's hard not to feel smug when she treats me so well.
"I do think we should go over the plans, though," Isha interjects. "Just to make sure we're all on the same page."
Reese places a hand on my thigh, her fake nails tracing patterns against my pant leg that my shadows are quick to recreate for her. She does this sometimes when she's listening. Not that she's ever done it on my legs, she usually has a notebook or paper and pen that she doodles with while we're discussing things. I asked her once why she didn't do it on her comm, and she said she felt rude being on it while people were talking. I had flushed in embarrassment at Mauve's actions for probably theentire time Reese had known her, because my mother always has her nose pressed to a comm screen.
"Today, we visit with Reese's family. They don't know we're coming yet, and won't until Reese calls them," I look down at my soulbond, who is still doodling against my leg.
She's not excited about seeing her family, but it's good to get this part out of the way. She won't be supporting them for much longer, and if we're lucky, she'll be cutting contact with them because they're not good people.
We haven't warned them of our arrival, because I'm not convinced that they're not the ones who sold out her identity. I don't know why they would, but it's the only thing that makes sense besides Mauve doing it. As much as it pains me to say, I asked my father to drop the protections on her mind so I could sift through them. Of course, she had nothing to do with it, but I had to be certain.
"You don't have to speak with them," Kolos says, his tone a lot more gentle than I think I've ever heard him speak. The fact that he's talking that way to Reese of all people has my shadows stilling against her, tightening just a fraction as though to wrap her up in their protection. "Family can be fucking rough. If you just want us to show up and tell them you're not going to be around anymore, we can do that easily. Gods know I wish someone would've done that for me."
Isha and I share a glance, a quick little thing that means we will be talking about this later. Kolos doesn't talk about family, doesn't talk about his time growing up on Earth at all. Yet here he is trying to comfort Reese with situations that they have in common.
"No, I should talk to them," Reese says.
She doesn't seem to care that Kolos is prying way too much into her mind. He's being rude about it, too. We're trained not to let others know we listen in, trained to act as though we can'thear their thoughts at all. Kolos has always been a little more loose with how he does that, but he's never been this blatant about listening in.
It'll only be an issue until Reese and I are fully bonded, and then I can keep him out. I'll check with Reese later and make sure she's okay with his prying. If she isn't, he should pick up on it, and I think he'll have the decency to drop it.
"Kolos is right, though," Isha says. "We can drop off the message to them without you having to be near them. Without having to go back to your hometown at all."
"Yes, but then they'll all think I'm acting too good for them," Reese says with a little whine as she rubs at her eyes.
Kolos gives me a confused expression before leaning forward, his elbows on his thighs. "Based on what you've told us about them, you are better than them."
Reese scoffs and looks like she's about to argue, but Kolos cuts in.
"They're mooching off your money while also shaming you for how you make that money, they're apparently prejudiced against Lokans for no other reason other than they're not from your planet, and, this is purely speculation on my end, they probably smell bad. I'm not saying you're better than them for being beautiful and rich, I'm saying you're better than them intrinsically as a person."
"You can't say you're better than someone," Reese tells him with a little scold. "It's rude."
"So is most of what I do every single day, but it doesn't stop me," Kolos says, his features returning to his usual amusement.
"I'm going to speak with them, even if it's just for a final goodbye," Reese says.
Kolos's gaze flicks over to me, and he taps on the mental fortitudes of my mind as if asking for permission. He's actuallybeing gentle with it, considering the last time I did it to him, he was puking in the space station.
What?I ask, letting in the tiniest crack in my protections.
She doesn't like her family, doesn't want to talk to them, but feels some perverse need to take care of them because they're family. I'm not going into details, but the last time she was around all of them, it was fucking brutal. She's grown and can do what she wants, but I'm telling you right now that she does not need to be left alone with them.
Kolos speaks and then retreats from my mind just as quickly as he entered. His features don't betray that he said anything to me. I try to keep myself as unaffected, even though my shadows are vibrating with a very sudden rage that anyone would be awful to Reese.
"I'll be with you when you speak to them," I tell her, squeezing her shoulder and willing my shadows to calm down so she doesn't know how upset they are.
