Galactic Gambit

Chapter 15-Asa

Asa had caught part of Neo and Pax's conversation through the door when he was coming back through from his room. He had changed into fresh clothes that didn't smell like the cavity. He was planning on getting some lunch, when he heard her raised voice and leaned closer to listen. The sensor signaled the door to open, and he froze. Neo was standing there, looking distressed, hardly keeping her emotions in check, and what she said shattered him.

Her vibrant green eyes found his instantly as she turned, her face flushing as she tried to blink back the tears. All he wanted to do was grab her and hold her, and just let her cry it out. But as she ran past, and he set his sights on Pax who was looking equally distraught by what she said. He stormed over, stopping a few feet away but still within arm's reach should he feel like knocking his lights out.

"What the fuck did you say to her?" Asa growled, angrier than he himself had expected to feel.

Pax shook his head and set his half-eaten piece of fruit on the counter. "That's not your business first of all, and secondly, back the hell off. I don't know why you think everything is always my fault," Pax retorted.

"From my experience, it usually is. So, what the fuck just happened? She didn't run out of the room in tears for nothing," he barked right back.

"You need to chill the fuck out. It wasn't even like that. Neo upset herself," Pax answered tightly fisting his hands at his sides.

"Oh, she just upset herself, cause that sounds real believable." Asa shook his head and started to walk away, but turned back and said, "You know what—just for good measure." Then he swung out with his practiced fist, striking Pax hard right below his eye. He went down like a sack of soytatoes, and Asa walked out. He was headed for Neo's room to make sure she was alright, but Reiyna was already at her door. She looked at him shaking her head as if to tell him not now, so he walked on up the stairs to his room.

Asa couldn't understand how anyone would leave her. How anyone could. And though he had only known her for a short time, he decided that he would never be like those people. He would escape death if need be, but he was going to prove her wrong.

He didn't think he had felt such a mix of emotions before. He was still angry at Pax for inciting such a reaction from her, but Asa could relate to what she had said. Pax was like a brother, and he loved him as one, and he left him on Ran'am and didn't show his face for three years. It was an emptying sort of hurt. At the time, Asa thought that since Pax helped get him out of trouble, that he would be there when they released him to the mines, because at least they could still be together. But day after day, he had not seen him, and after a few months he gave up hope and accepted that he was alone. Neo had felt that pain too, which only made him ache for her more.

When he first laid eyes on her, he was fascinated. He wanted to know this striking woman with silver hair that flowed over her shoulders like rivers of liquid metal that had been brought straight to him. Pax said that her ship needed fixed, and he saw an opportunity arise. And then she spoke. She was direct, all business with a subtle raspiness blended into her velvet voice. But he was enraptured by those emerald eyes that were framed by her thick lashes and deep grey eyebrows that arched above. His mind had flooded instantly with thoughts of what he would do with those lips of hers, perfectly pink and plump.

It was almost hard for him to focus, but he managed. Somehow. The moment she blushed when he kissed her hand, he knew that he had a chance. However slim it may be, there was a chance and he'd be damned if he let it slip away. He had already seen the look in Pax's eye. He knew it well enough to recognize it even after three years. Jealousy. It only made it sweeter.

Asa's emotions fueled him as he thought of how she must be crying in her room—alone. It was such an overpowering mixture. Anger, sympathy, lust, anguish, longing, he felt them all and more. Asa paced the short length of his room hating every second that he couldn't go down there and make sure she was okay. Though he knew she would be, he just wanted to be the one to make it so—as he had done in the caves when he kissed her.

He couldn't deny that he had experienced plenty of women, but there was something different about Neo. When his lips finally met hers, it was like the universe lit up. Even far below the surface, deep underground, she sparked a flame within him that he had thought to be long extinguished. The thought was too vivid, and he couldn't contain himself any longer. Reiyna may have to drag him back up the stairs, but he was going down there.