Bytes of Passion

Chapter 3

He'd left her in the cabin tied up for hours, and she really needed to use the bathroom. "Teegan... how long you gonna leave me in here? I need the facilities." She'd been calling him on and off for at least ten minutes.

With a whoosh, the door slid open and there he stood, a tower of muscle topped off with a thick head of untamed hair and a scowl a mile long. He had the whole intimidation thing down, whether he meant to or not, but she had the urge to run her hands through his hair. In the hope of taming it... or maybe just to play a bit. She would have smiled at the idea had her bladder not felt like it was about to burst.

"My hands are going numb and I need to..."

"I heard you the first time. Just because you scream for me doesn't mean I have to jump."

He took his time undoing the cuffs and she rubbed her wrists. "I realize that, but... never mind." She pushed past him and raced down the hall and into the bathroom. When she came out, he was standing right outside, one hand at the knife at his side, the other loose as if he was prepared for trouble. The guy didn't know how to relax. Or maybe he thought she was some type of killer whose every move needed to be watched. If he only knew the truth... Then again, if only she knew the truth, then maybe she wouldn't be in this position in the first place.

As far as she knew, she had no combat training or experience, unless attacking someone with code counted. She didn't think she'd hadn't hurt anyone with hacking, though she supposed she could if she put her mind to it. Dear 'mom' and 'dad' had suggested they were low on funds and kept hinting – none too subtly – how she should try hacking into the treasury of Rangor 2 or maybe Vandar. For the challenge...to keep her busy. Yeah, right.

"Thanks," she said, plastering a smile on her face. Maybe he'd return the smile and the tension between them would ease.

No such luck. He motioned her towards her cabin. "You know it wouldn't kill you to crack a smile every now and then."

"You should worry about where you're headed."

Yeah, she worried about where she was headed, where she had been, what the hell the Goldsmiths had been doing to her. She rubbed the crook of her left arm. If he planned on shoving her back into that cabin, she was going to go stir crazy. Maybe she should tell him the truth. No, it was too early. She needed to make it to Quintero Station and he was her ride. If he learned the truth out here, he'd dump her ass on the nearest planet. Or worse, float her.

"Can I keep you company up front?"

"No."

"You don't have to talk. I can do the talking."

His frown deepened, but he changed direction unexpectedly, towards the cockpit, without locking her up in the cabin or retying her hands, so she counted that as a win.

"You never answered my question about why you became a kidnapper," she said, three steps behind him.

When he halted suddenly, she nearly ran into him. She'd never been very graceful, and he moved with a litheness of a huge cat, barely making any sound, despite his size.

"That's the thing about being the kidnapper. I don't have to answer your questions." He pounded a finger against her chest. "You're the abductee. I'm guessing you're smart enough to know the difference."

He was angry with her. That didn't usually happen so quickly when people met her. She'd leave him alone, go her own way, if she had something to keep her busy, to focus on. But she couldn't let herself sit in that cabin any longer. Her mind would continue playing with the memory fragments, struggling to put them together in a way that gave her answers. This emptiness, this gaping hole in her memory, scared her, more than she cared to admit.