Chapter Nine

Lopez wandered into Alex’s room. Alex had stopped thinking of it as a cell, because they didn’t lock him in at night. It had been three days, and Sienna hadn’t been back to see him. He was about ready to go looking for her, even though he knew it would be smarter to stay put.

He’d seen Lieutenant Zane once, in passing. Zane had acted as though Alex didn’t exist.

Alex wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. What was definitely odd was that most of the female prisoners who had been in C zone had disappeared.

“Do you do anything aside from study?” Lopez leaned on the desk and looked over Alex’s work.

“I’m almost caught up.”

“You need to socialize.”

“I’m not sure they want to socialize with me, Sir.” There was still a divide between enlisted and prisoner. And he was the latter, living in the world of the former, which put him in no-man’s-land.

“They will. They’re adapting.” Lopez pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. “I received an application-to-fuck form for you today.”

Alex’s eyebrows shot up. “A what?”

“It seems the infantry were getting a little cozy with the prisoners. They were reminded that without paperwork, they weren’t supposed to be bringing anyone into C zone for recreational activities.”

That explained why most of the women were gone. No one had been doing the paperwork. Would anyone bother filling out forms or would they just take their activities elsewhere?

Lopez pointed at him. “You got a little cozy with an infantry medic.”

Sienna. She’d taken him to her room and had broken the rules—although to be fair, he had already been in C zone that day. The rest of the time he’d seen her in the med station. Why do the form now? He wasn’t in the prison anymore. “I’m already in C zone, and I didn’t know I needed paperwork to have sex.” Wasn’t that a massive invasion of privacy? He reminded himself that as a con, he technically had none.

“You do, because you’re still a lemon drop. It’s supposed to stop us evil Army bastards taking advantage of prisoners.” Lopez placed the form in front of him. “If you don’t want it, don’t sign. You can write at the bottom why you aren’t signing.”

“I’m allowed to refuse, Sir?”

“Yes, you have that right.” Lopez frowned. “But I thought you were with Corporal Jade?”

That’s what he’d thought, too, until a few days ago, but she’d made it clear that they shouldn’t see each other because Zane was making threats. What the hell was going on? Was this a way of stopping Zane? He didn’t seem like the kind of man who cared about pieces of paper and rules that didn’t benefit him.

Lopez tapped the form. “She’s doing the right thing, making sure it’s on file. If she comes down here and I find your door closed, it won’t go down well.”

Was that why she hadn’t wanted to see his room the other day? Alex glanced at Lopez. Lopez wasn’t smiling. Getting caught with Sienna without the paperwork would get him booted back to the prison. He had to follow the rules. However he wasn’t entirely sure what all the rules were.

“I’m not allowed guests?”

“Sure, with the door open, same as in D zone. I’ll leave it with you.”

Alex waited until Lopez left the room before picking up the form. The application to fuck was actually Form 699-A: “Request for visitation rights with a prisoner,” and included three paragraphs of text about what the form meant and who was supposed to use it.

It only applied to long-term relationships, not short-term arrangements. Is that what the Army called prostitutes? Prisoners had no rights to marry without appropriate approval. He already knew that one. And no cohabitation. That was Form 669-B, and would only be considered six months after 699-A had been approved.

Even though it felt intrusive, Alex kind of liked that someone had taken a moment to think about what the prisoners’ lives would be like. But he didn’t sign straight away. He looked at Sienna’s handwriting—the uneven letters and her scrawling signature. He’d had to leave Earth to find a woman who had grown up only blocks from him. She’d have still been in school while he’d been climbing scaffolding and breathing in the chemical-laden air.

He’d probably walked past her, a group of school kids with cloths over their mouths to reduce the amount of crap they inhaled. He’d done the same. Breathing gear was expensive and only used by tower engineers—they lived in them, worked on them, and oversaw the building of them the whole time never sullying their lungs with unfiltered air. The rest of the construction crew made do with cheap masks and hoped for the best, knowing that every intake of air was one breath closer to death.

She could do better than someone ten years her senior and dressed in yellow. He knew that, but he picked up the pencil anyway. He’d never wanted anyone in his life the way he wanted her. Filling out this form was the first step forward.

And Zane? Had he ordered her to do this?

Was Alex signing his own death warrant?

Alex hesitated, the pencil already pressed to the page where he needed to write his name and number.

This should be easy. It was what he wanted. It would mean no one could keep them from seeing each other. In six months’ time they could live together. He tried to imagine that, and failed. Surely there weren’t enough modules being used for food storage to allow everyone to partner up? There’d be too much shuffling around. Once they reached Solitaire, however …

There was only one way to find out if this was some kind of set-up.

He wrote his name and number, signed the form and then got up to take it to Lopez. He was sure that having an official lover wasn’t going to help his popularity with the enlisted. Then again, it wasn’t really any of their business.

Sienna was in the mess, trying to work out how many soyroom stew days there were between here and Solitaire. Too many, was the short answer. She’d received the paperwork approving her temporary relocation to the main hospital. She’d been bracing herself for Lieutenant Zane’s reaction ever since.

But nothing had happened. Perhaps with the Major looking over his shoulder, Zane was being more careful. Or perhaps he was just biding his time.

Either way, for the next three months Sienna was out of his way. By the time they reached Solitaire she’d be ready to change branches and go from infantry to medical corps. She wouldn’t have to work with Zane again. It was almost enough to make her excited about reaching the planet.

The other piece of paper was still MIA. Probably lost on someone’s desk … unless Alex hadn’t signed it. She was almost too scared to go and find out. But she was going to, right after she’d choked down the rest of her stew. She’d be happy if she never saw another soyroom again.

A group of noisy guys walked in. She glanced up as a flash of yellow caught her eye. Engineers—with Alex. Her heart stuttered. Had he seen her? She glanced back at her stew. All the carefully thought-up words vanished. It had been so much easier when it had been just lust. Now … well, if he hadn’t signed the form, she wouldn’t be able to see him. She was sure the Major would be keeping an eye on what she did and who she saw to make sure she wasn’t as bad as Zane’s comments on her file suggested.

Perhaps now that Alex had more options, he didn’t want to see her.

“This seat taken?” Someone tugged on the chair opposite her.

She didn’t need to look up to know it was Alex. She shook her head.

The guys next to her bristled, as if having a con at the table was an insult. “Why don’t you sit with your engineering buddies.”

“I’d like to sit here.” Alex put down his tray and sat.

One the guys stood. “We don’t want your kind here.”

“I know him, he’s fine.” And she really didn’t want a scene. Already, people were looking. But apparently her word wasn’t good enough. The Private picked up his food and went elsewhere.

“I see you’re making friends.”

“Yeah … maybe they don’t like Field Engineers.” He smiled, but the wariness was back, as if he wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen next.

“Maybe.” But they both knew that wasn’t the case. Some people resented the inclusion of prison foremen in C zone. Engineering wasn’t the only team that had moved some prisoners across. It seemed all corps wanted some prison foremen—it was part prison morale and part training. People had to have something to strive for, something to hope for, or life became unpalatable. Sienna had received a taste of what that could be like, both on Earth and now on Siren. Both times, she’d pushed forward and refused to settle for what was being offered.

Alex rested his forearms on the table and leaned in. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

She wanted to ask if he’d signed the form. “I’ve been temporarily transferred to the hospital for training, but I had to fight to get it through. It was noticed that I hadn’t put in a 699-A.”

He gave a single nod. “I wondered what that was about. You could’ve given me some warning.”

She could’ve come down and told him it was on the way, but she hadn’t wanted to draw any extra attention until everything was done. “I thought it best to get the paperwork done before I saw you again.”

“Does that mean you broke rules when you invited me into your room?”

“Yes … but it was a calculated risk.” Everyone was doing it, so she hadn’t thought she’d be singled out. She hesitated a moment, but was unable to keep the question in. “Did you sign it?”

Her toes curled in her boots as she waited for him to answer.

He took a couple of bites of food and had a drink, as if he was aware of how much she needed to know the answer and was determined to make her suffer. “Yes. Everyone somehow knows.” He drew in a breath and glanced over his shoulder to where the engineers were sitting.

“Nothing travels faster than gossip—not even light.” Especially in the Army. “You sitting here and talking to me will be enough to set off another round.”

“It doesn’t bother you?”

It had once. She’d hated being talked about and she hadn’t liked the way Zane had flaunted their relationship and tried to alienate her from the rest of the enlisted. But this was different. She knew in her heart that she and Alex had something special. “I don’t mind people knowing that you’re mine.”

“Oh, I’m yours, am I? So you wouldn’t mind if I did this …” He stood up and leaned over the table. His lips brushed hers.

It was hardly a kiss, but it was enough that people around them either took offense or cheered. Most people didn’t know quite what to say.

Sienna slid her hand up his arm and over his shoulder until her fingers tangled in his hair. “I don’t mind, but I think everyone else does.”

“I have it on good authority that they’re just jealous,” he murmured.

“I think you’re right.” She smiled and kissed him softly. Alex had given her a reason to look forward to the future, to their future, and the life they could make on Solitaire.

Read on for an excerpt from the next book, Yours to Desire