I am so bad at this. Like, the worst of the worst. And that’s not easy for me to admit. To be fair to myself, I am swinging upside down, thirty terrifying meters in the air, trying to catch a girl who’s throwing herself off another swinging bar. At me.
Did I mention we’re really really high in the air?
At least there’s a net this time and the lights are on full blast, but I’m sucking worse than a black hole.
“Renner, are you ready?”
I yank my eyes up from the net below me—far, far below me—and lock on to Talie. She’s swinging forward, but my mind is still elsewhere.
“Uh, no?”
She swings away from me, but her frustrated grunt lets me know she’s not happy with my lack of focus. Give me hours of combat training, and I’m all over it, but the ground is more than a little distracting. Plus, the bright lights erase the magic from the night before. No crowd amping up my adrenaline. It’s just hard work and a persistent ache behind my knees.
Thankfully, Talie convinced Delmar our act wouldn’t be ready for another few nights, and I got to skip the last two shows, but we’re out of excuses now. I’ll be part of the act as soon as we get to our next location, and that means nailing all of these catches. Right now, I’d settle for nailing one.
I’m glad we’re on our way—I need to get as far from Drawx as possible—but that’s only the first step of many for me.
My mind jumps back two nights. I almost told Talie everything. My will must have been weakened from the performance, because I’ve been tortured and never given up secrets, but one look from those icy blue eyes, and I want to spill my life’s story.
“Planet to Renner. We only have twenty more minutes!”
Right. Focus. You can do this, Renner.
“Okay. Ready.”
We’ve just reached opposing arcs, so I know she’ll release when we’re nearing the closest apex together. My palms prick with sweat, and I quickly rub them on my thighs before dropping them down again. I need more chalk, but it’s too late now.
She’s nearly to me. Three. Two. One—Talie lets go and throws herself into a backward flip. We tried it with her doing two rotations, but I couldn’t get the timing right, so we’re back at one. I know she’ll extend straight after the first rotation.
She does, and her gaze locks with mine. My hands are out, reaching, stretching. Our fingers graze one another, and then she’s falling to the net. Again.
“Sorry,” I call out. I can’t count the number of times I’ve said that in the last two hours.
When I look down, she’s lying on the net, her dark blue onesuit hugging curves in a way that makes me forget how high up I am.
“You okay?” I call down.
Her eyes burn laser holes through me.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” I reach up and latch on to my bar. “Coming down!”
I’ve at least managed to get my legs through so I can drop down this time. I want to do some type of fancy flip as I fall to the net, but—for once—the rational part of my brain overrides the show-off part.
I fall, bounce a few times, and come to rest in the same position as Talie, just a few feet away.
“So that was…fun.”
“How about I drop you fifteen times, and then you can let me know how fun it was?”
“Touchy, touchy. So what if I dropped you…a few times? I almost caught you that last time.”
“Almost won’t cut it when there’s no net.”
There’s no bite to her words, but they impact like an asteroid all the same. I would never forgive myself if I dropped her and there was no net.
I roll on my side toward her. “I’ll get it. I will.”
She mirrors my action. “I’m not so sure about that.”
I huff an exaggerated sigh. She may be right—two hours is a long time to work at something without success. Make that three days of double practices, and it’s looking hopeless.
“I don’t get it. This isn’t like me. I’m athletic, strong, agile—you name it!”
“And so humble.”
I grin. “Yes, humbleness is one of my finer qualities.”
Talie rolls her eyes to the fly bar still swinging above us, but I see the smile she’s trying to hide.
I may sound arrogant, but I crawled my way from the trenches into the royal guard. I worked harder than anyone. Stayed extra hours in the training gyms, pitted myself against guys two times my size, and then ran the rest of the way home. Every day.
Swinging on a little metal bar and catching a girl who weighs half of what I bench press should be easy.
“I think we should call it a day.” She sounds disappointed, and I get it. She flips over the edge of the net, landing gracefully on the floor, and reaches for her datapad.
I need to get it together. Here I am, pouting over the fact that I’m not comfortable swinging around with the stars when I have a mission to work. I’ve been so focused on fitting in and getting away from Drawx—both of which are important things—but I need to push to the next step. Unfortunately, that can’t happen without my datapad.
I slam onto the floor and wince. “Why isn’t there a ladder?”
She doesn’t even look up.
Activate charm, soldier.
“So,” I lean against the pole next to her but forget it’s not anchored into the floor like you’d expect. It shifts back and forth, allowing movement for the net, and I trip to the side.
“You okay?” Talie’s eyes narrow as I manage to regain my balance.
“Fine. Great. Perfect.” Real smooth. “I was thinking maybe you could have my belongings delivered to my berth.”
“Your belongings.” She frowns. “Oh. You want…that in your little room?”
I know she thinks I mean my armor, but that’s only half of it. There are things in special compartments that, in addition to my personal datapad, are crucial for me to have nearby. I could ask for just the device. That would be a normal request, but it would be useless to me without the other items, and I can’t risk her becoming suspicious.
“Hey, it’s not that little.” It really is that little. “But yeah, no need to have it taking up space in your closet.” I shrug as if it’s the most nonchalant thing in the world, but in less than three full days, I’ve realized Talie reads people better than most. She’s caught me off guard a few times already, and I need to be prepared when it comes to her perception as well as her allure.
And oh my, does she have allure.
I pull my gaze away from admiring that very allure—long legs, toned arms, pouty lips I know from experience are beyond soft—and look into her eyes.
“It’s not a bother. I have the space.” She looks back to her datapad.
Okay. Plan B…
My mind races through the options. Getting to her floor is not impossible, thank you Mika, but being there and getting into her berth are two different things. Touch access is hard to spoof.
I wrack my mind for something convincing. What could I offer that she wouldn’t question?
“And so humble.” Her words come back to me and a plan forms.
“Oh, Miss Soaring Starress.” I shift closer, and she looks up. “You’ve spent the day humiliating me. Now it’s my turn.”
Wrinkles form on her brow. “I don’t think—”
“Do you trust me?”
Recognition flickers to life. “You’re really pulling that?”
“Yes. I really am. I mean, a guy’s got to save face, doesn’t he?”
“What are you talking about, Renner?”
“One more go,” I nod upward. “If I catch you, you step into my world. If not, we’ll forget it.”
“I will not be cleaning out stalls for you.”
“No,” I laugh. “It’s not animal related.”
She has no idea.
She frowns. “I need to know what I’m agreeing to.”
“A good time.” My wink makes her blush. I enjoy that far too much.
“Ren—”
“Come on. What are the odds?” Considering I’ve dropped her one hundred percent of the time today, she’s definitely got the advantage.
“Fine.” Her shoulders pull back, and her chin lifts. “One more time.”
We take opposite platforms up, and then I draw my bar back to me with a press of a button. After re-chalking my hands in a cloud of white dust, I turn around, take a steadying breath, and fall back, allowing the bar to carry me like a swing. I know she’s doing the same but front wise. I kick a few times, gaining momentum, and then comes my least favorite part. I drop down so my knees hook the bar and my arms dangle.
Stomach in my throat, I’m ready.
You can do this. My mental cheerleader sounds a lot like my mother, and I smile before I wipe it clear and focus.
“Ready?” she calls out.
“I was born ready.”
Her head tilts in challenge.
I merely grin back.
We swing closer together, and she lets go. This time I concentrate on her rotation. I follow her movements and laser in on her hands with hyper-focus. We’re perfectly aligned, like mirror images, and then our gazes lock just as our hands do.
Her smile is as brilliant as a Drawxian sunrise, and I can’t draw in air.
“Color me impressed, Fly Boy.” Her breath comes out in a gasp. “You did it.”
We sway through the air together, hand in hand.
“All I need is a little motivation.”
“Are you going to tell me what I agreed to?”
“Nope.” I add a wink, but I think its effect is lost with the inversion. “Just be ready in two hours, Le’è.”
“I’m ready now,” she challenges.
“Okay.” I drop her, and she lets out a laugh as she falls to the net.
She may think she’s ready, but she has no idea what she’s up against.