Page 41 of Bound by Stars

Jupiter

Six days to Mars

Weslie. She’s here. She’s alive.

“What was that noise? Did you feel the ship rattling?”

I get to my feet, wrapping my arms around her, burying my face in her hair, and crushing her against my trembling body.

She pulls away, frowning. “Are you hurt?”

I shake my head and brush her hair out of her face, running my hands over her arms. She’s real.

Her hazel eyes are completely unguarded as she searches mine. Without letting go, she reaches for the door control, dragging me inside and around ILSA.

“Weslie, my readings indicate Jupiter could be experiencing acute stress disorder. Keep him still and warm. If symptoms do not improve quickly, notify emergency medical services.”

“I’m all right, ILSA.” My eyes are glued to Weslie’s face. I pull her back into my arms, squeezing like I can’t hold her tight enough to really believe she’s here.

“What happened?” She pushes me back to search my face, her palm against my heaving chest.

“I…the…” The ringing in my ears grows louder. Air rushes in and out of my lungs too quickly like I’m still sprinting through the ship. My head swims, but she’s alive. Nothing else matters.

“Breathe.” Her shoulders rise and fall, guiding me through long, slow breaths. “I’ll get you some water.”

She turns away, but I catch her hand.

Her wide eyes find mine.

My rib cage contracts, threatening to implode if I let her go. “I thought I lost you.”

Her shoulders relax, and she presses her eyes shut. “I was looking all over this damn ship for you. I know you weren’t trying to steal ILSA’s specs. I should never have accused you or—”

“It’s okay,” I whisper, my lips stretching into a grin. She’s alive, and she trusts me. Warmth floods my body.

She shakes her head. “No. It’s no—”

“I forgive you.”

“I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Her lips are tight, but the grin she’s trying to hide is on full display in her eyes. “You really should hold more of a grudge. Hang it over me for a while. This kind of guilt could be serious currency.”

She’s already back to teasing me. So normal. Like my world wasn’t just crashing down around me. I let out a breathy laugh and try to match her tone. “Not my style.”

“At least let me grovel a little. I’m trying to be a better person here.”

“Kiss me and we’re even.”

Her smile unleashed, she closes the space between us. Sweeping her fingers along my jawline, she softly brushes her lips against mine.

Agony and bliss collide inside of me, binding my heart and lungs until it’s almost too much. I clench my burning eyes shut.

Her mouth is more urgent, like she can feel it, too. She runs her hand up my ribs, gripping the fabric of my shirt, drawing me even closer.

My breath hitches. I press my palm to the small of her back, deepening the kiss.

“Weslie, you are advised to approach a person experiencing shock gently. This does not seem like the optimal treatment.”

“Shut down, ILSA,” she says through a heavy breath.

My mind catches up to the moment, and I pull back. “I have to tell you, Weslie, at the pod bay—”

“I don’t care.” She crushes her lips against my mouth again, tugging on my shirt front, undoing the buttons, down until her fingers graze my stomach above my belt.

Heat builds deep inside me. I abandon thought. I yank my sleeves over my wrists before we trip onto the bed. I fall over her, one hand planted next to her on the bed. Even with my full weight against her, she isn’t close enough. My skin tingles as her hands slide up my torso.

She rises up to kiss me again, and I find the bare skin at her hip. Her back arches, and she sucks in a breath. Her oversize sweater, my favorite sweater, is a thick wall of yarn between us until she gets it over her head. The tangled sleeve gets stuck on her wrist, and she growls, tugging at it.

I pull it free, throwing it to the floor.

She presses her lips to the base of my throat and her hands run up my back.

I suck in a sharp breath and find her mouth again. Looping an arm underneath her, I haul us both farther onto the mattress. Our chests heave in unison. My heart pounds against my rib cage so hard she must feel it.

I pull back, panting. “Is this okay?”

“Yes.” She kisses the edge of my mouth, the tip of her nose grazing my cheek.

I rest my forehead against hers, the wreckage on the other side of the locked pod bay door flashing across my memory. I was so close to losing her. A jolt of pain stabs through my heart like it’s breaking under the weight of “almost.”

I brush a hand through her hair, pulling back again to see her face. “I meant it, Wes.”

“What?” She’s breathless. Placing her open hand to the center of my bare chest, she slides her fingers lightly up the side of my neck.

“I don’t want this to end when we get off the ship.”

She smiles. “Me neither.”

I swallow hard, holding her stare. “I think I’m falling in—”

The door shifts open, bright white light flooding in like a spotlight on the two of us. Four porters step in. Captain Nazari enters behind them.

I turn, blocking her. “What the—”

“Get dressed,” the captain demands.

I hand Wes her sweater. Two of the porters pull me away from the bed as I snatch my shirt off the floor. “Did my mother send you for me? This has gone too far.”

By the time I slip my arms through my shirt sleeves, the other two porters have grabbed Weslie, cuffing her wrists and pushing her out into the hallway.

She looks at her bound hands, to me, and then the captain. “What the hell is going on?”

“Let her go. I’ll come with you. She didn’t do anything.” I try to follow, but the porters catch my shoulders, holding me back.

“Weslie Fleet, you are under arrest under suspicion of acts of treason, destruction of property, and endangering the lives of the passengers aboard my ship.” Examining ILSA, Captain Nazari nods to a porter. “Bring the bot, too.”

I yank my arms free and march out to the door, following. “That’s ridiculous. Weslie has nothing to do with any of that.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” She pulls against the restraints as Captain Nazari follows.

He stops between us, facing Weslie. “The first-class escape pod bay was sealed off and destroyed at 3:10 p.m. by means of incendiary devices.”

The color drains from her face. Her chest heaves. “Reve.”

He was supposed to be there to meet her. I was so relieved she was alive that I had forgotten him entirely.

Captain Nazari turns back to me. “I’m sure she failed to mention that her father is in custody on Mars for similar acts.”

Captain Nazari shoves his tablet into my hands.

A man with reddish-brown hair stares out of the screen in the inmate photo.

There’s nothing familiar about him. Weslie looks nothing like him.

The only thing they have in common is a last name.

Name: Samuel Fleet. Family: Wife, Nova Fleet, Earth.

Daughter, Weslie Fleet, Earth. I scan his list of offenses without reading them and lift my gaze to Weslie’s stunned expression.

“Jupiter. I don’t know what he’s talking about.” Her wide eyes are pleading.

I shake my head. “This doesn’t prove anything. Weslie would never—”

“He’s been writing to her since he got to Mars. Years of messages, written in code.” He slides his finger across the screen in my hands again.

“I haven’t communicated with my dad in years,” she shouts.

“Take her to my office.” Captain Nazari nods to the other porters.

They drag her down the hallway, but she twists and fights against their grip. “Jupiter, I swear!”

I take a step after her, but Captain Nazari blocks my way. Thrusting the tablet back into his hands, I shove past him, but strong hands clamp onto each of my arms.

“Jupiter. Her father was one of the men involved in the explosion in segment 7S that resulted in two fatalities. One of them being—”

I suck in a breath. “Andi.”