Page 73 of Radiant Exception
Vaughn scoffed. “You and I both know I don’t have anything to be jealous of.”
“No.” I reached down to squeeze his already half-hard cock, nestled between us. “You certainly don’t.”
He groaned in response, reigniting my desire in an instant, and allowing the bad memories and the fear of what was to come slip away, if only for a little while.
“There’s nothing I can do to talk you out of this?” Vaughn watched me as I dressed the next morning, still trying to dissuade me, despite the fact that we both knew this was our best option.
“Nope.”
“You’re certain he won’t see right through you and realize what you’re up to?”
“Vaughn.” I reached out, grabbing his hand. “Do you know how difficult it must have been for him to set up his base of operations on theRadiant, not to mention ingratiating himself with the crew so that he could keep the position long-term and retain the facade of harmless Chief Comms Officer, Cassidy Paulson for almost two years?”
“Difficult. Why?” He ground his teeth.
“He made a move on me, knowing I had an exception with you, resulting in him having to abandon all the work he put in,” I reasoned. “When it comes to me, he’s not thinking with his brain.”
Vaughn frowned at the implication.
“I know he’s not the same boy I grew up with, but he sees me as that same girl. Plus, he’s clearly gotten too comfortable on theRadiant. Allowing his coding to leak through, along with his coverup, is lazy.” I pushed Vaughn back onto the bed.
“Adding to that the fact that your relationship with him has soured and resulted in him having to literally jump ship is going to make the prospect of getting to walk out of here with me too tempting of a deal for him to pass up on.” He groaned when I swung a leg over his hips, grinding down against him. “You’ve scared him off for now, but if he really is the Phoenix, he’s lived the last decade of his life in the shadows, building an empire using intimidation and bold, risky moves. We need to change the conditions and see if he’ll take the bait.”
“And when he does, he’ll be too distracted by me, and I’ll get the evidence we need.” I leaned down and took his bottom lip between my teeth, nipping at him. “Besides, you and Darren will have a live feed of everything that’s going on, so he won’t have the chance to erase anything. If something happens, you’ll know immediately and can come to my rescue.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Vaughn rumbled, pitching up slightly to chase the pressure I was providing. “One last round?” He grinned up at me.
“No.” I playfully shoved against him, dismounting a moment later. “I’ll be sore for days thanks to how busy you’ve kept me this week.”
“Had to give you a pleasant reminder of what you’re leaving behind.”
I snorted a laugh. Pleasant was an absurd understatement. None of my past lovers held a candle to Vaughn in any way, shape, or form.
With tears streaming down my face, I intentionally choked out a strangled sob as I fled past Cassidy’s office, toward Natalie’s.
“Natalie?” I sniffled, crossing the threshold into her office.
Immediately, her eyes shot up from her comm. She’d been on opposite shifts from me since Vesta, so we hadn’t seen much of one another in a while.
“Lark? What happened?” She came around her desk to sit next to me on the sofa in the corner of her office.
“I—” I swallowed back the tears I’d built up for the act. There was a part of me that felt intensely guilty for using Natalie’s own goodwill against her, but if any of the crew knew what Vaughn and I were really up to, they would understand. “Can you assign me a different room?”
She smoothed my hair away from my face, a bit of a feat considering I was almost a foot taller than her. “Are you okay?” Her words were gentle and even.
“I just need my own space right now.” My voice cracked.
“L?” Cassidy’s head popped around the corner of the office, right on time. “Is everything alright?”
Natalie looked from me to Cassidy. She likely knew something about the little love triangle I had unintentionally found myself in initially, and was reasonably cautious as a result.
“I’m fine—I just—” I used my uniform sleeve to wipe my eyes. “I just need a different room right now.”
“What did he do?” Cassidy growled.
I dissolved into another fit of quiet sobs.
“Cassidy,” Natalie hissed in admonishment.
