Page 75 of Smuggler's Beauty

“Comm call bad?” Aiden asked, brushing his hand over Evelyn’s shoulder as he walked to the door.

“I’d like to discuss it,” Tariel said, his lips set in a firm line. “And we should include Mathias, if Evelyn can spare him.”

“I’m fine practicing alone for now, I think,” Evelyn said. “Thanks for putting a crack in the mental block.”

“Easiest job I’ve had in months. Thanks for letting me slack off and read.” Mathias patted his pocket and found a scrap of paper to mark his place in the book. Evelyn smiled at that small consideration.

As the men left, Evelyn levered herself off the floor to grab more gadgets to practice draining and containing. She allowed herself another moment to berate herself for not considering compartmentalization before settling back into her mental workspace.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Pearl had putoff making the call for as long as she could legitimately manage. Procrastination was nothing new to her. Once she and Ivan had learned the term “billable hours” from their boss, they’d quickly learned the fine art of stretching their time.

She ate dinner. She had her mandated eight-hour rest period. And then, after a bland, tasteless breakfast and a session in the physical health maintenance area, she squared her shoulders, shoved down all the screaming apprehension in her gut, and dialed the fucking comm.

It’s not personal. It’s your job.

The refrain that echoed in her head did nothing to calm her surging emotions. Putting her job ahead of everything else was the reason the damn call was giving her this much internal grief.

You don’t owe them anything.

Pearl was having a hard time buying the lie she was trying to sell herself on. Maybe she’d left, but the reasons she had were completely separate from the multitude of reasons she had wanted to stay. Conflicting loyalties had ripped her apart, and she’d chosen the path she always had — the one that kept herand Ivan together, safe for another day and paid well enough to flee at a moment’s notice.

She’d never had to live with the crushing weight of regret until she’d chosen to abandon theDawn, and she had a sinking feeling that this call was going to spark another.

The communication connected, and a deep brown face looked back at her from the screen with absolute disdain. She could see stars streaming by behind Tariel as theDawnrocketed through space, but nothing useful for locating their position.

She wondered if anyone was lurking outside the camera angle, listening in. Ivan was seated at his desk, not even bothering to pretend to do anything other than eavesdrop while she spoke to Tariel.

“Pearl,” he said, voice smooth as silk. “I didn’t expect to hear from you.”

“Tariel,” she said, nodding at him. “I figured you were the best point of contact.”

“What, since you broke his heart?”

She blew out, her lips fluttering in frustration. “Should I go call him?”

“Absolutely not,” he hissed, lowering his voice. “I don’t want to deal with another three-month ice cream and sappy movie binge.”

She took another deep breath as guilt threatened to overtake her. She knew this call was a bad idea, but she had made her bed, and she was going to have to lie in it. Alone.

“What do you want, Pearl?”

“I have a client that wants to get their hands on something you can move. They want to do the drop near 14 And.”

“And what do they want?”

“French bulldogs.”

Tariel quirked an eyebrow. “Seems like you’ve fallen a bit far. Does Ms. Kahn know you’re dealing in such lowbrow clientele?”

“Special circumstances. Favor for the kid of one of her clients. Look, I don’t want to be dealing with this either.” That part was true, at least. She felt like she was going to crawl out of her own skin. “Can you get one? If not, I have to make more humiliating comm calls.”

“I’ll ask around. I’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks. Hey. . . How is he?”

“We’re not discussing that.”