Zaya watched Hale’s abs disappear as he pulled a muscle shirt over his chest and down the rest of his upper body. But once he let go of his shirt, it fit tighter around him, showing off his form. She doubted it was intentional. Really any shirt Hale wore looked attractive on him. Still, Zaya couldn’t keep herself from wishing he’d left it off. She hated herself for lusting after him. But she wanted to see his skin again because hadn’t seen his body, bare, for a long time.

And she found herself missing the way his skin felt against hers....

She still despised Hale as a person. She wanted nothing to do with his attitude or spirit. But... she longed for his body.

Zaya turned over on the resort couch Hale had set her on and turned away from him. She couldn’t look at him anymore. The emotions she felt were too conflicting. She wanted him while, at the same time, her hatred burned for him.

She remembered what spending nights with Hale was like. As good as he was, he preferred to be in control. The problem was so did Zaya....

Hale rarely yielded to her control, from what she remembered. Sometimes she would allow him to have his way completely. But most nights it was an unspoken struggle, although passionate. But she knew Hale was never left fully satisfied. Two of the most important sides of their relationship, communicational and physical, were filled with conflict. The communicational side was somehow even worse. They couldn’t talk. They only fought, not with regular arguments, but with constant screaming. Their headstrong personalities were too similar.

Nothing they shared was without conflict. Even the activities that should have been most pleasurable had caused division between them.

Zaya heard a door swing open, and she lifted her head to see. Pandora had finally come out of her bedroom and entered the living room. Pandora wore a slightly tattered white dress, and her shoulder length hair was loosely pulled back in a half ponytail. Her small face was incredibly beautiful, Zaya could admit. She had a thin nose and sculpted cheekbones. Her jawline was prominent but still dainty. However, Pandora’s sparkling violet eyes were what captured her attention the most. Pandora’s eyes shone even more when she looked at Hale.

Hale smiled when he saw her and reached for her hands. Zaya looked away because she knew exactly what would happen next. And they weren’t quiet about it.

Hale didn’t deserve the happiness he felt with Pandora. And Pandora didn’t deserve his love. Pandora was completely out of touch with reality; the only reason she was so “pure” of heart was because she was a privileged royal. She didn’t understand what it meant to be in need nor could she understand the lengths desperate people go to to provide for themselves. For Pandora’s entire life, she probably had everything handed to her. She didn’t have to work for anything.

And by just being her innocent, pretty princess self, she had done the unthinkable: she had captured Hale Verdun’s heart.

When he said that he loved Pandora earlier, Zaya knew his confession was genuine. Well, as genuine as it could be, coming from him….

So the two of them were here on this beautiful planet enjoying each other’s affection, while Zaya was left alone, shackled by cuffs and her hatred. She wondered why it always turned out this way for her and not for other people.

“That’s quite enough!” Zaya snarled.

She heard them pause what they were doing to each other. Zaya was content with having no view of their kissing....

She heard heavy footsteps approaching her that obviously belonged to Hale. He turned her over so that she could see his face.

“Why are you in such a hurry?” Hale’s icy eyes stared down upon her.

“You two have had plenty of time together. And I’m tired of being around it. Just drop me off wherever. I don’t even care. I just can’t be around you anymore.” Zaya turned back over.

“You ready to go?” Hale asked Pandora.

“Yes, fine with me,” she replied immediately.

“Alright, Zaya. I guess you get your wish. We’re leaving right now,” Hale said.

Before she had a chance to respond, Hale picked Zaya up from the sofa and hung her over his shoulder. Zaya grunted from the pain caused by his shoulder digging into her abdomen. She didn’t exactly resist though. What was the point?

Hale had her hands bound behind her back and her feet bound together as well. He wasn’t even paying her any attention as they left the apartment because he was too interested in Pandora.

Zaya could have bit him... and she would have if that didn’t bring back memories of how it used to turn him on. It probably wouldn’t have the same effect on him now because he wasn’t attracted to her anymore, especially not around Pandora. But she remembered how desperate she could make him.

Zaya craned her neck upwards to see her surroundings. The patrons inside the resort stared at her strangely as Hale walked through the lobby while still hanging her over his shoulder.

When they left the resort, Hale started walking towards the outskirts of the city. Zaya tapped him on the back with her head.

He stopped abruptly. “What?”

“Do you even know where my ship is?” Zaya taunted.

“I can find it.”

Zaya laughed at his boldness. “Maybe. Eventually, you might. But wouldn’t it be faster if you let me lead you there?”

“I’m not in a rush.”

Zaya reached her arm out and tapped Pandora on the elbow. “Princess, what about you?”

Hale scoffed. “Ignore her, Pandora.”

Pandora looked up at Hale timidly. “Well…”

He exhaled a long huff. “What do you mean by ‘well?’”

Zaya interjected. “Afraid to speak your mind all of the sudden, princess?”

“No,” Pandora snapped. “I just don’t want to argue with him.”

“What do you want? Just say it.” Hale asked Pandora.

She rocked left to right, likely in contemplation of how to respond.

“C’mon,” he urged.

“You could let her walk at least. It would go a lot faster if she led us to her ship,” Pandora said.

When Pandora suggested what was originally Zaya’s idea, Hale was almost immediately receptive. “I guess it would be okay.”

Hale set Zaya down on her feet. He unlocked the cuffs around her ankles. After tucking the cuffs in his backpack, he unholstered a pistol from his belt and held it against her side. “Lead us the right way. If you do anything other than that, I won’t hesitate.”

“I want to get off this planet too, you idiot.”

Zaya started walking away from the city. She turned her head slightly and found Hale and Pandora following behind her. She led them towards the tropical forest partly hidden behind the city. She pushed past vines and large, wet leaves as they made their way to her ship.

They had walked for about ten minutes, and she glanced behind her and noticed Hale’s annoyed face.

“We’re almost there. I promise,” Zaya called back to them.

Hale nudged her back with his gun. “Better be.”

Zaya didn’t waste her breath with a response. She turned her entire body around and shot him a look of complete disgust, while backing into a cluster of yellow palm leaves.

Once she was clear of another layer of leaves, she stopped, reaching the edge of a short cliff. She pointed downwards to a ship, semi-hidden by the cliff, about five meters from them.

Hale carefully slid down the incline and started walking around the ship. Zaya knew he was checking over the ship. She was the one who taught him to do that.

When he came back, he grabbed a hold of Zaya’s arm and pulled her down the incline with him. He stopped underneath the ship and stood in front of a keypad beside where the entrance ramp would release.

“Tell me the password,” he demanded, although his tone was expressionless.

“Guess,” she replied casually.

He growled and pressed the pistol against her abdomen. “Wrong answer.”

“You know I want to get leave this planet as much as you do. Why the sudden rush?”

He glared at her before turning his head away.

“It’s Pandora, right?”

He sighed, admiring her from afar. “She won’t say it. But I know how anxious she is to leave. She wants me to take her to Garra. Ever been there?”

“Nope. Never even heard of it.”

“Figured.” Hale looked back at Zaya, moving closer to her and towering over her with his blue eyes staring intensely but not in the sensual way he stared at Pandora. His eyes were demanding. “The code.”

Zaya shrugged. “Hale.”

“I thought you said you were in a hurry too.”

Zaya kicked the side of his leg with her foot. “That’s the code.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “My name?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“Oh, nothing.” He quickly entered his name into the keypad. Shortly after, the ship opened up and the entrance ramp extended to the ground. He laughed. “It worked. Shocking.”

Zaya turned her back towards him. “Whatever.”

“Hey, Pandora. You can come down now,” Hale called to her.

Zaya looked at Hale just in time to see him interlock his fingers with Pandora. Hale pushed Zaya up the ramp with his gun, and he and Pandora followed behind her.

Inside the bridge, Hale first strapped Zaya into one of the backseats. He checked to make sure the harness was secure, and then he grabbed a thick rope from his backpack. Hale started wrapping the rope around her legs and the chair, working his way upwards.

Before he reached her hands, Pandora came up to them. “Couldn’t you unshackle her hands since you’re tying her to the seat?”

“I guess,” he mumbled.

After Hale freed her wrists from the cuffs, Pandora grabbed a hold on Zaya’s hands. The mark left from the blast Pandora shot at her hands burned.

“Don’t touch it!” Zaya shouted.

“I’m trying to help you. Please be still.” Pandora’s tone was soothing, and Zaya let her guard fall as a result.

Zaya’s hands were in need of first aid care. But Pandora didn’t clean or bandage Zaya’s hands. She clasped Zaya’s hands between hers and closed her eyes.

“What the hell are you doing?” Zaya exclaimed. She wanted to pull her hands away, but oddly enough, Pandora’s touch began to soothe the burns.

A few moments later, Pandora let go.

Zaya gasped. Her hands were spotless.

* * * *

Pandora watched Hale’s eyes blink slower and slower, as he stared out into space at the hyperspace channel. He kept his eyebrows raised to keep his eyes open. She didn’t understand why. He didn’t have to force himself to stay awake because they were in the hyperspace channel with the ship on autopilot. Hale could have slept if he wanted to.

The dark circles under his eyes were now darker. And he began leaning sideways in the pilot chair. Hale closed his eyes and left them that way for a few seconds. Then his body jerked, waking him up.

Pandora reached out to him and stroked the side of his arm. “Hale, you can’t stay up forever.”

“I’m fine,” he grumbled.

“You should go lay down. You don’t have to drive right now.”

Leaning his head back in his chair, he turned her way and grinned sleepily. “Worried about me?”

“You need to sleep.” Pandora rose to her feet and walked to him. She ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his forehead. “Come on.”

He shook his head. “I can’t leave you alone with Zaya.”

Pandora tugged his hands upwards, attempting to pull him out of the chair. “Let’s go. When we land, I’m going to need you. Conscious.”

He huffed and stood to his feet. “I suppose it would be okay.”

“Yes. Zaya and I will be fine.” Pandora pushed him out the bridge and down the hallway. “I can’t look at you like this anymore.”

She hit a switch hanging on the wall and opened the door to the bedroom. Holding his hand tightly, she pulled him inside. The room was the same size of the bedroom on Hale’s old ship. It had the same long viewport on the outer wall. The difference was that this ship had two twin beds, one on each side of the wall. Pandora led Hale to the bed beside the viewport.

She slid her hands up to his shoulders and pushed down. “Sit, Hale.”

With a childish grin, he listened and sat on the bed. He pulled her against him. “Well, you did it.”

“Did what?”

“You got me right where you wanted me the whole time.”

She rolled her eyes. “What do you mean?”

He gestured towards the bed and smiled.

“Right,” she teased. “I think you’re talking about yourself.”

Hale lay back and rested his head on the pillow.“You’re not wrong.”

Lying on his side, Hale made plenty of room for her. He tapped the empty space right next to him. Pandora stepped over to him, then bent down to kiss him. But she kissed the outer edge of his lip instead, purposely teasing him again. He noticed too. And he responded by sitting up and drawing her in for an actual kiss.

She slowly crawled up on the bed without interrupting their kiss. Hale ran his hands down her back and moved so that he was even closer to her. He started to turn over onto her, pressing her into the bed. This was nearly everything she had wanted and dreamed about. But she knew this wasn’t the right time.

Hale had been so adamant about waiting. And now, without a word he was going against everything he had said that day.

The next motion she wanted to make would have brought him so much closer to her. But she held back the urge to give in and ended the kiss.

“What’s wrong,” he answered drowsily.

“You’re tired, Hale. Now, isn’t a good time for this. You’re so tired that I’m unsure if you can make decisions for yourself.” She moved off the bed and stood beside him.

“Pandora,” he sighed. “I just… don’t want to sleep alone.”

“What was happening isn’t sleeping.”

He rubbed his eyes and blinked slowly. He looked as if he was a moment away from drifting into sleep.

Pandora tapped on the pillow. “Lie back down.”

Without any back talk, he obeyed and closed his eyes. Pandora draped the covers over him. She kissed him on the cheek.

“Goodnight, Hale,” she whispered to him.

He smiled with his eyes closed. She couldn’t tell if he was asleep or not. But he looked very comfortable and completely content. As quietly as she could, she left the room.

She walked back to the bridge and sat down again in the copilot seat. Leaning back, she sighed in relief because she wouldn’t have to watch Hale painfully try to stay awake anymore.

“You came back so soon. Weird.”

Pandora jumped. She had forgotten Zaya was on the ship. She leaned over and looked back at Zaya. “What?”

“I mean I figured you two would be— you know—” Zaya smirked.

Pandora crossed her arms, huffing. “What do you want?”

“Two things.”

“Go ahead, I guess,” Pandora answered hesitantly.

Zaya grinned slyly. “Hale’s told you that you’re the only one. Hasn’t he?”

“I know what you’re trying to do. And it’s not going to work,” Pandora retorted, sitting upright again. She refused to look at Zaya’s arrogant smile.

“He told me that too, you know.”

As much as she wanted to believe Zaya was lying and only trying to aggravate her, Pandora couldn’t keep herself from being intrigued. “So you two were together?”

“We were… for awhile, years ago. Until I found out I wasn’t the only woman he slept with on a regular basis.”

Pandora’s heart raced furiously. She knew what kind of man Hale was. She knew before she had fallen so deeply for him. But imagining him with other women still angered her. “Don’t think for a moment that what you say will change how I see him. I know who he is.”

“You’re a fool then to think that he’s changed. He’s not a good person like you. Has he even told you what he actually does for a living?”

Pandora rose from her chair and paced over to Zaya. She stood right in front of her and glared into her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Zaya laughed in her face. “You’re a smart girl. So don’t be stupid. Have you slept with him yet?”

Pandora turned her head. “It’s not your business.”

“Well, don’t. Or stop. You’ll get more attached. He won’t.”

“Don’t tell me what I can or can’t do!” Pandora shouted, her face turning red.

“I’m just warning you. Obviously, there’s nothing I can do to stop you.”

Pandora glared sharply at Zaya before turning away. “I know what I’m getting into.”

“Does Hale?”

Pandora paused. “Excuse me?”

“I mean, you’re not human, obviously.” Zaya’s tone was edged with distain.

“Hale knows.” She smiled, thinking of him.

“You healed my hands completely. Aren’t you afraid he might be keeping you around for your powers.”

“He appreciates my gift. He’s never really made a big deal about it.”

Pandora turned her head slightly sideways to see Zaya’s jealous frown. Pandora thought it refreshing to see Zaya jealous for some reason. She couldn’t quite explain why she found it satisfying.

“You can’t change him, Pandora. Love doesn’t work like that. Hale doesn’t even know what love is.”

“I’m not trying to change him. I know that I can’t. But I’m not so sure that he’s still the Hale you knew all those years ago.”