“So you’re a big giant pest.” I pinched his arm and he laughed again. Yep, I was sticking with the making Cooper laugh all the time plan. His laughter made the long minutes move faster.
“Ready?” He nodded toward the door. “Worst case scenario, she throws us out and we have to run for our lives from the authorities.”
“Run. Waddle. Same difference, I suppose.” I stepped toward the door. “I guess this is where I sat and waited for Nolan while he did whatever in there. I brought him here to lose his virginity and I waited outside. What kind of woman does that?”
He whispered in my ear. “Melissa Alexander.”
Like that was supposed to answer anything. “Wes sometimes calls me Mel. C.J. just M. Does anyone ever use any other nickname? Missy, maybe?”
“I think you’d probably break their arms,” a woman said when she opened the door, and then stood in the doorway looking at us. She was tall, with short hair which she’d had cut like a boy’s. It was brown. High cheekbones framed her long face. But staring at her blue eyes I saw my own reflected back at me.
This woman was my family. According to Cooper, she wasn’t speaking to me—except of course she just had—and she might have answers to questions I desperately needed answered. My throat threatened to close. I’d never been more keenly aware that I was having a moment of importance than I was right then. What if she threw us out? What if she didn’t know? Or she lied? Would I be able to tell?
“Melissa, this is Jayne Alexander, your father’s sister, your aunt.” Cooper ran a finger down the side of my face bringing me back to the present and away from the what-ifs. “Jayne, this is Melissa. I’m introducing you because the rumors are true. She’s had her mind wiped. The Melissa you knew is not presently with us. You need to meet this one, as I did. But I think you’ll find the essential elements are still there. All the best of them.”
I knocked his finger away. “Stop. You’re making me uncomfortable.”
“I wondered how long it would be until you came to me. When you shot that asshole last month, I fully expected you to come here. Fight or no fight, I’m your aunt. I would have saved you from the authorities. When you didn’t, I did some asking. That’s when I found out about the memory wipe. Glad to see you have Cooper, considering what’s happened to the others.”
The prince whispered in my ear. “Told you she knows things.”
I followed her inside. The main entrance led to a living area, with dark couches and low music playing in the background. Upstairs, a woman moaned load enough for us to hear her. I would have been horrified to hear it when I’d first woken up from Master’s. Amazing how things could change. I’d been having sex with a near stranger who was my husband—one of six—only half an hour earlier.
Cooper stayed close behind me until we eventually ended up in a sitting room, which contained two couches, both of them a dark maroon, and a coffee table that looked like black onyx. My aunt wore a long dress that matched the couches.
I must have been staring because she put her hands on her hips. “You used to tell me this place looked like maroon had come to die and me along with it.”
Cooper laughed, sitting on one of the couches and putting his feet up on the coffee table.
“I wouldn’t say such a thing now.” I sat down next to Cooper, keeping some space between us. The ease with which he felt at home in this room put me on guard. I’d trusted him to bring me here, shared my body with him, slept on his chest. So why did his comfort with my aunt make me so nervous?
I stared at his profile. He was totally at ease and I couldn’t figure out how to sit, where to look, or how I was supposed to behave around this woman. Not to mention, he’d spoken about me in front of her like I wasn’t even there.
“Let me explain why we’ve come to you now.” He spoke as soon as my aunt sat down.
“No.” I shook my head. It would be easy to let Cooper run the show. He was clearly used to it and my being without my memories—a condition I was in thanks to him—made it too simple for me to be passive. “I’m not ready yet. Cooper, I’d like to please speak to my aunt alone. Would you mind waiting outside? I’d appreciate it.”
I tried to stay polite but it didn’t change my meaning. He raised his eyebrows at my statement. “What?”
“I want to speak to her alone.”
Cooper dropped his feet from the table and sat up straight. “Why?”
I matched how he sat, leaning forward. “I decided not to tell you whatever my secrets were the last time. I need to know why that was before I divulge them now. I am, how did you put it outside, fundamentally the same material.”
My aunt whistled through her teeth. “Wow. Better do what she says. My niece as she used to be would have shoved you out the door. This one bites with her teeth instead. I like her backbone. Leave us, Cooper. One of the girls can make you a sandwich.”
Cooper’s thoughts were hidden behind his mask of passivity as he stood. I could see heat brewing in his gaze. He didn’t like what I’d just done.
I didn’t care.
When he’d left the room, my aunt turned to me. “I swore I would never end up in this situation with you again. Things have, obviously, changed.”
“Before we dive into all that, can I ask some very basic questions?” I shifted my feet on the floor. It was harder and harder to get comfortable, the bigger I got.
She nodded. “Of course.”
“You’re my father’s sister. Is that right?”
She leaned on her hand. “Correct. Your mother, Rita, your father, and I all grew up children of the rebellion. Back then we weren’t calling ourselves Nomads. We used to see each other when the ships would dock for supplies. Not unlike you and your C.J.”
“And now you do this.” I waved my hand around the room. “In full sight of the Nobles without having your mind erased.”
She laughed. “I’d like to see them try. The Nobles don’t own Truest. The day they do I’ll pick up and go. For now, I pay the bills, help when I can, and I don’t have to answer to my husbands anymore. Unlike you, I made poor choices. They died in a battle with the Nobles. I lived. It seemed time to make a change.”
“And now my father, uncles, and my mother have taken five of my husbands captive, which it seems you know something about.”
Jayne sat forward, showing more cleavage than I wanted to see. I deliberately kept my gaze on her eyes. “I need to stop you there. Your mother and three of your uncles are involved in this. Your father and two other uncles have been gone for fifteen years. You haven’t seen him since you were seven.”
This was brand new information. “How did he die?”
“Oh, he’s not dead.” I could tell Jayne liked delivering this information. She sat up straighter and the volume of her voice increased. “He went to Earth. With two of your uncles. Your mother threw him out. There was a big amount of drama involved. Fifteen years later, I can almost guarantee it’s why your mother has your husbands.”
Had the woman lost her mind? “I…Earth? The blue planet humans left two thousand years ago? That Earth?”
Humanity had lived through nuclear war but our planet hadn’t fared so well. One generation later, we’d had no choice but to leave for the skies. Three generations on space ships before we’d discovered our galaxy with an abundance of life-supporting planets.
She nodded. “There’s so much you don’t know.”
I was so sick to death of not knowing. “Then I suppose it’s a good thing I have you to explain it.”
“The Nobles are winning. They always will. They keep us running, keep us poor, keep us desperate. Your father is brilliant. Smarter than Wes and Dane combined.”
I appreciated she loved her brother but I highly doubted that.
“He thought the best course of action was a return to earth. With our new ships, our new tech, we could zap the black holes and be back there in no time. Your mother was only interested in Earth in as much as it could advance her interests here. They
finally came to an agreement—well, maybe that’s not the right word.”
“What is then?” Cooper’s voice echoed in the room and I jumped. He’d left…hadn’t he? Had he been there the whole time? His smirk spoke volumes. “I’m sneaky and pushy, Mine. I don’t get thrown from rooms I don’t want to leave. Got tired of hiding in the corner.” He walked over and sat down next to me on the couch. “Sorry I pissed you off earlier. Doesn’t mean you don’t need me here.”
Jayne glared at him like she wanted to put a knife through his eyeball, which made my own temper immediately cool. I could get mad at Cooper, but she didn’t get to.
I strung our hands together. “Please continue. The right word?”
“She had a proverbial gun to his head. Your father wanted one thing—you. It was his most desperate desire to take you with him. She made you vanish.” Jayne looked away as though suddenly staring at me caused her pain.
I made eye contact with Cooper but he didn’t seem to know any more of this than I did. “Where did I go?”
“To this day, I’m not sure.” Her voice broke. “He was so despondent when he left. Then you reappeared. They’d made an agreement. Your mother would keep you here, keep you with her, until your father got back with what she wanted. Then she’d agree to give you to him.”
Cooper rubbed his eyes. “You’re a grown woman. You don’t just get given to anyone.”
“Thanks for noticing that.” I shook my head. “What does she want?”
“Nuclear weapons.”
Those two words were so horrifying my head spun even hearing them. The mind erase took a lot from me but not my understanding about what those weapons could do. “Why bother going to all the trouble? They have planets here mining uranium. She can make her own bombs.”
“If only it were that simple. The Nobles have a hard hand on their uranium. The rebellion can get to many things, but never that. There is no way to balance the scales. When we left earth, we left the nuclear weapons there. He had to come back with the old Earth weapons or make some more from there if it wasn’t feasible to use the old ones.”
I stood, my heart beating too fast for me to stay still. “So my father delivers the bombs and she gives me over?”
“If only Rita could be trusted. She doesn’t have any intention of letting you go with your dad. She has plans for you here—ones that don’t include your husbands. You’ve always known that. The last time she saw you she put a bomb in your heart. I’m going to assume you know about that despite them making you forget everything. If my brother tries to take you, boom. If you try to tell him, same result. She gets her bombs, he doesn’t get you.”
Thank goodness Cooper spoke because my ability to communicate had vanished. I was a pawn in a deal with nuclear bombs?
“What plans didn’t involve us?”
When Jayne answered it was to me directly. “Your mother plans to invalidate your marriages. Three generals in the rebellion are to be your husbands.”
There were still two very large pieces missing from the puzzle. “Why would I have done this? Why marry the six of them if I knew this was happening? And why take them now? Why not just make off with me?”
“The answer to your second question is you have a piece of information in your head she needs. My brother isn’t stupid. He sent you some coordinates recently. It’s where he waits with the bombs. If you don’t show up and get them, Rita will lose her chance. Taking the five of them forces your hand. You have to go get your memory back. Considering how she freaked out when she found out you lost it and didn’t have the coordinates, I’m surprised she didn’t move sooner. You have no choice. And as for your first question, think about who your husbands are. Who would you pick if you needed to defy an order you didn’t want to follow? Who are the six people in the world who could win in that battle?”
“Then why was she running away?” Cooper stood. “Why drug us and jump on a shuttle? Why not tell us you were in trouble? Why get pregnant?”
“Those aren’t answers I can tell you.” Jayne shook her head. “We weren’t talking by then. When you wouldn’t release my brother’s coordinates even to me, I was done with you.”
She looked away either because she was still so angry with me for not wanting to tell her where my father was or she was ashamed. Either way, I knew what had to be done.
“Auntie.” She turned at my use of the endearment. “I can’t get onto The Bridge to get my memory back. Is there anywhere else in the universe I can go? Another machine?”
She held up one finger. “Cooper.”
He winced. “I didn’t even think about it. But, yes, the Nobles stole Dane’s original prototype years ago. There is a memory restorer on Ochoa, too. Doesn’t solve the no doctor problem, though.”
“First thing’s first. I guess you’re taking me home.” I tried to make light of it. If nothing else was clear, I had to get into that machine. There were nuclear warheads, a missing father, and still unanswered questions to manage. I wasn’t getting my guys back if I didn’t find out what my mother wanted and then how I could give it to her.
“Melissa.” My aunt’s voice was soft. “I failed you by throwing you out. By fighting with you. I won’t again. If I can help you, I will.”
I nodded my thanks and walked next to Cooper. He was silent and that worried me as much as anything else. We were halfway into the square of the space station before he finally voiced his thoughts.
“I can’t believe all that has been going on and you never said a word.” He spoke, finally, without looking at me.
The screen changed in the center of the square. It was my image again, the one I’d grown to hate more than anything. There I was, from some day before I’d been pregnant, before I had run. My hair was shorter, my face fuller, my eyes…
“I’m Melissa Fucking Alexander.” The image of me from the past proudly proclaimed. I hated the phrase and so, it seemed, did all my husbands. But, this time I could barely focus on what I’d said. No, it was my eyes holding my attention.
“Look at me, Cooper. I was so lost, so terrified, so utterly desperate. Why didn’t I tell you? Why did I keep this to myself? You would have helped me. Wes would have come to the same discovery he did this time and blocked the wireless on the bomb.” Or at least I hoped he had made that happen, because I couldn’t exactly ask him. “Why was I so terrified?”
What had gotten so bad I’d opted to abandon all of them? I was going to know the answers soon. One way or the other, I’d run out of other choices.
Chapter 3
Hello, again
WE sat together on the Artemis. Neither of us had spoken yet but we would have to soon. Cooper swiveled in the pilot’s chair. “It’s weird to be back. Or at least to be here and not have any of the others here. I keep expecting Wes or Dane to come in with some idea they need your approval for.”
I shook my head. “They didn’t need my go ahead the last couple of weeks. More like I needed theirs.”
“Nuclear bombs, plots spanning decades.” He shook his head. “And then there’s you.”
I braced myself. He had every right to be angry, even if I couldn’t remember doing the crimes he the right to be pissed about. “I’m the biggest mess of the whole thing.”
Cooper got up and moved until he stood in front of me. He dropped to his knees. “When we were crashing to our deaths on Roberts-Five, I thought I’d never get to tell you what I needed to say.”
“Which was what?” Cooper on his knees was a disconcerting sight. The prince of the realm didn’t seem like he should be kneeling to anyone—especially me.
“I love you. Melissa-mine, you make terrible decisions, big-awful ones. Then sometimes you make great ones. I don’t know why you didn’t share your pain with us. I know you had your reasons. This can all end now. I can take you somewhere, keep you safe, until the baby comes. I’ll go to The Bridge, negotiate with your mother, and see about getting the guys back. I can’t offer her nuclear bombs but I bet I can come up wit
h something she wants.”
His offer was sweet but it made me want to throw up. “I’m not built like that. Maybe if Geoff had never gotten me off Master’s, I’d be happy to go along with whatever my husband wanted…”
He interrupted, taking my hand. “You know that was going to be me. I cut the deal to keep you alive. You had to be mind erased but you were coming to me. Everyone knew it.”
“Then I would have been happy for you to make all my decisions. Only that didn’t happen because you made it possible for Geoff to find me. I need to be me. Starting with you teaching me how to pilot this vessel better. Can you do that?”
He nodded once. “Come on.”
The next week as we travelled to Ochoa together, I found out exactly why I loved Cooper. For being raised in utter luxury, he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, and considering how little I knew about running Artemis, he more than pulled his weight. He was also a natural born teacher. By the time we got to our destination, I could manage things pretty well if I had to. It also turned out he could grow plants—a skill he said he hadn’t had until the day I took him aboard the first time. We discovered I love vegetables, and they had become a staple in my diet, thanks to Cooper.
My nights, lying in his arms, were spent dreaming of the others. Strange images which might or might not have been memories. Geoff playing the guitar while he leaned against a log on a planet where, when I looked up, I saw two moons. C.J. feeding me chocolate across a table in a fancy restaurant. We were both dressed in clothes I’d never seen before. He wore a tie and I was actually in a dress. Dane holding my hand while we walked down cobblestone streets, and he talked while I listened. Wes and I in a hot air balloon staring down at a rainbow of colors on the ground below during some kind of festival. Nolan carrying me on his back through some woods, neither of us talking, not needing to.
I didn’t think we really had simple memories together—I doubted any of them had really happened. Where were my guys? Had they been hurt?
It was that thought that fueled me the morning we reached Ochoa. I hadn’t seen them in over a week and I had no idea if they were alive or dead.