Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“Ah-ha I knew it! I knew I’d find you like this—you sinful little whore!”
It was Goodie Tight-azz, her eyes narrowed with rage and disapproval.
“Oh!” Andi gasped and sat up, trying to cover herself.
This time Cade didn’t push her back down. The big Hybrid seemed to realize something was wrong because he allowed Andi to get up and reach for her clothes while he growled warningly at the landlady.
“Out!” Goodie Tight-azz was raving. “I want the two of you out of my house right now!”
“But…but it’s almost nighttime!” Andi gasped, looking out of the window, where the dusk was falling rapidly.
Were the days on Zo’rath Three shorter than she was used to or had she simply lost track of time while Cade went down on her? She didn’t know but she did know she didn’t want to be out on the streets in the freezing night with roaming packs of wild Manimals around!
But it was clear their landlady wasn’t backing down.
“I said, OUT!” she shrieked in a voice that would have done Mother Strict-ezz proud. From a pocket of her shapeless brown dress, she pulled out a kind of weapon.
Andi didn’t know what it was, but it had an ugly snub-nosed muzzle and there was a greenish glow inside the barrel. Was it some kind of plasma rifle? She certainly didn’t want to find out!
“All right!” she said, raising her hands above her head, though she was only half dressed. She was wearing Cade’s uniform shirt and it was only partially buttoned, but now didn’t seem to be the time to linger over her wardrobe.
Cade seemed to sense that they were being threatened because he suddenly stepped in front of her, a rumbling growl rising in his thick throat.
“You get that Manimal to stand down or I swear I’ll shoot him!” Goodie Tight-azz shouted.
Andi’s heart jumped into her throat. She couldn’t let anything happen to Cade!
“No, please!” She pushed her way in front of him. “Please—we’re leaving now. Just stop waving that…that thing at us and he won’t threaten you. He’s just trying to protect me—that’s all!”
Goodie Tight-azz lowered the plasma rifle—if that was what it was—a fraction of an inch.
“Fine—I’m going to back out and you follow. Go to the front door and get out quick and I might not shoot you—though you certainly deserve it with your whoring ways!”
Andi knew there was no sense in trying to defend herself or explain that Cade had been determined to have her and there was nothing she could do to stop him.
“All right,” she said and began gathering her other possessions, but when she picked up her money pouch, Goodie Tight-azz waved her weapon again.
“I don’t think so, Missy—you can leave that right where it is. Whatever you’ve got in there should be enough to pay for me for my trouble.”
“I’ve already paid you enough for a week’s stay and ten times as much as a new door for the bathroom costs!” Andi said angrily. “You can’t take all my money!”
“Seems like that’s what I’m doing, though. You just leave everything right there—all of it.” Goodie Tight-azz leveled her weapon at Cade’s broad, bare chest again. “Or would you rather I shoot your Manimal? I can take out his heart at this range—burn a hole right through him.”
“No, no!” Andi gasped, dropping the money purse and everything else back on the bed. “Please, don’t do that—you can have it! But can’t you just let me take out two silver pieces to get a ticket on the Moon shuttle?” she begged.
Goodie Tight-azz waved her weapon again.
“Leave it—all of it,” she snapped. “And get out of my house quick before I shoot you both and bury you in my backyard. You’re foreigners, you know—ain’t nobody would miss you!”
Andi felt sick—after meeting so many of the women who ran this town and realizing that most of them were in the New Order cult, she had no doubt that Goodie Tight-azz was right. Nobody would ask where the two off-worlders that nobody cared about had gone to. Their only chance was to get out of here quickly—before their former landlady shot them.
“Fine,” she said evenly. “We’re going—just let us leave.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling you to do—get out!”
Goodie Tight-azz backed slowly away and Andi followed, making certain to keep herself between the weapon and Cade. She didn’t want the big Hybrid to make a false move and get blown away just because he wasn’t in his right mind and didn’t fully understand the situation.
The minute they were through the curving hallway, Andi headed for the living area and the front door. But before they could reach it, Flow-da came out with her long brown robe wrapped around her.
“Andi?” she gasped, her eyes going wide. “Goodie Tight-azz? What’s going on?”
“I caught these two fornicating, that’s what’s going on!” Goodie Tight-azz snapped. “So now they’re leaving!”