Cael Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  The Story Continues...

  Available Now

  About the Author

  CAEL

  Book Two of the Intergalactic Soulmates Series

  Annabelle Rex

  COPYRIGHT © 2020 ANNABELLE REX

  ALL rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental.

  Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.

  Chapter 1

  ASHA WAS DOZING WHEN SHE WAS yanked out from underneath the vehicle she’d been working on. Startled awake, heart hammering, she squinted against the bright overhead lights up into Mal’s grizzled face.

  “Do I need to dig out my shotgun?” he said.

  Asha frowned. Sleep lingered in her brain and she couldn’t quite compute. Mal pointed in the direction of the office. Asha sat up and groaned when she saw Daneel pacing back and forth inside.

  I am too tired for this today…

  “No,” she said. “Give me five minutes, I’ll get rid of him.”

  She stood up, taking off her gloves and stuffing them in her overall pockets, running her fingers through her unkempt hair.

  “I’m happy to have words, Asha,” Mal said. “If he ain’t listening.”

  “Right,” Asha said, walking round the side of the car to the wing mirror. “Because that would involve actual words?”

  She bent down, checking her face in the mirror. She was checking for any stray drips of oil that might have fallen on her, but her gaze snagged on the pallor of her normally sun-kissed skin, the dark bags around her eyes.

  “Is that a no?” Mal said, his voice a growl.

  “We don’t want the police sniffing round because you put the fear of God in him.”

  Mal grunted. “I’m not actually going to shoot him.”

  “You got a licence for that shotgun?” Asha didn’t wait for the answer. She knew it was ‘no’. “I can handle Daneel. He’s just one of those guys who needs to be told a few times before the message sinks in to his thick head.”

  “Hm,” Mal said. “Maybe if I crack his skull a little bit, it will sink in quicker.” He folded his arms, watching her attempt to straighten herself out. “You look like shit, kid. You not sleeping or something?”

  Mal scowled in Daneel’s direction, but it wasn’t her ex giving her sleepless nights. Asha had been out into the small hours doing courier jobs, finally tumbling in to bed at four am, before getting up at eight to start her shift at the garage.

  “You’re charming, you know that?” Asha said, straightening her shoulders and walking with purpose across the shop floor, weaving in and out of the cars.

  She arrived at the customer facing office, pushing the door open. The rattle of it made Daneel turn from the poster about regular oil changes he’d been staring at. He’d obviously made some effort, slicking his hair back and wearing some smart clothes - a shirt beneath a grey v-necked jumper, his chinos clean and crisply ironed. This was the ‘going for a night out’ Daneel she used to find attractive, but now just left a bad taste in her mouth.

  “What do you want?” she said, letting the office door swing shut behind her with a clang as she folded her arms across her chest.

  “Don’t be like that straight away, Asha,” Daneel said. “I want to talk to you. You weren’t answering my calls.”

  He had a nice voice, Asha could give him that. Deep and smooth, almost musical. It had a plaintive note in it, though, which didn’t do him any favours.

  “I wasn’t answering your calls… Is that not a big enough hint that I don’t want to talk to you?”

  “Asha, baby…”

  “You don’t get to call me that any more, Daneel.” Asha cut him off quick. She had no interest in letting him down gently or pandering to his feelings.

  “Jesus, Ash, do you have to make everything so difficult?”

  “What, you think you deserve things to be easy? You think I’ll just roll over and take you back if you dress nicely enough? We’re done, Daneel, it’s not happening.”

  He marched across the room and grabbed her by the arm. Asha didn’t think he meant to do it in an aggressive way, but that was how it came across. She yanked her arm out of his grip, stepping back from him.

  “Don’t touch me,” she said.

  “Asha!” Daneel let his frustration get into his voice.

  A knock sounded against the window. Asha turned to see Mal stood behind the glass, arms folded, glaring daggers at Daneel. Daneel glared back at him, but he did take a step back, lowering his arms to his side. Mal nodded, then turned away, giving them some semblance of privacy again.

  “Can we go somewhere else?” Daneel said, his voice more level.

  “No. I’m at work, in case you hadn’t noticed. And I don’t want to go anywhere with you. You had your shot and you blew it. That’s on you. You have to live with the consequences of your actions.”

  Daneel shook his head. “Of course, my actions. That’s all that matters to you, isn’t it? Wouldn’t want to turn the mirror on yourself any time.”

  Asha had to fight not to roll her eyes. “It was you who was sleeping with someone else on the side, wasn’t it? I don’t think I’m misremembering the facts here.”

  “Asha, you pushed me away.” He shook his head with a sudden aggression. “Not even that. You never let me in. You picked me up when you wanted me and dropped me when you didn’t.”

  “I don’t recall promising you my unconditional love.”

  “No,” he gave a bitter laugh. “But people in relationships - normal people in relationships - are usually looking to give it.”

  “Perhaps you’ll have better luck with your piece on the side.”

  Daneel scowled. “There we are, the walls are still up and functioning. You know, trying to be with you is like trying to be with an iceberg. Any fool who gets too close ends up shipwrecked.”

  “If this is supposed to win me over…”

  “No, I can see that’s not going to happen,” Daneel said. “And maybe that’s for the best. Maybe I’m better off not being with an emotionally closed off bitch.”

  And with that, he stormed out of the main entrance, letting the door bang shut behind him.

  Asha gave an irritated huff. She wanted to scream and rage, but frankly, she didn’t have the energy, and she had another two hours of her shift to do yet.

  Mal was waiting on the other side of the office door, his long frame propped up against one of the cars they had in. An old beater - the sort of car you could lean on and not incur the owner’s wrath. Almost all the cars they worked on were beaters. Asha kind of liked that, though.

  “I don’t think he’ll be back,” she said.

  “He better not be,” Mal said. “Next time, I’ll leave you snoozing underneath the car and have words with him myself.”

  Asha blushed. “Sorry, Mal.”

  Her boss just shrugged. “Told you - you look like shit. Figured you needed it.” His eyes narrowed as he watched her, arms folded across his chest. “Something you need to tell me, kid?”

  The temptation to tell him everything was strong. Mal had always looked out for her and Nell. Hell, he’d trained Asha up, given her this job.
The only good thing she had going for her.

  But she knew what his answers to her problems would be, and she couldn’t go there.

  “Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you,” she said, shifting her weight from side to side. God, she hated having to do this. “Nell’s got a tuition payment coming up. I said I’d help her out with it, but I’m a little short. Could you advance me my pay this month?”

  The lies slipped out, practiced. She’d had this conversation in her head so many times.

  “I could just loan Nell the money,” Mal said.

  Asha shook her head. “No need. We’ve already figured out how she’s going to pay me back when she’s qualified. There’s no point in complicating things by adding someone else into the mix.”

  Asha tried to keep calm as she waited to see if this logic would land. After a moment, Mal nodded.

  “I’ll sort it for you at the end of the day.”

  “I love how guys always find a way to make it our fault they can’t keep their dick in their pants,” Marta said as Asha walked from Mal’s garage to the nearest tube station, a roll of notes tucked into her jacket’s inside pocket.

  “He called me an iceberg.”

  “What, beautiful, dangerous, lots more going on under the surface than is immediately apparent?”

  “I think he meant cold and horrible, but thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” Marta said sweetly.

  “Do you think Daneel has a point?” Asha asked as she cut across a side road, pressing the phone close to her ear so she could hear over the London traffic. “Do you think I’m emotionally closed off?”

  “Ehn,” Marta said.

  “Yes, then.”

  Marta sighed. “I don’t think you should be running back to Daneel and begging for whatever scraps he’s prepared to give you. The guy’s an asshole, I’ve always said so.”

  “But…? There’s a ‘but’ coming.”

  “But…” Marta exaggerated the word, drawing it out. “I think maybe when a better guy comes along you’ll still be too scared to open your heart to him.”

  Asha almost laughed. “It’s not fear. Just bitter experience. And you? Really? You are suggesting I should open my heart to a guy? Mrs ‘I don’t have room for a man in my life, especially not when I need another server’.”

  Marta laughed. “Hey, I would never leave my house again if I had the option. I’ve got the internet. I’ve got Mouse when I need company. Being on my own suits me.”

  “I’m just fine on my own,” Asha said, glancing at her watch.

  Dammit, she was going to be late. Sorting out the advance with Mal after her shift had taken just a little bit too long.

  “Of course you are,” Marta said without hesitation. “But if I want to have a little bedroom fun with someone I tell them they’re getting as long as it takes to scratch an itch and then we’re parting ways. You were trying - in your cold, iceberg-y way - to date Daneel.”

  Asha snorted. “What and I’m so bad at it that I drove him into the arms of another woman?”

  “Hey, that’s on him, not you. Like I said, the guy’s an asshole. If he had a problem, he should have talked to you about it like an adult. Good riddance to him. I’m just saying, maybe the next time you meet someone whose clothes you want to take off, you might want to consider defrosting a little bit.”

  Asha grimaced. “What’s the point? It always ends badly anyway.”

  “Well, if you go into it with that attitude it definitely will,” Marta said, laughing. “Look - you’re twenty-three years old, it’s not like you need to be settling down. But you do have a type, Ash. I haven’t met a guy you’ve fancied who wasn’t an asshole. Ever considered that you go for that kind of guy because you know they’re bad news? So you don’t have to risk investing emotionally?”

  This analysis of her love life smarted more than a little.

  “They haven’t all been assholes,” she tried to protest.

  “Uh, James?”

  “Okay, fair enough, he was.”

  “Callum? Max? Antonio?”

  “What was wrong with Antonio?”

  “Absolutely nothing - physically. I could have looked at him all day. Problem was, so could he.”

  Asha waited for Marta to finish cackling to herself.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be my best friend? Shouldn’t you be telling me I’m wonderful and Daneel’s awful and I should come round and drink tequila until I’ve forgotten all about him?”

  “That’s what friends do. I’m your best friend. I’m the girl who says ‘I’ll bring the shovel’ when you say you want to kill him. But I’ll also tell you the truth. Always.”

  Asha laughed. “Ugh, maybe I should just avoid guys for the next few months. I haven’t got the time or the energy for a relationship. Not until I’ve finished paying off Crastor, anyway.”

  “Five months is quite the dry spell…”

  But Asha could only think that five months didn’t sound like all that long. Five more months of working herself to the bone to make the payments and she’d be free.

  “You got the cash for tomorrow?” Marta asked.

  “That’s what I was actually calling to tell you. Mal agreed to advance me this month’s pay, so I’m good for tomorrow. But I’ll have to hustle to make next month’s payment and be able to, you know, eat.”

  “Eating is an essential, can’t really cut that one out.” Asha could hear Marta tapping away at her keyboard. “Three courier jobs on the board at the moment. I’ve put you forwards for all of them.”

  Only three? She’d never make her next payment if that was all the extra work she could get.

  “Did that asshole from last week pay up yet?” Asha asked as she skipped down the steps onto the Underground platform. The phone connection crackled as it switched to the Underground wifi, which offered substandard connectivity at best.

  “Nope,” Marta said. “I’ve lodged the complaint with the forum. He won’t be able to show his face again until he squares with you.”

  Which didn’t help her much when she needed the money now. And she’d trekked all the way across the city for that job.

  Asha got her first job on the forum for being Marta’s friend, and had earned a reputation over several weeks as someone who was quick and efficient. The courier jobs were easy money, really. You picked up a package from one drop point and took it to another. The contents were always illegal, but Marta knew which of the forum members were into the softer stuff - the party drugs and banned VR sims - and Asha only took jobs from them. She didn’t want gun trafficking on her conscience. The packages landed in the country and were transported through several different check points, each courier only doing one leg of the journey. That way, if any one person was caught, the only thing they knew was where they picked the parcel up from and where they were dropping it to. And because they were just couriers, they had plausible deniability if the police ever stopped them.

  Just doing my job. Just earning some extra on the side.

  She needed a whole lot extra on the side right now.

  Asha felt the waft of hot air coming from the Underground tunnel, breathing in the burnt metal smell of it.

  “Train’s coming,” she said. “I’ll call you later.”

  Mikey was the only kid left on the playground when Asha arrived twenty minutes later. He was flanked by two members of staff who both gave their best teacher glares to Asha as she walked up. Mikey just beamed at her, running forwards and wrapping his arms around her legs.

  “Sorry I’m late. Delayed at work. Trains. Nightmare,” Asha said.

  The teacher on the left continued to stare at her through half lidded eyes. “Miss Santos, if you aren’t able to be on time to pick Mikey up, then you need to call ahead and have him put in the after school club. It is not appropriate for a child his age to be waiting on the playground alone.”

  “I know,” Asha said, turning away from them and ushering Mikey with her, “and I’m really v
ery sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  “Please see that it doesn’t,” the teacher said.

  Asha waited until they were no longer on the same street as the school before she turned to Mikey.

  “Are all the teachers in your school witches, kiddo?”

  Mikey cackled. He always laughed with his whole body, tipping his head back and clapping his hands together.

  “You shouldn’t be late for school, Aunty Asha,” he said after a moment.

  “Yeah, I know. Or the teachers will turn me in to a frog.”

  He laughed again, howling with delight at the thought of her turned into a frog.

  “You’d be my pet,” he said, miming a frog hopping with one of his little hands. “I’d keep you in my drawer.”

  “With your smelly socks?” she said, pulling a face.

  “My socks don’t smell!”

  It wasn’t a long walk back to Nell’s house, even accounting for Mikey’s little legs. Asha unlocked the door with her spare key and let them both in.

  “Get changed,” she called after him as he ran upstairs, while she emptied his lunchbox and washed it all up ready.

  “Homework,” she muttered to herself, checking his bag. Nell would kill her if the homework wasn’t done. Nell was already going to kill her for being late picking Mikey up.

  A sheet had been tucked inside his reading diary. Asha plucked it out and read the instructions.

  “Draw a Union Jack.”

  “Who’s Union Jack?” Mikey asked, reappearing, dressed haphazardly in a dirty pair of trousers and a t-shirt that was both back to front and inside out.

  “It’s not a person,” Asha said, pulling the t-shirt off him, righting it, then putting it back on. “It’s a flag.”

  “Oh,” Mikey said, confused. “Why does it have a name?”

  “I don’t know, kiddo. Here.” She picked up Nell’s tablet, closing down the medical text book and opening up the internet to find a picture of the flag.

  Mikey frowned. “Bo-o-oring,” he said. “That’s easy to draw.”

  “Well why don’t you draw Union Jack the person then?” Asha said, sitting down next to him.