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Garin sprinted across an intersection, finally reaching the hangar district.
He didn’t want to prolong this hell. He wanted the new start. He wanted the new life. He wanted to make it right. Ever since he’d left the apartment, things had started to feel right. They slotted into place like never before.
And Garin wanted to finish the job.
He wanted Sazahk with him. He wanted to fix what he’d broken that morning when he’d walked away. He wanted to see that rich brown bloom over Sazahk’s cheeks, that brown that he finally understood, that brown that maybe he’d always understood.
The brown meant Sazahk loved him. Sazahk loved him, and Garin wanted to love him back.
Garin burst through the entryway to the diplomat’s hangar, ruffling some dignitaries’ robes as he passed.
Sazahk’s ship had docked here. Here, just behind the large, gaudy one.
But Garin skidded around a corner to an empty lot.
No. No, no, no, no, damn it. Why had he left that morning? Why? Why had he delayed and dodged instead of having that conversation with his mother days ago? Garin pushed his hands into his hair and pulled. And now Sazahk had flown away with his heart broken, and that was Garin’s doing.
He stopped on the spot Sazahk’s ship had been and spun around, in denial and searching for something that might have delayed them.
He spotted it in a flash of motion.
The ship he already recognized on sight rolled to the exit.
Garin ran for it, and as he approached, it slowed, blocking the line of ships behind it. It stopped, and despite the traffic jam, lowered its gangway.
A flurry of movement appeared at the entrance before the ramp touched down.
“Garin, what in the world are you doing? The human skeletal system is no match for the wheel of a spacefaring vehicle. This area is off limits to pedestrians for extremely rational and necessary reasons!” Sazahk stormed toward him, red high on his cheeks.
“Sazahk.” Garin slowed to a stop before the other man, his heart pounding in his chest.
“Recklessness was never a trait I associated with you.” Sazahk waved his hands about. “What in the world has gone wrong enough to precipitate this behavior?”
“Sazahk.” Garin gasped for air after his sprint. He struggled to form and evaluate words, so he simply confessed what he should have confessed a week ago. “I wanted you, too.”
“What?” Sazahk dropped his hands and eyed Garin as though assessing his soundness of mind. “This morning I understood that to be a present tense statement.”
“It is!” Garin nodded frantically, bending over and resting his palms on his knees as he panted. “It is, but…” He caught his breath and straightened up. “But you told me that when you got your implant removed, you wanted me. And when I was bleeding out in that server room, I wanted you, too.”
Sazahk blinked, the fury draining from his expression. “You thought of me?”
Garin nodded and reached for him. “I regretted how we left things. I regretted not telling you how I felt. I regretted that I’d never see you again.”
Sazahk caught his hand and tangled their fingers, his brow still furrowed in confusion. “But you did see me again.”
“But my point is that my life was almost over, and my biggest regret was that you hadn’t been in it.” Garin brought Sazahk’s hand to his face and rested his forehead on his knuckles. He took a deep breath, then kissed those knuckles and met Sazahk’s eyes. “I don’t want to make that mistake now.”
Sazahk’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. “Is that meant to be an explanation for your brash behavior?”
Garin stepped closer to him. “Take me with you.”
Sazahk raised his eyebrows, but cautious understanding dawned in his dark eyes. “On my ship?”
Garin caught his other hand. “On your ship. Into the Dead Zone. Wherever you go for the rest of time, take me with you.”
“What about your family?” Sazahk bit his lip but didn’t step back when Garin closed the gap between them, pressing their foreheads together. “You’re responsible for them.”
Garin shook his head. “I’m responsible for myself. They don’t need me, not anymore. But Sazahk…” Garin cupped Sazahk’s jaw and stroked his cheek with his thumb. “I need you.”
