Truehearts & The Escape From Pirate Moon Jake Macklem (classic romance novels TXT) 📖

She looked up, distant and confused, until her eyes focused on Cam. She smiled. “But you’re the cowboy.”

“You’re burning. You are the palest person I have ever seen.” Cam walked next to her. We have to stay coherent. “Your parents as light-skinned as you?”

“I don’t know about my parents, but I’ve always been the lightest skinned person around.” She shrugged. “Not that anyone has ever made me feel bad about it—not like dark-skinned people used to be treated. But I have always kind of stuck out.”

“Big hit with the boys?” Cam grinned.

“Hit with the big boys,” she smirked. They continued in silence, the baked ground cracking with each step. “How did you meet Mrs. Shaw?”

Cam beamed. “Well, on leave outside New Detroit, in a bar called Fleetwood. One group of flyboys started talking to a girl and another group of—what’d you call me? Meathead?—another group of meatheads decided they wanted to talk to the girl. They started having words and things started getting heated, fists were about to be thrown.” Cam licked his lips and continued, “So, I walked up to the young lady and I said to her, I said… ‘Excuse me miss, but to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed this evening, would you please tell this rather rambunctious bunch of Sol’s finest whose company you would prefer this evening?’ I thought the answer was obvious, but she blushed and giggled and left with the flyboys. The meatheads gave me some choice words, but I did outrank them, so after calling me sir, they left too.”

“The girl wasn’t Mrs. Shaw?”

Just like my boys. He shook his head. “I am telling a story. Do you want to hear it or not?”

“I do,” Ace answered.

“Then stop interrupting. Now, where was I? Oh yeah. So, I sat at the bar trying my best to drown the embarrassment. My pride was bruised, but I was none the worse for wear. When a foamy beer and a bacon cheeseburger appeared, I looked up at the bartender and my heart stopped. I couldn’t breathe. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her dark skin glowed, her kinky hair up, her caramel eyes, all of it was intoxicating, but it was her smile that did me in.” He gazed into the distance, eyes seeing someone who was not there. “More amazing than any sunset or sunrise I’d ever seen, and still to this day.

“She said to me, ‘I appreciate you stopping that before it started. On the house, for being a good soldier.’” Cam blinked, and turned his attention back to Ace. “That is how I met Gwen. I went back to that bar every chance I could. We were married a year later.” Cam rubbed the band on his finger.

“That’s a sweet story.”

“Yeah, one of my favorites.” Together they walked in silence.

Cam fluttered his eyes open and reached to the wet spot on his face. He rubbed his fingers together, examining the liquid. Water. Cam sat up. He did not remember falling asleep. We just sat down to rest for a minute.

Surveying the area, he found Ace shivering on the ground. Reaching toward her, he felt the heat radiating from her body. Heatstroke. Instinctively he reached for his backpack, but it was gone. The medkit, my canteen, my recorder, my purifier, my platinum... Cam shook the frustration away. We have to cool her down. He stood, it was darker than normal. He realized the cloud cover was thick and blotted out the green gas giant.

He pulled his surveyor out and took a reading. They were closer than he expected. Just five miles. The pickup countdown read “8:38:15.” Another wet spot, and another. Rain. “Hey Red, time to move.”

Ace sat up. Staring at nothing, she did not move. More drops of rain started to fall.

“Hopefully, the rain will help you feel better. We’re close to the pickup so let’s get moving. It’s not like we’re gonna sleep while we’re getting rained on, right?”

Ace shrugged.

“C’mon Red. Fall out.” Cam picked up his rifle, checked his direction again, and stowed his surveyor. “I said on your feet, soldier!” He took her by the hand and pulled. Ace managed to get to her feet. She looked wobbly. She’s been here so much longer than me. It's all taking its toll on her faster. She’s already done this once. “You ready, Red?”

“I’m always ready.” She took a few faltering steps. “Lead the way, Cowboy.”

Cam started walking. A thunderclap rumbled across the sky as lightning flashed. The rain started falling harder.

They walked for over an hour, slowed by the rough ground. The morning light pushed through the heavy clouds, but sheets of rain continued spreading over the plateau. In the rising sun, Cam saw a strange site through the pouring rain—a rock rising sixty meters over the plateau. It was a couple of miles off, but he pulled out his GSS and guessed its location according to where he was, marking it as a place of interest. Just in case there are metals there. They continued.

The rain gave them much-needed break in the heat. With hydration and fresh energy their excitement built as they got closer to the pickup and with renewed vigor, they quickened their pace. Covering the last of the distance.

Slowly, Cam became aware of the faint sound of rushing water. The roaring sound grew louder and louder as they approached the drop zone. After a few more minutes, Cam understood why.

The edge of the plateau was less than ninety meters away; the floodwaters poured off the edge into a vast sea, so immense that it stretched as far as they could see.

He wanted to talk to Ace while they waited, but he could think only of his family. Gwen and the boys were on the other side of this extraction.