Star's Storm(10)
The past year was the first time she felt comfortable with the idea of going out. She had only gone out on a couple of dates before she met Justin. He had joined the performing troupe three months before they were kidnapped. Star had immediately been smitten with his handsome, blond looks. It took two more months before he asked her out. She should have known something was up when he didn’t even give her a second glance until a Nighttime Entertainment crew came to film her and Jo performing. The producer of NTE was doing a documentary on the Strauss Family Flyers to promote a film that Star and Jo had been in. After that, Justin was all over her. She was glad she had been nervous of taking their relationship to the next level so soon after he asked her out.
She wanted what her parents had, a loving, long term relationship. She was having second thoughts about whether she should just go ahead and let Justin make love to her before he made any commitment to her. After all, the girls in the performing troupe were always talking about the guys they had ‘done’ the night before. She was reluctant because that wasn’t the way she had been raised. Thank goodness she had overheard the conversation between Justin and several of the other cast members before she made that mistake! She had been on the catwalk above them, checking the rigging before that night’s performance. The sound of their voices had drifted upwards and she heard every cruel word the people she thought were her friends said. She had broken down and told Jo what happened. That next night, her and Jo resigned after their performance. They would meet up with River and let her know they were rejoining the circus. It was where they both fit in.
Star took a deep breath and turned to face Jazin. She refused to back down. He needed to accept her for herself or their relationship could never go any further. Her eyes swept over his black hair that was clipped back at the nape. He towered over her petite five feet two inches but she had never been intimidated by someone taller than her. Walter had shown her that size didn’t matter if you wanted something. She bit her bottom lip as she stared into his dark, almost black eyes. She had never seen eyes that dark before and felt like she could drown in them. His face was defined by sharp but handsome lines. She would have thought his darker colors came from working outside in the sun if not for the fact she had seen the dark coloring disappearing below the waist of his low-hung black pants in the mornings. His eyes were the color of midnight on a moonless night, a small sliver of silver light shimmered in the center. His strong nose and full lips called to her and made her frustrated with her own insecurities. She wanted to give in to him. She had since the first moment she gazed into his eyes on the Tearnat warship. It was only the uncertainty of what was to become of her and her sister that held her back. She had no doubt at all that River was never going to return to Earth. The key difference between River and her and Jo was that River had no other family to return to. Star closed her eyes briefly at the wave of pain that swept through her at the thought of how heartbroken her parents. The idea of losing one daughter would be horrendous but to think that both of their daughters were missing and presumed dead was beyond the realm of sanity.
“What is it?” Jazin asked anxiously. “Are you in pain? Should I call for the healer?”
Tears filled Star’s eyes and she cursed the fact that she had always been a cry baby when she was upset. “No, I’m not in pain. At least not a physical pain,” she whispered. “Jazin, I miss my parents. I can’t help but think about what they must be going through. The idea of losing one daughter is tragic but to lose both of your children has to be unbearable for them. I can’t imagine what they must be going through. They must know by now that something happened to us. We’ve never gone this long without calling them.”
Jazin looked down into the pain filled eyes of his mate. His hand rose gently to touch her cheek. “Your sister has said as much to Manota,” he sighed heavily. “She will not commit to him until she can assure your parents that you are both safe.”
Star jerked in surprise. Jo never mentioned a word to her about her relationship with Manota or the fact that she had been pressuring him to contact their parents in some way. She was getting really tired of people keeping things from her. Just because she was small and had been hurt that didn’t mean she should be kept in the dark.
“What are you and your brother going to do?” Star asked with a stubborn tilt to her chin. “I won’t let them spend the rest of their lives grieving for us. You can’t expect either Jo or I to do that. If your father thought….” her sharp words faded as Jazin drew her closer to him with a groan of need.