Born in Sin [BOOK 1]

Chapter 15

Neo faltered in his response, which would have been his snarky sarcastic self no doubt, but he stopped himself when his eyes landed on Jacquelyn.

She was smiling at him. The way her eyes bore into him felt like she could see his soul, he felt vulnerable, as always in her presence he felt like a fool. As if there was nothing he could hide even if he desired to, she would see it all. He couldn't think of a proper response, it was all he could do to remember what the hell they were even talking about.

Let her go...

Neo shook his head, clearing his throat uncomfortably he said, "it was no trouble." He sounded much more strained than he had wished for and he hoped the others didn't notice the same. He dared a peek back up towards Jacquelyn and by the look on her face he knew that she did.

"I am sure, seeing how you lead such an exciting life," the Queen paused obviously hinting at Neo's life of crime before continuing. "That I daresay it takes you about everywhere. I would like to mention that so long as you do not steal from our poor, or from me," again she paused to narrow her eyes at him, much like a mother secretly scolding her child, "you will always have a place here for what you have done for us. You can keep that ship too seeing how you decided to park it so far away... even though your previous one is now fully repaired."

"Linda is repaired?!" Neo jumped up excitedly and looked ready to bolt out the door any second.

"Linda?" Jacquelyn snorted. "You named your ship Linda? What is it with you and half-ass human names?"

"Hey. I'll have you know a woman named Linda was a baby sitter for me when I was a boy," Neo said as a matter of fact-ly.

"Oh really?" Jacquelyn looked over at Tamara who only shrugged.

"Yes. Really. What? You don't believe me?" Neo challenged.

"I never said that."

"You were thinking it..."

"Possibly," Jacquelyn narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Linda in her mind was just another woman he slept with.

He could have had a babysitter though...

Yeah right! A guy like him? Please.

You don't know him...

And he doesn't know you.

Jacquelyn's self conscious won her mental debate, stabbing her chest with a pang of guilt. She didn't know him, yet she still made such unfair assumptions on him. It was no secret he was a womanizer, he was too smooth, too collected, but there was much more to him, an entirely different person was there. She had seen glimpses of this man, little cracks in his bold exterior, she wanted to see more of that Neo.. and now she was beginning to resent the idea that she may never get to.

"Just goes to show how you are," Neo obviously had meant his words to be playful, his tone implied as much, as did his body language. But just hearing the words brought the opposite effect in Jacquelyn. E'ga was not blind to this.

"Dear Tamara, if you would please," E'ga pointed towards an empty basket that sat upon a table at the foot of her bed. "My flowers are beginning to wilt, if you could be so kind and go down to the gardens and gather me some more I would be most thankful."

Tamara looked as if she was about to object but the Queen stopped her before she could.

"Neo was very worried about you before he left, and I imagine worried still on the way to your rescue. Perhaps you can take this as an opportunity to take in the beauty of our gardens here at the palace and relax." E'ga glanced over at Neo who had seemed to be spacing out while staring at Jacquelyn, the pair had grown disturbingly silent and Tamara didn't take long to pick up onto what the Queen was implying.