Aces Over Queen (The Drift Book 8)

by Susan Hayes

  When her bowl was empty, she set down her spoon and cleared her throat. “I’m filing an official protest over your bet. Both of you had the opportunity to gain from this venture, but I’m the one who took all the risks.”

  “I wouldn’t have served you anything terrible.” Owen looked insulted.

  “I don’t know. She might have a point.” Royan pushed his empty bowl away. “Care to get in on the action, Tianna? This next dish was your creation. If it’s better than Owen’s soup, you win.”

  “Before I agree, I’ve got two questions. One, what are the stakes? Two, who will judge?”

  “As the captain of this illustrious vessel, I’ll be judging. And as for the stakes, I think the same as before. Winner’s choice.”

  Owen scrubbed a hand over his jaw and chuckled. “I have a feeling I’m going to regret this, but sure, I’m in.”

  “I promise not to be unreasonable.” She grinned. “After all, you two did save my life today.”

  “Glad you’re keeping that in mind, princess,” Owen said.

  “I’m not a princess,” she retorted.

  “That’s what your name means, though. Tianna is an ancient Earth name that translates to princess.” Owen said.

  Royan shook his head. “Nope. Sorry, baby, but I’m with her. She’s not a princess.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, my queen.”

  “You’re right, that’s much better,” Owen agreed.

  “Not really, but if I argue about it the pasta will get soggy, and then I’ll lose the bet.” She got to her feet. “Since this is my course, I’ll serve it. Be right back.”

  She picked up one of the banged-up metal serving trays on her way through the open hatchway that separated the galley and the mess area. It only took a few minutes to serve up the meal, a simple cream sauce with dehydrated mushrooms, peas, and something labeled simulated bacon bits. She had no idea what it was, but it had added a subtle smoky taste to the sauce. She’d mixed in some synthesized protein cubes and let the whole thing simmer until the flavors blended. Her pasta options were as limited as everything else in the galley, but she’d managed to find some fettuccini noodles at the back of the pantry. Now, she just had to hope Royan liked it better than Owen’s soup. She already knew what she’d ask for if she won.

  Owen watched their pretty guest exit the room. Once she was gone, he raised a brow at Royan. “What are you up to?”

  “Me?” Royan leaned back in his chair and tipped his head toward the galley. “I’m not the one who asked to be part of our bet. This is all her, and I’m loving it.”

  “I’m not hating it, either, but I think we need to remember the day she’s had. Maybe we should cool our boosters until she’s had a chance to make a full recovery.”

  “I agree. Not just because she needs time, but because the two of us haven’t talked about how this might work.”

  “Two moments of insight in one day. You angling to get back into your bed tonight? If you keep this up, you might just get there.”

  “Yeah?” Royan grinned.

  “Yeah.” He reached over and gripped Royan’s hand for a moment. “You’re not the only one trying to make this work.”

  Royan turned his hand, taking hold of Owen. Neither spoke. Their linked hands said more than any words could have.

  “Canoodling with the judge before the tasting? That doesn’t seem fair.” Tianna returned, carrying a tray laden with three generous platters of pasta.

  Owen pulled his hand away, embarrassed at being caught. Public displays of affection weren’t something he was comfortable with. Growing up, his family had barely acknowledged the ties that bound them together. They were a crew first, and a family a very distant second. “We weren’t…what the fraxx is canoodling? Whatever it is, we weren’t doing it.”

  “You were, and you’re welcome to continue. I’ve got the winning dish right here, and no amount of hand holding will change that.” She set the tray down with a metallic clank as it hit the tabletop.

  He inhaled, letting the scent of dinner fill his senses, and immediately knew she was right. He hadn’t noticed earlier because he’d been focused on other things – like Tianna - while they were cooking, but the dish she’d made smelled and looked delicious. I wonder what she’s going to ask for when she wins.

  Tianna reclaimed her spot between them and gestured to the plate in front of Royan. “Dig in.”

  He did, and the moment the first bite hit his tongue Royan closed his eyes and groaned, the sound of pleasure so raw that Owen’s cock hardened. “There is no way you made this out of what’s on board.”

  “I did. Believe me, if I had fresh ingredients it would taste even better.”

  “That’s it. When we get back to Astek I’m investing in the best food processor I can find. That is, unless you’d consider taking a slight pay cut and signing on as the ship’s cook, sweetheart?”

  Tianna grinned. “Sorry, fly-boy, you couldn’t afford me even at a discount. So, did I win?”

  “That depends. Are you really going to call me fly-boy for the rest of the trip?”

  “You going to call me queen, your highness, or anything royalty related?” She shot back.

  “Fair enough.” Royan raised his hands in surrender. “I’ll stick with sweetheart.”

  Owen waited for her to protest again, but she smiled and nodded. “That’s acceptable.”

  Was that a green light? If so, who was it for? Royan, or both of us? Sharing partners wasn’t something he’d ever done before, though he had no doubt Royan had, at least for a night. Until now, it wasn’t something Owen had ever considered. It could work. He knew that. He’d seen it for himself among his friends. But he didn’t know if it was something he wanted, especially not when Tianna had made it clear that once they got to the Drift, they’d be parting company.

  Royan grinned. “In that case, yes, you won, sweetheart. Name your prize.”

  The air almost crackled with anticipation as they waited for her answer. She was quiet for a long moment before speaking. “I think I’ll collect my winnings another time. Right now, I just want to enjoy this meal and be grateful I’m alive to enjoy it.”

  The atmosphere lightened again, but only a little. Whatever was happening between them, it was still unfolding in its own time.

  Royan uttered a dramatic sigh. “Oh, sure. Keep us in suspense. I’m going to be lying awake tonight wondering what you have planned.” He glanced over at Owen. “Probably on the cold, hard floor of my room.”

  “If I let you sleep on the bed, do I get another request?” Owen asked before taking his first mouthful of pasta. It was as incredible as he expected. After weeks of eating from the food dispenser, he’d forgotten how good simple, human-cooked food could taste.

  “Anything you want, baby,” Royan answered.

  Tianna leaned in, cheeks flushed and lips parted, clearly curious about what the new request would be.

  “Breakfast in bed. Once a week for a month.”

  “No problem.”

  “Cooked by you,” he added.

  Royan’s eyes widened in mild panic. “I can’t cook, remember?”

  “I’m going to teach you.”

  “Yeah?” Royan looked intrigued.

  “Yeah. You’re always complaining there’s nothing to do on these long-hauls runs. Think of this as a new distraction.”

  Royan nodded. “I’m game.” He glanced over at Tianna. “You want to take part? Owen’s right. There’s not a lot to do on these trips but work out, watch vids, and do a little maintenance on the Sprite.”

  “Cooking lessons sound like fun, if you’re okay with me intruding. I’m just a guest, here, and I don’t want to interfere with the way you two operate.”

  “We’re still figuring that out. I’ve only been part of the crew for a few weeks. Before that, I came out on the occasional trip, but just to keep Royan company and get away from the Nova for a while. When you live where you work, getting away for a
few days is necessary, but not easy to do when you’re out in the ass-end of the galaxy.”

  “You worked at the Nova Club?” she asked.

  Owen nodded. “As security, yeah. One of the perks of the job was living in the staff quarters. Nothing fancy, but it was clean, free, and came with a staff discount for meals. When I first got to the Drift, I wasn’t sure how I was going to afford to eat and pay rent.”

  “I know things are expensive, but surely it’s not that bad,” Tianna said.

  Royan chimed in. “It’s pretty fraxxing bad. You’ll see. There are parts of the station that are barely inhabitable, and even those sectors are crammed full of beings paying almost everything they make just to have a few square meters of space to sleep in. It’s even worse these days. There’s all the AIF personnel temporarily assigned here until their own battle station can be brought out to the Drift, and then Astek handed over one of the residential levels to Nova Force to use as housing and offices, so everyone living there had to move to other sectors.”

  “That’s not what happened.” Tianna frowned and stabbed her fork into her pasta. “Nova Force was granted space in an unused section of the station. I saw the plans myself.”

  “I don’t know what plans you saw, but if they show there are unused areas of the station, then they are out of date. The only empty space is on the ceilings, and if the corporation lackeys could figure out a way to monetize that, they would have by now,” Royan said, winced, and added a hurried “no insult intended.”

  “None taken. I’m not a corporate lackey. I’m management, which means I will find a way to monetize the ceiling. I’m going to need every bit of scrip I can get my hands on so I can pay for repairs and maybe look at lowering some costs. As someone recently pointed out to me, Astek isn’t just an asset. It’s home to a great many beings.”

  “It’s nice to know you were listening.” Royan reached over and tapped his glass to hers. “There hasn’t been a lot of that in the time I’ve been on the Drift.”

  “That’s why I’m being sent there. With everything that’s happened – is still happening – Astek needs to be protected. Someone is trying to destabilize my family’s company, and the easiest way to do that is to disrupt Astek station.”

  A dark thought struck Owen. “If your company is being attacked, the station isn’t the best target.”

  Royan and Tianna both looked at him. “It’s the largest single investment we have,” she said.

  “No, it's not. If someone wants to take down Astek, the easiest way to do that is to destroy its future. That’s not the station, Tianna. That’s you.”

  A pall settled over them, and his next bite of food was as dry and tasteless as moon dust.

  Tianna frowned. “I don’t think so. If I had died yesterday, Astek would still go on. My father will still be running the company for another decade or two, probably longer. I don’t even have a permanent role right now. I’ve spent the last few years moving through various positions, shadowing senior executives, learning how all the pieces work together.” She clasped her hands in front of her, fingers interwoven.

  “Someone thinks differently,” Royan pointed out. “And they went to a lot of trouble to try and take you out of the game.”

  “I know. But I don’t understand.” She sighed, her shoulders drooping slightly. “My father doesn’t have much faith in my abilities. He never has. He paid for perfection.”

  “And like I said before, from where I’m sitting, he got it,” Royan said.

  Owen agreed. Tianna was physically beautiful, but she was also clearly intelligent, well-spoken, and tough as Nantari rhino hide.

  “He wouldn’t agree with you. In fact, he was so disappointed in his investment he saw to it that the company he hired to oversee my creation was bankrupt before my sixth birthday. I was still a child, but he already knew I was never going to be what he wanted.”

  She said it without rancor or embarrassment, her words so matter-of-fact that it took him a moment to absorb the scale of what she was telling them.

  “I thought contracted conception was illegal?” He’d heard of the practice, but never imagined he’d meet someone created that way.

  “It pushes the boundaries without going over. At least, that’s the official stance.” Tianna shrugged as if it were no big deal and took a long drink of her cocktail.

  He saw through her act of indifference, though. Her creation, her father’s disappointment, it bothered her more than she wanted anyone to know. “I know what it’s like to be a disappointment to your family. My mother…” he trailed off with a shake of his head.

  “You never talk about her,” Royan said. “Or any of your family, really.”

  He started to shrug, then stopped. He’d had just enough to drink that honesty seemed like a good idea. “We don’t speak. The last conversation we had ended with my mother telling me if I left, she’d bury my memory and tell everyone I was dead.” He drained his glass and set it down on the table with a thump. He tried not to think about them. The living, or the dead.

  “Well, that explains why you don’t talk about them.” Royan refilled their glasses, then raised his in another toast. “To friends. The family we choose for ourselves.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Owen agreed.

  They both looked at Tianna, who was gripping her glass hard enough her fingers were white, but hadn’t lifted it from the table.

  “What’s wrong?” Owen asked.

  “Too much booze, not enough food,” she said, her jaw tight.

  To Owen’s surprise, Royan put down his glass and reached out to touch the back of her hand in a tender caress. “Whatever it is, you can say it. We’re not going to tell anyone. Standing rule from my father’s time as captain. What happens on the Sprite, stays on the Sprite.”

  She looked down at Royan’s hand but didn’t pull away. “It’s nothing.”

  “Really? Because if you hold that glass any tighter it’s going to shatter.” Owen said softly.

  “Fraxx. Alright. I just…when you said that thing about friends being the family you choose for yourself, it dawned on me that I don’t have anyone like that. It was a moment of self pity is all, and now I’m embarrassed.”

  Royan took her hand in his. Then reached over to take Owen’s, too. “You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about. I spent a lot of years on my own. After my dad died, Zura got the Sprite, I got some seed money and we went our separate ways. We only reconnected a year ago. Friends, family, a steady job, and this big lug here are all new additions to my life. Just because you don’t have those things right now, doesn’t mean you’ll never have them.”

  Owen gripped Royan’s hand and tried to ignore the sudden surge of affection and desire that swept through him. This wasn’t the moment. They needed to take care of Tianna right now. but later – later, they needed to talk.

  “I wish you were right, but that’s not in the cards for me. I might be a disappointment, but he’s the only family I have. I don’t have any choice.”

  “That doesn’t sound like the rebel who flew a skimmer so fast she tore her wings off,” Royan said.

  “I tell myself she died in the crash.” She gave Owen a thin-lipped smile. “I guess that’s something we have in common. We’ve both died and been reborn as someone else.”

  It didn’t seem fair. When he’d broken with his family, he’d taken a new name and started a new life, one he could be proud of. Tianna was denying a part of herself in order to appease her father.

  “Your old self isn’t dead though. She’s just buried under someone else’s expectations. I saw her today. She’s the one who came hurtling at me in zero-g a few hours ago. If you’re going to be yourself for this trip, you might as well be your true self.”

  She nodded, her expression softening. “You might regret making that suggestion.”

  Royan laughed. “He’s my best friend. If I haven’t scared him off, sweetheart, I’m damned sure you won’t.”

  “I’m not afr
aid of your wild side. Just give me a heads up if Royan lets you play pilot. I’ll make sure to secure the breakables and strap myself in.”

  Royan opened his mouth and Owen cut him off. “Don’t even try, Roy-boy. There is no circumstance under which I will ever let you tie me down.”

  All three of them started to laugh at that, and the rest of their meal passed in a pleasant blur of old stories, bad jokes, cherry pie, and the beginning of something that felt like friendship, even if it wasn’t meant to last.

  Chapter Six

  Royan couldn’t stop grinning as he made his way from the cockpit back to his quarters. The ship was on time and on course, and there was no sign of pursuit. If anything changed, Sprite would alert him, but for now, he was free to think about other things – like the fact that he’d be sharing a bed with Owen tonight.

  After their one night together, he’d expected them to fall into some kind of relationship. Instead, Owen retreated back behind his walls as if they’d never crossed that line. Royan had been hurt, then pissed off, but never once did it occur to him to give up, despite the fact that’s what Owen expected him to do. He was a Watson, and the Watson family were too stubborn to ever give up.

  He paused outside his door, looking down the corridor to the room they’d given Tianna. He wasn’t giving up on her, either. She was complicated and intriguing, a potent blend of beauty and broken parts that reminded him of Owen. They both saw something of each other in their unexpected guest, and his gut told him that wasn’t something to be taken lightly. Unfortunately, his instincts didn’t tell him what the fraxx to do about it.

  They had sat and talked for hours, moving from the mess area to the kitchen for clean up, then on to the rec room where they’d continued to drink and fraternize until it was time to go to bed. Bed. The thought made him grin even wider as he walked inside.