by C. L. Stone
Tommy leaned forward. “Your dad’s really rich. My father wanted to add to the war chest. He told me to go there, marry you, bring you back to the Sandler part of the galaxy, knock you up, and leave you there. That’s what I planned to do. Yeah, I’m really charming. I know.”
Clay pointed between the two of us. “You were going to marry Paloma. Alone. We were all going to have singular marriages. He wanted as many grandchildren as possible.”
Tommy grinned at me and extended his hand. I took it and let him pull me to him. “Was always meant to be. You’re getting a better version of me, I hope. Although I’d have taken one look at you and told Dad I wasn’t dumping you anywhere.”
Clay scooted over and kissed the back of my neck. “And I’d have been jealous as hell.”
Keith snorted. “Fuck that. I’d have taken her from you.”
Quinn reacted last. “I was in such a bad headspace. Who knows what I would have done?”
“You’re getting a better me, too,” I finally finished. “Such a small universe when it comes down to it.”
“We’re so happy we found you,” Quinn whispered. “We were lost. We didn’t know it. But we were.”
8
Ouch
I started to not to feel well during bedtime. I knew I was supposed to go with Keith and that he’d made a big stink about Quinn staying in his own room this time. By the time I got to the bathroom, my stomach cramped so badly I wanted to bend over and never get back up again. It wasn’t a stomach bug. I had my period. End of story.
My monthly visitor always came with lots of pain. The doctors had checked me for all kinds of conditions, and they’d all been negative. The Sisters thought I sought attention. Bottom line was, I suffered every month like someone stabbed me in the stomach and bled like a gutted pig. I knew I wasn’t crazy, despite the Sisters’ thoughts. My mother and sister suffered the same way.
After a few minutes, Keith knocked on the door. “Just checking you’re okay.”
“I-I’m afraid the menu for tonight has to change.” I crawled my way over to the door and swung it open. “I’m going to be out of commission for the next four to six days. Put me somewhere out of the way. I’ll reemerge when I can think again.”
It also didn’t help that I had none of the sanitary napkins I needed to make this bearable. I was going to have to figure that out, fast.
He knelt down. “What’s wrong?”
“I have my period.”
He reached out with a tentative hand and squeezed my shoulder. “Okay. So, you’re looking at the four guys who grew up with no mother. We have sisters from other mothers, but we’ve never met them. This is a first for me. Even college was all male. Women so rarely get to go to school because of the shortage. What can I do? What do you need? You’re in pain. How do we stop that?”
“The short answer is this. The run of the mill pain medications don’t cut it. They never have. They do nothing. The stronger ones make me dizzy, and then I vomit. When it comes down to it, I hate puking more than anything else in the universe.”
He snorted. “I don’t blame you on that. You threw up when you were really out of it, coming out of the med machine. I doubt you remember it.”
“I don’t, but I’m not surprised. Pain is preferable to puke. You could stick me in the med machine. It’ll just knock me out for six days. I hate that, too. I really need to be left to simply moan and be miserable alone. The Sisters wouldn’t let me rest, kept me busy.”
Keith touched the side of my face. “Did that help or not?”
“It was what it was. Nothing helps. Busy in pain. Not busy in pain. I don’t have what I need to not make a mess.”
He blinked rapidly. “Do you mean, ah, the stuff women use to stop the blood from, um, staining their clothes?”
I groaned. “I’m making you really uncomfortable. Just leave me here.”
“Hold on a second.” He left the room, and I lay flat down on my stomach. It didn’t help, but nothing would. One quarter of every month really blew big monkey balls.
“P?” Quinn came into the bathroom. “I hear you’re not feeling well. Would this help?”
I looked up. He had a first aid kit, and inside was one delightful sanitary napkin. “For the next three hours or so. Thanks.”
He handed it to me before he bent over and kissed me on the head. “Get that on, and then we’re getting you out of this bathroom.”
Quinn left me alone, and I managed to get myself set up and then groaned as I made my way toward the bedroom. All four of them were in the room. It would be comedic if I was in that kind of mood.
They stared at me like I’d grown a fourth head.
I crawled into the bed and put my head on the pillow. “Here’s the deal. With no products available for a while, I’m going to pick one blanket and one pillow I can wash several times and you won’t kill me if I make dirty. Is that fine?”
“No.” Clay ran his hands through his hair. “You’re going to stay right there in clean sheets. I’m going to turn on the replicator. We’ll get you what you need.”
“Can you afford the draw on that much power?”
Replicators were great if you had endless power supplies. They were not so wonderful when you had to conserve. I didn’t want them draining the ship for me, not when things seemed so dangerous.
“We have enough to make what you need.” Tommy shook his head. “And I’m going to equip future models better. Are you sure pain killers don’t work?”
I shook my head. Why did he have to question me on this when everything hurt? “Not unless you want to hold my head. Does that sound appealing to you Tommy? Watching me puke? Does it?”
He cleared his throat. “Um, not in the least. This happens to you every month?”
Tears escaped my eyes, and I wept into my pillow. “You’re going to put me out of the airlock over this, aren’t you?”
Clay banged Tommy in the chest, hard, with his fist. “Nice going, dipshit.”
Tommy paled. “I’m backing away. I’ll see you later, sweetheart.”
Keith crawled into the bed with me, and to my shock, Quinn got in, too. I loved the feeling, but I knew in two seconds I was going to need to move again. They weren’t going to want to be holding on when I needed to squirm.
“I can’t stay still.”
Quinn kissed my shoulder. “I don’t care.”
I rolled over, pressing my head into his chest, and Keith held me from behind. This lasted a few seconds before I rolled over again. This was going to be a long night.
Eventually Keith pulled out his tablet, and I managed to convince him to read me the book I’d tried to pay attention to when I’d been in the pod. I listened to the first three chapters before I was out cold.
I woke later. Quinn and Keith were gone. In their place was Clay, who didn’t notice I’d woken. He read something on his tablet with a strained look on his face. My uterus cramped, and I breathed through my nose. “You okay?”
His eyes sought mine. “You’re awake.”
“Just barely. Quinn and Keith get enough of me rolling around?”
Clay shook his head. “No, actually. I had to force myself in. Tommy wanted to go over some weapons training with them in case of the unlikely event of another attack. They were refusing to go. I pushed them out.”
“So what put that look on your face?”
He pointed at the tablet. “There’s a guy on Earth who is suffering pretty badly because my father has targeted him. My father wants the mining rights on his land. Big giant mess. The man’s not going to win, and he should. I wish I could help. Can’t stick my nose in it. We have to stay out of the limelight.”
I got up on my knees and ignored the way my body protested. “Hard to not be able to do what you can do.”
“Back in the day I’d have been leading the charge against the owner. Congratulating myself when we beat him. Things have changed. The hero of my life turned out to be a villain. Players shifted. Everything I believe
d altered in a few seconds. Now, I only want to help, and I can’t.”
I touched his arm. “Do we have any chocolate?”
His eyebrows rose. “Do you want some?”
“I want to make you some hot chocolate. It’ll be good for me. Maybe I’ll be distracted.” I crawled out of the bed. I couldn’t fix his problems. I couldn’t even make myself feel better. But chocolate made a lot of things more bearable. I hadn’t had any in five years, hadn’t even thought of it before that very second.
I rummaged through the kitchen. Rehydrated chocolate wasn’t the same thing as the real deal, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. It would do. I stuck it in the hydrating machine. Clay came up behind me, placing his chin on my shoulder.
“You look pale. I’m desperate to give you some pain meds.”
I pinched his arm. “I’m really not in the mood to start puking.”
“We could knock you out.”
“Do you like to be knocked out? Listen, this isn’t the end of the world. It happens to women everywhere. Just calm down about it, and we’ll all be fine.”
I wasn’t being kind, but right then I didn’t have it in me to be so. I functioned. I made hot chocolate. What more did he want from me?
Clay hugged me tight. “I’m sorry. I’m being annoying, huh?”
“I know you mean well. We’re all new to each other and …”
The alarm went off, and Clay groaned. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. It’s probably Quinn or Keith fucking around. They’re not happy to be testing. Stay here, just a second.”
I wasn’t going to be moving anytime soon. Between the cramps and the terror that sound created inside of me, my feet were glued to the ground. If it was just some kind of screw up, they needed to get the alarm off now.
Clay’s rounded the corner back to me. “In the pod. It’s the bounty hunter. Same guy. He has some device that lets him repair his ship in space. Tommy’s going to handle it. Until we get you trained, in the pod. Okay?”
My whole body revolted under the idea of getting back into the pod. Clay tugged at my arm, and somehow my feet obeyed. “I really hate being inside of this thing. I hate it.”
“I hear you. This is for safety. For now. We’ll figure something else out. As soon as you’re out, we’ll do chocolate.”
I leaned against the back. “Be careful.”
“I will.”
I grabbed his arm. “Clay, please turn off the alarm. I get it. We’re in danger. I can’t listen to this endlessly. Please.”
He nodded. “That I can do.”
Clay was good to his word. The alarm stopped. I didn’t know if I’d made things worse on myself. The quiet was its own kind of daunting. I took a deep breath. I trusted them and this beautiful shuttle. Somehow, I had to make this an annoyance. I couldn’t be afraid of what was nothing more than an aggravating dent in the day.
If the Sisters had known the only thing they had to do to get me over my time-of-the-month pain was to terrify me and shove me in a pod ... I didn’t have Tommy’s tablet. He must have come and retrieved it. I hadn’t given it back to him.
I—
The boom that sounded around me shoved me from my seat. I hit the side of the pod. Everything went black.
I’d never seen it coming.
I woke with my ears ringing, and I wasn’t inside of the pod anymore. Instead I was strapped to a chair on a ship I’d never seen before and immediately hated. The smell hit me hard before anything else. Mold. The Sisterhood had been filled with it, and I was quasi-allergic. My throat itched. I dragged my head up to look around.
The last thing I remembered was the loud sound and then an explosion. I’d been in a pod. Now I wasn’t. A man stood with his back to me, fiddling with a control panel. He wore green pants over his black boots and a black torn shirt. He whistled to himself.
“You awake?” He turned around. “Machine said you’d be up soon, and here you are. I’m Phil, and I’m not at all happy to have you here. I thought I was getting Quinn. There’s money for Quinn. Commander Sandler wants his sons back. Intel indicated Tommy would be most likely to stick Quinn in a pod. So who are you? And how did you end up on my ship?”
I didn’t plan to answer him. I wasn’t even sure I could through my heart beating in my ears. This was the bounty hunter, and he had me. That was when I noticed my hands were restrained and, for that matter, my feet as well. I tugged and strained. He had me in pretty tight.
A sound beeped on the screen, and he groaned loudly. “Shit.” Phil hit a button and turned on the screen. A man stared at him, clear displeasure on his face. It took me a minute to realize who I stared at. I knew the McQueens looked alike. They all had blue eyes and blond hair, although different shades. Tommy’s face was broader than the others. Quinn and Keith weren’t identical, although they resembled each other strongly. Something about the width of their eyes. Clay looked the most like Tommy but somehow also like the twins.
And every one of them looked like the man on the screen.
I’d seen him before, but I’d hardly remembered him from the news reports. Flashes of him. I’d been too young to care about politics and who ran what.
But there was my father-in-law—or at least almost my father-in-law. His eyes were hard. If I’d ever thought Tommy could have mean eyes, it was simply because I hadn’t understood the true meaning of the description.
This man destroyed lives. Garrison Sandler.
“What is that?” Through the screen Garrison pointed at me. “You said you had the pod.”
Phil nodded. “I did, and she was in it.”
Garrison narrowed his eyes. “He stuck her in the pod? My son is a genius. Of course he knew we’d assume it was Quinn in the pod. And then he dumps us with her? What is she? Some kind of hooker?”
There were very few hookers in the universe. Women were scarce, given to the wealthy as brides or sent off to work at a job of their choice before they married. In any case, they were protected and cherished. Only women who had fallen into horrific circumstances ended up a hooker. There were some women who occasionally took their destinies into their hands—usually widows—and ran services. I knew very little about them. I’d met Quinn’s widows. The options for women were slim. I doubted, however, that Tommy could have convinced one to get in a pod to get thrown into the hands of Phil the Bounty Hunter.
“I don’t know who she is. She doesn’t look like a hooker. I thought you might know who she was.”
Garrison banged the table where he sat. “I don’t want her. Get rid of her. Get me my four sons, especially Quinn. They all need to be reconditioned, and I need that boy’s brain. Kill the bitch. Tommy clearly doesn’t want her, or he’d have done a better job of protecting her.” He pointed at the screen again. “I have more of you nothings looking for them than I know how to deal with. No one will miss you if I blow you from the sky.”
The screen turned black. For a moment, Phil didn’t move. When he turned around, his long face appeared blank. He had a dark beard, dark hair hanging to the back of his neck, and a long nose. I wouldn’t call him handsome. When he approached, I could see his brown eyes were cold, and if he’d ever been kind, he wasn’t now.
“I’m not going to kill you.”
Well that was good. “No?”
“I’m a business man. I spent some time getting you. I will find those Sandler boys. No one else has the knack like I do. That’s why they call me The Finder.” He waited as though that was supposed to mean something to me. It didn’t. He must have caught on because he kept speaking. “You’re going to make me some money. There are parts of this universe that never see women unless the ladies have the bad taste to be born there. Dark areas. No matter the wealth, no matter the power, no one sends their girls there to become wives. They pay me a lot of money to get women. You, my dear, will be quite the find. I’m going to check out the merchandise myself. Before I give you to them.”
I should have been terrified. He’d just told me he was going to sell
me and rape me. I think I’d reached my limit. I was not capable of being any more distraught or afraid. I simply felt nothing at all.
“You aren’t going to rape me right now.” I lifted my chin.
“Oh yes?” He stroked the side of my face. “Why is that?”
“Because I have my period.” If ever there was a turn off for a man, there it was. He actually stepped back a bit and stopped talking to me, like he could catch my condition.
His nostrils flared. “That doesn’t last forever. We have months together in this ship. What were you doing with the Sandler boys?”
“They were giving me a ride. They felt sorry for me. They’re nothing to me.”
I wouldn’t tell him I’d fallen head over heels for them. I wouldn’t let him use me to get them. I’d figure something else out. I was smart and capable. I might have forgotten it for a while, but so help me I was.
I had days until my monthly visitor would disappear. Between now and then, I would rescue myself.
Maybe.
****
He had to let me loose a few times a day so I could take care of myself. During that time, I made arrangements, collected things I could put up my sleeves. I didn’t know if I’d ever get to use the small soap dish by my shoulder but I had it, just the same. I’d never be able to say I didn’t try to escape.
A lot of my bravado from the days before had fled. My excuse to keep him away had left. Not that I planned to tell him, although I suspected he knew. Phil didn’t talk to me except for curt, one word instructions like “go” and “stop.” I didn’t know anything about him and I didn’t want to. As far as I was concerned, he needed to die before he took me to the dark planets. The next time he let me out, I was going to have to use the soap dish, if I couldn’t find anything else, to bash him in either his head or his cock.
He untied my wrists. I stepped from my restraints and let the soap dish run down my arm to my hand. It was either the dish or the toothbrush. I wondered if he’d missed it. Like his ship, Phil stunk. I’d bash him over the head and then poke him in the eye with the toothbrush.
