Fighting the Stars

by Jessica Killabrew

  “Tena told you.” Turk let out his breath, realizing what had happened. He hadn’t expected Tena to tell her. “Rena, I just wanted you to want to talk to me first. I wasn’t trying to hide anything. I wanted you to see me for who I am now.”

  Her voice grew louder. “Maybe I just didn’t want to get hurt like that again!”

  Turk noticed a couple of people looking through their doors. He pulled her into a supply closet nearby.

  “Rena, calm down.” Turk shut the door and put a bucket with a mop in front of it so that no one could get in.

  “You kept coming at me, making me want you, but I didn’t want to get hurt again, so I refused to think about anything between us.” She was barely making sense anymore because the tears she had fought to keep inside for years began pouring out of her.

  “I just found out the truth a couple of days ago. Wait — what did you say?”

  She looked away without answering him.

  “Do you want me?” His eyes widened.

  Rena’s cheeks flared red and she looked down at the floor. Turk walked her backward until she had her back pressed against the well. He leaned close and pressed his forehead against hers.

  “Say it, Rena. Tell me you want me as much as I want you,” he whispered with his lips against her cheek.

  “I do — but I’m scared,” she answered softly.

  “Babe, I’m scared too. You could crush me with a look.” He took her hand and placed it on the spot on his chest directly over his heart. “You’ve been imbedded in my heart and I have never been able to get you out.”

  “Me too,” she admitted.

  He kissed her jawline and made a path to her lips. Every touch and every kiss was special. When he took her lips, he kissed her like a male dying of thirst.

  “Let me take care of you. I want to give you pleasure.”

  Before she could answer, an announcement came on over the intercom. “Captain Rena, you’re needed in the control room.” There was panic in the voice.

  He groaned and let her go.

  “I’m on my way!” Rena ran out of the supply closet.

  Turk followed, reeling from the ramifications of what she had just said to him.

  For a moment, Turk didn’t realize how far ahead Rena had gotten. She had disappeared from his sight. He picked up his pace, rushing straight to the control room. He had sensed urgency in the intercom message, and he didn’t want to leave her to handle an emergency alone.

  When he entered the control room, Turk was shocked to see flames shooting from the controls. Rena was standing over them with a fire extinguisher, trying to put them out. He grabbed another extinguisher and joined her, working his way through the entire room. Two of the crew members who had been fighting the flames collapsed.

  “Get them out of here, Turk!” Rena ordered.

  He looked at Rena with concern but knew if he didn’t act, those crew members could die. He pulled them out and called for medical assistance. Then he rushed back inside to continue to help Rena.

  Turk panicked when he saw flames begin to swirl up her leg. He used his extinguisher to put out the flames. They worked together along with other crew members who rushed in to help them.

  Once the fire was out he felt relieved, seeing that Rena was fine. “I need someone to go over all the damage and report back to me. Turk.” She needed someone she could trust, and at the moment, Turk was the only person on board the ship who met that requirement.

  She turned her attention to the other crew members in the room. “All other crew members should report to me to describe their activities and observations in the last hour. First, however, I want all of you to go to the medical office to get your lungs scanned, just to make sure no serious health damages have been incurred. I will stay here to fill out a damage report. I want proof of your visit to the medical office before you return to work.”

  The entire control room emptied. She and Turk were the only individuals left in the room. She looked at the only computer that didn’t look damaged by the fire.

  “Rena, it looks like almost all of these controls have been damaged. We need to see if we can land somewhere and make repairs. It’s going to be pretty pricey,” Turk said.

  “I have insurance. I’m more concerned about how to navigate with a damaged control room, and, most importantly, what caused this fire in the first place.”

  Turk had begun walking through the room to assess the situation. “All controls on the west side look severely damaged, part of the north is salvageable, and perhaps some of the east side. The south side looks untouched.” He paused. “Rena, I smell something over here.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like, I think we need to do a deeper investigation. It’s some kind of chemical.” He wiped his finger across the surface of the console and sniffed it. “It could have been an accelerant that started the fire.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” She walked over and examined the surface. “Do you want to report it, so that I can finish the damage report for the insurance company?”

  “Yeah, I’ll just report it to Drako since he’s keeping the files on all incidents.”

  Turk walked over to the doors and locked them. “What are you doing?” Rena asked.

  “I’m reporting this to Drako. The situation has now become dangerous.”

  “I think I should call in Jaken and Nade to question them.”

  “You can’t do that yet. If we act as though we think it was an accident, we will be able to catch them easier, Rena.”

  “This is my ship, and it should be my call to make,” she said stubbornly.

  “This is an investigation and as the lead person on the case, I make that call.”

  She clearly didn’t like not being in charge of things. That was always true about Rena and it was something he found attractive. He wanted to smooth things out but his call went through.

  “Is everything all right, Turk?” Drako’s voice came over the phone.

  “There was a fire on the control room. I believe that it was started on purpose. I need an investigation done here, but I need it done quietly so that the individuals I am looking into don’t realize that we are on to them.”

  “Are you sure it wasn’t just electrical?” Drako asked.

  “I could smell a chemical substance present. So, even if it was electrical or mechanical, someone fed the flames. I need an investigation over here when we land for repairs. Send the investigators in with the repair workers and make it seem like they are just working on it fixing the damages caused by the fire. I’ll send you the damage report that Rena is filling out.”

  “I have to go.” He hung up before Drako could answer. Turk turned to see Rena standing there. Her arms were crossed and it was clear she wanted to say something.

  “I’m just trying to help, Rena, not piss you off.”

  She sighed, nodding her head. “I know, but it’s hard giving up control. Do you think that Jaken and Nade really did this?”

  “I would bet my life on it.”

  “I want them off my ship as soon as possible. I can’t have them endangering my ship, my crew or my passengers.”

  “I agree.”

  *****

  Jaken sat in his suite and Nade stood against his doorframe. Both of them were pissed that their plan hadn’t gone as expected.

  “That stupid bitch and her lacky,” Nade said.

  “Next time we are going to make sure she loses everything,” Jaken returned. “We’ll have to do something a lot more drastic, something she can’t talk her way out of.”

  “What are you planning?” Nade asked.

  “Another accident, except this one will involve a bomb.”

  “Uh, you do realize that we’re both on this ship, the one you want to blow up?”

  Jaken rolled his eyes. “I’m not blowing up the entire ship, but maybe one of the shuttles.”

  “What good would that do?” Nade looked confused.

  “It will have someone o
n it.”

  “I see where you’re going with this. If we blow up a VIP passenger, it will cause a big scandal. There will be a trial that will take months to go through and the whole time she would be removed as captain of the ship.”

  “Leaving me as the new captain,” Jaken smiled wickedly.

  “You mean us—as the new captains,” Nade narrowed his eyes at his brother.

  “Sure, of course — us.”

  “I want to go after Rena and that Turk more directly.”

  “We need to get our eyes on what matters here, nothing is going to hurt her worse than losing her pilot’s license and the ship she worked so hard for. That’ll hurt worse than losing that quadruped,” Jaken stated.

  “Yeah, you’re right.” Nade agreed.

  Chapter 12

  “Turk, can you tell if the navigator is working?” Rena asked as she was lying on the floor underneath the console. All captains needed a basic knowledge of how the ship worked and Rena was top of her class in that area.

  Turk checked the navigator. “Damn, it’s off by several coordinates. It’s like… hmmm, I think it’s giving me coordinates from yesterday.”

  “I’ll have to get an engineer to see if the navigator can be reset. If not, we may have to repair it altogether. We’ll stop at the next spaceport and get all these problems fixed before we continue on.” She moved to stand up and he lowered a hand to help her to her feet.

  Touching her sent sparks through his body. He was still sexually frustrated from the encounter in the closet. They needed to talk about a lot of things before they moved to a physical level. He had good intentions, and was going to take things slowly because he still loved her. He had always loved her.

  “I’m beat and need a shower and some food,” she said, stretching her back.

  “Let me just send this damage report to Drako, then I’ll walk you back to your suite so we can talk,” Turk said.

  He sent the message. “Okay, I’m done. We can go.” He unlocked the doors.

  He thought through what he was going to say. They reached her suite quickly. Rena opened the door and waited for him to walk into her suite with her. As soon as the door shut behind them, a new tension filled the air — a sexual one.

  “I’m sorry, Turk,” she began. “I know I was being a little bitchy. I just hate not being in control.”

  “I understand. This is your ship and you’ve worked hard to get to this place. I’m proud of you, Rena. I’m not trying to step on your toes, but am just trying to help you.”

  “Turk, I’ve been so horrible to you. I don’t know why you would want to help me.” She looked down at the floor.

  He walked up to her, cupped her chin with his hand and made her look up at him. “Rena, I care about you deeply. How could I not come here and help you. My reason for volunteering to come was to have the chance to apologize to you and find a way to make things up to you somehow. I never planned to open myself up to having feelings for you.”

  “What kind of feelings?” she asked, looking into his dark eyes.

  “You know I want you. I walk around with a hard on just thinking about you. It’s more than that, though. I care about your safety, your wellbeing. It may just be one-sided, but I can’t help but want you in my life again.”

  “I feel the same. I want more than just the sex, though that is amazing. I think about what it would be like to be with you again — all the time.”

  He gave her a sexy smile. “I dream of you, what we were and how good we were together.”

  “I do, too.” The look of desire in her eyes was too much for him to handle right then. He pushed her up against the door and kissed her, forcing his tongue past her sweet luscious lips. As she returned his affections, he found his body responding to her. His dick was hard and pressing against his pants. He meant to go slow but she undid him. Slow down. He kept reminding himself not to scare her off. She was the first to take it further when she began tugging at his shirt.

  Holy shit, was this really happening? He pulled off his own shirt, and then hers, exposing her plump luscious breasts. He pulled the bra off, reaching out to cup them gently. Her nipples hardened with his thumbs rubbing small circles over them. He kissed and nuzzled her neck. He was so stiff with need he didn’t know how much longer he could wait to be in her. He knelt so that he could remove her pants and panties. He ran his hand down to her smooth shaven pussy.

  “You are so beautiful all over.”

  “You’ve got on too many clothes.”

  He chuckled as he quickly removed his boots and pants. He shivered when she took his cock in her hands and began pumping him. “Easy, don’t want this to be over before we get started.”

  He caressed her hips, bringing their bodies closer together. He cupped her shaved pussy using his index finger to tease her wet seam. He pushed a finger inside of her then a second one, pumping in and out of her. She was so tight and wet. She moaned, tilting her head back in pleasure. He continued, getting faster and smoother motions, trying to ignore the fact that she had a hold of his dick and was stroking it.

  He was not able to hold back anymore; he needed her right then. He put his arm around her lower back and laid her on the floor, barely taking a second to glance over her naked body before he got on top of her. He kissed her lips, taking in the bottom one and sucking on it like he used to. He knew it drove her crazy. He rubbed his dick up and down her clit before he finally circled her hole, pushing it in once the head was wet enough. “Fuck Rena, you’re so fucking tight.”

  “If you weren’t so big, it wouldn’t feel so tight,” she returned breathlessly, barely able to get the words out between her moans that signaled both pleasure and pain.

  Once he finally got settled, all the way inside her, he had to take a minute, so he didn’t come as soon as he moved again. He kissed on her jaw line, trying to ignore that she was moving her hips, trying to get him to move. Once the feeling subsided, he started to thrust in and out, starting slowly, so that he would last longer.

  It was getting harder and harder for him to keep his orgasm away, but he just focused on Rena, and her body, trying to forget that his dick was deep inside her pussy. He continued thrusting in and out as he ravished her perfect body in every way possible. God, he had missed this. It had always been like this with Rena. He would fight not to come as he pleasured her whole body. He got off of her, knowing if he stayed in her that he wouldn’t last much longer. He kissed his way down her sexy body until he got to her pussy. He remembered that she had always tasted good, so when he got a taste of her essence, he couldn’t stop himself. He couldn’t stop licking her pussy until she was screaming and coming in his face. He lapped up all of her juices as if it was water and he hadn’t had a drink in months.

  “Turk, I need you,” she begged, her voice hazy.

  “I need you, too. I need you forever.” He started to kiss his way back up her body.

  He started to kiss up her neck, until she turned her head, exposing that whole side of her neck. He lightly bit down before he started roughly sucking. Just the taste of her skin drove him over the edge. “You’re mine, forever this time.”

  He started to push his dick back into her, when he heard her moan. “Yes. God, yes. Turk.” That was all it took. His control was gone, and taking it slow this time around was not going to happen. He started thrusting hard and deep, realizing that she was his addiction, and always had been.

  He could feel his head start to spin. He wanted her to come all over his cock. He put his hand between them, playing with her clit, twirling his fingers on the nub of nerves that he knew would send her over the edge. He could feel her muscles start to tighten around him. Just knowing she was getting close was enough to make him blow, but he wasn’t going to until she did. He needed to see that look in her eyes, so he continued pushing in and pulling out as he continued to play with her.

  He saw that distant look in her eyes and knew what was coming as she started to dig her fingers into his back. Her lig
ht moans turned into a heavy scream. Her pussy started to contract around his shaft. He knew she wouldn’t be able to stop coming and he didn’t want her to. This was one addiction he would never try to get rid of. He was home, and his addiction was back. He would never let it go this time, ever.

  He fell to the floor, his muscles sore from his encounter with the woman he loved. Life could never get better than this. He grabbed a folded blanket from the couch. Rena had always kept a folded blanket on the couch when they lived together. He pulled it over the two of them.

  “Shouldn’t we go to bed?” Rena asked.

  “I like that word when you say it.”

  ”Bed?” Rena asked, her mind still foggy.

  “No, we — I like it when you use that word,” he said. “And no, I’m not moving, and neither are you.” He kissed her again.

  Chapter 13

  Rena stretched as she woke, feeling aches in places that she hadn’t felt in years. She opened her eyes to found Turk looking back at her. His head was next to hers, sharing the same pillow. Sometime during the night, Turk had lifted her in his strong arms and laid them down in bed. She hadn’t slept for a long time because she kept having to get up and make calls to check on the damages and repairs to the ship. The sleep she did get lying in Turk’s arms was the most restful sleep she had had in years.

  “Good morning.”

  “Afternoon?”

  She blinked. “Afternoon?”

  “Yeah, you were up a lot last night checking on things so I decided to let you rest as long as possible. You look much more refreshed.” He reached out to stroke her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “That I didn’t tell you the truth about that night as soon as Tena told me. Sorry that I allowed myself to be put in that situation in the first place by drinking. Sorry that we lost so much time together.”

  “Why did you let the drinking get out of control?”

  “Honestly, I was a little envious of your success. We both wanted the same things in life, but you seemed just a little bit better at everything. I had this idea in my head of how a male should be and when I didn’t measure up, I used alcohol to cover it up. It was never your fault and I wanted you to know that. I take full blame. Even if nothing happened between me and your sister, it could have happened and I will always regret putting us all in that position. Forgive me, Rena.”