by Mima
“Becca,” Rex reprimanded. “He’s with me.”
She breathed out. After a long moment, she dragged up her courage. “It wasn’t rape until the last time. And then it wasn’t really rape, just . . . it could have been. It was . . . bad, but he was too drunk.”
“Fesner or Walters?” Sparky demanded.
“Leo.” Becca wanted to go take another shower. “It was Leo.”
One long, hideous hour later, Becca stood in the captain’s black suite. Leo lay battered and bruised on the floor, moaning over a crushed hand. Laurent had stayed by her side the whole time, his arm around her shoulders, and she’d finally given in and leaned on him. She’d never seen her brother like this. Here was the warrior who’d killed before. It was creepy to see how easily he wore this brutal arrogance.
“Captain Jake Fesner.” Rex swaggered around the room. “You’ve a real beauty of a ship.”
Leo kept rolling and moaning where Sparky had dropped him, on top of the shattered pieces of the captain’s black glass table.
“You neglected to mention you have a brother, Becca.” The captain was dressed this time and held still as he watched her brother carefully.
“That’s Junior Systems Engineer Sharpin, to you,” Rex cooed. “And of course she neglected to mention me. She wanted to earn her way on her own merit.” He paused in front of a spotlit artifact on the wall. It was a large, curving black shape, like a horn. “But you don’t like it when people earn things through decent hard work. They sidestep all your channels of power.”
“Don’t touch that—” the captain began, but Sparky stepped up against his body. Sparky towered over the captain by a good forty centimeters.
“Ah. I thought so. The Horn of Andeela. I think there’s a rather large reward for returning it.” Rex turned his head and grinned at the captain with all the toothy sharpness of a slink. “And here I’m needing a new warship.”
The captain stepped away from Sparky. He looked at Becca and she was surprised his expression of panic pleased her. “Becca. I’ll pay to replace all your things ten times over. I’ll arrange for a commendation and your certification, and I’ll put Leo off at the next port. Please. You don’t know what you’re doing here. If you take that horn, they’ll kill me.”
Rex tsked. “Pleading to the woman you fucked over is so beneath a man of your stature. Surely you can handle troubles of your own making by yourself.”
“I never touched her,” the captain barked.
“Not for lack of trying.” Rex held up his wrist-plax and pointed it at the wall. He tapped a few times and the lighting disappeared. He took the horn down from the wall, grimacing. “Yech. Foul thing. You should thank me.”
The captain stepped forward. “Don’t. She’s fine. Nothing happened that can’t be made right, with a little reparation added in. The Brotherhood values the Horn. You’re making a mistake.”
Rex turned and strode right past her and out the door. “Come, Bec.”
As he went past her, her skin shriveled. Whatever he held was wrong.
Laurent tugged on her.
“Stop!” The captain strode forward.
Sparky shoved him back.
Becca finally found her voice. “Captain Fesner.”
The men all looked at her, even groaning Leo.
“You are going to find it very, very difficult to find a qualified engineer.” Purpose surged. “You certainly won’t get anyone as good as I am.” Clamping her lips into a mockery of a smile, she turned and left with wobbly knees.
Dear Laurent cupped her elbow like she was a princess. Sparky took up the rear without a word.
Back on the navy slicer, with the horn in a dampening locker, Becca hugged her brother and cried.
BUCK UP, BUTTERCUP. You have found the ending called All in the Family. Click on this link to return to the Choice Index. Dare to decide again!
ENDING CHECKLIST
Minnows Get Eaten by Sharks
Carpe Diem
Back to the Straight and Narrow
Crime Pays Two Ways
Karma Hurts
What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Stronger
Temper, Temper
Kick Ass
All in the Family
A Penny Saved Is a Penny Earned
No Guts, No Glory
Hate Wins
Happily Ever After
Muscle Through
Press the Flesh
All Fall Down
Choice Index
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MIMA has published over fifteen erotic romances. Her worlds include fantasy, space opera, paranormal, and futuristic. Titles that have won EPIC and RWA awards are In Service and Within Reach: A Bonded Fantasy. Becoming an author has sent her over the moon, but she’s still a wife, reader, gardener, and cat pillow down in rural New York as well. Connect with her at mimawithin.com. And be sure to look for the other Dare to Decide adventures.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Mima
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First Pocket Star Books ebook edition March 2014
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ISBN 978-1-4767-5420-8
