by Cheri Chaise
The ramp lowered with a blast of cold air that didn’t begin to touch the chill that had settled in my belly. No matter how much cleansing I did, how much incense I burned or oil used, the room would never feel holy again.
I spun around the moment the ramp clanged shut. Jace stood in the center of the room near the scattered cushions where I held the sacred tea ceremonies. Stark naked. He didn’t even attempt to hide his cock as it quickly descended into a more flaccid state.
“Let me explain.”
“Don’t.” I held up a hand to ensure his silence as I surveyed the disaster.
Pillows and cushions were torn, their tassels and tufts ripped from their moorings. Hanging red silks along a wall were cockeyed or hung no longer. A delicate teacup lay shattered on the floor. Water and spilled oil surrounded the cleansing station. The only area left untouched appeared to be my instruments. I shuddered to imagine trying to replace such rare luxuries in such a frozen shithole.
Gone was the cocky, self-assured young man. His voice was small and as feeble as that puckered, old ass he’d pumped into. “I did it for you.”
“Me?” My stare sliced from the room straight to him. “You’ve destroyed my sanctuary, my place of business…my home…and you say you did it for me?”
“To pay you back.” He took a step forward and held out his old DNA payment scanner. “See?”
“No, I don’t want to see anything else. I don’t want to touch anything of yours.” Tears clouded my vision and threatened to pour down my cheeks before I whirled around and took off down the passageway toward the bridge.
I was tired. Exhausted after a wonderful, yet emotion-filled night with the ambassador. That was the only reason for my own display of temper and tears. Or at least that’s the excuse I used to try and convince myself as I swiped at the warmth threatening to trickle down my face.
The clatter of Jace’s bare feet followed me as I tore onto the bridge and made for the panel to erase the backup of the night’s recordings, wishing I could just as easily erase events from my mind.
As I tapped the console and brought up the program, Jace’s voice rang out. “Stop!”
He lurched forward and grabbed my hand before I jerked it from his grasp. “This is my ship! I will do whatever I damn well please with her.”
“Please…don’t erase the recordings,” he begged. “There’s something on there you need to hear.”
I knew exactly what I’d hear. “Like what? How many old hags you fucked on my sacred bed last night?”
The word my mech tech had been trying to get me to say for weeks just popped out of my mouth in the midst of my rage. But neither of us blinked at my use of the crude vulgarity in this instance – because it fit.
Jace just shook his head. “Something that will prove my innocence. About the guy who set me up.”
I glared a moment longer before sucking in a deep breath. “One thing you aren’t, Jace Wylder, is innocent.”
His head snapped back as if I’d physically slapped him. Jaw clenched and his lips firmed into a hard line. “I am a lot of things, but I’m not a child molester.”
I took a deep breath to try and clear my head. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Well, clearing my name is all that matters to me right now.”
“Obviously.”
The corner of his eye twitched. “I have more than enough to pay what I owe you for my bail. I can also pick up some spare parts for the ship now too. Then you can drop me back off at Port Flint after…wherever you’re going next. I can even cover refueling.”
Enough to pay me back? And for fuel? How many women had he soiled himself with through the night? I didn’t even want to ask. Or know what to say. So I kept my mouth shut.
He took another step toward me. “Just let me take care of protecting those backup recordings, and then I’ll clean up the mess I made.”
For each step he took toward me, I took one back. “Fine.”
That was the only word I was capable of squeezing out. I stepped off the bridge and fumbled my way to my personal chamber pod, my pace picking up until I raced along. Then I smacked my door closed with a clank.
It was only then that I allowed the tears to fall in a torrent.
Chapter Fourteen
The ship was silent. Terribly so. I heard every tick and hum as the inner workings of my ship cycled on and off. Climate controls. Auxiliary power. The steady clatter of ice pellets against the hull as weather moved in again.
When another ship whined by and landed on a nearby pad, I worried Jace would take his recently acquired earnings and seek passage on a ship back to Port Flint while he thought I slept.
But sleep would not come. After a night with Trina, I desperately needed a few hours to be coherent for our next rendezvous. Still, I tossed and turned within my pod as rest eluded me – and gave me time to think.
Exhaustion was likely to blame for my irrational eruption over Jace’s actions. I shouldn’t have gotten so outraged at his inventiveness in paying back the funds he owed. But seeing my sanctuary in tatters, the room I’d designed and decorated myself on the long voyage to the Rim, had sent me over the edge in a very bad way. It was like an assault on my person.
Though if I was completely honest, I felt a niggling sense of betrayal. Jace was supposed to be mine. My comforter. My protector. My lover. Perhaps if he’d only told me of his intentions, I might’ve reacted differently.
But seeing him in full-on action, that long, thick and erect cock giving pleasure to another, was like a knife thrust into my belly.
I understood better than ever the reason why courtesan training had drilled into us the absolute demand for discretion in both words and deeds. The illusion of oneness between courtesan and client was so much easier to maintain. It also solidified the conclusion I came to as I laid in my pod bed.
It was all my fault.
Well, maybe not all. When I’d brought Jace onto the ship, my intention was for him to act as the ship’s mech tech, to provide security, and to be my lover. But through the weeks of pleasure on our way from Port Flint to Lyandra, I’d never actually explained to him what being my lover entailed. What that required of him.
He was mine, and no other.
There was a reason why courtesans rarely took legitimate lovers. Most lovers couldn’t wrap their minds around the expectation of monogamy in the relationship – but only on their part. The very idea of a one-sided relationship of submission to a female was so often viewed as a stain on a male’s manhood. And people did like to talk, especially about the very real discrepancy in expectations.
But I was a courtesan. It was my sworn responsibility to join with and bring pleasure to my fellow human being. Until Jace, I’d never run across anyone who ever accepted my joining with another man – or woman. Who openly talked about it like the very idea of knowing I’d been with another was an incredible turn-on.
Last night’s interaction with Trina proved how rare my mech tech’s mindset was. Even she struggled with the concept of sharing my body with another, wanting me all to herself during our stay on Lyandra. While in the throes of our intimacy, I’d too easily succumbed to her request.
Doubt niggled at my mind if Sir Kranst was truly as underhanded as she’d painted him to be or if it was part of her ploy to keep me all to herself. She was a skilled politician, after all.
I didn’t care for the nobleman’s lack of etiquette or respect for courtesan protocol either. But he was a peer. Regardless of how others might perceive his business, he ran a legitimate and legal enterprise, which was more than I could say for many of those out here.
Which included my mech tech last night. A new worry wormed its way into my thoughts. If any of his clients learned he was not a licensed servicer, it could interfere with my business. Get me into trouble. Cost more than credits. An injured party could go so far as to take my ship, since that’s where he’d conducted the activity.
Fear rankled my already overwrought nerves. Jace
was already under the hand of enforcement law. Anything more reported against him could take bad matters and rocket it straight to the worst possible scenario.
Still, I owed him an apology for how poorly I’d handled his interactions. It was also high-time I explained what was expected from him here on out – if he remained onboard.
A clatter down the passageway sent me scrambling into a robe and tiptoeing barefoot toward the small galley area in the center of the ship. Relief washed through me to know that Jace was still around, even as concern followed in its wake. I expected to hear BIP call out at any moment that authorities were at the doorstep to drag him away – and I wasn’t about to involve Trina in our troubles again.
But it wasn’t Jace who whipped around when I entered the dining area. A dirty face surrounded by long tendrils of almost white hair stared back. Strangely familiar – and yet not.
Her cheeks were crammed with foodstuffs, but chewing stilled as she faced me, fear widening huge, blue eyes.
“BIP?” I spoke more calmly than I felt. “Tell Jace to get in the galley…now.”
“Calling Programmer Jace to the galley,” the AI responded.
The girl swallowed what had to be a massive amount of food in one gulp. That deep blue stare stayed connected with mine – until she grabbed a knife from the counter and sliced it through the air.
Right at my neck.
Chapter Fifteen
A hand reached out to still the knife before it encountered my throat. Mussed from sleep, Jace snatched the girl back against his bare chest, arm muscles straining as he held her at bay.
I swallowed the momentary icy terror as the knife dropped with a clang onto the floor, and my mech tech struggled with and secured the girl’s other arm behind her.
“Watch out,” he advised through gritted teeth. “This one’s a bit of a hell cat.”
I retreated a few steps just before she kicked out a foot my way. Jace swept the blond’s other leg from under her and pushed her to the floor with a knee to her spine.
“Don’t hurt her,” I cautioned.
Jace glanced at me, his skin glistening with a sheen of perspiration as he offered up a huff. “You’d rather I let her kill you then?”
“I doubt that was her intention.” I knelt down to a better level at which to talk to her. “Was it?”
The side of her face pressed against the metalloid plated floor, flattening her cheek like a flan-cake. “No.”
I rested against my heels and surveyed the eyes that glittered with determination. Hardened with anger. And fear. “What was your intention then?”
“You just…surprised me.”
“As you surprised me,” I countered. “But you didn’t see me lift a weapon to you either, did you?”
“You haven’t had to fight for survival.”
“Ah…but that is where you’re wrong. I’ve had to fight for everything you see here…and fight even harder to keep it,” I admitted, gesturing to Jace. “Let her up, but don’t release her yet.”
The grunt said he didn’t agree. However, he did as requested, pulling her arms a bit tight for emphasis as he questioned her. “What’s your name?”
She didn’t answer, instead glaring at me with a scowl where I remained on my knees to study her more closely. The pale blue eyes. Almost white hair. Such an unusual beauty. A lovely figure hid beneath the hideously dirty clothes, and the smooth, milky skin was masked by streaks of grime. The lack of a defined flare in the hips said she was likely mid-to-upper teens.
Not quite a woman – but definitely a warrior with the hard glint in those eyes. This girl had definitely fought for survival. Probably for a good portion of her young life.
I rested my hands lightly on my knees so she could see them and know that I meant her no harm. “I’m Dahlia, and this is Jace.”
“Yeah, I know who you two are,” she spat. “You’re the courtesan, and he’s just one of your fuck mates.”
I swallowed the shock to keep it from showing on my face, since that was obviously what she was going for. “Such strong language from a young lady.”
“I’m not a lady.”
Out of the corner of my eye I caught the rise of Jace’s brows and the hint of a grin creeping across his lips before focusing attention fully where it belonged.
“Then who are you?” Silence. Jace’s hands squeezed just a bit harder around her wrists. “A first name would be a wonderful place to start.”
Her lips twisted and her brows furrowed as she considered my request. It finally came out as a growl under her breath when my mech tech’s efforts proved too much. “Rylan.”
Unusual name, just like the unexpected guest on my ship. “And how old are you, Rylan?”
The jaw firmed as her chin jutted out. “I’m seventeen cycles. I’ll be eighteen soon enough and free to travel where I please.”
A sickening queasiness frolicked in my belly. As if I didn’t have enough to worry about with Jace’s upcoming hearing, and the possibility of his displeased client, now I had an underage girl on my vessel. If her parents discovered her here and decided to file charges, my ship was as good as forfeit.
“What are you doing on my ship?” I asked, smoothly standing to exert a bit of authority. Rather difficult to do while wearing a filmy robe. “If you’re hungry, I can send you home with some supplies to help you and your family.”
Blue eyes darted down toward the knife then up to the open passageway. “I…uh…”
Reality crystalized in a split second, but I didn’t see it soon enough. Stomping on Jace’s bare toes, she slid from his grasp and crouched down to grab the knife, slicing upward to catch him across the forearm before making a break toward the passageway.
But quick thinking was on my side this time. As Jace filled the air with an assortment of his favorite expletives, I sprang into action. My foot shot out to block the passageway, and the girl tripped over it. The additional momentum of a shove sent her crashing to the hard floor and smacking her head into the doorway frame on the way down.
I landed against her stilled body and glanced up at my mech tech, a pulsar gun in his hands. “Get me something to tie her up.”
Blood trailed down his hand and dripped from the weapon before he laid it on the table. It seeped into the fabric of the loose pants he’d hastily put on as he snatched them off, ripped them in half, then handed them over. “Where’s the knife? Are you okay?”
I took the pants pieces and started threading one half around her wrists. “I should be asking you that question.”
“It’s just a scratch.”
“It looks like more than a scratch.” Together we finished securing Rylan’s hands and feet. “Let me see your arm.”
“It’s fine,” he groused, checking the knots around her ankles before tearing off a loose piece of fabric to wrap around the cut before tying the end off with his teeth. “We need to lock her in somewhere before she wakes up.”
“We can’t keep her here. If enforcement authorities find an underage girl on my ship, I’ll be in more trouble than you already are when her family finds out.”
“Her family’s not going to find out.”
His admission stunned me. “And you know this how?”
He gave the fabric around his arm a final tug with his teeth before glancing at me. “Because if she has any family, they’re not on Lyandra.”
“I…I don’t understand.” I looked over Rylan’s still form. “Do you know her?”
“No.” He shook his head then slung the girl over his shoulder with a grunt. “But I’ve seen her before. On Port Flint.”
A chill wave washed through me. I grabbed the pulsar gun then quickly caught up to him down the passageway. “Are you telling me this girl has been on my ship since we left the starport?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s what I just said.” The muscles in his gloriously naked ass rippled and writhed beneath his skin as his stride lengthened.
How could I think about naked asses at a time
like this? “But, but…how?”
“Apparently she stowed away.”
I halted as the blood drained from my face and grabbed the railing to steady myself. I wasn’t simply in trouble with this news.
This time I was truly and completely – as Jace would say – fucked.
Jace headed straight for his pod, secured Rylan to his bed, then took the weapon from me and gave her a low stun pulse to make sure she stayed put. “That should give us a window of about fifteen minutes.”
Then he went to work on the doorway access panel, prying it open and poking about only to leave it hanging by an assortment of wires.
“But…but this is your room,” I said. “If you put her in here, where are you going to sleep?”
“With you.” Jace dug around in the storage under his bed and dragged out an assortment of tools and other gizmos.
“You can’t stay with me in my personal pod. It’ll be too crowded.”
He fired up what he’d once told me was a cold plasma driver then moved over to the wall between the main pod chamber and the attached bathing unit to rig up a cable. “Okay, then I’ll sleep in your sanctuary thing.”
“Out of the question. That is a sacred space…or at least it once was.”
He shot me a frustrated look then snapped the protective goggles over his eyes while he worked. “Then you’ll have to clear all that shit from one of the other two pods, because I’ve got to sleep somewhere.”
I ground my teeth in frustration before gazing again at Rylan. Lips parted in slow, even breaths. Those icy blue eyes were closed in what might be mistaken for quiet repose. The small gash near her temple was the only sign she wasn’t merely sleeping.
I tiptoed around Jace and his array of tools and stepped into the bathing stall to dampen what I hoped was a clean cloth. The pristine condition of the stall rather surprised me, having witnessed the disastrous mess he left the rest of the space in most of the time.
