Vee didn’t leave Cypher’s room for two days.
The first day was unsettling. She’d woken up disoriented and confused, but when she’d realized where she was, she’d slumped back into bed and pulled the covers high around her. She was in Cypher’s ship—a strange man’s ship—and it made her nervous. Despite what happened to her apartment, she faced much more than that now. She facedhim, and barricading herself off seemed like the best course of action while she tried to figurehimout.
This was the first time she’d been inside a spaceship of any kind. And though everything was clean, she could smell Cypher everywhere, even beyond the bedding. Metal and man, spicy, wild, and untamed—almost.Almost untamed.
He’d checked up on her several times, even bringing her buttered toast, and letting Bees out to roam the ship… Shame settled inside her, and an unsettling patter in her chest she couldn’t shake came with each visit. Where was her courage?
She only knew it was the end of the first day because he brought her dinner and offered to show her his ship. There’d been a dandelion on her tray. Vee sniffed the weedy flower and smiled. It stayed with her on the pillow next to her that night. The flower relaxed her nerves.
The second day was better.
She’d woken to Cypher bringing her breakfast, grumbling about restocking the food replicator machines and not having enough choices. But she’d devoured the foamy waffles and eggs, forgetting about everything outside for a few wonderful minutes. Cypher had awkwardly gazed around the room, tangling his fingers into his hair while asking her benign questions and offering to let the cleaning bots sanitize the bedding.
For some reason, he couldn’t look at her for long before his eyes darted away. It made her smile.
His presence steadily became less intimidating.
That day, she’d logged onto her media site and gave updates to her followers. Even managed to message a few of them back, ignoring the increasing amount of mean-spirited notifications.
When she’d seen clips of her interview and clips of Cypher getting into a brawl with some assholes outside her apartment, she shut her wristcon off and closed her eyes. It was clear to her he held back his strength. She knew a Cyborg could easily kill whatever they came up against but Cypher… Cypher was huge, even in comparison to the other one she’d met.
She pulled up Cypher’s file and read over all his information again for the hundredth time, trying to learn all she could about him.
Before she knew it, hours had gone by.
A long shower later, her desire to join the world of the living returned, despite the big, burly Cyborg in her path.If he’s going to harm me, he would have done it by now.
I need to repay him…
But when she approached the door late that night, it didn’t open for her. Her nerves threatened to return but she talked herself down and went to bed instead.
Vee woke the third morning with Cypher staring daggers at her from the doorway.
She scooted back. “Wha—”
“Time to get up. It’s almost noon,” Cypher groused. “We have work to do today.” He pivoted and shut the door behind him.
Bees nuzzled her arm, and she pushed down the covers, sliding her feet to the floor.
She went to her bag of supplies. Pulling out a dress—one of the few articles of clothing that hadn’t been destroyed—and a pair of underwear, she set them aside. Besides some toiletries, there was nothing else. Vee rubbed her face.
She scratched Bees’ scruff.
When he licked his paws, she pulled his fluffy body into her lap and pushed her nose into his fur. “They didn’t hurt you,” she whispered. “That’s all that matters.”
Bees wiggled out of her hold and jumped back on the bed.
She picked up her clothes and stood. A few minutes later, after stuffing her grimy shirt and yesterday’s underwear at the bottom of her duffle, she was as ready as she’d ever be, running her fingers through her tangled hair.
She headed for the door but stopped short. Had the last few days been mere hours? No...
I slept in Cypher’s room.
I slept in Cypher’sbed.
She inhaled sharply.
Her belly fluttered.
