“Not today, please, not today,” she begged.
His brow furrowed.
Then she jerked the screen closed and Hysterian took the chance to hide. In a flash, he jumped up and into the unused bunk above Alexa’s, rolling to the back. He heard the screen opening back up below him just as he quickly closed his.
He did something he’d never done before. He fucking prayed. He prayed to every god and devil out there to be anywhere else in the universe than where he was right now.
Alexa moved out from her bunk with a mumble, and Hysterian’s body tensed as if readying for battle. He tempered his systems to keep quiet. He’d never hidden from anyone or anything in his long, mechanical life. The room’s private lavatory door opened, closed, and he slumped with relief. When the bathing unit turned on, he shoved the screen open.
Then Raul walked in.
Their eyes met.
Raul came to a halt. “Captain…?”
Hysterian calmly climbed from the bunk and straightened out his suit.
“Raul,” he responded.
Raul couldn’t look more confused or shocked to see him, but to Hysterian’s relief, having Raul find him was a lot less embarrassing than Alexa finding him.
“Umm… Can I do something for you? Do you need something? How did you…” Raul trailed off, his face going red. He glanced at the bunk Hysterian just climbed out of.
“Yes, you can. You can keep this between us,” Hysterian said. “In fact, I order you to keep this between us.”
“Yeah, of course. Wait. What am I keeping between us?” Raul’s eyes drifted back to Hysterian.
“That you saw me here at all.”
“Are you and Dear—”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
Hysterian wished he’d surrounded himself with a crew that didn’t give a fuck what anyone else was doing as long as they were doing their job.
But Raul stood in his way, and didn’t look keen on moving, so Hysterian had to give him some fucking answer to his question. And soon. Alexa wouldn’t be showering forever.
Showering…
Hysterian paused, adjusting his audio to listen to the spray of water through the wall. The water was cold. He’d used it all. He didn’t sense a temperature shift in the small room beyond.
He refused to imagine the soaking wet female under it… How close he was to her. How cold she must be…
“Captain?” Raul stared at him with wrinkles deepening between his brows.
“I insist you keep this between us.” Hysterian shut Alexa and what was happening behind him from his mind. Wet, cold, or not. Her comfort wasn’t his problem. “I have a tendency to… wander when I’m seeded into the network. I don’t pretend it isn’t a problem, but it shouldn’t affect you or anyone else in my command,” he lied.
“You wandered into the empty bunk above Alexa’s?”
Hysterian glowered.
The bathing unit turned off.
“Yes.”
Raul’s lips twitched, and to Hysterian’s dismay, Raul smirked. “Riiight.”
