“I have work to do.” He brought up the holo-screen on his desk. I pursed my lips when he nodded to our left. “There’s a shirt on the console.”
Getting out of his lap, I adjusted myself and got the shirt to wipe off before tossing it to him. Figured he’d be the type to get off and return to work like nothing ever happened. I wasn’t sure if I was annoyed or impressed. Once again, perhaps a bit of both.
Before I left, Roys said, nearly inaudible, “Here. After lights out. Commlink off.”
I let my smirk spread wide. “You gave us orders never to have them off, Captain.”
“Keep giving me attitude, see what happens.” He mocked, wearing that warning look, the furrowed brow that made each scar deepen.
Chuckling, I went for the exit, already imagining what it’d be like for him to take me over the desk.
“Ethin.” I froze on the threshold, not looking back when he said, “Messing around won’t change what happened with Lilea.”
I caught my tongue between my teeth and willed my body not to react. To remain still, and my voice steady when I replied, “You really know how to ruin the mood, don’t you?”
The door opened and shut behind me. I stepped out of the barracks to nearly run into Lilea. She didn’t look at me as she brushed by. The cradle healed the crack in her shell, leaving a faint mark over the dark spiral patterns, but otherwise, she was perfectly alright. Physically.
Arana, Ryker, and Zavir sat around playing poker in the communal area. Arana made her bets and lost, based on how she sat with her head in her hands. Ryker counted his winnings, the biggest of the pile, and Zavir dealt the next hand.
“You joining in? We should have time before,” Zavir glanced toward the barracks. “He calls us.”
“Absolutely not.” Ryker put his arms around his wins. “Lucky cheats, I swear.”
“No, the truth is in the name. Deal me in.” I fell into the seat beside Ryker and pulled out a smoke.
Arana whimpered when tossing a cigarette, her last one, on the betting pile. Then there was a spark in her eyes when she sat tall and held her cards. “I am winning this time.”
We all pretended to agree. She had to join the militia for a reason, and even that couldn’t convince her how bad she was. Arana lost over and over. Ryker whimpered as I accumulated his wealth. We made a rule that I’d give back half of what I took, considering how I never lost. Iylene watched me for over two hours once to ensure I didn’t cheat. But I doubted they would ever do that again.
Lilea returned to the communal area. Iylene went in next. Zavir kept checking his commlink. Ryker didn’t speak much, then Arana threw her cards on the table and said, “I’ll be the first one to say it; this is awkward.”
“It is unpleasant.” Zavir sighed.
All eyes went to me. I pointed my cigarette toward each of them, my second cigarette. I emptied the pack, and I didn’t care because I had won three more from Arana.
“Don’t give me those looks. The lot of you ran with me.” I scooped up my winnings and tossed the smokes into the old pack. They weren’t my preferred brand, but it was better than nothing.
“Yeah, well, I never abandoned one of our own before.” Arana laid her arms on the table, shivering.
“Abandoned is a harsh term.” My teeth tore into my cheek. Blood fell onto my tongue.Hervoice echoed in my brain, a broken stream for the worst nightmares.
“But the correct one,” said Ryker, falling back in his chair. “It was the right call, Lucky. A shit one, but the right one.”
“Exactly.” I breathed in the last of my cigarette and crushed it in the ashtray. “Lilea will understand once she has a day or two to calm down. Iylene will pretend like it never happened by tomorrow.”
“You hope so.” Zavir shuffled the cards needlessly. No one wanted to play another hand.
As annoying as Roys was earlier, I was relieved we’d meet tonight. I needed a damn good distraction.
014
Lightsoutwasinten minutes. Ryker and Zavir fell asleep, but Arana had yet to join them.
“We should talk to Lilea tomorrow. With our work done, we’ll be lounging about, so it would be hard to avoid her. Not to say that we should avoid her because she did nothing wrong and, arguably, we didn’t, either. We have to watch out for ourselves. She understands, but it would be the best thing to do, right?” Her hand hung over the edge of the mattress, tapping each finger against her thumb repeatedly.
“Yep,” I replied with my eyes on the commlink. Nine minutes.
This lot were hard sleepers; had to be otherwise we wouldn’t get any. Once she passed out, I should be good to escape. Roys better not lecture me. I wasn’t in the mood. The whole point was good sex to pass the days and I was only accepting commands from him in bed from this point on.
