The problem was, he was as hard as a fucking rock and weighed a ton, besides taking up most of the bed. Giving up when she decided she must have lain in the bed at least trying to sleep for a full sleep cycle, or most of one, she got up and looked around for something to wear.
She was still more than half asleep as she headed down the corridor to the shower room, however, and not in the best of moods because she wasstilltired.
She supposed, later, that if she hadn’t been in such a foul mood she might have thought twice about taking on a cyborg—female or not. Unfortunately, at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do.
Chapter Eight
There was a veritable wall of naked flesh in the showers, so much that it was a shock to Chloe’s already beleaguered senses. She halted abruptly and gaped, unable for many moments even to grasp where all the naked people had come from. Slowly, her mind picked up and began to work again and it dawned on her that it was her ‘guests’.
They’d noticed her while she was still trying to jumpstart her brain. That realization made her freeze in the act of retreat and assess the situation. She wanted a bath. The showers were full. Wait for an opening and pretend nonchalance since that seemed to be the ‘order’ of things? Or retreat and come back later?
She really wanted to retreat, but she didn’t want tolooklike she was retreating.
One of the cyborgs vacated a shower while she was still debating and she surged forward in relief. From out of nowhere, one of the female cyborgs stalked past her, headed for the same shower.
“Wait a minute! That’s mine.”
The woman halted and turned to look at her and Chloe instantly recognized her as the heckler from the discussion the day before. “First come, first serve,” she retorted.
“Exactly! And I was next!” Chloe said tightly, uncomfortable about having to exert her rights and beginning to be angry both because the woman had broke in front of her and because it felt like bad manners not to give up the shower to a guest.
“You seemed more interested in staring at the men than taking a shower,” the woman said nastily.
Chloe felt her face redden, but her temper rose another notch. She narrowed her eyes at the woman. “Let me put it this way. I’m the captain of this ship and it’s my god damned ship! Now, get your ass to the back of the line.”
The woman tensed as if she fully intended to attack. As she flicked a gaze over Chloe’s head, though, she froze. There was something about her posture that made Chloe glance around even though she strongly suspected it was an effort to sucker punch her.
She discovered it wasn’t and relief filled her when she saw that Kane, Jared, Sebastian, Lucien, and Thor had come to stand around her almost like a wall.
“You are brave with your watchdogs at your back,” the woman spat.
That really pissed Chloe off. “They aren’t dogs, bitch! Is that your problem? They aren’t interested?”
For a moment, she looked like she might attack regardless of Chloe’s ‘guard’. A hand abruptly clamped on her arm, however. She whirled to attack and froze. Reuel’s face, Chloe saw, was hard and deadly. “You forget yourself, Salina.CaptainChloe is the highest ranking officer aboard this ship. Mason, Kyle—escort Salina to the brig. She is confined until further notice for misconduct and disrespect of an officer.”
Chloe relaxed when Salina had been escorted out.
Reuel saluted. “My apologies, Captain Chloe. I assure you nothing like this will happen again.” He turned from her and scanned the other cyborgs as he voiced the last remark.
Chloe nodded. “Thank you. I’d like to discuss the problem on the bridge when I’ve had time to shower and dress.”
He nodded, turned, and left. Feeling abruptly shaky, Chloe threw a smile of appreciation at her crew and headed for the shower. “Thanks for watching my back, guys!”
Kane leaned a shoulder against the wall near the shower when she turned it on and stepped into the water. “You cannot hold your own against a cyborg, Chloe,” he said, his voice pitched low.
She threw a glance at him. “I’m not terribly alert this morning, but that did occur to me,” she retorted dryly. “Do you think it would’ve worked better if I’d let her run over me? Maybe I should’ve just pretended I wasn’t heading for this shower when she ran around me to take it?”
His lips tightened. “You are right. You had to exert your authority. Trading insults might not have been the best way to handle it, however.”
Chloe flushed, but she shrugged. “She insulted me first—twice! It isn’t like I didn’t try to keep it on a professional level.”
“She was attempting to goad you into a fight.”
“Duh!” Chloe said irritably. “How dumb do you think I am? I may still be more asleep than awake—at least I was—but I caught that right away. In fact, I caught it yesterday when they arrived. It isn’t like I’ve never had any experience with bullies, you know. I was twelve when mom was killed. I got the chance to deal with and see plenty of bullies in action.”
“I am only saying that you will need to watch your back at any time that one or more of your ‘watchdogs’ are not nearby.”
Chloe felt her anger rise again. “Fucking bitch! It was bad enough she insulted me. It was completely uncalled for to insult you guys.”
