Well, she could work on that after she rescued Damon—ifshe managed to. If they didn’t understand pretty quickly that having Damon around really wasn’t going to change anything between them, then she would try to get it through their thick skulls and make them understand! They were just as important to her, and dear to her, in their own way as Damon was. It was just different, that was all.
Despite her determination to sleep, she discovered when she’d peeled her flight suit off and sprawled on her bunk that her mind was too busy to rest. Memories of her time with Damon alternated with attempts to work out a plan. Finally, she decided she’d just waltz brazenly into the brothel and ask for Damon. She didn’t especially like that idea since that meant the proprietor would be able to identify her as the last customer, but she couldn’t think of an alternative.
Breaking in didn’t seem like a good idea. In the first place, she couldn’t be sure Damon would be entertaining. He could be downstairs. In the second, she didn’t especially like the idea of seeing him in action even though she knew he was popular with the ladies. And thirdly, if hewasentertaining, it seemed likely his client would begin to scream like a banshee if she came in through the window and that could be way worse than being identified after she’d had time to get the hell out of the Osirus system.
What to do afterwards in the event that she was identified and it turned out that there had been a recall issued on Damon?
She realized she’d been considering getting out of the business ever since her father had been killed—before that, actually. To be more precise, she’d had ideas of doing something different ever since the night she’d spent with Damon. Up until then, she hadn’t given much thought to the life she had. Her life before her father had taken her with him had dimmed to a handful of memories and a lot of those weren’t that good.
She’d actually assessed the life she had, though, after Damon and realized that, although it never really had occurred to her before, and everyone from her father to his crew treated her like one of the guys, she actually had enough ‘girl’ in her that she wanted to find a life companion and settle down. Unlike her father, she’d never actually suffered from wanderlust. It didn’t thrill her to drift through space and never see another living soul for months on end. The few attacks they’d had to fend off had scared the living piss out of her, not excited her.
She could be content living in one place, maybe having a kid or two. She rather liked that idea, actually.
Of course, if she had Damon as a companion, there weren’t going to be any kids. She wasn’t ditzy enough in the head to think that was possible, but she figured they could take in a couple of strays. There were always kids orphaned on the outer rim colonies where life was rough at best.
Now that she thought about it, she realized that was probably the best thing to do—find a fairly remote planet, stake out some land, and settle down. It would be easier to pass Damon off as a human if she was living with him as a companion.
What to do with Jared and Kane, though?
Well, she couldn’t abandon them, that was for sure. They were in just as much danger as Damon was—maybe more. She thought Damon might have an easier time passing as a human since he had some social skills.
So she could find a really remote place and use the salvage they’d collected to start a planet-based salvage operation and be the middle man for a change! That way, Jared and Kane would have basically the same job they did now.
Relaxing almost the minute she’d worked that out in her head, she finally dropped to sleep in spite the noise Jared and Kane were still making ‘repairing’ the damage to the ship.
She thought it was actually the silence that woke her later, although it took her a few minutes to figure that out. Rolling from her bunk, she struggled to throw off the dregs of sleep and finally got up, stretched, yawned, and headed down to the bathing facilities.
That was an eye opening experience! When she arrived, both Kane and Jared were already there—bathing. She blinked several times, trying to bring her vision into focus or, more accurately, trying to assimilate the fact that both of them were buck naked.
They were still pissed off, too, but it took her so long to get to their faces she wasn’t aware of that at first.
She hadn’t seen them completely naked before—half-dressed, yes, and that was an eyeful because their chests, backs, and arms were bulging with hard muscle. She’d always made it a habit to steer clear of any of the other crewmembers when they were using the facilities, though. It wasn’t that she was afraid they wouldn’t be able to contain their lust. She was more afraid that they wouldn’t be able to contain the urge to use her as the butt of their stupid jokes. Even if they didn’t, she didn’t want them to get the idea that she was trolling for dick—because they were just downright disgusting!
She hadn’t avoided Jared and Kane for that reason, of course, but it had bothered her almost as much to think that they would be completely immune to her as woman as it did to think of the other guys either making fun or deciding to make her an offer.
The first thing that struck her was that they were anatomically correct—more than ‘just’ correct, actually. Their cocks were as impressive as the rest of them—even soft.
The second thing that struck her was that those impressive tools of theirs actually worked. They stood straight up when she walked in and that was a pretty fucking unnerving salute!
“Oops! Sorry guys! I’m still half asleep. I’ll come back later,” she said, whirling abruptly on her heels and dashing outside again. She was halfway back to her cabin before it dawned on her that she was buck naked herself.
“Ok, so maybe a little more than half asleep,” she muttered, wondering how long she’d slept. A glance at her clock in her cabin sent a jolt through her. Hours! They must be getting close to Thagorous by now! “Damn it to hell! Computer! How close are we to our destination?”
“We are in orbit, Captain Chloe.”
“And you didn’t fucking think I’d want to be woke up, god damn it!”
“You did not leave instructions to awaken you.”
“Stupid computer!” Chloe snarled. “And just what was Jared’s and Kane’s excuse, I’d like to know!”
“They thought you might sleep long enough that your attempt would be useless and that would remove you from danger,” the computer responded.
Rage rushed through her. “Are you serious?”
“Unable to compute.”
“Never mind! Damn it to hell! Do they think they’re my father, or something? Don’t answer that, computer!”
