“Er, thanks, I guess,” she said, again keeping it short.
“You been avoidin’ me,” he said, coming closer still. “That ain’t nice.”
“I’ve been working,” Kiera said. “Which is what I’m doing now, actually,” she added pointedly. She wondered if he even remembered coming and banging on her door drunkenly at three in the morning. She’d thought at first that he might be coming to apologize for the incident, but apparently not.
Higgs ignored her attempt to cut things short.
“I got me a new ship,” he announced, puffing himself up. “Fast one too. Was thinkin’ maybe I’d take you over to Felona Six this weekend.”
Kiera frowned at the idea of going anywhere with the big sweaty pickle.
“Felona Six?” she said, making it a question.
He nodded grandly.
“Yep. They got coogle—dancing there. Finest coogle—dancing in this whole sector.”
Kiera had absolutely no intention of going anywhere with him in any ship, under any circumstances, but Buck still hadn’t come back and Higgs was lingering, grinning at her in that oily, self—satisfied way of his. So she stalled.
“What’s coogle—dancing?” she asked, making her voice politely curious.
Higgs brightened immediately.
“Oh, you’re gonna love it,” he said, clearly pleased to have a chance to lecture her on something new. “It’s like this–everybody lines up in rows on this big floor, right? But the floor moves under you. Kind of bucks and sways like the back of a coogle during mating season.”
Kiera stared at him uncertainly. A coogle, as far as she knew, was a large shaggy beast from Felona Six with six legs and a neck like a camel. Why anyone would want to dance like one during mating season was beyond her.
Obviously taking her expression for enthusiasm, Higgs forged on eagerly.
“So anyway, you gotta keep your feet moving the whole time or you fall on your ass,” he went on enthusiastically. “There’s stompin’ and clappin’ and this one move where everybody slaps the person in front of ‘em on the hip and turns three times. Then the music speeds up and the floor starts jerkin’ sideways and whoever’s still standing at the end wins free drinks.”
Kiera tried to look appropriately impressed though inside she was thinking that coogle—dancing sounded like country line dancing designed by sadists.
“Wow,” she said faintly. “That’s…something.”
“It sure—nuff is,” Higgs agreed, nodding as though he personally had invented it. “And I figure once you see me dance, you’ll change your mind about me. Give me another chance to show you what a good guy I am.”
I would honestly rather get eaten by a Vorn, Kiera thought, but she didn’t want to antagonize her nearest–and only–neighbor, even if he was being an asshole. She wanted to tell him she had no interest in him and that he needed to stay the hell away from her, but she was alone out here with nobody but the work—bots and Buck. So as much as it irritated her, she needed to let Higgs down easy.
“Thank you, Higgs, but I don’t think I can make it,” she said, smiling politely. “I just have way too much work to do–the sanctuary is opening soon and I have a lot to get done before it does.”
The big alien’s expression darkened instantly.
“What do you mean, you can’t make it?”
“I mean I have work to do,” Kiera repeated, frowning. “Also, I’m just not in a place right now where I want to go out. I’m not looking for a relationship–of any kind.”
She tried to keep her tone polite but firm. She had learned that outright rudeness just seemed to encourage him, as though he enjoyed pushing harder when she was uncomfortable.
But Higgs wasn’t one to take “no” for an answer. He took another step closer, so that the choking cloud of B.O. and sour cream and onion chips wafted right in her face.
“Aw, come on now.” His voice went wheedling. “You just ain’t givin’ me a fair chance, girly. You’d have a good time. I promise.”
“No, thank you,” Kiera said again, more sharply this time. “I don’t have the time of the energy to go out right now.”
His affable smile vanished and was quickly replaced with an angry sneer.
“You think you’re too good for me? Is that it?”
