“We’ve got time for lunch before we arrive. Food will be a nice distraction.”
“What’s for lunch?” Xaber asked.
Tish answered before Mace could. “Pizza!”
He grinned at his batch-brother. “She is sofraxxingperfect for us.”
“Agreed. Now come on. Let’s eat.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Tish could barely keep still.Any second now, her dads would come aboard the ship and she’d finally get to hug them. It felt like a lifetime since she’d done that. In some ways, it had been. She wasn’t the same being who had fled Amadox months ago. She’d survived on her own, discovered things about herself she might never have known if she had stayed, and best of all, she’d found two males who loved her completely.
Mace had suggested she wait in the engine room, but she didn’t want to wait that long. Instead, she was inside the spare cabin, only a few steps from the corridor. The door was open, so all she had to do was walk out, and they would see her.
She bounced on her toes and tried to keep quiet when the hatch finally opened.
“Come on in.” Xaber’s voice carried down the corridor.
“Thank you.”
She smiled as she heard Elias’s voice. He had always been the more personable of her parents.
“Thought I’d bring my partner along. This might be a two-man job. Like I said before, I’m Javid. This is Elias.”
“And I’m Xaber.”
“You running this rig solo?” Javid asked.
“No. My brother Mace is in the galley, and my engineer will be joining us in a second.”
Almost time…
“Why do you need us if you’ve got an engineer on board?” Javid asked.
And that was her cue. Tish stepped into the corridor, beaming. “Because she wanted an expert opinion.”
“Tishna?” Elias gaped at her, relief and confusion written all over his face.
“Hi, Dads.” She ran straight for them, not stopping until she had her arms around them both. Tears streamed down her face as they hugged her back.
“Baby girl! What thefraxxare you doing here? It’s dangerous!” Javid demanded once the initial shock wore off.
“We’re more dangerous,” Mace announced as he came down the corridor to join them.
Elias narrowed his eyes as he looked from Mace to Xaber. “Who exactly are you, and why are you with our daughter?”
“That is a long explanation,” she said.
Mace shook his head. “No, it’s not. We’re her lovers, and we will protect Tishna with every breath in our body.”
Both of her fathers blinked. “Lovers?”
“Yes, Dads. Lovers. As in, I love them. And before you say another word, I will remind you that I am a grown woman who can and will make her own decisions.”
Elias chuckled. “I see a few months on the run hasn’t changed anything. Alright. That answers my first question. Can I ask the second one now?”
“Of course,” she said.
