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Karn rubbed his chin. Ivy kept to herself. If she wasn’t working, she was in her room. She must have hobbies that only involved one person.

“Struggling?”

“Just deciding what is her favorite.”

“You’ll be figuring that out for a long time. Ivy doesn’t have hobbies. She says they’re for losers.”

Karn frowned. That couldn’t be true. Everybody had something they were passionate about.

“Who’s her best friend?” Karn asked.

“She’s not much into having girls as friends. Ivy has always been little miss independent.”

“That doesn’t sound like much fun,” Strande said. “No hobbies and no friends. Your girlfriend sounds lonely.”

“She’s not his girlfriend,” Karn said. “Marcus is making this up. Everyone has friends.” He briefly considered his own very short list of people he could count on.

“I’m repeating Ivy’s own words,” Marcus said. “She had an... incident on Earth. It made her suspicious of her friends.”

“What kind of incident?” Karn asked.

Marcus glanced down at the floor and swung his foot backward and forward. “It was a misunderstanding. She got the wrong end of the stick.”

Karn shook his head. “Let me guess; she caught you sleeping with one of her friends?”

Marcus shrugged. “We had an argument. I thought we were on a break. As far as I was concerned, I was a free agent. How was I to know Ivy would change her mind and walk in as I got down to business with her best friend?”

“You’re a piece of work. The second you had trouble with Ivy, you looked for somebody else.” Karn would never treat Ivy like that. Maybe when he’d been a horny teenager and didn’t know any better, but not now. Ivy was worth much more than that. “You don’t mess with a woman like Ivy.”

“Whatever. After that, Ivy said she was done with friends, just as she was done with me. I didn’t believe it at the time. I figured we’d have a couple of weeks apart and she could let off steam, maybe even hook up with a random guy or two as punishment. We’d get back together. Ivy loves me.”

“It doesn’t sound like she loves you anymore. If you’re so into her, what took you so long to come find her? She’s been on Prodigy for over a year.”

“How do you know that?” Marcus asked. “It sounds like you’ve been stalking my girl.”

“I’m not stalking her.” Karn let out a sigh. “Ivy is hard to miss.”

“She is incredible, which is why I’m here. To prove to her she made a mistake and she should take me back.”

“Ivy made the mistake?” Strande chuckled. “Are you certain about that?”

“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side. We all mess up. Don’t tell me you’ve never got things wrong with your girl.”

“Nothing to that degree,” Strande said. “You find a hot female and you stick with her. You don’t go sticking your dick into another hole because things get tricky.”

“Well put,” Karn said. “Ivy deserves better.”

“You think you’re the better option.” Marcus smirked. “I know her better than anybody. I know she’s made a mistake coming here. Ivy won’t get what she needs from you or anybody else. No one else can satisfy her.”

“I doubt you could satisfy Ivy.”

“Have you been there?” Marcus asked. “Ivy has particular needs when it comes to the bedroom.”

“That’s none of your business,” Karn growled.

“I bet you haven’t figured out her favorite sexual position?”

Karn considered their make out session in the office. Ivy had taken the lead, climbing onto him as if her life depended on it and dominating him. She’d been the same when they’d gotten to know each other in that dark corner of the Enchanted Captain on their second date.