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“She’s great. I don’t know. I’ll be sacrificing a lot if I stay with one woman.”
“Like what?”
“My freedom.”
“She’s not going to pin you down and refuse to let you leave her quarters.”
“I wouldn’t mind if she did.”
Billy laughed. “When you’re with the right person, they won’t stop you from doing the things you love.”
“What if I love drinking and stealing and having a different woman in my bed every night?”
“Then you should be my age.” Billy glanced at Karn. “How old are you?”
“Old enough to tell you to watch yourself.” Karn focused on Ivy’s ship in the distance. “I did enjoy those things once.”
“Before my uncle died, he told me the most important thing about life is to enjoy it. Be happy. That’s all that matters. If drinking and taking stuff and having a stranger in your bed does that for you, then why are you chasing Ivy?”
“Have you had a brain transplant?” Karn knocked a knuckle on the side of Billy’s head. “Did someone give you the mind of an Ancient?”
Billy laughed. “No way! I’m as dumb as a brick.”
Karn shook his head. Billy had been through some rough times, but he’d turned out to be a decent kid. Karn hoped in some tiny way he’d helped shape Billy into an outstanding human. “You know the line of work I’m in. It doesn’t exactly make for a stable home life. Do you think Ivy will go for that?”
“You should pay attention to the match My Single Alien made for you,” Billy said. “The single life sucks. I’d give it up in a heartbeat for someone like Ivy. Well, someone as hot as Ivy but not so terrifying.”
“You’re still young. You’ll have plenty of adventures before you find your perfect match.”
“I’m a bit niche for most women. It will take me years before I can get my cybernetic implant. Until then, the only looks I get from women are sympathetic ones. Not only can they see a missing arm, but they also see that I can’t afford to pay for a replacement. A one-armed loser with nothing in the bank is not sexy.”
Karn slapped Billy on the shoulder. “Any woman who doesn’t think you’re man enough because of something like that is not the right one for you.”
Billy nodded. “Yeah, who cares about missing limbs when you’re as hot as me?”
“You’ll be even hotter when you start your training with me.”
“Really? You’re turning me into a spy?”
“An intelligence gatherer.”
“Oh man, this is the best day ever.”
Karn’s smile faded, and his gut clenched. “We’ve got incoming.”
The shot from the Prodigy security shuttle shot past the left side of the ship.
“They’re trying to take us out.” Billy glared at the screen, his hand clenched.
Karn shook his head. “It was a warning shot. They’re showing us they mean business.” It also showed him he was out of time if he wanted to get Ivy.
The station’s security ship hailed him. “This is your final opportunity to return to Prodigy. Turn your ship around and follow us to the station.”
“What do we do?” Billy asked.
“We’re not abandoning Ivy. Not now that I know she’s in trouble.”
“Their next shot won’t be a warning,” Billy said.
