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And the show ended.
Micki bolted for the backstage. Andrus stayed behind, accepting congratulations and preening over his victory.
She searched for her dance bag but it was nowhere to be seen. Dancers weren’t allowed to leave the premises in their ISD costumes so she stopped one of the passing crew members to ask if anyone had seen her bag.
“It’s in the rehearsal hall,” he said.
Wondering how her things had gotten so misdirected, she went to collect it and decided to change there. She’d begun to shimmy out of the slinky costume when the door opened again and Andrus came in.
“There you are,” he said.
“If you don’t mind, I’m trying to change here,” she said, pulling the dress back up as best she could.
“I don’t mind.” His voice was low and ominous. She heard the lock click behind him and backed away as Andrus came closer, eyeing her in a way she didn’t care for.
“I’ll scream,” she said, hitting the mirror and unable to retreat further.
“No one will hear you. This room has special soundproofing—you know that.” Andrus grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her forward, trying to press a kiss on her, shoving his tongue into her mouth.
“What the seven hells do you think you’re doing?” she said, managing to break free.
“No need to pretend with me,” he replied. “I can see you and the boyfriend are no more. It’s all anyone can talk about…how the two of you were so cozy and now you don’t even speak. I’ve had Josh’s sloppy seconds before and never received any complaints.” He cupped his crotch and did a mock hip thrust.
“No,” she said loudly and forcefully. “Don’t touch me.”
“Come on, I know you want me.” It seemed he was not to be deterred by her refusal. “You were so hot for me during our dance tonight. Our bodies were in sync. No need to play coy now.”
Micki slipped past him, ducking under his arms and made it to the door. She fumbled with the lock, panic making her clumsy and she heard it click open as Andrus grabbed her from behind. He was trying to drag her to the couch despite her protests. She did her best to punch him or kick him where it would do some good but he took no notice.
Behind them the door opened with a crash and Andrus was yanked away from her. Josh punched him in the jaw, knocking him to the floor. Andrus got to his feet and tried to engage, throwing a wild roundhouse punch which missed as Josh sidestepped and landed another staggering blow on Andrus’s chin. The Kumisarc scion collapsed in a heap.
“Are you okay?” Josh asked Micki fiercely.
Wordlessly she nodded. “I?—”
Then the room was full of people. The AD emerged out of the crowd and came to Micki. “Did he hurt you? Are you going to press charges? We should talk?—”
“I need to get out of here.” Micki could hardly breathe and she knew she was in shock. Of course the AD wanted to protect the show and one of their precious celebrities.
Disgusted, she shook her head and rushed to grab her bag. “I’ll bring the fucking costume back tomorrow. Nothing happened, thanks to Mr. Benfield’s timely intervention. You’d better talk to the two of them and let me out of here.”
The AD stood aside. Andrus and Josh were shouting at each other and various ISD crew members yelled at both of them. As two Nebula Zephyr security officers rushed in Micki slipped out, disgusted with all of them except Josh of course but she wouldn’t have a chance to talk to him privately tonight. The ISD people would be in full on damage control mode and hoping to keep this incident out of the news media and more importantly keep it from reaching the captain. Fleming ran a tight ship and he would come down hard on Kumisarc if he was apprised about the attempted assault.
Anxious not be further embroiled in any of it, Micki ran to the crew gravlift and headed for her own cabin. Unable to stand being in the annoying red dress another second she stripped as soon as she was safely inside her cabin and went straight to the shower, where she stayed for a long time, grateful the ship had no water rationing. Maeve could generate oceans of hot water if necessary.
When she emerged, wrapped in her fluffy bathrobe, she found her handheld in her bag and sent Josh a terse message. Thank you. Can we talk?
There was no reply for a few minutes so she made herself a cup of tea and sat at the table to drink it when her device chimed.
Where?
Realizing he was right and they needed neutral ground for this conversation, not his suite or her tiny cabin, she sent back, Meet you on the beach deck in fifteen minutes?
I’ll be there. The readout indicated he was typing something else but then the screen went blank.
Taking a deep breath, Micki sent the Lords of Space a tiny prayer and ran to change clothes.
She walked to her favorite spot on Level Five, where she and Josh had gone the last time they needed to talk, although the subject then had been their next dance not their relationship. She sat in one of the beach chairs positioned there. The holographic moons above made silvery paths on the ‘ocean’ and despite how keyed up she was, a certain amount of peace stole over her jittery nerves.
