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"Extra plas-film?" Tarekh jokes.
I think for a moment. "Don't need it."
"You filthy scrapper, you," Kivian teases. "Breaking all the hygiene rules the moment a human arrives on your station. Didn't think you had it in you, old friend."
I shoot him a glare, but Kivian's teasing is harmless. He's utterly in love with his human female and can't keep the goofy, proud smile off his face. "No plas-film," I clarify. "But if you have some human books or clothes…or even some flowering seeds…I'll take them off your hands."
"I'm sure we've got something," Kivian continues. "Do you have something for me? Any new weapons or parts I might be interested in?"
I shrug. "You're welcome to look through my stores. And…I did acquire a dark-matter secondary drive recently." I was planning on taking it to a nearby station to handle, but if they want to take it off my hands for the right price, and I can get a few things for Sophie, I'm happy to sell to them.
Sentorr exchanges a look with Kivian, and I can tell that they're interested. Good.
Kivian slaps my back as we head up the ramp to the hatch. "We'll get you loaded with human trinkets, I swear."
As we pass Sentorr, he frowns at us. "I thought Zoey said the female belonged to the va Sithai?"
My mood immediately sours. "She doesn't belong to anyone, but she is part of their crew, yes. They're training her to be Zoey's replacement." Which means she isn't staying. Which means that me loading up on books or clothes or whatever human things the crew of the Jabberwock can give me to put a smile on Sophie's face is…useless.
Just me being foolish.
But then I think about her comments about being scared. About how the more comfortable and happy she is, the more terrified she gets. And I think about Tarekh's comments about Iris—how she wouldn't eat if she had to ask. Does Sophie want to stay but she's afraid to ask…because she's happy with me?
I don't know. Part of me feels like she would have mentioned something, but then I think of the shy looks she cast in my direction as Cat dragged her away, as if she wanted to be anywhere but with them.
As if she wanted to be alone with me again.
I need to talk to her. Desperately. "Let's just get our business going," I say. The sooner we deal, the sooner we're concluded and I can pull Sophie aside and talk to her. Tell her how I feel…ask her if there's any way she'd consider staying.
Ask her if there's any way she could fall in love with a broken male like me.
Kivian haggles for the drive. Tarekh cracks jokes, and Sentorr listens to them with the same stiff expression he always wears. I nod and pretend to listen, but instead, I'm thinking about Sophie. Sophie, who gave me shy kisses and took my cock in her mouth because she wanted to pleasure me. Sophie, who loves to be called a “good girl” and runs her fingers over my circuits when they jump, just because she knows the twitching bothers me. Sophie, who refused to let me be rude to her in the beginning but has such a hard time saying what she wants the moment she feels vulnerable.
My Sophie. She—
"Sentorr!" The frightened cry comes from the hangar bay. It's human, and female.
The too-proper male's face goes ashen and he jumps to his feet, charging away from the bridge. I follow behind him, because suddenly I'm worried something's gone wrong. Someone's hurt Sophie, MY Sophie, or her pet, or—
I make it to the ramp just in time to see Zoey fling herself into Sentorr's arms, sobbing.
"They're gone," she cries. "My brothers are gone."62JERROKSophie is paler than I've ever seen her. She hugs her arms to her chest, her expression blank and remote as she stands next to me inside the hangar. I want to put an arm around her and comfort her, but I'm not sure it'd be welcomed. So I move close, close enough for her to touch, so I can let her know that I'm here if she needs me.
Everyone's gathered in the hangar again, and it's hard to listen to Zoey weep, when everything I've been told about her is that she's a tough sort, the kind that can keep up with her rough-and-tumble brothers and never bat an eye. To see her huddled in Sentorr's arms as she cries…I don't like it. I don't like it because it makes me want to comfort Sophie, who has to be feeling something similar and yet holds herself aloof.
The others look worried, too. Fran's practically plastered herself against Kivian's side, and the flamboyant corsair is holding his daughter, the child mauling his drapey sleeve, and he doesn't even notice. "Tell us what happened, Zoey," Fran says in a soothing voice. "We want to help, but you have to talk about it."
