Holy fucking fuck. I watch him go, barely hearing Kita scold Agan for whatever they were talking about, but when Agan snorts and points at me, I snap back to the here and now.
“Look at her,” Agan says, laughing at me. “She’s dumbstruck. I guess when you meet someone with that much power?—”
“Oh no, he’s hot as hell.” I say it because it’s true. I say it to shut Agan up. And I say it because I’ve started to fully hate him and I know it’s going to piss him off, and for once… I want that.
He sputters, “What?”
“Your uncle is the most fuckable man I have ever seen.”
“Ew,” Kita says quietly beside me and Agan’s tentacles turn pale.
I look at her and, even though I know the answer, I ask, “Is he single?”
Agan makes a disgusted noise. “As if he’d debase himself with something like you.”
Kita shoves him.
Full tentacles to shoulders, she shoves him back so hard, he slides five feet away.
He looks utterly shocked. Eyes wide, he looks at Markoban, but he’s watching Kita in awe.
“Don’t fucking talk to her like that ever again. Do you hear me?”
“What the hell, Kita? She doesn’t mind. She knows I’m just joking.” Agan looks at me like he believes I’ll agree.
“I do mind. I don’t care if you think you’re joking. It’s not funny.”
This time I’m the one who takesKita’stentacle and leads the way away from him.
“Insufferable asshole.” She huffs, and when Markoban joins us she pulls me to a stop, turns and gets right in his face. “Youare going to go to the medical facility and you’re going to get a full body scan andifthere is a tracker in you somewhere, you are going to have it removed.”
He’s silent and still for a full minute as I start to get uncomfortable. But he inhales like he’s had a fully system reset and says, “Yes I am.”
If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was hypnotized. He spins around and goes immediately to do as he was told.
“That boy has a crush on you,” I tell her.
“Well, if he wants anything to happen with that, he’s going to need to do awholelot more than stand back when Agan insults someone I love.”
She lets out a sound I’ve come to think of as a smothered scream. “Do you think being the niece of the station administrator would let me get away with fratricide?”
Putting her on to true crime documentaries was a mistake.
“No, but…” I might be able to get away with it. Grimacing, I say, “We need to go somewhere we can talk. Somewhere Agancannotoverhear us.”
Kita looks at the clock on the wall. “I have work… but the look on your face tells me it can’t wait.”
“I think you’d be very mad at me if I waited.”
The look she gives me… “Oh no.”
CHAPTER 3
I’ve been to Kita’s office three times.
It’s not designed for humans, but I can deal with a little discomfort.
She works in logistics and dock scheduling and luckily… her office has a door.
