Hells yes. This evening was off to a grand start. “Compliment received and returned. You are the loveliest mechanic I have ever set eyes on.”
She grinned, and he noted the skin on her cheeks and ears increased in temperature. “Thanks. It’s been a long time since I had a reason to dress up.” She glanced over his shoulder at the still-closed hatch to theTrue. “If we have time before Mace joins us, there’s one question I’d like to ask you.”
He pinged his batch-brother and got a terse response.“Is she here?Fraxx. Give me one minute!”
“We’ve got about sixty seconds. What’s your question?” he asked.
“I’d like to know how he got that scar on his face. Is that a safe question to ask him, or will it bring up unpleasant memories? I don’t want to upset him just to appease my curiosity.”
The question was so different from what he’d expected that it took him a few seconds to respond. When he did, the first words out of his mouth weren’t the ones he’d intended. “You really are something special. Aren’t you? I don’t think anyone has ever considered his feelings before asking that question. Yes, talking about his scar will bring up a time neither of us talks about much. Still, it might be good for him. You remind me of them, you know. You’re a lot alike.”
He realized he’d skipped a key bit of information. “I mean, you remind me of our batch-sisters, Morn and Star.”
“Your species doesn’t scar easily. I assumed that whatever happened, it must have been bad. It happened when you lost your sisters?”
“It did.” He sighed as a pang of grief struck. “I can tell you that we both believe things would have been different if we’d been with them.”
She gently reached out and set her hand lightly over his. Her fingers were callused but warm, and that light contact sent a flurry of sparks dancing across his skin.
“I’m not going to say some soothing crap about how it wasn’t your time, or that you couldn’t have changed anything. I’ll say that I’m sorry for everything you went through. No one deserves to be treated that way,” she said.
“Thank you.” He decided that since they were being honest, there was something else she should know. “It’s not the physical scars that are the problem most of the time. Mace and I have done terrible things, Tix. Not by choice, but we have to carry the memories and everything that comes with them. Mace and I deal with it differently, and we don’t always handle this shit well. I’m not trying to scare you off, but in case you hadn’t figured it out for yourself? We’re far from perfect.”
Her response was a low, throaty laugh that he immediately decided he wanted to hear again. She squeezed his hand and then said, “I have never met anyone who is anywhere close to perfect, but I appreciate the warning. As for me, I’m not afraid of a little darkness. I’ve done some things I regret, even though it was the only choice I had at the time. I’ve got a few scars of my own. I see them as proof that I survived some crap the universe threw at me. Some days, that works. Sometimes it doesn’t. All we can do is keep going.”
His first thought was that his batch-sisters really would have loved her. His second thought was that he and Mace might be at risk of feeling the same way.
He made a sharp pivot away from that line of thinking. Instead, he turned his hand over so he could interlace their fingers. “Have I mentioned that you’re amazing?”
“You did. I’m not sure I believe it, but I’ll take the compliment, anyway.”
“Believe it, Tix. I don’t know much about you yet. But I can already tell that you’re smart, beautiful, and a hell of a mechanic. On top of all that, you have a kind heart.”
She gave his fingers a light squeeze but didn’t meet his gaze. “Thanks.”
The moment was interrupted when the hatch slid open, and Mace rushed out.
“Sorry to leave you waiting. I hope Xay behaved himself.” Mace glanced down at their joined hands and grinned. “Making up for lost time?”
“Something like that,” Xaber said aloud.
On their internal channel, he told his batch-brother.“No more jokes about making up time or keeping score. She asked if this was a competition between the two of us.”
“Fraxx. I thought you explained it to her?”Mace shot back.
“I said we share. It was a preliminary conversation! You were out with her last night. Didn’t it come up?”
“No.”
“Then we’re both idiots.”
“Agreed.”
Xaber glanced down and realized Tix was staring at them both. “You’re doing that thing when you talk to each other via link. Aren’t you?”
“How’d you know?” Mace asked.
“You both do this thing where it’s like you’re staring into empty space. It’s quick, like less than a second, but I can see it.”
