Page 28 of Tempting Fate

“I do not require your approval.”

I could have sworn I heard Garrison chuckle in the background.

“Shohari, I’m your brother’s friend.” Kind of. “And friends don’t keep secrets from each other.”

“And he’s my brother! It’s my job to protect him. I brought this down on us, and I will fix it.”

“I don’t doubt it. But I can’t—I won’t—lie to him. You can’t keep protecting him in the same way. Not any more.”

Shohari pulled the comm close to her face and bared her teeth. “You do not wish to make an enemy of me, human.”

My heart pounded far too hard against my ribcage. “No, but I have made a friend in your brother, and he’s here. You might be married to one of my best friends, but… I’m not going to compromise my integrity.”

Shohari regarded me for a long moment, then gave a deep, shuddering sigh. “Do what you must.”

The comm went dead.

Well. That went better than abysmal. I stared at the blank screen and willed my heart to return to normal.

A minute or two later, Garrison’s comm ID flashed, and I watched the light travelling around the screen edge three times before I plucked up the courage to answer it.

Garrison’s face hovered above the screen, and I blew out a long breath. “Thank fuck it’s you.”

His laugh was so loud, the whole ship must have heard it. “Scared of my wife?”

“No.”

“I know. You did good.” He made a show of looking behind him. “For what it’s worth, I agree with you. She’ll come around. I’ve gently suggested she go back to a therapist, but… well, not until we’ve got this latest shit out of the way.”

“We fucking all need one of those.” Waves of panic still hit me out of nowhere. “I dreamt I was back on Ceres III the other night. And I woke up missing the fucking canteen.” The dreariest, most grey place in the universe. I didn’t mention the cold sweat.

He chuckled. “Yeah, that’s bad. You need help.”

“See?” I shook my head. “Are you really okay? I’m worried for you.”

“It’ll be fine. Their mother’s awful, but she’s clueless. Orithians don’t understand how the galaxy works, so we bet she fucked up commissioning the bounty somewhere along the line. I’m sure we can find a way round it.”

“You better had do.”

“We will. You do what you gotta do, Imms. I’ll handle Shohari.”

“Yeah, I bet you will.”

His cheeks flushed. “Something like that. But seriously. After she put the comm down, you know what she said?”

“What?”

“‘He’s never had a friend before.’”

My heart panged. I’d never had a big circle of friends, but having nobody at all? “They both really went through the wringer, didn’t they?”

He nodded, face grim. “Yeah. But she’s got me now. And it looks like Airida has you.”

Ugh, first Fenn, now him. They both knew the last thing I wanted was to get involved with anyone. “Not like that.”

“Didn’t mean it like that.” But he had that knowing Garrison smirk. Dick. “Anyway, then she growled and demanded chrya, so she’s fine.”

“Good. Well… be safe. You better be back here soon, who else am I going to get the best hugs from, eh?”