AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s not supposed to be.” She lifts her head. “You don’t like anybody?”
“I like you.”
I see her try not to smile. But there’s a light blush to her cheeks that gives her emotional response away. She likes that I like her. There’s a connection between us, something we felt immediately when we met, something that sprang to life again when I saw her in the club. I’m older now. Old enough to know you don’t let feelings like that go. There’s something about Dreamy that matters. Something I need to hold onto.
“Forgive me for not believing you?”
She nods, but with her eyes averted. I turn her chin back to me. I want to see the expression on her face. I want to know what she’s thinking and feeling.
Dreamy
I can’t believe my luck. With five strokes still burning their way through my flesh, I am very aware that I could never have taken twenty-four of them — and he would have given twenty-four if he hadn’t noticed that there was no evidence of violence on my hands.
“So,” he says. “Want to tell me what happened with Zeki?”
I’m not sure exactly what he wants to know. Do I tell him that Zeki seems to be in love with him? “She was angry at me, and she tried to hit me, but I stepped back just as she swung, and the momentum made her slam into the wall.”
“I wish I could have seen that,” he laughs.
“You nearly did. You walked in maybe thirty seconds after. The worst possible timing.”
“As the blood was flowing,” he agrees. “I should have known better than to think you’d hit Zeki. You’re not a fighter.”
“No,” I say. “I’m not.”
I feel a bit of a pang as I say that. I wish I was a fighter. It might get me punished, but I think it would also earn some of Shah’s respect. He doesn’t have people like me aboard his ship. He has no need for timid worker drones who wander from their routines on a whim. Shah is inevitably going to need someone just as smart and ruthless as he is. Zeki would probably be a good match for him. Instead, I’m here, taking up space a more suitable mate should be occupying.
7
Dreamy
Over the next few days, I settle in a little better — and I do mean a very little better. I haven’t seen Zeki since the incident, but I can feel the menace emanating from other women. The competition for Shah is fierce, and I am sure that my life is in danger. Shah doesn’t seem to think so. He believes his reputation is enough to keep me safe. It might be enough to keep me safe from men, but women of the kind who want him don’t care if they have to cross him to get him. I have the very unsettling feeling that my life has never been in more danger than it is right now on Shah’s ship.
His vessel is more like a small village than anything. A space-faring den of iniquity, with skimmers coming and going all the time. I see their silver outlines shooting toward the ship several times a day, and just as many departing. I wonder how they keep order, when there are so few people who seem to live here perpetually, and there are very few guards. Is it respect? Fear? Something else?
“Dreamy.” Shah nudges me out of my deep thoughts. “We are on our way to dock at an outlaw station in the next hour. I’ll be doing some business. It’s a good chance for you to get off the ship, go shopping, hang out. Enjoy. Don’t get into trouble.”
“What does that mean? You know there are people who want to get me into trouble. I can’t help getting into trouble if they bring the trouble to me.”
“Don’t let them, Dreamy.”
I suppose there are some battles I’m going to have to fight on my own. I don’t feel ready or equipped. In the Colony there were rules everybody abided by. I knew how to function there. Here I’m lost. Not just physically on the ship, but socially. I’ve never had friends in the way outlaws make friends with one another, but I did have colleagues. You know where you are with a colleague. I have no idea what to do with any of the people on this ship, none of whom can be trusted.
My plan is just to stay in his rooms while we are docked. I can’t get in trouble if I stay away from everybody.
* * *
Sure enough, as we make dock, Shah comes back for me. He’s really not going to let this go. Why can’t he understand that I’m an introvert? The idea of heading out to a crowded criminal station is less appealing than being put slowly through a meat grinder.
“Come on. I want you to see this place.”
“I don’t want to.”
Shah puts his hands on his hips in that muscular way he does when I’m about to be in trouble. “You can’t hide from life, Dreamy. And you don’t really want to, either.”
“But what if something happens?”
“If something happens, we’ll work it out. Let’s go. And don’t worry. Nobody is going to hurt you.”
