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Then he lunged for me.
Chapter
Forty-Three
Jess
Morgan dragged me by the sleeve away from the classroom door and toward another door, pushing me into the empty map room as the lights illuminated the space from below. “I’m guessing this isn’t something you want to share with the entire military history class.”
There were no chairs in the map room, only clear boards lining the circular walls and a large flat disc in the middle with the topography of the Drexian home world and the academy depicted on its surface. The table was a holdover from the days when battles were planned out using the scale model, but there was something solid and comforting about it, even though the Gilded Peaks were sharp, and the Restless Sea looked just as tumultuous forged in metal.
The clear boards around us came to life with the lights, their surfaces illuminated with the most recent star charts and flight plans. I recognized the battle plans from the defense of Earth and several battles against the Kronock that were long past.
“So?” Morgan leaned against the map table and crossed her arms over her chest. “What’s the deal with Torq?”
I’d known I couldn’t hide my relationship with him forever, but I didn’t know what I should tell her. I trusted Morgan with my life and she was my closest friend at the academy, but I didn’t know what she’d think if she knew everything. She might not think too highly of me. What kind of badass Assassin lets herself be blackmailed?
“Okay, you’re right, there’s something going on between us.”
Morgan’s eyes widened. “I knew it.”
“But it’s nothing serious. It’s more of a proximity thing. We’re stuck in this academy together, so one thing led to another.”
Morgan studied me for a beat. “An academy fling? I get that.” Her lips curled into a grin. “Did the alien bad boy turn out to be good?”
My cheeks burned. Of course, she would want more details. I couldn’t exactly tell her that I had no point of comparison. Explaining how and why I’d managed to stay a virgin through high school and my time in the Navy would take too long and create more questions than answers. I managed to return her smile. “What do you think?”
Morgan rocked back and nodded. “The bad ones are always the best. Why is that? Why can’t the super-sweet guys blow our minds in bed? Are they too nice? Do we like the challenge of making the bad boys into good ones?”
I shrugged, even though the questions didn’t require answers.
“How did this happen?” She asked once she’d stopped pondering bad boys. “It’s not like you’re in the same classes anymore. Besides, you’ve been in the Stacks with me most nights.”
“You know how things happen.” I hoped my non-answer would suffice. Morgan’s brow wrinkled, but I jumped in before she could pepper me with more questions. “What about you? Do any of the cadets do it for you?”
“The cadets?” She shook her head. “Nope. The other humans are a hard no. We have to return to the planet with them and no way do I want to end up with a superior officer I’ve blown.”
“Maybe you’ll be the superior officer.”
She grinned at this. “You’re right. Maybe I will. In which case, I definitely don’t want to have to give orders to someone who’s seen me naked.”
“So, no flings for you while we’re here?”
She twisted her lips to one side. “I didn’t say that. I just said no cadets.”
I forgot all about my strategy to get her mind off my fling. Now I genuinely wanted to know which non-cadets she liked. “The Drexian instructors?”
“I didn’t say that.” Morgan gave me a coy smile. “Definitely no one in the School of Strategy.”
I wracked my brain to think of the other available Drexian instructors. The Academy Master was already taken, the head of security was scary, and the Irons instructors seemed too intense for Morgan. “Lieutenant Volten’s friend? The Blade instructor?”
Morgan tipped her head back and forth as if considering this. “Kann? He’s pretty hot, but I don’t think a Blade is my style. No offense to Torq. I’m sure he’s clever enough.”
I laughed. “You know the Blades aren’t total meatheads, right?”
“I know that.” She didn’t sound convinced. “And I don’t mind a big, buff guy. Maybe one of them would be good for a fling. Does Torq have any friends who are looking for something with no strings attached?”
I thought about my encounter with Torq. He’d made it clear that he didn’t want anyone to know about us, and when his father arrived, I understood why. Torq’s father clearly didn’t have much respect for humans, and I could only imagine how he’d feel to know his son was sleeping with one of them. A part of me had thought that Torq and I had developed something real between us, but that was my wishful thinking. He’d always been clear that our arrangement was just that—a deal, a bargain, an agreement.
