Space for Growth (Spire Station #3)

Chapter 8

8

“ W hen you said I’d get self-defense training, I thought you meant with you, not this pervy bot!” I yelp as I dodge out of the way of the droid’s tentacle, which is attempting to wriggle its way into my pants.

“You appear to be requiring physical contact. I am happy to pleasure you,” the droid says in a sing-song voice, its giant round eyes watching me unblinking as it continues its mission to fondle my junk.

The last thing I want right now is for my dick to get hard. Not while Hadrell watches my feeble attempts to fight off Dill, almost tripping over my own feet as I bat another tentacle away from my ass.

“It appears as if you would like me to restrain you before servicing you. Please hold still so I can do so,” Dill chirps cheerily.

“No!” I shout, shooting a panicked look over at Hadrell. “A little help, please?”

Hadrell wipes away the barely hidden smile on his face when he realizes I’m not amused by this. “The next time it tries to grab your cock, wrap your hand around the base of the tentacle and tug upwards in a sharp motion.”

I’m not sure if they’re messing with me, but I nod and do as instructed. It gets the tentacle to let go, but a second later, a slimy pink lubricant oozes out from one of the suckers and coats my hands. “Ugh, gross!” I scowl over at Hadrell. “In what scenario am I going to need to protect myself from an overly zealous sex bot?” I snap, then shriek as the damned droid uses my distraction to wrap two tentacles around my wrists and pin them above my head.

“ Vash-ka , Tari! I thought you said you got rid of its erotic protocols,” Hadrell calls over to the nexxit mechanic, who is working on a panel on the opposite side of the cargo bay we’re using as a makeshift training grounds.

The nexxit glances over her shoulder absently, unphased by my predicament. “No, I said I overrode them. When Dill is put in a scenario it doesn’t understand, it’ll revert to its original programming.”

“ Tari ,” Hadrell growls. “Then why did you offer it to help me with Paul?”

The nexxit shrugs with both sets of shoulders, then turns back to the panel. “Because I’m the closest in strength to your human, so I figured you’d ask me to spar with him. Offering Dill’s help would keep you from bothering me. Or at least I thought it would. I don’t have time to mess around with all the repairs we need to get done.”

“Repairs which wouldn’t be necessary if you’d listened to me!” Hadrell huffs in frustration, then rushes over to free my hands from the tentacles. In a show of strength that makes my breath catch, they tear the droid away and toss it to the side, where it crashes against a stack of ration crates.

Holy shit, they’re strong. Strong enough that they could throw me around with just as much ease. My confused dick perks up at the thought. Dammit, I don’t want that. Do I?

I stumble backwards and sag against the cargo bay wall, trying to catch my breath after the exertion and using my new posture as an excuse to hide my half-hard cock.

Tari watches as her droid rights itself, a slight frown forming on her brow. “If you could try not to break Dill, I’d appreciate it.”

“And I’d appreciate it if you stopped being such a fa-shar , irresponsible mess,” Hadrell mutters under their breath.

From what I know about nexxit hearing, Tari probably caught that, but she continues to look unphased.

Hadrell clears his throat and pinches his brow. “Next time you don’t want to help with something, say so. And for void’s sake, stop lying to me. If we can’t trust each other, then we have nothing.”

Tari scoffs and crosses her lower arms under her chest. “I wasn’t lying. I assumed you knew Dill wouldn’t be able to fight. I thought it was a little odd that you’d want your human to be serviced out in the open, but who am I to judge your proclivities? I’ve seen weirder.”

Hadrell lets out an exasperated exhale. “Paul isn’t ‘my’ human, and I certainly don’t want to play weird sex games with him and your droid. I want to keep him safe. I thought maybe you’d understand that after all the things you went through before joining this crew, but I guess you’re too busy with your head up your own ass to care about the wellbeing of those around you.”

The undisguised bite in Hadrell’s tone takes me by surprise. They’ve only shown a polished, charming persona to me so far, but their anger is palpable.

My eyes dart between the two aliens as tense silence fills the air. Dill moves toward me again while they’re not paying attention, its tentacles raised.

“Uh…could someone…” I say softly, feeling incredibly awkward breaking into this charged conversation but unwilling to be felt up or get more pink goo lube on me.

Neither one of them seems to hear me. Tari lets out a heavy sigh, finally paying attention to her captain enough to look chastised. “I… I didn’t mean… you know I care.”

“Do I? Because the fa-shar nonsense you’ve been pulling lately says otherwise. You endangered the crew. Val was devastated by whatever you said to her. And now this.”

“Sorry, I hate to interrupt but?—”

Hadrell reaches out without breaking eye contact with Tari, and snags the droid around the neck, shoving it away from me. He raises a pointed brow at Tari.

“Dill, go into sleep mode,” she commands, and the droid obeys, its tentacles going limp and falling away from where they were reaching toward my waistband.

Part of me wants to ask the nexxit why she didn’t do that as soon as I seemed unhappy about the droid touching me, but now doesn’t seem like a good time, so I swallow that unhelpful question down and let out a relieved exhale, moving away from the droid with a wary glance. “Th-thanks.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll do better,” Tari says quietly.

“Yes, you will. Because I know you’re better than this.” Hadrell’s tense expression softens. “Go get some rest. Sleep off the mistakes of the cycle and we’ll start fresh tomorrow.”

“Yes, Captain,” Tari murmurs, taking a moment to scoop up her tools and sling the prone droid over her shoulder before heading out of the cargo bay without another word.

As soon as she’s gone, Hadrell’s posture sags slightly and they let out a long exhale and scrub a hand over their face. When they turn back my way, a sheepish smile stretches their lips. “Sorry about all that. Are you alright?” Their eyes scan over me, assessing for damage and who knows what else.

My face feels hot under their gaze, and I awkwardly wipe off my goo covered hand on the hem of my shirt as I try to give them a smile that says, “no, I definitely wasn’t freaked out by that droid, and I for sure didn’t get hard when you handled it like a rag doll.”

Their natural eye drops to where I’ve exposed a bit of my stomach, and the brightness flares for a moment.

Dammit, there goes my dick again.

“I’m fine,” I say, dropping my shirt quickly to clasp my hands in front of my groin. “My ego’s a bit bruised though, since I don’t even have the skill needed to fight off a pleasure droid.”

Hadrell lets out a low chuckle. “I don’t know about that. You did an okay job of keeping it from groping you. You’re pretty agile and have decent reflexes. You just don’t know how to break a grapple. Lucky for you, that’s something I can teach.”

“If you say so.” I laugh weakly, trying to hide the ridiculous swell of pride when they compliment my reflexes and agility. “So do you have another pervy bot you’re going to use to teach me, or should we bring Dill back?”

Hadrell shakes their head, a lock of silver-white hair falling over their cybernetic eye. “Neither. You’ll be breaking free from me.”

My brows shoot up and a dismissive scoff punches out of me before I can stop it. “You’re joking. I saw you throw that droid across the room like it weighs nothing. There’s no way I can contend with that kind of strength. ”

“Self-defense isn’t about strength. It’s about understanding the vulnerabilities of your assailant and using whatever means you can to get out of an altercation alive. Come here, I’ll show you.” They reach out a hand and beckon me toward them.

My brow furrows, but I do as they ask, taking a step closer. Before I can register what’s happening, they’ve grabbed my wrist and twisted me around to pull my back against their chest, pinning me there with the iron bar of their arm across my chest. I let out a surprised “oof” and instinctually squirm against them, but they easily maintain their hold.

“Relax.” Hadrell’s command is a caress as they bend their head down to my ear.

Goosebumps break out across my flesh at their proximity and the sensual rasp of their voice. I force myself to stop moving and try to even my breathing, despite every cell in my body vibrating with awareness of the solid, sexy alien plastered against my back.

“Good. You’re a natural,” he purrs, the praise going straight to my dick. God, that’s embarrassing. As is the way I have to fight the urge to melt against him, rather than focus on the dangerous predator who has me trapped in his hold.

“At being grappled and helpless?” I ask with a strained laugh, the wobble in my voice adding to my embarrassment.

Hadrell’s laugh puffs against my throat. “That’s not what I meant, but you do fit quite well in my hold.”

Fuck me, why do they have to sound so seductive right now?

“Half the battle when you’re fighting for your life is having the ability to think. The instinct to panic is as much your enemy as the person attacking you. I can teach you every type of counter attack and the weak points each alien has, but if you’re too panicked to remember them in the moment, they’re worthless. So, your ability to calm yourself is an asset. ”

“Oh. Right. That makes sense.” I clear my throat, glad I’m faced away so they can’t see how hard I’m blushing right now. “So, uh, once I’m calm, how do I break the grapple?”

“If someone larger grabs you like this, you’re screwed,” Hadrell says, matter-of-factly.

All of my calm goes out the airlock at his declaration. “What?” I sputter, squirming again to try to turn around and look at him.

Their talons dig in ever so slightly into the fabric of my shirt. “Calm, Paul. Once Yaz wakes up from his regeneration cycle, I’ll have him teach you how to avoid getting grabbed like this at all. But we’ll work on the worst-case scenario. You’ve been grabbed by a larger, stronger assailant. What do you do?”

“What do you mean ‘what do I do’? You just said I’m screwed,” I protest.

Hadrell laughs softly. “Humor me,” they murmur.

What I want to do is turn around and smack them for messing with me. Or turn around and grind my cock against their thigh like an animal in heat. Either would be equally embarrassing, so I shake the thoughts away and clear my head using the breathing techniques the medics taught me for my more stressful procedures.

“Pushing forward won’t work. Your arms are too strong. You could easily lift me up and toss me down to the ground before I even had a chance to escape,” I say, thinking aloud.

“Correct.” Hadrell’s voice has a slight rasp to it, like maybe they like the idea of throwing me around.

“Elbows to the gut or groin, or stomping on your feet would probably hurt me more than you, or most other species.” I shudder at the memory of the blinding pain from trying to punch the shikzeth medic earlier.

“Yes, but it’s good that you’re considering vulnerable points.” Hadrell strokes their hand along my chest absently, and I have to fight back a groan.

Do they realize how much even their casual touches turn me on? God, I hope not. I don’t want to be the pathetic, touch-starved human on top of being the weak, helpless human.

I shake my head to clear away the lust. As hard as I try, I can’t figure out what to do.

When I don’t say anything else, Hadrell speaks. “So far, you’ve told me everything working against you. All the things that wouldn’t work.” There’s no judgment in his tone, but it still makes my hackles go up.

“I’m sorry, that’s all I’ve got,” I huff. “Humans are weak and small compared to most aliens. Unless I have a blaster in this scenario, I’m not getting away.”

“A blaster or weapon is only an asset in a fight if you know how to use it,” Hadrell says drolly, and now I really want to turn around and smack them for being so infuriating.

“Well, fuck me then, I guess,” I mutter.

“Offering your body isn’t a good tactic, as much as they show it in spy vids. Though…” They let out a low, rumbling chuckle. “Few people get the chance to fuck a human, so who knows? Maybe you could persuade them.”

“Ugh, it’s an expression!”

“You’re cute when you’re all riled up. Makes me wish I was holding you face to face so I could see your skin getting all red.”

“Wh-what?” I sputter, unsure if I’m angry or even more aroused. The way my dick jerks in my pants says the latter. “Ugh, either tell me what to do or quit fucking with me!”

Hadrell laughs again. “Alright. It’s hard to focus when I have such a lovely human in my arms, but I’ll stop.”

That’s the second time he’s complimented my appearance, and a vain part of me preens knowing this sexy alien finds me attractive. Though, given their rakish personality, they probably flirt and flatter everyone. I doubt I’m special.

“What you view as a flaw can be used to your advantage. You’re smaller and more agile than most larger aliens. Your center of gravity is lower to the ground, which means you’re harder to knock down.”

“I don’t see how that’s supposed to help me.”

“Your perceived weakness is also an asset. Most attackers will see you as an easy target. They won’t be prepared for any sort of counter maneuver. Use that, and you have a greater chance of getting away. Well, that and learning how to use a blaster so you can shoot them in the leg and run.”

“Are you going to show me this counter-move, or just talk in hypotheticals?” I grumble.

Hadrell snorts. “So impatient. Yes, I’m going to teach it to you now. Step your feet wide apart and sink your weight down and lean forward.”

I manage to do as he instructs, though his grip across my chest stays tight. It feels weird, but more stable. “Alright…”

“Now, step your inside foot behind my legs.”

This takes me a few tries to do, and I know I’d have fallen over onto my face if they weren’t holding me. When I finally do it correctly, Hadrell practically purrs their praise and any embarrassment or frustration I felt at not being able to do it at first melts away.

“You’re doing so well, Paul. You’ve got this.”

A small surge of confidence spreads through my body at their words. It’s strange, but I swear I feel it bolstering me through his touch as well. “Now, grab under my thighs, then squat lower while extending the leg that’s behind mine and pushing your hips forward.”

Instilled with a self-assurance I rarely, if ever, feel, I do as they instruct. I let out a gleeful sound of surprise as the move knocks them backward, then yelp as they drag me down to the ground with them.

My shoulder slams into their chest as I land on them and they let out a soft groan.

“Oh shit, are you okay?!” I let go of my grip on their legs and scramble backwards a bit to look at them in concern. I expect to see anger on their face at my blunder, but they’re beaming at me, a sharp smile stretching their lips and their eye glowing bright.

“Yes! That was perfect,” he rasps.

I blink down at him from my knees in surprise. “It was?”

“Well, minus the sticking around to make sure I’m alright,” they say with a teasing smile. “That’s typically when you’d get up and run for your life before they can get back to their feet.”

“Oh!” I hadn’t even noticed the move let me escape him. I grin back at Hadrell. “Right.”

“Now, that move will be a lot more painful with a shikzeth, but if you’re fast enough, it could save your life. We’ll try to work up to turning it into a toss rather than a fall, but with bigger attackers, the way you did it is a safer bet.”

My heart is racing with adrenaline as I stand and offer them a hand, but it speeds up even more when they wrap their long fingers around my wrist and let me pull them up. Their face is so close to mine, looking down at me with so much confidence and approval that my breath catches.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” they ask, their voice slightly husky.

“What does?” My question comes out sounding breathless as I gaze into their mismatched eyes .

Their tongue darts out to wet their lips. “Allowing yourself to try something new, even if you think you’ll fail.”