11. Avery
eleven
Avery
T here are about a million blinking lights, all flashing at differing intervals across the navigation pit. I try not to let it all overwhelm me, but my eyes must be saucers as my brain tries to compute how I'm ever going to understand what any of this means.
When Phial asked me if I'd want to be his copilot, I jumped at the opportunity. Things have been weird since we kissed.
Maybe it's because I can't see him without thinking about all of the things he said he wanted to do to me, and I don't want to be caught not in the room when I'm soaking through my underwear and leaving a wet spot on my dress. It's a little gross, and something Jia's promised me will lessen as soon as I start getting intimate with someone. Right now, my body's in overdrive, wanting to fornicate, and it'll keep being like that until I give it what it wants.
"It's not as scary as it seems," Jovi says, coming to stand next to me where I'm still staring wide-eyed at all the controls.
"Oh, I don't need to learn what all these buttons do?" I ask, gesturing wildly at what I'm sure are thousands of buttons and lights and switches.
"Nope," Jovi says. He leans close to the controls and starts fiddling with one of the switches. He flicks it up, flicks it down, flicks it up—
"What are you doing?" Phial asks when he comes walking into the navigation pit.
He's carrying some water and what I'm pretty sure is that tasty dessert Essa makes for Sloane and me sometimes. It's the least appetizing food to look at, but it tastes like ice cream and cookies. I had to get over the god-awful texture, and then it was my favorite food on the ship. I'd kill for a slice of pizza, though.
"Is this still the switch for the airlock light?" Jovi asks, wiggling the switch back and forth like crazy, watching Phial's feathers rise off his head just enough to show he's getting under his scales.
Phial hands me the food and sets the water canisters down before body blocking Jovi from being near any of the controls. Jovi, of course, thinks this is hilarious because Phial's easily half a foot shorter than him and can't actually move Jovi.
"Get out." Phial swats at Jovi's hands as all four start messing around with various buttons and switches. Phial's tail is the most active I've ever seen as it swishes back and forth just above the ground, hitting me in the ankle with a soft thud before Phial whips around. "Did I hurt you?"
"Did you hurt me?" I look down at my ankle, like maybe his tail grew spikes or something and poked me, but no. The question does get Jovi to stop playing around, though. He turns around, too, his eyes assessing where Phial and I are staring at my ankle. He barely even tapped it. "No, I'm fine."
"Good, good." Phial nods a few times before his eyes snap up to Jovi. "Get out. It's her first lesson, and you've been demoted back down to whatever it is you do."
Jovi gives us a crooked smile but doesn't argue with Phial. "If either of you needs anything—"
"We will not be asking you, don't worry." Phial keeps ushering him out of the room, and when the navigation door closes on him, Phial taps away at his comm. He shoots me a questioning look before rubbing the back of his neck. "Do you care if I lock us in here? I don't want Jovi interrupting by trying to be funny."
My stomach does a little flip at the thought of being trapped in here with Phial. Not a bad flip, nope. A flip that has all the butterflies waking up and dancing around in my belly.
My face is pink when I remember to answer his question instead of letting my body decide if we're going to try to seduce him right now. If my body had its way, which it's trying its hardest to do, I'd be touching Phial, maybe seeing if he wanted to try out kissing again.
"That's fine." I turn around quickly, trying to hide my blush.
My underwear is already starting to dampen, which isn't going to be conducive to a good learning environment for me. Phial's claws tap at the metal flooring as he moves back toward the navigation pit. He stands beside me for a moment, his hands working through his feathers to smooth them.
A smile pulls at my lips while I watch him fuss over them. When he catches me looking, they stiffen again, and he frowns.
"Well, let's just get started." He motions for me to sit near the dashboard in one of the chairs. "I don't know what Jovi told you about all of this, but it's not as daunting as it looks."
"That's about what he said," I murmur, nodding along as Phial makes quick work of fixing everything Jovi messed with.
He doesn't even need to take a second to look around and see what's messed up. His fingers work over all the controls effortlessly. It shows me how well he knows this ship and how seriously he takes his role on the crew. I don't know why he asked me to be his copilot, but I'm grateful he trusts me enough to do this with him.
"Okay, first thing to learn."
He leans back against the dashboard right in front of me and crosses his arms over his chest. From where I'm sitting, I have to look up at him, a view I'm not opposed to. I wonder what he'd look like if I slipped from my chair and got on my knees.
More slick dampens my underwear, and I have to close my eyes, taking deep breaths to try to calm the wave of arousal that's decided to plow into me right this second. I will be a functioning adult woman. That means no thinking with my pussy twenty-four-seven.
When I open my eyes again, Phial's still standing above me. His head is tilted to the side, and a flicker of amusement dances in his eyes. "Does that make sense?"
My mind goes from horny to horny and horrified. I don't know how long Phial was explaining something to me, but I didn't hear any of it. I should tell him I missed it, right? He won't know that I'm thinking about what it would be like to taste him on my tongue, feel him in my mouth, hear the sounds he makes when he's about to come.
Phial's eyes narrow into tiny slits, and then he's pushing himself off the dashboard to his full height right in front of me. He's so close, and I can't drag my eyes away as they fall down his body. I'm so fucking turned on, and it's not working out in my favor right now.
"Avery?" Phial's voice turns serious, even though I'm full on ogling his groin right now.
I've stopped myself from looking up his species and their anatomy. I've wanted to, but I felt like that would be an invasion of his privacy, considering what I want to know is how many penises he has. I silently beg it or them to harden so I can see just how many I'm working with, but Phial grabs my chin and tilts my face up toward his.
"Are you okay?" he asks, completely unaware of what I'm thinking.
I don't know how that's possible, considering my thoughts are screaming at me to suck his dicks. No, his face is full of concern, his voice soft and worried. He has no idea that I've soaked through my underwear already and am leaving a mess on this chair.
I suck in a long shaky breath and tell myself there will be no making this an uncomfortable day for either of us. I can't be lusting after Phial when he's only trying to teach me things, and I definitely can't be making him deal with my hormones and arousal when all he wants to do is teach me how to copilot the ship.
"I'm fine," I say as I exhale. And I will be. I'll force myself not to get worked up in this locked room with Phial. I can do it.
"Let me know if you need me to get you anything," Phial says, releasing my chin and turning back to the dash. "I was saying that, for the most part, you have to sit in that chair and hit buttons I can't reach. Everything's labeled, and you can take your time while you're learning. If we're ever in a situation where things need to be done quickly, I'll unstrap from my seat and take over everything."
"Okay." I nod along. "So I sit here, press buttons when you tell me, and that's it?"
"That's it." Phial shoots me another crooked grin. "Like I said, it's easier than it seems." He raps the dashboard with his knuckles and then flops into his chair, his legs going long, his body slouching into it as he stretches his hands above his head. "Once you start getting comfortable with it, I'll train you on doing more stuff on your own."
"Okay, I think this is all manageable." I chew on my lip as I sit forward, looking at all the buttons.
True to his word, there's a little label under each one with the name of what it goes to. The only one without a label is the one Jovi was flicking over and over again. I shoot Phial a quizzical look, and he frowns.
"Jovi fucked around with everything once and moved all the labels around. I couldn't find the one that went to the airlock light switch." Phial shrugs, then gets all serious. "I'm really glad you took this position."
I'm sure he's just saying it because he's happy he doesn't have to work with Jovi in here causing all sorts of issues, but a part of me wants him to mean it because he likes getting to spend even more time with me.
I'm about to ask Phial what we're going to do next when he grabs his comm tablet and starts typing away on it. He stares at the screen for a few seconds and then sets it back on its docking port.
"Want to give it a spin?" Phial asks, his feathered brows wiggling at me.
"What?" My mouth drops open so fast.
"Come on," Phial teases as he leans forward and starts harnessing me into my seat. "No one's on the ship right now, and we'll just take it right past the atmosphere."
"Are you sure?" I ask, "Isn't that too fast?"
"First, I'd never do anything to put this ship in danger," Phial says, settling into his seat after he finishes buckling me in. He pulls his harness over his shoulders and buckles it in over his chest. "Second, and more importantly, I'd never let anything happen to you."
Phial isn't looking at me as he starts up the ship, so he doesn't see the pink in my cheeks deepening, the way my lips part softly, or how my breathing catches. Sure, he's made comments about keeping me safe and protecting me since he saved me from the smugglers' ship. This feels different, though.
Maybe it's because we've kissed. Maybe it's because I'm currently sitting in a puddle of my own arousal. Either way, my heart can't help but get a little too excited at his admission.
"Okay, we're warming up now," Phial says, his eyes moving from the comm screen that tells him what's happening in the ship and the navigation comm that tells us where we're headed. "Most of this is going to be on my side, but you'll need to disengage the docking system when I tell you."
I reach out toward the dash, my arms too short to touch anything. I struggle for a moment longer because I want to look for the correct button to push when Phial tells me. He notices my struggle between looking between comm screens and messing around with controls on his side. He laughs to himself, a loud sound in the room heating my face for all the wrong reasons.
"Come on, I'm trapped!" I manage to get out between my own laughter at how absurd I look as I try to wiggle around and reach for buttons that aren't getting any closer.
"My fault," Phial says. He leans over and presses a button on the underside of my chair, and I move forward until I'm pressed up against the dash. Now, I can read and reach all of the controls on my side. "I forgot to move you up. Next time, say something if something doesn't feel right." He turns back toward his comms, his smile still on his lips as he shakes his head.
I look around the dashboard, trying to find the docking controls. "Oh!" I say out loud when I see it.
Phial looks at me out of the corner of his eyes, and they crinkle to show his happiness, amusement, or maybe both. I hover my finger over the switch and wait for Phial to tell me to hit it. He messes around with more than a single switch before focusing on me.
"Would you do the honors?" he asks with a flourish, as though what I'm doing is anywhere near as difficult or important as what he's doing.
Of course, I eat it up because I like it when Phial wants to make me feel important. It reminds me of what my future could be instead of focusing on all the bad that happened in my past.
"I got this." I stick my tongue out and focus hard. I lower my finger slowly. With a deliberate flick, I move the switch from a downward position to an upward one, and the ship lurches. I let out a small sound of shock, sit back in my chair, and grab the low armrests. "Was that supposed to happen?"
Phial no longer hides the way he's laughing at my inexperience. It has me giggling as well. "Yes, that's supposed to happen. Now, let's get you out into space so you can help out some more."
"Alright, the final step. Go ahead and engage the docking system."
I scan over the various buttons, looking for the switch I hit a few hours ago that disengaged us from the dock. My eyes widen when I find it, just like they do every time I find one of the buttons or switches Phial tells me to hit.
I don't have to look over to know Phial's smiling at me. He has been since we took off, and I doubt it's going away any time soon. I flick the switch, the ship lurching slightly as we dock at the shipyard.
Phial undoes his harness and jumps out of his seat so fast I don't even have a chance to fiddle with mine before he kneels in front of me, working to help me out. His fingers make quick work of my harness, unclasping the various buckles on my chest.
He's precise with his movements, making sure not to come into contact with any part of me. Not that I'd hate it, because I wouldn't, but I don't need to make things weird when they were just as normal as ever for the last few hours.
We managed to laugh and joke and talk just like we did before. I made things weird by asking him to help me out physically. Maybe that should be my sign that I need to stop asking so much from him. I want our easy friendship, and maybe having him help me get used to physical intimacy is hurting that friendship.
"I'm so proud of you," Phial says, pushing the harness from my shoulders and pulling me up out of my seat.
To my utter mortification, I can feel the air cooling the slick spot on my backside. I've been sitting in my own arousal for hours because as much as I want things to be normal, I still react way too strongly to Phial.
I push at his chest, wanting to sit back down, to hide how embarrassing this is for me. He releases me quickly, and I fall back into the seat.
"What's wrong?" he asks.
He kneels in front of me, his hands cupping my cheeks, his claws pressing softly against my temples. It would be frightening if it were anyone but Phial, but it's Phial who would never hurt me. His eyes scan over my features, my bright red cheeks, the wide eyes, the look of pure mortification.
"Did I do something? Did I make you uncomfortable?"
I shake my head, my tongue moving to my lips to lick at them and buy me some time. "I need a second on my own," I barely manage to whisper the words, but Phial is close, and he understands them well enough.
"Can I get you anything?" he asks, his voice so sincere that my heart is swelling.
I shake my head, embarrassed that if we sit like this much longer, he's going to figure out what's wrong with me. I shift my thighs, rubbing them together in a way that feels way too pleasant. Phial's eyes drop down to my lap, to the wiggling of my legs, and like a nightmare come to life, his eyes brighten in understanding.
He makes the soft chirping sound in his throat as his gaze darts back up to meet mine. He opens his mouth to say something, his scales shimmering from green back to blue, and then he closes his mouth and presses his lips together.
He leans in close to my face, his words breathy as he whispers like we're telling secrets. "Are you wet for me, or would you like to be alone?"
I whimper, needing to compose myself a little more before I respond. Phial keeps his face close, his eyes staring into mine like he can read my thoughts if he tries hard enough. I swallow a thick lump in my throat and manage to squeeze out a few words. "I'm wet for you."
Phial leans back, still kneeling between my chair and the dashboard. "Show me."
"Show you?" I ask, my face burning bright red.
I look around the room like I expect someone to walk in on us. As far as I know, we're both still locked in here.
My core throbs at the thought of being with Phial here, and I move my hands to the pendant tucked underneath my dress. I pull it out slowly, Phial watching it like he's mesmerized. My hands are shaky as I turn it to green, making sure he knows I want this, even if words are a little difficult for me. He chirps at me again, his scales shimmering quicker now.
"Put your feet on the dash and pull your dress up, Avery," Phial says, making it clear he's staying right between my legs so he can get the best possible look at my underwear when I spread myself for him. He keeps his hands to himself, resting against his knees as he waits patiently for me to do what he says.
I'm slow and shaky as I lift one of my legs, propping it against the edge of the dash on Phial's right side. He takes a deep breath, his eyes locked on mine. I bite my lip and lift the other leg, trapping Phial between my chair and the dashboard with my legs. My hands move to my skirt, and I start to pull it up, revealing more and more of myself.
"Phial!" Alik knocks on the door to the navigation pit, and Phial shoots up, his hand on his blaster before I can pull my legs back down and let out a quick shriek of distress.
"I'm going to kill everyone on this planet if I keep getting interrupted," Phial snarls under his breath.
He releases his hold on his blaster but keeps his body tense as he goes over to the door to the navigation room. I'm scared at first that he's going to open the door when I'm over here covered in slick, obviously aroused, and probably smelling like I could rut. There's a reason Holoth's been keeping his distance from me now that he has the pheromone blocker removed from his nose. I smell like sex all the time, and every single Rytharian can smell it.
"What?" Phial snaps as he speaks to the still-closed door.
"When you landed, one of the engines was making a weird sound," Alik says, his voice void of emotion.
If it were Jovi or Essa interrupting us right now, I might think they're just trying to annoy Phial, but since it's Alik, it's probably something serious. I turn around in my chair, looking over at Phial, who looks like he's having an internal struggle between being with me or going to check on the ship.
"Go," I tell him, giving him a small smile to tell him I'm serious.
I click the pendant off and tuck it back into my dress. Phial frowns at it but doesn't argue.
"Fine, give me a second," Phial says through the door.
Before he leaves, I ask, "Do you want to watch that new Ilnan dating show tonight?"
Phial's face brightens immediately. "Yes, very much, yes." He moves over to the dashboard and disconnects his comm. "You get it downloaded, and I will fix the engine quickly."
He leaves the room, following Alik outside to fix whatever's wrong with the ship. I take a minute for myself, calming the raging emotions inside of me and working up the courage to go back out onto the ship when I'm covered in so much slick.
I think about Phial and how we're finally starting to get back to normal. That's what helps me work up the courage to leave the navigation pit with a soaked dress and scurry through the halls until I'm back in our room, waiting for him to join me.