CHAPTER 15
Reece
Iwas acting like a lovesick fool and I needed to stop before it got me in trouble.
I didn’t even know why it was hitting me so hard now when it hadn’t before.
Sure, I’d found her attractive when I first realised she was a woman, but the change between the objective observation and getting jealous over Tarren, of all people, was startling.
It was like the floodgates had been opened and there was no way to close them back up again.
And I had no idea what I was going to do.
When Tormik was the one to greet us as we stepped onto the bridge, he shot me a knowing look that had my insides internally squirming to get away from it.
She couldn’t know.
No one could.
She already had two men in her heart and in her bed. She would have no room for any others.
‘Captain,’ someone called from inside.
‘We have a visual of Gerinium.
How would you like us to proceed?’
Relief spread throughout the room at the news, all of us eager to land and reunite with the others.
‘We land as soon as possible,’ Artemis informed them.
‘I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to wait a moment longer than necessary to get back to our people.’
‘You got it, Captain.
One landing, coming right up.’
Excited chatter filled the air, everyone turning to their neighbours to share in the moment.
It had only been a few days and we had made good time, but it also dragged on into a journey that seemed like it would never end, and even though we were reaching our current destination we still had a long way to go before this was all over.
Celebrating the small goals at least gave us something to find joy through in these dark times.
The bridge buzzed with a flurry of activity and everyone moved to their stations.
Artemis gave out instructions, her confidence and authority shining like a beacon that we all gravitated towards, eager for the warmth and safety she promised.
I was so engrossed in watching her that I almost didn’t notice my parents slipping in, my mother’s keen eyes homing in on me immediately despite the organised chaos surrounding us.
‘Ma,’ I greeted and wrapped my arms around her smaller frame.
Then I turned to my father who clapped me on the back with an affectionate grin. ‘Pa.’
‘We wondered where you’d run off to,’ he said, but his eyes darted up to where Artemis was in conversation with the pilot, the implications clear when his gaze settled back on me, a single knowing eyebrow raised.
‘I had a guard shift early this morning.
I just got off and ran into Arty.
We’re landing today,’ I told them.
‘Ah.
So that’s what all this excitement’s about,’ Ma mused, an easy smile on her face.
‘It will be good to be on land again.
I never did like all this metal.’
‘That’s just the Yu’Rom in you speaking, honey, but I don’t think there’ll be any trees for you to commune with where we’re going,’ he teased, though his words were undercut with genuine concern for his wife.
Ma had always been in tune with nature, preferring an abundance of foliage and lots of dirt to sink her bare toes in.
Pa was right to worry about how she would take staying on Gerinium.
It wasn’t exactly known for lush wildlife. More like dust and oil and sweltering heat.
Just then, Ma’s eyes caught on something that had then squinting in concern.
I followed her line of sight to where Tormik stood on the outskirts of the room, his own eyes alert and protective as he kept a look out for any sign of a threat toward Artemis.
However, his typically rigid demeanour was interrupted by the way he was absentmindedly scratching at his hand.
Ma immediately rushed over and grabbed his hand, refusing to let go even when the much larger warrior attempted to pull away.
He could have if he’d wanted to, but I also knew he wouldn’t have done anything that could have hurt her.
As she studied his hand I finally noticed what had caught her attention and was causing Tormik so much discomfort.
The small cut he’d accrued during the rescue mission had grown, the skin red raw and splitting open in a way that it hadn’t before.
It was swollen with tiny, yellowish, puss-like veins starting to spread for the wound.
‘This looks infected,’ Ma spoke.
‘You haven’t been to the infirmary yet, have you? Why?’
Tormik looked uncomfortable at the stern way she was mothering him, though he probably just didn’t understand that she was a doctor and this was the way she treated anyone with an illness or injury.
‘It’s not a big deal.
I’ve had worse injuries than a little cut on my palm,’ he argued firmly, though not unkindly.
Unfortunately for him, my mother was not one to accept such answers when it came to the health and wellbeing of people’s bodies.
‘Don’t be ridiculous boy,’ she chastised, and I had to hold in a laugh at the stunned look on his face from the tiny slip of a woman putting him in his place.
‘You need to go straight to the infirmary right this instant and get this seen to.
It is already infected and if you leave it much longer it will continue to spread.
Once it gets in your bloodstream it will be harder for your immune system to fight it off. Especially with out limited access to medicine in the Border System.’
Tormik cleared his throat and did his best to keep his irritation from his expression, but the eye twitch gave it away.
‘I will get it seen to once we’ve landed, ma’am,’ he said decisively, leaving no room for debate.
Ma pursed her lips but release him and took a step back.
‘Very well.
See that you do.’
Pa and I gave twin looks of commiseration.
Having been on his side of Ma’s bulldozing methods, we understood his reluctance to jump at her demands.
However, we had long since learned that it was just best to do what she wanted and get it over with.
She knew what she was talking about, so there was no arguments from us whenever she turned those stern, professional eyes on us.
‘Is everything okay here?’ Artemis asked as she materialised beside me.
I didn’t know what came over me, but it was like my body acted on its own accord.
‘Better now that you’re here,’ I said with a wink, then blinked at her in wide-eyed horror.
I did not just openly flirt with her.
My jaw dropped even further when her response wasn’t repulsion.
No, it was far from it.
A little smirk kicked up at the corner of her luscious pink lips.
‘I know. You’re lucky to have me.’
When she nudged me playfully with her shoulder I just about melted into the floor in shock.
Had she just flirted back?
Pa interrupted the moment, and I wasn’t sure if I should have been pissed off or grateful.
I needed a moment to process…
‘My wife was just pointing out that… I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,’ he gestured to Tormik.
‘I am Tormik.
Pleased to meet you.’
Pa dipped his chin in acknowledgement.
‘And you.
Well, Tormik here has a cut that seems to be infected.
My wife was just telling him to get it checked out.’
Arty frowned down as her eyes zeroed in on the cut Tormik was trying to hide.
‘You should go see Henrik before that gets any worse,’ she told him, reaching out as if she wanted to offer him comfort through her touch, only to let it drop before she could make contact.
I wasn’t paying much attention, however, my heart still skipping as winged insects swarmed inside my belly that I didn’t realise someone had spoken to me until Pa nudged me.
‘Sorry, what was that?’
‘I asked if you wanted to walk with me back to my room.
I need to wake up Bromm and Cadmus if they aren’t already up, and then I wanted to talk to you about the prisoners,’ Arty explained.
‘Oh, uh, right.
Yes.
Sure.
I’d love that… I mean, of course. Lead the way.
I shot Pa a dirty look as we passed when he didn’t quite hold back his snickering despite trying to hide it behind his hand.
He shared a look with Ma that I didn’t want to decipher, instead choosing to focus on the woman walking beside me.
Or she would have been if Dave Junior hadn’t wedged himself between us.
Red eyes glared up at me with warning.
A warning I didn’t intend to heed.
Artemis had given me hope that maybe – just maybe – I might not have been as stuck in the friend zone as I’d thought, and I wasn’t about to give up that chance.
Not when for the past few days all of my waking and non-waking thoughts had been centred around her.
My dick perked up at the prospect of being used, and I quickly brought up memories of my time in a cell on Nova Station to bring him back down again.
I was getting way ahead of myself here.
I needed to calm down.
When we reached the Captain’s quarters and she headed straight inside, I hesitated in the doorway.
I wasn’t sure how welcome I would be, and I didn’t want to intrude if either Bromm or Cadmus felt I wasn’t supposed to be there.
‘Are you just gonna stand there all day or are you coming in?’ Arty teased, motioning for me to move past the threshold.
‘I promise the guys are dressed.’
That comment had me picturing Bromm and Cadmus naked as they slept in the bed, Artemis between them with their limbs tangled from a long night of passion.
My brain supplied the image of me in there, too, my arms wrapped around her strong frame while one of the others reached over me to keep contact with her.
‘Yo, Reece.
You good?’ Cadmus’s voice jolted me out of the daydream and I wanted the floor to swallow me whole when I felt my entire body heat both from desire and from mortification.
What the fuck was going on with me? I had never been so caught up in a woman before that I had lost all sense and sensibility.
‘Yup.
Yeah.
I’m fine. You?’
He gave me an odd look but let my strange behaviour slide.
‘I’m great.
Starving.
Eager for landing. Desperately curious to meet Dorian’s family.’
I relaxed at the out he was giving me, grabbing onto it with a keenness that wasn’t entirely faked.
‘Me, too.
They’ve always been a bit of a touchy subject for him and I’m excited to meet the people who raised him.’
‘I’m more interested in getting embarrassing childhood stories,’ Bromm piped in, a mischievous glint in his purple eyes.
‘I’m sure we’ll get all the juicy gossip, but I’m more interested in seeing Bal,’ Arty said, practically bouncing with the need to hold her best friend’s son in her arms again.
Her unconditional love for him was yet another thing that had my heart trying to beat itself out of my chest.
The mere thought of her with children of her own, her belly swollen with my child…
Fuck.
No.
This was getting out of hand.
Bromm sidled up to her and pressed a tender kiss against her lips.
The adoration in her gaze when they pulled apart knocked the breath from my lungs with a force I hadn’t expected.
It grabbed Cadmus’s attention and he studied me in a way he never had before.
Like I was competition, though there was no jealousy in his expression.
‘Okay,’ I said, my voice pitched higher than normal from my heightened emotions.
‘Let’s go.’
I rushed from the room, Dave Junior surprisingly following close on my heels as eager to get moving as me, apparently.
His energy was wild, his desire to run free accumulating in the tense set of his strong muscles.
Mine was more an urge to flee, but the end result was the same.
Artemis stepped into the hallway flanked by her men, but the smile she sent my way proved she hadn’t noticed my odd behaviour.
Or perhaps she had.
Maybe she’d already figured me out and wasn’t so turned off by the prospect.
I turned back to the elevator as the door slid up and sighed.
Knowing my luck, it was just wishful thinking.
Wishful thinking that was going to get me in trouble and destroy the best friendship I had ever had.