Chapter 10
Clark
“It’s not like I have anything else I need to be doing right now, Zion.” He can’t hear me, but I glare as the door to my Huber opens. It’s a much better brand of solo than the Gorsca. Better design for the same price.
“I’ve been waiting.” Zion’s got his arms crossed over his shirt. Except it’s not his shirt.
“Is that mine?” I pull at the fabric of the tunic as he sits.
“Is what yours?”
“The shirt you’re wearing. Although I’m glad you’re wearing a shirt.
Alexei keeps going on and on about how humans are weird about nudity.
” I’m watching the flow of traffic going around the Glyden docking dome, maneuvering my Huber out into the line of solos making their way through the airlock.
From the corner of my eye, I catch the weird expression on Zion’s face.
“What in the hell are you smiling about?”
“Nothing.” He clicks the safety harness into place, and I snap to him.
Everyone thinks I’m the outgoing, social one of our pod.
That I’m fun and irresponsible. But it’s not me, it’s Zion.
I take in a deep breath, ready to let him have it for taking my clothes without asking, when I get the scent of a female on him.
And not the he-gave-her-a-hug kind of scent.
“That’s not nothing. You fucked her. Blair Portsmouth. ”
“No, I didn’t, but I can say she’s sweet. I’ll tell everyone tonight. While I wouldn’t mind telling the story over and over, I don’t think my cock could take it.”
I’m not sure where to go with that information. Anger, jealousy, frustration at him being so careless that he could ruin us being able to pursue her as a pod together. Maybe a little of all of them.
“Didn’t your firm redesign the airlocks on the Glyden dome?”
“Not this one. The one out back for the Glyden residences.”
“You were late because you went to look at it,” he says. It’s definitely not a question. He knows. As much as Zion frustrates the shit out of me, he’s not only a pod brother, he’s my friend.
“I was here, and yeah. How often do I have the chance to look at something after it’s been working for a while?”
“Every fucking day. You could come look at it any day you want to. But you made me stand— Never mind. Thanks for coming to get me. How was it?” Zion crosses his ankle over his knee. “I like the shirt.” He’s holding it out in front of him like he’s never seen it before.
“You can’t have it.”
“Grayson grabbed it. How’s the airlock look?”
“Better than this piece of shit we’re waiting to go through now.”
“That’s good.” Zion leans back in the seat and closes his eyes.
“Didn’t get much sleep, or is your leg really bad?”
“No, and I’ll tell you at dinner.”
I’ve never wanted to trade places with him before.
My brain is spinning. It’s hard to think about what I was doing.
Her scent on him has me on edge. And I’m never on edge.
I try to shake it off. Focus on what I was planning on doing.
Out of the Glyden airlock, I swing the Huber back around, piloting between the buildings in the financial district.
“Where are you taking us to?” Zion cocks his head at me. Fucking hell, why does my tunic look better on him than it does on me?
“I’ve been cooped up in my study all week, and I need to check a couple of job sites that are down here.”
“It’s fine. I don’t need to get to work.”
“You could have swum home.”
Zion puts his hand on the thermal sprayed bandage on his leg.
“Oh, for Poseidon’s sake, you’re fine.”
“I know I am. But I don’t want it to get back to the Portsmouth pod that I just took off from the airlock like nothing was wrong.”
“Are they dense? Grayson said you could have swum out of there last night on your own.”
He shrugs and puts his leg up on the control dash.
“Do you mind?”
“Not at all. When did you become so uptight? You used to be the fun pod mate.”
I glance over at him.
“You were the only fun one. Besides me. And sometimes Alexei.” Zion adds his other foot to the dashboard.
“I’m done with you being all tightly wound.
I tell you, Blair is exactly what we need, and she needs us.
We’ve got the right mix of males to make her life complete.
Get her back to who she was before her damn ex messed with her self-esteem. ”
“How long were you there?”
“Twelve hours, maybe a little more.”
“That’s a lot to declare after twelve hours.”
“Maybe a little more,” he says.
“It’s . . . it’s enticing. We never thought we would have a shot at having a female again. I get it. You like her. But do you like her because she’s available, or do you like her because she’s a good fit for us?”
“Fuck.” Zion leans back. “You’re not wrong. At first, I thought the same as you. Am I attracted to Blair because she’s available?” He shoots me his normal Zion grin. “And yeah, I’m not going to lie. She’s available, and I was attracted to her. So were you, if I remember correctly.”
I pull back on the throttle and slow. The Tinom dome’s on our right. I maneuver around the back of their old dome to look at the progress of the construction. I’m not getting out of the Huber, not today. I’ve got a full day scheduled later in the week to do a full inspection.
“You’re not going to answer me?” Zion’s toes are pressed against the glass.
“What do you want me to say? I’m fucking glad you got to spend time with her. But I’m not getting my hopes up. Not again.”
“This isn’t like Gweneth. She wanted to play house.
Try things out. She was still a podlet, and most of us were old enough to know better.
She didn’t want a premade pod. She had a twisted sense of what we were and who she could be with us.
So don’t go thinking that Blair is the same as her.
She’s nothing like her. She doesn’t even fully understand what it’s like to be with more than one male yet. ”
“And you think she’s going to wake up in her human bed and think fuck, what I need is more dick? Like, a lot more. And middle-aged males who are all stuck in their ways?”
“Yeah, you’re just a tidal current today, aren’t you? I never said let’s ask her to move in and start this thing tomorrow. Fuck no. We’ve got baggage—”
“We’ve got rocks big enough to sink a military sub.”
“Let me finish. She’s got things from her past to get over too. But I can see it.” He waves his hand in the air. “Together, we can—”
“She’s not going to fix us.” I clench my jaw.
“No, she’s not going to fix us, and we’re not going to magically fix her. But together, we can be better. And that’s a place to start.”
“How have I not noticed you shitting out rainbows like a blue whale’s spout?”
“You used to shit rainbows too,” Zion says.
“That was a damn long time ago.” I hover near the back of the construction site.
I’m trying my best to shut the whole Blair thing out of my head and focus on the things I want to examine more.
Like are they building the back arch with the depth the structural architect and I told them to?
Or at least the way the project plan says to do it?
It’s not easy to see from this vantage point.
Or with the thoughts of her lovely blue eyes popping into my brain.
“You got the Tinom contract?” Zion growls and waves his hand in front of my face. And Blair’s scent of lavender and musk wafts off him.
I close my eyes. I’m not unaffected by the thought of her. The opposite, if anything. I dreamed of her last night. Damn. I’ve dreamed of her every night. I shake it off. “I told you about the Tinom contract. It’s why I’ve been holed up in my study.”
“No, you didn’t.” Zion drops his feet from the console and turns to the glass. “The whole project is yours?”
“Yes, I remember telling you. And . . .” It might have been Delmar and Forrest I told.
I’m not sure. We’re all so rarely home at the same time anymore.
“Damn, guess I didn’t. Yeah, I got the contract for the Tinom extension.
And the Koralli utility dome too.” Designing the main hall of the new Maelstrom building was a game changer for my career.
“You beat out a Koralli architect?”
“I did.” I’m smiling as I lean forward and make some mental notes on things I want to check when I come out later. “Fuck. There’s something else I’ve been meaning to tell you and everyone.”
“What?”
“When I was in the Tinom main office last week, I heard that the Driftwood pod wants to pursue Blair Portsmouth as well.”
“Blair and not Marlee?” Zion waves his hands again, and her scent flies around the Huber.
“For the love of Circe, stop moving your hands. And yes. Blair.”
“Aren’t they . . . young? I mean, I don’t know them well. I think Delmar mentioned that Kade or someone was at his meeting a few months ago.”
I blink at Zion. I’m not sure what is more confusing, that Delmar is still going to meetings after eight years or that someone rumored to be as much of an asshole as Kade Driftwood would go to a lost mate meeting at all.
“I agree they’re younger than we are, but more importantly, there’s only four of them.
And while we have clout, they have a lot as well. ”
“And fucking oil money,” Zion says.
“True.” While the Tinom dome started long ago producing tin and pewter goods, somewhere around my parents’ generation they branched out into oil. And humans love oil.
“Blair’s too sweet to end up with them. Marlee too. I didn’t get to talk to her much. But either way, neither of them would fit in there. Not with the Driftwoods. Not in the Tinom dome at all,” Zion says.
“I agree.” I nod. “But they were adamant about it. He was in the next room, but his block discussion was loud.” There’s no way he didn’t intend for me to not hear it.
The rest of the way home, we’re both lost in thought.
Later, everyone’s around the table but Sterling and Forrest, waiting for Zion’s report. Forrest hasn’t been home much, and Sterling? Who knows about Sterling. But then, I’ve been home, just not at the table. I’m sure Sterling’s working on a high-profile security case as always.
Zion meanders in. He’s showered, but if I try hard enough, I can still smell Blair on him. And fuck, I’m not going to sleep on the same side of the pod bed as him tonight, or I might end up huffing his chest.
Zion stands like he’s going to make a big presentation.
“Did you have intercourse with her?” Delmar leans back in his chair. Grayson reaches across Alexei and pushes Delmar’s chair flat.
“No, she’s not ready for that. We’re not ready for that. But I had a taste.”
The room erupts in groans and yells.
“You’re going to ruin it for us. She’s human. We have to go really slowly,” Alexei says.
“I didn’t ruin anything. And I listened to your advice, mostly.
” Zion sits. “I want to take her on a date. She mentioned she’s never really gone out to restaurants.
We could take her to Razor Edge.” A fancy restaurant where the food is amazing.
I take clients there sometimes when I want to impress them.
“Razor Edge isn’t going slow. A teahouse at the marketplace—that’s taking it slow. Three or four of us. No one intimidating. No Sterling,” Alexei says.
“As if he would go,” Delmar says.
“No Delmar,” Alexei points at him.
“I’m not intimidating.”
“No, but you practically asked her to mate when you met her at the dock.”
“I should go,” insists Delmar. “And Zion and Grayson, since she’s had time with both of them.”
I’m not going to be left out. “She’s met Grayson and Zion. I’m a better choice,” I say.
“You?” Delmar’s eyebrows shoot up. “You’ll bore her to death.”
“I’m the most fun out of all of us.”
“Maybe ten years ago,” Grayson says.
“I agree.” Delmar leans back in his chair again.
“You didn’t even know me ten years ago.”
“Well, there’s nothing about you that says fun now.” Delmar shoves a whole pastry cake into his mouth.
I’m fun. This is ridiculous. “I’m going.”