Chapter 13
CORA
“What about the couch?” Andrew asked, studying my rose velvet pride and joy with covetous eyes.
I felt a stab of anxious jealousy at the thought of giving it away.
I saved for a long time to afford it, and Mr. Darcy and I had taken great pains not to damage it.
Maybe I should just stay here. On Earth. With a couch. Jesus, that’s pathetic.
“He said I could have things shipped,” I said. “I wonder if he meant furniture?”
“Wow,” Andrew said. “You’re really leaning into the pampered princess life if you’re considering having your couch shipped through space. What if it doesn’t go with his Martian decor?”
“He’s not a martian, and I can make that couch go with anything,” I said. “But I don’t know. I’ll ask him if it’s too much.”
“Are you planning to take all the furniture, then?” he asked, caressing the table in my breakfast nook.
“You can have the table,” I said. “And any other furniture you want. I’m just attached to the couch. If he says I can’t bring it, you can have that, too.”
My apartment was a wreck. I’d already been through my clothes, books, and makeup, casting a ton of stuff into piles to get rid of.
My bed was piled high with things I was trying to convince myself I didn’t need, mostly books and clothes, and a chair in the corner of my bedroom had a much smaller pile of things I absolutely couldn’t part with.
Mr. Darcy, knowing he was one of those things, had made himself at home among a few of my favorite books, and an e-reader I was hoping I’d have a way to charge, my favorite clothes (especially loungewear because I doubted my earth fashion would be good streetwear on Venastea), and some makeup essentials.
I’d placed an order to stock up on a few skincare products I was worried about living without.
Did they have acne dots in outer space? What about chocolate?
Because I also had a short list of snacks I wanted to take.
And I needed to make sure I had a few months’ worth of food for Mr. Darcy just in case he couldn’t be put in stasis or like…
woke up halfway there or something. Could that happen?
Before I could begin the third mental spiral of the night, my phone began bloop bloop blooping.
“Is that your man?” Andrew asked, scooping up my phone before I could and answering the call. “Let’s see who you’re jetting across the universe to marry.”
“Where is Cora?” came Yiri’s gruff voice.
“What did he say?” Andrew asked. “Do you understand him?”
“When I read the subtitles,” I said, pointing to the translation. “Hi. Sorry about him. He’s nosy.”
Yiri was scowling, but that was nothing new. “Andrew?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah,” I said. “You’re not going to… look him up or anything, are you?”
He raised his brows like I’d surprised him. “Why would I do that, Aneah? What would I do with information about your friend who encouraged you to cut me off?”
“Um….”
“Look me up?” Andrew asked. “Why? Does he think I’m cute?”
“Andy, remember what you told me when you saw his picture?” I said under my breath.
“What did he say?” Yiri asked, but I ignored him.
Andrew thought for a moment, and then comprehension dawned. “He’s not asking because I’m cute,” he said. “Right… Well, it’s getting late. See you later.”
“What did he say?” Yiri asked again as Andy let himself out.
I sighed. “He took one look at you and told me you’re a bad man.”
He took that in with his usual stoicism. “Do you think I’m a bad man?” he asked.
“I think… You might be kind of a bad man, yes,” I admitted. When his face didn’t change, I added, “But I think you might also be a good one.”
His features softened slightly, and he dipped his head. “I’m often a bad man, as you put it,” he said. “I do bad things for the good of my family. If and when the need arises, I will do bad things for you. But Aneah, I will always be good to you. Do you understand?”
His last words didn’t have the commanding tone I’d normally associate with them, but I still answered with a quiet “Yes, sir.”
He wet his lips, his look turning hungry. “Were you good today?”
An unstoppable grin pulled up the corners of my lips. “Yes, sir,” I said a little louder.
The camera followed him as he reached back to pull his shirt over his head, and then sank onto a soft, cushiony surface that could have been a big couch or a bed.
I wasn’t sure which. His hand trailed down his tattooed chest and distracting washboard abs.
“Tell me how good,” he said, hooking his thumb under his waistband and stopping there.
“Um…Oh. I did what you told me to,” I said.
“I’ve been packing. Or, preparing to pack.
I have to figure out what I want to bring first, but I’ve been doing that all day.
And I know you said to let you know if I needed anything, but I just had questions.
I didn’t want to bother you at work, so I made a list.”
“Alright,” he said. “Hit me with it.”
“Some of this is going to sound crazy,” I warned him. “There’s just a lot I don’t know about Bion 8KV and Venastea.”
“We both have a lot to learn about our different worlds,” he said. “I won’t tease you, Aneah.”
I scurried to the bedroom and slid the notebook out from under Mr. Darcy, who did not appreciate the disturbance. “Okay. So first, do you have chocolate?”
He frowned as he registered the translation. “No.”
“Okay. I’ll bring some. What about Earth technology? Will I be able to charge my e-reader?”
More frowning. “An e-reader is… a nexus frame for only written stories?”
The translation for nexus frame on my end was very long and confusing. “Um. Is that like a cell phone? It says it’s for communication, information, and entertainment. But how big is it?”
“How big do you want it to be?”
I snorted. “Um. Are we still talking about this nexus frame thing?”
Yiri cracked a smile. “You tell me, wife.”
Cheeks burning, I nodded. “Yes. The nexus frame. It’s different sizes?”
“Yes,” he said, pointing to the camera. “I’m using this one that’s a mod to my nexus core.
It’s about this big.” He spread his hands to show the width and height of a medium-sized TV.
“But I carry this one with me when I’m away from my cruiser or home.
” He reached to the side a produced what looked like a thin plate of glass, a little larger than my cell phone.
“Okay. Hmm. Well, I think maybe my e-reader is like that, but only for books. I like to read on it all the time.”
“Bring it,” he said. “I don’t know if we can power it, but I can pull the data for you and put it on a frame. Whatever size you want.”
I grinned at his innuendo as I made a check next to e-reader on my list, and made a note to download as many books as I could fit on it.
“So I’m wondering about clothes. I assume what’s fashionable here will be wildly different there.
I have a few things I really like that I want to bring, but I don’t want to over do it.
Like I thought about bringing a pair of high heels, but should I?
Is that crazy? I don’t even know how tall you are.
Maybe I should leave them. It’s not like they’re comfortable to wear for long, anyway. ”
“Ah, Cora? Wait.” He cleared his throat and did something with his camera. Or his nexus frame? “High heels. Those are the shoes you were wearing in your profile image?”
“Yeah. I’ll just leave them, though. I’m being silly.”
“No. Bring those.”
“Oh,” I paused. “Would they be fashionable there?”
He grunted. “You’re mine. You can wear whatever you want and no one will say shit to you. But the shoes? They’ll be very fashionable in our bedroom.”
Oh. “I see,” I said primly, a tide of warmth filling my lower belly. “I’ll bring them, then.”
“On the transport vessel,” he said, brooking no argument. He didn’t want to wait for them to be delivered, then. Daddy likes fuck me pumps. Got it.
“I’ll bring them,” I said, biting down on the corner of my mouth to control my smile.
“What else?” he asked, his dark eyes intense through the screens between us. What would they be like in person?
“My couch.”
“You want to bring it?”
“Is that too much?” I asked. “I don’t have any concept of what this all costs.”
“It will be sent with your other things,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
Sternly, he said, “You want it. I’ll have it delivered. What else?”
“How long do I have to pack?”
“Six days,” he said. “I tried to get an earlier departure, but that was the best I could do.”
“Holy shit.” I put a hand to my forehead. “Okay. Wow. Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
I laughed, still in shock. “Nothing, I guess. I mean, I can just… not sleep between now and then. I mean, I’m going to be sleeping for two months, right?”
“It’s not enough time.”
“I was expecting more time, yes,” I admitted.
He sighed. “I need you here as soon as possible. What can I do to make this work for you?”
I shook my head. “It’s fine. I can figure it out. You just caught me by surprise.”
“I’ll pay someone to help you,” he said.
“That would be a big help. What about Andrew? He got laid off at the same time as me, and he hasn’t found work yet.”
“Is he going to try to talk you out of leaving again?” Yiri asked with a resentful growl.
I waved that away. “No, we’re past it,” I said. “He was already helping me today, and he’s coming back tomorrow. I’ll feel better about it if he’s being paid, though.”
“And he will be enough help?”
I nodded. “I think so. I don’t have much stuff. The couch is the biggest thing I want to bring, and the rest will be manageable. I’m going to donate a lot of things, I think.”
“Don’t worry about expense, Aneah,” Yiri said. “If there is anything you want, don’t hesitate to send it. If you need more help, hire someone. I’ll send more credits. Whatever you need.”
“Money is no object, huh?” I asked, only half teasing. I was pretty sure what Qhev said about Eissoini being loaded was no joke.
“Not where you’re concerned,” Yiri said. “I have a few things to tell you, too.”
“Shoot.”