Chapter 18 #2
He raised his arms. “Welcome, one and all, to the lair of the Technomancer.”
Mal had to admire the man’s style. She saw Forge touch something on his arm. “What’s that?” she whispered to Xander.
His eyes glowed a faint green. “Some sort of computer screen. It looks integrated into his arm.”
Hmm, so Forge was a little cyborg as well.
Suddenly, the scrap robot statues around the room whirred to life. They all took a synchronized step forward and turned to face their master.
She gasped. Not statues, syndroids. Incredible. Well, they were a little too crude to be called syndroids. She was sticking with the old-fashioned word robot.
Forge smiled and gave a small bow. “Welcome to the greatest party on the galaxy’s edge.”
The crowd cheered. The robots moved again, mimicking his bow. More wild cheering.
“For now, eat, drink, dance, and stay tuned for my great reveal. The pièce de résistance of my techno collection.” With an athletic move, he leaped off the metal creature, somersaulted, and landed on the floor.
“Well, he’s got style.” Mal would choose a Rabin freightership for Forge. They were all kinds of quirky, and renowned for doing things a pilot never expected.
Xander’s brows pulled together. “He’s all show.”
She bumped her shoulder against his. “Don’t worry. Some girls prefer contained and quiet. Still waters, and all that.”
His lips quirked.
“I saw that. That was another smile.”
“I don’t smile.”
She gripped his head, yanked him down, and pressed her lips to his. “Liar.”
“I don’t—”
She waved him off. “I know, I know. Look, we should split up. Do a round, see if we can spot anything to do with the Antikythera.”
He nodded. “But don’t go too far. I want you in visual range.”
“You’ll scan me anyway. If my heart rate so much as trips, you can ride to my rescue.” Again, she stole another quick kiss. “I like having my own private cyborg.”
His hand clenched on her waist, then he released her with great reluctance. “See you soon.”
She watched him stride away. He looked the part of a ball guest, but you’d never mistake him for anything other than focused and lethal.
And boy, she was going to have fun removing that tuxedo later.
Of course, he’d be celebrating having the mechanism back. Her smile melted away. That meant once they were back in charted space, he’d be gone from her life.
Ignoring the uncomfortable pain in her belly, she wandered through the crowd. She spied plenty more robots made from space junk. She had to admit, Forge had a talent for recycling. His creativity was admirable.
She’d leaned in close to study one of the robots, when a firm hand gripped her bare shoulder. She spun.
And everything inside her turned to ice.
She pasted on a fake smile. “Aston.”
“Malin, you look incredible.” With a galaxy-wide smile, Aston Granger stood there, eying her and twirling a tall glass of some neon-pink drink.
Her smile turned even more brittle. “Oh, well, it took me an entire day to scrub the grease off my hands, but a girl does what she can.”
She saw his practiced smile slip before he shored it up.
“I’ve never seen you look this radiant.”
Because I’m not with you, jerk. He was still handsome, dammit, blond hair falling over a chiseled face. He was dressed in fashionable tight trousers of deep green with a paler green billowy shirt. He looked…well, ridiculous.
Shock rushed through her. Seeing him didn’t sting. If anything, she felt faint annoyance.
She’d always thought of Aston as a flashy starliner. Sleek, expensive, built for pleasure. She still thought of a starliner—just one that had been refurbished one too many times and was a little seedy around the edges.
She searched around for some neutral subject. “How’s business?”
“Good. Just got a retired cruisership into the docks. She’s a beauty, you’d love her.”
Mal deliberately looked away from him. “Hmm.”
She felt him shift closer. “Maybe you might want to swing past and take a look.”
Yeah, and engineless starships might fly. “I’m pretty busy at the moment.”
When she felt a finger trace over her shoulder, she tensed, and shrugged his touch away. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I just realized how much I miss you, Mal.”
“Look, Aston, I’m here with someone.”
“But he can’t give you what I can.”
No, thank the stars. “The past is the past. Let’s leave it there.”
“Mal—” He grabbed her arm.
Suddenly, a black blur was between them, wrenching Aston away and pushing him back three steps. Aston stumbled, spilling his pink drink over his shirt.
Mal took one glance at the frigid look on Xander’s face and quickly slipped under his arm and pressed up against his front. “He’s not worth it, Xander.” She dropped her voice. “Not worth risking our mission.”
“He touched you.”
Stars, she felt the fury pumping off him. And she liked it.
She smoothed her hands inside his jacket, over the pale, ice-blue shirt she looked forward to ripping off him later. “Forget him. I only want to be touched by you.” She pressed her cheek to his chest.
She felt him draw a few quick breaths.
Aston strode closer, face contorted with anger. “Hey, I don’t know who the hell you are—”
With his face twisted with overdramatic emotion, Mal decided Aston looked downright unattractive.
Xander slammed a hand around Aston’s throat and lifted him two inches off the floor. “I’m Malin’s. That’s all you need to know.”
Aston’s face was turning an interesting shade of scarlet. His wild gaze skimmed over Xander’s implant.
“Leave her alone. Nod if you understand me.” Xander’s voice was a forbidding murmur. “If you don’t, I’ll take great pleasure in making you understand.”
Holy stars, Mal was sure Aston was going to wet his stylish trousers.
The salvage dealer gave a jerky nod, and Xander set him down.
Aston rubbed his neck and put several meters between him and Xander. The distance obviously gave him courage. “I knew you liked machines, Mal, but fucking one, that’s bottom of the barrel. Even for a salvage rat like you.”
Her eyes widened and she quickly wrapped her arms around Xander’s waist. Felt the coiled tension.
“Not worth it, tough guy. Keep your cool.” She looked back at Aston ‘son of a bitch’ Granger.
“Actually Aston, I scraped the bottom of the barrel with you. Xander’s so good, I’m not even in the barrel anymore. ”
Aston’s face flushed before he spun and stomped away.
“That man hurt you,” Xander said quietly. “Made you think less of yourself.”
“Seems silly now.” Since she’d met a sexy cyborg who thought she was pretty damn awesome just as she was, she’d changed her thinking. “Okay, tough guy, I really need that drink, and we have an ancient artifact to find.”