35. Hook
“There’s nothing I can do to talk you out of this?” Vaughn watched me as I dressed the next morning, still trying to dissuade me, despite the fact that we both knew this was our best option.
“Nope.”
“You’re certain he won’t see right through you and realize what you’re up to?”
“Vaughn.” I reached out, grabbing his hand.
“Do you know how difficult it must have been for him to set up his base of operations on the Radiant, not to mention ingratiating himself with the crew so that he could keep the position long-term and retain the facade of harmless Chief Comms Officer, Cassidy Paulson for almost two years?”
“Difficult. Why?” He ground his teeth.
“He made a move on me, knowing I had an exception with you, resulting in him having to abandon all the work he put in,” I reasoned. “When it comes to me, he’s not thinking with his brain.”
Vaughn frowned at the implication.
“I know he’s not the same boy I grew up with, but he sees me as that same girl. Plus, he’s clearly gotten too comfortable on the Radiant. Allowing his coding to leak through, along with his coverup, is lazy.” I pushed Vaughn back onto the bed.
“Adding to that the fact that your relationship with him has soured and resulted in him having to literally jump ship is going to make the prospect of getting to walk out of here with me too tempting of a deal for him to pass up on.” He groaned when I swung a leg over his hips, grinding down against him.
“You’ve scared him off for now, but if he really is the Phoenix, he’s lived the last decade of his life in the shadows, building an empire using intimidation and bold, risky moves.
We need to change the conditions and see if he’ll take the bait. ”
“And when he does, he’ll be too distracted by me, and I’ll get the evidence we need.
” I leaned down and took his bottom lip between my teeth, nipping at him.
“Besides, you and Darren will have a live feed of everything that’s going on, so he won’t have the chance to erase anything.
If something happens, you’ll know immediately and can come to my rescue. ”
“You make it sound so easy,” Vaughn rumbled, pitching up slightly to chase the pressure I was providing. “One last round?” He grinned up at me.
“No.” I playfully shoved against him, dismounting a moment later. “I’ll be sore for days thanks to how busy you’ve kept me this week.”
“Had to give you a pleasant reminder of what you’re leaving behind.”
I snorted a laugh. Pleasant was an absurd understatement. None of my past lovers held a candle to Vaughn in any way, shape, or form.
With tears streaming down my face, I intentionally choked out a strangled sob as I fled past Cassidy’s office, toward Natalie’s.
“Natalie?” I sniffled, crossing the threshold into her office.
Immediately, her eyes shot up from her comm. She’d been on opposite shifts from me since Vesta, so we hadn’t seen much of one another in a while.
“Lark? What happened?” She came around her desk to sit next to me on the sofa in the corner of her office.
“I—” I swallowed back the tears I’d built up for the act. There was a part of me that felt intensely guilty for using Natalie’s own goodwill against her, but if any of the crew knew what Vaughn and I were really up to, they would understand. “Can you assign me a different room?”
She smoothed my hair away from my face, a bit of a feat considering I was almost a foot taller than her. “Are you okay?” Her words were gentle and even.
“I just need my own space right now.” My voice cracked.
“L?” Cassidy’s head popped around the corner of the office, right on time. “Is everything alright?”
Natalie looked from me to Cassidy. She likely knew something about the little love triangle I had unintentionally found myself in initially, and was reasonably cautious as a result.
“I’m fine—I just—” I used my uniform sleeve to wipe my eyes. “I just need a different room right now.”
“What did he do?” Cassidy growled.
I dissolved into another fit of quiet sobs.
“Cassidy,” Natalie hissed in admonishment.
“No—it’s okay.” I waved her off. “He’s just trying to help.”
Taking my defense of him as an invitation, he sat down on my other side, the warmth of his body seeping through my jumpsuit. I fought against recoiling and instead leaned into him ever so slightly.
Natalie’s eye’s ping-ponged between us before she got up with a huff and began sorting through her comm, her brow furrowing the more she scrolled, likely seeing that despite the Radiant having a few empty cabins, each of them mysteriously had different maintenance issues which rendered them uninhabitable.
“I—” Natalie opened and closed her mouth, scrolling back through the list to re-check what she was looking at. “There isn’t one.” She looked up at me, her expression pitiful.
“What do you mean there isn’t one?” Cassidy snapped.
Natalie pursed her lips, offended by him taking out his frustration on her.
“Cabin seven has a water main leak, eight’s lights have short-circuited, nine somehow got biolocked and none of us are a match and Rion hasn’t been able to override it, and ten was reallocated for storage due to overflow from Vesta.
” She listed off the issues with each one.
“What about Chadwick’s quarters?” Cassidy tried. “I heard he got arrested on Vesta after being associated with the diplomat they think is the Phoenix. I doubt he’s coming back.”
I had to hold my tongue at my disgust with how easily Cassidy could lie. As if he didn’t know anything more than what he’d seen on the news.
Natalie shook her head. “We’re under strict orders from IA not to enter or touch anything because of his arrest. That was the only condition in which they allowed the captain to complete the current run.”
I began to sob louder, shaking my shoulders. “It’s fine. I’ll sleep in my office,” I managed through my crocodile tears.
“Lark can stay with me.” Cassidy squeezed my shoulder.
I refrained from smiling. I thought I’d have to try a little harder.
“Maybe she should stay with me…” Natalie again glanced back and forth between us nervously. “We can pick up parts to fix the issues in the other cabins at Ganymede, so it’s only a couple days.”
“No.” Cassidy was firm.
Natalie’s shoulders slumped in defeat. She knew it was protocol to alert the captain, and she probably didn’t want to get in the middle of whatever was going on.
“Thank you, Natalie.” I reached out to her, giving her hand a squeeze and providing a soft and reassuring smile. “I’ll be okay with Cassidy.”
Reluctantly, she let my hand slip through hers. “I’m always here to talk, you know.”
“I know.” I nodded, then turned to Cassidy. “Will you come upstairs with me to get my things out of his room?” I made sure not to refer to it as ours.
“Of course.”