Chapter 2 #2
“Can you read all of my thoughts?”
“No…” He shakes his head. “Yours are a little…”
“Cluttered?” I offer.
“Something like that.” He holds my arm in place and helps me take the sleeve off and then curses in Sianese.
I don’t like the look of the bruises either, but I wish I knew what he said. I wish I had taken the time to learn the language like Laurel had.
Arc sighs, and his gaze lifts from my skin to my face. “I said I would kill them if the crash hadn’t done it already.”
“Oh.” I swallow because I want to thank him, but that feels silly… even though he knows that too.
His hand holds mine while he inspects me like a medical patient.
I wish I could tell if there was any int—stop it. He’s helping me. I need to focus on getting dressed and getting back to normal and getting… I meet his eyes and one is partially closed, like he’s wincing.
Oh my god I feel like such a dork just sitting here going through all these thoughts while he’s being forced to hear them and—
He catches my face in his hand and makes me look up at him. “Calm down,” he says, and then, “Please.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“I don’t think it is, so you’ll just have to let me ask for forgiveness, or I’ll do it again and again in my head and no one will enjoy that.” I laugh because I just realized he’s still holding my face.
He doesn’t move. “Do you want me to wait outside for this next part, or do you still need help?”
“I guess that depends on whether you’re going to get mad if you see me naked.” I suck some of the cold air in between my teeth. “It’s worse further down. I can feel it.”
“I will get mad.” He says it so calmly, I should probably be scared. “But I will keep it to myself.”
Even with that promise, he curses when we get the leotard down to my hips.
“Come on, I know you’ve see wounds that are so much worse than this. No cuts, just contusions.” I grimace a little when he helps me step out of the stretchy fabric and I twist the wrong way. “It’s not even a flesh wound.”
“Just because I’ve seen worse doesn’t mean I ever want to see it on you.”
And he can see all of me right now as I stand in front of him in nothing but lime green smiley face underwear, all my ink, and mottled bruises.
He looks mad. He looks like he’d like to go out to the wreckage and bring someone back to life just so he can kill them again.
“Arc?” I make him look at my face again. “The bruises will heal. If we don’t get me back into some clothes, I am going to die of hypothermia. Okay? Or at least lose a toe.”
He deflates a little and starts to untangle the pile I brought with us. “I like your tattoos.”
Instead of asking if he wants to see the rest—a joke that feels a little flat right now—I say, “Thanks, me too.”
He slides a rainbow striped tank top up over my arm, so I don’t have to raise it, and then helps me get it over the other side.
He barely even looks at my breasts when he pulls it down to my waist.
The look he gives me right then is stern. “You are injured.”
“I know.” My mind and my hormones are all out of whack, but when he helps me get those electric blue leggings on and I cozy up in a long sleeve violet sweater covered in the ugliest flowers you’ve ever seen, I momentarily forget and then am violently reminded.
Gasping at the sharp sensation of pain when I raise my arm the wrong way to get the sweater on, I hold on to his arms as he hovers his hands at my sides, not touching me.
“Any chance you ordered Epsom salts?” I ask. “I might want to live in that tub for a few hours.”
“Will that help?”
I nod.
“Then I’ll order them as soon as we’re done.”
“Thank you.”
He goes to his knees—a perfect height for—and I apologize again as he groans. “I’m not trying to be a problem. I promise.”
“You’re not.” He puts one fuzzy sock on me before lifting my other leg. “And I promise I can behave myself… no matter what thoughts slip through.”
Because he has to… because it’s a one and done thing for him. Because…
He looks up at me again, and I bite my tongue instead of apologizing one more time. “That might be the only word you hear from me if you stay on your knees.”
For a second I think he might. And I feel so sheepish, knowing he knows I wanted him to—
“There’s nothing wrong with what you’re thinking, Chrys.”
I just really can’t act on those thoughts.
A dozen ways to act on him flit through my mind.
This is bad.
Eyes wide, I let my gaze drop to his lips. “Will you…” I swallow and then close my eyes. “Will you get me some kind of toy?”
Something that sucks or vibrates. Hell, something with a suction cup I can secure to the tub. I am going to need something or I’ll wind up rubbing against them like a cat in heat.
“I’ll get you anything you need, koah.” He brushes my hair behind my ear. “You didn’t ask to be here. We will all do everything we can to make sure you are happy.”
I meet his eyes, and even though I know he can hear it in my head, I tell him, “I kind of always hoped I would get the chance to meet you.”
His brows raise, and I try not to think about the curious way I was drawn to him when I’d first seen him on a screen… but of course that only makes me think about it more.
“It was only partially because my sister dislikes you as much as she does. I knew she was wrong.”
“Give me some time. You might change your mind.”
I won’t.
The look he gives me is one I’ve seen before… the one that says “did she hit her head?” or “are there a few screws loose?”
“Stop it.” He lowers his head so his eyes meet mine. “I don’t think anything’s wrong with you.”
“Give me some time. You might change your mind,” I tease.
“I won’t.”
I like him.
I laugh as soon as I think it… I like him and he knows it.
He presses his lips together so I don’t know what he might have said. What he does say is, “Come on.”
But I tug him to a stop before we get to the doorway. “Hey… this is probably going to get worse.” I motion toward my head. “I promise I won’t try to make you uncomfortable, but… it’s basically pure filth up here and I am an orgasm a day kind of girl, so…”
He looks at me again and I try not to think about the bed behind me.
Which, of course, makes me think about the bed behind me.
“Honestly… it already feels a little out of control.”
He pulls my hand to his mouth, kissing my palm. “Like I said, all three of us will do whatever you require to make you happy.”
I clench my thighs together, because having his head between them right now would definitely make me happy.
“Even that.” His smile is pained. “But you need to make a call first.”
“I had honestly forgotten… which means I am definitely getting better.”
His brows pinch with concern. He’s going to get wrinkles if he’s not careful. Like a turtle.
“Don’t worry. I only forget the important stuff… and the trivial stuff. And anything that isn’t right in front of me.” I laugh, but the concern doesn’t go away.
“Hey.” I point my finger at him, and it only trembles a little. “Don’t make me go back to thinking about sex. I will make you blush to get that concern off your face.”
That makes him laugh and the sound of it makes me smile.
He takes my hand and leads the way back out to the main room where Shock has the enormous video screen pulled up and waiting for me.
“Do you know the comm code?”
“I do. I had to call an operator to get to her from Earth, so this will actually be easier.”
He nods and taps in the code I give him, and when he hits the connection, all three of them leave.
I should appreciate that… but honestly? I don’t like it.
Not that the call gives me much time to be upset about it.
“Hi!” I say when Mary’s profile fills the screen. Her camera zooms out as she turns, and the familiar glittering white towers of the city fill the window behind her.
“Hey what’s—” Her head twists to the side and she peers at me with narrowed eyes. “How are you calling from an Isia contact point?”
“Surprise! I’m here.”
“Once again… how? You haven’t been approved for a bondmate.”
I can see her thinking.
“You haven’t even submitted the initial paperwork.”
“Funny story. Um… I seem to have been abducted.”
Mary stares at me for a long moment. Then she blinks. Once… twice. “Am I being pranked?”
“You know I wouldn’t do that to you.” I hate pranks. “I don’t have all the details, and I would appreciate it if you kept this between us. Did you happen to see anything about the ship that crashed?”
“The one in the Shadow Zone? Yeah, it’s been all over the news.”
“That is how I got here.”
“They said there weren’t any survivors.”
“They were wrong.”
She looks at the bottom corner of the screen, scowling. “Who did Drift house you with? This isn’t Jess’s code.”
“No. I would prefer it if you didn’t tell anyone I’m here.”
“Sure. Do you need me to start looking into when we can get you home? Or is someone else already working on that.”
My mind goes blank for a moment… send me home. “Is that an option?”
“Do you want to go home?”
“I honestly hadn’t even considered it.” I glance toward the hallway they’ve disappeared down to give me space. “Everything happens for a reason, right?”
And if the universe dropped me in their laps… obviously, it wants me to have them.
“Chrys?”
I shake my head and look at her again. “Sorry.”
“Take the week to figure things out. We’ll talk about this when you’ve got your feet under you, okay?”
“I have three deliverables due this week.”
“I’ll push them back or get them from someone else.”
“Okay.” I swallow and glance down at my thumb. I’ve almost managed to pick all the nail polish off of it. “I have some prescriptions I’d like to get filled. Like, I can live without them, but I’d rather not.”
“Sure. I can get the requests sent through one of the local clinics and they can get the info from your Earth doctor.”
“Great, thanks.” I give her the list and Mary doesn’t even blink.
“I’ll shoot the request and your file info over right now. You should be able to get some of them before the end of the day.”
“You are a lifesaver.”