Chapter 7 #2
“On Earth?” he asked, his voice a bit softer, though his eyes no less filled with anger.
“I mean, yeah. Sometimes. But it’s not a big deal…”
A low snarl interrupted her, Screl bending forward so he could lean in close.
“It is a big deal. No one should touch you like that.”
Oh? Like the way he had his tentacles up her dress at Cosmic Pulse? The way he’d dragged her up the stairs before she’d agreed to go with him? The way he’d pulled her into his lap in front of his companions?
“No one except you…” she muttered, and he narrowed all four eyes with suspicion.
Screl was silent for a long moment, his eyes flashing with some sort of emotion she couldn’t read.
Though it was a double standard, certainly, it felt differently with Screl.
Perhaps because she did want him to touch her in a way she didn’t with that privateer asshole.
Still, he had no room to complain about how other males treated her.
“You need to come with me,” he said, gently taking her hand and squeezing.
A tentacle brushed against her neck, pushing her hair aside as if he wanted to see the way her flesh tasted.
“To do what?” she asked, trying to ignore the tension coiling in her center.
His wild scent enveloped her, and she tried to remember that it was just pheromones. That’s all.
“Whatever you wish to do. I’m more than capable of providing for one little human.”
Oh, so now he wanted to be her sugar daddy? As if she could believe something like that. He was like all the others, wasn’t he? Flirting, demanding her attention, and then as soon as she acquiesced he’d send her on her way.
“I enjoy working here.”
It was true. She was coming to appreciate the job in a way she never had at the bar back home. She liked her coworkers and the regulars, and most of the visitors weren’t complete jackasses.
“With males who touch you like that?”
Lena groaned, heat filling her from his firm grip on her hand.
“Zegrox had it handled. That guy won’t be allowed back.”
At least, she was pretty sure he wouldn’t. Greg never bothered to ban anyone, but Ochin didn’t seem to take any shit. Not when there was always a new shipload of thirsty customers docking at the station.
“And there will just be another to take his place…”
He certainly had a point, but no. He didn’t have a point. This was her job, her life, and she could handle herself. Why did he care so much, anyway?
“I don’t need your help, Commander,” she said, her voice low.
“If you prefer to work, I am certain I can find something for you on my ship.”
Oh, and what kind of job would she be able to do on a spaceship? She could only imagine what tawdry ideas he had in mind and was going to brush him off again when she heard a gasp.
“Lena! I was looking everywhere for you!”
Michaela was standing at the door to the empty module with a horrified look on her face.
Screl took a step back as Michaela approached, gently taking Lena’s hand, though her skin still burned from the commander’s touch.
“Are you alright? I saw what that asshole did, but you don’t need to worry. Station security has already taken him to the brig. He won’t get away with that shit around here.”
“Oh, uh, I don’t know if that’s necessary…” Lena started, but Michaela shook her head, cutting her off.
“Of course it is! He assaulted you. That’s against the law, just like on every station. C’mon, they want you to give an official statement, but it can wait if you don’t feel up to it. The cams caught everything, so that fucker can’t try to lie his way out of this.”
Michaela looped her arm around Lena’s, leading her back toward Ochin’s, but not before turning to Screl.
“Thank you, Commander. It was kind of you to look out for Lena.”
Screl looked like he wanted to say something, but he just nodded as Michaela escorted her from the empty console, a strange expression on his face.
What a day.
Lena sighed as she lay in bed, tossing and turning despite the exhaustion thrumming through her bones. She’d felt better after a hot shower, but between the unwanted touch and having to make an official statement about it, she was beat.
Yes, she supposed it was an assault, though it had been so normal, so expected back at her job on Earth.
She really didn’t want everyone to cause a fuss over her, but station security had refused to let it go.
Alliance privateers were supposed to hold themselves to certain standards, of which, slapping a bartender’s ass was not an acceptable one.
Screl had disappeared by the time she had returned to the bar to clock out, and perhaps that was the thing that hurt most of all.
Tears burned at her eyes, and she grabbed for her pill canister, vowing this to be the last time. She just needed a good night’s rest to put this all behind her, then tomorrow she could start fresh.
No more sleep meds.
Screl would be gone, and she wouldn’t have to worry about the asshole privateer—whose ship had already been not-so-kindly asked to depart from Henios—until the trial.
She gulped two pills down with a drink of water, not even bothering to close the shades on her window as she laid her head on the pillow, eager for sleep to take her.