Corsairs: Adiron: Corsair Brothers Book 1

by Dixon, Ruby

  I wonder if it'd be too forward of me to ask her to sit on my plate and be my dinner? Probably.

  Jade's mirth fades, and she leans back, laughing and breathless, her hand on her stomach. "I haven't laughed so hard in forever."

  "Well, this evening is just getting started," I tell her, encouraged. "Now that the entertainment portion is over, shall we commence with the food?"

  "I can hardly wait," she teases, her smile bright.

  I'm absolutely dazzled by that smile. I want to just bask in the warmth of it, but it's my duty to entertain (and hopefully woo) her. I head over to the two bowls I've prepared, the contents covered by a warming lid. I pretend to be one of the snotty waiters that were always in Zoey's vids, and hold the tray out to Jade. "The finest military-grade noodles for you, female," I say in a severe voice, bowing over the food.

  Jade erupts into new laughter, clapping her hands. "You're such a liar! I thought you were going to give me something new to eat!"

  "Well, it's a bit of new and old." I take the lid off the bowl and set it before her. The noodles are bright red, which makes her give me a look of mild alarm. "It's the same old noodles, but a special recipe." I set my own bowl down in front of my seat. "Let's just say that it's a couple of ingredients, that when mixed together, cause a flavor combination that was much beloved by my human sister." I'm personally not a fan of it, but I'd chew on a boot all night long if it meant I could stare at Jade while doing so.

  She twirls a noodle onto her eating sticks and takes a hesitant bite. After a moment, her expression changes to one of wonder. "Cheese pizza. It tastes like cheese pizza."

  I grin. "Yeah."

  "That's amazing," Jade cries, and takes a larger bite, leaning over her bowl to slurp up the noodles. "How did you do this? Can we have this every night?"

  "Like I said, it's a couple of spices that, ah, aren't normally combined together. And no, you can't have it often, I'm afraid." I grimace. "In fact, I don't even think you should have seconds. It's a spice that my people put in mixed drinks, but it's known to cause a bit of…gastric distress amongst humans."

  Jade pauses, mid chew. She puts a napkin to her mouth, her actions fascinatingly dainty, and asks, "Gastric distress?"

  I nod solemnly. "We found out the hard way that it's rough on human systems. You've never seen three pirates move faster than when their little sister is making distressed sounds in the lavatory."

  Her shoulders shake with laughter again. "I'm going to finish eating—if it's safe—and then you're going to tell me that story."

  "It's safe, I promise you. The last thing I want is to poison you." I take a big bite of the oddly flavored food. "And we found out the hard way. Zoey was addicted to flavoring her noodles like that and we couldn't figure out why she—"

  "After," Jade warns me again. "Tell me after!"

  We eat, and I'm pleased to see that Jade doesn't pick at her food. She eats with hearty enthusiasm, just like me, and when we're done, I clear the dishes and offer her a hot cup of tea. I tell her my Zoey stories as we sip our after-dinner drinks, and she laughs so hard at my coarse tales that more tears stream from her eyes. Zo would probably kill me if she ever knew I was telling these stories, but I'll take that chance later. For now, I'm just happy that Jade's having a good time.

  "After that," I finish, "Mathiras made sure that Zoey ate new foods in small amounts. Very small amounts."

  Her smile is wide. "Mathiras sounds very caring and conscientious."

  "He has to be. He's stuck with a bunch of idiots." I grin, fully acknowledging that I am one of those idiots.

  Jade's expression grows thoughtful. She stares down at her tea, and I can tell her mood changes. Her smile dims and the sadness creeps back in. "Have we had any word from anyone? Anything from Helen or Alice? Or even Ruth?"

  I doubt we'll hear from Ruth any time soon. She's probably even now scratching her way out of Straik's keffing posh (scented!) holding cells and vowing revenge on him. Helen or Alice, though… "We might not hear anything from them for a while," I tell her. "The pods are dialed in to our ship here, but the farther away they get, the better the odds are that someone else can intercept a message. It's best to not let anyone know that we're here alone, or we're just inviting trouble to our doorstep."

  "Of course." I can see the acceptance on her face. "I just…miss them. And I worry."

  "Well, yeah. Of course you worry. They're stuck with my brothers, after all," I tease, but her smile is gone. I think for a moment and then offer an alternative. "You know…we can always go check. Maybe something came in while we were here."

  "I'd love to check," Jade says in a soft voice. She reaches across the table and brushes her fingertips over mine. "I know there's nothing there, but I'd still like to check anyhow."

  "I figured."

  "Thank you, Adiron."

  As long as she keeps touching me, I'll give her anything she keffing wants. Anything at all.

  37

  JADE

  I'm having fun.

  A teeny, tiny part of me feels guilty that I'm enjoying myself when the world's going to shit, when the others are stuck in escape pods, when Ruth is missing…but I push that thought aside. I'm allowed to have a little fun. Life can't just be one big unending shitstorm, right? There have to be pleasant moments to look forward to.

  This is definitely one of those pleasant moments.

  I loop my arm through Adiron's as we stroll toward the bridge. Tonight, the lonely, sterile halls of the Buoyant Star don't seem quite so desolate. I've got Adiron for company, and even if he's not the most serious of types, he's exactly what I need to distract me. He finishes another story about his sister Zoey—it's clear he adores her—and turns to me with a smile. "After that, she joined her mate and the crew of the Jabberwock. They navigate together, which, I gotta be honest, I'm not entirely sure how it works. Probably a lot of fighting over the controls. Zoey's a tyrant when it comes to setting flight paths and running fuel estimates." He shrugs. "Sentorr's a decent male, though. A little more stiff in the collar than I'd expect my sister to fall for, but he adores her."

  "She sounds easy to love," I say as we head down the hall. I can't resist putting my other hand on his arm, touching the enormous bicep that bulges against his ridiculous uniform. The man is absolutely a mouthwatering snack, and I can't stop thinking about the times I saw him naked. I really should have paid more attention to what I was looking at. I remember broad shoulders and narrow hips that led down to a fascinatingly tight butt. I remember a flicking tail and strong thighs.

  I absolutely do not remember if I saw his cock, and that makes me sad. It has to be as magnificently built as the rest of him, right? Surely fate wouldn't be so cruel as to make him this mouthwatering and then give him a sad little sausage.

  Not that I intend to do anything with him, but it's not a sin to look.

  "You got quiet," Adiron says, nudging me. "What are you thinking about?"

  Oooh. I come up with an answer on the fly. "Just wondering about you. You have a sister that got married, but you and your brothers, none of you are married? Is that not a thing in your culture?"

  Adiron makes a sound of assent in his throat. "Mathiras is devoted to life on a ship. Kaspar doesn't like to be tied down. And we come from a family with an old name, which means there are a lot of expectations. Unfortunately, we've all more or less shamed the family by going into a life of piracy. My sister Vanora—my real sister—is still on Homeworld. She mated well, increasing the family fortune and name. The rest of us aren't mentioned in polite circles." He shrugs. "It's fine."

  "You mentioned why Mathiras and Kaspar never settled down, but I noticed you avoided yourself," I point out.

  "I almost mated a female," he says after a moment, his expression thoughtful. "It was right after the war. I'd just started spending time on the ship with my brothers, and I met an exciting mesakkah female on a station. Her name was Shaalyn and she was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen—bold and a
lluring and very, very sexual."

  "You don't have to keep sharing," I tell him. For some reason, I don't want to hear more about the “sexual” Shaalyn. "I was just being nosy."

  "It's all right." Adiron thinks for a moment and then goes on. "I was obsessed with Shaalyn for months. I'm sure some of it was because I'd just gotten out of the military and that was its own kind of hell. I was looking for something or someone to latch onto, and she was beautiful and loving and everything I thought I wanted. I was madly in love with her. I think she's the only female I've ever fallen in love with before now, of course."

  "Of course." I decide not to stew on that. Everyone has a past.

  "Turns out that Shaalyn's sweetness was an act," Adiron says. "She robbed me and my brothers and nearly got us killed. Took our ship, too. That was my fault. I gave her a system-access pass one night so she could sneak on board." He sighs heavily. "Mathiras was so keffing mad at me, too. We had to pay a large ransom for the Little Sister and I just felt stupid. Really stupid."

  And hurt, I imagine. I squeeze his arm. Poor Adiron. "And after that, you stopped trusting people?" I ask quietly.

  He looks over at me and grins. "No, of course not. One bad seed doesn't ruin the entire orchard."

  What a remarkably positive outlook. It's one I can't share, not after being enslaved, abused, and abandoned. "Says a man who's never had anything truly bad happen to him," I reply, a hint of acidity in my tone. Adiron's a happy type because he's from a wealthy family and the worst thing that's ever happened to him was that he was hoodwinked by a woman. We should all be so lucky.

  "Mmm." He looks over at me. "I was in the war for three years. Front lines, because I was a third son. I lost everyone in my first regiment. Got reassigned. I had friends die in my arms while I tried to stop the bleeding. My best friend went home in pieces, a broken shell of himself. He's living alone on an abandoned base on an asteroid right now because he can't function around people." He thinks for a moment. "Well, he's no longer alone, but whatever. And when Shaalyn robbed us, she stabbed me three times and left me for dead, all while I pleaded with her not to do it because I loved her. But maybe you're right. Maybe I'm just lucky."

  My throat goes dry.

  There's no judgment in his tone, but…I feel like an asshole. I stop, turning to look at him. "Adiron, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I didn't realize."

  Adiron's smile is effortlessly bright and easy. He takes my hand in his and lifts it to his mouth, kissing my knuckles again. "You didn't know. I don't share, most times. And bad shit happens to everyone. I just prefer to live my life with pleasure instead of dealing with the pain. I can let the bad things swamp me or I can learn from my mistakes."

  I smile. It's a beautiful way of looking at things. I'm envious of how easy he makes it sound. Just ignore the ugly bits and the dark spots. Focus on the light and the happy. My fingers tingle where he brushes his lips over my skin, and I'm disappointed when he lowers my hand. I'd almost prefer that he start making out with my hand than return it to me, which is a little ridiculous. "So, have you? Learned from your mistakes?"

  "Uh…it's a process." He grins, tucking my hand into his arm again.

  I can't help it—I laugh. That's such an Adiron response. I love it. "You'll get there."

  The door to the bridge is at the end of the hall, and Adiron steers me toward it. They open automatically as we approach, revealing the large, lonely bridge and the view of deep space. "The good things outweigh the bad in my life," Adiron says finally. "So those are the ones I focus on."

  "Like Zoey and your brothers."

  "And you." He gazes down at me.

  Instantly, I'm breathless. "You just met me."

  "Yeah, but some things you just know about." He smiles and leans in, and I wonder for a moment if he's going to kiss me. "Does this count as walking you home, by the way? Because I've seen the human vids. I know what happens at the end of a date."

  Seems like we're on the same wavelength. I tilt my head, regarding him. "You've just got a one-track mind, don't you?"

  "Two tracks, actually. But they're both going in the same direction." He shrugs. "And we've got this big, empty, cold ship. Who better to warm you up than me?"

  I pretend to consider his offer. In reality, there's not much to consider. What's a little bit of harmless sex? I like him, I need a distraction, and he's just the man for the job. "Can we check for messages first?"

  His eyes flash with a look that's pure excitement. "Kef yeah we can."

  38

  ADIRON

  There are no messages.

  I hate the clear disappointment on Jade's face, and hate even more that she tries to hide it. "I knew there wouldn't be any," she says with a brave smile. "I just was kind of hoping." She turns to regard the ship's empty bridge with a sigh. "And we can't send anything out, right?"

  "Not unless you want to take the risk of someone tracing down the signal and heading in this direction."

  "Of course not."

  She keeps smiling, but it doesn't reach her eyes, and I feel like I failed her. I don't want our date to end on a down note, so I grab her hand and haul her after me. "Come on. I have an idea."

  Jade's expression brightens, and she lets me drag her down the halls of the ship, her bare feet making the cutest little smacks against the metal flooring. I lead her into the main lavatory on the ship, the one just down the hall from the bridge. A ship this big has small, private lavatories in the personal quarters, but there's also two larger ones to accommodate crew needs. This one will suit me just fine. I pull Jade inside after me and immediately head toward the shower heads, turning them all on.

  "What are you doing?" she asks. "We can't waste water."

  "We're not wasting it," I tell her. It'll just go right back into the system and be recycled. But we need the steam."

  She tugs her hand from mine and gives me a suspicious look. "What is it we're doing in here?"

  I take her by the shoulders and turn her so that she faces the large mirror over the row of sinks. Kef me, but she looks good in front of me. Her full, bouncy hair puffs up and brushes against my chin, and she's so curvy and dainty against my chest that it makes me want to crush her against me and never let her go. Seeing her like this—with me—does strange things to my heart. But she watches me in the mirror with expectant eyes and I force myself to focus. Right. I can moon over how beautiful she is later.

  "The mirrors get steamy," I tell her. "I saw a human vid once where they left each other messages in the steam. They wrote on the mirror. I used to make it a thing with Zoey. I'd leave her a message, and then she'd leave me one. I left her a message on our ship for her, but I figured you could leave one here? That way if—uh, when—you see the others again, you can share it with them."

  Her pleasure fades at my little slipup. But she smiles anyhow, and nods. "Leave secret messages. I like it. Does it matter if I write in English? I don't know your language."

  "Sure, that should be fine. In fact, if you want to write something out, I can walk you through it." I beam innocently at her.

  Jade thinks for a moment. "Can you write 'Please send food'?"

  "Of course." I move toward the mirror, soap my finger with some of the cleaner on the sink, and then begin to write in my language's blocky, formal letters. I leave a short, silly message instead. "There."

  Jade watches with her head slightly tilted. She taps the mirror and one of the symbols. "How do you say this character?" I pronounce it for her, then deliberately pick one in the middle of the stream, and teach her that one, too. We go over the sounds, Jade's lips moving as she tries to memorize them. I'm impressed by her cleverness. She never takes a moment to stop learning. Everything is a weapon and she wants to be prepared.

  "Sa-zhed-li-is-ka-mro-da-sha-nal-vru-ta-li," she says slowly. She repeats it, faster, and it still doesn't sound quite like my language, but enough that I can tell when her translator picks it up. "Sa zhedli iska mroda shanal vru tali? I am naughty
girl, spank me?"

  I can't help it, I chortle. "If you're asking, I'll gladly spank you."

  "Adiron!" Her expression is utterly exasperated. "Are you ever serious?"

  "Never," I admit. "What's the point? If you want to write sad things in the mirror, go for it. But you're better off smiling and spending your time in pleasant ways."

  She glares up at me, but her glare softens ever so slightly when I move closer and put a hand to her waist. "It should have said 'naughty boy' instead of girl," she chides me, but her expression is no longer irked. She looks thoughtful. Distracted. And she's gazing at my mouth.

  "But then I wouldn't have the opportunity to spank you," I point out. I pick her up, lifting her onto the counter so we're close to the same height. She doesn't complain, just watches me with those fascinating amber-colored eyes. "I guess we can skip the spanking if you want to move right along to the end-of-the-date kiss."

  "Who says you deserve a kiss anymore after that stunt?" She arches a delicate brow at me.

  "Me." I grin at her and lean in. "Come on. You know you want to kiss me. How can you resist?"

  She snorts.

  I sidle a little closer, until my hips are pressed against the countertop and her legs are on either side of me. I take her hand and put it on my shoulder, and her lips twitch with amusement. Oh yeah, she wants to kiss me, I think. She just doesn't want to admit it. I lean in, moving ever closer, and ask, "Is your mouth off limits? Or should I kiss other things first and save the best for last?"

  "I thought aliens didn't kiss," Jade points out. "It's unhygienic, remember?" But her hand slides to the base of my neck and her other arm lifts to go around me, her face tilted up toward mine. Her eyes are soft as she gazes up at me, her pretty mouth parted as if she's just waiting for me, and my cock hardens in my pants at the sight.