When he got back to the living room, Maisie had managed to figure out how to work the digital photo album embedded into the top of his Zekkardite coffee table. She was flipping through pictures of his childhood, most of which also included Daxar, Toryx, and Kromin. The four of them had been inseparable back then. They were still inseparable now, but being adults didn’t allow them the luxury of hanging out in the treetops or at the city parks all day. Now they had to do adult things like go to work in the mines, or, in Daxar’s case, run the planet.
“You guys have known each other a long time,” Maisie mused. She took the glass of plindu nectar that Jarmuk handed her, and thankfully managed not to spill any of it. Jarmuk took that as a good sign. She was sobering up quicker than he’d expected, especially for a human.
“Yeah, Dax is like family to me. So are Toryx and Kromin. Which is really nice since everyone in my actual biological family has passed away by now.”
“Hmm.” Maisie didn’t say much else for a few minutes, and Daxar wasn’t quite sure how to read her response. He let the silence linger as he drank his easnip, keeping a careful eye on Maisie. She got all the way to photos of his teenage years before she looked up at him again.
“Why do you work in the mines? It’s so dangerous, and I’m sure Daxar would be willing to give you a job in the government.”
Jarmuk laughed. “I’m sure he would. But the mines are in my blood. My father worked in them, and I knew from the day I was old enough to understand this sort of thing that I’d be working in the mines. Besides, Daxar works in the mines on a regular basis himself. He knows it’s dangerous, but we have lot of safety precautions in place. He thinks it’s important to know what’s going on down there. It’s the lifeblood of the Zocronian economy after all.”
Maisie chewed her lower lip. “Still. There’s a difference between going down there to check on things, and being down there all day, every day. It’s so dangerous! Don’t you worry about your life?”
Jarmuk laughed. “I don’t think about it that much, honestly. I can’t live every day as though I’m going to die that day. So I follow safety protocols as best I can, and get on with things. Unless I’m unlucky, things will be fine. And if I am unlucky, well…then I guess it was my time.”
Maisie looked at him like he was crazy. “You’re insane. You’re a big deal in Zocrone. You know the Chief. You could have a cushy job and not have to come home with a face covered in grime every day.”
“Says Grease Maisie.”
“Yeah but that’s different. I’m only good at being a mechanic, and I know my place. I grew up so poor back on Earth. I’m lucky that I had a talent for machines and learned to use that talent, so that I had good work to do. I do alright now, but I still feel like an imposter. I still feel like people are going to figure out who I really am.”
“Who you really are? Maisie, you can’t fake a talent like yours. You’re not an imposter. You’ve worked hard and you deserve your job and the money you make from it.”
Maisie shook her head. “I don’t feel like it. I feel like I’m skating by. Every day when I wake up I think that today is the day I’m going to screw up the spaceship I’m working on, and then everyone will know that I don’t belong in the garage. I’m an imposter. But you…you’re special.”
She flopped backwards on the couch dramatically. All Jarmuk could do was shake his head. “I’m not special. I’m just a fuckup who never went to school and wouldn’t have amounted to much at all if he hadn’t befriended the Chief at an early age. If I tried to do anything else, I would feel ridiculous. Like I was overstepping. Besides, I like working in the mines. Truly. I’m good at it, and there’s something satisfying about putting in an honest day’s hard work every day.”
Maisie didn’t respond, and for a moment Jarmuk thought she had fallen asleep. “Maisie?” he asked. When she didn’t answer, Jarmuk stood and went to look at her, expecting her eyes to be closed. But her eyes were wide open, and when she saw him looking at her, she giggled.
“Gotcha!” she said, and reached her arms up to grab his neck. She pulled him down on top of her and covered his lips with hers. She tasted sweet, like a mixture of fruity Absolute Zero cocktail and fruity plindu nectar. For a moment, he let himself melt into that sweet kiss. She felt so damn good. So soft and warm.
But then she giggled and pulled back, and when he looked at her and saw how glassy her eyes were, he felt guilty.
“Come on. Let’s get you to bed. You need to sleep this off.”
She giggled again. “Let’s get me to your bed.” She tried to bat her eyelashes at him, but her movements were still so erratic from the alcohol that it looked more funny than seductive. Still, Jarmuk thought no one had ever been more beautiful. No one would ever be more beautiful. He picked her up in his arms and started carrying her toward his bedroom.
She was so light that he couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t used to humans and their smaller size, but he loved how perfectly she fit into his arms. He loved how gorgeous she looked as she stared up at him. He knew she’d let him sleep with her if he tried right now, but he didn’t feel good about taking advantage of her when she was obviously still out of her mind drunk. There was a difference between staking your claim to a woman when she was fully aware of what you were doing, and staking a claim to her when she was likely blacked out. Jarmuk wanted her badly, yes. He wanted her more than anything he’d ever wanted in his life. His body craved her. His dick was hard with desire for her right now. But he was a big boy. A man. He would be patient, until he could have her again the right way.
He laid her down on his bed and pulled off her shoes, admiring how tiny and delicate her feet were. His bed was the typical Zocronian style—a large, glass rectangle filled with blue gel that supported a feather soft mattress. The mattress rocked slightly back and forth on top of the blue gel as Maisie shifted her weight on it.
“Come on,” she murmured, reaching for him again. “Come lay down with me.”
He grabbed her hand and held it as she reached out, stroking the inside of her palm with his thumb. But he did not join her on the bed. He might be a rough miner, but he was also a gentleman. He would take care of her, and let her sleep. Tomorrow, when she was sober, she could decide if she was ready to handle his big, ridged dick again. His big ridged dick that was standing at attention right now, straining against his clothes and begging to be allowed inside of her.
“Tomorrow,” he whispered. At least he hoped so. Would she still want him when she was sobered up? Her conversation tonight had been strange. Almost like she didn’t think she was worthy of him, or of anything good she had in her life. She talked like her job was a fluke, and that she was one mistake away from losing it. Did she really not see how amazing she was? How smart and how talented? And would she have said all of that to him if she hadn’t been drunk? Should he bring it up again tomorrow?
She had closed her eyes now, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. A few moments later, she was snoring softly, which made Jarmuk chuckle. Her alcohol tolerance might be great on Earth, but she clearly couldn’t handle Zocronian drinks as well as she thought she could. He watched her for a few moments, then tucked in the corners of the blanket tightly around her before he quietly left the room, turning the lights out behind him. He walked back to the living room and cleared away her plindu nectar glass and his easnip glass. Then he grabbed a throw blanket, turned off the lights, and lay down on the couch. He would sleep out here like a gentleman, which hopefully she would appreciate. He honestly wasn’t sure what her reaction would be when she woke up and realized where she was. Would she remember any of the things she’d confessed to him tonight? And would she be embarrassed if she did? Jarmuk got the feeling that she never would have told him as much as she did if she had been completely sober.
He was glad for what she’d confided in him, though. Now that he knew how she felt about her job, he was going to take every opportunity to remind her of how awesome she was. Hopefully, she
would eventually see it for herself.
He was the one who should be worried about being found out as an imposter. After all, what business did he, a simple miner, have as an advisor to the Chief of the Planet? He knew people talked about him behind his back, and could he blame them? He worked hard, but he was still just a miner. Maybe all of the fanfare around the rover repair and rescue, and the subsequent courage award, would earn him a little bit of respect.
Or maybe not. But as long as Maisie thought he was worth knowing, that was good enough for him. What more could he ask for, than for a girl as beautiful and smart as her to admire him?
Jarmuk closed his eyes and willed sleep to come. He hoped she would still admire him, once she sobered up and woke up. All he could do for now was wait to see what the morning would bring.
Chapter Ten
Maisie winced at the pounding inside her head. It felt like someone was taking a hammer to her head from the inside. She opened her eyes, then moaned at the pain the light brought and abruptly closed her eyes again. She felt like she might hurl.
After a few more moments of taking deep breaths and trying to steady herself, she slowly tried again, opening her eyes against the bright morning light. The light still didn’t feel great, but at least she managed not to collapse in a ball of agony. Not yet, anyway.
After a few more deep breaths, she started to feel marginally better. She looked around the room, and was startled to see that it wasn’t her room. Where was she? Someone’s bedroom, it looked like, but the room was relatively plain.
Maisie scrunched her eyes shut for a moment until the events of last night started coming back to her. She’d gone to the bar with Jarmuk, and she’d bragged about being able to hold her alcohol, which clearly had been an empty brag. The hangover she had right now definitely proved her wrong. She vaguely remembered leaving the bar with Jarmuk, but after that everything turned quite fuzzy. This must be his house, though. He’d brought her home instead of to her apartment. Maisie felt a sudden wash of shame. Oh, god. Had she slept with him while completely blacked out? How embarrassing! She felt her cheeks turning red, and she looked under the blankets to see whether she was even wearing anything.
A mixture of relief and confusion flooded her when she saw that she was still completely dressed in her clothes from last night. Was it possible the only thing she’d done was sleep, not sleep with Jarmuk?
Slowly, Maisie got out of the bed and wobbled toward the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and was appalled at what a mess she was. Her makeup was smeared all over her face, and her hair was sticking out in about a thousand different directions. Quickly, she washed her face. Then she wet her hands and ran her fingers through her hair like a comb, trying to tame at least a little bit of the chaos.
There was no note from Jarmuk in here, nor any sign that he’d recently been in here, so Maisie took a deep breath and decided to explore the rest of the house. She walked down a long hallway, past a second bedroom that looked like it was used as a storage room at the moment, and into a large, open-plan kitchen, dining, and living room combo. The room was simply but tastefully decorated, with sleek, modern furniture. On the simple gray couch, a large Zocronian was lying under a thick blanket, his chest rising and falling with the rhythm of sleep. He looked like he was fully dressed in his clothes from last night as well, which Maisie realized meant that they had not, in fact, slept together. She couldn’t remember anything, but with both of them fully clothed and his lying on the couch now, it didn’t look like anything had happened. Maisie was simultaneously relieved and horrified. Either Jarmuk had been a total gentleman, or she had been such an out-of-control, raucous drunk that doing anything physically with her had been impossible. Maisie really hoped it was the former option.
Maisie watched him for a few moments, admiring the peaceful look on his face as he rested. He was as handsome as ever as the golden light of Zocrone’s morning sun shone through the windows and lit up his deep blue face. Maisie felt a little bit creepy for just standing there, gawking at him, but he was so nice to look at it. Besides, she should let him sleep. She wasn’t sure how late they’d been out last night, but even if the time they left the bar hadn’t been too bad, it had still been a long week. Jarmuk needed to catch up on sleep, and she knew Daxar had made sure he had the day off from the mines today. Daxar wanted to make sure Jarmuk could stay out and celebrate as long as he wanted after the awards ceremony, which had been sweet of him. Maisie had seen a lot of different leaders on a lot of different planets during her time as a smuggler, and she had to admit that Daxar was one of the best.
Maisie’s eyes fell on her e-assistant, which was laying on Jarmuk’s coffee table and flashing a red light at the bottom to indicated she had new e-memos, With one more glance at Jarmuk, who was still soundly asleep, Maisie decided she would take her e-assistant to the backyard and check her messages while she let Jarmuk sleep. The fresh air would probably do her pounding head good, anyway.
When Maisie slipped out the back door and into the backyard, she was immediately struck by the scent of tropical flowers. Jarmuk’s yard was large, and it looked like a well-groomed extension of Zocrone’s tropical rainforest. Large trees and ferns lined what must have been the fence line, although if there was a fence Maisie couldn’t see it through all the thick foliage. Toward the middle of the yard, a moonstone path led to a bubbling water fountain. The path was surrounded on all sides by flowering plants of every shape, size, and color. The smell was glorious, and Maisie’s headache felt instantly better. It wasn’t gone completely, but it was much less severe. This place was magical, which actually made her a bit sad. Would she ever have a home of her own, with a garden? Her family back on Earth had had an amazing yard and garden when she was a little girl. They hadn’t had much money, but starting a garden had been inexpensive, as long as you were willing to put in the hard work. And no one in her family had ever been afraid of hard work. But for the last several years, Maisie had been living aboard a spaceship. Even now, when she was back on terra firma, she was in a small apartment, with no way for her to have a garden. It was hard not to be jealous of Jarmuk, his gorgeous home, and his perfect garden.
But it’s not like being jealous would do her any good. Besides, Maisie was genuinely glad for Jarmuk. If anyone had worked hard and deserved a nice place, it was him. And maybe one day, if things between them progressed, she would share a home with him. Maisie felt her cheeks burning as soon as the thought crossed her mind. What was she doing, letting herself dwell on a fantasy like that? Jarmuk and she had shared one little romp of passion. That didn’t mean there was anything serious between them, and she needed to stop letting her brain make assumptions that there was.
With a determined sigh, Maisie settled into a soft chair on the patio and started to swipe through the e-memos. Most of them were just junk, but she had an urgent one from Nova with the subject line “Delivery Job – Open Immediately.” Maisie opened the message and started reading. It was addressed to her, Anya, and Evie—the whole Starburst crew.
Hey, Crew. I know it’s late so I’m sending a message instead of calling. Hopefully you’ll see this first thing in the morning, but if not I’ll be calling you. Daxar has let me know that there’s a load of Zekkardite that needs to be delivered to the planet of Mognerth right away, and he’s asking if we’ll take it. A crew from Mognerth was supposed to come get it, but that fell through due to some issues with their cargo ship. The Zekkardite buyer is asking if it would be possible to just pay for someone from Zocrone to make the delivery. Daxar is willing to give the job to us if we want it. The pay is about forty thousand credits, which we would split four ways between us. Let me know ASAP if this is something you want to do. We’d have to leave within twenty-four hours, and all four of us have to go. The trip should take about a week.
Maisie looked up from her e-assistant to stare at the water fountain in the middle of the yard. Her heart had started pounding with excitement. Maybe a trip off of Zocrone fo
r a bit was exactly what she needed. By the time she got back, all of this excitement with the super-tornado would have worn off. She could just be normal, anonymous Maisie again. But the idea of being away from Jarmuk for a week did make her sad. She’d been hoping to square things away between them soon. She wanted to know what, in fact, was actually going on between them. She would have started an official relationship with him in a heartbeat, but maybe that’s not what he wanted. After all, he hadn’t said anything to her about it, and they hadn’t slept together again since the first time. Maybe he had really intended that as a one night fling.
And maybe that was better. After all, she was just Grease Maisie, and he was Chief Daxar’s right hand man. What business did she have thinking she was on his level? She couldn’t just waltz into Zocrone and start dating one of its top men like she owned the place.
Nova did that. It was true. Nova had quickly snagged Chief Daxar, the very top dog here, as her own. But that was Nova. Nova was a ship’s captain, Nova was educated, and Nova hadn’t grown up at the bottom of the barrel. Nova had a lot more going for her than Maisie did. Didn’t she?
Maisie frowned, and was about to answer the e-memo when the sound of the back door whishing open caught her attention. She looked up to see Jarmuk standing there with two mugs in his hand and a grin on his face. He’d changed out of his clothes from the night before and was now shirtless, wearing only a pair of what looked like the Zocronian version of sweatpants. For a moment, the sight of his bare chest was enough to make Maisie forget all about her resolve to act like a grownup about this. She was tempted to graciously bow out of the supply run so she could stay here with Jarmuk all week. She couldn’t understand how it was possible for anyone’s muscles to be so perfectly chiseled, and the deep, hungry look in his eyes as he looked down at her made her breath catch in her throat.
The Alphas of the Seven Galaxies Page 27