But a steady friend?
No, Oden chastised himself. There was no real cure to a life of maltreatment and isolation. But there was support and forbearance and learning to stand on your own two feet, and those weren’t things you learned from a sexual relationship.
Oden flinched as he felt her head settle on his shoulder. Before he could say anything her body relaxed against him in slumber. A smile played on his lips as he watched her sleep. Not now, but maybe someday she would be well enough that he would dare wrap his arms round her and press his lips to hers.
Someday.
Slowly, the haze of the medication eased and Bit woke up, becoming more aware of their surroundings. The train trundled along until it dipped down, taking them underground. Bit tensed as they plunged into darkness, only interrupted by the flickering lights within the train itself. She tensed, drawing Oden’s attention.
“The train runs underground through most of the nicer areas—less of an eye-sore for the rich,” he added with a smirk. “It will come back up to the surface when we get close to our destination.
Bit nodded as the man across the aisle coughed. She glanced at him in time to see him wipe his mouth, a trail of pink blood blossoming on the back of his hand. Bit scooted a little closer to Oden and allowed him to wrap his arm around her shoulder, though he carefully kept it loose. Oden’s extreme caution with her brought a frown to her face. Unlike the others, who seemed to throw caution to the wind where her fears and anxieties were concerned, Oden appeared to have the opposite problem.
She wanted to tell him she was okay, even if it was a lie, but it was complicated. She couldn’t exactly tell him “be mean to me”. That wasn’t what she wanted. Truth was, Bit didn’t exactly know what she wanted from Oden, or anyone else for that matter.
She let out a long sigh, discomfort tweaking her ribs. The medication was beginning to wear off.
They rode the train for hours, their backpacks tucked under their legs. The occupants of the train car didn’t change much as the occasional stops swept by. Bit watched the passengers disembark, amazed to see the grimy stairs leading up to some unknown destination. Oden insisted they were traveling under some of the ritziest neighborhoods, but she couldn’t tell it based on the white-washed walls stained with age or the chipped tile work of the flooring.
Finally, when Bit was genuinely starting to hurt again, the trained eased up an incline and emerged back into the dim light of night, set aglow by the neon lights of advertising signs and kiosks. Much like Jack’s neighborhood, signs marketed various places of employment. Bit tilted her head to read the signs as they flashed by as best she could. She caught the word “bar” and “club” on many signs as well as “strip,” though she wasn’t entirely sure what that one meant.
Bit glanced up at Oden and, to her amazement, found him blushing slightly as he stared at the seat ahead of them. Two stops after they emerged from the tunnel, they left the train behind. Oden took her hand and guided her into the after-hours crowd. Bit quickly realized her outfit of a purple long-sleeve t-shirt and black cargo pants weren’t exactly in fashion compared with the skimpy dresses worn by most of the women around her. Then again, Oden’s ensemble of black and gray didn’t exactly stand out either.
As the crowd thickened, she grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and held on for dear life. He turned back and saw the panic in her features.
“I won’t lose you, Little Bit,” he said as he adjusted her grip to his hand and continued their journey.
She tightened her grip on his hand and he returned the favor. They turned down a narrow street, equally lined with bright lettering and wide doorways opened to the streets. Bit tried not to look in, but her eyes easily caught the glimpses of mostly-naked flesh turned sickly green or blue under the lights of clubs as women danced on stages, gawkers turned with their backs to the doors.
When the flow of traffic brought them to a stop, Bit watched a boy weave through the crowd, carefully pulling a wallet from a man staring up at a woman who was about take off her bra. Bit reached for her backpack and pulled it around until the zipper was carefully tucked under her arm. Oden glanced down to see what she was doing. Surprisingly, he smiled and copied her.
“Good idea,” he said as they started to move again.
“Where are we going?”
“To a friend’s,” he said as they crossed the street. “You’re not going to like his place, but trust me when I say no one will find us there.”
“How comforting.”
He chuckled. “Almost there.”
True to his word, he pulled her into a packed club two blocks later. The enormous room was two stories tall, with red neon lights bent to look like flames adorning the outside walls. At the far end she spotted an elevated bar, manned by an army of servers. To her astonishment, a chain-link cage was being lowered from the ceiling down into the center of the room. Large, intoxicated men hovered around the cleared space, drinks in hand.
As Oden and Bit worked their way toward the bar, two men entered the cage and shook hands. In seconds, a fight began and the crowd took up a loud cry of delight. Bit flinched, bumping into Oden.
She watched Oden’s mouth move as he spoke to her, but she couldn’t make out his words over the roar of the crowd and the beating of her own heart as it raced around her ribcage, bringing more pain to her chest.
Finally, they reached the elevated bar. Oden pointed out a man near the center of the bar, ordering people about at the top of his lungs. The man in question had tan skin that glowed under the false lights and auburn hair hanging in curly waves down to his shoulders. He brushed it back out of his eyes before he picked up a glass and began to fill it from the tap.
Oden adjusted his grip on Bit’s hand before forcing his way up to the bar.
“LOGAN!” he called at the top of his voice.
The man turned, a wide grin spreading across his face.
“ODEN!” Logan called back before clapping Oden’s outstretched hand across the bar.
He motioned with his head to the end of the bar, farthest away from the fighting still taking place in the cage. Bit glanced back, immediately wishing she hadn’t. The two men fighting were dripping blood from various cuts across their faces. They didn’t seem to know how to duck.
“Oden, what’re you doing here?” Logan asked when they reached the far end of the bar.
Bit glanced up at the other man, her insides squirming when she caught him staring at her. Logan’s light brown eyes appeared to glow under the red neon lights hanging from the back walls. He eyed her from top to bottom and back up. She sidled up to Oden, who casually put his arm around her, careful not to jostle her broken ribs.
“And who’s…brought me?”
Bit strained to catch his words over the thundering crowd. Excuse me?
“… friend… I didn’t … for you…need a room… two nights… emergency.”
Logan turned his eyes on Oden and gave him long-suffering look. “Oden, I run a business…My girls need …what they do... ‘Less your girl … do some work…”
Oden pulled her into his chest. “Not on your life.”
Logan raised his brows. “Just checking, old friend.”
“If we were friends…give me a room … your doorstep… an emergency.”
Bit continued to strain her ears, annoyed with only getting the occasional word in the conversation.
“Look man, I don’t … with the Auths!”
“No legal trouble…keep the girl safe … her off world…” Oden explained.
Bit tucked her head into Oden’s chest, playing up her own frailty. She felt certain, even with two broken ribs, she could take Logan to the cleaners, but he didn’t need to know that. Blaine had given her enough of the basics, and Logan looked like the type of guy who depended on his brute strength.
Logan glanced down at her and the tension in his shoulders relaxed.
Pudding in the hands of a master, she thought as he let out another long-suffering sigh.
“All right, man…I can’t say no to a lady in distress…take Tony’s room…town this weekend…He won’t mind. No promises it’s clean though…send some food…minutes. You remember the way?”
Oden nodded.
“Good. Now get… I got a business to run.”
Oden nodded again and dragged her through a back door, shutting it behind them. The noise died down noticeably, though she could still make out the cries of the angry crowd.
“Did what I think just happen… ummm… just happen?” she asked.
“Depends. What do you think just happened?” asked Oden, his eyes resolutely focused on the sticky floor of the dingy hallway.
He grabbed her hand again and led them down to a door. He opened it and led her into a tiny room furnished with nothing more than a sagging couch, an outdated TV on a pre-fab stand, and a desk cluttered with faded papers. The room smelled like a stale version of the club. Bit turned her face away out of instinct, even though the door was already closed. She glanced up at Oden, afraid he had seen the gesture. He was already turning green.
His shoulders slumped as he dumped his bag on the ancient brownish-green carpet. “I’m sorry, Bit. I should have found us somewhere better.”
Bit swallowed the bile rising to her throat.
“Hey,” she said as she nudged him gently. “Safe is more important than clean.”
He glanced in her direction.
“Is this place safe?” she asked, suddenly not so sure as she thought back to the mob watching the fight.
Oden nodded. “Logan may be a douchebag, a complete douchebag, but he keeps a large array of guards to keep his girls safe. No one is getting in here without him knowing about it.”
“Well…that’s what matters, right?”
Chapter Fourteen
Jack took a deep breath as Debby launched into another list of reasons why she should be allowed to remain with him. He glanced at Nathyn who stood silently near the airlock, his pack strapped to his back. Debby’s luggage leaned up against his legs, waiting to be collected. The security officer wisely found this the perfect time to dig the grit out from under his nails. Jack tried to look like he was listening to Debby, but she was starting to repeat the same, impossible reasons he had already dismissed earlier in his cabin before they shifted out into the public hallway.
“Debby,” he said, his words failing to penetrate her speech.
“My medical skills alone should…”
“Debby!” he repeated at the top of his lungs, stunning her into silence. “The answer is no. I will see you back on the ship to say goodbye on Tuesday.”
He kissed her on the forehead, unable to bear the thought of a more intimate moment with a crew member having witnessed her ridiculous meltdown. She glared up at him as he stepped away from the slight embrace and began to turn her toward the airlock.
“Do as Nathyn says. He’s here to keep you safe,” he added in parting.
The glare remained as she turned away and grabbed one of her three bags. Nathyn grabbed the other two and followed her into the airlock. Jack shut the door behind them and watched through the porthole as Nathyn worked the controls to pressurize the small space. The redhead picked up Debby’s bags again and led her into the port.
Jack turned away, heaving a great sigh of relief. Guilt weighed heavily on his conscious as he went to check on Blaine.
Classy. Feeling relieved that your girlfriend is gone. Very classy, he thought as he pushed the door to the crew quarters open.
But the facts were the facts. She had proven time and again her own selfishness and inability to work with the team during the last few days. She had fought him when he asked her to check Bit’s injuries, taking on a sudden and unfounded hatred toward the girl. Then again, after the climb down the fire escape, she had suddenly guarded Bit as though her injuries were a personal affront.
Jack shook his head again. His girlfriend’s inconsistencies were comparable to the mysteries of the universe’s creation. What was he to do about her?
Survive. Just survive the weekend, then he could deal with Debby. Yes. He wouldn’t worry about his relationship now. It could wait until the embryos were safely in the hands of the scientists.
The engineers were already down in the engine bay, focused on fixing the problems. Reese, the security officer tasked with guarding the ship, was up on the bridge with Randal going over security procedures, leaving only Calen to watch over the unconscious man.
Jack spotted his brother sitting in a chair reading off his pad. Blaine lay sprawled across a lower bunk, soft snores rumbling from his open mouth.
“Still out?” Jack asked.
Calen nodded. “He’s starting to stir occasionally. I was going to call you in a few minutes. I don’t think it will be much longer.”
Jack grabbed a chair and dragged it over next to Calen. He wasn’t looking forward to this confrontation. Blaine would not be happy to hear they had sent Bit off, especially with Blaine’s perceived rival.
The tall man shifted, his open lips coming together as he moistened his mouth.
A few minutes later, Blaine opened his eyes and licked his dry lips. He looked around the room, slowly taking in his surroundings and the two men cautiously eyeing him.
“What happened?” he asked in a dry voice.
“You kinda lost it, man,” Calen said.
“And we had to drug you,” added Jack.
There was a long pause as Blaine digested their words. He pushed himself into a sitting position, leaning his head and shoulders against the wall.
“And Bit?”
Jack sucked in a deep breath. This was the moment he had been dreading. “I sent her into hiding with Oden.”
Blaine stared at him for another long moment.
“Oden’s a good man. He knows the underground of Tifton better than anyone. He’ll take care of her.” Blaine nodded again as though to convince himself of the truth of his own words.
Jack and Calen stared at him, shock apparent on their faces.
“Blaine? Um…? Are you feeling okay?” Jack asked, unsure exactly what question he should be asking in the first place.
Maybe we should have kept Debby here until Blaine woke up, he thought, kicking himself for sending her away so quickly.
“A little groggy still, but yeah fine, I guess.”
“What do you remember about… before?” asked Calen.
Blaine’s brows furrowed as he considered the question. Finally he shrugged.
“Blaine, you had a complete freak out,” the pilot said, scooting to the edge of his seat.
Jack motioned for his brother to be quiet. “I informed the crew that I would be sending Bit off with Oden and that you would be joining my team to take the embryos to the consortium. You barreled through half the crew, finally taking on Randal with a knife. He took you down, but just barely, and Debby stuck a syringe in your ass, drugging you with Ketamine. You’ve been out for a couple hours. Now, though, you’re as calm as kitten and don’t seem to care at all that Bit has gone off with Oden.”
Blaine frowned again. “I don’t remember any of that. I’m not thrilled that Bit is with him. I would have much rather have gone with Bit myself, but I understand the logic behind your choice, and Oden knows what he’s doing. Besides, he has the connections in Tifton I don’t.”
Jack and Calen exchanged glances.
“What is going on?” Calen asked no one in particular.
“I wish I knew. Well, there’s no point in stressing over what we can’t change. Blaine, when you’re ready to get up, we need to get off the ship and down to the planet.”
Blaine nodded and awkwardly swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Calen helped him up. Jack left the two men to gather up what they needed and hurried up to the bridge where Randal and Reese were working on bolstering the ship’s security.
“Anything to report?” Jack asked as he appeared.
“We found a few tricks,” Randal said. “I dug through t
hat secondary armory that we never use and found two outdated cameras. They still work so Reese is going to hook them up to the outside of the airlock. I just worked with Reese on how to set up a rotating entrance code so that it will change every two hours. Of course this means we won’t be able to get back into the ship without Reese giving us the entrance code, but I’d rather have that than have a standing code—something that we could accidentally give out, or have tortured out of us.”
Jack cringed at that thought.
“I just hope we set it up right,” Randal added. “Isaac was much better at this.”
The three men stared at the floor, their thoughts running to the security tech officer who had died in the pirate attack. The impromptu moment of silence ended and Jack nodded.
“We do what we can with what we have. Good work, men. Blaine is up, and he has no memory of the attack.”
“How did he handle the news that Bit is gone?” Randal asked.
“Strangely enough, he didn’t seem to mind. He said he would have rather had the care of Bit, but he understood my logic. It was like we had the old Blaine back.”
Randal and Reese frowned up at Jack.
“Did Blaine hit his head when you took him down?” Reese asked.
Randal shook his head. “I don’t think so. Did the Ketamine do this?”
“I don’t think so,” replied Jack.
“So you think he only freaks out when Bit’s actually present,” asked Randal.
Jack nodded. “It certainly seems that way. I think we’ll need to keep a close eye on him. Either way we need to take off. Reese, come down and see us out so you can lock the door behind us.”
Reese nodded and followed them down to the airlock. Blaine and Calen waited, their packs strapped to their backs. Dark bags shaded the lower lids of Blaine’s eyes and he leaned heavily against the doorframe of the ship’s airlock, but Jack knew the soldier wouldn’t be babied, so he kept his comments to himself.
Jack dashed into his cabin to grab his own bag, filled with what few outfits he had left in the ship. The rest of his clothing was in his mother’s washing machine. He returned to the airlock just as Randal emerged from his own cabin and Forrest appeared from the lower levels, the special box carrying the embryos tucked under his arm.
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