by Rachel Clark
“Jenelle,” he said, stepping closer to the table. Worrying that she would feel intimidated by his size, he squatted beside her chair and gave her what he hoped she realized was a friendly smile. “I would never hurt Tosh or Baylen. I love them. These,” he said, running his finger down the pale red stripes on Tosh’s skin, “will fade quickly. I promise you he enjoyed every moment.”
She seemed unconvinced but relaxed a little when she saw Tosh’s nod and wide grin.
“How old are you now?” Jax asked in a low, soothing tone.
She looked surprised by the apparent change of topic but mumbled the word “twenty-eight.”
He smiled, and she smiled nervously in return. “So it’s been long enough for the physical wounds to heal. Maybe one day you’ll be able to watch me with Tosh and Baylen and realize that it’s nothing like what happened to you.”
She nodded, her eyes suspiciously glassy, but she didn’t actually cry.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“What for?” he asked as a mixture of surprise and concern flowed through him.
“For giving me a second chance.”
Fuck. What had happened to this woman to make her think he’d throw her out because of her reaction? True, he didn’t appreciate being thought of as a brute, but from her traumatic experience it was quite understandable.
Unable to watch the woman’s obvious distress over what she’d expected to happen, he opened his arms and invited Jenelle to give him a hug. She hesitated, glanced at Tosh, and then nervously moved into Jax’s arms. He held her loosely, unwilling to frighten her with his strength but wanting her to feel safe, protected…welcome.
She trembled slightly as he lifted her up, sat on the chair she’d just vacated, and arranged her on his lap. “Jenelle,” he said as he smoothed his fingers through her long hair, “you are welcome in our home. Tosh has already told us a lot about you—granted he forgot the part about your fear of whips—”
“He didn’t know until a few hours ago,” she defended quickly.
Jax nodded against her hair. “Okay. But I want you to promise us that if anything frightens you, anything at all, that you’ll let us explain before you worry that we’re going to throw you out.”
* * * *
Baylen watched the man he loved and wondered what sort of alien parasite had taken over his lover’s body. He couldn’t ever recall a time when Jax had strung so many words together in a single conversation. Hell, the man’s idea of contributing to social interaction was usually an affirmative or negative grunt. But watching him with Jenelle was eye opening.
Who was this gentle, sensitive man dealing with a frightened female?
It wasn’t that Jax didn’t care for Tosh and Baylen. It was only that he tended to stand back and let them sort out their own issues. Jax was bossy, in charge, straightforward, and very protective, but when it came to emotional issues, he was very much absent from the conversation.
Jax had been sifting Jenelle’s long, straight hair through his fingers—an affectionate move that made Baylen want to grow his hair long—so he was watching the man’s face when his fingers brushed against something on Jenelle’s back. His gaze immediately sought Tosh’s, who nodded in answer to Jax’s silent question.
“Can you help with them?” Jax asked Tosh cryptically.
“I haven’t seen them yet, and the fact that they’re so old will be an issue, but still there are many options we could try.”
“Do it,” Jax ordered.
“No,” Jenelle said as she tried to climb off Jax’s lap. It was obvious that he didn’t want to let her go, but he quickly conceded the fight and lifted her onto her feet. She took several steps backward.
“Jen,” Tosh said quietly, “I can help.”
“Thank you, but no.”
Baylen wanted to ask what they were talking about, but it seemed to be a really sore point for Jenelle. He didn’t want to upset her further, but it felt very isolating to be the only one in the room to not know the subject they were discussing.
“Tosh, maybe it would be best if you just took me back to the compound,” Jenelle said nervously but with a hint of anger in her voice.
“What about your nightmares?” he asked very deliberately.
She glanced at Jax and Baylen, her cheeks coloring with embarrassment. “I thought you were my doctor. Why would you blurt out my private medical information?”
Tosh looked annoyed at her—a very unusual reaction from Baylen’s calm and levelheaded husband.
“At the compound you said I was your friend. Not your doctor.” Her anger faltered as Tosh stepped closer. “You came here knowing that Jax and Baylen would be sleeping in the same room. You had already made the decision for them to know.”
“But I want to go back to the compound,” she said, maybe a little less belligerently.
“You know I’ll follow.”
“I don’t want you to.”
“Well, that’s just bad luck, because as your friend I intend to be there when you need me.”
Again Jenelle looked past Tosh to Jax and Baylen. “But you should be here with your family.”
“And I will be,” he said, moving close enough to touch the curtain of hair that had fallen across her eye, “if you stay here. Please stay here, Jen.”
She gave him a look that suggested she wasn’t happy with his tactics, but finally she nodded her head in agreement.
Baylen was rather impressed by Tosh’s ability to maneuver the woman into staying with them, but between the talk of nightmares and unexplained medical treatments he was feeling kind of helpless. He was usually the nurturer in this family. He was the one who fussed and worried and took care of his partners’ needs. If there was any trouble on the domestic front, he was the one who dealt with it.
“How much longer are you two working the graveyard shift?” he asked his husbands, taking charge of the conversation so that Jenelle could have a few moments to adjust to the idea of staying with them.
“One more night,” Jax said with a grin, “and then I’m back to days for the next two months.”
Baylen moved so that Tosh would need to look at him.
“I’m on leave for the next three days, and then I’m back to days, also.”
“Excellent. Both of you go to bed. I have a big dinner planned, and I don’t want you two sleeping through it,” Baylen said in what Tosh had once described as his “mother hen” voice. Baylen had no idea what a “hen” was—apparently it was something from Earth—but he liked the idea of being a fussy caretaker over the people he loved. “What about you, Jenelle? Do you need to get some sleep, as well?”
“She hasn’t been sleeping well,” Tosh offered with a hint of a smile. “Maybe we should all go to bed.”
Jax grinned.
“Not that type of sleeping,” Baylen said with a grin of his own. Jax was insatiable in bed, but judging by Jenelle’s reaction so far, probably not something she was ready to watch. The idea of teaching the pretty human the beauty of physical love was quite appealing, though. Maybe some day.
“Come on, babe,” Jax said as he stood up and held his hand out for Tosh. “Better do what the boss says.” They both stopped to kiss him on their way past. Tosh stopped next to Jenelle.
“There’s a spare bed on the far side of our bedroom. Just fall into it whenever you’re ready, Jen.”
She nodded, mumbled the words “thank you,” but didn’t move from her position by the door.
When Tosh and Jax entered the bedroom Jenelle turned to face Baylen. “I’m sorry to be a bother,” she said softly. “I didn’t really give any thought to the disruption I would cause by coming home with Tosh.”
“Nonsense,” Baylen said as he began clearing away the used plates. Not only could his men inhale a huge breakfast, but they sure made a hell of a mess some days. “I’m glad for the company.” But then he realized how that sounded and wanted to kick himself. The woman was here to get some rest, not entertain him. “But,
you should try and get some sleep, too.” He wanted to add that she looked tired, but since he didn’t know what she looked like when she wasn’t tired, he didn’t want to accidentally insult her.
Fuck, tippy-toeing around women was definitely not his forte.
“I’m okay,” she said as she leaned over the table to gather the various condiments they’d used over breakfast. “I’d actually prefer not to go through that nightmare again so soon.”
“Would you like to talk about it? Maybe I could help you figure out what it means.”
She gave him a sad smile. “Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure I know what it means. It’s more of a memory than anything else.”
“The thing that’s giving you nightmares actually happened to you?” He was trying to hide his shock, but he made a lousy actor. Fuck, he was probably frightening the woman by his reaction. But instead of recoiling from him, she smiled, leaned over, and squeezed his hand affectionately.
“It was a long time ago. I’m fine now.”
“Not if you’re having nightmares about it.” Baylen was a little bit embarrassed by his immediate response, but he truly only wanted to help Jenelle. From everything Tosh had told them about the woman, she deserved to be happy.
She gave him a self-deprecating smile and nodded her head in a wobbly sort of way. “I suppose you’re right, but it’s nothing that can be changed. I just need to learn how to live with it.”
“If I can help in any way…”
“You are helping,” she said with a smile. “Thank you for inviting me to stay for a few days.”
* * * *
Tosh lay in his husband’s arms and listened to the conversation going on in the kitchen.
“Is she okay?” Jax asked quietly.
“I’m not sure,” he answered honestly. He didn’t want to betray Jenelle’s trust—he’d already risked that by telling them about her nightmares—but he was worried for her. “I’m hoping that I’ve convinced her to seek medical attention for the scars on her back but also for other things.”
“I thought medical assistance was something the humans got automatically. Isn’t that part of living in the compound?”
“It is,” he whispered, “but many of them are too frightened of authorities to accept it. So we back off, counsel them if we can, and try to convince them that they won’t be kicked off the planet for trivial reasons.”
“What sort of fucked-up planet do they come from?” Jax asked, his anger very clear in his voice. Tosh knew it well, had carried the emotion with him ever since he’d begun working with Jenelle and women like her.
“I don’t know,” he said, feeling as bewildered as his husband sounded. Who could treat anyone the way humans were treating each other? “But she’s here now. Hopefully we can get her issues sorted out and find a Desconian family who can truly love her.”
“Amen to that.”
Chapter Four
“You still look tired,” Baylen said as Jenelle wandered into the kitchen. After ten days straight he felt like he’d known her long enough to know the difference now.
“So do you,” she said with a sleepy smile as she headed for the coffeemaker—a new edition to his well-equipped kitchen. She’d been embarrassed that he seemed to have purchased it specifically for her but had relaxed once she realized how much both Tosh and Jax liked to drink coffee. Now that Desconian farmers had been able to cultivate coffee beans on this planet, the once-prohibitive expense of importing coffee from Earth was no longer an issue and human-style coffee was quickly becoming a part of everyday Desconian life.
But the expense would have been something he’d happily worn just to put that beautiful smile on Jenelle’s face each morning.
“I am sleeping better. Thank you for letting me stay so long,” she said as she took a seat at the table and stayed out of his way. She was very welcome in his kitchen, but since he tended to move rather quickly around an area he thought of as “his space,” it was probably just as well that she got out of the way. He’d actually been quite pleased when she’d admitted to hating cooking. It was something he truly loved, and the fact that she sensed it just made her staying here that much more comfortable.
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you like,” he said, truly meaning it. “Will you be going into work with Tosh today?”
Jenelle seemed really happy doing whatever it was she did at the compound, but it was also very nice to have her company during the day. He’d grown quite accustomed to having her here.
“I don’t have anything official on, but I thought I might go in with Tosh anyway. There are a couple of women from the last transport that I’ve been concerned about. I hoped I might be able to help them adjust their thinking.”
“How so?” he asked curiously.
She frowned slightly, as if she couldn’t quite find the words she needed. “Life on Earth is very different to life on Descon,” she said haltingly. “When you grow up surrounded by a certain type of attitude, you tend to absorb it even if you don’t necessarily agree with it—especially if you’ve never had a reason to think any other way.” She rubbed her eyes tiredly. “I’m not certain what got these two particular ladies kicked off the planet. They actually seem a perfect example of the self-righteous, self-centered, judgmental women who ran the girls’ homes.” She gave him a sad smile. “But I’m worried that their attitudes might intimidate some of the other women into rejecting the Desconian way of life.”
“Can Katarnia separate them from the others?” he asked as he poured himself a glass of juice and joined her at the table.
“Katarnia probably could,” Jenelle said, looking thoughtful, “but I’m not sure it would be the best solution.” Again she gave him that sad smile. “Part of the problem on Earth is that different attitudes and beliefs are being suppressed. Even I didn’t realize the extent of it until Deanna told me some of the things that had happened to her and her late husband. I think that for many of the women at the compound being exposed to healthy debate and different opinions is a good thing. But I would like to avoid having someone so intimidating shouting everyone else down.”
“Maybe that’s why they were kicked off Earth,” Baylen offered. “I get the impression that the government on Earth doesn’t particularly like opinionated women.”
“You could be right,” she said with a smile. “It’s rather ironic that they would be given a one-way ticket to Descon for sharing the same opinion of the people who wanted them gone.”
She sipped her coffee, smiling when Tosh padded barefoot and naked into the kitchen and headed directly for the coffee machine. Baylen had been very relieved to realize Jenelle wasn’t embarrassed by the common Desconian habit of being naked in their own homes. She still seemed a little embarrassed by their voyeuristic and exhibitionistic tendencies, but she’d never shown anything but acceptance for their way of life.
“What are your plans for today?” she asked Baylen as Tosh pressed an affectionate kiss to the top of his head and took the seat beside him.
“Not much. It’s always rather quiet when Jax is on assignment.” She gave him a sympathetic look but laughed softly when Tosh threatened to spank his ass in Jax’s absence. It was a tempting idea but, since the man was due at work in less than an hour, not really an efficient use of his time.
“Why not come with me?” Jenelle suggested. “Most of the ladies at the compound have only met Desconian soldiers and official medical personnel. It would be good for them to meet a man who does something else.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Tosh said with a smile.
* * * *
Jenelle smiled at the natural way Baylen had of putting people at ease. They’d gathered in the dining hall for coffee and chatter, and a small group of women had circled Baylen and thrown dozens of questions his way. He’d answered them all openly and honestly with a smile on his face. He’d even spent time offering some of the different viewpoints that Desconian people held. Not all people participated in voyeurism, so
me actually called it distasteful, but none tried to stop others from having the choice.
Baylen must have noticed a reaction she’d missed, because he excused himself, moved to a table not far away, and asked one of the women if she would like to join their conversation. She glanced at the woman sitting beside her and shook her head with a haughty disdain. Considering their conversation earlier this morning, it probably hadn’t been all that hard to identify the two women she’d been talking about, but Jenelle was interested to see that he’d approached the more vocal of the two.
It wasn’t until she glanced at her friend nervously that Jenelle realized which one really held the opinions. She was very grateful for Baylen’s insight. In this case the strategy of “divide and conquer” was probably a good one, so she moved to distract the other woman as Baylen finally convinced his target to join the conversation at the other table.
Without her vocal mouthpiece spouting opinions for her, the other woman settled for glaring at everyone. Fortunately, thanks to Baylen’s casual, friendly attitude the other women were happy to ignore her. By the time lunchtime came around the rest of the women were actively asking questions of their own. Completely comfortable surrounded by people he’d never met before, Baylen entertained and charmed the entire room into seeing Descon and its people in a whole different light.
Many women who’d seemed fearful of the things they’d been told about the Desconian lifestyle were suddenly more comfortable with the idea of exploring new options. Hopefully, they’d now have the confidence to meet Desconian couples via the fertility council.
“He’s definitely a charmer,” Tosh said as he came in the door behind her.
“That he is,” she said as she watched yet another question come out of a woman who’d barely said two words until today.