“Did I hurt you?” he looked worried.
“No,” she shook her head and buried it back in shoulder. “That’s never happened for me before.”
“Wait, you’ve never had an orgasm before?” He was shocked as she shook her head. “What kind of idiots were you with?” She laughed and finally looked at him.
“How do you know it wasn’t me?” she asked him.
“Oh, I know it wasn’t you,” he told her with a devilish smile, wagging brows and spent the rest of the night proving it to her.
Chapter 13
Holly heard her name being called from what seemed a long way off. She also knew she was crying but didn’t know why or even how she knew that. The room she was in kept shaking, too.
“Holly! Holly! Open your eyes, Holly.” The voice simply was not going to let her retreat. She opened her eyes and froze. There was handsome man looking down at her but he was green and had spots starting at his temples flowing down his jaw and neck and disappearing into his collar. His hair was a dark inky black. She blinked again and memories of the last few weeks assaulted her.
“Ax? What are you doing?” she asked in confusion.
“You were crying. You must have been having an awful dream. The little ones were very upset.”
“My babies called you?”
“Well, I came up to drop two more crates in the lounge so Wendy would have them first thing in the morning. Then as I passed your quarters I knew something was wrong. I don’t know if they’re exactly calling me, but they were definitely two unhappy little women,” he told her with a smile. “You didn’t answer, so I came in. The nightmare must have been really bad for you. You were sobbing and pleading with someone not to hurt your babies.”
“God, this is so embarrassing.” She turned on her side away from him. “I’m fine.”
“Really?” he said in a disbelieving voice.
“It’s just a nightmare. Thanks for waking me.”
“Hey, talk to me. I might not be able to fix it but I’m a pretty good listener,” he told as he gently rubbed her back. “Do you miss the babies’ father?”
“That ass. No, I definitely don’t miss him.”
“Will you tell me what happened?” She was quiet for a few minutes and he wasn’t sure she would. Then she started to speak.
“I wasn’t feeling well so I went home from work early one day and found him on the living room floor having sex with the woman he dated before me. I started yelling at them. She ran to the bathroom, got dressed and bolted out of the apartment while I was still yelling at him. He told me he was sorry. He never meant to hurt me but he was still in love with her. So when she told him she wanted him back even after she had dumped him for someone else, he couldn’t say no. We had dated for nearly two years before we moved in together. But he was standing in front of me telling me that even when he asked me to marry him three months earlier he was in love with someone else. It’s like getting a knife through the heart. Then he left and didn’t come back that night. I went to work the next day; when I came home he had packed his clothes and left. Unfortunately for me, the bastard also took almost everything else too and most of it was mine! That bitch even took some of my clothes. I slept on the floor for two days until I could get a bed delivered. When I started to suspect I was pregnant about a month later, I didn’t even bother to look for the sorry bastard. I figured he wouldn’t care anyway.”
Tears were sliding down her face again. “Then I got the space ride from hell and ended up here, pregnant and I can’t even call my mom. And my babies are talking to you.” The sobs finally broke free. He removed his boots and slid into the bed with her, wrapping her in his arms. He let her cry, rubbing her back gently while he rocked her slightly. The babies kept whispering. It wasn’t exactly thoughts he was hearing from them more like emotions. Axon decided when she was a little calmer he would try to explain. For now he would just hold her. On the other side of the room, the door opened. He looked up to see Ashaa and Rev standing there. Concern was written all over Ashaa’s face. He shook his head at the pair.
“I have her. She was having a nightmare and just needed someone to listen for a while. She misses home and her mother,” he told them.
Ashaa looked as though she might protest. Rev touched her and she looked at him. She nodded at whatever Rev told her and then nodded at Axon and the two went back out the door. He wondered if anyone else knew they were sleeping together. He shook his head and went back to concentrating on the women in his arms one of whom was quieting now.
“Sorry,” she said with a hiccup. “I didn’t mean to freak out on you.”
“It’s okay. Tears I can handle on occasion. Arson, now that one bugs me.”
She started laughing then. “I have to go wash my face and blow my nose,” she said pulling free. He stayed where he was. When she came back a few minutes later she crawled into the bed and snuggled back into his arms. He smiled and wrapped them around her. He stroked her back to get her to relax.
“You know part of this is just chemical changes in your body, right?”
“We actually call it ‘hormones’ at home when it’s pregnant women,” she laughed softly. “Sorry for the soggy mess.”
“You don’t need to apologize. I didn’t have to come in here. I came because I wanted to be here for you. I had a really good time sitting with you at dinner. You’re interesting to talk to and much prettier than Fazon.” His teasing words were gentle and kind. She smiled thinking how she first hadn’t liked him. He had to be one the nicest men she’d ever met once she started getting to know him.
“You don’t know much about women do you?”
“What do you mean?” he asked in a puzzled voice.
“Do you honestly think the two women in utero in this room would simply let you go to your quarters to sleep while their momma was crying?” She laughed and shook her head. “No, if you had tried to go and just sleep, they’d have gotten mad and you never have a good nights’ rest again.” He heard the smile in her voice.
“I guess I’m in serious trouble then if they’re already bossing me around from in there?”
“You have no idea.”
“Sleep. You need the rest,” he told her softly pressing a kiss to her forehead. She sighed and relaxed further into his arms. After she drifted off, he lay there listening as the whispers from the babies calmed and he gave them a gentle ‘push’ to sleep. He could almost feel them sigh in contentment. Yeah, he was in trouble alright.
***
Sienna came out of her quarters and stopped in the passage. Axon was exiting Holly’s quarters. He turned her direction and froze. She lifted an eyebrow, staring at him. Axon felt like a kid caught with hands in a cookie jar. His spot flushed, trying to stare down Sienna was worse than staring down his own mother. Scary was the only fitting description. Moz came out of Taylor’s quarters behind her, raised both brows and turned to sneak away.
“Don’t think that I don’t know you’re leaving Taylor’s room before breakfast, Moz,” she told him without turning from where she had Axon pinned. Moz’s expression was almost comical. He looked shocked. Axon straightened his spine and proceeded past her and the frozen Moz. He summoned the lift. He could feel her staring at his back as Moz joined him. They entered the lift and sighed in relief as they descended to crew quarters. As the door opened they looked at one another and agreed, “Scary!”, and laughed.
***
Sienna smiled as she went into the lounge to start getting breakfast together. Catching Moz off-guard had been even more fun than watching Axon squirm. The ladies had all agreed they’d start their days with breakfast in the lounge every day. She removed the juice and cool water from the dispenser as the door opened. Rose came in with a sleepy yawn.
“Late night?” Sienna inquired.
“A little bit. Vax taught me a game called pa-lovt. It’s sort of like chess. Then we listened to some music until I was too sleepy to stay awake.”
Sienna eyed the tee
n for a moment. “You have that Mom look on your face,” Rose said with a frown.
“I’m trying to decide if I should ask what time he went to his own quarters.”
“What!?” Rose blushed. “I don’t know exactly what time it was but it was last night.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” Rose frowned.
“You’ve never lied to me since I took you in, so yes, okay,” Sienna smiled at her and pulled out a type of grain bread from the dispenser. Then she programmed the dispenser to produce the breakfast that was a meat and egg concoction they had all enjoyed when they had been tasting things in the dispenser’s catalog which was quite extensive to their delight.
“So why did you think you needed to ask?” Rose took the casserole from her hands and put it on the table. She turned to the cupboard and began to set the table.
“Because when I walked into the hall this morning, I found males sneaking out of two rooms. I felt like the dorm mother at an all-girls school,” she said smiling.
Rose began to laugh. “Let me see if I can guess. The first one is easy: Moz from Taylor’s room.”
“Score one.”
Rose frowned for a moment. “Wendy and Fazon?”
“Nope.”
“Well, I’d say Rev and Ashaa, but Rev doesn’t strike me as the type to sneak. He goes boldly. It can’t be Dezek because you said you found them in the hall and he would’ve been in your room.”
“Hey!” Sienna protested.
“Oh, please, that man is so after you,” Rose said laughing and blushing.
“It was Axon coming out of my room,” Holly told Rose as she stopped to hug her. “I had a rough night and the little women as he calls them called him. He came to check on me. I didn’t want to go back to sleep alone. Nightmares, ugh!” Holly shivered on the last.
“Are you all right this morning?” Sienna asked in concern.
“I think so. It was just so real and I couldn’t seem to wake from it.” The rest of the women came in and Ashaa went straight to Holly to hug her and ask about her. “I’m fine yes. Did they wake you also?” Holly asked Ashaa and placed a hand on her stomach.
“Yes but I think I just felt your distress. I don’t remember feeling the babies last night. Just waking with the sensation that I needed to check on you, I thought you might be sick again,” Ashaa told Holly as she hugged her.
“Wow. That was some nightmare,” Tabitha said. “Just make sure you don’t spread it around,” she joked with Holly.
“That’s the weird part,” Holly told them as she and Ashaa sat. “I don’t remember anything other than being upset and waking crying with Ax beside me.”
“Where’s Wendy by the way?” Tabitha wanted to know. Rose took on the look they all knew now meant she was listening. Rose started to laugh.
“Well?” Sienna raised a brow in the teen’s direction.
“Dezek just caught her sneaking out of Fazon’s quarters!” Rose was laughing so hard she had tears rolling down her face. The others laughed with her. A few moments later when the doors opened and admitted Wendy, they turned as one and raised their glasses, “Salute!” Wendy raised her brows and fought not to smile. She lost the battle and they all started laughing.
“I haven’t been scolded by the principal since I was a sophomore in high school,” she said laughing with them.
As the women were finishing breakfast, Dezek appeared. “Ladies, good morning. I hope everyone slept well.” Dezek eyed the women as they all erupted into laughter. He knew the joke was at his expense but he had no idea why. He smiled at Sienna and waited for the laughter to fade. “I came to see what you ladies had planned for the day and see if I can get volunteers.”
“Of course,” Sienna told him. “This evening we’re going to do dinner in place of Tek’s crew. So we’ll start prep this afternoon. Samantha, Holly and Jasmine are going to make bread and dessert this morning. Wendy, Tabitha and Natalie are going to inventory two crates Axon brought up last night which should contain clothing and sewing supplies but the rest of us are free for the morning.”
“Great. Most of you can check in with Moz and see what he needs. Hydro always has work to be done. If you ladies are going to cook like last night very often he may want to start a few more edibles. But if a few of you could go down to Cargo on Deck Nine and see Axon, he’s got several more crates of the clothing and items he got in the salvage buy. He’d like to have them inventoried by the time we get home. He said women’s clothing is nothing but a puzzle to him. So that would help him a great deal and I would appreciate it greatly,” Dezek explained.
“Tabitha, Natalie and I will go down after we finish the inventory on the two crates in here,” Wendy volunteered and got answering nods from the other two women. “We enjoyed it yesterday and we’d be interested to see what else he has.”
“Thank you, ladies. The bridge is calling me so I’ll let you get on with your day.”
“Dezek,” Sienna called as he started down the passage. He turned back to face her. He smiled and Sienna’s stomach flipped flopped again. How does he do that with just a quirk of his lips she thought.
“What can I do for you, darling?” Sienna let the endearment slide since she wanted something from him.
“Would it be alright for us to cook more than one meal a week in the Hall? In the two days we’ve been here, I’ve noticed that you and your crew are very efficient at what you do. I know Moz can find things for us to do. I’ve grown enough vegetables, fruits and herbs to know it’s an unending job. But other than that you and your crew don’t really need us. We’re cooks. That’s what we do. We’d really feel more useful if that’s possible.” Dezek stopped the flow of words with his thumb on her lip as he cradled her cheek in his palm.
“If you’d like to cook for us, I don’t think a single male on board is going to protest. You’ll even get volunteers for cleanup from what I saw and heard last night. So if it will make all of you happy, then please proceed,” he told her. “Definitely let Moz know you’ll want more edibles and which ones you’d like. Also, I’ll have Vax go over the freeze unit contents with you and you can let him know how long that will last. He can make arrangements to re-supply when we hit Saneera in a couple weeks. One of Vax’s jobs on board is supply procurements,” he was holding her hand now as they walked toward the lift. “Also when you decide how often you want to cook, have Rose ‘talk’ to Fazon and he’ll post a schedule for the crew.” He stepped into the lift. “I’ll also have Gval see you about what time he and the night shift would like to eat. I wouldn’t want a mutiny over dinner on my hands,” he winked as he said this. He kissed the back of the hand he was still holding. “Anything else?”
“No, we just wanted to help. This is the way we know how,” she said with a smile of her own.
“Good. One last thing,” he pulled her into the lift before she could protest and claimed her lips with a demanding kiss. She forgot everything else and buried her fingers in his hair. He slowly broke the kiss, nibbling along her lower lip. Looking down at her he smiled and gently moved her back out of the lift. The door closed between them. She realized as she turned to go back to the lounge the damn man was smiling again!
Sienna shook her head and walked back into the lounge. “Okay we’re on. We just have to decide how many days a week we want to cook. We need to get with Moz about the edible plants, make sure we have enough and how much we can use during a week. We’ll need to inventory the freeze unit to see how much meat is there, then let Vax know how long that will last given the number of days we’ll be cooking. Dezek said he would give us re-supply information also.” Sienna paused from her list as she realized all the women were staring at her. “What?”
All the women burst into laughter. “Somebody just had the heck kissed out of her!” Samantha told her. Sienna blushed. She didn’t do it as often as Rose did but she knew right now her face was beet red.
“I told you that man has it bad for you,” Rose told her with a smile.
“Fine, I’ll admit it if it means we can move on. The damn man can kiss.” Laughter broke out again.
“Okay, some serious business now,” Wendy said. “Who wants to visit Blanca with me to deliver her breakfast and see if she needs anything?”
“I’ll go,” Sienna told her with a sigh. “She’s my responsibility.”
“The rest of us will clean up here and then head for the kitchen or Hydro,” Samantha told her.
“Natalie and I will open the crates to start inventory,” Tabitha confirmed for Wendy.
The two women went down the passage to Blanca’s quarters. The floor was still a mess and the teen was asleep on the bed. She had changed clothes into one of the fresh outfits. They gathered her dinner dishes and her dirty clothes from the floor setting them in hall. Wendy refused to let Sienna pick up the debris from the broken items. Wendy sat on the bed and reached over to shake Blanca gently.
“Blanca, wake up.”
The younger girl blinked her eyes open and sat up.
“We brought some breakfast if you want to eat while it’s hot,” Wendy told her. Blanca didn’t say anything but at least she wasn’t yelling. “I also brought you a snack for later in the morning if you get hungry between now and lunch. We took your dishes from last night and your laundry. I’ll have someone bring the clothes clean back with your lunch.”
Blanca still said nothing.
“Do you need anything else,” Sienna asked from where she stood. Blanca shook her head but still said nothing. Wendy got up from the bed and they went to the door.
“Have your breakfast while it’s hot,” Wendy told her and they exited the room. To their surprise the small stack of dishes and the small pile of laundry were gone. They went down the hall and found Natalie and Tabitha busy taking things out of the crates. The two women looked up as they entered.
“We did her dishes and Sam took them to the kitchen with her and the others. I put her clothes through the cleaning unit my room and stacked them there,” Tabitha pointed to the shelf above the drawers where the spare clothing had been stored. “I figure someone can take it back to her with lunch. If everyone will stack her stuff there once it’s clean then we’ll all know to check, so it can go back in with her next meal.”
TAKEN: Journey to a New Home Page 15