Captivated (The Verge Book 2)

by A. C. Thomas

  Jun’s brows shot up as he glanced down at Theo and then quickly away as he directed his gaze back to the ceiling, a suspect wash of color tinting his high cheekbones.

  Theo blew a lock of hair out of his face, his chest clenching at Jun’s obvious discomfort.

  Unrequited love was awful; Theo found little to recommend it.

  “Oh fiddlesticks, Ari. Captain Park has, with the exception of his initial abduction, behaved most admirably.”

  He had nearly forgotten how amusing it was to watch Ari sputter with indignation.

  “With the exception of— Theo, this man held you captive! He abducted an innocent person from their office, and—”

  Theo cut in with a smirk, “Come, now. I would wager neither one of us has much claim to innocence any longer—” He tossed a wink to Mr. Stone, who, to his absolute delight, winked back at him. “—wouldn’t you agree?”

  Jun didn’t seem to appreciate the exchange, his focus whipping to Mr. Stone with a chill Theo could sense over his shoulder.

  It was just as amusing to watch Ari go bright red as it was humiliating when it happened to himself. His twin squawked with offended dignity and turned to Mr. Stone with wide, shocked eyes. “Why—I can’t believe he would— The very nerve!”

  Mr. Stone smoothed one big, rough hand gently over Ari’s uncharacteristically mussed hair and settled it across the back of his neck with a squeeze, eyes sparkling. “He’s got a point, baby. We’ve been pretty thorough.”

  “Orin!”

  Theo had never known just how satisfying it would be to hear Ari screech someone else’s name in outrage. He decided, right then and there, that he and Mr. Orin Stone were going to be great friends.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Are you going to introduce us to our new guests, or are we supposed to stay in the naughty corner until you let us out?”

  Ari jolted and grabbed onto both Orin and Theo as Axel’s voice buzzed overhead. The coms clicked off with a squeal, then clicked on again almost immediately after, Marco’s mild voice wafting through. “I cringed at that, Captain. I vote for a fine.”

  Ari slowly started to relax, losing his vise grip, but Axel returned at twice Marco’s volume.

  “Treachery and lies, Captain! Marco just wants you to fine me because he’s hoping the cringe bank will fund new parts.”

  Jun avoided Ari and Orin’s curious gazes, glaring instead at the camera in the corner while Marco offered his response.

  “Okay, yeah, but. I still cringed, and—”

  “Enough! Everyone to the bridge, we’re coming up.” Jun growled at Axel’s “oh, goody!” and stalked off in the direction of the door. He paused just before the bend in the crates, where he would disappear from sight, to find Theo over his shoulder. “Bring your friends.”

  He took off, leaving Theo behind to corral his brother and newfound friend through the ship.

  Theo took Ari’s hand in his, frowning at how cold it was. He chafed it gently between his palms as he led him after Jun. Mr. Stone followed so closely that Theo could feel his massive presence at his back, like a wall.

  After a skeptical glance at the dented lift doors, Ari entered and held tightly to Theo as they rode up to the bridge. He whispered in his ear, “Do you trust these people?”

  Theo gave his hand a squeeze and bumped their shoulders together, exactly the right height to line up perfectly. “Much to my astonishment, I absolutely do. They’re loyal, hardworking, and they care about one another. I couldn’t ask for more in a colleague or friend.”

  Ari’s innate sweetness beamed through his small, sincere smile, and Theo absorbed it like a plant basking in the sun. “I’m delighted to hear that you’ve made good friends, Theo. You deserve it.”

  Mr. Stone wedged himself in front of them as the door slid open, feet braced against the floor as if he were expecting an attack.

  Turning to them, Jun assessed his stance with a slowly raised brow, then jerked his head toward the bridge. “Come on; might as well get this over with. Apologies in advance—they’re barely house-trained. Especially Axel.”

  The Crew stood in a jagged little line in front of Jun’s console. Marco’s calm face split the difference between Axel’s open curiosity and Boom’s suspicious stare.

  Axel let out a long, low whistle, examining Ari as though he were some new variety of snack that might or might not be poisonous. “Whoa, that’s creepy. You guys are, like, twin-twins. Super, crazy identical. Please don’t murder us in our beds.”

  He flinched as both Jun and Mr. Stone took a menacing step toward him, both of them frowning to varying degrees. “Oh, shit! Now Park’s pissed off in stereo.” He swiftly aimed a wavering grin in the twins’ direction. “Sorry, guys. You’re totally not creepy.”

  Laughing at that, Theo noticed Ari’s wounded expression and released his hand to hook their arms together. He couldn’t stop touching his brother, just to feel that he was real, and solid, and there. “Don’t mind him, Ari. Axel might be a fine pilot, but he has even less control over running his mouth than I do.”

  Ari’s “That seems improbable” was overshadowed by Mr. Stone’s sudden, keen interest in Axel.

  “You’re the pilot for this giant heap of metal?”

  Marco dug an admonishing elbow into Axel’s side as he burst into giggles.

  “Sure as shootin’, partner,” he finally got out. “Boy, that Verge accent is strong, huh? Sounds like you’ve got a mouth full of gruel.”

  To Theo’s astonishment, Ari let him go to surge forward. He stood between Axel and Mr. Stone with his hands on his hips. “Mr. Stone is as eloquent as any Outlier, and displays significantly better manners.” His voice dripped icy hauteur in every word. “You will treat him with the respect he deserves.”

  Boom reached around Marco to flick Axel on the stomach with one of her metallic fingers. She relaxed her rigid stance and leaned back against the console. “He’s feisty. I like him.”

  Rubbing his belly with an exaggerated pout, Axel turned to Jun. “You know, Captain, we can’t help but notice an emerging trend. Every time you leave the ship on your own, you come back with a red-headed Doll. This one even brought along a giant cowboy accessory. We want to put it out there that you don’t have to keep every one of them. Maybe we could implement some kind of a catch-and-release program.”

  “Shut up, Axel.”

  Theo raised his eyebrows at Jun as they spoke quickly and simultaneously.

  Mr. Stone tugged Ari back against him with a gentle hand on his hip. The fact that Ari allowed such public physical familiarity was almost as mind-boggling as the naked adoration on Ari’s face when Mr. Stone spoke. “Thanks, sugar. You’re my knight in shining armor.”

  Lifting one of Mr. Stone’s scarred hands to his lips, Ari gave him a gallant kiss. After a kiss of his own, Orin ambled over to Axel’s console and sat in his chair with an ominous creaking of overtaxed metal. With a yelp, Axel hurried over to complain, which Mr. Stone proceeded to ignore, working the controls with a grin.

  Ari focused his attention back on Theo. “You requested our help?”

  Also turning from the bickering pilots, Jun chose to address Ari’s inquiry. “What do you know about holozite?”

  There was a subtle and distinct change in Ari’s carriage when he spoke on his favorite topics, an authority that entered his voice and never failed to capture the attention of his audience. It was how he captivated entire lecture halls of students he would have stammered his way through a private conversation with. “It’s as geochemically complex as it is scarce. And, much like tantalum, it’s illegal to transport within the Core, due to its volatile technical capabilities. I’ve only had the opportunity to work with it in a heavily monitored university setting.”

  Ignoring the heat of Jun’s frown, Marco leaned in to interrupt. “You’re a materials scientist?”

  Ari drew himself up to his full height with a tug of his waistcoat, fatigue melting away at the mere mention of rocks. Stars,
but Theo loved his brother. “I’m primarily a geologist, with some experience in cosmochemistry.”

  Irritated with Ari’s lack of confidence and perpetual modesty, Theo scoffed. His brother was a genius, and he should show it. “When he says ‘some experience,’ he means he has achieved multiple degrees in the subject and introduced groundbreaking research.”

  Marco looked a little starstruck, taking in Ari with newfound appreciation while Ari blustered and blushed.

  “Well, yes,” he said, “but I’ve only earned doctorates in geology.”

  “Two doctorates. He’s brilliant,” Theo cut in, chest puffed with pride while Ari sent him embarrassed, pleading glances.

  Marco’s leg locked with a click when he leaned his weight back on it, shaking his head in obvious relief. “Oh man, that’s awesome because I’ve been fiddling with this new ratio in my fuel booster, and it’d be great if you could help me confirm that it’s not going to blow up the ship. I’ve just been crossing my fingers that my equations are solid.”

  Boom groaned his name as she covered her face as Jun treated Marco to the full force of his scowl.

  “Were you ever planning to mention that concern to, say, your captain?”

  He didn’t even pretend to feel bad about it, shaking his head blithely this time. “Nope. Figured you’d yell at me. I’d rather get blown up.”

  Ari rushed to intercept whatever Jun’s scathing response might have been. “I would be happy to assist you, Mr.…” He trailed off with a pointed look at Theo.

  Theo slapped himself on the forehead, blaming his forgetfulness on the butterflies still fluttering through his bloodstream at the relief of having Ari with him once more. “Forgive me; I’ve abandoned my manners entirely. Crew, this is Dr. Aristotle Campbell and his companion, Mr. Stone. Ari, this is the Crew. Axel’s the pilot, and you can just ignore everything he says—”

  “Hey!”

  “—This is Marco, ship engineer, and apparently, your latest admirer. And this is Boom, formidable security expert and Marco’s sister. I think we should all get along famously, don’t you agree?”

  Boom appeared skeptical, but poor Marco might as well have had angels and hearts floating around his head.

  Extending one of his awkward little bows in the general direction of the Crew, Ari said, “Charmed to make your acquaintance.”

  Marco rushed to leave the bridge, tripping on his organic leg as he skirted around Jun. “I’ll go get you a sample, and we can check it out, okay?”

  Ari didn’t have time to answer before Marco was gone, humming jauntily as he hurried to the lift.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  With his brother momentarily distracted, Theo snagged Jun by one of the heavy leather straps of his holster. “Come along with me.”

  Jun squinted at Theo with a confused wrinkle of his forehead that reached right into Theo’s chest and hurt him with how cute it was. “Why?”

  Smoothing a hand across the strap, Theo threw his hair back over his shoulder. “I suppose we could do this here, if you’d rather, but I intend to finish our conversation. I’m not letting you off the hook just because you abandoned your plan to be rid of me.”

  When Boom snickered behind them, Jun took off down the corridor without another word, Theo in tow by the hand hooked in his strap.

  The restless drumming of Theo’s fingers echoed hollowly in the lift, the only sound as he organized his thoughts, wanting to be as clear and coherent as possible. It was time to be blunt. Direct. Theo’s feet hurt from all this dancing around the thing that had grown between them.

  Jun stood stiffly by his side, facing the door with a grim expression as if he expected it to slide open and reveal his doom.

  One would think Theo had asked him to cut himself open rather than to talk about his feelings.

  Though, for Jun, perhaps the two were more alike than one might suppose.

  Jun led them to Theo’s bunk, and Theo couldn’t help but wonder if it was a strategic choice to ensure that Jun could have a place to escape to afterward. In case the room became saturated with emotion, or something.

  After closing the door, Jun hovered, crossing and uncrossing his arms as he rocked back on his heels. It was as close to jittery as Theo had ever seen him, tough shell cracked open to reveal the turmoil within. “Well? I’m listening.”

  Theo tucked his hair behind his ears, taking a deep breath to ground himself before he started. He examined Jun’s face, registering every twitch as he put up his walls and plastered over the cracks. “Do you know that the study of languages includes much that remains unspoken? Body language, facial cues, eye contact. Gestures and actions and, simply, priorities. You have been telling me how you feel all along.”

  It wasn’t even subtle, the way Jun’s eyes widened in obvious distress.

  Theo rushed to reassure him of his expectations. He wouldn’t ask Jun to change for the sake of Theo’s ego. Jun was perfect as he was. “You’re a man of few words, and I’m a man of many, so I suppose it falls to me to make the leap. Jun, I lo—”

  Jun stumbled forward with the gasping sound of a man coming up for air and gripped Theo lightly by the arms. “Wait! You don’t—Theo, you don’t understand. I’m not safe. You won’t be safe, with me. I can’t ask that of you. I won’t ask that of you.”

  Of course he wouldn’t. It wasn’t in his nature, annoyingly self-sacrificing as he was. Trust Jun to run away from the things he most wanted at full speed.

  Theo brought a hand up to his face and traced over the lines of ink that crept up his jaw. The lines that decorated Theo’s dreams. “I don’t care that you’re not asking, because I’m telling you. I love you, Jun. I don’t expect to hear it back; I know you have bigger things on your mind. But I wanted to tell you.” His heart skidded around the corner and slammed into the wall of his chest at the confession.

  Dark molten eyes watched him, entire galaxies swimming in their depths as Jun tightened his grip on Theo’s arms.

  Swallowing against the unwelcome lump in his throat, Theo continued, “I can finish the translation elsewhere, if you truly wish for me to leave.” He drew a shuddering breath as Jun’s lips parted, face stricken. “As long as I remain on this side of the Verge, I can transfer the data to you over secure lines. My brother can take whatever you need aboard our ship to work on in his lab. Our assistance can be done remotely, if you are simply finished with me.”

  It wasn’t the longest romantic entanglement of Theo’s life, but it was certainly the deepest. Uprooting Jun from his heart would leave massive, tunneling scars, but he would do it. If that’s what Jun wanted from him.

  Theo had been a little bit selfish all his life, carefree and, sometimes, thoughtless of others. He had never offered such a personal sacrifice to anyone but his brother. But, for Jun, Theo would release the yearnings of his heart and accept the loss with grace.

  For Jun, Theo could think about the needs of someone else before himself.

  After a few more seconds of silence, he began to fear he would shake apart and float out into space if Jun didn’t give a response. Finally, the dam burst, and Theo blurted out his thoughts, everything in him focused on Jun’s troubled face. “Please say something, Jun. I’ll graciously accept whatever your choice, but I can’t wait in suspense a moment longer. So, please just, say something.”

  “Copper.”

  Theo drew back a bit in disbelief, wrinkling up his nose as he repeated back the word.

  Jun appeared just as surprised as he was. A deep flush stole across Jun’s cheeks as he did an excellent impression of a mortified goldfish before stammering out the rest. “You asked, once. About my favorite color. It’s copper.”

  A sharp, resplendent bolt of joy struck Theo right through the center as he listened to everything Jun was saying with his face, and body, and nonsensical words. “You said it was black.”

  Jun wet his lips, then shook his head and fingered a strand of Theo’s hair. “It’s copper. I just didn’t know that
, yet.”

  It was the most romantic thing a man had ever said to Theo, and he had once gone walking with a poet who had described his toes as rosebuds.

  That was, perhaps, not the best comparison, but Theo had little control over his wild thoughts. Everything was careening at double speed inside his head.

  Inside his heart.

  He bumped his head against Jun’s hand where he gently grasped his hair, unable to contain the joy bubbling up in his slowly spreading smile. “Jun, are you asking me to stay?”

  The relief that washed over Jun’s face at Theo’s prompting made Theo want to wrap him up in blankets and hold him close. Forever, if possible.

  “Yes.” Jun spoke as if he had been shoved to the end of a gangplank and faced shark-infested waters if he didn’t get his words out in time.

  It took discipline, but Theo just watched him expectantly, letting the silence stretch out like taffy until it was thin enough to snap, the whole time Jun’s face creasing with the effort of expressing himself.

  “Stay with me.”

  Theo held his breath, still waiting even as he rocked up on the tips of his toes, feeling like he might vibrate out of his skin.

  Abruptly releasing Theo’s hair, Jun shoved one of his own sleeves up past the elbow to reveal a flash of red. It was Theo’s garter, tied securely around his arm. A tidal wave of fondness swept Theo away at the sight. Had Jun been wearing it ever since? Carrying it with him like a knight’s token?

  After teasing the knot free, Jun held the ribbon in one hand while he plunged the other into his pocket to retrieve a balled-up handkerchief with rusty stains and—

  Theo’s initials monogrammed on the corner.

  With a shaky breath, Jun uncurled his hand to let the handkerchief fall open around a tiny wire star. He then draped the ribbon beside it.

  He offered it all to Theo on his palm, the silk crushed where it had been coarsely tied and the star misshapen from handling. His voice dragged soft and slow like a hand down Theo’s spine, his gaze caught so close to his there was no prying them apart. “I love you, Theo. Please stay.”