Adiron (Corsair Brothers 1)

Kef me, I think I just gave myself a boner.

I shift in my seat, uncomfortable. Now's not the time. "So how do we get you to trust us? You either believe us or you don't. Whatever we show you, you'll just find an argument against it."

Jade looks over at the others, and no one speaks. She thinks for a minute and then turns back to me. "We're going back to our ship tonight, so we can talk in private. We'll let you know our decision in the morning."

"First of all, that is my family's ship," Straik says in a tired voice.

"Actually the laws of salvage mean it's theirs," Kaspar points out.

"And it's full of slaves," I add helpfully. "I definitely wouldn't keep bragging about the whole 'family' thing if I were you."

He ignores all of us. "Second of all, I don't trust you to go back to that ship and not try to leave."

Ruth just snorts as if he's being ridiculous (which he is). "Where exactly do you think we're going to go?"

"Sabotage, then."

"So send a bodyguard with us," Jade says quickly.

"You mean a hostage?" Lord Straik asks.

Jade's expression tightens. "He's only a hostage if someone's a hostile party."

Spending all night with Jade? In her natural environment? Sounds like a slice of “Yes” to me. Before another argument can break out, I gesture at myself. "I volunteer."

25

JADE

I should have known that Adiron would volunteer. He seems to be fascinated with me. He also seems to not be bothered by anything at all, so I guess he's a good choice. I'm just glad it's not Straik, though it might have been easier for me if it was one of the other two brothers. Adiron just…watches me all the time. And smiles. Like…he's having a blast just being around me.

I don't know what to make of it.

We wait near the ship-to-ship walkway as Adiron grabs a change of clothes. The other brothers don't seem concerned at all, which makes me think that they're exactly who they say they are—not slavers, just brothers looking for an easy score and found us instead. That they will absolutely take us someplace safe and not abuse us. Lord Straik, I'm not too sure about. He watches us with an expression that Alice sums up perfectly. "He looks like he just found out his fancy house has a roach infestation," she whispers to us.

She's right. And humans are the roaches. Straik's family ship IS infested with them.

Adiron finally returns, a bulging bag in his arms. "I'm ready."

Alice and I exchange a look. "You're not supposed to bring weapons," I point out. "This is you being a go-between and guest on our ship while we figure things out."

"It's a change of pants and some fruit," Adiron says, opening the plas-film bag to display its contents. "I knew Jade really liked it and it sounds like you guys are low on everything, so I thought I'd share." He leans in and mock-whispers, "Straik has plenty."

I hand the bag to Helen. "Check this, please?"

Ruth and Alice move forward to pat Adiron down while I train my blaster on him, just in case this is all a trap after all and I'm a bad judge of character.

Adiron is all smiles as his arms and legs are patted down. "Careful, ladies, I'm ticklish."

Ruth jabs a finger into his kidneys, making him wince.

"He's clean," Alice says, turning back to me.

I nod and glance over at Helen. Her arms are full of fruit and she shoots me a guilty look. "Nothing but underpants in his bag. And these."

I turn back to Adiron, who flutters his lashes as if he's oh-so-innocent. "Come on, you," I say, and do my best not to smile. "You're MY guest tonight."

Returning to the stale air and quiet halls of the Star feels like slipping into a comfortable pair of shoes. Straik's ship might be state of the art for aliens, but after three years of haunting these halls, I feel at home here. Even the musty smell of the air filters makes me feel safer. I take a deep breath and then look at the others. "Why don't you guys go split up the fruit in the kitchen? I'll show Adiron where he's going to be sleeping."

"You can't wait to be alone with me again," he says, delighted. "I accept." And he holds the crook of his arm out like we're going to go for a promenade. "I'd love to take a stroll."

I want to roll my eyes at him but I'm slowly becoming charmed by his irreverent attitude. He doesn't take himself seriously, that much is clear, and he brought fruit for the girls after seeing how much I enjoyed it. I raise an eyebrow at him. "There better not be the fruit that makes you drunk in that bag."