She glares at me. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“No? Then try me. Beg a little more and see what happens.”
“So I just have to accept your word as law?”
“For this, yes. When I get back we can sort it all out.”
She pouts her perfect pink lips at me.
“OK?” I ask.
“Fine.” She sighs. “But I would just like to point out that I would be a huge asset on this trip and you are going to regret not bringing me along.”
“Noted for the record.” I chuckle, then tickle her neck with kisses until she bunches up her shoulders and giggles.
We lie there a few more minutes. Just basking in our afterglow of sex. But then my door chimes and I hear Jimmy calling from the living room, “Let’s get a fucking move on!”
“I gotta go,” I say. “And you have to tell us what you know.”
She sighs deeply as I untangle our bodies, get out of bed, and start pulling my pants back on.
“Can you do me a favor?” I ask her. Because she has not moved and I need her moving.
“What?” she says, still pouting.
“Can you order me battle armor and weapons from the auto-shopper and have them sent to The Big Dicker?”
She guffaws up at the ceiling. “The what?”
“The Big Dicker. That’s Jimmy’s ship.”
“What the—”
“It’s some constellation from wherever the fuck he says his mother came from.”
“There’s a constellation called the Big Dicker?” She giggles again. “Some planet has a two-dicked alien as part of its mythology?”
I laugh too. “I guess I never thought of that.”
“Where is this planet, anyway? Where they call baby boys Himmy and name star patterns after cocks?”
“Jimmy,” I say. “It’s Jimmy, not Himmy.”
“Isn’t that what I said?”
Oh, man. This girl. “I have no clue,” I say, pulling on my shirt. “But we don’t have time to think about this. Will you order me—”
“Yes, yes,” she groans. “I’ll do it.”
“Good. Just enter my name and the shopper will do the rest,” I say, slapping her ass cheek.
“Ow!”
“Get up, get dressed, and come out in the living room so we can pump you for intel before we leave.”
I grab my boots and go out into the living room to find Xyla poking through my sex toy chest and Jimmy rummaging through my refrigerator.
“What the fuck?” I say, taking a seat on the couch so I can pull on my boots. “Stop going through my shit, you guys.”
Xyla turns, holding up a purple vibrator. “Can I borrow this for a second?”
I get up, cross the distance between us in three steps, grab the toy from her, toss it back into the drawer, and slam it shut.
“I guess that’s a no,” she says. “Too bad. I had plans for that.”
Jimmy just laughs as he backs away from my fridge. Then he scowls at me. “Where the fuck is your armor?”
“I’m getting it,” Lyra says, coming down the hallway. She’s wearing her sexy bodysuit again, this time no boots. And her pink-blonde hair is so messy, there’s no way Jimmy and Xyla miss the fact that we just had sex.
“What the fuck?” Xyla says. “You got off and I can’t take a vibe break in your bathroom before we go?”
Lyra blinks at her three times. Like, What the fuck did she just say?
“Never mind,” I say to Lyra. “Just order the armor.”
Lyra turns to the auto-shopper and begins searching my name. “This one?” she says, pointing to the screen.
“Yes,” I nod, just as the door chimes again. Valor, Luck, and Beauty enter before I can even say enter.
“We ready?” Luck asks. “I put two salvage units in the Dicker just in case we need to float outside the station to find a good way in.” Then he looks at me and frowns. “Where the fuck is your armor?”
“It’s coming,” Lyra snarls.
“Speaking of Lyra,” Valor says. “Draw us a map, princess.” He opens up an air screen with a 3-D version of the Bull Station schematics. But before she can say anything, the door chimes again and Crux enters with Tray.
“ALCOR’s coming with us,” Crux announces, not even bothering with hello. “He says he can hack into the station AI.”
“Dicker can do that,” Jimmy says.
“No.” ALCOR’s voice fills the room. “I have to come for this.”
“Wait,” I say, holding up a hand. “You’re leaving the station? Again? Two times in two days. The only two times in two decades. What the fuck is going on?” I say this to Crux. “You know something you’re not telling us. What is it?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Crux answers, not ALCOR. So that’s telling in and of itself. “But I’m staying here with Tray. We need to keep an eye on things.”
“As usual,” Luck grumbles.
Jimmy and Valor both shoot him a look that says, Don’t start that shit now.
Because Luck has always resented the fact that Crux and Tray stay home on Harem while I hunt down princesses, Jimmy hunts down bots, and Luck and Valor salvage components from far-away systems that ALCOR requires for maintenance.