Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
“Yes, Captain. I’ll go tell everyone right away. Yes, I will. Yes, I will!”
Snuffy bounded down the Gensen’s tube at once, much to my satisfaction.
We were going to get through this, I told myself. I’d had unrest in the Crew before—there was always a way to calm things down. I just had to keep my finger on the pulse of my men and be sure things were going well.
I only hoped I could do it and keep Cass safe at the same time.
25
JESSINA
That night at dinner, the men seemed much more friendly towards me, much to my relief. Jerx and a few of his friends still kept their distance and Gurflug was maintaining an air of hurt dignity, but the rest of them all cheered when they saw me.
“There he is—the navvie that shaved a few days off our trip and got us all drinks!” one of them exclaimed.
“Here, lad—have some punchin!” another said, handing me a small glass filled with pale purple liquid.
“Oh, er, thank you.” I accepted the glass and sipped it. It burned going down but in a pleasant way. The liquor tasted faintly of candied violets, which was an antique treat I’d read about in books from Old Earth and had only tried once, at a festival.
I didn’t dare finish my drink, because I was such a lightweight when it came to any kind of alcohol, but I grinned and raised my glass when the other Crewmembers proposed a toast to me. Beside me, I could see Turk nodding in a satisfied way. He had done this on purpose, I realized. He had sent Snuffy out to let everyone know I had made a good jump and I was the one they had to thank for their drinks.
As I understood it, alcohol was generally disallowed on board the ship—I’d heard Turk talking to Slade about it once and saying that a drunk Crew was a Crew that was likely to mutiny. But apparently he made an exception once in a great while, which was why the Crew was so happy with me at the moment.
I couldn’t help feeling relieved that they didn’t hate me anymore. Well, most of them, anyway. Jerx was going to be my enemy until the day he died and Gurflug was never going to stop being a pompous, lying ass with an over inflated ego. But the rest of the males on board suddenly seemed all right to me.
I still made sure to keep Turk in sight though—I’m no idiot. I stayed in the Mess Hall until he was ready to go and then I followed him down the corridor, back to his private lift.
“Well, I think that went well,” he remarked, as the doors closed behind us and the lift rose to the Bridge level. “The men seem to have a more positive view of you now.”
“You did that—you told Snuffy to tell the men I was the reason they got to drink,” I said. Not really accusing, just stating a fact. But I still felt a little stung that such a step was necessary.
“I had to do something to make them like you—or at least not hate you,” he said mildly. “They all think I’m keeping you to myself and you’re giving me fucking blow jobs the minute we’re alone together. I had to dispel their resentment.”
I could feel my cheeks heating at his frank words and a sudden mental image flashed into my mind’s eye. I could see myself sinking to my knees before him. I would open the magno-tabs that held his uniform trousers closed and pull out the long, thick cock I’d seen in the shower the night before. I could just imagine sucking the broad head between my lips, tasting the secret, salty flavor of his precum…suddenly I was thirsty for it. Thirsty to taste what he would give me after he pumped between my willing lips, giving me what I was so desperate for…
“…all right?”
“Huh?” I blinked my eyes and realized that the lift had reached the Bridge and Turk was standing in the open doors, frowning at me.
“I said, are you all right? You kind of spaced out on me there, navvie,” he remarked.
“Oh, sure. Sorry.” I shook my head. “Just still, er, getting over that time dilation from earlier, I guess.”
“Really? Is it still bothering you?” Frowning, he put a hand to my forehead as though to check for a fever. I had a sudden intense image of him leaning down to kiss me…of his big hands finding my breasts and then slipping between my thighs…
“It’s…um…I’m fine,” I said quickly, trying to push the fantasy out of my head. “But I was wondering if maybe you could…could show me some self-defense moves. You know, like you said earlier?”
I didn’t know where the words came from—I was just trying to say anything at all to keep myself from acting on my vivid fantasy of kissing him…and other things.