Chapter 13 : Just Say You're Welcome

Theodora's POV Puffing on a joint, I tried to quell my flashbacks. I was only in my sports bra, weaving stitches through my arm. A rogue tear slipped down my cheek, but I used a bloodied hand to wipe it away quickly. My chin wouldn't stop quivering as I inhaled deeply, releasing a bout of smoke to soothe my torment. My goal wasn't to get high. In fact, I preferred the sensation of being drunk to the sensation of being high, but I smoked to silence the voice. The intrusive thoughts about how I almost got my crew killed. How I got out this time, but my luck was running out. I'd lose my crew just like I lost my platoon back on the Hermes Cluster. All except for Benji and Ellie. My hands shook, my arm aching from my crude stitches. I slapped a bandage over it, letting the pain wash over me. It anchored me into the present, so I wouldn't get sucked back down onto that Cluster with bombs falling around us. Panicked eyes stared up at me as I outstretched my hand, trying to pull them onto our commandeered ship to safety. But it was too late. The first bomb struck and I watched the soldier disappear like he never existed. The explosion threw me backward onto the ship, knocking the sense out of me. I woke to Ellie tending to my burns. Benji was completely silent, toting around the knowledge that he took off, leaving whoever was left on the Hermes Cluster to die. It wasn't his fault. It was my fault we were there. That we disobeyed. That we faced off against a force way bigger than we were. It was my fault they became red mist, nothing left to send home. And I carried that with me everywhere I went. It would be easy to march down to the Medbay and have Ellie use the flesh sealant over my wounds, but I couldn't bear to look at Ellie knowing I was so close to getting her killed. We barely got out by the skin of our teeth. And we weren't even out of the danger. Bloodied rags littered my desk, my first-aid kit open with sterile bandages and instruments. I took a long drag of my joint before stripping off my pants into my briefs. I typically wore sportswear under my clothes on missions. I saved my lacey underthings for hookups. I had to get a look at the wound on my thigh. It hurt the most. It wasn't too bad. I could have been a pincushion, but thankfully phasers were notoriously terrible to aim. I sandwiched the smoking paper between my lips, inhaling the numbing herb inside as I disinfected the raw, angry skin. It wasn't bleeding as bad as the ones on my arms, but it still hurt like a bitch. I used the sterile, self-healing thread to stitch the gash closed. It wasn't as effective as the sealant, but it was a better option when the skin wasn't completely scorched like it was last time. Then I slapped a bandage on it and called it a night. Now all I wanted was to finish this joint and fall asleep and hope I don't have any dreams. The call button on the side of my door rang. Who the fuck was that? I grumbled under my breath and snuffed out the butt in an ashtray on my desk. Without even thinking, I opened the door, not checking to see who it was. The door slid open and revealed Javier waiting on the other side. His arms were crossed, looking worn out, but still just as great as he always did. I envied his ability to look so casually attractive. Meanwhile, I was sure I looked just about as terrible as I felt. Practically held together with duct tape. He swallowed thickly as a thin thread of black muddied the gold in his eyes. But it was gone so fast I thought I might have imagined it. "What do you want?" I asked, sounding way sharper than I meant it to. Standing here, in front of Javier, in nothing but my underwear made me uncharacteristically self-conscious. It's not like I haven't been naked with him before, but I was in control then. It was something I wanted. Right now I felt vulnerable. Completely exhausted. "I just wanted to see if you were okay," Javier replied, glancing around me at the mess I had made cleaning up my wounds. "Fucking dandy," I muttered, crossing my arms. The gesture guided Javier's eyes down to my naked stomach, making it flush with unwanted butterflies. "I just wanted to say thank you for today," he said, meaning every word. "You put your neck on the line for me." Offhandedly, I said, "I'd do it for anyone." "Stop doing that," Javier sighed. "Doing what?" I was too tired for this conversation. And now his proximity started to remind me how good he smelled. How lovely his plush lips felt pressed against mine. Tingles erupted under my skin and lust started to churn my belly. My eyes flickered across his brawny arms and his firm chest that I wanted to see more of. Even in the dark of his rover, I knew he was cut, I just didn't know how cut he was. Then when I thought about our night in the rover, I couldn't help but think about how I bounced on his dick. Using his body in any way I wanted to. Damn it. My core flushed with heat and that alone irritated me. All I wanted was to go to sleep, but the eager bastard between my legs had other ideas. Warmth mottled my cheeks and I looked away from him, fingers ready to close the door in his face. "I'm trying to thank you for today and you're blowing me off," he replied, those plush pink lips frowning. Wetness pooled in my briefs at Javier's very poor choice of words. "Can we do this later?" I snapped. "No. We can't." Javier stepped into my room like he owned the place. Just as much arrogance as the first time he invaded my personal space. I didn't back away from him. But I felt too fucking tired to argue. The smell of his skin plagued my senses, making my mouth feel that much drier. Unlike the arousal that threatened to dampen my thighs. The urge to step forward and press my chest against him, remind myself how good his arms felt, possessed me, but I fought it. He's a client. He's off-limits. That's what I tried to convince myself, at least. "Is it that hard for you to say, 'you're welcome?'" Javier asked. "Yes, it is." Both of Javier's eyebrows went up, his stupidly long eyelashes shadowing his eyes like molten honey. I sighed, trying to still myself. "I don't want you to thank me, Javier. I shouldn't be thanked for just being…a decent person." His eyelashes fluttered at the sound of his name. A lump formed in my throat, the bare skin along my arms tightening. My entire body was thrumming with lust, its electric pull looping around me, urging me to run my hand across Javier's chest. Our experience on Zeus 9 was intense, teetering the line between life and death, it was natural for some of that energy to well up. Javier's eyes darkened as they dropped to my mouth. I couldn't help it as my tongue darted out to moisten it, captivated by his eyes deepening from molten honey to a smoky amber as the pupils expanded. He didn't ask for permission and neither did I as I got up on my toes, crashing my mouth against his. A thick arm instantly caged around my waist, dragging me flush against his hard body. Passion exploded against my skin, tasting it in my mouth as his tongue slid across my bottom lip. A moan spilled from my lips as I parted them for him, one of his hands climbing my back to grip my hair. My scalp cried out in delight. I tilted my head further up, letting Javier plunder my mouth with his talented tongue. Fuck. I wonder what else his tongue is good at. I felt his cock harden against my stomach, pleasure making me shudder. I grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him backward, deeper into my room. Javier's hand left my hair to slap the button to close the door, groaning against my mouth. That sound made my thighs tremble, fraying any other tether of self-control I had. He tore his head back from me, eyes completely black, fangs descending from his mouth. It only made him sexier. He huffed against my throat, feeling wilder and wilder when he pushed me onto my bed, laying his hard body between my thighs. I felt so hungry, bucking my hips up, trying to get some friction to ease the ache growing between my legs. Our mouths met again, taking and taking with so much heat, I could have been on fire. Hell, the ship could be crashlanding and I wouldn't have noticed. I wanted to feel him in my hands, stroke the silky hardness and hear more of those gruff noises as I drove him to the edge of an orgasm, only to bring him back so he would come in my mouth. I wanted to know what he taste like. Feel how good it was to suck him into an obliterating orgasm. I moved restlessly against him. My pussy ached with the helpless need to be filled. Fucked with wild abandon. I wanted to be fucked so badly. Or touched. Rubbed. I was so fucking wet and turned on to the point of pain. All of my pent-up desire came rushing to the surface like a broken dam. "Touch me. Touch me," I whimpered, moving my hips in small circles, trying to notch him where I wanted him through our clothes. Javier literally growled against my mouth, looking downright feral as he drew back, dropping a hand between my legs, feeling how wet I was through my briefs. At this point, I didn't care what I was wearing, just that I needed to come. Like, yesterday. My eyes rolled back as he grazed his fingertips across my swollen clit. I released a filthy moan, spreading my legs further. His touch became firmer, rubbing in tortuous circles, watching me as my cheeks burned with a sex-fueled blush. "You look so good like this." I wasn't capable of a response, but when his hands found the waistband of my briefs, I lifted my hips so he could get the damn thing off. He made a throaty noise of delight, bringing his fingers down to my slit. I whimpered again, arousal saturating his hand like I was a horny teenager getting off for the first time. I would've found it embarrassing if Javier wasn't looking at me like he wanted to lick it all up. "Wider," he hummed, spreading my knees further apart. My thighs were trembling, the ache spreading through my whole body. "Fuck me. Oh, just fuck me," I cried out, wiggling under his hold. "Just take that big, fat cock out and get inside of me." Fuck, I was desperate. But I don't think Javier cared as his nostrils flared, the thick rod in his pants clearly as eager as I was. Before I could reach for his cock, he plunged two fingers inside of me and my mind completely went blank. I moaned loudly when he started to rock them back and forth, feeling for the sensitive ridge behind my clit. Without warning his head dropped between my thighs and he assaulted my body with his tongue. Licking and sucking like I was the most delicious thing he had ever consumed. I cried out, falling back on the bed. I could only hold on for the ride. I fisted my hands into his hair, pulling and guiding his mouth against my core. The noises I made were filthy, and hungry, and if I thought of them after this, I would be mortified. His tongue slipped along my folds in tandem with his punishing fingers. He was groaning against me, teeth nipping at the sensitive flesh in uncontrollable lust. His breath puffed against my thighs and he felt like a wild animal. Every lick sent me higher, bowing my back in pleasure. "Come in my mouth," Javier snarled, fucking me brutally with his fingers. Oh, I wanted to come. I needed to come. My breath hitched as my pussy clenched around his fingers, my clit throbbing and swollen. I stilled, lips parted in soundless pleasure as I came apart under him. "Yes. Yes. Yes," I panted, riding out the waves with helpless jerks of my hips. "Javier." The second his name slipped past my lips, he shuddered, thrusting his hips against the bedspread as viciously as his fingers were thrusting inside of me. He gasped, grunting and quivering as his hips slowly stopped rolling. Did…did he just come from eating me out? Oh, that's sexy. A bolt of pleasure tore through me again, giving me another wave of an orgasmic high. He drew back, eyes still blown to hell, those plush lips of his wet. We stared at each other for a moment, lost in the confusing bliss of a post-orgasm. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath. He pressed a palm against his elongated fangs, eyes filling with a ravenousness foreign to me. I blinked slowly, wordlessly watching him get off me and leave me half-naked on my bed. He couldn't leave my room fast enough. I pressed my palm against my forehead, hearing my door open, and heavy footsteps retreating. Fuck is right. Damn it all to hell.