Broken Episode One

  Chapter 6

  Mimi bit her lip as he walked off.

  He looked seriously mad. Maybe she’d gone too far?

  Maybe she should apologize when he got back?

  Or maybe he deserved it.

  Though Mimi liked to think of herself as a nice person, that wasn’t always true. Sometimes she got very direct. When pushed, she’d push back. She usually tried to be more tactful than she had been with Josh, though.

  There was something about him that truly irritated her.

  She wasn’t entirely sure it was his murky past, either. Because while she did suspect there was a story there, she realized it couldn’t be too bad; the Academy wouldn’t have taken him on if he was an irredeemable criminal.

  No, there was something else about the man that got to her. She’d barely met him, but it was clear his personality grated against hers.

  Still, it was always better to be polite. And to smile. You always had to smile.

  By the time he made it back from his wander, she was ready to apologize.

  He ruined the moment when he sat down gruffly and shoved her to the side. “Your seat is over there.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You’re on my side.”

  “So you shove me rather than asking me to shift slightly? And what do you mean I’m on your side? You’re way bigger than me, and these seats are tiny. If anything, you’re on my side.”

  Josh said nothing as he sat down and shifted his shoulders about.

  Rather than have his big arms brush up against her, she pulled herself closer to the right to get away from him. However, there was a bulkhead next to her, so she couldn’t move far enough to stop his arm from touching hers.

  She could still hear his breath, feel the heat of his body, and see the cold, angry look in his eyes.

  At the sight of her pressing herself up against the bulkhead, she saw his lips curl.

  “Stay there and shut up, and we’ll get through this,” he said as he crossed his arms, invading her personal space with his massive shoulders and elbows.

  “Excuse me? You know, I was thinking it over, and I was going to apologize to you. I was going to say sorry for going too far. I should have appreciated your feelings. But you know what I’m going to do now?”

  He turned his head toward her slowly, his neck muscles practically creaking. His eyes glinted with a challenging look, one that kind of did weird things to her stomach.

  She ignored her tummy and angled her chin up. “I’m going to apologize anyway, because I won’t be bullied.”

  He snorted. “So this is you apologizing?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry.” She looked at him directly and bowed her head.

  “But?” He prompted.

  “But you have a serious attitude problem. You’re the rudest Coalition officer I’ve ever met. I understand your job is stressful, but that doesn’t give you the right to snap at everyone.”

  “I don’t snap at everyone.”

  “So it’s just me?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Is it because of my father?”

  He gave a low laugh. “I’ve got no problems with Theodore Chester, I just don’t like spoilt brats.”

  “Hey, maybe don’t say my dad’s name so loud, okay?” She asked quickly.

  As soon as Josh mentioned her dad’s name, several people in the transport turned their way. While everyone had been happy to ignore her argument with Josh before, now she was gathering stares.

  Uncomfortable ones.

  Josh darted his gaze around the transport. “They all know who you are. You’re infamous around the Academy. Plus, presumably the ticket was purchased under your name. It’s a little too late to think about discretion.”

  She snorted and tried to cross her arms. But there simply wasn’t room.

  “Fine, let’s go back to our original deal: you be quiet, and I’ll be quiet.”

  “The deal was you would shut up,” he countered immediately.

  “Oh my god, you’re acting like a child. Can you actually hear yourself? Is that anyway for an on-duty special commander to act?”

  He leaned in quickly. “Keep your voice down.”

  “What?” She stuttered, slightly breathless at the sight of a looming Joshua Cook.

  “I said, keep your mouth shut. And don’t say I’m on duty – I’m not. I’m heading to a resort ship for some R and R.”

  She deliberately let her brow shoot up behind her fringe. “Resort ship? You? I don’t buy it. Not only would it make you the biggest hypocrite in the world, as they’re astronomically expensive, but you strike me as the kind of guy who would hate places like that. In fact, you strike me as the kind of guy who never stops working.”

  “Just stop talking now,” he warned. “I am going to a resort ship, and that’s the end of the story.”

  With that, he turned from her and appeared to try to get comfortable in his chair. Yet as he did, Mimi swore he shot a calculating gaze toward the front of the ship and the small command bridge.

  In fact, the quality of his gaze was so concentrated that Mimi realized something had to be up.

  She was certain she was right, and Josh was still on duty. She could bet he would only willingly go to a resort ship if he could ransack it.

  So what was his mission? And why did he need such a flimsy cover?

  As they dwindled into silence and the hours ticked by, she never stopped watching him. He was very surreptitious, but she could see that every now and then he craned his neck to watch the Captain whenever he strode out of the bridge and through the main deck.

  Despite the intrigue of finding out what Josh was doing, it slowly dawned on her that she would have to stay in this seat for the next seven days, pressed between him and the wall.

  Realizing the best and only thing to do would be to sleep through it, she settled down and tried to get comfortable.

  Soon enough she drifted off.

  The last thing she thought as her mind wound down was that it could be worse. She didn’t know how, but surely it could be worse.