Chapter Nine
Jack slipped into the galley using the entrance from the hallway. He knew Blaine was in the middle of giving Bit a lesson, as he had every morning for the last two weeks, and he didn’t want to interrupt by walking through the mess hall. Due to an issue in engineering, he had missed breakfast. Thankfully, Vance kept a tray of leftovers available for those whose duties kept them busy during a meal.
The captain was halfway through a sausage link when he heard the bang of gunfire from the mess hall. Jack glanced up to realize the door leading from the galley to the mess hall had been left cracked open. While the door wouldn’t completely silence the firearm practice, it would deaden it considerably. Jack crossed to pull the door shut, pausing to watch the two working.
Blaine was just stepping behind Bit, molding his form to hers as he corrected her stance. It was a move he used on anyone who came under his tutelage, as did Randal and the other fighters. Jack had no reason to be jealous, especially if he considered the girlfriend he had waiting for him on Mars. All the same, the ugly green monster reared its head.
His relationship with his girlfriend was not as formalized as most. Though he didn’t want to admit it to the other men, Debby had insisted on an open relationship, pointing to his long absences. All the same, the minute he docked at Mars, she was his and his alone.
Jack couldn’t decide if he should feel guilty for the attraction he felt for Bit. The captain choked back a laugh. He didn’t want them to know he was watching.
The laughter sprung from his realization that half the crew had similar attractions towards the young woman. He also knew that half of those vying for her attention would find better company once they were on dry land. Well, maybe not better company, but rather less picky.
With his family and girlfriend on Mars, he intended on staying over for a few days, rather than the usual forty-eight-hour turnover. Besides, he currently didn’t have the next job lined up yet—a situation which continually stressed him.
Jack watched as Blaine’s hand slid to Bit’s waist to adjust her hips.
Jack felt his own desire form in the shape of pressure in his trousers. It had been too long. He hadn’t had the time to find relief on the ground during their stay on Earth. He had been too busy at the docks.
There was always a girl at a cantina willing to provide the one-night relief needed by the space freighters. Maybe Bit would…
No.
Even from his position, he could see Bit tense under Blaine’s touch. She took a deep breath, her shoulders rising and falling with the exaggerated movement, and relaxed into Blaine’s touch. Jack felt his lips curl up in a snarl as he watched Blaine “accidentally” rub his cheek against hers before stepping back and ordering her to fire.
He began to wonder what torments Bit’s past had actually consisted of. He doubted she had actually been raped by a past employer. All the same, it was abundantly clear that she feared the touch of the men in his crew, just as it was clear that Blaine was making fast inroads on that score.
Jack considered Oden’s ploy for the girl. The tattooed pilot was probably the man closest to Bit, though he was not as aggressive as Blaine. Oden had always had an intuition for other’s feelings, despite his rougher exterior.
And then there was Calen. His brother obviously had a crush on Bit, but his night shift was making it almost impossible to court her as the other two were doing. Chances were, though, Oden would be stuck with the night shift after their stop on Mars.
And that was another question—what were they supposed to do during layovers? The men typically fended for themselves or stayed on the ship, but he couldn’t very well let an indentured off by herself. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her. Rather, the authorities would find her and accuse her of running away. At least he had filed the proper paperwork with the feds. If anything happened and she got separated from them, she would be returned to Calen.
Jack considered having his brother sign her debt over to him, or at least, the company so that her work on the ship would be more obviously working toward her debt, but decided to deal with that in the future. He didn’t know if the legal change would put Bit on edge. It meant nothing in the long scheme of things, but she tended to react to the strangest things.
He continued to watch as she fired off another round, her aim improving as the round pierced the dummy in the neck. The gelatinous dummy displayed the hole for a few minutes before reforming and pushing the slug out. The round fell to the floor with a soft clink.
They were nearing the end of her second week on the ship, and he could already see the difference. Not only had her aim improved, but she looked less like a battered skeleton. Despite the gash on her arm, her bruises and the dark circles under her eyes were fading. She didn’t flinch if a crew member stared at her too long, and she even talked to Nolan on occasion.
Jack smiled to himself. Just as Calen had predicted, she was barely recognizable after a week with his crew. He was proud of his men. Other than Nolan’s first moment of idiocy, they had acted like perfect gentlemen towards their new crew-mate. Jack would never have expected the week to go so smoothly, except for the pirate attack.
Jack felt his brows pull together as he forced himself to eat the rest of the cold sausage link. While Bit wasn’t causing him stress anymore, the lack of pirate action was. They were just a few days away from their destination. It didn’t make sense that the pirates, whichever pirate bandit had been, hadn’t attacked again.
They had even had time to make more bombs, these with questionable remote detonations. It was finally decided that if the remote detonation didn’t work, the skiffs could shoot them, causing them to explode near the attacking ship.
Strangely, the lack of attack worried him more than any actual attack would. It was like the calm before the storm. The rest of the crew felt it too. He could see it in the tense way they flinched any time the pilot called for him or the XO to come to the bridge. If this kept up, they were all going to snap, himself included.
Finally, Jack pulled the door shut on the fighter and the girl, and went back to the tray of leftovers. He needed to eat and get back to work.