Deep (5 page)

“Nothing is going to happen. Last night I was drunk, and it really was a mistake.”

She looked at him. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” he lied.

“You remember when....” She paused, looking away. “Well, I know you remember, and you said that I could tell you anything. Doctor-patient confidentiality, you said. You said that, whatever happened, I could come in here and trust you. Well, it works both ways, you know.”

This was why he loved the crew. They would torment him endlessly, but that didn’t mean they didn’t care. And Mia was right; he could talk to her.

He twisted his hands together, trying to gather the courage he needed. “The old me, the Earth me, was very different. You wouldn’t have liked him. I certainly didn’t like him. That’s who David remembers, and that’s not me anymore. He’s stirred up a lot of things I buried deep, and, well, I don’t want to go back to that person anymore.”

“Different how?”

“Not getting drunk and embarrassing myself for a start.”

“We all do that, Doc.”

Sean swallowed. “It was more than that. I was... I hated that life and I hated myself.”

Mia hopped off the counter and put her arms around him. She pressed a rare kiss to his cheek. “Well, we love you, even if you are a silly fool who can’t take a joke. Now, why don’t you come and eat with us in the mess instead of hiding down here? Joel’s already vetoed any more teasing anyway, so you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“He did?” Sean said, unsure how he felt about that.

“He said you thought we’d want you off the ship. You know, for an intelligent man you really are a moron at times.”

Sean relented. He took his breakfast and followed Mia into the mess. Most of the crew were still there. Sean sat beside Selena. She gave him a knowing wink, but that was all.
I can cope with this
.

When he looked up from his plate, he could see the captain coming down the corridor. Joel’s face was a contorted mess of anger and rage. Sean had seen this mood before—it was the
keep your head down and wait for it to pass
face. He was about to do just that, but the captain’s attention was fixed on him. Sean felt his stomach lurch—was he about to be reprimanded for trying to seduce the captain? Was Joel so angry with him that he wanted to humiliate him in front of the whole crew?

“You’re vouching for that bilge-rat boyfriend of yours,” Joel growled, and then stormed off to the cockpit.

Sean got up to follow him, but the door was abruptly closed in his face. He felt the rest of the crew watching him. The captain had called David his boyfriend, announcing it to the whole ship like it was fact. Sean wavered where he was standing. He wanted to deny it. He wanted to speak to Joel and find out what was happening. But he did neither. David had upset his ship—that took priority.

DAVID HAD BEEN a good friend in difficult times, but Sean was under no illusions about the other man’s nature. David was a catalyst for trouble. He survived on drama and was driven by self-interest. If he’d angered the captain, the feud between them would be unbearable. Sean had to do something to stop it before they started diving and were trapped together for a whole season.

He found David in his bed. The man grinned at Sean as he entered, as though he’d been waiting for Sean the whole time. It was worse than Sean thought. David had angered the captain intentionally—he was playing a game.

“What’s going on?” Sean said.

“Nothing, just sitting here and waiting for you.”

“You and the captain have had words.”

“He thinks he’s getting my cargo, and he’s mistaken.”

Sean swallowed. If there was one thing the captain wouldn’t back down from it was his cargo. If this wasn’t solved soon the eruption would be disastrous.

“It’s the rules down here,” Sean said. “They took a risk coming to rescue you. Your ship could have been contaminated or breached.”

“Yeah, and they would have preferred to find a body and a bounty they could claim for themselves. These people, Sean, they’re not like us. I offered the captain half and he laughed in my face.”

Sean sat on the edge of his bed.

“I need that money, Sean. I have debts and people I can’t afford to screw over. I made a deal with the captain on the
Albatross
. He was giving me a fair share. All I ask is that Captain Riley does the same. And he will, one way or another.”

They were a long way from the surface, and Sean felt the weight of the crushing ocean around him.

“Please, David, let me work on the captain, okay? Don’t do anything that will upset things here.”

David smirked. “You like him, don’t you? I’ve seen you looking at him; it’s very obvious. You know, if you could work him a little—”

“No!” Sean snapped. “I told you, I don’t do that anymore.” He broke away from David. “This is my home. I don’t want any trouble.”

“Well, you could always take my mind off it. It’s a long trip. Maybe if I’m distracted....” David raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Sean stared at the man in his bed. He wondered how easy it would be to surrender and slip in beside David. But that one time would never be enough to keep David occupied for a whole season. Sean had a job to do. He couldn’t spend the rest of his service catering to David’s desires. He needed to speak to the captain and try to reason with him instead.

IT WAS LATE in the day, and the captain had retreated to his quarters. He often hid away when he was in a sour mood. Sean had only been in Joel’s private room once last season, when Joel had thrown his back out and needed medication before he could be moved. It was a neat room with shelves full of books. There were no personal trinkets or clutter. The captain liked things plain and simple. Joel was reading on his bed when Sean entered; he showed no signs of putting down his book.

“You better have a good reason for interrupting me,” he said, not lifting his eyes from the worn pages in his hand.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Sean began.

That at least got Joel’s attention, although the captain looked even more impatient than before.

Sean realized that hadn’t been the most appeasing opener. “Uh, earlier, you said he was my boyfriend. He isn’t. He’s just a friend,” he explained.

“A friend who put his hand down your pants?”

Sean’s face colored. He coughed, trying to keep his nerve. “David doesn’t know what it’s like in the Deep. He’s only been here one season, and I’m sure you remember what I was like when I first joined
Ariel
. I think he needs some time to learn what it’s like on a proper crew so he can understand why we do what we do. His old crew left him to die; it’s not difficult to see why he doesn’t trust us.”

“That’s what you think, is it?” Joel said, finally putting his book down. “That your valued opinion?”

“I just think it will be better for everyone if we take some breathing space.”

“And what if I don’t want him here? What if I want him off my ship? I can do that, and I will do it if he threatens my boat or my crew.” Joel wasn’t playing. “So you tell me what will be best for everyone.”

“Captain, you’re being difficult. If you calm down and think about this sensibly—”

Joel was in his face in an instant, his large frame looming over Sean. “I’ll tell you what’s difficult, Doc. Difficult is taking a risk on a man who is on the run. Difficult is accepting forged records, knowing if the authorities come looking at my books they’re going to see one big felony staring them in the face that I can’t pretend I didn’t know about.”

Sean paused. In the three seasons he’d been with
Ariel
his criminal history had never been an issue. His documents weren’t the best forgeries, and the captain spotted that before he even made it onboard. But he was still given a place on the crew, so Sean had assumed they were good enough to fool the authorities. Now he could see how his presence on the boat put them all in danger. It was illegal to mine without proper documentation, and even more illegal to take on Earth fugitives and hide them in the depths of the ocean. Sure, the law didn’t bother most of the ships in the Deep, but that was only because the law never took an interest unless it had to.

“He knows about you, and if he tells, they’re going to dig you out, and what else will they uncover? You know Selena and Kyle aren’t exactly legit either. That bastard reports me, we are all going down. You think you can handle that? You think you can handle jail time? Maybe you can. But can you see Selena making it? Or Kyle? I took a risk bringing you here.”

“I know, Captain.”

“And that bastard knows all about you. So what do I do? Do I give him what he wants and hope he doesn’t ask for more? Do I stand my ground and hope he backs down? Or do I float him and keep us all safe?”

Sean had to think quickly. He knew the captain wasn’t a killer, and if he floated David it would hang like a noose on his conscience forever. But what else could they do?

“I think maybe if I spent some time with David,” Sean said. “Maybe I could make things better, or at least keep him away from you and the rest of the crew until we can come up with something better.”

“Well, you better do something, Doc, because otherwise there is going to be a whole lot of shit on my boat and I won’t stand for it.”

“Please leave it with me, Captain. I’ll sort it out. I promise.”

SEAN’S CONSCIENCE WAS heavy. He walked into the mess and saw Selena talking with David, and the idea of her coming to any trouble scared him to death. In her youth she had been caught on an illegal salvage ship and was banned from Deep mining for life. Most captains would never have hired her, but Joel took a chance and turned a blind eye to her record. Kyle’s story was the same, and maybe Mia had more of a hand in hiring him, but they were both too innocent to face jail time.

“David,” Sean said, clearing his throat. “Can I have a word?”

David gave Selena a playful wink before he followed Sean back to the safety of Sean’s room.

“So I take it your talk with the handsome captain hasn’t gone as well as you hoped.”

“Did you tell him you’d report him, report about me?”

David folded his arms. “What if I did? I told you, I need that money.”

“You know the people who are after me, David. You know what they would do to me if they caught up with me. Would you really do it? Would you sell me out, knowing what would happen to me?”

“Of course I wouldn’t,” David said, but Sean could see the lie in his eyes. He would do whatever he needed to. Sean couldn’t even think about himself; all he could see was Selena and Kyle being carted off in shackles, both suffering at the hands of a vindictive head of law enforcement who would no doubt do anything to hurt Sean.

“They’ll arrest you, too. You helped me get away.”

“I hate to disappoint you but I bought my freedom a long time ago.” David sat on Sean’s bed. “Cops picked me up two days after you left. Hauled me in front of Judge Turner himself.”

Sean closed his eyes. Judge Turner was a man he didn’t want to think about again. The head of all things justice, he was the most heinous man Sean had ever slept with. “What happened?”

“You pissed off a lot of important people, Sean. Men who won’t let you walk out on them again. They all wanted their vengeance. Turner said they’d let me off if I signed a statement.”

“What kind of statement?”

David sighed. “They didn’t want people to know their little rent boy had ripped them off. They wanted me to testify that you were nothing more than an educated thief.”

Sean understood; in fact, he’d almost expected it. He couldn’t even blame David for selling him out—it was the price to pay for pissing off psychopaths who were used to getting what they wanted at any cost.

“My record is clean,” David said. “Yours is pretty bad. If they catch you it’ll be life in prison. They won’t settle for anything less. And you know they will all have access to your cell, too.”

“Are you trying to threaten me?”

“I’m telling you how it is. Look, Sean, since you left things went pretty downhill for me. Nobody back home wanted anything to do with me. I made some bad decisions. I mean, why would I be down here if I didn’t have to be?”

“You were always resourceful before,” Sean murmured.

“I always had you before.”

Sean felt his conscience again. He’d barely thought about David since arriving on
Ariel
, and his friend had suffered because of him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, sitting beside David. “And if there is anything I can do, you know I will.”

“But you won’t give me my share.” David pouted.

Sean sighed. “This is my home, these people are my family, and we’re struggling here. Really struggling.”

“Are you fucking him?”

“No,” Sean snapped. “I’m not fucking anyone. I haven’t since—” Sean stopped. He hadn’t slept with anyone since he left David. “I told you, I don’t do that anymore.”

“So you’re what? Celibate? And you’re happy with that?”

“There’s more to life than hopping from one bed to another. You know I never really liked it.”

“You’re seriously telling me if the captain asked you’d turn him down?” David challenged.

Sean wanted to say that he’d refuse, but he couldn’t lie. If Joel asked, he didn’t know what he would do—apart from blush. Before David arrived, he would have been more comfortable with the status quo, but now things had shifted and Sean wasn’t sure how he felt.

“See. You go on and on about not liking sex and that’s crap. You started all those games; you just couldn’t stop them when they got out of control.” David leaned dangerously close. “Besides, I saw how much you wanted it last night. I can see how much you want it now.”

“David,” Sean warned.

“Come with me.”

“What?”

“Come with me. Let’s ride out the season and then go. Me and you, like the old days.”

Sean hesitated.

“Come with me and your precious captain can keep his money. If we’re together we can work a scam, get some cash another way.”

“David, I....” Sean started.

David laughed, shaking his head. “I get it. It’s fine. You keep pining after your platonic relationship with your captain. I think I prefer Selena anyway.”