Virgin (3 page)

She opened the hinged box, struck as always by the eternal beauty of the crystal. Shaped like an offset obelisk with a wide, faceted point at the base, its aquamarine color and perfect clarity sent flashes of blue-green fire dancing across the dingy walls of the flat. Ava wrapped her fingers around the hard, cool planes, marveling at how perfectly it fit in her hand, measuring the full width of her palm. Sometimes she thought she heard the crash of waves on a distant shore when she held it, could almost feel those same waves rocking her gently, reminding her of a homeworld she had never seen. Whether from the feel of the stone or the unspoken love it represented, she derived comfort from it, along with a measure of strength—both of which she needed rather badly at the moment.

She had tucked the box in her pocket and was about to head out the door when Lars came bursting into the kitchen. “You liar!” he roared. “You’ve packed your clothes!”

“That’s what people normally do when they decide to call it quits.”

Lars calmed down suddenly, and when he spoke, he sounded almost normal, but with a twinge of desperation in his voice. “You can’t leave.”

“Why not?” she demanded. “I don’t owe you anything, Lars. I’ve had enough. I’m leaving, so you can just get over it.”

“You can’t leave,” he repeated, seizing her by the arm. “It’ll mean my death.”

“I doubt that. You’ll just have to find some other sucker to take care of you.”

“You’re not going anywhere!” he shouted, twisting her arm painfully.

“You’re hurting me!” she screamed.

With that, he threw her against the wall. “I don’t care,” he snarled. “You’ve got to stay. I’ll chain you up if I have to.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Then don’t make me do it.”

“I’m not making you do anything,” she said, panting. “Just let me go, Lars.”

“No,” he said flatly. “I can’t do that.”

Ava straightened up to her full height, which was about two-thirds of his. “Then make me want to stay.”

Lars just stood there, an unreadable expression on his face.

Ava nodded. “I didn’t think so.”

“Where are you going?”

“To Aquerei to find my father.”

All the color drained out of his face. “You can’t go there. Besides, your father is dead.”

She stared back at him in frank disbelief. “And just how would you know that?”

“I—I just know.”

“A likely story.” Ava shook her hair back defiantly and started to walk past him. If she could get to her pistol, she could stun him with it—maybe.

For one brief moment, it seemed as though her ploy might work, but as she approached, Lars made a grab for her. This time, however, Ava was ready for him. She made a dive for the stove and, hoisting the heavy skillet with both hands, she swung it in a sweeping arc, striking him in the head. Lars dropped like a rock—a really
big
rock.

Snatching up the trash bag that held everything she owned, she stuffed the charger into the bag and pocketed the pistol. “Good-bye, Lars.” She heaved the bag onto her shoulder. “It’s been grand, but now I’m outta here.”

Chapter 2

If Dax was skeptical, who could blame him? After all, perky blond waitresses generally didn’t book passage on his ship, especially not after talking to Waroun.

“I’m not making it up,” Waroun insisted. “She wants to go there to find her father. Apparently life with Lars isn’t all she’d hoped it would be.”

“Well, then why the hell didn’t she ask me?”

Waroun gazed pointedly at the ceiling while tapping his flippered foot. “I should have thought that was perfectly obvious.”

He was right, of course. The fewer conversations Dax had with pretty women, the better—especially when they had boyfriends like Lars hanging around.

“Nobody ever suspects anyone to be arranging romantic liaisons with a Norludian,” Waroun went on. “Isn’t that why I’m your partner—so the women can feel safe? Not that we transport that many women, but—”

Since this was the least likely reason he would ever have gone into business with Waroun, Dax doubled over with laughter, drawing a few stares.

“Or did you do it just to piss off Jack?”

Dax wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. “No, I did it because you’re an unscrupulous rascal who can navigate all the way to hell and back. The fact that it pisses off Jack is just an interesting side effect.”

“Only interesting? Not satisfying or welcome?”

“Yeah, just interesting,” Dax replied. “I like Jack a lot—I really do!—but she can be a bit overbearing at times.”

“True. I just wish she’d let me—”

Dax held up a hand for silence. “Don’t say it, Waroun. I really don’t want to hear what it is you think she should do—and she wouldn’t do it anyway. She’s too much in love with Cat—and Cat would probably kill you if you tried it.”

Waroun let out a deep sigh. “
Her
loss…”

“So, tell me more about this trip to Aquerei,” Dax said, swiftly changing the subject. “Is she serious? Because, if so, she’ll need to hurry.”

“Already got your eye on her, do you?”

At this point, it seemed prudent to deny it, no matter how true it might be. Waroun would drive him completely crazy if he had any idea what had been going through Dax’s mind. “No, so you can wipe that smug look off your face.”

Waroun laughed. “You know where Aquerei is, don’t you?”

“Not off the top of my head,” Dax replied. “But I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”

“It’s in the Norludian sector.”

“Ah, so that’s why she asked you instead of me.”

“No, she asked me because I made a remark about the bruises on her arm, which led to the rest of our conversation.”

Dax’s stomach twisted into knots. “Jack said Lars would probably beat the shit out of her as soon as they left here. Damn, I should have creamed him while I had the chance.”

“That certainly would have been interesting,” Waroun commented. “He probably outweighs you by ten kilos.”

“But I’m taller and quicker on my feet,” Dax pointed out. “Longer reach. That’s a plus.”

“Better to just blast him,” Waroun said. “You’ve got a good pistol. Even with your rotten aim, you probably could have hit him.”

“Don’t start that, Waroun. I miss a shot at one lousy Herpatronian and you have to rub it in forever.”

“Perhaps I do tend to harp on it, but if he hadn’t been coming after me, I might have been more forgiving.”

“Dammit, Waroun, I said I was sorry!”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it when something as big as a Herpatronian lands on you.” Waroun wiggled his left arm pathetically. “I may never be the same.”

Dax rolled his eyes. “That arm healed up just fine! The doctor said—”

“Forget that,” Waroun whispered. “She’s back.”

Dax glanced up at the door, but all he saw were a couple of Drells creating a stir by shoving a pair of Cylopeans off their barstools. The hideous Cylopeans were retaliating by dragging the Drells off by their floor-length hair when Dax felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Can we go now?” Ava said urgently. She was breathing hard, as though she’d run all the way, and her light blond hair was swept back from her face and flipped up in the back, reminding him of a swan’s folded wings. She still wore the clothes that were at least partially responsible for Dax’s skyrocketing temperature, and her only luggage was a drawstring sack slung over her shoulder.

“This is Ava,” Waroun said, introducing her as though assuming Dax wouldn’t have noticed her name—which ordinarily would have been true.

Dax gave her a brief nod in greeting, avoiding her eyes. “Where’s Lars? Back home sleeping it off?” He inhaled as deeply as he could without being obvious and almost choked on his disappointment. Nope. No desire there at all. Dammit.

Ava’s expression darkened. “More like he’ll need stitches. I hit him over the head with an iron skillet.”

“Should’ve done that before,” Waroun remarked. “Would’ve saved you some bruises.”

“I
have
done it before,” Ava said. “It’s the only way to get him to shut up. I was just a little more energetic this time.” Pulling up a chair, she plopped down in it, setting her sack down beside her. “I hope you don’t object, but I’ve changed my mind about where I want to go. I think Rutara would be best.”

“Oh,” said Dax. “And why is that?”

“That’s where my mother is from—well, where she lives, anyway—and where I grew up. She’s Terran, actually. I haven’t seen her for a long time, and there are some things I need to discuss with her.” Afraid that sounded a little weak, she added, “Besides, I have an old boyfriend there; maybe we can get back together.”

“You seem to have really rotten taste in men,” Waroun observed. “Are you sure your old boyfriend is any better than the one you’ve got?”

“Anyone’s
better than Lars,” she said with a shudder.

Waroun’s eyes lit up with lascivious delight. “If that’s the case, I could—”

“Figure of speech,” Ava said, waving him off before Waroun could go any further.

With her gesture, Dax noticed the thin web of skin between the base and first joint of each of her fingers. He tried to recall what he’d ever heard about Aquerei, but other than the fact that the surface was one big ocean with very little land and that, according to Waroun, the natives liked to mate underwater, he couldn’t remember very much.

“What makes you think he’d be waiting for you?” Dax asked, sensing a ray of hope.

“He said he would,” Ava replied. “Russ is a good man. I should have stuck with him—can’t for the life of me remember why I left him for Lars. I must’ve been out of my mind.”

Dax knew practically nothing about women, but he’d heard about the “bad boy” fixation so many seemed to have. He didn’t understand it; leaving a good man for a bad one made no sense whatsoever, but then, he’d never been in love. “Do you really think he’d be that patient? I mean, how long have you been gone?”

“About…” Ava stopped for a moment, as though figuring up the time in her head. “Wow, it’s been longer than I thought! Almost five years.”

Dax was incredulous. “You mean you’ve stuck it out with Lars for that long, even knowing you had to knock him out to shut him up?”

Ava shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t
all
bad.”

“As big as he is, his dick must be humongous,” Waroun said with a smirk. “But perhaps you’d like something slightly different.” He ran his tongue over his lips and reached out toward Ava’s hand with a sucker-tipped finger. He had just made contact when Dax spotted him.

“Knock it off, Waroun!”

“Only one little touch,” Waroun protested. “Just a sample of her essence.”

Glowering at Ava, Dax went on, “Don’t ever let him touch you.”

“Why not?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Oh, really?” she said, squaring up to face him. “And what’s so bad about letting him touch me?”

“Never spent much time around Norludians, have you?”

“Uh, no…” she replied. “I mean, I’ve seen them here in the bar before, but—”

“Well, unless you want to get fucked by one, don’t let him touch you.”

Waroun’s bulbous eyes narrowed with suspicion as he crossed his arms. “You’ve never warned anyone else.”

Dax winced as the Norludian began sticking his suckers onto his own skin and then pulling them off with a loud pop—something he tended to do when he was irritated.

“I never
needed
to warn anyone else,” Dax pointed out. “And don’t
do
that!” he added as Waroun popped off another fingertip. “It drives me nuts!”

Waroun stuck out his tongue in the Norludian equivalent of
“Fuck you.”

“Just take a look at him if you don’t believe me,” Dax said to Ava. “His tongue’s already getting hard.”

Ava’s eyes widened. “You fuck with your tongue?”

Waroun grinned. “And I promise you would like it.”

“I think I’ll pass.” Clearing her throat, she turned to Dax. “How much to take me to Rutara?”

“How much have you got?” Dax countered.

“Enough,” she said evasively.

“Enough for what?” Dax shot back. “Enough to book passage or pay for dinner?”

Ava hitched in her seat and focused her eyes on the table. “Well, I don’t know how much you’d want…”

“I will pay her way if she will fuck me,” Waroun said promptly. His eyelids drooped as he stole another glance at her. “She excites me a great deal. Oh, and just so you know, Ava. You have to do me before you can do him.”

Ava shuddered. “I don’t want to ‘do’
anybody
! I just want to go home!”

Dax felt his chances with her plummet yet again, that realization making his reply more brusque than he’d intended. “Well, now that we’ve established that, we can get on with the transaction. I repeat: How much have you got?”