Chapter 25
Hoss ambled along beside him. They had their weapons in hand – Hoss had slung the sledge gun onto his shoulder. Companionship. Baz thought about how that had come about. One day he was fine and normal, his usual self, itching to get stuff done but not really happy with most of it. Jealous too, of Hoss. Then he’d lost his speech, turned into a cyborg with too much muscle, a lot of dick, not a whole lot of reasoning power.
He’d been dazed. Muffled from reality. When you had no words to describe things, the world simplified. For days emotions had been the basis of who he was; they’d prompted his actions. He’d known precisely what he wanted, what turned him happy or sad or angry. He’d missed words but without them he’d sorted himself out.
He wouldn’t say he’d turned from mud into a diamond, but before this he’d been a thousand different desires going in a hundred different directions. Now, he was distilled. Purposeful. Maybe he was a better man. He hoped so.
He had less muscle now too than when he’d gone full cyborg, but he could stand straighter and hopefully he’d grown more brain. Seemed like it. Ember had helped him be reborn.
He knew what he felt for her was real.
Ember was walking ahead of him and Hoss. Close enough to be safe if anything attacked. Far enough away that he felt he could talk without her overhearing.
The little dragon critter, Ig, was sticking around today and was flying here and there. Sometimes it sat on her shoulder. It was transparent but with enough red and black to make it visible. A creature as unique as she was...
Time to say it. “I told her I love her.”
“You too, huh?”
“Yeah.”
They ambled on some more. This side of Verd, the plain was pretty dead flat. No trees. The wreckage of various downed craft kept things interesting. Smoke trails wiggled upward from a few they passed. No one lived. The non-Xatar ones were unmanned.
“Who do you think won, Hoss?”
“Don’t know. Still no signs of anything alive.”
A mech in the distance, a CM brand one, was all they’d come across.
He hefted the arc rifle, let it ride beside his neck. “Talking again is a bit of a high.”
“Really?” Hoss grinned. “Talk my ear off then. So, what are we doing with her? I’ve thought of talking but it didn’t go so well last I tried getting close, in Verd.”
“Things are deeper now, surely, between us all? Why’s she backing off?”
Hoss huffed out a pained breath. “I think she thinks we’ll both be minus jobs with CESS. And...” He looked across at Baz. “Being with an orc and a cyborg will make us social outcasts.”
True. It would. But not to his crew or anyone who mattered.
“I want to talk to her.” He smiled. “We can’t just fuck her and get her to say yes afterward? If we do it right?”
“Hehe.” Hoss laughed softly. “I thought of that. No. Not fair. Not really a binding contract for something that’s the rest of my life and hers.”
“That serious?”
“Of course. I mate for life, half-orc or not. Not you?” His eyebrow cocked. “I want you in this but not if you can’t commit.”
“No...no.” He eyed Ember’s swaying hips, the skirt of her dress twitching to and fro, and he sighed. “No. I’d be in this for life too.”
Who wouldn’t be? With her. His cock agreed, pumping with blood, or whatever the monks had arranged to supply it. Wasn’t just physical though. He loved her, who she was.
“You know, at first I thought all the variety they gave my cock was stupid, but now... Fuck.” He reached into the armor, between its waist and skin, and adjusted himself.
“Now you want to try it on her. Yeahhhh. I want to watch. We’ll get her to talk in Verd. I promise. I’ll get my courage up. I know we can all get this to work. We can buy another ship if we have to. We’d have the funds for something like the Leaf, though we’d have to borrow some.”
The Leaf was still up there. He felt it. The ship was as related to him as his grandma by now. In his blood. He’d get her back.
Baz chuckled. Kinda funny that Hoss needed courage to talk to Ember, though he understood completely.
“I’ll be your wing man, Hoss. We’ll bring her down in flames of lust.”
“Oh!” Hoss plonked his hand on his chest and made an astounded face. “You did save up some good words, Mister Poet.”
He mock-bowed to Baz then they continued on, companionable again, sharing space in that way men did when they knew each other well, trusted each other.
Why had he ever thought being a loner could be right for him? This filled his heart. Hoss and Ember and him. They had to get her to say yes.