Page 45 of Under His Skin

“Hey,” Alex asked after a beat. “Are you watching the trial?”

Bahjat shook her head. “Nope. It’s boring. I don’t really care what happens to Judge Tracht, anyway.”

So she hadn’t seen what Franziska had said about Tracht. Alex looked away from her, wondering if he should bother saying anything. He kind of wished this were all happening on Atalanta, so he could talk to Nadia about it instead. They’d confiscated his tablet, so he had no way of calling her right now though.

“Do you think…” Alex started. He didn’t know if he could trust her with this. He glanced at her to see if she was judging him, but Bahjat was only looking at him with her ever-amused smile. He wanted to ask her if she thought Franziska and Galanis were right about Tracht. But he decided it didn’t matter what Bahjat thought either, and she’d probably just laugh at him for even asking. “Never mind.”

“Hmm. If you’re sure. By the way, have you had breakfast yet? I think you should eat.” Bahjat looked over at the small kitchenette. “Did they leave food? Or can you eat at the restaurant downstairs?”

He’d had a protein bar last night because he was starving. It already felt like cheating, and part of him had been tense the entire time he ate. But he didn’t think Tracht wanted him to actually starve either. “I haven’t eaten.”

She gave him another once over, then put her hands into her skirt pockets. “Okay. Come with me, we’ll have food. And then I can report back to the captain that you’re doing fine.”

The invitation surprised him. “Aren’t you going on a date or something?” He gestured at her outfit.

“Or something.” Bahjat pulled out her tablet and tapped a message to somebody. “We’ll be done before your handlers come around to check on you.”

That sounded better than sitting around the room, so Alex followed her downstairs. “Can you call Tracht? Maybe I can talk to him with your tablet.”

“Nope.” Bahjat pointed up at the cameras positioned in the hallway. “I don’t mind checking on you, but I’m not going to give the investigators more reason to harass me. Bad enough when Kuroyama went over all my personal records.” For the first time since she got there, Alex saw her scowl. “I don’t like them.”

“Me neither,” Alex said, happy to commiserate. “They’re a douche. I just want to punch their face in.”

“I’d pay to see that.” Bahjat led them to the hotel’s restaurant and picked a seat near the back.

A server showed up almost instantly, pouring them coffee and showing them where the breakfast buffet was. Alex scrunched his face when he saw the weird fake scrambled eggs and the pathetic excuse for cold cuts that they were serving. The hotel room itself was nice, but apparently the place wasn’t high end enough that the food was good.

He missed the food at Anna’s. He missed the food on the Sigrun, even. He remembered how nasty the food was on some of the ships he and Nick had been on, and the Sigrun was actually pretty decent. It wasn’t even just Tracht who ate well, since Alex had gotten food from the canteen plenty of times.

Food was food, though, and at this point Alex was hungry enough that he didn’t care what it tasted like. He scarfed it all down at the table, not caring that Bahjat was once again laughing at him.

“Why aren’t you going on your date?” he asked after he’d taken care of the eggs. “Or don’t you like him. Her. Whoever.”

“I do like her. I’ll go soon.” Bahjat wasn’t eating at all, so she was probably saving her appetite for breakfast with the weird date.

He waited for her to continue, and when she didn’t he pressed, “What are you going to do on your date? Besides eat.”

Bahjat snorted in amusement and picked up her coffee mug. “I guess she’s going to ask me about politics, and my feelings on certain issues, and I’ll ask her about her hobbies and whether she’s ever considered taking a job on a ship. And then we’ll determine if it’s worth getting to know each other more or if the one night stand was good enough.”

“That sounds like a lot of work.” Alex finished his plate and considered getting more. The food wasn’t good, but he had no clue when he’d next get to eat.

“We can’t all enter into a contract with the person of our dreams.” She took a long sip of her coffee before continuing, “Most of us have to work at it and make our own choices.”

That sounded like an insult, but she smiled and winked at him after she said it, leaving Alex confused. He went to get more food so he didn’t have to think about what she’d said.

When he got back, she was done with her coffee and was typing on her tablet. “I’d better go,” she said.

“What? Because you want to ask your date her opinions on politics?” Alex snapped, suddenly angry all over again. Tracht had asked her to come over. The least she could do was hang with him for a bit longer.

“No, I’d rather amuse myself with you. But I see your handlers over there and I don’t think they’d appreciate my presence.” She waved lazily at somebody behind Alex.

He turned around and saw Galanis and the lawyer chick hovering near the doorway. When they spotted Bahjat waving, they started walking over.

“Mr. Stone! Didn’t I say to stay in the hotel room until I came to pick you up? Who is this person?” Galanis’s expression was kind of funny, all pinched up and pissed off.

Bahjat stood up and straightened her skirt. “Yasira Bahjat, First Officer of the Sigrun. I heard that Alex’s contract was over so I came to check on him. I couldn’t leave my friend all alone in a time like this.”

Galanis and the lawyer both looked at her suspiciously. Alex startled too—he didn’t know why she’d called him a friend. Were they friends? Tracht said friends were people who did stuff together and didn’t fuck. He’d counted Nadia as his only friend, although they fucked sometimes if Tracht and Singh and Fontaine made them.

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