Page 67 of Choosing Jenny
“Is there someplace on this ship for us to speak privately?” he asked.
I led him and Rhonda to the cargo hold. It was empty with regards to people, but full of crates and equipment. We sat on two boxes across from each other.
“What is it?” I asked.
Mal held my gaze. “You want to tell me about what happened with Sam?”
I took a deep breath and told him everything. “…I know Surge is partial to Sam, but Surge is right. If Justice blackmailed her into doing what she did, then it’s not her fault.”
Anger flashed in Mal’s indigo eyes. “Guilt will be decided later. For now, I’m just relieved you’re all alive and with us. Aside from that, I am impressed you tried to comfort Longshot, after he had been harsh with you about Rex.” Mal hesitated for amoment before continuing. “I know Rex is a tough topic for you, and Longshot should have been more sensitive to your…no.” He shook his head. “Ishould have been more sensitive to your worries. If I had been, Longshot would have followed my lead on the matter and wouldn’t have been so terse and dismissive with you. I will stay away from Rex to the best of my ability to keep you from being hurt. Nothing is worth hurting you, Tiger love.”
It warmed my heart to hear him say his pet name for me, but I shook my head. “Longshotwasterse and dismissive, but he wasn’t wrong.”
Mal blinked. “How do you mean?”
“Longshot knows flirting or anything else with Rex needs to be on the table to finish things with Justice. I should have accepted that before now. I should have…” My voice cracked a bit and I cleared my throat. “You need to be able to do whatever it takes to end Justice. If that means you have to seduce Rex, then I need to make my peace with it.”
Mal’s brows rose in shock. “You’re serious?”
I swallowed my pride. “I don’t have to like it, but if that’s how this goes, if that’s how we can unseat Justice, then I want you to do whatever it takes. We were trapped in that cave because of Justice and what needs to be done to bring him down, which means Longshot lost his hand because of Justice. Jenny was shot because of him, too. There is too much at stake. All of that is bigger than my feelings.”
Mal’s eyes shone with emotion. “Nothing is more important than taking care of the man and woman that I love.”
“Ending this dispute between the three of us will do exactly that,” I said, meaning it. “The soonereverythingis over, the sooner we can have a calm and peaceful life together. The chaos, the mania, whatever you want to call it, I hate this. I need it to be over.”
A slow smile curved his lips. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this out of you.”
“Which part?”
“The part where you’re being so pragmatic that I could fuck you right here and now.”
I laughed hard. “As much as I missed you, my entire body is sticky and gross from the cave, so no thank you, please.”
“Fair enough,” he said, understanding. “But later, I’ll make good on that promise.”
I had no doubt he would and looked forward to it. “Any word on Jenny’s condition?”
“Just that Sam shot her, and she needs to see Ode, but that she’ll be okay,” Mal said, repeating what Jac had most likely told him. “Allegedly.”
I knew how he felt. “I won’t rest easy until I see her for myself.”
He nodded, absently stroking Rhonda’s head, who was clean again. “I can’t believe Deacon just picked Longshot up like he did.”
“Deacon is a lot stronger than he looks—”
Mal shook his head. “I don’t mean physically. I mean because ofher.” He looked down at Rhonda fondly. “Deacon has been so wary of her.”
“He’s a good man, Mal.”
“I’ve come to realize that. He didn’t even hesitate. He saw a crisis and just stepped in to help,” Mal said, sounding astonished. “There was no concern for what Rhonda might do to him. I doubt there’s strigella antivenom on this ship. He put himself at risk for Longshot, without a second thought. I’ll never forget that.”
“All of this trouble for those,” I said, pointing at the rucksacks Lanai had dragged in. “Surge managed to collect the eggs in his rucksacks. I didn’t ask how. I was just glad he wasable to do it. Even if we weren’t going to get out of the cave, I needed to see them. To know all of this hell wasn’t for nothing.”
Mal walked to the rucksacks and opened one up. He pulled out one of the so-called eggs. It was the size of my fist, crystalline, with yellow and black formations, and a streak of silver veining.
He marveled at it. “This is actually quite beautiful.”
“Surge said the eggs hummed when he touched them. He’s not sure what it means.”
