Page 5 of Bearing Secrets
“It must be you, Kirell.”
He took a deep breath and rose, looking his Queen in the eye. “Then I would be honored to fill the position of Captain.” He avoided glancing down at the still warm corpse of the last person to occupy that position.
“Good,” his Queen said with a little smile. “Then I have your first command.”
3
“I can’t believe the year’s over already.”
Eyeing her best friend, Natalia grabbed a pillow off her couch and chucked it at Loren. “Don’t say things like that, you mopey loser.”
The pillow bounced off Loren’s face and fell to the ground, just out of reach for her friend to grab it and return fire. Giggling, Loren tossed her the finger instead.
“Ouch. Better keep that, you’re gonna need it. Especially if you really did kick Jeremy to the curb.”
“Rude! Besides, I don’t—”
Cutting her off, Natalia threw up her hands. “I love you, but I don’t need to hear explicit details of your masturbation habits, you pervert!”
Loren sighed noisily. “Only I would be best friends with a prude. Whatever; you’re just frustrated that I was getting some constantly for the past few months.”
“Right.” Natalia made her voice as dry and sarcastic as possible. Truthfully, she didn’t care one way or another, except when the noises could be heard through the walls. “How did we get onto this subject again?”
“You brought it up.”
“So, did you get rid of Jeremy?”
“Yes. He was getting too clingy. He wanted me to meet his family! Can you believe that?”
Natalia frowned, sitting up. “Wait,that’swhy you broke up with him? You guys were together for like four months, how is going to his parents’ place for dinner that big of a deal? You’re not fifteen anymore.”
“Are you kidding? I would have been all over that when I was fifteen. My mom couldn’t cook worth a damn, bless her soul.”
“You’re hopeless.” She wished there was another pillow to throw.
The pair had been nearly inseparable since their first class of second year undergrad, and now—six years later—they were both finishing their grad school together. And they’d applied to the same companies, in the hopes of working together. Loren had gotten two job offers earlier in the week, but Natalia was still waiting.
Before Loren could respond, there was a sound from the front door. It wasn’t a knock, but it was—
“Mail’s here!” Loren yelped, bolting up from her seat and making a charge.
Hot on her heels, Natalia had to skid to a stop to avoid slamming into her friend from behind as she bent over to get the mail lying on the floor.
“Wow, easy there, tiger,” Loren teased. “Warm me up first if you’re gonna come charging in from behind.”
“Oh, God. I’m calling Jeremy and telling him he left one job unfinished if you don’t cool it, you horndog.”
Loren was…an active bedroom participant, to say the least. And she liked to talk about it. A lot. Though Natalia wasn’t the prude she’d been accused of being, there was a distinct difference between the two. Both in their appetites, and their…openness…about it.
“No, if you want that, don’t call him, call…” Loren’s voice trailed off.
“What? Call who?”
“It’s for you.”
“Me? Listen, I’m flattered, but I’m not interested in women.”
Loren exploded into coughing laughter. “Not that, you twit, though we both know that’s a lie. I remember one—”
