Page 3 of Vicious
With my pants hiked halfway up my thighs—no underwear for me today—and the arms of my sweatshirt dangling loose around my neck, I declared myself mostly ready and leaned in to Mase for a fast peck. “I’ll see you and your breakfast sausagelater.”
He grinned and opened the cockpit door. “I like this obsession we have with food andsex.”
I chuckled on my way out the door, still trying to dress myself and failing miserably in my rush. The third floor of the ship had been emptied of the many crates full of dried vegetables and grains, and now stood wide open with titanium polished to a dull shine on all sides. Like the rest of the crew, I had once been afraid of what lurked around every corner of this ship, but now my steps announced my location, my gaze trained straight ahead instead of at twisting, creeping shadows. For the first time in my life, I felt confident andhappy.
Which might’ve explained why what I needed to do after breakfast seemed soreckless.
I finally made it to the second floor, through the dining room and into the kitchen, where something popped and snapped on the stove, filling the tiny space with the smell of salted meat. Randolph stood over it with his back turned, an orange Smixton College vest hugging his large frame, his shoulders set in a rigidline.
“Finally decided to show up, did you?” hegrowled.
“I’m sorry,” I said, retrieving a stack of plates from a cupboard. I didn’t even bother coming up with an excuse since everyone knew where I slept at night. “I’ll come with you today to help shop for food, okay?” I leaned next to the stove, careful of the snapping meat. Bacon cut from volanti pigs, from the looks of it. More dessert than breakfast, though I doubted anyone would complain. It was probably all the food we had left. “Twice the eyes, twice the arms. We’ll get it done in notime.”
He shot me a glare from under bushy eyebrows that matched his thick, dark hair. “Well, I wish we had more than volanti, but your boyfriend drank all the milk. You can’t expect me to make anything resembling a proper breakfast withoutmilk.”
I sighed. Mase and hismilk.
By the time I finished setting the table, it was already six a.m. Ellison entered the dining room first, dressed in a crisp white medical smock, and her long braided hair swung over hershoulder.
“Fine,” I said before she could say anything. I’d been fed up with her constant stream of health and wellness questions since she’d boarded two months ago.How well are your scars fading from the Saelis attack? Let me see them. Any soreness from your reset bones? Does your hair hurt while it’s growing in?I hadn’t actually heard that last question yet, but I was sure it would come anyday.
Her gray gaze narrowed, then she shook her head, seeming to brush it off, and sat at the gurney we used as a table. “How about a ‘it’s so nice to see you, dear sister. I do hope you slept well.’” A flash of metal rolled across her tongue, visible long enough to flood my mouth with saliva before it vanishedagain.
I whirled around and slammed through the double doors into the kitchen. My insides squirmed with need, kicking and wailing for a taste of what she had—iron. Sharp and tangy, the thought of it dancing over my tongue crushed my teeth together and triggered the iron-eating parasites within me to dangle off my organs until they got moremetal.
Randolph did a double take over his shoulder, then rushed to my side and guided me to the small table in the center of the kitchen. He fished a silver flask from under his vest and pushed it toward me. I took a sip of straight hot sauce because that was all the convincing my taste buds needed to switch my craving brain to something else, like the lava pouring down mythroat.
“Every morning, Randolph,” Irasped.
He sipped at the flask, too, and a whole-body shudder quaked through him. We shared this morning ritual to fight off our addictions, if only temporarily, but I was glad to have him by my side forsupport.
My sister, a doctor who should know better, was an enabler. She’d originally pumped parasites into me because the metallic iron they fed on repelled the ghosts that had haunted me my whole life. Over the years, she’d become as addicted as I had once been. Okay, wasstill. I’d probably forever be a work in progress regarding iron and the safety it had onceprovided.
“Better?” Randolph asked, his voice rough. His eyes watered from the hotsauce.
“Yeah.” I shoved to my feet and stepped through the swinging doors into the dining room once again, doing my best to ignore everything in Ellison’s direction as I set thetable.
Captain Glenn entered next, followed by Mase who winked when he saw me. Because I was a total head case for him, my anger seeped out the soles of my boots, a heated blush blooming along its path. Feozva, I was such a girl around him, though I supposed it was better than being a fourteen-year-old boy chef apprentice named James, my alter ego when I first boarded this ship more than two monthsago.
“Good morning, crew,” Captain Glenn said, parking his stocky frame in the seat at the head of the gurney. His usual wide, friendly smile seemed pinched at the corners, and he wore clothes the same color as his blackskin.
The sense of foreboding I had about landing on Orin multiplied considerably at his dark attire. Hopefully he wouldn’t be attending any of our funeralstoday.
“I suppose we should try to wrangle up a new table while we’re on Orin,” hesaid.
“Already on the list, Captain,” Randolph said, carrying a small platter of crispy volanti into the dining room. After I took it from him, he pointed his red-rimmed gaze at Mase. “You.”
Mase paused mid-sit, his eyebrows quirked. “Me?”
“You drank all the milk,” I said as I served the captain his breakfastfirst.
Mase sank down on his stool. “Ah, shit.Sorry.”
“I blame you for the lack of breakfast on this table,” Randolph barked. “Learn to drink hot sauce like the rest ofus.”
Ellison’s gaze zipped to mine across the gurney. “Hotsauce?”
I waved the serving fork in the air to stop the flow of tempers and pointless questions. “He didn’t mean it. Nobody meant anything. We’ll get more milk onOrin.”
