Page 5 of Becoming Brandy

Tork and Wrek watched as she was manhandled from the room. Her eyes darted around, searching for help that wouldn’t come. She was completely on her own and at the mercy of these animals.

Abducted twice over. FML.

Drake dragged her down the hallway that glowed with the same purplish black as the other parts of the ship. And she wasn’t surprised when he stopped and placed his hand on the wall, causing it to disintegrate. He shoved her inside with a very firm hand on her bicep.

The room was small and bare, cell-like in nature. He forced her down until she was sitting on the floor. She wrapped her arms around her knees and stared up at him.

“I’ve got business to attend to now, but I’ll be back later. You can show me all the things you are good for.”

She was too stunned to do anything. He stalked out of the room, making the wall close behind him.

As soon as he was gone, she was up, touching all the surfaces, willing the organisms inside to open and let her out. Either they functioned differently than on Han’s ship, or they’d locked out her DNA from accessing the system. It didn’t take her long to figure out there was no way out.

She sat down, gripping her knees again. Her little plan to manipulate Drake had backfired. Now if she didn’t mate with all three of the brothers and get pregnant by one of them, they would hurt Charis. She couldn’t let anything happen to her best friend, but she’d also sworn to herself when she left prostitution that she’d never again let a man make her do anything she didn’t want to again. Apparently, that promise was about to be broken three times over.

Unless she could get out. Or Han would rescue her.

Han would rescue her, right? She’d been with him alone only once, and it was an awkward encounter. Han had known he was supposed to try to procreate with Brandy, but in the end, he’d given up and left to read poetry. She’d had better success with Kahn and Rahan, but neither had been able to produce an heir and had lost interest in her. She was not adequate. A toy they’d become bored with.

So, what would happen to her once these men found out she couldn’t get pregnant? And would Han risk everything for a broken toy?

Charis would insist on Brandy’s rescue if she knew about the abduction. But her friend had been very ill. Would Han even tell her? He might not want to worry her in her fragile state. Maybe they would just decide Brandy wasn’t worth the trouble and let Drake have her. That was more depressing than the last soggy crab leg at a buffet.

To keep her spirits up, she began reciting lines from her favorite movies. She ran through the rescue scene of The Princess Bride—Inconceivable!—and the end of The Sound of Music. She quietly sang songs from The Little Mermaid, Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked. Her mom had been a huge theater buff, having once been a B-movie actress turned porn star. In fact, that was how Brandy was born—a birth control failure during a porn shoot. What a way to be conceived, with her mother double penetrated while faking an orgasm as the camera rolled and a crew watched. Country music singers should write songs about her life. Nothing more tragic than that for an opening scene.

Not that her childhood was all bad. She got to meet people. Travel. Her mom didn’t quit the business when Brandy was born, but giving birth had changed her body and her chance at stardom. Instead, she’d began directing her own porn films. Brandy was not allowed on set, but she did spend time in the green rooms, talking to adults in bathrobes who gave her chocolates and let her ride in their expensive cars. For many years, Brandy thought her mom, and later, her stepdad, made movies people could go see in the theaters. It wasn’t until she was nine and stumbled onto a shoot that she realized what those nice people in bathrobes really did for a living.

Brandy had no idea how much time had passed when the outer wall began to disintegrate again. She stood, trying to ready herself for anything. Wrek entered with a tray of food.

“I thought you might be hungry.” He didn’t bother to do more than glance at her as she took the tray.

“I am. Thank you.” She inspected the contents—a meat that resembled chicken, something brown that seemed like it could be gravy, and a cup of water. Either their food simulator was not as good as Han’s or they were giving her subpar items on purpose. She would not complain. Not if wooing these men was the key to hers and Charis’s safety. “This is really nice. Thank you, Wrek.”

His eyes fluttered. They were a strange shade of purple, almost lavender. There were other tweaks to his appearance, too. He wore leather and black like the rest of them, but his tattoos resembled science equations rather than the tribal swirls Drake sported. Wrek’s hair was longer, curling around his ears and the nape of his neck. He kept tucking strands back in a nervous tick that seemed to increase the closer he got to her. His glance kept landing on her and then bouncing away as if he were afraid.

The quiet, nerdy type. Brandy knew what this kind of guy liked, just as she had Drake’s number.

She set the tray down on the floor, got up, and moved toward Wrek. Closing the gap between them, she tossed her blond hair and licked her lips. “I appreciate what you said about me before. That I was the most beautiful woman on Han’s ship.”

Wrek gulped, hands smoothing hair back that hadn’t moved. “If I was more accurate, I would have said, ‘In my estimation, she is the most beautiful.’ Beauty is subjective and therefore non-quantifiable.”

Brandy smiled. “It’s enough that you thought I was the most beautiful.” She walked fingers up his chest, letting one hand rest on his broad shoulder. He may have been a nerd in spirit, but his body was not; it was broad and well-defined. She licked her lips again, tilting her head so her hair fell away and he could see the expanse of her bare neck.

He watched her intently. His body was stiff as if he was holding back from reaching for her. But she could tell by his breathing that what she was doing was working.

“Are you on break? Do you have a minute?” She puckered her lips slightly, leaning until the tips of her breasts were touching his chest.

“I… uh… I have to get back soon. Drake says he’s first.”

“Drake is first? That doesn’t seem fair. How soon do you need to get back?” She let her hand move from his shoulder to cup his neck.

“In a few minutes?” The rise in his pants now pressed against her. He was putty in her hands. If only she could win him over to her side, she might not need to bother with the others. He might offer to drive her off the ship himself.

She wrapped her other hand around his neck, standing on her tiptoes until their faces were nearly level. Her body was now up against his tight enough she could feel the thundering of his heart. His breath smelled of peppermint. A dimple in the center of his chin made him adorable. His eyes kept darting to her lips, her breasts, and then back up to the ceiling as his heart sped up.

In a seductive, throaty voice, she murmured, “There’s a lot we could do in a few minutes.”

When she felt his hands slide along her hips to rest on her butt, she knew she’d won.

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