Denied - 84. Chapter 84

We all turned to Captain. He blinked, opened his mouth, then shut it. Aparoe snorted. “For someone so eloquent just a little bit ago, you sure lost it. Sir.” The sarcasm of that added sir wasn’t lost on anyone. “Let’s go find a planet that doesn’t have a ring of satellites and settle there. Eventually all this furor will settle down.”

“They will hunt us.”

“I have my recordings. Deke has his weapons and whatever he’ll come up with while you play at retirement. You’ll come up with a plan, and we’ll take down whatever fools think they can use us ever again. It’s not happening. We’re sticking with you.” Freska lifted one eyebrow and waited.

“When did I agree to that?” Captain said.

We wanted it, the two of us, but the fact the entire crew would come with us… that seemed to surprise him. I leaned in. “Why are you so shocked that you have inspired their loyalty? You’d do anything for them, and they’d do anything for you in return.”

Slowly, he nodded, the motion growing more decisive. “Okay. Okay, if we’re going to do this, let’s do it right. Freska, Danie, can you work together to cover our trail electronically?”

“Not a problem,” Freska said confidently. She hauled Danie out of the conference room by one hand.

“Come on, Captain Querry, show us your list of retirement homes. You know you have one,” Deke teased. “Old man that you are.”

“I’m not that much older than you. And if we’re retiring, I’m not your captain anymore, so knock that rank shit off. We’re all equals here now. We all have a say.”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say, boss.” Deke smirked.

I could tell Captain wasn’t that irritated by him, even though he took a swipe at Deke on his way to the vid screen. And he’d always be Captain to me. Always be the man who came into my cell and coaxed me out, the one who took the time to help me heal the hurt caused by those years of pain and isolation.

“So, this is it, huh?” I looked around. This was only my fifth planet I’d been on since I’d been released. The longest stay had been on the Elite’s planet, though I’d been inside for most of it. Anyas’s planet had been a frozen wasteland, we’d only been on Central’s main space port and city which was all buildings and beings as far as the eye could see.

The first planet that we’d stopped at was probably the closest to our new home. The air was sweet and fresh. There was so much open space, so much to see. The planet was colonized by many species, so their mixed crew wouldn’t stand out too much, but they were on a planet that had no dedicated communication grid.

In other words—it was where people went to disappear.

We both stared at the small house. Our properties were all bordering a small river. The water flowed in many streams over rich ground and sparkling rocks in many colors. “No farming in our plans then?”

“Farming? Why would we do that?” Captain asked.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Seemed like what you’d do on a planet like this.” It was better than the one I’d grown up on before my parents sold me. Here, at least, water flowed. The ground wasn’t dust blown about by raging winds that stole the seed before it could root most years.

Captain turned. He grabbed my arm and ran his hand up it, cupping my cheek. “Did you really think I was going to make you farm, Kohen? After what kind of life you’d had before?”

“I-I don’t know,” I repeated.

“You should.” He rubbed the skin softly. “No, no farming. Maybe some animals, if you ever feel like having some pets. I have enough investments to never need to work again. You can use the vid system to train in whatever field you want, and Deke says you asked to do some weapons training. Danie will probably be over here a lot, and he looks up to you. You’ll be busy, probably too busy.”

His hand slipped to the back of my neck and pulled me closer. Anytime we were this close the warmth of his body and the scent of his skin overwhelmed my senses just as strong as the beginning. But now, now it was pure pleasure.

My breath hitched, and I pressed closer to him. He’d donned casual clothing, giving up the uniforms, but his pants were snug over his groin and ass. They hid nothing of his enjoyment of our closeness. I was rigid as well. His voice dropped into a husky drawl. “Because if I had my way, we’d be totally alone. I really, really want a few months—no, years—where we can just explore our bond.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh, most definitely. It’s going to take at least that long. Probably even longer, if we want to do it right.”

“Anything worth doing is worth doing right, or so I’m told.” I slid my hands down his back to his ass. He might have some years on me, and he might have been the captain and not a soldier anymore, but he had the body of one. Muscles, so many muscles, just begging to be squeezed.

So I did.

He pushed forward. I moaned.

“Should we take this inside?” Hopefully the small house was furnished. He’d bought it sight unseen. Oh well, there’d be a floor even if there wasn’t a bed. He’d slept on worse, and sex up against the wall?

He could so enjoy the hell out of that.

“Yes. Fuck… yes.”