Page 28 of Radiant Exception
Without wasting another breath, I pulled my hands back, grabbed Chadwick by the arm, and wheeled both of us out of the engine room, securing the door behind us, before sinking down to the ground, my back against the shockglaze, absolutely drained.
Next to me, Chadwick vomited and then began to sob.
All I could think about was storming up to the bridge and giving Vaughn a piece of my mind.
“DAMIAN VAUGHN!” I roared.
Every single head on the bridge whipped to me in the doorway. Vaughn wasn’t alone like I’d anticipated. Both Ethan and Cassidy were with him. Great. I hadn’t expected an audience.
Despite their attention, mine was solely zeroed in on Vaughn, and he was furious.
“My office! Now!” he bellowed.
Ethan and Cassidy exchanged a nervous look, as I was frozen in the doorway.
When I didn’t move to follow him, Vaughn stalked over to me, grabbed my arm, and dragged me across the bridge into his office, locking the door behind him, before boxing me in, against the wall.
“Don’t you ever call me that again,” he hissed so close to my face that I could feel his warm breath upon my skin. “Do you understand me?”
Without thinking, my anger flared. I reared back and slapped himhard. The blood still pooling from my injuries left a red stain along his cheek and sent flecks of color across both ouruniforms and the floor.
“Don’t you ever put me in danger like that again,” I mocked him, still seething from the entirety of the situation. “Do you understandme?”
Taking a step back, Vaughn’s eyes were wild, lips parted in shock as he evaluated me. I retained eye contact, my chest heaving, refusing to back down from the challenge.
He touched the tips of his fingers to his cheek, where the skin was beginning to redden from the impact of the blow. I wasn’t exactly proud of myself for slapping him, but I couldn’t say I regretted it either.
Vaughn seemed to be stunned speechless by the fact that I had hit him. As if in a daze, he pulled his fingers away from his cheek, and when he found them dotted with blood, his brow furrowed, and his gaze fell to my hand, still dripping on the pristine floor of his office.
“You’re hurt.” He exhaled, his expression softening.
“Thanks to you.” I scowled.
His shoulders fell, the consequences of his order sinking in.
“Your engine’s fixed for now, asshole, but you need to have a couple of replacement circuit boards and a new microfluidics conduit waiting for you at the port. Thanks to Sully, this won’t be the last time this happens.” I turned to leave, having made my point, but he caught me before I could disengage the lock, gently wrapping his hand around my shoulder and pulling me back to turn and face him.
“Let me patch you up,” he requested quietly.
“No,” I replied obstinately.
Vaughn cocked his head, his eyes raking over my face. The mark on his cheek was still inflamed, but the rest of his face had gone pale. “Please.”
I felt my jaw clench involuntarily, but I didn’t move.
Taking my lack of response for acceptance, Vaughn made his way over to his desk and sorted through his drawers until he located some first aid supplies, which he gently set on the desktop. Coming back around to me, he lightly gripped my elbow and led me over to his chair, indicating that I should sit down.
And then he surprised me when he knelt in front of me, placing my injured hand in my lap, palm up, so he could assess the damage before treating it.
I was taken aback by how disarming the simple act of him prostrating himself in front of me was. The anger I’d felt was melting away, despite the fact that I was trying to hang on to it. He deserved my anger, but I hadn’t anticipated that he would be remorseful.
We’d been at odds for days, and I’d thought I had the man figured out. He was stubborn as hell and determined to go it alone, despite being the leader of a team. But there, on his knees, gently examining my hand, it was the first time I’d felt like I’d seen the real Vaughn. Even I had to admit, I couldn’t help but like it.
But then the mood shifted when he provided the context I’d been missing for his boorish behavior and rash commands.
“There was a terrorist attack on Oberon this morning.” His voice was low and calm, but I could feel the turmoil beneath the surface of his repose.
And while he cleaned my wound, with such tenderness and care, despite our earlier spat, he told me what had transpired while he and I had been sleeping.
