Page 13 of Radiant Exception
“SURPRISE!” they shouted in unison, followed by a sharp pop of a champagne cork.
“I said no parties, Reese,” Vaughn grumbled, giving Natalie a hard stare, who, to her credit, only preened at the admonishment.
“Explains all those times you snuck off ‘to be alone.’” A burly guy with light hair and fair skin used air quotes to punctuate the last three words before clapping a hand on Vaughn’s shoulders. “Who knew you had a side piece?”
Vaughn cleared his throat. “Lark is my exception.”
Did he just stand up for me?
The man’s gaze slid to mine, a big, toothy grin strung along his face, not at all concerned with Vaughn’s correction. “Ethan O’Malley.” He stuck out his hand for me to shake. “Security and compliance.”
“Lark—chief engineer.” I wasn’t sure if I liked this guy, but I took his hand nonetheless.
“Oh ho!” He glanced up at Vaughn while shaking my hand. “Bagged a smart one, Captain! Didn’t know you were into that.” His jovial laughter filled the mess hall, and the other crew members seemed amused by the interaction, except for Jordan, whose face was an unreadable mask as she observed from the back of the room, away from the others.
Finally releasing my hand, Ethan turned abruptly. “Bancroft, where’s that moonshine you’ve been making?”
Rion’s face went red, his eyes darting to the captain, then to Natalie.
Vaughn merely shook his head, as if this was all so standard. And I supposed it was, but being around this group, who clearly cared foreach other, made me feel a bit of an interloper, and wasn’t I, after all?
“I was saving that.” Vaughn huffed as Natalie gave him a glass of champagne.
“For what?” She beamed. “A special day?”
Vaughn didn’t reply.
“An exception seems like a worthy cause for celebration, don’t you think?” she goaded him.
With a scoff, Vaughn released my hand to take the glass from Natalie, and then, without another word, made his way over to Jordan at the periphery of the room, likely to discuss the ship diagnostics, which I could have told him looked fantastic and ready for takeoff, at least on the engineering side.
“How are you settling in?” Natalie slid next to me, another glass of champagne raised for me.
“It’s an adjustment.” The closer I could stay to the truth, the better. I took a sip of the drink; it was sharp and crisp, albeit a little stale. But who was I to judge?
“The captain is a typical Aries. He’ll settle once we’ve departed. He always gets anxious right before takeoff—lots to check, lots that can go wrong,” she noted. I hoped she didn’t question that I didn’t know this about him already. “You seem a bit nervous.”
Did I?
“I’ll be fine, once I’m through the ‘questioning all my life choices up to this moment’ stage,” I joked.
But neither Natalie nor I laughed.
“Have you met Chad yet?” she thankfully changed the subject.
“It’s Chadwick,” an annoyed voice sounded from directly behind us, causing me to spill some of the liquid from my glass as I spun around to face the young man who had spoken.
“Right. Sorry, Chadwick.” Natalie smiled between us, but her demeanor was slightly off. “Lark, this is Chadwick Rothschild, our junior officer on board.”
Rothschild, I knew that name—one of the C-suite execs from Starlane. And then Natalie’s icier facade made sense.
“Nice to meet you.” Like the others, we shook hands. The clamminess of his was off-putting, but I’d interacted with worse. “I’m glad I’m not the only new crew member.” He looked every bit the son of an executive, with a well-groomed appearance and an entitled disposition.
“Me too,” I returned the sentiment.
“Chadwick actually applied for the chief engineer position, but didn’t have enough experience under his belt yet to qualify, so I’m sure he’ll want to shadow you to learn more.” Natalie’s expression was amused, although her tone was serious. “He’ll be helping us keep the ship clean and stocked, so let him know if you need anything.”
Chadwick’s jaw clenched. It appeared he wasn’t pleased with the position, or the work required, but even nepo babies had to start somewhere, and your last name meant nothing if you couldn’t do the work.
