Page 74 of Radiant Exception
“No—it’s okay.” I waved her off. “He’s just trying to help.”
Taking my defense of him as an invitation, he sat down on my other side, the warmth of his body seeping through my jumpsuit. I fought against recoiling and instead leaned into him ever so slightly.
Natalie’s eye’s ping-ponged between us before she got up with a huff and began sorting through her comm, her brow furrowing the more she scrolled, likely seeing that despite theRadianthaving a few empty cabins, each of them mysteriously had different maintenance issues which rendered them uninhabitable.
“I—” Natalie opened and closed her mouth, scrolling back through the list to re-check what she was looking at. “There isn’t one.” She looked up at me, her expression pitiful.
“What do you mean there isn’t one?” Cassidy snapped.
Natalie pursed her lips, offended by him taking out his frustration on her. “Cabin seven has a water main leak, eight’s lights have short-circuited, nine somehow got biolocked and none of us are a match and Rion hasn’t been able to override it, and ten was reallocated for storage due to overflow from Vesta.” She listed off the issues with each one.
“What about Chadwick’s quarters?” Cassidy tried. “I heard he got arrested on Vesta after being associated with the diplomat they think is the Phoenix. I doubt he’s coming back.”
I had to hold my tongue at my disgust with how easily Cassidy could lie. As if he didn’t know anything more than what he’d seen on the news.
Natalie shook her head. “We’re under strict orders from IA not to enter or touch anything because of his arrest. That was the only condition in which they allowed the captain to complete the current run.”
I began to sob louder, shaking my shoulders. “It’s fine. I’ll sleep in my office,” I managed through my crocodile tears.
“Lark can stay with me.” Cassidy squeezed my shoulder.
I refrained from smiling. I thought I’d have to try a little harder.
“Maybe she should stay with me…” Natalie again glanced back and forth between us nervously. “We can pick up parts to fix the issues in the other cabins at Ganymede, so it’s only a couple days.”
“No.” Cassidy was firm.
Natalie’s shoulders slumped in defeat. She knew it was protocol to alert the captain, and she probably didn’t want to get in the middle of whatever was going on.
“Thank you, Natalie.” I reached out to her, giving her hand a squeeze and providing a soft and reassuring smile. “I’ll be okay with Cassidy.”
Reluctantly, she let my hand slip through hers. “I’m always here to talk, you know.”
“I know.” I nodded, then turned to Cassidy. “Will you come upstairs with me to get my things out of his room?” I made sure not to refer to it as ours.
“Of course.”
Vaughn looked up from the bed the moment the door snicked open. I was a little sad to see he’d taken down our fort, but we didn’t need Cassidy asking any questions about why a sheet was covering the bed nook.
Cassidy’s presence loomed behind me, and Vaughn’s gaze immediately darkened when it darted from me to my escort.
“We get into one fucking fight and of course you go running tohim,” Vaughn cursed, standing up to use the intimidating factor of his large body against us. “You know precisely how to piss me off.”
“I’m not talking to you,” I snapped, pulling open the cabinet that held my spare clothes and the backpack I’d arrived with.
“You promised me there was nothing going on between the two of you,” Vaughn growled. “I’m a fool for believing you and giving you a second chance.”
“Ignore him.” Cassidy stepped closer, placing a hand at the small of my back while I stuffed my backpack.
“What are you doing?” I could hear Vaughn pacing toward us.
“You said you wanted space, so I’m giving you space.” I waved a tank top at him. “If I didn’t think it would endanger the crew to flywithout an engineer, I’d get off at Ganymede and find another way back to Mars.” I stormed past Vaughn into the bathroom to start gathering my toiletries.
“Space?” Vaughn followed me. “You’re on a ship in the middle of fucking nowhere. Where do you think you’re gonna go?”
“It doesn’t matter, as long as it’s away from you!” I spat, pushing past him to return to the bedroom, but he snagged my arm along the way.
“You’re not leaving,” he snarled.
