Page 82 of Radiant Exception
“But there is a Vaughn and you?” The old man was too nosy for his own good.
“We’ll see,” I brushed him off. I didn’t need to give him the continued satisfaction of knowing that his little stunt of forcing us to work together had actually been successful.
“What’s next for you? I hope you’re not going back to those shitty gigs in Tharsis.”
“She better not be.” Vaughn’s voice surprised me as he approached. He leaned down to wrap me in a quick hug. “Miss me, Trouble?” he whispered suggestively in my ear before placing a chaste kiss to my cheek, then releasing me to shake hands with Darren.
“So you’ll be sticking together then?” Darren smirked.
Vaughn couldn’t hold back a smile as he said, “I was banking on her staying on theRadiantbecause we’ve already got freelance jobs booked out for the next year, and a good engineer is hard to come by, let alone one that is as clever and gorgeous as Lark.”
I buried my hands in my face in embarrassment.
“Plus, if you aren’t around, who will constantly undermine my authority with the crew?”
“It was one time! And I was right, wasn’t I?” I challenged.
“Yes, you were.” Vaughn’s smile grew wider.
“Well, if neither of you are staying at Starlane, I can submit the paperwork to dissolve the exception then,” Darren offered.
“NO!” Vaughn and I shouted in unison, earning a roar of laughter from Darren.
It only made sense to celebrate the fact that none of us had to work for Starlane now that Vaughn owned theRadiantoutright, which was an absolute feat in itself.
Over dinner, I observed the crew, all of whom would be staying on with Vaughn’s new venture. Somehow, this ragtag group had become the family I hadn’t realized I was missing in my life, and in such a short period of time. It became clear to me in that moment just how much I had isolated myself since Xavier’s death, while I’dspiraled and lost myself, looking for the Phoenix, hoping to feel some sort of sense of justice, which, funnily enough, still eluded me.
“The captain definitely values my opinion over yours,” Ethan asserted through a mouthful of food.
“Think what you will.” Jordan rolled her eyes, “My friend is much more qualified for the comms position than yours.”
“Yeah, but my buddy is a hell of a lot more fun.” He leaned in toward Jordan, pointing his fork at her. “You could stand to have a little fun.”
She merely scoffed in response.
I found it amusing that Ethan seemed to be the only person who could get a rise out of the normally stoic Jordan. He just knew every button of hers to push.
“You two should just fuck and get it over with,” Natalie commented through a teasing smile.
Jordan and Ethan froze.
My eyes widened. What had we stumbled upon?
“I’ll fuck her when you fuck Rion.” Ethan turned to point the fork at Natalie.
Rion went beet red next to her.
Natalie rolled her eyes. “Leave him out of this. You want to fight, you can do it with me.”
Rion slunk farther down in his chair, but stole a glance at Natalie.
Surely she knew the crush she harbored was mutual. I wondered if maybe Natalie didn’t want to risk their friendship by pursuing things. I knew firsthand that testing out a new relationship while stuck on a ship in the middle of space was a terrible idea.
“No fighting.” Vaughn stopped his conversation with Darren to assert his authority over the crew.
The three instigators immediately changed the subject.
He squeezed my thigh with one of his big, warm hands, under the table, and heat pooled at my core in response.
