Page 20 of The Thren's Fated

“I… I’m fine. It, uh, happens sometimes, but Zegrox had it under control.”

“Customers touch you like that?” he asked, his eyes glowing with their own iridescence as he glared down at her.

“Not here,” she quickly rectified, trying to resist the temptation to rest her hands on his broad chest, instead keeping her arms glued to the wall. “Not usually, at least.”

“On Earth?” he asked, his voice a bit softer, though his eyes no less filled with anger.

“I mean, yeah. Sometimes. But it’s not a big deal…”

A low snarl interrupted her, Screl bending forward so he could lean in close.

“It is a big deal. No one should touch you like that.”

Oh? Like the way he had his tentacles up her dress at Cosmic Pulse? The way he’d dragged her up the stairs before she’d agreed to go with him? The way he’d pulled her into his lap in front of his companions?

“No one except you…” she muttered, and he narrowed all four eyes with suspicion.

Screl was silent for a long moment, his eyes flashing with some sort of emotion she couldn’t read. Though it was a double standard, certainly, it felt differently with Screl. Perhaps because she did want him to touch her in a way she didn’t with that privateer asshole. Still, he had no room to complain about how other males treated her.

“You need to come with me,” he said, gently taking her hand and squeezing.

A tentacle brushed against her neck, pushing her hair aside as if he wanted to see the way her flesh tasted.

“To do what?” she asked, trying to ignore the tension coiling in her center.

His wild scent enveloped her, and she tried to remember that it was just pheromones. That’s all.

“Whatever you wish to do. I’m more than capable of providing for one little human.”

Oh, so now he wanted to be her sugar daddy? As if she could believe something like that. He was like all the others, wasn’t he? Flirting, demanding her attention, and then as soon as she acquiesced he’d send her on her way.

“I enjoy working here.”

It was true. She was coming to appreciate the job in a way she never had at the bar back home. She liked her coworkers and the regulars, and most of the visitors weren’t complete jackasses.

“With males who touch you like that?”

Lena groaned, heat filling her from his firm grip on her hand.

“Zegrox had it handled. That guy won’t be allowed back.”

At least, she was pretty sure he wouldn’t. Greg never bothered to ban anyone, but Ochin didn’t seem to take any shit. Not when there was always a new shipload of thirsty customers docking at the station.

“And there will just be another to take his place…”

He certainly had a point, but no. He didn’t have a point. This was her job, her life, and she could handle herself. Why did he care so much, anyway?

“I don’t need your help, Commander,” she said, her voice low.

“If you prefer to work, I am certain I can find something for you on my ship.”

Oh, and what kind of job would she be able to do on a spaceship? She could only imagine what tawdry ideas he had in mind and was going to brush him off again when she heard a gasp.

“Lena! I was looking everywhere for you!”

Michaela was standing at the door to the empty module with a horrified look on her face.

Screl took a step back as Michaela approached, gently taking Lena’s hand, though her skin still burned from the commander’s touch.