Blowback (36 page)

“My toy,” she whispered against his neck, her breath warm.

“Yep, I suppose I am,” he agreed. He flexed his arms and
legs, checking the strength of the restraints. Nothing gave.

“I’ll be back to play with my toy,” Da’shay promised before
placing a kiss between his shoulder blades. Tom frowned, not sure what she
meant by that, but then she headed back over to the pilot’s station, wiggling
her ass far more than necessary. Tom groaned as he realized the game she was
playing with him, and tied hand and foot, there just wasn’t a thing he could do
about it.

Instead of sitting at the pilot station, she bent over the
chair, giving him a view of her hidden genitals, and Tom’s cock grew painfully
hard as Da’shay gave him another wiggle. Maybe it was the fact that she still
had her guns strapped on, but no woman in the world had ever made him this
hard.

“You could have some mercy and let me come,” Tom complained.

She arched her back and looked at him over one shoulder.
“Could blindfold my toy.”

“Aw, fuck no!” Tom loved the restraints and another time he
might even enjoy a blindfold, but right now he really wanted to watch her. Her
spine was a darker blue than the rest of her body, and as she twisted and
turned, it highlighted every movement.

“Too much complaining. Should quiet the toy,” Da’shay said
playfully.

“I can be quiet, if that’s what you want,” Tom promised as
Da’shay went over and touched a panel to reveal some sort of storage. “Do you
want me to be quiet?” he asked.

“Nope,” Da’shay answered, still sorting through storage. Tom
frowned because now he really was confused. She turned around with a long strip
of fabric in her hand. “Want an excuse to gag my toy.”

Tom watched as she stalked him. Considering that he was
already tied hand and foot, he wasn’t sure he made very good prey. “Didn’t
think you needed an excuse.”

She smiled. “I don’t.” Kneeling down on the pillows, she
traced his lips for a second and a warm shiver went through Tom’s body. Then
she pressed the soft fabric against them and Tom opened his mouth. She tied the
gag just firmly enough that he could feel it pulling at the sides and then she
knotted it in front so the knot fit neatly into his mouth. “Gives my toy a good
excuse to not complain.” She finished and then took several minutes to run her
hands across his back and ass, down his legs and then tickle his one foot. Tom
groaned and writhed and couldn’t do anything else. Leaning down, she tasted the
small of his back, sucking at the skin before running teeth gently over his
ass.

She started humming again, the soft vibrations travelling
through her hands into his skin. Tom groaned. He might not know exactly what
she was saying, but he felt it anyway. She’d picked him, put him first before
anyone else. She’d come for him when no one else had. Her hum grew a little
louder and then she placed another kiss between his shoulder blades.

“Have to pilot,” she said cheerfully with a slap on the back
of his thigh. Tom grunted. He was so hard that tears were coming to his eyes,
but she gave him a wicked smile before getting up. She sashayed over to the
pilot’s chair and leaned over it, spreading her legs as she guided the ship out
past one of the outer planets in the system. Tom closed his eyes and moaned
into the gag as he realized the
Nodar
system had twelve outer planets
and she’d have to pilot around all of them before she could find a quantum
string to take them back toward Corps space. This was going to be a long ride.
Stretching his neck and wiggling to get more comfortable in the nest of
pillows, Tom settled down to just enjoy whatever Da’shay did to him. After all,
he was the toy, so all he had to do was follow. He had always been remarkably
good at that.

Da’shay hummed loudly and arched her back. “Beautiful brown
and white and all mine,” she announced, and unless Tom was wrong, she sounded
proud of that.

Tom sat at the bar with Da’shay next to him, her back to the
bar so she could watch the people. She preferred people watching to drinking.

“What about that one?” Tom asked as he pointed to a doxy in
the corner. She was a little younger than Tom normally went for, but he wasn’t
shopping for himself.

“No!” Becca turned bright red. “I’m not looking. Da’shay,
will you do something with him?” she asked.

“Nope,” Da’shay answered. She leaned closer and Tom figured
that no one else could actually see that she’d reached down and grabbed his
cock and balls in her hand. He got real still. He liked those parts, and while
Da’shay did too, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t do him a little harm to prove a
point about doxy shopping.

“Just trying to be helpful,” Tom offered in way of an
apology.

“Please, just don’t do anything that’s going to make Da’shay
act like an owner,” Eli asked from his seat beside Tom. “I don’t think anyone
in this place would appreciate her throwing you stomach down over a table and
tying you up.

“Jealous?” Tom asked. Eli looked over at him.

“Terrified,” Eli corrected him.

Tom snorted. “There isn’t anyone in this bar that would care
if she did,” he said as he checked out the corners. It wasn’t as nice as
Carla’s place, but it had that same feeling—these were dangerous people who
weren’t out to get in anyone’s business.

“You might be right.” Eli leaned closer. “Should we even be
here? This place looks like it should be on the banned list.”

“It is,” Tom answered. Da’shay eased up on his cock and Tom
took a deep breath. “At least we don’t have Corps crews pestering us.”

“They are annoying,” Becca agreed. “They act like getting
assigned to drive
cati
around is some big honor.”

“We are involved in a primary diplomatic mission. That’s a
career maker.” Eli sounded shocked at their attitude. Both Tom and Becca looked
at him oddly while Da’shay just kept staring at the room. She swayed her hips
so that her fancy skirt with all the scarf bits twisted around her legs. Eli sighed.
“I would like to make lieutenant sooner rather than later.”

“You will,” Becca assured him. “I bet you’re a lieutenant by
the time we get back. So, what do you two think of the new xenopsychologist?”
Becca knew that was a loaded question. She smirked as she watched Tom and
Da’shay’s hand squeezed his cock again. This time Tom winced and Becca frowned
as she studied him more closely.

Eli laughed. “I think Tom’s going to gut the man if he keeps
drooling over Da’shay.”

Tom looked at Da’shay. “I might,” he said firmly even though
she was still squeezing his cock and balls pretty tight. Strangely, she
loosened up at that.

“Could take him. Give him to Tom to have as a toy,” Da’shay
offered with an overly sweet smile. Eli nearly choked on his beer.

“That ain’t nice to even joke about,” Becca said and Tom
didn’t bother point out that Da’shay wasn’t playing the devil with them. If Tom
asked, he figured Da’shay would take Wyle into hand. The way the man panted
after Da’shay, he wouldn’t turn her down.

“I don’t want a toy,” Tom said firmly. “And I don’t want him
panting after you. The man gives me the creeps.”

“Captain!” Becca said loudly, as if she was the lookout and
they could hide the contraband under the bar. Not likely. Her gasp did,
however, make a number of patrons look up. Da’shay had shown up on a few vids,
but she generally hid behind Tom the second the news came around and apparently
he didn’t make the right impression when he scowled at cameras. The captain,
however, had been all over the vids—the white-haired war hero who’d returned
home with a whole new species for trading. Tom noticed that a number of the
bar’s patrons started slipping out the back when they realized Corps members
were in the bar.

“Sir.” Eli stood up. “How’d you find us?”

“I knew Tom offered to take you out. I just looked for the
first bar on the absolutely banned list and here you are,” Ramsay said. He
walked over to the now-empty chair nearest Becca and sat down. “Whiskey,” he
ordered. The bartender looked a little nervous but he served the captain before
escaping to the other end of the bar.

“How’d it go?” Becca asked quietly even though this was the
sort of place that swept for bugs on an hourly basis. Tom preferred banned bars
for more than one reason.

“Corps seems to think we’re heroes for jumping at a chance
to make an alliance, and they seem to believe the story that we don’t know
where Da’shay got her information.”

Becca made a face. “Still feels wrong—not investigating
whether the IC blew up Tarby. That could’ve been us getting blown up in space.”

“Only Smyth didn’t want to sell to us,” Eli pointed out.
“The five of us dying would be slightly less news worthy than the death of a
great hero like Tarby.”

Ramsay looked at Eli, but he definitely wasn’t disagreeing.
As far as Tom was concerned, as long as they were all alive, he didn’t really
care who else got blown to pieces. If you were Corps, you took that chance
every time you got on a ship. He sure as hell was taking that chance serving on
a
cati
ship as some sort of fucking ambassador. Command was just about
tripping over themselves with joy, though, because Gashta happily traded tech
and information without ever complaining about having his ship taken by force.
Da’shay had told him that trading was a worn ant path for Gashta and Command
didn’t seem to care as long as they got their toys.

“They think Tom is the real hero,” Ramsay said, and Tom
nearly choked on his beer.

“They what?”

“Letting yourself get marked as a slave instead of blowing
your cover and putting the ship in danger. They think maybe I wasn’t lying on
all those evaluations I did.”

“Most of the time, you were,” Tom said. “And if Wyle keeps
chasing after Da’shay, he’s going to find out that every high score you gave me
in diplomacy was a flat-out lie because I prefer to negotiate with a fist.” Tom
held his fist up to demonstrate, but Da’shay caught it and twisted his arm
around, pinning him to the bar. Tom grunted as the edge of the bar drove the
air out of him and it took a second for him to get his breath back. “Well,
shit.” The others laughed, but with a sigh Tom just picked up his beer with his
free hand and kept drinking.

“New rivers flowing in new directions. Old kings fall,”
Da’shay said. “Hunters from the dark kick down castles of sand.” She leaned her
weight into Tom for a second, reminding him of how trapped he was and making
his cock hard as hell before she let him go.

“Command also commends you for your willingness to put up
with Da’shay’s aggression.” Ramsay pursed his lips and looked amused. “I’m
assuming they really don’t get out much. Either that or they have very boring
sex lives, because pretty much everyone who’s around you for two seconds
figures out you aren’t suffering much.” Ramsay leaned across Becca to
deliberately look at the bulge in Tom’s pants. Tom reached down and rearranged
his junk. With a sigh, Ramsay shook his head. “Does it seem unfair to anyone
else that Tom’s getting the credit and he’s getting sex on pretty much every
surface Da’shay can pin him to?”

“I think it’s cute,” Becca defended him.

Tom turned to Da’shay. “Now if you want to get me a toy—”
Tom was cut off when an elbow caught him in the stomach.

“Thank you,” Becca said to Da’shay. “I’ve wanted to do that
more than once.”

“It does almost make up for the disquieting images we were subjected
to the whole ride here,” Ramsay agreed.

“You’re upset because you need to get sex more often,” Becca
said. “They have some really pretty doxies here, if you want.” Ramsay looked at
her with his mouth half open, but she smiled sweetly, and Tom tried hard not to
laugh at the expression on the captain’s face.

“Considering I’m old enough to be your grandfather, having
you give me advice about sex is all kinds of disquieting.”

“Da’shay’s old enough to be Tom’s great, great, great
grandmother and she’s sleeping with him.”

“Which is something else I’m trying hard to forget.” Ramsay
stared down at his empty whiskey glass sadly, but the bartender still kept his
distance. “We’re picking up one more crew on the way back to
cati
space.
They want a full-blown diplomatically trained ambassador with us, so we’ll be
playing babysitter.”

“But, Captain…” Becca’s voice trailed off and she cringed.

“A diplomat ain’t going to appreciate that Da’shay likes
throwing her weight around on the ship,” Tom pointed out. Da’shay had claimed
the entire pilot’s chamber for her and Tom. The others were welcome, but she
kicked them out whenever she felt like it and she didn’t always bother untying
Tom before the others came up. Becca had taken the chamber right below and
Ramsay and Eli shared the one under that. Tom had no idea where an ambassador
would fit in.

“It can’t be any worse than our last mission,” Ramsay said
with a sour expression. Tom looked at the captain. “Just drink your beer.
Whatever happens, at least you’ll be getting regular sex, so you don’t have
room to complain.”

“Well, I say good for us for surviving, good for us for
distracting the universe from one more war and good for us that our languishing
careers are back on track,” Eli said, raising his glass.

“Two out of three ain’t bad,” Tom said, raising his own
glass. He took a drink and then Da’shay stole the glass from him, taking a big
drink as she leaned into him. Standing up, Ramsay reached around the bar and
felt along the shelf until he found a bottle. On the other end of the bar, the
bartender opened his mouth as if he was going to protest, but maybe he realized
protesting would mean having to actually come down to this end and talk to
them, because he closed his mouth without saying anything. The bottle Ramsay pulled
up was tequila.

“Oh! I’ll have some.” Becca finished off her beer and held
her empty glass out. Eli was still working on his beer, and Tom looked at
Da’shay. She smiled sweetly at him.

“You done with my glass?” he asked.

“Nope,” she answered. She took another tiny sip of beer.

“Some days, I swear she hates me,” Tom complained.

Ramsay harrumphed. “Hate ain’t the word you’re looking for.”
Ramsay had poured himself and Becca good sized glasses, so Tom reached over and
stole the bottle. The tequila warmed him on the way down, Da’shay’s body felt
right against his side and he trusted his crew. Life wasn’t bad. For an
ignorant boy from
Beauteous
, life really wasn’t bad.

Da’shay smiled at him and leaned close enough to rest her
head on his shoulder. “Should go,” Da’shay said as she bumped against him.

“Ain’t done drinking—” Tom cut himself short when he saw her
face. She stared at him intensely and made a tiny humming noise low in the back
of her throat. One of these days, he’d figure out what her humming meant, but
until then, he just knew it generally meant good things were coming. “Yep, we
should go,” he agreed. He’d never thought of himself as the sort of man who
settled down with a woman. To be more specific, he never thought a woman would
choose him to settle down with. However, Da’shay had chosen him, and the longer
he was with her, the more he wanted her.

“You two have fun,” Ramsay called. “The rest of us are going
to get out of here before Command figures out that we’re in a banned bar.”

“Don’t much care if they do,” Tom said. With Da’shay looking
at him like she was, he didn’t care to think about Command. Da’shay backed her
way through the room, her body undulating and her eyes never leaving him. Tom
followed. “Exit’s the other way,” he pointed out. She stopped and waited while
Tom closed the distance between them. He reached out to rest his hands against
her hips.

“Not leaving,” she said. Behind him, someone said his
farewell. With a smile, Da’shay started walking backward again, toward the arch
where doxies waited and watched the customers. Tom frowned.

“What you up to?” he asked, not really expecting an answer.
He was getting better at reading her moods, but he still didn’t follow her
logic most days. All he needed to know was that she looked happy enough. She
turned and started down the hall. When an older doxy came out of one of the
rooms, Tom half expected her to throw them out. Instead she smiled and nodded
at Da’shay.

“Miss,” she offered as Da’shay led Tom past the woman and
opened one of the doxy rooms.

“Seems like you’ve been here before,” Tom said. He closed
the door behind them. This was a proper room with a huge bed in the center.

“Hired a room,” Da’shay said. She moved closer, her hand
coming up to rest against Tom’s arm. She made a low humming noise.

“When did you hire a room, anyway?” Tom asked. He let his
hands slip around Da’shay’s waist.

“Yesterday,” Da’shay answered. “Knew my Tom would seek old
ant trails.”

“You did, huh?” Tom’s cock hardened as she moved closer, her
body pressing against him. “How’d you know it’d be this place?” The other
alternative was her hiring a room in every doxy bar in town. Not impossible,
but Tom was pretty sure he would have noticed if she’d disappeared long enough
to do that.

“My Tom swims in familiar waters. Can’t follow the storm of
people thought. He avoids storm-tossed waters.”

“True enough,” Tom agreed. Most people did downright confuse
him, and not in the same way as Da’shay. He might not follow her logic, but he
trusted that what she wanted would make him happy too. Most people confused him
in ways that made him want to take to shooting them.

Da’shay let her hands caress up his arms and then to his
shoulders. “Flow nice against me, though,” she whispered.

“Could flow real nice,” he agreed. He pulled her close and
ran his fingers through her long hair. It wasn’t human the way her hair had
gotten so long again, but then Tom did prefer his women with a touch more than
just human blood. It made Da’shay strong.