Chapter 12-1
2005 Words
Chapter 12
Mate Hate! Fading pop novelty, Rebel Cayne, was seen arguing with her mate, Winter, outside a high-end restaurant. The one-time headliner was asked to leave the premises when witnesses report that she…
-Tal Tattler
MarigoldZero flung himself into the navigator’s seat, his legs over the armrest. He sighed dramatically, slinging an arm over his eyes.
“Problem?” Mari asked.
“I’m reading a book and I’m mad at the characters. They’re so dumb right now.”
Mari folded shut her own reader. Hiding in the cockpit had, until recently, been one of the few places she could sit and read in peace and still give the illusion of working. In theory, she could lounge around in her tiny cabin. Out in the deep black, there was a whole lot of nothing. The computer handled the piloting and would alert her in the case of trouble. She didn’t really have a good explanation as to why she wasn’t holed up in her cabin, other than she liked it when Zero barged in and started rattling on about whatever was going on in his head.
“Why are they dumb?” she asked.
He sighed again, sinking lower in the chair. “I don’t know. Adults always have reasons. They like each other but they won’t just kiss and stuff.”
“Oh, well maybe they need to get to know each other. Sometimes it’s not smart to jump right into the kissing.” Then added, “And stuff.”
Zero made a noise that could mean anything from agreement to outright sedition.
“Tell me about the book,” she said.
“Well, it’s about this kit. He’s great. The best. Super funny and smart. He’s trying to find a mate for his dad, who’s also great. Luckily, he found the perfect female. The kit, I mean. He found a female for his father.”
“How thoughtful,” she said dryly. Zero needed to have a serious conversation about how people weren’t things to be purchased like a box of chocolates, but she wasn’t the adult in charge.
“Right? He’s the best.” His tail did a little jig. “Anyway, the dad likes the female and the female likes the dad. They met on a tropical island, did a ton of romantic stuff, but they’re not doing anything about it. He’s all, ‘No, I will not speak of my deceased mate’,” Zero said in a mock gruff voice that sounded suspiciously like Winter. “And she’s, ‘How can I learn to trust again?’ And then there’s this story in the media and the dad loses his shi—”
“Zero,” Mari said flatly.
“Shi… ship.”
“He lost his ship.”
“Yeah. Totally lost it and blamed the female and now they’re not talking and it’s making the kit really sad. See? Dumb.”
“Zero—”
“It’s a book,” he said immediately, eyes averted as if to avoid looking in her direction.
“Is it?” Because that book felt familiar, especially the part about losing his ship.
He slinked down ever lower in the chair, his body boneless and threatening to ooze onto the floor. “Yes?”
“Okay,” she said placidly. “What does the kit think, besides despairing for the adults?”
“He wants them to be a family,” he muttered. “It’s all he wants, and they just won’t give it to him. It’s not fair.”
Sometimes it was easy to forget that Zero was fourteen. Sometimes his age was really, really obvious.
“Have you tried talking to your father—”
Zero bolted upright. “It’s a book!”
“About the book,” she continued.
“Yes. He’s dumb. I mean, the book dad. Book dad is dumb.”
“Uh-huh. And what did the book dad specifically say?”
“I need to be patient.” He groaned and melted back down into the chair.
“You can’t force people to kiss and make up. They need to work through their disagreements on their own,” she said.
“Fictional people,” he stressed.
“Right, right. I’m sure these fictional people will work it out.” How easy it was to sound positive when she doubted her ability to patch things up with Winter. His accusation of violating his trust and privacy stung but not as much as how he immediately jumped to that conclusion.
She couldn’t help but compare his behavior to the hundreds of videos of him and his first wife arguing in front of cameras. Winter had been mad at Marigold, yes, but he didn’t curse at her or say anything that unforgivable. He didn’t threaten her with anything other than the loss of her job. He was a father protecting his child. Even in those videos, when you could see him vibrate with frustration, he never swore at, hit, or berated his wife. If this was Winter at this worst, what were those rumors about?
Even after being the target of his ire, Marigold still couldn’t connect the man with the rumored wife-murdering monster.
Zero’s ears perked. “You think so? Maybe I can force them to kiss and make up. That sounds faster.”
“I haven’t read the book, but kissing makes things complicated.” Did it ever. Unconsciously, her hand drifted to her lips, as if she could still feel his kiss.
“Gross,” Zero interjected because teenagers are going to to teenagers.
Mari grinned but decided to steer the topic away from the fictional adults’ love life. As Zero succinctly put it, gross. “Sounds like the kit really just wants his dad to be happy.”
“I do. I mean, he does. Dad’s been alone for a long time and he’s always putting the kit first. He should be happy, don’t you think?” He tossed a casual glance to Mari, as if to gauge her reaction to his slip.
She nodded, acting as if she failed to notice the blunder. “He sounds like a great dad. I’m sure the woman in the story wants to work through this disagreement and would be delighted to be part of their family.”
Once the dad pulled his head out of his rump, that is.
“Yeah?” He rose to his knees and draped his arms over the back of the chair. Resting his chin on the headrest, he watched Mari.
“Patience,” she said and laughed when he groaned.
WinterThe cargo hold door slid open. Winter did not pause on the treadmill, continuing his run. Marigold shook her head. “You’re doing that on purpose.”
“Running?” He hit a button. As the machine slowed, he reached for a bottle of water.
“This allergy to shirts that you seem to have.” She fluttered a hand in his direction, and he took great delight in looking down at his torso, as if surprised to find his skin bare.
“Does it bother you?”
“Mr. Cayne—”
“It must bother you if you are using my family name,” he said, rather pleased with himself. He had not intended for Marigold to interrupt his run, but he felt no rush to don a shirt.
They watched each other warily.
“I’ll just be going,” she said.
“I am finished,” he said. He could not be in the same room as the female. Her scent clouded his judgment and made him inclined to forget that she betrayed his trust. His attorney sent a cease and desist order to the media for the removal of the photographs, but the information was already out in the wilds of the network. Now anyone who cared to perform a cursory search could learn which products he used in the cleansing room and count how many pillows he had on his bed.
He had invited Marigold in his home and she betrayed him. For what? Credits? She had mentioned that her false mate left with her savings, so that had to be her motivation.
“Are you growling at me? Look, I’m going.”
“Stay,” he barked. He needed a shower to wash away her scent.
“Maybe I don’t want to. I’m not likely to reach a peaceful meditative place now.” She folded her arms over her chest. A rolled mat hung in a sack over a shoulder.
“You can do that in your cabin.”
She snorted. “It’s yoga. I’d need to be able to fold time and space to do it properly in that cabin.”
“I do not pay you to do the yoga, here or in your cabin. You have a ship to fly.”
Her hands fluttered in an aggressive manner, like she could slap away her irritants. The largest one being Winter himself.
“You know what? Fine. It’s fine. Everything is fine,” she said.
He doubted that.
She spun on her heel to leave. At the door, she huffed, and her hands resumed fluttering as she waited for the door to open.
And waited.
“Does this require a code?”
“No. It operates on detected proximity,” he said.
“Well, it’s not detecting my proximity,” she retorted.
“You are doing it wrong.”
“How am I doing it wrong? I’m literally standing right here.”
“Perhaps the sensor is faulty or requires cleaning.” He waved a hand over the sensor.
No response.
She huffed again. This time, the sound crept into amusement.
He was not amused at her amusement. It was redundant and pointless. His tail lashed out violently behind him. The door refused to respond.
“There’s a failsafe command code to open doors,” Marigold said. “Every ship has them because you don’t want to crash because you were locked in the cleansing room.” Some sort of knowledge must have occurred to her. “Zero? Computer, locate Zero.”
The kit was on the other side of the door.
“Zero! Open the door!” Winter pounded on the door.
“I’m trying,” Zero said, voice muffled. “The control panel is locked.”
Winter shared a look with Marigold. “How much do you want to bet he sabotaged the control panel?” she asked.
“That is a foolish wager because I know he did.” His fist hit the door. “Zero! Open this door. Now.”
“No. Not until you kiss and make up.” His response came disturbingly quick. He planned this.
“Fluff fluffing fluff,” Marigold muttered. The words were so ridiculous, they tore an unexpected laugh out of him. Her eyes narrowed. “This is funny to you? Your kit acts like we’re dolls for him to play with. I should have known something was up when he told me that you said I couldn’t do my daily meditation in the common area.”
“Fluffing fluff?”
“Oh, hush.” Her cheeks turned pink.
“But fluffing fluff?”
“My mother didn’t like us cursing when we were kids, okay? It’s a habit at this point.”
“But—”
“Oh my stars, Winter. You’ve met my mother. Imagine being twelve and having her lament how your vocabulary tarnishes your aura? Especially when you were in front of an audience. It was easier to just learn to say fudge,” she said.
He nodded. “She does seem to be the sort who loves an audience.
“You have no idea. It was so bad. Like, you don’t even know.”
The bad feelings between them departed for a moment, and they smiled almost fondly at each other.
Her smile vanished. “You didn’t even ask me what happened.”
“I know you sold those photographs because you need the credits.” He fought the urge to sneeze with disgust, barely.
“See! Right there. You see a conclusion and you jump right to it!” Her hands balled into fists, which seemed to vibrate along her sides.
“There is no other conclusion.”
“What about the twenty hours the ship was docked for maintenance, huh?” Her hands flew up, fluttering like she tried to bat away negativity.
He rubbed his jaw, suddenly tired. She wore him down with her nonsense talk about auras and walking the path the universe gave her. “That is possible.”
“That is fact.”
“I apologize.”
Her eyes went wide, as if surprised. “Just like that?”
“You are correct. I saw the photos and leaped to a conclusion. I should have discussed the issue with you before accusing you.”
“And firing me, don’t forget.”
“Yes.” He wanted to explain how people in his employ had betrayed his trust time and time again. He had not considered the mechanics who had access to the ship.
Marigold seemed to follow his thoughts. “I suppose this has happened before, huh?”
“Quite often, actually. The pilot before you leaked information about Zero. I do not care what the media says about me. Let them waste time and effort chasing my tail, but not Zero. He is a kit. It is unfair to put such pressure on him.”
She breathed out slowly, as if she were counting in her head. “Fine. Apology accepted. Don’t do it again or I’m ditching your behind at the nearest port.”
“Agreed.” He nodded, pleased. “Zero, open the door.”
“You didn’t do it correctly,” the kit’s muffled voice came through the door.
- Writer
