Page 15 of Essa

Our conversations last night weren't very deep and were mostly about navigating all of this, with Adam being as prickly as he is. I promised her that part of it would get easier, but I'm not sure she believed me. I don't think she believed me when I told her he doesn't hate her, either.

"You didn't hurt me. You drugged me and—" Adam bites off the rest of his words, not wanting to admit to what happened after she bit him. Pink stains the tips of his ears, and I stare at that, wondering if he likes how she cared for him way more than he'll ever tell us.

"I hurt your ego," Essa says. I look at her out of the corner of my eye. She's standing now and moving closer to the door. "That's neither here nor there, though. I wanted to make sure you were okay when you woke. Seeing as you're back to being charming, I'd say you're fine."

Adam bares his teeth at her, and I see something smolder in his eyes. I turn to look at Essa fully, seeing her baring her fangs at him, matching the energy he's giving her. And he's really, really into it. The amount of lust pouring off of him right now is suffocating.

I can't look at Essa for long without the hair on the back of my neck standing on end, sweat starting to break out on my temples, and my mind telling me to run. Adam's still upset with her, but he's turned on too. If I shift my body just right, which I'll be doing as soon as Essa is out of the room, I'll feel his hard on against mine.

"I got this," I tell Essa. "I'll handle him."

"If you need me, I'm next door."

The door opens and closes. Slowly. Oh, so slowly, Adam turns his attention to me. I know what's coming, so I know I need to act fast.

"Want to be my good boy?" I ask, trying and failing to stop my laugh. Adam growls, pushing against my hold on him and pinning me to the bed.

"Don't talk about it," Adam says, biting on my lower lip when he pulls it into his mouth. He waits until I gasp in pain before releasing it. "Don't mention it ever again."

"Because you like it." I tilt my hips upward, my hard cock pinned between our bodies. I want to push my boxers down and feel the warmth of his skin against mine.

"Stop talking about it," Adam growls again.

I smirk at him, opening my mouth to say something else. He makes an unhappy noise before slanting his mouth over mine and forcing his tongue into my mouth. He keeps kissing me, even as he frees himself, even when he pushes my boxers down.

He yanks me by my hair when he moves to get the lube, so I have to follow him. Our mouths stayed fused, and there's not a single second for me to say anything. He lubes his cock and then mine and grinds against me.

I come before him, but it leaves me clear-headed enough to get under his skin. He finally releases my lips as his pleasure peaks, and I move my mouth to his ear, whispering so lightly.

"Good boy."

And he blows hard between us.

"I will kill you." Adam seethes through gritted teeth as his cock twitches between us. I smile and kiss him, knowing he's never going to kill me. He's just going to hate me until he admits he might be into Essa, too.

"They're arguing about letting us watch with them," I whisper to Adam as we draw closer to the entertainment room.

Adam's been anti-social for the last six days, so Sloane invited us to watch a movie with the crew tonight. Well, she invited me and told me I could bring Adam if he wasn't going to be rude.

I've gotten closer to everyone on the crew. It's hard not to, considering there's not much to do on the ship except hang out with everyone. Unless I go the hermit route like Adam. Everyone sees through his isolation. Everyone, even Phial, has asked about him to make sure he's okay. I'll tell Adam they all care once he can accept it, but for now, I keep it to myself.

Phial and Avery spend most of their time in the navigation pit because Avery's learning to pilot, or they're up in Phial's room, where he has some weird igloo thing they hang out in. I've learned that Phial blames his deity for pretty much everything, especially stealing the last piece of pizza. Avery has slave collar scars like Adam and me, but I haven't worked up the courage to ask her about it. I don't know if I will.

Sloane, Jovi, and Alik are always in the entertainment room. Not always clothed. The first time I walked in on them, I had a blaster pointed at me, which was pretty rude considering I was just looking to watch something. The second time, I also had a blaster pulled on me. The third time, I was able to ask them why they didn't lock the door while Alik was pointing a blaster at me. I haven't walked in on them again, but the door is locked pretty often.

Sloane also likes playing party games that Original Seth never played before he was locked in the research facility. He watched enough television to know what Spin the Bottle, Truth or Dare, and Never Have I Ever were. Getting to play with the crew has been fun, too, and it makes me hope Original Seth found people to play with when he was finally released.

I snooped in the empty room next to Phial's, which used to belong to the old co-pilot, a male named Holoth, who had moved back to Rythar with his pregnant mate. Essa came in on me snooping, but she didn't chastise me for it. No, she told me Holoth's sister was the last occupant, but she had run off with a Sombran when they were still on Earth. We spent that afternoon snooping through everything, but there wasn't anything interesting to find other than I learned I like the wild look Essa gets in her eyes when she thinks she's being sneaky.

I don't know if Essa's told anyone about drugging Adam or not, but I'm pretty sure no one has any idea. Adam stays in the room with the pendant on red, making it clear to everyone he doesn't want to talk to them and doesn't want to talk to me either. Even when the others have asked about him, they don't bring up anything relating to drugging or biting.

I know Adam doesn't want anyone to know, but that's only because he's not admitting that he liked it. He liked it a lot.

I kept tabs on his emotional state during the time he was drugged, and I've never felt more happiness and calmness from him once since we've been together. Sure, part of that was the venom working in his system, but more than that, I think he craves not having to be in control all of the time. He wants someone to take care of him like he takes care of everything else, but he has no idea how to ask for it. Even worse, I'm pretty sure he thinks he's weak if he does.

"How many are for us joining and how many against?" Adam asks.

His brows are furrowed tight together, and his lips are pulled so hard downward that I know he's trying to make sure the first signs of aging he has will be frown lines. I listen a bit harder, not wanting to get too close to the door in case it opens automatically. There are hushed voices on the other side, but Ican hear better than others on this ship, and I use that to my advantage.

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