Page 60 of Einar

“So, you and the biggest of the big guys, huh?”

Bambi’swords are cautious.

“That’swhat everyone is telling me, yes.”

Heatherscrutinizes my face before she chimes in, somewhat sarcastically.

“You’renot happy about that, are youMrs.McAllen?”

Icefills my veins at her question, andIstumble away from her in alarm, bringing my arms up around myself in a protective manner.Tosay that my reaction to her question is extreme is an understatement and both women watch me back away from them before looking at each other.Heathertakes a step toward me, her hands out in a placating manner.

“Rowan,I’msorry!Ididn’t mean to offend you!It’sjust thatIrecognized you from watching some of your husband’s political rallies onTV.Ican’t imagine after being with a rich, well-to-do man likeSenatorRobertDeanMcAllen, that you’d be happy with one of these orcs, because that’s damn sure what they look like.”

Fightingmy revulsion at her words,Ishrink into myself as memories bombard me.Iknow she didn’t mean her words as an attack.I’msure she believes what she saw onTV, and thatI’ma high-maintenance politician’s wife, and thus, too good to associate with someone likeEinar.Heather’srecognition of me caught me completely off guard andIwasn’t prepared for it.Thesound of the door opening is far away, butRuby’sfury filled voice is not.

“Whatthe fuck did you do to my sister?Shewas calm and smiling whenIsaw her earlier, so which one of you bitches doIneed to educate on manners?”

Shakingmy head,Ibanish the memories behind a wall in my mind, locking them away soIcan have a chance at happiness.

NOMORE!Irefuse to be a victim any longer.

“Ruby, what are you doing here?Ithought you andSlavicwere spending some quality time together.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, sis.Wehumped like bunnies and thenItook me a good ole nap.Slavicis off doing captain stuff since the hyperdrive thingie said we were here; wherever here is.Slavicand the guys got us all crates full of clothes a couple days ago, and he suggested that we trade each other for the stuff we don’t want.Einarpopped by to give us the skinny onMurguland told me where you were.”

That’swhenInotice a little floating sled out in the hall with the crate from my room and what must be her crate as well.

“Ifigured we could do a ‘swap and shop’ here on the ship, but if these two are being bitches to you, we can just go back to one of our rooms and share between the two of us!”

Herindignant words end in a shout.Shit, she is really mad.

“Ruby, it’s just a misunderstanding.Heatherknows whoIam … no, that isn’t right.WhoIused to be, and whoIwas married to.Allshe did was ask me a question.It’snot her faultIfreaked out.”

RelieffillsHeather’sface as she glances back and for the betweenRubyandI.

“Ireally don’t know whatIsaid that was so offensive, butItruly am sorry.Theswap and shop idea sounds great.Thereare a few thingsIdon’t want or need in there.”

Rubyrelaxes and loses a lot of her overt hostility atHeather’sheartfelt apology and tentative olive branch regarding the clothes idea.Bambihasn’t said much but her perceptive gaze, apparently, doesn’t miss much and her quietly spoken words catch me off guard.

“Heabused you, didn’t he?That’swhy you freaked out about being called ‘Mrs.McAllen.’”

Rubyscoffs. “Thatis the freaking understatement of the century.”

BambiandHeatherare horrified, but before they can say anything else,Iinterject.

“Yes, that bastard abused me for years.I’mextremely glad he’s deader than a damn doornail, and don’t ever want to talk about him ever again.Heis the past andI’mgoing to look forward from now on.HasEinarbeen kind to you since you got here?”

Bothof them have verbal whiplash from the abrupt topic change.Rubycomes over to me, pulling me into her arms for a hug.Keepingmy eyes on them,Icontinue to push.

“Ineedto know.Isthe person he shows me all an act?IfIhave sex with him and seal this so-called bond, is he going to turn into a monster?BecauseI’vebeen there and done that and didNOTwant the damn t-shirt!”

Sympathyfills their faces whileRubyhuffs in exasperation.Bambianswers me, her voice filled with understanding.

“Allof them have been kind to us,Rowan.Einarmost of all.Hetended our wounds before the translators were installed.Wewere terrified and even though we couldn’t understand what he was saying, he made it where we did understand his actions.Isn’tthe old adage ‘actions speak louder than words?’Becausehis certainly did.Einardidn’t have to be kind or patient.He’sso much bigger than us he could have forced us into compliance, but he didn’t.Yeah, the translator hurt like a bitch, but he made it as easy on us as possible.”

Bythe time she finishes, she’s almost in tears, andIcan tell that whateverEinardid for them,Bambideeply appreciates it.Heatherinterjects at this point.

“Rowan,Idon’t know what happened to you, butIcan say with utmost certainty thatEinaris not going to hurt you.Ever.He’sjust not built that way.Idon’t think any of them are.Noteven that crazy one,Murgul.Yeah, he abductedGwen, but he didn’t hurt when he picked her up and carried her out the door.Heseems more than a little intense, butEinarsaid she’s safe.”

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