Was she flirting with me? Wasn’t she with Axios? My mind spun, so confused by the female on the floor. She didn’t make any sense. She offered to let me work out my anger and only got mad when I brought Axios into the conversation. If she truly was with Axios, then why was she offering to let me touch her now? And why do I want to do what she was suggesting?
I found myself taking one step in her direction before I realized what I was doing. I had to go before I gave in. I needed to find Reaper to tell him that she had found another way to manipulate cyborgs. It was the only explanation for what my lips had just thought about kissing.
For the fact that Axios had allowed her in his quarters…and possibly in his bed. Whatever control she had over us would end. I would make sure of it.
Until then I turned on my boot heel, fleeing the lab and the female like the hounds of hell themselves were chasing me.
Oz
As soon as Viper fled, I let out the moan of pain I had been holding back. My ass ached from the hard landing on the concrete floor. Viper’s shove had been no love tap. His cyborg strength had sent me flying. I was grateful my ass had taken the brunt of the landing and not my head…or my face.
I looked over to Axios. “Well, that could have gone better,” I let out a laugh. “Ow. Fuck, laughing hurts.” Axios raced over and scooped me up from the floor. He rushed me over to an exam table, pulling a scanner out from his pocket.
“Could you roll over? I need to examine the injury.”
“You are not examining my ass, big guy.” I met his worried blue eyes. “I’ll be fine. I promise.”
His lips dipped down into a frown. “You shouldn’t have provoked him. Viper came looking for you and I worried he wanted to harm you. You didn’t need to give him permission or stop me from protecting you. We are friends, are we not?”
“Of course, we are! But the only way the other cyborgs might be willing to forgive me is if Viper does first. He was the cyborg I harmed. Without him, I fear you and Dax will be the only ones who will have anything to do with me.” I raked a shaky hand through my hair. I had thought that staying in Axios quarters for the last two weeks would have kept me out of trouble. I should have known I called trouble to me like a magnet.
My sass, snark, and unwillingness to keep my mouth shut had always brought bad shit to my doorstep. Usually, I kicked its ass and moved on, but I was stuck here indefinitely. Reaper had made that fact very clear when he had sought me out in Axios’s quarters. I had been required to wear a comm whenever I left the quarters, and it wasn’t for me to reach out and touch someone. It contained a tracker that monitored my every movement. I had only been given permission to go from Axios’s quarters to the lab and back again without an escort. Anywhere else, I had to comm Poe, Dax, or Axios to accompany me.
Making peace with Viper would go a long way to starting the process of regaining the cyborgs trust. I looked up at Axios. “I have to at least try and make things right with Viper.” Based on the pain shooting through my ass, I highly doubted I would be able to.
Axios was right. Viper had sought me out and it hadn’t been to have a friendly chat. Still, he could have hurt me if he had truly wanted to. Besides some bruised ass cheeks, I had remained in one piece.
Hell, I had even flirted with him! Guess I really do like poking the bear. In my defense, he slung the fact I was staying with Axios in my face like it was something dirty or to be ashamed of. Axios had given me a chance, was kind to me when I have enemy number one painted on my back. I refused to allow Viper to hurt him. And the flirting had sent Viper running.
Kind of wish the fact that he ran hadn’t made me feel disappointed.
Even an idiot could tell Viper was hot. In another life, maybe I would have taken a chance and tried to get his attention. At this point, I had resigned myself to dying alone with twenty-five cats beside me. If I got out of here, crazy cat lady was in my future.
Axios sighed, pulling me from my dark thoughts. “You are most likely correct, but I couldn’t in good conscience simply step aside and allow him to hurt you. Andyouare myfriend, Oz. I don’t care what the others think about that. I am happy to have you in my life. I learned early on life is too short to not take chances. I’m glad I took a chance on you.” He flashed me a smile. “Now, please do what I asked and roll over.”
If the big guy wanted to help, who was I to say no? I rolled over carefully then, holding onto the waistband of my pants, I tugged them down. “Examine away.” I crossed my arms, laying my head down on top of them like a pillow to make myself comfortable while Axios did his thing.
A beep sounded and Axios huffed. A warm hand landed on one exposed cheek. “Does this hurt?” I winced. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
The door to the lab whooshed open and I prayed it wasn’t Viper back again. He wasn’t thrilled with me staying with Axios. I could imagine him finding Axios with a hand on my bare ass wasn’t going to go over well.
“Ah, Axios, could you tell me why you are coping a feel of my best friends ass?” Poe’s voice rang out through the lab and I uttered a curse. I couldn’t catch a break today. All I had wanted was to make a quick trip to the lab and get Axios to bring more popcorn back to our quarters. We have been having movie nights. It’s been great. He’s barely seen anything so it’s always an adventure when I show him one of my favorites. His reaction is better than the movie itself. I highly recommend movie nights with cyborgs. Seriously, I had no clue what I was missing.
Right now, I wished I hadn’t come at all. The popcorn trip could have waited. I snuck a peak at Axios. Yep, by the look on his face, he had been wishing I would have waited, too.
The poor cyborg had been caught red handed…literally. It was his red hand on my ass.
Time for me to bail the poor guy out. Despite telling myself not to get attached, I had developed a serious soft spot for the rainbow-colored cyborg. The feelings were nothing more than friendship but still they shocked me. “He’s not coping a feel. He’s making sure I’m okay.” I found Poe’s wide gaze. “There was an incident.” I hesitated, knowing Poe would want to go and avenge me somehow. “With Viper.”
“What?” She rushed to my side, her eyes roaming over every inch of me, checking for injuries. “Are you okay? What did he do?”
“Relax, bestie. Like I told Axios, I am fine. I merely kissed the floor with my ass after Viper gave me a love tap. No big deal.” My lips stretched into a grin. “I offered to let him kiss it better, but he declined. More like fled like his boot heels had caught fire.”
Poe sucked in a sharp breath. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“She did,” Axios confirmed. “And that’s not all. She offered to let Viper do what he wanted to her to make amends for what she had done to him.”
“Do you have a death wish?” Poe screeched as she ran a hand over her face. “Why would you do that? You know how Viper feels.”