Chapter 33

Chapter

Thirty-Three

Fiona

I hesitated outside Admiral Zoran’s office, lifting my hand to the door and then dropping it. When I’d rushed from Vyk’s quarters, it seemed like finding Devon was the best idea. After all, I needed to see for myself that he was okay, and that the insane security chief hadn’t roughed him up too badly.

I cursed under my breath as I thought about Vyk. I could not figure him out. One minute, I was convinced that he was cold and unfeeling, and the next minute I was just as certain that there was some kind of weird, inexplicable heat between us. But if there was heat, it was nothing either of us wanted or needed in our lives, that was perfectly clear.

Besides, Vyk hated humans .

“Which is why he thought it would be fun to torment Devon,” I said, as I shook my head. Part of me still felt responsible for what had happened, although I wasn’t the one who made things weird in my office—Devon—or who gave the captain the worst tour ever—Commander Vyk. Now that I thought about it, the only ones to blame were the guys who clearly had too much testosterone for their own good.

Before I could debate further on whether to knock or not, the admiral’s door slid open, and Devon emerged. I took a few steps back as I took in his appearance. Like Reina said, he looked like he’d been through the wringer, and knowing the Drexians, their gauntlet might in fact have an actual wringer as one of the challenges.

Despite the bruise blooming on his cheek, the captain smiled. “Fiona, were you coming to speak with the Academy Master as well?”

I shook my head. “Actually, I came to find you.” Before he could get the wrong idea, I added quickly, “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

The man squared his shoulders, even though he shifted from one foot to the other. “Do you mean what happened in that gauntlet of theirs?” He laughed. “That was all in good fun.”

“Was it?” My gaze flicked to his cheek. “If I had any idea that the tour of the academy was going to include you being forced to—”

“I wasn’t forced to do anything. The security chief showed me all the facilities in the School of Battle, which are quite impressive. I said that the gauntlet looked intriguing. ”

I had a feeling that Devon was trying to save face, but if he wanted to insist that it had been his idea to compete in physical challenges right after a trip through space, I wasn’t going to fight him on it. “If you’re sure…”

“I am sure.” He tilted his head at me. “If it got you to come here then I would gladly do the gauntlet again.”

I fought the urge to groan. “As long as you’re fine, I won’t bother you.”

The captain grabbed my elbow before I could turn away. “We didn’t get to finish our conversation this morning.”

“No?” I tried to play dumb, but my voice came out high and squeaky, just like it always did when I wasn’t being honest. Of course, I remembered what we’d been talking about when Vyk had walked in. It was the only reason I wasn’t entirely upset that the commander had interrupted us.

“No.” Devon’s expression became serious, and he kept his hold on my arm, although it wasn’t firm. “We haven’t talked since before you left for Drex, and that night we didn’t do much talking.”

My cheeks warmed as flashes of that last night rushed back to me—desperately pulling each other’s clothes off as we’d fumbled through his apartment on the way to the bedroom. He’d tasted like beer and smelled like a blend of the smoke that had permeated the bar and the remnants of a spicy cologne. My head had been swimming, but I remembered thinking that as much as I wanted him at the moment, as horny as I was, I would regret it one day.

Hello, one day.

“Right.” I steadied my voice. “That seems like forever ago. ”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “It does feel like you’ve been gone for a long time, Fiona. You know, the base isn’t the same without you.”

“Thanks, Devon, but I’m sure that’s not true. Besides, coming here was a good move for me. I have no regrets.”

“None?”

Now I regretted that night and coming to find him. I should have left well enough alone. He was a big boy. Why did I think I needed to check up on him? Now, he’d think that I cared, which I did, but not in that way.

Good going, Fi. This visit by the captain wasn’t going to be awkward at all.

I patted his arm as I slid my elbow from his grasp. “It’s so good to see you, Dev, and I’m really glad that you’re here so you can see how well things are going.”

“I’m glad too.” He shifted his gaze around the empty corridor. “After what happened first term, there was a lot of talk about bringing you back and killing the exchange.”

My gut clenched. That was exactly what I’d been afraid might happen. And now I had to make sure he returned to Earth with a positive view of the program, which meant not pissing him off or making him hate me. I was not great at diplomacy or gracious exits, which was evident by my running off and ghosting the guy.

“I promise you that everything is great now.”

He nodded. “Then I look forward to you telling me more while I’m here. ”

I was on the verge of telling him that as much as I wanted to tell him all the reasons the integration was a success, I wanted to do it as the good friends we’d always been, the door slid open again and Tivek stepped into the hall.

Fuckity-fuck.

“Captain Douglas?” He looked confused to find me there. “I was going to show the captain to his quarters before the welcome dinner tonight.”

“Welcome dinner?”

“Admiral Zoran thought it would not be a problem since we are between terms and a smaller number.”

I slapped on my brightest smile. “Sounds perfect.” I took a few steps back and pointed a finger at Devon. “I guess I will see you at dinner.”

I walked briskly away without a second glance. I needed to find Ariana and Jess and the rest of my girls and explain to them why they had to run some serious intervention for me with the captain. This was going to be fun.