Chapter 8

Chapter

Eight

A eryn wandered around their quarters, restless as hell.

Legacy had been sent to another mining station last week, right after New Year’s Day, and now he wasn’t sure what to do with himself.

Supposedly, Legacy would be back in just about two standard weeks, but they were still new enough in the relationship that he felt really uncertain. And Legacy had been damn pissed about the assignment, which hadn’t led to a happy goodbye, really.

He sighed. Both of Legacy’s best buddies had offered to hang out, Garmon saying he would bring pizza, Jameson offering to take him out dancing.

Yeah. Like he was going to go clubbing and let people make fun of his limp.

Aeryn flopped down on the couch and grabbed his tablet. Maybe he’d play a game…

He almost jumped out of his skin when his communicator rang, which showed on his tablet as well as his smaller mobile device. Legacy’s pic popped up, so he answered, relieved as hell but also worried something was wrong.

“Hey, Legacy, are you okay?”

“Hey, honey.” Legacy looked tired, new lines etched around his mouth. “This is a hard freaking rock. It’s miserable.”

“Aw, that sucks. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well, it’s better seeing you.” Legacy smiled. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

“Yeah?” Those dark eyes lit up. “Honey, have you played with your toy yet?”

His cheeks heated almost painfully. “Not yet. I don’t know…”

“I showed you how the remote worked,” Legacy said.

“I know.” He squirmed, his skin feeling too tight.

“So what’s the hold up? I need fantasy material.”

“Legacy!”

“What?” Legacy grinned. “Go to your room, baby.”

His mouth went dry. “Do you have time?—”

“I have all night.”

“Oh.” Aeryn swallowed. “Okay.” He stood, stumbling to his room, where he never slept anymore. “Here I am.”

“Good deal. Now get naked.”

He swallowed hard, but nodded, putting the tablet on its stand by the bed so Legacy could see him. His fingers felt stiff and clumsy, but he was hard as a rock and flushed with pleasure just thinking about Legacy watching him.

When he was naked, he sprawled out on the bed. “Is this good?”

“Perfect. Now grab the remote.”

He shook a little as he grabbed the control for his shiny new biomech built-in.

Aeryn had never imagined doing this for an audience, even if that audience was Legacy. In fact, he’d really never imagined this at all, but he was gonna do it because Legacy wanted him to, and because the idea turned him on so much. “All right. I’m ready,” he said.

Legacy grinned at him. “Good. Now, if you hit the top button, it’ll release the tentacles from the wall.”

He hit the button, and, sure enough, the panel slid back, and the biomechanical tentacles slid out. They were flexible, covered in a medical-grade skin of some sort of silicone probably, but he could see the articulated bend of metal underneath. They were foreign and the alien and crazy-looking, and they were sort of poised as if there was tension in them, not just dangling there limp and icky.

“What do I do next?” Aeryn asked, licking his lips.

“Now you try the motion buttons to see what the settings are like. You’ve never even played with them, have you?” Legacy watched him like a hawk, which heated him more than the tentacles ever could. He had it so bad.

“Not before today. I was kind of hoping we could do it together…”

“Well, we’re doing that now.” Legacy gave him a broad wink that he could see on the video screen even. “So if you push the button labeled ‘grasp’ you can see them curl up like they’re going to hold something. You can manipulate single ones by pointing out which one you want on the up and down and sideways arrows, and you can use the roller at the bottom of the remote to just make them all move in a massaging motion.”

“That’s not complicated.” He tried doing all sorts of things with the remote, watching the tentacles from at least a couple feet away. “This would be way easier if you were here to run them.”

“I know. That was what I had planned when I put them in the wall behind the bed instead of next to it or something like that, but best-laid plans, right?”

“Right. This sucks.” He was gonna come right out and say it. “Not you and me on the call, and the tentacles are cool and everything, but you being gone.”

“I know, baby. I’m sorry. Not much longer. This place sucks too.”

“I’m sorry.” He shouldn’t bitch. At least he was in his own bed.

“Yeah, these days the only reason the mining job that I’ve got is good is because it lets me live with you.”

Aeryn sucked in a breath. That was about as close to a declaration as Legacy had ever come, and he was excited that it was happening already.”

“Ditto,” he said. “You’re pretty damn cool.”

“Are you ready to let the tentacles touch you now?” Legacy asked, that grin sliding into something super wolfish.

“I am, I guess.” He was facing the head of the bed in his sprawl, and he sat up and moved closer. He thought he had a good idea of the motion so maybe he could trust putting his back to them and not have them strangle him when they reached out for him. It seemed to be the easiest way to do things.

“Okay. Let me see.”

He took a deep breath, then nodded. Okay, yeah. He could do this. Aeryn turned the knob, and a tentacle reached out and popped him right in the chest.

“Ooof.”

“Maybe a little slower,” Legacy said.

“No shit?” He rubbed his chest with the hand not holding the remote. He felt small and weird and miserable.

“Hey.”

He glanced up, meeting Legacy’s gaze on the monitor. “What?”

“Why don’t we just kinda virtually cuddle? Take me back to our room?”

“Oh.” Aeryn scrambled off the little bed in his old room, tossing down the remote. “Really?”

“Yeah. When I get home, we can use those together.”

“See, that was my idea too.” He hightailed it to his and Legacy’s bedroom, and he was so proud to be able to say that it was theirs.

“Great minds, baby. I want you to be happy with them, not have a bad experience.”

“Well, and I want you, not just some cold surgical stuff. I want to share it with you.” He closed the bedroom door behind him out of habit and crawled into bed, which was starting to smell less like Legacy all the time. Clean sheets and all, but the pillows still had his scent.

“There. Cuddle up, baby,” Legacy said. “I like you in my bed. Our bed, huh? I wish I had you in my arms.”

“Me too.” He wiggled into the covers, just humming. “I need you to send me a shirt or something. I need to smell you.”

“I need you too.” Legacy sighed. “I hate this. We were doing so good, and now I feel like this has set us back to the beginning.”

“No way! I know you like me now. I’m not going to let that go.”

“Oh, honey. I more than like you.” The timbre of Legacy’s voice made him catch his breath, and he moaned a little, a shiver running through him. “I can’t wait to get home. Soon, huh?”

“Soon,” he echoed. “I miss you so bad.”