Chapter 11

CHAPTER

ELEVEN

TRENCH

The drive to town is too short. But there is only one route in or out, so I can’t choose the “long” way.

Jess sits quietly beside me, staring out the window, her head occasionally jerking to the side when a bird flies away from the teal grass on the foothills.

“Sometimes I think I could believe I was still on Earth. Except I got hit in the head and my color receptors got all turned around.”

I am glad she’s not on Earth. “Is it the same?”

“Some of it.” She stretches and her shirt rides up, reminding me that she’s buttoned up tight.

Literally.

Her pants go all the way up to her ribs and a line of buttons climbs up past her navel.

It soothes me in a way that shouldn’t matter. I don’t have any claim over her, but I can’t help thinking she’s mine while she’s here.

“I’m kind of glad you don’t live in the city.” She looks up at the towers that reach toward the lilac purple sky. “Noises drive me crazy. Well, I’m sure you can understand that. It’s been nice to sleep without a white noise machine.”

I had read about that before. Static meant to soothe a human’s brain.

“They sell machines at an Earth store. If you do need one, we can get one.”

“I don’t. Your outpost is kind of perfect.”

When we pull into the parking lot at Margot’s and I pop the cover, she pulls a little container out of her pocket and gives me a quick smile before putting its contents in her ears. “I can still hear you, just so you know. These just cut out the worst of it.”

I nod. It is going to be loud inside.

“So,” she leans back, looking up the tall white building to the half moon structure at its top. “This is Margot’s?”

“It is. It’s the only Agency sponsored club in this city, which means anyone who wants a bondmate has to come through here. The other clubs are smaller, usually frequented by men with certain tastes who don’t want to drive to the city center.”

“The copulation isn’t worth the commute?” She chuckles. “If they don’t care about getting a bondmate, I’m sure the drive isn’t worth it.”

Their drive is a shorter distance than the one we made to get here, and I live closer than half of the brotherhood who do make the trek.

“Alright,” she says, “Ready?”

“Probably not.”

“Hey,” she turns to me, tipping her head back to look up. “What’s the concern?”

“Every man inside those walls is going to want you.”

“Okay, A, I don’t think that’s true, just accounting for preference, if nothing else.” She inhales deeply and takes my hand. “And B, I came here with you, I’m leaving with you. No one else gets to touch me.”

“I’m not technically allowed to do that either.”

Her brows pinch and I like that she doesn’t seem to like that.

“Is it going to be a problem if I touch you?”

“I guess that depends on what you think is a problem?”

She chuckles and her gaze drops to my lips. I want to kiss her so badly.

I turn for the door instead. Because if Margot sees me kiss her, she’ll tell Kimba who will tell Drift. Or worse, she’ll tell Hannah, who will tell Hazard, who will tell the rest of the brotherhood, because he’ll think it’s funny that I’ve chosen to torture myself this way.

The door opens when I place my hand on the palm pad and Jess looks inside, a little worried.

“It’s smaller than I thought.” She’s teasing me, I know, but I tell her where we’re going anyway.

“It’s the elevator. We have to go to the top to get to Margot’s den of carnal pleasures.”

She leans back against me when we get inside and I hold her, even though I know Margot has cameras. That is all that keeps me from bending down to kiss her neck when I say, “The lights come from rooms where people can put on little displays if they want to. There are plenty of places for putting on full shows, if that’s your preference.”

“What is your preference?”

I don’t have a chance to answer before the door slides open again and we’re met by a familiar redhead in a long green robe lined with feathery fur.

“Welcome!” Hannah says, clapping her hands in excitement.

Of course she would be Jessica’s helper.

“Hannah, this is Jessica. Jess, Hannah.”

“It’s lovely to meet you. Margot had other things that required her immediate attention today. She wants to speak with you before you leave, of course, but she let me organize your experiment participants, and I’ve volunteered to be in charge of the ladies doing the sample collection. So! Are you ready to start?”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hannah excited over something that didn’t involve Hazard.

Jessica blinks at her. “That’s a lot. But um… sure. Let’s get started.”

Hannah leads the way through the doors and into the room with the big stage. There’s a woman dancing right now, which means all eyes are on the stage. Thank the Saints.

Jessica watches her too as I help steer her through the crowded room. “She’s amazing.”

“Yes.” I’m sure she is, Margot hires amazing people.

When Hannah opens the door to the public play room, it’s like she’s opened a doorway to my own personal hell.

“Holy cow,” Jess says under her breath.

It’s worse than I imagined it would be.

Eyes turn to us. They land on Hannah first, and then they go immediately to Jess.

Maybe she’s right. Maybe they don’t all want her, but more than a few of them look at where she still holds my hand and then back up at me.

I pray to the Saints that they assume she’s my bondmate and move on.

It takes a few minutes to get through to the elevator. Hannah walks slowly—like the good saleswoman she is—giving Jess a chance to take it all in.

But she knows just as well as I do that this is a work trip, not a relocation.

Hannah ushers us into an empty room on the third floor.

Empty as in lack of bodies, not empty as in void of collection equipment.

She points Jess toward the equipment and hangs back by my side while Jess investigates.

“I assume you don’t plan to play today, since you can’t have her,” Hannah whispers.

I look down at her without turning my head.

“I’m good at reading people. And you two… well, I pity you both.” She watches Jess wander around the room. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell.”

“Not even Hazard?”

“Oh.” She sounds a little like she forgot, and then her lips twitch in a soft smile. “I tell Hazard everything. Sometimes I forget that we’re two separate people. But I will swear him to secrecy, and he keeps all my secrets.”

Her smile tightens, and I wonder which secrets she’s just thought of—which secrets she hasn’t told him yet.

“Okay!” She interjects, going to Jess and waving her hand over the supplies. “Anything in here that you need to not be in here? Anything that you do need?”

Jess looks back at the example kit. “Nope. This is perfect. Exactly what I asked for.”

“Wonderful!” Hannah claps her hands and goes back to the door. “Come on. We’re not working in here.”

“We aren’t?”

“Nope! Margot wanted you to be able to get in and out as quick as possible, so you’ll be training a few trainers today, and then you can take off with the samples we collect. The rest will be sent along to you afterward.”

“Oh, how efficient.” I can’t read the expression on Jess’s face to know if she’s happy about that, or disappointed.

Hannah twines her fingers in Jess’s, and I follow them both out of the room and down the corridor.

“We’re starting here because Felex was very enthusiastic to participate, but he’s also pretty quick on the draw, so you can get this first one over with and any awkwardness out of the way without having to wait on one of the guys who take forever to come.”

“Is there a reason for that?” Jess asks, morbid curiosity painted across her face, not titillation.

“I would guess it’s to torture us or themselves, but it could be physiological.” Shrugging, Hannah continues, “Maybe you can figure that out. I’ll make sure the girls take copious notes about timing, etcetera. And if you have other questions, I’m sure Margot would let you come review the tapes.”

Jess looks a little concerned by those promised notes. “Thank you.”

“We aim to please!” Hannah pauses with her hand on the door and looks back at me. “We set up a little temporary partition in these rooms. I would suggest that you stay behind it. You’re scrumptious, but most of the men who are in this training group can be a little… gun shy around other men.”

I nod, but I look down at Jess. “Don’t leave my sight.”

She gives me a funny little look. “If I can help it, I’m not going to be out of arm’s reach.”

JESSICA

Hannah loops her arm in mine like she doesn’t want me wandering off, but I don’t plan on getting any closer to the two people on the bed who are already enjoying each other’s company.

Trench leans against the door jamb, arms crossed, jaw clenched.

I try to put him out of my mind—even though it’s impossible.

“This is Sari and Felex. They are bonded. Margot said you wanted to make sure we had bonded as well as unbonded men in your sample sets.”

“Just as long as they’re clearly marked.”

“Of course.” Hannah smiles, watching the couple like she’s about to grade a presentation. “The information you sent over was very thorough. So we’ve got the information on the vials and most of the write-up finished already. It’s far more efficient that way.”

Sari is very efficient.

I don’t know how long they’ve been at it, but her bondmate looks like he’s ready to burst.

She rakes her teeth along the side of his cock and he jerks forward, cursing her and crooning in the same breath.

I glance at Trench, but his eyes are on the floor, jaw ticking.

The cup overflows a moment before Sari switches collection methods, drinking the last of his first load, while holding the cup upright in very messy fingers.

She places her hand in the center of his chest and pushes him back on the bed.

He drops like a felled tree.

“Don’t go anywhere,” Sari says, rolling to her feet and coming over to us with her still dripping cup.

“Hey there, science lady.”

“Hi.”

“What’s next?” She looks down at the table of equipment.

“Set that on the towel and use the disinfectant wipes to clean up your hand and the outside of the cup.”

She does it methodically, and I ignore Felex, even though I can see him stroking his cock in my periphery.

“Then, you’ll make sure you’re working with the vials marked for the first ejaculation.”

She picks one up and shows it to me. All the relevant information has already been filled out. “And then I fill and cap them?”

“Correct.”

She fills them with steady hands. When she caps the third, there is still about an inch of dark cum in the cup.

“You can dispose of that however you want.”

“Cool. And then I repeat the process with the second set?”

“Yes. If you think you’ve ‘contaminated’ the sample with your own fluids, saliva or otherwise, just make sure to put a mark in the box on the bottom of the vial.”

“This is easy peasy.” She chuckles as she looks back at Felex, lifting the cup to her lips to take a sip. “You are going to have so much cum.”

“Don’t forget to use the second cup to avoid cross contamination.”

“Yes ma’am. Anything else?”

I knew the collection process would be easy for the women who work here. I’m glad these won’t take long.

There’s nothing else I can think of that I need to warn her about or make her adjust, so… “Have fun?”

“Oh, I always have fun.”

She picks up the other cup and heads back to Felex, and Hannah nudges me back toward the door. “She can handle the rest.”

We go through the same process with six other women in six other rooms.

Nothing goes wrong until the last training session, when I’m not paying attention to the man who followed behind his “collector” to observe the process

I flinch away when his fingers brush my neck, and I don’t hear the start of what he was going to say, only the shout and the snap before he crumples to the ground, holding his broken wrist.

“Fuck,” Hannah says under her breath. “Out.”

She points at the door and I push Trench back. He leaves, but his grip is firm on my arm. I wasn’t going to stay behind without him.

“That may have been an overreaction.”

He looks down at me, jaw set, not agreeing.

Trench doesn’t offer to remove himself from the equation, but he does apologize when Hannah rejoins us. “I did not mean to inconvenience you.”

She shrugs. “He knew the rules.”

“I don’t think he knew the consequences,” I say, quietly.

Hannah glances back at Trench. “I’m not going to lie, when he finds out that he’s not going to be banned because you broke his wrist, he’ll probably be just fine with the punishment.”

“Really?”

She nods. “He’s not here for bondmate approval. He just wants to fuck. And he’s the kind of guy who thinks of his membership as a badge of honor. Sometimes I think men like him come here wanting a stamp book so he can say he’s been through everyone.” Hannah leans close. “It’s why I don’t fuck with men like him.”

She leads us back to the elevator. “I’ll get this round packaged up and ready for you. You go upstairs and find Margot. She really wants to meet you.”

When the doors close, I turn to Trench. “You okay?”

His brows pinch when he looks down at me. “Of course, are you?”

“Yeah.” Maybe. Because being in those rooms answered a question I didn’t necessarily want to ask.

Am I drawn to Trench simply because he’s an attractive Sian man?

The men I’d watched today were all attractive. None of them were tempting.

No, Trench is… special.

I take his hand before the doors open, and he squeezes it, thumb brushing my skin. But he doesn’t say anything until we’re past the public room and standing at the bar in front of a gorgeous woman with neon streaked hair.

“Margot, Jess. Jess, Margot.”

“Pleasure to finally meet you.” She smiles at me and then turns to Trench, “You’re needed over there.”

He follows her gaze toward Drift. I see his shoulders drop. “I’ll be right back.”

“Everything work out down there?”

“Yeah, Hannah definitely has a handle on things.” I don’t mention the broken bones.

She chuckles. “She can be a bit of a drill sergeant when she takes charge of a project.”

“Laurel mentioned that she’s a favorite here. I can imagine why.”

“Is there anything else you need we might be able to help with?”

There is. “I could ask the Agency rep, but somehow, I think it’ll be easier for you.”

She leans on the bar, eyes bright. “Intriguing, tell me more.”

“I want to talk to an on-planet OBGYN.”

Her smile breaks and she laughs, dropping her head forward. “Sure, I can make that happen.”

“A human one.”

“Oh, they’re all human. Sian medical staff are allowed to assist, but the only doctors any of us see here are human.”

“That’s probably a good thing.”

“I think so.” She glances behind me, and I wonder if Trench is coming back, but her gaze drifts away before refocusing on me. “How are you enjoying your visit to our beautiful planet?”

“More than I would have guessed, actually.”

“Good.” She smiles at me, sly as a fox. “And my welcome gift?”

I should be mad at her for it.

“I’ve enjoyed that too. Actually, I was hoping you could advise me on some other methods.”

She listens to my request, and I can tell she’s trying not to laugh at me. She probably knows how foolish I’m being better than I do.

“I will get you what you need, and it’s only going to cost you a bit of unsolicited advice.” Margot looks past me to where the two men are deep in conversation. “I don’t know what is back on Earth that you could possibly want to go back to, but he’s here , and the way he looks at you, the way you look at him… the Agency algorithms don’t always get a match that right.”

“My work—”

The disapproving look she gives me makes me stop.

“You’re a xenobiologist. Your work is here.”

“I don’t want kids.”

“Then don’t have them.” She shrugs as if it’s that easy.

“That’s the only reason they bring us here.”

“I don’t have kids. I’m never going to have kids. The Agency knew that before they brought me over.”

“Okay, so, you’re an exception to the rule.”

“And you can be, too.” She takes my hand and squeezes it. “The Agency wouldn’t have left you alone in the hands of a Sian man if they weren’t okay with the possibility that the two of you would bond.

“Remember I have an Agency file on everyone here, even you. You have green flags on everything. The Agency wants you here, and if giving you Trench is what gets you to stay and work for them, they might tie him down and let you force a bond, even if he didn’t want it.”

“Are you serious?”

Her jaw flexes like she’s said too much.

“Hyperbole,” she says, glancing away. “But if you don’t decide to stay before your three months is up, they will probably start offering incentives.”

A horrible thought occurs to me. “You don’t think they’d trap me here, do you?

She grimaces, it’s a small thing, but I catch it. “If they tried, I’d be at their office with torches and pitchforks.”

She takes a deep breath. “Everything sorted?”

She directs the question over my head and I turn to look up at Trench.

“Of course.”

“Good, let’s go collect your samples and get you out of here before someone comes over to ask Trench if they can play with you.”

My spine straightens, and Margot walks away while I’m still staring after her uncomfortably.

“She’s joking.” Trench takes my hand and leads me back through the crowds, out to the quiet lobby where a woman stands behind a small reception stand with an enormous smile on her face as she talks to a man who clearly wants her to leave her post.

“These are for you,” Margot appears out of a door concealed in the wall and offers Trench the case of samples. “I hope they give you all the answers you’re looking for.”

The other man watches me as I take the case from Trench and set it on a small table, popping it open to inspect the storage method.

Everything looks good.

“You are in so much trouble.” Margot says as I snap it closed again. I don’t think she meant for me to hear it.

“I know.” Trench says softly.

Her neon streaked hair moves in exaggerated sweep as she shakes her head. “I don’t think you do.”