He takes the tray from the booth and holds it out to me. "Eat."
I shake my head. "No. I don't like the stunt you pulled."
Straik's jaw clenches. He holds the tray out to Dopekh, who takes one of the servings and steps away, giving us space. When Straik shoves the tray under my nose again, his expression is unyielding. "Eat."
I'm supposed to be the obedient pet. Fuck. I take the food and glare at him. "You gonna pull a gun on everyone in food service?"
"Just the ones that disrespect me." He puts his blaster back and takes a bite of food. It looks just like the name—a big, fat root with a lot of tendrils batter-dipped and deep-fried. "Being rude to you is disrespecting me, too. Now, eat."
I roll my eyes at him and take the smallest nibble on the root just to satisfy him. A moment later, I want to cry. Oh god, it tastes like a giant fry after all. The homesickness hits me like a brick all over again and I sniffle as I take another bite.
Straik gets all stiff, his eyes turning wild as he sees my tears. "What's wrong? Did he do something to it?" He looks over at the booth, clearly about to lose his shit. "Do I need—"
I grab a fistful of his tunic before he can defend my honor from the fry cook again. "It just reminds me of home, okay? That's all."
"Oh." His expression falls. "I don't like it when you're sad. It makes me feel…helpless." He studies me closely, ignoring the busy station around us and then leans in. "I'd much rather you stab me again."
"Pull a gun on someone else and I just might," I manage, sniffling. I swipe at my tears with the back of my hand and take another bite of my root. "This is pretty delicious, though."
You'd think I'd given Straik a present. He straightens, pleased. "We'll have some brought on ship so you can eat as many as you like. Let me message Kazex." He sets his food back on the tray and taps on his comm, walking away a step.
Dopekh takes another big bite of his root and leans in toward me. "Never seen that before."
"What?" I ask.
"Lord Straik getting mad like that. He gets surly when people disrespect a'ani, but we kind of expect that. Never seen him fly off like that over street food, though. He wants to protect you."
"Protect me?" I sputter, trying to keep my voice down so Straik doesn't hear. "By sticking a gun in people's faces?"
"By making sure they know you're not to be messed with," Dopekh corrects. "You think anyone's going to pull a stunt like that on you again?" He grins. "You're going to be the most respected pet on Prefalon."
Huh.
55
STRAIK
Ruth seems happy enough for the rest of our excursion around the station, and I relax. I want to take the bags of clothing from her, but I'm supposed to let a slave handle that sort of thing. It chafes at me, though. I want to take care of her…like she did to me.
I bite my lip, trying not to think about how she put her mouth on me in the dressing room. I keep trying not to think about it, and it keeps cropping up in my head, a constant, intense reminder. She was just so keffing beautiful as she knelt between my thighs and put her mouth on me. It felt amazing, too. For once, I didn't hate it when someone touched me. For once, I felt comfortable enough to climax with someone else. I climaxed a bit too soon, but Ruth didn't make me feel foolish. She just smiled at me and licked me and made me feel like a keffing king.
And what did I do? I showed her a brothel on the station and bought her a fried root. I'm a keffing idiot. I need to do more to impress her. To show her how much she's quickly coming to mean to me. But what?
I'm pleased when we return to the ship and a courier is waiting, boxes of sweets in his arms. He looks anxious, his gaze going to the blaster at my hip, and I wonder if he's heard about me threatening the ooli root vendor. I don't care. I pay him and then nod at Dopekh. "Take those to the mess, but leave a box in my room."
"Of course, my lord." Dopekh moves quickly, and then I escort Ruth up the ramp to the Darkened Eye, where she's waiting at the dock. A quick check shows that Sakkar is still on board. Once Dopekh returns to the bridge, he can swap out with Sakkar if the medic wants to take a walk around the station. Probably not, though. Sakkar is a solitary type and doesn't like the crowds on station. I don't blame him. I didn't like how everyone looked at Ruth. How the males stared hard, picturing her in their beds, and the females pretended she didn't exist.