"Crulden?" Mina asks. A moment later, she moves away from me. "Ah. I guess you're fine."
When I open my eyes, her cheeks are pink and she's discreetly not looking in my direction. I glance down at my loincloth and…it's tented. Huge. Obvious.
I say nothing. What is there to say? She is my friend, and so I will not touch her.
"Dinner?" Mina asks, her voice overly bright. "Are you hungry?"
"Starving," I admit. This is something I can focus on, at least.
Mina puts aside the washcloth and water, and we tear into the food she's brought. All of the bowls and cups are scented with her delicate smell, and she must not have let anyone touch this but herself. She's thoughtful, and it helps my appetite. I eat all of my food quickly, and I notice that Mina eats almost as much as I do. Today we have the same meal—noodles and veg with a pale meat—and our bowls match. She's not going to let them treat her like less, and I admire that.
I reach out to steal a piece of meat from her bowl, just to see how she reacts, and she slaps my hand. "Eat your own."
It makes me grin. "Bring more next time, and I will."
She shoves one last bite into her mouth and then sets her empty bowl down, wiping at her mouth. "I thought it'd be enough but you're working hard, so you'll probably need to eat several meals a day. I'll handle it."
"And you'll come back every time?" I ask.
"Buddy, you're not going to be able to get rid of me," Mina jokes. "Our fates are apparently tied together, so I'm going to be so up in your grill you'll be dying to get away from me."
I do not think so, but I like that she's thinking of us as “together.” "Even though I ruined your plans to escape?"
She lifts one shoulder in a shrug. "Plans change." Then, Mina leans in close, dropping her voice to a whisper. "When we leave, we'll escape together. I'm not leaving you behind."
I stare at her in surprise. She's changing her plans to include me? The cause of all her problems?
I…think I would do anything for this female.
17
MINA
No sooner have I put the meal trays in the slot, the lights go out.
Those fucking assholes. I know exactly what they're doing. The lights go out, the temperature's going to go down, and I'm going to bet that no more blankets magically show up. They want us to cuddle at night. They want Crulden to use me.
And judging from the massive boner the guy's had all night, he wouldn't be averse to the idea.
I'm not an idiot. I know how the game is played. A dude getting some tail is a happy dude. A dude getting tail is a dude that has an incentive to get more tail. I have an incentive to keep Crulden alive and performing well, because if he doesn't, I know it's bad news for both of us. Even so…I'm not about to throw myself onto the sacrificial penis just to make those two assholes running things happy.
I'm not a virgin. I also don't find Crulden as ugly as I used to. He'll never be movie-star handsome, but the more I look at his face, the more familiar it seems to me. I don't mind the tusks or the fact that his mouth can't close over his teeth. I don't mind that he's got catlike eyes that dilate whenever they smell something, or that he's very thoroughly NOT human. But I like his face more than the handsome blue alien that's running the show, or his buddy the scientist.
Doesn't mean I want to have sex, especially not when it's being engineered by others.
"Just one blanket," Crulden says quietly.
"I noticed." I also noticed it's getting slightly colder, and it'll be extremely cold soon. Dicks. "We'll share."
"It's not necessary."
It might not be, but I know he's used the blankets in the past. They're a comfort, and he's had so few of them that I'm not about to steal another from him. I move to his side in the darkness and put my hand on his arm. He's still seated on the edge of the bed, and he tenses the moment my fingers brush him. "Are you going to rape me?" I ask bluntly. "Has anything changed?"
"Of course not." Crulden sounds slightly offended that I'd ask.
"Then we'll share." I climb into the bed and move to the spot against the wall, slipping my legs under the blanket. "Come on. You've had a hell of a day. You must be tired."
Crulden hesitates, but only for a moment. He gets up, lifts the blanket, and then slides his large form under the blanket next to me. His limbs brush ever so slightly against mine. "I am tired…but I don't want to sleep, either."