Pixie Hazard by Archibald Bradford (top young adult novels .txt) 📕

range of motions, occasionally asking him for feedback regarding his comfort and pain levels.

Once finished she checked over the rest of his bruises to ensure that they were healing properly, then finally nodded in satisfaction and allowed him to cover himself once more.

“All things considered you are a very lucky young man, though I don’t imagine you feel like it.”

He nodded and swallowed a lump in his throat.

“Where are we? I thought I felt a jump a while ago.”

Her eyes narrowed as he dodged the subject, but she didn’t push.

“We’re heading towards Mung Station. It’ll be a few days before we get there. You can relax, not another soul for millions of kilometers.”

“Th-thanks.” He mumbled again.

Realizing that she wasn’t going to get much more out of him beyond that, she brought his breakfast over.

“And now I need you to eat. Every scrap of food on this tray. I know it’s a challenge but you won’t recover your strength unless you do.”

Her patient accepted her help to sit down then dutifully tucked into the food.

It took him a good half hour to clear the tray, during which Billy watched him out of the corner of her eyes as she puttered around tidying up the place.

The assessment she had given Donnie had been accurate: physically fine, but psychologically not so much.

She had long since gotten the sense that he was a sensitive kid to begin with, and after everything the Junkers had done to him, it would take him a long while to recover.

Once he had finished the meal she made some more small talk with him, privately measuring his responses.

In the end she was satisfied: he was certainly in much better state than he had been the day previous when he was sobbing into her shoulder.

Whether she liked it or not, he was healthy enough to meet the rest of the crew, so long as Donnie was gentle about it.

She frowned at the likelihood of that happening.

His eyes were drooping though now that his stomach was full so she dimmed the lights and instructed him to get some more rest.

__________

While Billy was looking after their guest, the rest of the ship began to stir.

Kyle was up and finishing off his breakfast by the time a happy pair came into the common room from the direction of the captain’s quarters.

“My hubby!” The K’or-Macka enthused before throwing her arms around his neck from the side and kissing him.

Donnie was having a good morning, she and Bunny having gotten up to some more mischief when they woke up, but when she watched Bunny jump Kyle at the table she winced slightly.

Though she was as worldly as could be, she still felt a strange nervous energy at being ‘caught’ with the mechanic’s wife.

Very much like she had her hand in his cookie jar.

“Mwah, good morning darlin’.” Kyle drawled like a cowboy as he shot a sly look at the captain over the affectionate Bunny’s shoulder; “Did you have a good night?”

To Donnie it sounded as much like he was talking to her as his wife, but it was Bunny that responded.

“I did, I really did! And now we’re going to go to our bunk and make sure that you have a good morning!”

Not for the first time the skipper wondered at the K’or-Macka’s carnal appetite.

They had literally just had sex.

His breakfast finished, Kyle was quick to agree with his wife’s intentions.

“Be right behind you bright eyes.”

As the cat scampered away he gave Donnie a nod by way of greeting.

“Captain.”

“Kyle.” She nodded back, doing her best to ignore his knowing smirk.

Bunny had already slid down the ladder to the rec-area and crew quarters, leaving Kyle and Donnie alone in the common room.

His smirk was undeterred as he cleaned up his bowl in the galley.

Seriously, she just fucked his wife, why was Donnie the one red in the face?

Sighing, she resigned herself to addressing the perceived issue somehow.

“Quit fucking grinning at me, we cool?”

He blinked in surprise.

“Of course. You’ve always been good to us.”

“Not what I meant. You know I have no interest in trying to get between you two or anything right?”

He chuckled.

“If you did we wouldn’t be on your ship. I knew full well what I was getting myself into when I married a K’or-Macka. This is hardly the first time I’ve seen my Bunny leaving someone else’s bunk.”

She grumbled a bit to herself, but acknowledged his point.

“Right, guess that was maybe a little presumptuous of me.”

“Just a little. But it’s okay, really.” He smiled beatifically and his eyes suddenly looked a million miles away; “I get it.”

“Lucky bastard. Go and fuck your wife, she deserves it.”

He pursed his lips as he considered her words.

“That an order?”

“Uh... no.”

A smile spread across his face as his eyes turned cunning.

“Too bad, you see: if it was an order then it opens up all kinds of role-play ideas for me and my Bunny.”

“Urgh.” She groaned and shot him a rude gesture with her hand; “Fine it’s an order! Just piss off already.”

With one last laugh Kyle turned on his heel and followed after his wife.

The last thing Donnie heard as he slid down the ladder was his sing-song voice calling to Bunny.

“Oh darling! Our captain has given me a direct order!”

She rolled her eyes at the absurd behaviour from the normally laconic mechanic, but then she had to smile.

Bunny did deserve it.

Elsewhere, still asleep in her quarters, Maria snored on, blissfully unaware of the chaotic morning lives of the crew around her.

Chapter 15:Plants and Stuff

After a day or so of rest following the slipjump Donnie and her crew set to work preparing for their