Wreckers: A Denver Boyd Novel by George Ellis (ebook reader ink .TXT) 📕

“What do you think?” Avery asked after Joe handed us our drinks in metal cups.

“Smells worse than the lukewarm beer we have on the ship,” I said. “And I haven’t even tried it yet.”

My brother laughed, genuinely amused. He gave me a hard time about a lot of things, but he did seem to like my sense of humor.

“I was talking about New Chicago, not the damn drink,” he said.

I told him I was underwhelmed. And it was true. I’d heard a lot of tales about the capital of Mars, many of them from my brother. Some people claimed it was the baddest city in the verse outside of Earth. To me, it seemed depressing. I’d never been to Earth, so I couldn’t make that comparison, but I’d always preferred stations to planetary cities. The cities always felt more manufactured with their domes and corridors and recycled oxygen. Something about being on a planet but not being able to breathe the air was just wrong. On a station, it made sense. And because stations were in constant motion, the air recyclers worked better. The planet recyclers just never quite did the trick for me.

“Last time I take you anywhere fun,” he said.

“Point me to the fun,” I replied.

Avery nodded and got a dangerous gleam in his eye. I knew it well. Every time it happened, I regretted it. Avery knocked on the bar, loudly, forcing Joe to come over.

“Hit that bar again and I’ll use one of those illegal weapons you somehow know about,” he warned. Avery put up his hands in a move of mock surrender.

“I was just sitting here with my brother, who turns 18 today,” he lied. “And he was complaining that he wasn’t having a good time.”

“If he’s a day over 14, I wouldn’t believe it.”

Avery laughed, trying to warm Joe up to him. It wasn’t working. Still, he transferred a bunch of credits to the bar. “I’d like him to remember this birthday, if you know what I mean.”

Joe looked from my brother to me, and back again. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

* * *

She was at least 45. While my brother wanted to show me a good time, he apparently didn’t have the credits to find someone even remotely close to my age. Or maybe it was just how things worked on Mars; all the companions were older.

The sex didn’t last long.

The woman made a passing remark about it being my birthday, then got down to business. She pushed me back onto the musty cot and undressed me. Her hands were warm but her eyes were cold. She had long hair that was dyed brown and purple, and she wore what seemed to be a lot of makeup. An abundance of perfume made the whole room smell like lilac and vanilla. Despite my nerves, she had me ready to go in no time, and then a couple minutes later, it was over. We never kissed or spoke during the time she was on top of me — it was a purely mechanical affair. She had rocked her hips gently at first, then sped up as she sensed I was close. Her eyes remained distant and focused somewhere else, and the smile she provided felt like what it was – a perfunctory part of the service. There was no joy in it, that was for sure.

It wasn’t at all how I pictured my first time going. I at least thought I’d know the girl. And her being paid never even dawned on me as a possibility. When she was finished, the woman simply pulled her tight orange shirt back over her head, gave me a playful tap on the leg and left me alone in the room to pull my pants back up.

I laid there for a few minutes, my body satisfied. It had felt weird, wrong and good all at the same time. I wondered if it would always feel that way. No, I decided. It wasn’t normal. I grew upset with my brother and wondered if he secretly wanted to ruin the moment for me. Yet another way of giving his younger brother a hard time.

When I walked back downstairs to the main bar area, Avery was joking loudly with someone in a grey shirt. He was a Silver Star captain. My brother caught sight of me, grinned slyly, and waved me over. Even though I knew the sex was bought and paid for, I felt strangely confident as I approached the bar. Avery introduced me to the Silver Star guy, Lucas. “This is my baby bro. Well, he was my baby bro. Now he’s a man.”

I nodded, unsure of what to say. It was weird enough having Avery tell a random stranger I had just lost my virginity, but I also thought we didn’t get along with Silver Star people, so I wasn’t sure why they were hanging out together in the first place.

“Popped your cherry, huh?” Lucas said, his foul breath full of alcohol and rotted teeth. He smiled so wide I could see the dark spots where his back teeth should have been. “I lost mine when I was 10.”

“Well Denny has always been a late bloomer,” Avery said. “Denny, go hit the bathroom and wash up. I need a minute to talk with Lucas here.”

As I followed my brother’s advice, I looked over my shoulder and saw him and Lucas talking under their breath so nobody else could hear them. I felt a knot form in the pit of my stomach. Dad had always told us that Silver Star was the enemy. They were our chief rival and the guy in charge, Jack Largent, had some kind of personal vendetta against my father.

An hour later, we were sneaking back onto the ship as everyone slept. We made it unnoticed all the way to our shared quarters. Once inside, we slid the door closed and flipped on the light.

“Hey boys,” my dad said. He was laying