Pixie Hazard, Archibald Bradford [100 best novels of all time .TXT] 📗

air between her teeth sharply at the sight of Bryan though.

“You’re still here? Figured you would have gone for a swim out an airlock by now. All tragic and emotional like.”

His face heated with indignation at the constant string of belittling insults, but with Maria lying spread out before him he couldn’t bring himself to do or say anything about it.

Aside from the minor burns that Billy had treated and some booby-bruises to match the skipper’s, Eva came through the firefight mostly unscathed.

With careless movements she dragged another chair over and put her feet up on the gurney, showing no sign of leaving anytime soon.

She frowned at his non-response though.

“Maria didn’t get shot because of you. Maria got shot because of Maria. You are a distraction, but she is the one who allowed herself to become distracted.”

He blinked and turned to look at her, surprised that she was the one comforting him, if it could really be called that.

In fact, that wasn’t what she was doing at all.

She leaned back in her chair and interlaced her fingers beneath her breasts, her eyes closing as her head tilted down. Like any good soldier, Hooker knew how to grab a nap on the fly.

Though she had one last barb to get in before she allowed herself to sleep.

“I’ve never understood why she gets all calf-eyed and moist for little snots like you. But if it takes your ickle baby pecker to make her cream, who am I to judge?”

She drew in a deep breath as she settled in for the duration.

Bryan was fuming.

It made no sense to him how someone who hardly knew him could be so hostile all the time: even with Maria hurt the redhead didn’t have the decency to shut up.

He was breathing rapidly through his nostrils as his ears burned; the sound he was inadvertently making standing in stark contrast to Eva’s steady breaths.

One of her eyelids lifted as she picked up on the hostility coming from him.

“Go ahead and speak your peace kid.” She said in a low voice; “But if you wake up my best friend when she should be resting, you will go swimming out an airlock.”

His breathing halted as a wash of cold went over him from her stony glare.

It wasn’t an idle threat.

Satisfied that he had heeded her warning, her eyes closed again and her face slackened somewhat as she rested while he mulled over their brief interaction.

Realization struck then as he looked between her and Maria’s faces.

Her best friend.

His blonde lover had a life, long before he came along.

Having endured years of combat together and probably more hardship than Bryan would ever know about, Eva Reeves had far more of a right to sit at Maria’s bedside than he did.

This simple truth quickly soothed his raw feelings and wounded pride, so with deliberate movements he leaned in to kiss Maria’s sleeping forehead, one hand carefully stroking her hair as the other gently squeezed her hand, then he got to his feet and rounded the foot of the gurney.

“I’ll leave you to it then.” He said quietly as he passed Eva.

One eye tracked him as he left the infirmary.

“Huh. Maybe he isn’t a complete dunderhead after all.”

She was dozing a few seconds later.

Chapter 36:Free Colony

They were well on their way towards Lewanna by the time Maria woke up, her eyes opening blearily to take in the off-white ceiling of the infirmary.

“There she is!” Eva greeted sarcastically; “The girl with all the shiny new skin.”

“Urgh.” Maria grunted; “Don’t make me laugh, my insides feel like I’ve been rotisseried, and not in a good way.”

“There’s a good way to-” Eva paused as she cottoned on to the wounded blonde’s meaning; “Ah, I see what you did there. Here I thought Bunny was the one who was all about getting spit-roasted. Very punny.”

“I have my moments.”

Several moments passed as the forced jovial atmosphere faded and Maria took stock of herself.

She swallowed when she remembered the ugly details of how she came to be where she was.

“Eva, I’m-”

“Don’t. You don’t get to be barbequed then try to make me feel bad about it. Yeah it would have played out different if we were still in the service, but then again there would have been a lot more of us in that shit-show.”

Maria blinked back tears for a couple seconds, then shook her head.

“We’re not soldiers anymore, as much as the skipper treats as like we are sometimes. Fuck, I called her major and almost saluted her the other day!”

“Yeah, I get it. And it was as much my fault as yours that you got hit.” Eva said sourly; “Thought not having a leg would’ve taken the fight out of that prick. Sorry.”

Maria chuckled, then shrugged off the apology, having no interest in playing the blame game.

“Does this mean you’ll start being nicer to- Bryan! Is Bryan okay?!” She tensed up as she looked around the infirmary, expecting him to pop out of a cupboard or something.

“He’s fine! Came out of it without a scratch. I’m fine too by the way.” Eva said with a roll of her eyes.

“Obviously you’re fine, but what about the-”

“Everyone is okay, I got some minor burns, and my tits are a bit sore, though not as bad as the skipper’s from what I’ve heard. Billy stubbed her toe. We’re all fine.”

Maria relaxed again while Eva pursed her lips and gave her a measured look.

“You really care about that little dork don’t you?”

“I do, and he’s not a dork!”

The redhead stared at her flatly until she amended her assessment.

“Okay, maybe he’s a bit of a dork. But he’s really sweet! And when we’re together it’s like-”

Eva jerked her hand