Darryl stepped closer, and the hair at the back of Ari’s neck rose at the low buzz of Orin’s pistol charging.
Darryl released his braces, holding his hands palm out at his shoulders. “Now, now, no call for violence. Your little robin red-breast is safe from us. Long as we get what’s coming to us, mind.” His smile was as thin and sharp as razor wire, eyes flicking from Orin’s gun to his companions, who nodded before stepping away in either direction.
Orin flinched slightly at the movement, whole body growing still as every muscle tensed along his back.
Ari pushed past Orin, stopping short as Orin’s hand clamped down like iron on his forearm. But Ari laid his own hand gently over Orin’s fingers and addressed the men as a group. “I propose that we settle this like gentlemen.”
The trio exchanged confused glances. Then Darryl turned to Ari and spit on the ground between them.
“Don’t see no gentlemen around here. How ’bout you fellas?”
The bearded man pointed at Ari, then yelped when Darryl smacked his arm back down to his side.
Ari turned his head to catch Orin’s attention. Barely moving his lips and keeping his voice too low to carry, he asked, “How much?”
Orin twisted away from Ari to glare at the men shifting impatiently on their feet as they watched the exchange.
He dropped the number like he was spitting out a seed. “Twenty.”
Ari’s brows lifted incredulously. “Just twenty credits?”
Orin shook his head slightly, lips dipping in a frown. “Thousand.”
If Ari’s eyebrows had been capable of levitation, this would have been the moment he discovered it.
“Twenty thousand credits!” His voice squeaked as he repeated the number a little louder than he meant to, earning a suspicious squint from Darryl. “Orin, that’s. That is not an insignificant amount.”
Orin shrugged, pulling Ari back slightly as he stepped forward, edging one of his enormous boots in front of Ari’s feet.
“I know. Figured I’d take care of it after I got Delilah all squared away as a one-man kinda girl. Mighty hard for a pilot to line his pockets without a ship.”
Darryl twitched his head, and his two companions started to move, circling around to either side of Orin’s position in front of the ship.
Orin’s hand tightened on Ari’s arm, fingertips digging in harder than he probably intended. Ari squeezed his own hand over Orin’s fingers, drawing a brief glance as Orin swiveled his head to keep sight of the men moving toward them.
“I’ll pay it,” Ari said.
Orin’s fingers spasmed around his arm with enough force to cause Ari to wince, and he dropped his hand as soon as he saw his expression. “Can’t let you do that. I’m not worth it, sweetheart. Ain’t exactly a sound investment.”
Ari was already shaking him off, drawing his pad out of his pocket with a determined stride. He wrinkled his nose at Darryl when he drew close enough to discover that Orin had not really been joking about the smell. Ari struggled to keep the disgust from his face, speaking as evenly as he could manage.
“Will you accept Ident or Chip?”
Darryl snatched the pad and pressed his fingers to the screen hard enough to leave thick smudges of grime behind. At the beep, he pulled away with a satisfied smirk. He leered at Ari before turning the full oily force of his personality on Orin.
“Sure hope you’re going for more than half a credit these days, Stone. You’ll be spending years on your back to pay this off. Gonna have to ask real nice for your fancyman to buy you some chafing cream.”
Ari had a sudden and vivid daydream of smashing his fist into Darryl’s snide mouth, feeling his teeth cut into his knuckles as they broke and bled, watching him spit the shattered pieces on the ground between them.
Instead, he turned on his heel and caught a glimpse of a stricken-faced Orin before heading off toward the open ramp. He skirted around the openly staring bearded man as they passed each other going in opposite directions.
Ari did some rapid calculations in his head. His and Theo’s funds were not bottomless. In fact, Ari would find himself scraping the bottom if he did not locate Theo very soon.
It didn’t matter. They could economize. Sell their possessions, move into more modest lodgings and procure salaried positions, perhaps. Less time for their academic pursuits, but Ari could live with that. As long as Theo was safe and Orin was finally able to call a ship his own. Ari could live with a lot of things if it kept a smile on both of those faces, he was discovering.
Ari turned back so quickly he nearly fell off the ramp, half ducking at the unmistakable sound of a laser pistol discharging behind him.
Darryl sat on the ground, face ashen as he stared at the wide scorch mark centimeters from his feet. The gray-eyed man took off down the docks at a sprint as the bearded man gave a long-suffering sigh and went to help Darryl to his feet.
Orin waved them off cheerfully, gun dangled casually from his thumb.
“Would you look at that? Faulty trigger, most like. Awful sorry about that, boys! Y’all have a pleasant afternoon, now!”
Orin waited until the men had walked out of sight before he turned around to give Ari a determined scowl, holstered his pistol, and headed toward the ramp.
Ari backed up a step, gesturing to the stack of crates waiting to be loaded. “I need you to finish preparations. We have spent long enough on this disgusting dock, and time is of the essence.”
Something in Orin’s face slammed shut as he nodded brusquely, changing course to haul a crate into the storage compartment.
Ari walked straight into the laboratory to sanitize his pad before pulling up Theo’s notes with shaking hands.
*
Orin didn’t turn his head when Ari entered the cockpit, but Ari could feel his attention on him just the same.
Something about the way the line of his shoulders rode a fraction higher and the slight tilt of his head, almost like he was listening intently for Ari’s voice.
Ari didn’t know what to say. What does one say to one’s pilot and bed partner as one prepares to flout the law and jump the Verge in a desperate leap of faith?
Ari took a deep breath in through the nose, attempting to still the persistent tremor in his hands as he fastened his buckle. “Is everything in order?” He winced at the strident tone of his voice, an ugly sign of his unfortunate tendency to cling to formality in the face of uncertainty.
Orin gave a small grunt of affirmation, fingers flying over the incomprehensible numbers busily flooding his screen. He paused once a small green light blinked on the dash, indicating that coordinates had been entered successfully. Clearing his throat, he braced large hands on his knees as he swiveled to face Ari, jaw set.
“Didn’t need you to do that. My debts are my own.”
Ari was unsuccessful in repressing the shake in his hands, folding them together in his lap to hide them away. “I understand that you have your pride, but—”
Orin bared his teeth, hands clenching on his thighs. “Seems to me you don’t understand. Seems to me you just dropped two bushels on a whim. I look like a helpless damsel to you?”
Ari shook his head, chewing hard on his lip.
Orin’s expression softened at something in Ari’s face, but his jaw stayed tense, hands still clenched.
“Didn’t need saving. I can take care of myself just like I always done. I can’t—I won’t be beholden to you. Not like that. Understand? You’ll get your credits soon as I’m able. And I won’t be earning them through the family business like that piece of flotsam said. Ain’t never gonna be like that between you and me.”