“Nice to know. Now come eat with us,” I demanded. I had no idea why I wanted him to, but I did; that was enough of a reason.
“My presence will upset them.”
“So? Let it,” I said.Fuck them. “Doesn’t mean you can’t have friends or fun. They’ll get over it or they won’t. I want to eat with you. Do you want to eat with me?”
“I do.”
I stood. “Then come on. I’ll tell them to fuck off.”
He got to his feet and tucked the tablet under his arm. “Will you eat well if I come?”
“Are you worried about how much I eat?”
“Yes.”
I shook my head. “Come on.”
Chapter 6
Medical exam. Yay…
I sat in the plain gray room, the only one without plants that I’d seen on the ship. Lights shone from every corner, which comforted me as much as someone sitting on an examination table in a fucking alien ship could be comfortable.
A female drakcol with golden hair and light brown scales bustled around the room, not paying me the slightest bit of attention, all while a man tutted over me. Physician Klars was his name, and he wasn’t human, not that you would know by looking at him. The only thing that set him apart was a series of dot tattoos that went in a V shape from his temples to his nose, then the reverse from his nose down to his jaw. Otherwise, hisshort black hair flecked with gray, his paunch, his white skin, and his large nose all passed for human.
Teddy was leaning against the bed I was sitting on, arms crossed and expression blank. He wasn’t nervous about the proceedings. Of course, he had no reason to be—he wasn’t getting examined. But I couldn’t do more than force myself to glance at him every few minutes. I knew he was there, though, as I played with the silky blue blanket beneath me.
My time for a comprehensive medical exam had come, an appointment that I couldn’t refuse and I’d tried. I’d kept putting it off for days, insisting everyone else went first. Neither Seth nor Teddy had made me go, but when I was the last one left, they both had offered to come. In the end, Seth had to meet with the drakcol government, the Cohort, so Teddy had come with me. It had been easy for Teddy to come with me anyway; he’d been hanging out in my room with me. Every day for the last week or so, he’d visited me, not leaving me alone. We were still awkward, but I hoped we were finding our way back to each other.
Klars pressed a clear tube to my neck, and I jolted from the sharp sting. He said in a cheery voice, “Don’t mind me, just taking some blood.”
I fisted the blanket, breathing through the cold feeling that swept through me. Thankfully, none of the tests had been invasive—mostly scans. I hadn’t even gotten undressed, which was a relief. If I’d had to… I took a deep breath. I didn’t want this doctor to touch me, even for health reasons.
The doctor stepped away to place my blood in a hole in the wall.
A light touch on my hand made me leap and skitter away. I slid off the bed, heart pounding as I screamed in my head,No!
“Vince,” Teddy said in his even voice. “It’s just me.”
I closed my eyes, head thudding against the metal frame of the bed. Fuck, that sucked. No, I sucked. Overreact much?
“Are you alright?” he asked in a soothing tone.
My eyes popped open, and Teddy was crouched in front of me, his expression blank as a board, but that was normal. He wasn’t an expressive person. Even during the entire two years of captivity with Agk, I’d rarely seen him react to any of the horrors around us.
“I’m fine. Why are you asking that?”
He gestured to my cowered position on the ground.
I glared at him and returned to my place on the examination table.
Teddy picked at his tunic, eyes anywhere but me. “You know it’s not your fault, right?”
What did he know and how did he know it? Had Don told Teddy about what he’d seenafterAgk had sold me? I didn’t want anyone to know my shame, the dirt that covered me, or what I’d been. No one needed to know. Hell, even I was better off forgetting about it, which was the plan. Push the memories where the sun didn’t shine and never think about it again.
“I was the one who locked that bolt. It was me,” Teddy said, practically strangling the hem of his tunic. “Not you. You aren’t at fault.”
What in the hell was he talking about? My mouth fell open. “No, Teddy,” I said. Oh my god, he blamed himself for what happened at Agk’s? “It wasn’t your fault.”
