trying so hard,”
Gattar said, “I already decided to take you on.”
Shit. It was what he wanted, then
again he didn’t. He feared what getting involved with her might mean, but he
wanted this deal involving chocolate and would risk lying with something not
entirely female to get it.
“Good.” He backed her up against a
grimy wall, tugging on that single zipper, aiming to find out before he lost
all nerve.
Her chest heaved and she gasped.
Her mouth was a little perfect O , enjoying his eagerness before she
pushed him off, glancing at the busy avenue a block away at the end of the
alley.
She wet her lips, but it was more a
nervous twitch than sensual. “Fo’wo’s be damned, no. Look we can’t be seen
together any longer out here. It’ll ruin things.”
He understood the paranoia with chocolate
involved. No unnecessary risks. Craze was glad of the reprieve yet put on his
best dejected pout, pocketing his hands. “Sure. If that’s what you want.”
Sauntering between broken bottles
and crates, sashaying his hips, he headed for the main street. Gattar stopped
him, tugging him back into the shadows, thrusting a tab into his meaty palm.
“Be there in four hours. Plenty of
time to get you ready.” She let her hand run down the inside of his shirt again
and pulled him in for a kiss, inhaling his tongue and his malt-scented breath.
He was stuck with her sour taste from the swill, but the Jix knew how to use
that mouth, which made up for it some.
As quick as the passion started,
Gattar ended it. She took off, slinking and trotting, disappearing once she hit
the end of the alley and maneuvered into the avenue.
CHAPTER 10
Craze pulled one of the bottles
he’d swiped from Bast out of his bag, swigging a good mouthful to get rid of
the nasty tastes of inferior malt and rancid beer. No more than that, though.
He didn’t want to dull the excitement. Chocolate! More wealth than he could
imagine, and he could imagine a lot.
How would he get the luxury goods
out of Gattar’s hands and wholly into his own? His first thought was to call
Bast and the council, but he quickly discarded that. Their help would guarantee
a successful sting, but they didn’t deserve the honor. Instead he pinged the
aviarmen he met on the transport.
“How’s the ship buyin ’ goin ’?” Craze asked when Talos answered.
A tiny head with spiky blue hair
glowed in a corner of the tab’s small screen. “We looking at it now,” Talos
said. “It needs some work to fly again.”
“Can I come see?” A working
spacecraft would go a long way toward getting the chocolate all to himself.
Talos pinged him the location and
Craze made his way there. It was an abandoned hangar at the edge of the city
surrounded by moldering warehouses and factories. Weeds wound their ways up the
walls and over the walkways and roads. The pavement and structures crumbled.
Craze kicked at the chunks, walking down the nearly deserted street bordered by
chain-link fence, searching for the right gate. He pushed at entry 24357C,
which screeched unwilling against the buckled tarmac.
Craze stood still, taking in the
place, searching for motion and voices. He heard something in the direction of
an old hangar, the roof sagging and groaning in the gentle breeze. The lot in
front of it was littered with transports of all kinds: land, water,
subterranean, air, and space.
A shock of blue hair bobbled above
a flattened space transport. Shortly after, a crown of red appeared beside it.
Craze waved at the aviars, shouting a hearty hello, greeting them as if long
lost brothers.
“I can afford the ship,” Talos
said, “but not it ‘n the propellant injector it needs to run.”
A lime-green spacecraft, color
chipping off the hull, sat on the rotting tarmac. It was a bizarre shape
marrying six caterpillars ringing the center where a couple of beetles met
back-to-back. Besides peeling, the green hull was pitted and dented. The hatch
groaned when summoned
Gattar said, “I already decided to take you on.”
Shit. It was what he wanted, then
again he didn’t. He feared what getting involved with her might mean, but he
wanted this deal involving chocolate and would risk lying with something not
entirely female to get it.
“Good.” He backed her up against a
grimy wall, tugging on that single zipper, aiming to find out before he lost
all nerve.
Her chest heaved and she gasped.
Her mouth was a little perfect O , enjoying his eagerness before she
pushed him off, glancing at the busy avenue a block away at the end of the
alley.
She wet her lips, but it was more a
nervous twitch than sensual. “Fo’wo’s be damned, no. Look we can’t be seen
together any longer out here. It’ll ruin things.”
He understood the paranoia with chocolate
involved. No unnecessary risks. Craze was glad of the reprieve yet put on his
best dejected pout, pocketing his hands. “Sure. If that’s what you want.”
Sauntering between broken bottles
and crates, sashaying his hips, he headed for the main street. Gattar stopped
him, tugging him back into the shadows, thrusting a tab into his meaty palm.
“Be there in four hours. Plenty of
time to get you ready.” She let her hand run down the inside of his shirt again
and pulled him in for a kiss, inhaling his tongue and his malt-scented breath.
He was stuck with her sour taste from the swill, but the Jix knew how to use
that mouth, which made up for it some.
As quick as the passion started,
Gattar ended it. She took off, slinking and trotting, disappearing once she hit
the end of the alley and maneuvered into the avenue.
CHAPTER 10
Craze pulled one of the bottles
he’d swiped from Bast out of his bag, swigging a good mouthful to get rid of
the nasty tastes of inferior malt and rancid beer. No more than that, though.
He didn’t want to dull the excitement. Chocolate! More wealth than he could
imagine, and he could imagine a lot.
How would he get the luxury goods
out of Gattar’s hands and wholly into his own? His first thought was to call
Bast and the council, but he quickly discarded that. Their help would guarantee
a successful sting, but they didn’t deserve the honor. Instead he pinged the
aviarmen he met on the transport.
“How’s the ship buyin ’ goin ’?” Craze asked when Talos answered.
A tiny head with spiky blue hair
glowed in a corner of the tab’s small screen. “We looking at it now,” Talos
said. “It needs some work to fly again.”
“Can I come see?” A working
spacecraft would go a long way toward getting the chocolate all to himself.
Talos pinged him the location and
Craze made his way there. It was an abandoned hangar at the edge of the city
surrounded by moldering warehouses and factories. Weeds wound their ways up the
walls and over the walkways and roads. The pavement and structures crumbled.
Craze kicked at the chunks, walking down the nearly deserted street bordered by
chain-link fence, searching for the right gate. He pushed at entry 24357C,
which screeched unwilling against the buckled tarmac.
Craze stood still, taking in the
place, searching for motion and voices. He heard something in the direction of
an old hangar, the roof sagging and groaning in the gentle breeze. The lot in
front of it was littered with transports of all kinds: land, water,
subterranean, air, and space.
A shock of blue hair bobbled above
a flattened space transport. Shortly after, a crown of red appeared beside it.
Craze waved at the aviars, shouting a hearty hello, greeting them as if long
lost brothers.
“I can afford the ship,” Talos
said, “but not it ‘n the propellant injector it needs to run.”
A lime-green spacecraft, color
chipping off the hull, sat on the rotting tarmac. It was a bizarre shape
marrying six caterpillars ringing the center where a couple of beetles met
back-to-back. Besides peeling, the green hull was pitted and dented. The hatch
groaned when summoned
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