Serial: Bodyguard of Lies, episode 5, Forgotten Birthday

[eimarra]

Bodyguard of Lies is a serialized science-fiction novel updating once a week on Tuesdays. If you missed last week’s episode, Meeting the Mercs, it can be found here. You can catch up on the entire serial on this page with a description of the story and links to all published episodes.

Bodyguard of Lies
Episode 5
Forgotten Birthday

Gareth had forgotten Sheil’s birthday, and she wasn’t about to forgive him.

“We been together how long now, and you can’t even get me a bottle of cheap booze to celebrate?”

“Right,” he said. “With the looey hanging over me the entire way, and already convinced that I’m after his job. I need more to get him on my case?”

“You are after his job.” She ran her hands through her shoulder-length hair, shaking out the ends. “So instead you got me on your case, and that makes you happy?”

He swung her into his arms and pulled her down onto his lap. “It’s not my case you’re on, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“I suppose you’re going to tell me that’s my birthday present again this year?”

He opened his eyes wide in simulated shock. “I wouldn’t dream of it. I’d never take it back; you play with it so nicely.”

She shoved against his shoulders and stood up. “Not going to play right now. You reek of Yellow, and it’s not just your clothes.”

He unfastened his jacket and threw it in the general direction of the bed. It would get to the laundry chute eventually. “I was working. What’d you expect?”

“I expect you to remember your promise and stay clean, regardless of what you think you need to do for cover. You know you ain’t got the tolerance for that stuff.”

He stood and headed toward the shower. “But you want me to bring home booze for you. What’s the difference?”

“You ain’t been mind-scrubbed. You know what the difference is!”

His jacket smacked him in the back of his head. He reached up with his left hand and pulled it off his neck. Okay, it would get to the laundry sooner.

“The difference is that you’re a lush with an artificial liver thanks to Cole, so you can be a complete jerk to me about my weakness, is that it?” He threw the jacket toward the chute; this time it got there, though it didn’t drop in cleanly. One arm hung over the edge, a cry for help. “Thanks for nothing, Sheil. Maybe I’d be better off looking for a single to live in. Then I wouldn’t have you slamming me all the time. Just when we’re at work together.”

“Happy birthday to me,” she said. “What a prick.”

Gareth didn’t look at her. He shoved his hair back from his face. “Look, let’s not do this now. It’s been a long day, and I just want to get cleaned up.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Sheil headed for the apartment door. “I’ll go get my own beer.”

The door didn’t slam. Maybe she wasn’t as angry as she sounded. Or maybe she was tired of the fights. Damn. He’d talk to her later — if she came back. He balled his fists.

Water barely trickled from the shower, a rusty brown that might dissolve dirt but did nothing to leave him feeling clean. If he just got that promotion, he could spring for a bigger place, feel less stressed, spend more time with Sheil. He wiped the grime out of his eyes. It might not blind him, but it sure didn’t help.

He turned off the water and grabbed the soap. The smell of flowers and incense assaulted him, and he dropped it on the floor. Where the hell was his? Sheil must have stashed it somewhere; he groped on the counter outside the shower. There, another bar. His fingers closed around it, but then a hand grabbed at his wrist.

His body tensed, ready to attack — but he recognized the touch on his skin. “You’re back fast,” he said, tugging on his arm to pull Sheil to him.

She hadn’t gone for good. The tension in his shoulders eased.

Sheil’s face came around the edge of the shower curtain. “I don’t have the creds right now.”

And there was the crux of it. They were decent mercs, but with the mods they’d had over the years, they barely brought enough in for this lousy apartment. He wanted to become squad leader, make a little more money, make things easier, but that just caused more fights.

“I know, honey, I know.” He pulled her into the shower, ignoring her squeal about her clothes, and held her tight against him. “I’m sorry. I should’ve remembered.”

She grinned up at him. “Well, yeah.”

He reached behind her and flipped the water back on. “Why don’t we get you out of those wet clothes?”

“They’re not that wet.”

“Give me a minute.” He bent down and kissed her.

Her bodysuit didn’t come off neatly, and he wound up kneeling on the floor of the shower, hands caught in the sleeves. He did remember to turn off the water, such as it was, before they moved on to the bedroom. The sheets would absorb most of the rust.

A call woke him in the night. He groped for sheets to cover his head, but they’d been thrown somewhere during the earlier rumpus. Groaning, he headed for the vid unit and flipped it on.

Jen, the looey’s second, grinned at him. “You’re out of uniform.”

“That happens. What’s up?”

“Besides you?”

He crossed his arms across his chest. “You didn’t get me out of bed just to look at my hot body. What’s going on?”

“Mission. We’re leaving in two hours. You and Sheil both need to suit up and get here.”

He nodded and turned the vid off.

Sheil’s voice came from the bed. “You didn’t have to flirt with her.”

He took a deep breath. They didn’t have time for this now. Not with a mission. He flopped on top of her in the bed.

“Just making her jealous of you.”

“Uh-huh.” She slid her hands along his body. “Ooh, she was right. You are up.”

“Let’s do something about that.”

~~

Click here to continue reading with Episode 6, The Job.

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Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.