Chapter 11

Ferro finally got confirmation of his room assignment after being sent back down to the warehouse level where he had left Quiyo. Apparently the patriarch had no more need for an interpreter. He was in the midst of firing up more power sources for the massive pieces of equipment when his computer beeped with a message.

After watching the telltales shift from red to yellow and finally to green status, Ferro retrieved his mail. He had a deck number and a room. The message said nothing about who he was rooming with or if he was for that matter. After Ree agreed to be his fuck bunny, he had thought they would move in together but that hadn't been discussed on the ship. A guy could always hope.

Quiyo found him and they exchanged their room numbers, which were on the same deck. "Family stays together," Quiyo said, explaining their rooming assignments. "I'm going to be assigned the task of getting these machines up and running, which means I'm going to be living near you because my task involves you."

"Damn, Ree is in security, not engineering," Ferro said.

"You really like her, don't you?" Quiyo asked with a touch of bewilderment. "I've got a much better body than she does."

Ferro stared at her a moment trying to engage his brain. "You have a dirtier mind and a taste for dangerous sex, too. The one time we had, two doors down actually, was just sex though. There was no spark between us when all was said and done. I realize I was drugged then, but even on the ship it was only 'hi' when we passed each other."

"We could've done it again. I was willing," Quiyo said.

"First there was Chemung and his delusions of ownership over you and then Riata took me by the ears," Ferro said.

"More like your balls," Quiyo said with a smirk.

"More like my heart, liver and kidneys," Ferro said, glancing back at the board to double check the telltales. He felt a hand on his bicep and looked back at Quiyo who was suddenly quite serious.

"Have you told Riata how you feel," Quiyo said.

"Some of it," Ferro said defensively. "I mean, I've been training and drawing all week since we became fuck bunnies."

She held up a finger to his face. "You had better tell her real quick, Ferro. What you just said is most serious in the Family, serious like blade deep serious."

"All I said was heart..." and Ferro's voice trailed off. "Is this what Volentin means by the term 'heart friend'?"

"You got it on the first try," Quiyo said. "I'll wait for the next shift to show up. You go on ahead and find your quarters. I'll catch up with you later and I won't forget this conversation."

Ferro rushed up the spindle. When he reached the assigned level, which was far above where he had originally lived on Callisto, he was greeted by Volentin security with pulse rifles at the ready. They didn't smile. They nodded and let him pass.

As he walked down the hallway, his computer beeped with a message informing everyone that another Family had docked with the station. Ferro didn't know what to make of the information, but the message said the Khan were coming aboard and everyone had to wear necklaces with colored tabs identifying their family and their work area.

Finding his room, Ferro stepped inside and stopped in his tracks. He had no idea who had been tossed from the apartment, but they liked rich furnishings and artwork. There was an actual kitchen nook. He ran over to the far wall and hit a button, jumping up and down like a child as a window appeared from behind the blinds. Unable to contain himself, he ran to the bedroom.

"A bed," he said aloud with a sense of awe in his voice. Ferro was considering leaping onto the mattress when he heard the front door open. He ran back into the front room and let out a laugh when he saw the look on Riata's face. She looked star struck.

"This is ours?" she said as she carefully walked into the middle of the room, stroking the furniture with her hand as she passed.

"Yeah," Ferro said with the first bit of nonchalance he had felt in very long time. It felt good to finally be in a place where he was more comfortable than she was.She dream walked past him and stepped into the bedroom. "There is only one bed," she said. "Where is everyone one else going to sleep?"

"We are the only ones assigned to this room," Ferro said, coming up behind her and giving her a hug.

"But, but..." Riata said and stopped.

Ferro wasn't sure what to say and he hadn't expected her reaction. He understood it although he didn't want it. "Ree, I know it's selfish to the rest of the family, but I want you to myself. We said we were fuck bunnies, but I want more of you."

He turned her around and stared into her eyes.

"I love you."

Before he could react, she had a knife at his throat. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds. "Are you saying that you want us to be heart friends, Ferro?"

"Yeah, I am. I already told Quiyo," Ferro said, not daring to move.

"You told Quiyo," she said with accusation in her voice.

"She said that you had me by the balls and I told her that you had me by the heart, liver and kidneys," Ferro said. "Maybe I'm not saying it right, but I mean what I say."

"I believe you, Ferro, I really do, but we aren't there yet," Riata said. "You are confusing love and lust."

"I am not," Ferro insisted as much as he could with a knife at this throat.

"If I told you let's get naked and fuck, even with a knife at your jugular, would you get hard for me?" Riata asked.

"Yeah!" Ferro said.

"That proves my case. You don't think like Volentin yet, Ferro, and you still haven't peeled away enough layers to know me. You come in here asking for things of me which you have no idea what they are or what they mean. You have no idea how to negotiate for my true feelings because you don't understand what love is, you don't understand what love within the Family is. You think you know but you don't. We will not be heart friends at this time. You're good, but you're not that good yet. Do you understand?"

"I don't want to," said Ferro, the petulant child.

"Answer the question: yes or no."

"Yes." Ferro dropped his eyes and stared down. "I'm sorry."

He backed away from the blade, turned on his heel and walked out the door before she could see the tears in his eyes.

He ran.

With no appetite, he skipped his shift meal. Finding no reason to return to his quarters and unbelievably tired, Ferro found his old office and camped out behind the desk. The office carpet wasn't much less comfortable than his mat back on the ship. After several hours, the insistent beep of the alarm on his belted computer woke him for his working shift.

Hungry and stiff, Ferro roused himself and gave himself a quick wash in the office bathroom, which could have used a good cleaning. He returned to the Family's deck and collected his necklace with tabs. His assignment was waiting for him as well.

He returned to engineering and went to the offices of the department head. Xerba was already in the office suite, installing Ferro's digital drawing board in one of the bigger rooms. The former resident's office furniture had been tossed from the room and out into the reception area, making Ferro's progress more of an obstacle course than a stroll into the new digs.

"What kind of idiot bolts shit like this to the wall?" Xerba was cursing aloud while throwing his arms up in the air. The last piece of furniture belonging to the former occupant was laying at Xerba's feet with half of the wall panel still attached to it.