Alex Kamal had woke up with hangovers before, but this was a full Mars Marine platoon shrunk to fit inside his head and determined to pound their way out. Holden was calling for him, none too gently which was a rarity with Jim Holden. "Alex, I've been on this bridge sixteen hours straight. Get your ass up here now!"
Alex got up. Why was he naked? Nobody slept unclothed during a run. Struggling to get dressed, he realized the pain in his head was only part of his problem. His throat felt blasted by asteroid dust. His mouth was dry and salty. Muscles and joints that he barely remembered ached like they hadn't since Mars naval academy cadet basic. What had he done to himself?
His bunk was a mess of bodily fluids. There was even some blood. He had definitely brought someone back before they left Tycho. Hopefully, there wasn't a pissed off madam waiting for him the next time they hit the station. No, at Tycho the madams protected their assets. Any guy who roughed up a whore paid big time or else, before he left. What the hell had happened?
The last thing he clearly remembered was a message from his damn ex-wife Talissa. She was remarrying to Warren Combs, the asshole that always beat him in everything in the Academy, and their son was already delighted about having another dad. He knew his boy wasn't disloyal. It was just he was in space and the new stepfather was there and a full-fucking Commodore already, but Alex fucking hated it all the same. Holden had said, "Alex, you got to drink." Maybe he should remind Holden of that if the Captain gave him trouble for being so hungover. "Hey, you suggested it, Hoss," was as good a comeback as he could muster for now. Of course, Naomi had agreed on Holden's suggestion. Since the Captain and Naomi had started sleeping together they tended to speak as one. At some point Amos had said, "I can carry you if you pass out," which must have happened. Alex remembered having his arms around Amos at some point. It had felt like hugging an iron column.
Joe Miller was in the corridor patching a wall. So Naomi had found him some work to do after all. Alex had not been in favor of taking the ex-Ceres cop, his partner, and his partner's hooker girlfriend on board, but Holden felt the Rocinante needed more crew, the ex-Cereses were on the lam, and Holden couldn't stop from helping people if he had the opportunity. At least, Miller had some street smarts though right now he was standing in Alex's path with a grin Alex wanted to wipe off his face. "I'm happy you're happy," Miller said. "But please, keep the noise down. These quarters aren't sound proof."
"Screw you," Alex said and walked around him.
Miller's grin got worse. "No way I'm fighting Amos," he said.
Alex plodded on toward the bridge his head pounding with every step. What the hell had Miller meant? Amos would defend him in a real fight because for Amos the entire crew of the Rocinante, probably even Miller too now, fell into the category of "people he would protect", but the man wasn't going to jump into every argument Alex had. Amos wasn't that concerned about other people. Sometimes he went for days without interacting with anyone.
The bridge was deep-space quiet. Gia was in the pilot's chair with Holden at her shoulder close enough to make Havelock very angry if he witnessed it. But as Alex got closer it became apparent that Holden wasn't negotiating the price for a date. He had all the steering console lite up. More craziness.
"You're trying to teach her how to fly?" Alex said.
Holden looked up. "Don't have to teach. Gia's family were rock-hoppers. She knows how to fly. At least enough to take watches. With more training she could be your back-up, instead of me."
In a real emergency, the captain didn't need to be piloting. But an ex-hooker? Oh, hell, she was probably more potentially useful than Havelock. She couldn't be any less qualified than some of the pilots he has encountered in the Belt. He remembered what Amos said about prostitutes. It's an honest living. Gia had that in her favor at least. Alex squatted down beside her. She was working the console like a pro.
"She's good on most of the navigation tools. A virgin with the weapons, but you've probably got more experience there than me, so I'm going to bed." Holden said.
After Holden left, Gia made some Belter hand gestures, but Alex shook his head. "I don't know much lang Belta."
Gia paused in thought then started again. "Taki pur teaching. She she taki taki pur leaving honeymoon bed."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Alex heard himself yelling before he realized how loud his voice had shot up.
Suddenly Havelock was on the railing by them and the boy was ready to fight. He must have been on the bridge the whole time watching over Gia. "What just happened?" he demanded.
Gia babbled a ton of Belta at Havelock. With each sentence the man's expression grew less and less angry until he was practically laughing. Gia popped her hand over her mouth as soon as she finished. Embarrassed? Not likely for a Ceres hooker. No she was laughing, but at least had the politeness, or probably it was just a survival skill, to try to hide it.
A cop hand came down on his shoulder. Alex recognized the gesture from the day he had been served his divorce notice. Not good. Way not good. "Wow, you really blacked out last night," Havelock said.
Alex strained to reign in his voice. "What the hell happened?"
Gia looked more composed than Havelock now. She handed him Havelock's device. "Bet see, na tell," she said and turned on the image display.
The first pictures were nothing Alex hadn't expected, Gia and Havelock under an arch of fake flowers at some Tycho chapel. The young, ex-security cop was too straight arrow not to marry Gia even if it meant the final nail in a permanent coffin in the Belt. There's no way a Belter born woman could survive back on Earth. But, the second batch of pictures sent Alex's brain, body, and soul tumbling down a gravity sink that sucked straight into a black hole. Same stupid arch only he and Amos were under it! Then Gia started the audio.
"I already said that stuff once and it didn't work out. How about some vows we can actually keep?" his video image said. Alex knew he had to have been drunk. He had to have been very drunk to be there with Amos saying that. But even he had to admit watching the recording he didn't sound too drunk. Okay, this was a very bad dream and he needed to wake up.
The screen panned away from Alex. Amos looked more boyish than usual. Luscious blue eyes and those plump pink lips weren't snarling as they should be. "Okay, I promise to always back you in a fight."
Video Alex nodded; then responded. "I promise to always post your bail."
"I promise not to lie to you unless I have to," Amos continued.
"I promise to believe you first when I catch you in a lie and you say you had to do it." Maybe there was no way to come up with vows weren't actually stupid because that was the most boneheaded, moronic thing that had ever come out of his mouth since he said, "I do" at his first wedding! Not that what had happened between him and Amos should be considered his second. This had just been drunken stupidity in front of an audience.
Amos looked a little distracted by whatever he was thinking. "I promise not to blow my pay in the Rosse Buurt." The edge of pink crept into Amos's face. Alex absolutely had never expected to see that. "I'll show you all the things I learned growing up in whorehouses."
Alex knew he should have gotten the hell out right then and there. He knew he should stop watching the video now except he couldn't. It was obscene how vulnerable Amos looked for quarter a second which probably explained why he had said what came next. Video Alex raised one hand up to Amos's face. "I promise to show you all ways I learned to kill time in the Martian Navy."
Then he saw his hand slip from Amos's cheek to his shoulder. He had probably been trying to steady himself. Even on this low quality video Alex could definitely see his body was swaying. Didn't anybody else see how drunk he was? They probably didn't care. Or they thought it was a great joke. Judging from the shift in Amos's posture he might have put an arm around Alex's waist. "I vow to always be there to carry you," Amos said.
Damn. He had put both hands on Amos's shoulders at that point. "I vow to treat you better than I did my ex-wife."
Then they had kissed. They had fucking kissed! Alex had already processed that he and Amos had sex last night and he could deal with it. The kiss seemed worse because it hadn't been foreplay, but a public sacramental rite. People had clapped. Alex remembered kissing Amos now. Their beards had intermingled before their lips had touched so the first contact had been a million spiky threads armed with kinetic energy. Amos must have been drinking vodka not dock rown that night because his mouth had been clean almost sweet. It took forever to find his teeth. That had been when Amos had embraced him, not like a brotherly hug, more like a steel cage going around his body. A sexy steel cage from an expensive fetish brothel. Alex shut off the video before he started getting hard.
Gia said more to Havelock. Havelock turned to him. "She said the two of you make a handsome couple like lovers that were always supposed to be together," Havelock explained. "She said Amos is really great guy. He was never one of her customers, but he was a legend down in the Rosse Buurt on Ceres. He always treated them with respect."
Gia pulled Havelock closer and looked back at Alex. "We bot got gud men."
No, you got an ex-cop who worships every brittle bone of your body. I'm harnessed to a complete psychotic that could just as easily kill me as fuck me, and might just decide to do both, in any order, one day. Anybody else, he would have just demanded they get an annulment or a divorce. But with Amos he had to play this tight and careful because Amos's emotions, if he had any, were impossible to predict. The best scenario was Amos would get bored and ask him for a divorce. Of course, worst case scenario, Amos would just decide to become a widower.
Holden was in a better mood when he relieved Alex eight hours later. Except he had that grin Alex had already learned to hate plastered across his face. "I don't want to know what you did to Amos last night, but keep doing it. The guy seems almost human." Holden said.
Alex's spirits sunk even lower. This drunken mistake would be hanging over him long after it was over. "After all we've been through, you couldn't watch my back on Tycho?" Alex asked.
"What are you talking about? I was your best man." Holden replied.
If he wasn't so tired, Alex would have slugged Holden. "Tell me the truth on one thing, Hoss. Whose idea was me and Amos getting married?" For all his twistedness Alex didn't think Amos had the brains or the motivation to dream up a mindfuck this elaborate.
Holden's expression didn't change. "Yours. It was kind of romantic actually. Of course, I did not see everything. You got up from the table, took Amos's hand, made this little bow and asked him to marry you."
Alex felt his stomach flutter. He hadn't done that with Talissa though he knew where the idea came from. His mother had told Corey and him the story of how their father proposed to her hundreds of times.
"Absolute truth, when Amos stood up and put his hands on either side of your face, I thought he was going to snap your neck," Holden said.
Alex felt queasier. Amos could have very easily done that.
Holden continued. "Then Amos said, 'yeah, I'll marry you,' and starting kissing you so hard I thought the fire alarms were going to activate."
This was more than not good. This was insane and dealing with an insane Amos was the only thing that scared him more than dealing with an angry Amos.
Before Alex reached his bunk Havelock shoved a box on him. "Gia insisted. It's mostly lube and massage oil. I told her guys aren't interested in fake housekeeping."
"Fake housekeeping?" Alex repeated accidently.
"Oh yeah, I got pink curtains and wall scones with silk flowers in my quarters now," Havelock said.
When he got back to his bunk Naomi and Amos had torn the place apart. Amos stopped working, walked over without changing his expression, and kissed him. "I got Naomi to help me," Amos said. Apparently that was the only explanation he felt was necessary.
"To do what?" Alex managed to ask. His lips were stinging.
"Remove some of the wall between our bunks so we'll have more space to sleep," Amos said.
Space enough for two, he saw looking over their renovation. So Amos didn't intend for them to only keep having sex. He wanted them to live together.
Naomi joined them. "You'll have to put two mattresses together to cover the new bunk and there aren't any double sized sheets."
"We'll make do," Amos said. He almost sounded happy.
"Amos would you take the tools back to the equipment room, please." Naomi asked.
"Sure thing." Alex noticed he did not call her boss this time.
Once Amos left, Naomi's eyes shifted to match the metal she had just cut. "Amos is more than a brute. And he is more than a hole for when you don't have script to pay for it."
"I know that," Alex said though less than five minutes ago he wouldn't have been so sure about that more than a brute part.
Ice formed on the metal in Naomi's eyes. "You fucked him without enough lube."
"I was drunk. So was he." Alex said.
"That's no excuse," Naomi replied.
Then how about the fact that Amos has three times my strength and could have thrown me off him anytime. But Alex didn't say that. No sense making an enemy of Naomi. Besides he couldn't think of an explanation why Amos hadn't done just that. Unless Amos got off on pain. There were guys like that. Alex just never thought he would be in whatever the hell this was with someone who had that fetish. "At the time, everything must have seemed okay. Hell, I don't even remember the sex." Alex said. That wasn't quite the truth. Memories were coming back to him and damn they were good.
Naomi shook her head. "I told Amos not to marry you. I told him you were drunk and you were unreliable in relationships."
Alex wasn't sure which shocked him more: waking up married to Amos or Amos not doing what Naomi said. "What did he say when you told him that?"
"To mind my own business. That I should concern myself with my relationship with Holden and stay out of his relationship with you." Naomi said.
That wasn't Amos's vocabulary. "Really?" Alex said.
"More or less. Amos used cruder terms like your fuckbuddy and my future husband." Naomi admitted.
That sounded like Amos though the actions were still barely comprehensible. Alex knew Amos had become unmoored since Naomi had less time for him. Had he just been looking for some one to take her place and Alex had been the only one around? Anything was possible, but Amos didn't seem like the type that needed that much human companionship. The guy was a cypher wrapped up inside an encryption. But if there were any real answers to his behavior Naomi was the source. "Did he tell you why he said yes?" Alex asked.
"He said nobody had ever asked to marry him before and he knew you weren't a bad person. Plus he hates the last name Burton." Naomi's voice lowered, but didn't soften. "I know that there's a lot that's damaged inside Amos, but there's also a lot that isn't. You break him anymore and I'll break your neck."
Great. In addition to worrying about Amos snapping his neck because of a psychotic break or a premature ejaculation, he had Naomi ready for battle if he inflicted emotional pain on a guy that didn't seem to have real emotions. And that explanation of why Amos agreed to marry him, the explanation she claimed Amos had said, was beyond bizarre. Alex could piece together what might have been going through his alcohol distorted mind last night. There was nothing like being mad as hell at a woman to make a man seek out the most extravagant opposite of her. But Amos was a lot more damaged than anyone suspected if he willing to marry the first person that asked him. Alex wasn't Jim Holden. He wasn't volunteering to die for the universe and he was still a little bit afraid of what Amos might be capable of if he felt rejected, but Alex was human. Amos had been through some sort of hell and Alex sincerely did not want to add any more pain to the man's s life. So, it looked like he was stuck in this marriage for a while. Hopefully Amos's attention span wasn't that long.
The expanded bunk with room to stretch out on all sides was more comfortable than anything he had in a long time. He almost fell asleep; then the door slide open and there was Amos fresh from the showers, coveralls around his waist and nothing but a muscle shirt tighter than a station chief's wallet covering his chest. And those eyes, if seas could be so blue no wonder everyone wanted an ocean on Mars. Parts started twitching on Alex that should be too tired to twitch.
Amos sat down on the bed. He started picking through the box from the Havelocks and Alex was damn sure that was a sigh of relief when Amos found all the lubricant tubes. Alex sat up. "Don't ever let me fuck you without proper lubrication again."
"I've bled worse," Amos replied.
Alex didn't want to consider what incidents in his past Amos had just referred to. He sort of regretted using the word fuck. Ever lover he had ever had hated that word, but Amos seemed unfazed. He started casually running his fingers over Alex's arm. "It was worth it for the blowjob you gave me afterward, baby."
"And don't call me baby. I'm older than you." Alex said.
There was confusion across Amos's face. "What should I call you when we're alone? Naomi already asked me about that. She implied we weren't normal if we didn't have that. I've overheard her call Holden, cupcake."
Now Amos was worried about being seen as normal. This was one twisted, alternative universe he had woke up in. Alex laid back down and tried to ignore his groin. But Amos started playing with his hair. Those strong, thick fingers that could crush a throat or choke the life out of man in seconds felt amazing sliding around his scalp. He wondered how much of the gray Amos noticed.
"Since you're older than me, I could call you my old man like they did in the biker tribes," Amos said.
It figured that the only history Amos knew would be about old criminal societies, but Alex had went through a teenager phase of being fascinated by outlaw culture also, so he knew the jargon. "I don't think my old lady sounds right for you," Alex said.
Amos genuinely smiled at that. "I heard you call Naomi darling once.'
"I was trying to be sarcastic and intimidating at the time," Alex said.
"It sounded sexy as hell," Amos said.
Alex remembered the incident. "A few seconds later you were going to use me as a body shield."
"I had half a hard-on at the time," Amos said as if that justified everything.
Maybe it did to Amos. Sex and violence seemed linked with him. No, a sudden clarity came to Alex. It wasn't a link at all. It was the exact opposite. Amos could completely compartmentalize his emotions and shift between the compartments in seconds. The guy was aroused when he wanted to be with all resources devoted to just that, but when there was trouble he could lock down that part of himself and push everything toward what had to be done without thinking. It's what made him so good in battle. Maybe in bed too. Wedding night's memories were awesome. Amos had moves and a lot of stamina. Is this actually happening? I'm laying half-aroused next to a man who can't remember how many people he's killed and he wants me to call him darling. Amos's fingers were driving him crazy and the guy was just massaging his scalp for god's sake. "Why are you playing with my hair?"
The dimples came out in Amos's cheeks. A man so deadly shouldn't look so beautiful. "You got something else you would rather I play with?" Amos's gaze traveled down Alex's body and stopped at the tent in his coveralls. "Yeah, you do." He reached for the zipper.
Alex stopped him. "We need some repositioning." Alex sat up and nudged Amos's thighs apart. Alex slide closer until they intersected like V points with the inner legs side by side. "We called this the Double Watch in the Navy because it gives you a full view of your partner's face while you're getting each other off." Alex had never liked Double Watch before. It was too damn intimate for a guy you were fucking just because he was your assigned roommate. This was different. He wanted to know what Amos looked like when he came.
Like a dying saint was the answer he quickly found out. Amos practically bleed for his orgasms. Those blue eyes swilled up like his cock until they glazed over and he gave up the ghost with his mouth buried in Alex's shoulder. Even muffled he probably still managed to disturb Joe Miller, but who cared. Miller was slum Belter born the guy should be used to a lack of privacy and beside it was second night sex. They shouldn't expect them not to be a little noisy.
Afterwards Alex laid back down taking Amos with him. Talissa had always shoved him away after sex. She said it improved their chance for conception if he didn't bother her for at least thirty minutes after mating. When she got tired of laying still she always made a meteor strike for the shower and then it was no touching for the rest of the night. Amos was plastered to him. Sweat drenched their bodies and it felt like a boulder from Olympus Mons was on top of him, but he would definitely enjoy having Amos as his private human blanket.
Amos's eyes fluttered open. Good God! he had beautiful lashes like black butterfly wings framing pearl and sapphire. He traced Alex's jaw with his fingers. "Did you come?" a gravelly voice asked.
"All over your shirt, boy," Alex reassured him.
A little flame popped up in Amos. "Don't call me, boy. You can call me any other thing, but not boy."
"Okay." Alex didn't need an explanation for that. He brought his arms up higher on Amos and let his partner cuddle into him. Amos seemed to want it. Alex hadn't expected that. He really hadn't expected that.
After a while Amos spoke. "We should clean up. I mean, we could clean each other up."
Alex didn't move. "We try to clean each other up and we'll be going for it again."
Amos responded with a wicked grin and kissed him. "And that's a problem?"
Alex relaxed his hold a little, but didn't drop his arms away. "I've got fourteen hours tomorrow flying the Roci while training Gia with Havelock in tandem. You've got at least twelve hours showing Joe Miller how to make repairs. We need the rest."
"Guess you're right, Old Man," Amos said and Alex didn't feel up to objecting over the term at the moment. Amos laid his head back down on Alex's shoulder. "Okay, if I stay here."
"Sure." Alex let his arms drop down on the mattress finally. He slept very well that night.
Instead of a tragedy, after that night, life got great. No, it got sublime. Alex flew a Corvette class gun ship and slept in a very warm bed when he wasn't flying. They fooled around like rabbits high on mating hormones. Sometimes Amos brought him coffee on the bridge and teased Alex about what he wanted to do when they were off shift. They played strip table tennis the one time they were alone on the Roci. Between sex; there was always the ship, the run, or the solar system out there, so they were never bored together. In its own fucked up way it was probably the way relationships were supposed to flow. Sometimes Amos even dropped his shields long enough to reveal the scar tissue underneath and Alex saw a side of new husband he doubted anyone else had ever suspected.
"What's it like on Mars?" Amos asked one night. A routine had evolved with them. After sex Amos would lay his head on Alex's chest and talk which also surprised Alex. He never had a male partner that didn't immediately fall asleep after coming, but for Amos sex seemed like a stabilizing drug more than anything else. Even after Alex pounded him like a rock-driver he was calm and mellow.
Alex told him the truth about Mars, not the propaganda Martians usually spouted. "Most of it is not that different from the Belt. People live under domes. Plenty of people still live underground. The green spaces are precious. It's brighter under the domes than most of the Belt, but right outside there is nothing but red dirt and an atmosphere too thin to breathe."
"Until you, every Martian I ever met was crazy serious about how they are going to terraform the planet," Amos said.
"Yeah, we get that way," Alex admitted. "It's like a religious cult they indoctrinate us into at birth. They say a Martian's only real faith is that someday they are going to turn that rock into a garden. I'm a heretic. I just couldn't see the point of devoting every waking moment of my life to somebody else's possible future."
"Aren't you going to ask me about Baltimore?" Amos said.
"You never said anything, I figured you hated the place." Alex said.
"It's a hellhole, but I'll tell you about it," Amos said.
Alex realized it was very important to Amos to be asked about the city where he spent his childhood. "What's Baltimore like?"
"Wet, so goddamn wet all the time. The ocean is always rising. The hurricanes blow through a couple times a year. When I got out here, I couldn't get all the fuss people made about water. I went into space to get dry." Amos said.
That was the most Amos had ever said about his past. "What's the city like?" Alex said.
"Like the Medina under an acid rain sky. Government offices are fortresses with slums all around. The only thing that's even kind of beautiful is the shrines people make for Santa Muerta and Saint Omar." Amos said.
Alex recognized Saint Death, but not the other. "Who is he?"
"Baltimore's Saint Omar of the Shotgun robbed rich criminals and gave to the poor. The Vatican doesn't recognize him, but when I was a kid that's the only saint I ever asked to pray with me." Amos explained.
It was really hard to imagine Amos praying, but if he concentrated an image came to Alex: a slum boy, soaking-wet skin, but not clean, maybe not hunger, but fully aware that he could be the next day. Amos had been a boy that had to do whatever he could to survive at an early age. No family. No safe place. Occasional prayers to a street saint that nobody, but the down and out recognized. Prayers that went unanswered until he couldn't bear to say them anymore. No wonder he was so stoic. Everything beyond survival mode was a new, temporary experience. "So, you don't miss it?" Alex asked.
"Hell, no. Do you miss Mars?" Amos asked.
Alex answered truthfully. "I miss some people who live there, but I don't miss Mars. I like it in space."
At that Amos kissed him like a kid that just got a new puppy. "Agreed. We stay in space."
We. At first it really worried Alex when Amos started using that word. It sounded like the beginning of something psychotic. Except it wasn't. Amos was the best roommate he ever had: clean and considerate in a way Talissa never had been. It wasn't difficult living so close to him. It was comfortable, pleasant, even when they weren't having sex. Even Naomi remarked that Amos seemed better since he and Alex moved in together. Alex realized he was almost going to regret the day he got asked for a divorce. Then they docked on Ganymede.
Between terraforming companies and a military base, Fort Robinson was nearly as big as Ceres. Thanks to the U.N. Navy, it had just as many bars. Only all the bars were stocked with hookers. Amos always attracted attention. His habit of always asking about the staff's working conditions only guaranteed some of the attention was genuine. It gnawed at Alex's gut in a way watching another man flirt with Talissa never had. Then he noticed a face he hadn't seen in at least a decade and a half.
Amos must have noticed him staring. "Do you know that woman?" Amos asked.
"Coretta Lee, I flew with her in the Mars Navy," Alex said.
Amos's gaze darted around the room, but Alex couldn't tell what had suddenly made him anxious. "So, are we going to say hello?" Amos asked.
Amos wanting to meet people, that was new. "Sure," Alex said. Then he remembered how caustic Coretta could be without a lot of alcohol in her. "Why don't you get some beers with shots in them. Make them triples."
Coretta hadn't changed much since Mars Navy, but at least she thought Warren Combs was a sanctimonious asshole also. It was kind of nice to hear some of the gossip from home even if Talissa's pregnancy without fertility drugs was the main topic. Triplets. And his ex-wife wanted the whole Mars Congressional Republic to know she wasn't having any problems at all with this pregnancy. Alex knew he probably should have expected that, but at least his son seemed to be doing okay. Combs was decent with kids. It's just adults that couldn't stand him. Not that Coretta spent a lot of time in the man's company anymore. She had left the Mars Navy for private corporate transport. The pay was good and the sex was better.
"The farmer's sons got muscles all the way across their back and some of the professional boys out here can make your toes curl just taking off their clothes," Coretta was quick to inform Alex.
Alex noticed Amos returning their way. He hoped those drinks were strong. "That never was my scene. Never will be." He told Coretta.
"If you're low on money, out here there is honey, for every budget," she said. "There's even groupies that will do it for free."
"Believe it or not, not every pilot lives their life between their legs, Coretta," Alex said.
She slapped his shoulder. "Alex, your ex-wife's remarried, knocked up, and telling all of Mars your sperm was defective. You need to go get laid."
Suddenly Amos was right in front of them. Had he heard what she said? Fuck! Judging from the animal side rising in his eyes, Amos definitely heard. Coretta didn't see that. She was too busy undressing Amos with his eyes. "Damn, boy, you are nothing, but muscle," Coretta said.
Alex moved to stand between them. "Amos is the mechanic on my ship."
"Fucking bastard!" Amos swore softly. He hurled the glasses to the floor and walked out.
The air turned to ice around Alex. A fear usually reserved for close quarter battles and gun fights shot up his spine and he wasn't sure why. He went after Amos which wasn't easy to do in Fort Robinson's crowds. Luckily Amos stood out even when he moved fast, so Alex managed to catch up with him. "Hey, what just happened?" Alex demanded.
"I should have listened to Naomi and not married you. You're an asshole." Amos said.
Alex was incredulous. "Because I asked you to get a few beers?"
Amos stopped walking. His body radiated anger. It was scary though not quite as scary as the sight of Amos's retreating back had been. "I let you do things to me, you couldn't pay a pro for, and you introduce me as the ship's mechanic!"
He could kind of understand Amos getting a little upset over that. He had made that mistake with Talissa a few times and said girlfriend when it should have been fiancée or fiancée when she was already his wife. "I'm sorry. Hey, it's a common mistake with a new relationship. People make it all the time."
It didn't abate the white, hot fury in Amos's eyes. "You still wear a ring for her."
Alex thought fast. "It's a habit. I've been wearing it for years." That was the truth. He cared about as much for Talissa as he did for the cacti his mother raised in her garden. Yeah, he didn't want them to die, but he didn't want to touch them either. The ring was just part of the gear he had worn forever.
"It's a habit you break when you marry somebody else," Amos shouted. Alex had never heard him do that. When Amos threatened, it was with a cold, but even voice. It was casual. He told someone he was going to kill them in a voice no different than he told a server what kind of drink he wanted. This was a new sort of rage like a child, uncontrollable and infinitely more dangerous. He needed to get Amos off the streets and someplace safe before the man did something stupid.
"Calm down. You're overreacting," Alex said. He moved a little closer to Amos.
"No, I'm not," Amos said.
"You're upset. We should go back to the Roci and after you have calmed down we'll talk." Alex suggested.
"You can't talk your way out of this," Amos said. His voice was only a few decibels lower and burned like a drive engine. "What was I to you? An easy fuck when you were too drunk to score anything else?"
Alex felt his own temperature rise. "It's not like I forced you," Alex said and instantly regretted it.
Amos's gaze shifted to full-on malevolence. For a moment, Alex couldn't breathe. His lungs were constricted by an iron vise. Then he realized Amos wasn't actually touching him. "Will you go back to the Roci, please? You shouldn't be on the streets when you are like this." Alex pleaded. Naomi and Holden were probably back at the Roci already. More than anybody they were good at managing Amos. They would keep him safe from himself.
"Aren't the streets where I belong? Admit it, it's what you think. I'm good enough for the streets. Good enough to fuck. But other than that, trash, nothing you wanted anybody else to know about." Amos said. "I've been a whore, but I'm not going to be your whore," he said. His voice had gone cold. That voice had killed men. "Stay the fuck away from me."