Don't own anything but B.B. and Jones.
The Big Dare
"Toombs, go away. I'm trying to sleep." Irritably I turn over in my bunk to face the blank steel wall.
"What's the matter B.B.? You used to love spending the night with me." His voice is sullen and quiet. "Don't tell me you found someone better in bed than me?"
I turn back over to face him and prop myself up on one elbow. "Yeah, Toombs, I did." His eyes widen in shock and I shake my head hopelessly. "Toombs, I'm referring to this thing called sleep. Have you heard of it?"
He grins at me boyishly. "Oh that, I do that when I'm on duty." He puts a hand on my bare shoulder and sits down next to me. "C'mon B.B." He puts on a pouty face and stares at me with puppy dog eyes. "We can stay here in your bunk or go to mine. Or we can go find somewhere less crowded. Just an hour or two." I glare at him and he gives up the puppy dog act. "Half an hour at least."
For awhile I think how best to get him to leave me alone, then it occurs to me. Toombs never could resist a contest. "Alright Toombs, how about a little contest? You give me a task," his face lightens, "that doesn't include you and if I can't do it you'll win." His eyes are sparkling with mischief. "But I get to give you a task too. So If you succeed in your task and I fail in mine, you win. However, if you fail my task and I succeed in yours I win and you let me sleep at night and you stop sleeping on duty."
Toombs lets out an exaggerated sigh. "Alright deal." He leans over and kisses me before standing. "Hey, B.B.…"
"What?" I mutter tucking myself into bed more snugly.
"If I win…I get you as long as I want as many nights as I want." He stands next to my bunk watching me.
I make a shooing gesture with one hand in his general direction. "That's the idea Toombs, now go to bed." He walks away and I fall into a deep sleep.
I wake abruptly drenched in a cold sweat. A dream. No, a nightmare. That man's eyes shining at me while the knife slid across my belly. There was nothing in those eyes. Not pleasure, or disgust, or even desperation. Nothing but a coldness that seemed to stretch into forever. I give myself a shake. "Get over it. It was just a dream, nothing else." Still those eyes weren't human. No human had eyes that shone like black glass.
