Just Released: Dinner and a Show, 1st Edition
What's it About?
How Does It Start?
Mack met me the second I stepped into the teleport center, sliding in front of me and laying a hand on my shoulder. I looked down at the hand, then up at him.
“We’re all supposed to be on leave,” I reminded him, frowning.
“And?” he asked, in a since-when kind of way.
I made to step around him. “And I’m on leave.”
Of course, his hand didn’t move, and of course, my step didn’t take me anywhere. I sighed, put my foot back on the ground, and looked up at him. “Mack…”
His mouth tightened in a single grim line. “I need to know you’re coming back.”
Now, why would I do a dumbass thing like that? I thought, and watched him clench his jaw, because of course he was in my head.
I could sense his presence, and when I looked, there he was large as life, leaning against the inside of my implant.
“You know that’s not the wisest thing to say to me, right?” he wanted to know.
I stuck my hand on my hip and cocked my head. “So, do you need me?” I asked.
“Need you?” he asked, puzzled by the change of tack.
“Yeah, you know, as in: Do you have a job you need me on?” I clarified, fixing him with a look.
He frowned as though sensing a trap, but he couldn’t work out where I’d hidden it.
I waited, forcing him to answer by not saying a single word. Finally, he caved.
“Well, nooo…” he managed, slowly.
“Good.” I gave him my brightest grin, stepped back, and slid sideways out from under his hand.
An extra shimmy saw me avoid his grab and make it to the teleport mat…which was where my next mistake became all too clear.
The teleportation officer wouldn’t send me.
He looked at Mack, looked at me, and started smirking.
“Captain says…”
“Captain says he doesn’t need me,” I snapped finishing the sentence. “And that means I can go.”
Mack cleared his throat. “Not entirely, Cutter.”
I sighed, and sat down on the teleport mat, only to be quietly picked up by the other crew members waiting to be sent planetside.
“Sorry, Joss.”
I didn’t make it hard for them, but I didn’t leave on my own, either. Childish, I know.
Mack just folded his arms and looked at me.
I folded my arms and looked back.
“So…boss…” I said, and he sighed, coming to crouch in front of me.
I did flinch when he laid a hand on my knee.
“That refusal to give us another contract until we’d had some R&R includes you, you know?”
I glared at him. “Doesn’t look like it.”
“I booked us a table at Trennenbach’s.”
As something calculated to stop me in my tracks, Trennenbach’s was…
I stared at him. “The restaurant?”
He nodded, his eyes wary.
I was glad I was already sitting, or I would have fallen. I gaped at him, instead.
“For real?”
Over at the teleport console, Tens started to snicker.
“But why?” I asked, and Tens chuckled.
“I told you she wouldn’t get it,” our main comms man and teleport operator said.
Mack scowled, although why he directed it at me instead of the man pulling his chain, I didn’t know. Mack sighed.
“Call it a bonus,” he told me. “You did good.”
I almost relaxed, but I saw the glance they exchanged, and folded my arms across my chest.
“What?” I demanded. “What is it that you’re not saying?”
Again. That glance.
I followed it, arched an eyebrow, unfolded my arms, and pushed to my feet. When Mack moved to keep between me and the teleport mat, I stepped back and away and turned for the door.
“Keep your secrets,” I told him. “Someone told me I needed more time on the range.”
Tens snickered, but I kept walking. I even got to the door before I heard Mack sigh. I did not expect what he said next…even if the tiredness in his tone was right on
“Tens, you know what to do.”
He what? I pivoted to face them, getting ready to give Mack a piece of my mind.
Silver light enveloped me before I said a single word, but I was still shouting as it faded.
“…ck, Mack. You piece of sh…” I let the words peter out when I realized where I was.
Where Do You Find It?
The stand-alone version of Dinner and a Show can be found in ebook form on a number of platforms: Kobo, Amazon, DriveThruFiction, Smashwords, and GooglePlay for a start, and other sites will follow. Check for a link to your preferred store at the following Books2Read link: https://books2read.com/u/479xQ7
Be aware that some links are still populating at the time of posting. If you can't see the link to your favorite store, check your store, anyway. It might already be there.
You can find an earlier version of this short story in the Pixie-Dust Dreaming collection, along with more urban fantasy short stories, poetry, and flash fiction, in links listed at: https://books2read.com/u/4ELrLY.
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