Page 2 of Warped

CHAPTER 2: BINX

“I’ m sorry for the deception,” I say once we’re outside.

It’s early afternoon, but you’d barely know it from the darkness. Between the soaring towers of the city and the dense smog filling the atmosphere, hardly any sunshine makes it down to street level. Above us, rows of honking hovercars slide by in a grid-like traffic formation. Around us, pedestrians bustle to and fro in a less orderly fashion.

I resist the urge to look around for any signs of danger. It wouldn’t do any good, and I don’t want to let on to my companion just how desperate I really am.

Not desperate for sex, mind you.

Desperate for survival .

“Don’t worry about it,” Rek says in a low, rumbling baritone that instantly sets my nerves at ease. He gestures at the small wheeled suitcase I’m pulling along beside me. “Here, let me carry that for you…”

“No!” I blurt a little too quickly. “I… I can handle it.”

Rek gives me a funny look, but he doesn’t press the issue, and we set off together down the street.

“Can I ask why you did it?” he asks.

“Did what?”

“Why’d you use a fake picture on your profile?”

“Oh. Right. About that …”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s stupid really. I was just worried someone I know might stumble across my profile. See, I have a day job, and if it gets around the office that I’ve been working as a Warp companion in my free time… Well, let’s just say it could be a problem for me.”

I’ve never been good at telling lies, but at least I manage to get through that one without tripping over my words. Rek seems to buy it.

“Fair enough,” he says.

“I hope you’re not disappointed.”

“Oh, on the contrary,” he says, and the faintest hint of a smile plays across his lips. “I’m pleasantly surprised.”

A blush scorches my cheeks. Apparently Rek likes what he sees.

So do I.

As we make our way down the crowded sidewalk, I can’t stop stealing sidelong glances at my massive companion. The truth is, Rek hasn’t been completely honest with me either. Okay, he didn’t outright use a fake picture the way I did, but he certainly downplayed just how intimidating he looks in person.

As a warper, he stands head and shoulders above everyone else on the street. That head is covered in a thick mane of black hair and a matching black beard, and those shoulders are about as wide as a hovercar, and as round and solid as a pair of boulders. His skin is pale to the point of looking vampiric, with a slightly bluish tinge to it, and when the light catches it just right it sort of shimmers, almost like it’s been coated with metallic body paint.

But there’s no paint involved. That’s his real skin.

Rek’s size and coloration are common side-effects of traveling through the Warp. A single faster-than-light journey won’t cause any noticeable changes in a traveler, but over time the mutations add up. Based on Rek’s appearance, I’d say he’s a seasoned warper indeed, and it hasn’t hurt his looks one bit.

His clothes seem as if they’ve been specifically selected to show off his magnificent body. The black tee he’s wearing looks like it’s been shrink-wrapped onto his torso, and his jeans are so tight I can see the muscles of his thighs rippling beneath the denim with every step.

God, I’d love to see how he even puts those jeans on.

Or how he takes them off.

It suddenly occurs to me that I’m going to get a chance to witness both of those things. Before this day is through, I’m going to see every inch of Rek’s incredible body, and he’s going to see every inch of mine.

And we’re both going to do more than just look.

A lot more.

To say I’m nervous about it would be an understatement, but it’s part of the agreement we discussed online, and I can’t back out of it now.

I guess that’s not entirely true. I could back out if I really wanted to, but I won’t. The consequences would be far too dire. I have to go through with this. I have to let this man use my body however he wants, and I have to do my best to please him. I’m sure I won’t compare to the pros he’s used to dealing with, but I’m going to try my best.

I’ll do anything he wants—anything at all—just as long as he gets me off this planet in one piece.

“So tell me,” Rek says, as we continue walking. “Is your name really Binx?”

“It’s a nickname,” I tell him. “But I usually spell it with just one X, not three like on my profile. My real name is Bianca, but all my friends call me Binx.”

That’s another lie, but a smaller one.

My real name is Bianca, that part is true, but the only person who ever called me Binx was my father. That’s why I used it on my WarpSeekers profile. So the bad people who’re after me wouldn’t recognize it.

Same reason I used a fake picture.

I’m glad Rek is being so forgiving about that. He doesn’t realize it, but he’s my savior. I won’t be truly safe until I’m aboard his ship and through the Warpgate, but simply being in his presence is already making me feel a whole lot better.

“What about you?” I ask. “Is your name really Rek?”

“Yep, but don’t let the name fool you. I’ve been warping for almost twenty cycles, and I haven’t wrecked once.”

He flashes a smile that makes me feel a little weak in the knees.

“Actually, Rek’s just a nickname,” he goes on. “My full name is Rekhard.”

I offer a smile of my own.

“Wreck hard? ” I tease. “Oh my, that’s even worse.”

“I know,” he chuckles. “Don’t worry, though. I’m not the pilot. That’s Traven’s job. I’m just the navigator.”

Oh God. That’s right.

There are two of them.

I’d almost forgotten that not-so-little detail of the arrangement. These guys don’t like to bring multiple companions with them. They prefer to share. From what I saw on the WarpSeekers website, that’s a pretty common trait among warpers. A way of saving money, I guess.

As the companion on Rek and Traven’s ship, I’ll be expected to service both of them whenever and however they want. I may even have to service both of them at the same time.

The mere thought makes my heart race with anxiety. Will I be able to handle two men at once? Two big men?

“Over here…”

Rek places a huge hand against the small of my back and guides me toward a gate at the edge of the sidewalk. Normally, I don’t like it when men try to steer me like that. It feels like they want to control me. But when Rek does it, it feels different… protective .

If his partner Traven is even half as nice as Rek is, I might actually make it through this ordeal.

There’s a scanner next to the gate. Rek raises his right hand and scans a sigil-code that’s tattooed on the back of it. He has another, bigger tattoo encircling his upper arm. A strange, swirling pattern drawn in metallic purple ink. I’ve always secretly had a thing for guys with tats, even though I’ve never actually been with one before.

I guess that’s about to change.

After a few seconds, the scanner beeps, and the gate slides open. The tunnel beyond is quiet after the noise and bustle of the crowded street, and the wheels of my suitcase rattle softly on the smooth, hard floor.

After a short walk, we emerge into a large, open-air pit about five or six stories deep. The circular walls of the pit are covered in scorched metal panels, and thick black cables snake across the ground to the bottom of the big Warpship dominating the center of the space.

“There it is,” Rek says proudly. “ The Nomad .”

My first thought is that the craft looks like an upright metal egg perched on a cylindrical base. Then I look closer, and I realize it’s not perfectly symmetrical. There are two slight bulges near the bottom. Two lobes that make it resemble the head of a penis. As I watch, a door opens in the middle of the upside-down V where the two lobes come together, and a ramp swings down to the ground, offering access to the ship’s interior.

“Those two bumps contain the ship’s main gravity generators,” Rek explains, as if reading my mind. “One’s for propulsion. The other one produces an artificial gravity field inside the ship, so we can walk around freely while we’re traveling through the Warp.”

He gestures toward the boarding ramp in front of us.

“Shall we?”

I hesitate for a moment, taking in the sight of the ship standing dormant before me. I can’t help thinking about all the things that will happen to me inside that ship. Dirty, shameful things. The kind most women don’t even dare to dream about. I’m going to be used and shared by two men I barely even know. One of them I haven’t even met yet. But if I step inside that ship, I will meet him. Then I’ll have sex with him—with both of them—over and over again.

I won’t lie, there’s a part of me that wants to run away screaming, but I can’t do that. I have to go through with this. My very survival depends on it.

Not to mention the fate of an entire planet.

I nod and follow Rek up the ramp.