Page 4 of Warped

CHAPTER 4: TRAVEN

T his is not the woman we ordered.

She is so much better.

Don’t get me wrong, the one Rek showed me pictures of this morning looked good. Most guys would probably consider her a perfect ten. But I’m not most guys. Perfection doesn’t interest me anymore. What I want is something special.

And this new woman, the one who’s standing in front of me right now…

She is special.

As soon as I laid eyes on her, I knew she was different. My cock went from zero to hard in three seconds flat. I don’t know what it is about her. Maybe it’s the fear trembling on her plush pink lips, or maybe it’s the spark of defiance burning behind those pretty blue eyes.

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s something else entirely.

All I know for sure is that I want to wrap her long, black hair around my fist and put those trembling lips to work until her blue eyes start to water.

There’s just one problem.

She lied to us.

I repeat myself: “This is not the woman we ordered.”

Beside me, Rek clears his throat into his balled-up fist.

“First of all, Traven, we didn’t order her. WarpSeekers is a dating site, based on mutual—”

“She used fake pictures.”

In front of me, the woman stirs uncomfortably, causing the front of her trench coat to brush against the underside of my erect shaft. In my heightened state of arousal, it’s almost enough to make me come.

“About the pictures,” she says. “I can explain.”

I snap my attention back to her eyes, and the blood drains from her face.

“Well?” I say. “I’m waiting.”

The woman starts to answer, but her words are an incomprehensible stammer. She shuts up when Rek puts his hand on her shoulder.

“It’s alright,” he says. “Binx already explained it to me on the way over. There’s no need for her to go through it all a second time.”

“It isn’t alright with me,” I growl.

Rek places his other hand on my shoulder and gives me one of his looks.

“Chill, bro. You’re making our guest uncomfortable.”

Well, it wouldn’t be the first time. And in this case, I’d say it’s justified. It doesn’t matter how sexy this woman is. She lied to us, and that’s a problem. A big one. But I can tell from the look in Rek’s eye that he doesn’t see it that way. I guess I’ll hear him out.

“Binx,” he says. “Why don’t you wait in the bedroom for a minute? I need to have a private discussion with my partner here.”

The woman is more than happy to comply. She’s gone in a blink, leaving me and Rek alone in the bathroom. He closes the door after her.

“Traven, what’re you doing, man?”

“What am I doing? What the fuck are you doing bringing that woman aboard our ship? You showed me her profile this morning before you went to meet her. That is not the same woman from the pictures. She’s using a fake profile.”

Rek pats the air with his hands. The gesture is meant to calm me down, but it only annoys me more.

“She already explained it to me,” he says. “This is just a side gig for her. She’s worried someone from her day job might see her profile, and she’d get in trouble.”

“What’s her day job?”

“Didn’t ask.”

“Of course not. You don’t really believe her story, do you? She’s bullshittin’ you, Rek. I don’t think she’s even done this before. Did you see the look on her face just now when she saw my cock? She looked like she was ready to run for the damn hills. How long has she even been on WarpSeekers anyway?”

“Since yesterday.”

“Surprise, surprise. It’s obvious what’s going on here, Rek. That woman’s on the run from something. Probably something illegal. She can’t book a ticket on a Warpliner, so she’s tryin’ to hitch a ride with some warpers instead. Only, I don’t think she fully comprehends what that entails.”

“Oh, I think she does, Traven. You read her profile. It couldn’t have been more explicit.”

I just grunt and shake my head.

“Saying it’s one thing. Actually experiencing it’s something else entirely. As soon as you saw she wasn’t the same woman from the pictures, you should have called the whole thing off.”

Rek scoffs.

“You kiddin’ me, bro? Once I saw her, there was no way I could leave her behind. I think you know exactly what I’m talking about…”

He looks down at my dick and arches one eyebrow.

Yeah, my boner is still raging out of control, throbbing and aching like it’s about to fucking explode. I can’t remember the last time a woman made me that hard, and she didn’t even have to touch it. Hell, she didn’t even take her clothes off. All it took was one glance at her beautiful, desperate face, and my cock went from six o’clock to high noon.

Doesn’t matter though.

“Unlike you,” I growl. “I think with my brain, not with my schlong. I want that woman off my ship. Right fucking now.”

Rek seems unfazed.

“ Our ship,” he says and shrugs. “But fine. I’ll get rid of her. What are we going to do for a companion, though? We’re not going to be able to find another one on such short notice. Not one who’s willing to go to Caldera, anyway. I guess our delivery’s just gonna be late. Oh yeah. That’s right. If we’re late we only get paid half, which means we’ll barely break even on this job.”

Shit. The son of a bitch is right. If we’re going to keep to our schedule, we need to leave soon. As in the next hour or so. We’ll never find another Warp companion that fast.

And we need a companion.

It’s been about a hundred cycles since the first Warpgates were constructed and humanity started traveling around the galaxy at faster-than-light speeds. At first, everyone thought the biggest challenges would be technological in nature.

Well, they had no idea.

The first crew that successfully passed through the Warp and came out on the other side consisted of three men and three women.

All three of the women got knocked up along the way.

Turns out there’s something about the Warp that has an effect on a traveler’s mind. Puts ’em into a state of arousal so intense it’s unbearable, kinda like an animal going into heat, only ten times worse. On the big commercial Warpliners, they knock the passengers out with drugs and put ’em in stasis for the duration of the journey. But on a merchant ship like this one, the crew needs to be conscious in case anything goes wrong.

That’s where Warp companions come in.

They tag along and take care of the crew’s urges . Of course, once they’re up there in the Warp, the companions have urges of their own. Some of them do it because they can’t afford a ticket on a Warpliner. Others do it for a living.

And some… some just do it for the love of the game.

Once a woman’s had a taste of warper cock, plain old non-mutated men just can’t satisfy them anymore. Plus, when you’re in the Warp, everything is heightened. Every touch, every kiss, every orgasm. Some companions stick with it so long, they end up turning into warpers themselves, though the way the women mutate is a bit different from the men.

Nobody knows why it’s like that, but it is.

We need, need a companion.

“Fuck it,” I say. “Alright, I’ll consider taking this woman with us, but we’re going to test her first. I don’t want to get up there in the Warp only to discover she can’t handle what we’re packing.”

“Fine with me,” Rek says smugly. “I’ll grab some gloves.”