Page 72 of Too Many Beds
“I don’t know,” Lucas answers honestly. “I feel hot. Really… sweaty. That’s probably just the humidity down here, though.” He blinks at the two men, feeling as if his vision has doubled. They’re both so handsome, standing this close and smelling divine. Lucas sways toward them, succeeding in getting a hand on either shoulder, Poe and Oliver having reached out in unison. He can’t keep his own hands to himself; they seem so sturdy, proven when Lucas braces a hand on each of their chests. “You really do look so much alike.”
The twins exchange worried looks. “Do you think—” Poe begins.
“We should get him to Creek,” Oliver says without waiting for Poe to finish his sentence. As long as they don’t stop touching him, Lucas is happy to do as he’s told.
Creek isn’t thrilled by the interruption. He doesn’t look at them, just frowns at the sink where he’s washing and paring a fruit Lucas has never seen before. He opens his mouth to askwhat it is, but his tongue is dry and sticky, and Poe speaks before he can untangle his words.
“Captain Collingwood needs your attention,” he says.
That gets Creek to turn. “Attention how?”
“The mineral dust,” Oliver says, his warm tone from earlier replaced by something stiff and unfriendly. “You should have warned him yesterday.”
Creek’s hackles rise, but Poe cuts between them, standing protectively in front of his twin. “Actually,Rangershould have said something, but he was probably distracted due to?—”
“Get out,” Creek says, gesturing toward the twins. “I’ll handle it.”
Oliver puffs up, his light brown skin reddening, but Poe grabs him by the arm. “Thanks, Creek. We’ll give you some space. Lucas, let me know if you need anything else.” Then he drags Oliver away, hissing a reprimand under his breath.
Now thoroughly confused, Lucas fidgets under the pressure of Creek’s intense consideration, both his natural eye and the cybernetic one holding different but equally overwhelming weights. Twisting his hands together, Lucas hazards, “May I ask about the ominous-sounding dust now?”
Creek sighs, running a hand through the long, dark waves of his hair, still tied in a high tail. “You should’ve been warned before this,” he says cryptically. “We discovered a side effect of the vastpink early on into the mining process. There’s a mineral that develops within the vents in the asteroid, and it’s attracted to the crystals, often growing directly on them. Whenever we open a pocket to extract the crystal, it’s disturbed and gets into the air. Oliver has worked on cleaning the dust off the harvested vastpink before bringing it onto the ship, but it’s impossible to eliminate all of it.”
Concerned, Lucas runs his fingers along the edge of the sink, grounding himself by rubbing drops of water between his thumband forefinger. “What does the mineral do? You should know, I caught a foreign illness from a different planet a few months ago, before my last assignment. I recovered fine, but my immune system can’t afford another—” He stops obediently when Creek holds his palm out.
“It’s nothing like that. You won’t get sick.” Creek bites the corner of his lip, then flicks his tongue over the spot. “Not like that, anyway.”
“Cut to the chase, please?”
Creek surprises him with a soft snort of amusement. “The mineral works as an aphrodisiac. Our team has gotten used to the effects, due to prolonged exposure, but since this is your first time encountering the substance, it’s affecting you at full potency.”
Lucas blinks, then blinks again while trying to process what he’s heard. “An— so I’m gettinghorny?”
He’d assumed it was just his hormones raging at proximity to such attractive men after his months-long dry spell. During travel, even, ah,tending to his needsrequired careful timing. Since the personal cabin in his cruiser is shared, it leaves Lucas’s choices for privacy the cramped latrine, or the zero-grav cockpit. Wanking in the captain’s chair while strapped down isn’t the most fun Lucas has ever had, but he’s managed.
Until now.
“If you want to phrase it that way, sure,” Creek allows.
“How, um. How bad will it get?”
Creek bites his lip again. Lucas would like to soothe that spot with his own tongue, then recoils at the impulse. “It varies,” Creek says after a moment. “We all experienced different levels of arousal, delirium, and discomfort.”
“This might be an impertinent question, but… What did you guys do about it?”
“We didn’t fuck, if that’s what you’re asking,” Creek responds dryly. Before Lucas can sputter himself into an early grave, Creek continues: “Mostly we took turns in the latrine, didn’t question disappearances, and medicated fevers.”
“What helped it wear off?”
The question wins him a little smile, and Lucas is inordinately pleased. “Orgasms,” Creek says. “Lots of them.” Before Lucas can get swept away by his imagination, Creek lifts a strainer to shake excess water off the fruit slices he was working with, then dumps them into a solid bowl and pops it into an icebox. He then tests Lucas’s forehead temperature with the inside of his wrist. “You’re feverish. Let’s get you medicated, shall we?”
Creek’s touch has Lucas shuddering, staring up at the taller man with stars in his vision. When he doesn’t move, Creek huffs and takes his elbow gently. “Come on,” he says, quiet and soothing. Very different from the standoffish demeanor he’s presented thus far.
Lucas likes it.
He nearly floats down the hallway, toes barely touching the floor. Creek attempts to let him walk on his own, but gets impatient with Lucas stopping to peer into each room they pass. Finally he grabs Lucas’s elbow as he did before, ushering him along with a muttered promise to show him everything later. Lucascannotwaitfor it to be later.
By the time he’s planted Lucas on a cushioned medical chair, Creek looks as flustered as Lucas feels. “The most effective method of managing effects is via intramuscular injection.” After Lucas’s enthusiastic nod, Creek produces a loaded syringe and attaches a needle. “The injection will go into your thigh.”