He bristled at that. “I’ve never in my life cheated on someone! You know that better than anyone!”
She did, and it was a sore topic for him, as he’d been accused of it repeatedly. Not just by the press, but by his own family. And apparently Alura, too. It was what had made them so good together. Her worst fear had been a cheating boyfriend, and he would never cheat because he couldn’t stand being blamed for it.
Not to mention, he’d seen the damage cheating had caused for his parents. And while he’d loved his father, that had always been a very, very touchy subject for them. In fact, Bastien had been arrested in his late teens for assaulting his father when he’d first learned of it—it was what had caused him to be sent into the military.
After Bastien had lifted a skimmer that belonged to a friend’s parents, his father had shown up with his mistress to bail Bastien out. His mother thought Bastien’s enlistment had resulted from the theft.
Neither of them had ever told her the real reason. His father because he’d always lied to her about his affairs. Bastien because he’d have sooner died in war than hurt his mother in any way. Which made no sense, as his death would have been the worst tragedy of all for her.
But Bastien’s thoughts had only been on sparing his mother’s feelings, any way he could. It was why he’d always been her favorite child.
Ember sighed. “Sorry.” She sighed as she thought over everything she’d learned about him. “Did my sister really accuse you of having an affair with me?”
He growled low in his throat. “You. My sister. Hell, she’d even speculated I was sleeping with the pool boy.”
She burst out laughing at the thought. “Seriously?”
“Oh yeah. She was convinced I was chasing everything that moved. Female. Male. Fluffy bunnies. Even pack animals. If it breathed, she accused me of jumping into bed with it.”
She shook her head at Alura’s stupidity. “Again, sorry.”
“It’s all right. Besides, I aggravated her suspicions out of principle.”
“Meaning?”
He laughed evilly. “During one of her more stellar tirades, I asked if she’d mind me having a three-way with Cinder and Tasi.”
Oh, that had to have been rich. Ember could hear the screams in her mind. “You didn’t!”
By the sound of his voice, she knew he was still grinning. “You know me better than to ask that question.”
Of course she did.
And of course, he did. It was a vintage Bastien move. Why just aggravate a situation when you could annihilate it and bomb it up a few levels?
“Your mouth has always gotten you into more shit, Cabarro.”
“I know. Can’t help myself. I have this moment of reason where my inner sense tells me to bite my tongue. Then my ‘fuck-it list’ kicks in and I’m doomed.” He cleared his throat. “By the way, your jacket’s not fastened properly. You might want to fix that before we land.”
Looking down, she cursed as she realized he was right. “Thank you for noticing.”
“There’s nothing about you I don’t notice.”
Her brow shot north as she felt him growing hard against her hip again. “You cannot be ready for another go ’round. Surely…”
“Elskamun, you have no idea. All I have to do is catch a whiff of your scent and I swear I could hammer in a nail with what you cause down there.”
“Hammer a nail? I might test that theory later.”
“Again, don’t tease me.”
Oh yeah, there was no missing the way his voice deepened. Or how much she’d missed japing with him like this.
Ember fell silent while they followed after Badger, and noted what Bastien was doing. “He won’t turn you in, you know.”
“Pardon?”
She inclined her head to where he was entering notes into the fighter’s system. “That’s why you’re logging his serial on the ship and its markings, is it not?”
When Bastien answered, he kept his tone flat and even. “Doing my due diligence. Wanted to know what and who I was dealing with.”
“He’s DR. What more do you need to know?”
“What he is to you.”
She leaned back so that she could stare up into Bastien’s face. He had the shield lightened on his helmet so that she could smirk at the suspicion in his eyes. “He’s a pesky little brother who’s like a father to your son, so play nice even if he is a member of the outlawed Dread Reckoning.”
Bastien ground his teeth as a fierce wave of jealousy went through him over those words. “Father?”
“Don’t even get that look on your face, Bastien Cabarro. He’s Tasi’s cousin, who was orphaned young and raised like her brother, and they were very kind to take Rian in for me. We owe them a debt of gratitude.”
But the surly expression on his face said the only thing he wanted to give Badger was a kick in the ass.
“You will love him when you meet him.”
“Doubtful.”