Read Online Star Force: Headstrong (SF72) by Aer-ki Jyr - Free Book Online Page B

groaned.
    Kleeva’s hand rose to cover
her mouth as she laughed. “You weren’t closed up?”
    “Apparently not,” he said, embarrassed.
    “Why the hell not? You know I didn’t do that on
purpose.”
    “Doesn’t really matter at this point,” he said,
getting to a knee but rising no further.
    “But why weren’t you closed up?” she asked,
referencing the pelvic plates on the males that covered their genitalia when
not in use. Females had internal organs and merely an aperture that was not
protected, but very hard to hit. If a male got caught with his plates spread
and hit there with even the slightest bump it was said to be extremely painful.
    “You.”
    “Me?”
    “I wasn’t concentrating when I hit the wall and I
guess I…spread on accident.”
    “Because of me?”
    “You are one of the hottest girls here,” he said in
mild defense.
    “Oh…really? You never mentioned you had a thing for me
before…”
    “I didn’t plan to,” he said, wincing as he got up, then
trying to stand still and let the unbearable pain bleed off. “I’m here to
fight…not mate.”
    “You can’t do either right now,” she said, still
smirking. “Wow. Never realized I had that effect on guys.”
    “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” he asked, still in
considerable pain that didn’t want to go away.
    “I’m sorry…but yeah. A bit.”
    “This is why you don’t do tandem runs.”
    “No, this is why you keep yourself closed up,” she
argued, still not quite believing that he’d been caught off guard because of
her.
    “I’ll remember that,” he said stiffly.
    “It really hurts, doesn’t it?”
    “You have no idea.”
    “How long before you start feeling…normal?”
    “Depends how hard you’re hit, and you stuck me good
with your elbow.”
    “Actually, it was you that rolled into me, remember?
At least we found your speed limit. Now you can work on gradually increasing it
without losing control.”
    “I really hate you right now.”
    “What happened?” another commando trainee asked,
coming over to where Jenran was standing with an awkward lean forward.
    “Don’t ask.”
    “He got caught open,” Kleeva told him.
    The other male tried to suppress a smirk, then looked
at him with genuine concern. “How bad?”
    “Elbow.”
    “Ouch,” he said empathetically. “Been there before.
Nothing you can do but wait it out.”
    “I know.”
    “My condolences,” the other male said, heading back to
his own training drills.
    “I’m sorry,” Kleeva said
after he’d left.
    “Not your fault…but I still hate you.”
    “At least that’s one thing girls don’t have to worry
about in combat.”
    “Lucky you.”
    “Do you want me to find you a medic?”
    “No.”
    “How about a stun gun?”
    Jenran didn’t answer vocally, but gave her a look that
said ‘maybe.’
    “Tell you what. You rest and I’ll get back to my own
training. Later on today, or whenever you fully recover, I’ll make it up to
you,” she said, leaning in close to his head and whispering. “Pain now,
pleasure later, all even?”
    “No need,” he said, mentally kicking himself for turning
her down but he was in so much residual pain that his subconscious didn’t argue
much. “Just an accident, and my fault. Forget about it.”
    “And what if I insist?” she said, gently licking his
forehead.
    “Not really in the flirting mood right now,” he said
honestly.
    “Oh…right. Sorry. I owe you, though. Guess we’ll
continue this later then,” she said, stepping away and hesitating. “If you
don’t find me, I’ll find you. I want to even up.”
    “Fine…later,” he said, sitting back down on the
ground.
    Kleeva cringed and walked
away.
    Jenran looked down at his crotch, then up at the wall
where the misfortune had occurred. “Can’t get any worse,” he told himself,
standing up and walking to the start position. If he was going to be in pain he
might as well be getting something out of these minutes than just