Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

Elox at Last

Black hair tickled her neck and a bright sound of laughter filled the room.

"Theo!" Ava laughed and pushed at Theo's shoulders trying to get the attacks on her neck to stop, "you're going to leave a mark!"

"All the better," Theo raised her head only slightly, enough to catch Ava's eyes, "then everyone can know you are spoken for."

"Possessive isn't a good look for you," Ava challenged.

Theo was only spurred by that comment. She leaned back down and placed light kisses trailing down Ava's neck to her collar, "Lies. You love it."

Ava groaned and tried to push Theo off of her. She was right, Ava did love it. She felt the buttons on her shirt begin to fall loose and a black head of hair began to move down Ava's chest, down to her stomach. Ava's hands moved down and tangled themselves in Theo's hair, letting out soft breaths as Theo continued down. Suddenly, Theo was gone and all that was visible were the bare walls in her small quarters.

Ava lifted her head and peeked over to the second bed in the room. Seeing Pearl- her roomate- gone, Ava brought her pillow over her face and let out a small yell into it. Why did her mind have to play tricks on her like that? It wasn't fair. Theo had been right there and now she wasn't. Her heart ached and she felt a pit in her stomach; she missed her. She missed her so much. Like most suns since she had left Theo behind, Ava didn't let herself dwell on the thoughts of the Captain. Work was waiting for her and she was not one to ignore her duties.

There wasn't much to do with the crew. Being at sea for a cluster of suns nonstop usually meant that by the third one, there was nothing to do besides mediate the occasional tiff. Her lack of stuff to do lead to her Xyra's room, where she figured at the very least she could have some fun messing with the current captain of the vessel. Ava practically skipped in and slammed the door with the largest smile she could muster, she usually found the more chipper she was, the more annoyed Xyra got. Was it mean? No. It was Xyra, she usually deserved whatever Ava threw at her. Plus, it was their dynamic, and Ava had to keep up her end of it.

"Good morning," Ava announced her presence and Xyra glanced up at her from the desk.

"I'm going to need quiet for at least an hour, Red," Xyra glanced back down at the papers.

"What are you working on?" Ava asked but she was met with silence, she shouldn't have expected anything else.

Ava didn't want to leave the room so she just pulled a chair over to one of Xyra's windows and stared out onto the deck, people watching. Except, after a while, it had become boring. There were not that many people on deck so all she would catch was the occasional sailor or Navi running across deck. She was pulled, quite rudely, from her boredom when something hit the back of her head. She frowned and quickly turned around to see a slipper-like shoe on the floor and Xyra smirking to herself. Ava reached down and picked up the shoe only to throw it right back at Xyra. It was a clear miss and Xyra stuck her tongue, bragging.

"You play it up like you're so mature and sophisticated but you act like an overgrown child," Ava huffed and pulled her chair over to a place in front of Xyra.

"It's fun," Xyra shrugged, "because if you ever tried to tell anyone about what I do, no one would believe you. I would never stoop as low as to throw a shoe at your head, Red, what are you even talking about?"

Ava narrowed her eyes, "Slimy."

"Needy," Xyra shot right back.

Ava narrowed her eyes, considering whether to respond. She had seen Xyra go back and forth with Theo when it came to name-calling and Ava wasn't in the mood to get insulted.