Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

Longing

Another city had come and gone and they found themselves at sea again. Slowly but surely making their way to Gossem. It had been close to a cycle since Ava had started training with Theo and every day was harder and harder. For lengths, she had lacked attraction to men, and subconsciously pushed her feelings for anyone else aside. That meant that attraction and the fiery feeling in her belly upon seeing Theo was new to her. She had thought that the longing and the pining would ebb over time. That maybe it would even just stay at a constant.

She was so wrong.

Every day was an uphill battle to not just grab Theo by the coat and smash their lips together. Why wasn't there a handbook on these things? She wanted to be able to read about the symptoms and the process of attraction to better understand it the same way she read about the continents or their history. Unfortunately, no one to her knowledge had sat down to pen a novel about the complexities of whatever she was feeling. Lust? Longing? Either way, she was able to focus on her tasks but just barely.

It was fine when Theo wasn't around. Ava distracted herself with other things around the ship. She had nothing left to learn from Tuni. She had learned everything she could at the moment, healing was more of an on the job learning thing. So Tuni allowed her to make herself useful in other places. Ava had helped Evana, Pearl, Cooker, Xyra, Iona, Morgana, countless other girls, even Miss Yurwa. Granted, Miss Yurwa just wanted Ava to run something up to Theo but she counted it. For a few suns after getting officially assigned to Tuni, she moped around; upset that she couldn't make a significant contribution to the wellbeing of the ship. Running around doing small things to help her crew made her feel useful for the first time since arriving on the ship.

An added bonus was the trust she was gaining with all the women. Keeping up with various jobs around the ship wasn't the only thing she was doing. Some nights when she was finished with Theo and the lower deck girls were still up, she would join them. Ava had always chimed in here or there with some advice but recently she had been getting more involved. She moved away from making quips from her hammock and had joined the girls in a sort of pseudo- circle they would form on the floor. They would drink, smoke, laugh, and have a grand time with nothing but each other's company.

Ava found herself being quickly accepted into the fold. It helped that she had Oceane to vouch for her, who was a staple in the lower deck community Ava had found out. As each night passed, Ava thought less and less about winning over others and getting votes. She wasn't in the clear yet but she was confident she would get the votes needed to pass. The women had accepted her and Ava had gotten over the biggest obstacle between her and an actual future for herself.

The problem now lied with whatever was going on with Theo. What had started off as an inkling of attraction towards the captain had now spiraled into an unstoppable force. The mere sight of Theo was enough to get her blood rushing and her face a little hot. Everything Theo did seemed funnier, more charming, and sweeter than the sun before. When Theo was being harsh during training, Ava's emotions were all over the place. Frustration from being pushed to her limits was always present but recently something else was bubbling at the surface. Theo being demanding and strict drove Ava mad. Less in the peeved way and more in the 'I cannot get you out of my head' way.

Ava was still testy, giving Theo a slight push back for everything the captain instructed. That only seemed to drive Theo to be more commanding, harsher, tougher which was not good for Ava. It was hot, who was she kidding. To make matters worse, it wasn't like Theo was fully clothed either. As their training sessions got more intense and Ava learned more, Theo was now her training partner. It got hot in the lower decks and both of them would always end sessions in an undershirt. Theo's sweaty pumped up muscles, and arms on display was a recipe to make Ava weak at the knees.