“Which one of them am I fucking?” Grisham repeated the question, which only served to make her sound all the more guilty.

“Oh god, Tess, tell me it’s not both of them.”

“It’s neither!”

“Don’t lie to me, Tess, that only makes this worse. It’s Cadet, isn’t it. That’s why Terra bought me in. Jesus, Tess!”

“We… it’s not what you think.”

“I think you spotted a cute girl with a high libido who was young enough to be submissive to you. I think she was attracted to you, and I think you couldn’t help yourself. I think Terra noticed, pulled you off her and bought me in. And now this unit has one commander, two captains and only two subordinates.”

“Well, maybe it’s a little what you think,” Grisham admitted. “But I am not sleeping with anyone now.”

“Does she know that?”

“Yeah. She does. We don’t have time to worry about this anyway. We have work to do. We have a mission about to go out.”

“Yes we do, and you’re distracted because your genitals are in the mix.” Gray stood back and gave Grisham a pitying look. “This is what you’ve been doing since we parted ways?”

“No. It’s what I did on one afternoon, one time,” Grisham scowled. “Don’t judge me, Corin.”

“Why not? You don’t seem to be judging yourself terribly well, or your actions.” Gray took a step forward and lifted her finger to Grisham’s nose. “You’re going to let this mission proceed as planned. You’re not going to question Terra, you’re not going to freak out about safety, because you know this is inherently dangerous. You’re going to do your job, and you’re going to let them do theirs.”

Grisham folded her arms over her chest and gave Gray’s finger a pointed look. She was taller than Gray, much broader and when she clenched her jawshe looked twice as mean.

“I don’t need the lecture,” she said grimly. “And I definitely don’t need your finger in my face. Keep it to yourself, Corin. I know how to do my job.”

“Good,” Gray said, lowering her hand. “Then I won’t hear you whining about this again.”

“You’ve forgotten how much littiler you are than me, Corin,” Grisham said, her dark eyes lit with annoyance. “Need me to remind you?”

Gray smirked. “Tessie, if you try throwing your weight around, I’ll make you regret it.”

“It’s your weight I’ll be throwing around, your round ass over my knee,” Grisham threatened, the corners of her lips twisting in a meaningful smirk.

“Don’t even think about it,” Gray took a step back and put a hand, perhaps unconsciously, at her waist near her weapon. “Don’t you dare.”

“Don’t provoke me again,” Grisham said with a triumphant smirk, turning to return to the cabin. “You might get what you’re asking for.”