Free Deep by Bates A.L.

opposite—her interrogator position. “So, are you going to tell me what happened?”
    Joel took the coffee, although he would have preferred the bottle back. He wondered whether, if he stayed quiet, she’d go away.
    She wouldn’t. Mia could be as stubborn and headstrong as him when she wanted to be. “What did you do?”
    That was the worst thing about having his baby sister on board. She always knew when he’d screwed up, and she wouldn’t let him get away with it. It had been the same when they were kids. She’d find out all his mistakes and extract a full confession from him.
    “I said something to the doc,” he confessed, because he knew from experience it was better to get things out in the open sooner rather than later. “I accused him of working with David to steal the cargo.”
    Mia scowled at him. “You know Sean wouldn’t do that.”
    “You thought the same; you said—”
    “I meant did he know that David was behind it when he went into the hatch. I wanted to know if he was trying to stop David or just getting in the way.” Mia rubbed her face in frustration. “You really accused him? What the hell were you thinking?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Seriously, Joel, you have done some stupid things in your time, but this....” She shook her head. “Were you trying to hurt him, is that it?”
    “No, of course not.”
    “Well, what then? You did it for a joke? You wanted to mess with his head because you’re a fucking sociopath and you like to put him through hell? Do you really hate him that much?”
    Joel slammed his hand on the table. “I was confused, okay? One minute he’s sad, the next we’re making out, and then there’s an alarm going off. I wasn’t thinking straight. My head was all over the place. I didn’t know what to think, except that my ship was in danger and someone had to be at fault.”
    “That’s no excuse.” Mia paused. “Wait. What do you mean you were making out?”
    Joel cursed himself for letting it slip. He took a mouthful of coffee before he said anything else.
    Mia slowly repeated herself. “What do you mean you were making out?”
    He looked away, shifting awkwardly. “I, eh... I mean, we.... We were just fooling around, okay? It’s nothing serious.”
    Her glare was enough to sober him up. “You’re an absolute, utter shithead. You know that, right? What a mess. What a total mess. You better talk to him and you better make this right.”

Chapter Thirteen
    JOEL COULD BOSS people about. He could scream and shout. He could even comfort his crew when he needed to. What he really struggled with was apologies. Especially when those apologies were overdue and perched on a mountain of unacknowledged feelings.
    It wasn’t that he was upset that the doc had lived, but he had prepared himself for Sean’s death and hadn’t even thought about what would happen if he pulled through. Actually, that wasn’t true. He thought about continuing where they left off before the alarm sounded. He thought about waking up next to Sean every morning and going to sleep with him every night. All of which glossed over the big apology he had to make first.
    If his sister hadn’t frog-marched him down to the infirmary the following morning he’d have put it off forever. But under her watchful eye he put on a brave face. Selena was with Sean, sitting by his side and making him smile. Then the doctor’s eyes darkened as he realized Joel was watching them.
    “Hey, Captain,” Selena said with an oblivious grin. “I was about to get Sean something to eat. Do you want something?”
    “No,” Joel said with a forced smile. He glanced behind him to make sure Mia was making herself scarce, too. It wouldn’t be long before the whole ship was gossiping, but that didn’t mean he was ready for public displays of affection yet.
    “How’re you doing?” he asked once they were alone.
    “I’ve been shot. The bullet tore through my large intestine, and then Kyle seems to have hacked