Free Scouts by Nobilis Reed Page B

cadet uniform. I thought it would look better.”
    I wanted to ask whether Masters had suggested it. He probably had. I glanced over at Shirley and Masters. Both were hairless below the neck.
    I felt another knot of jealousy forming in my stomach, but I ignored it. “So how do I join the club?”
    Shirley took a tube from a shelf of toiletries on the wall. “You can shave it, just like you do your face, but I recommend this stuff. It’s a nice depilatory—leaves your skin smooth, and lasts a long time before getting stubble.”
    I squeezed some out onto my fingertips. “Can I use it on my face, too? I’d like to be able to skip shaving there.”
    “I wouldn’t recommend it,” said Masters. “If you get any on your head, you’d lose hair in strange patches.”
    I grunted an acknowledgment and rubbed the thick paste into my pubic hair. Gradually, the hair disintegrated, and when I turned my body back under the shower, it rinsed away and down the drain. The skin was smooth and sensitive where the hair had been. It would certainly make everything feel different with the hair gone.
    When I finished, Masters and Valka had already finished their showers.
    Shirley stepped over and ran her hand over my naked skin. “Nice, isn’t it?”
    My cock responded instantly, twitching just below her hand.
    “You’re teasing me,” I said. “You know we can’t just do it here.”
    “Oh, we can, but we don’t have time. Later, maybe.” She gave my cock a squeeze and headed for the warm air vents, giving me a smile over her shoulder. “I imagine you’re hungry.”
    In the dressing area, Valka spotted my erection and flashed Shirley a little smile. I couldn’t help checking to see what Valka’s body looked like in the sheer cadet uniform, making my erection even worse. I pulled on my shirt and shorts, but that only served to make it more prominent.
    By keeping my mind occupied with some of the equations I learned the night before, I managed to get myself distracted enough for it to subside before we sat down for breakfast, but that just left me with a mild ache in my testicles.
    It wouldn’t be the last.

Chapter Nine

    The morning passed roughly the same as it had the day before, except that I felt a bit more comfortable with the routine. By lunchtime, the pain in my groin from Shirley’s teasing had eased. I asked if Valka and I could go for another walk together during our free hour. Since our studies had gone well through the morning, Shirley and Masters gave their permission.
    I stayed quiet until we were out of the academy, in the long corridor leading out to the oxygen deck, then took a moment to prepare. “You’re doing so much better than me at this.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “It’s like a kick in the stomach every time I think of you and Masters being together, but you seem to be taking everything that happens with a smile and a nod.” It sounded like an accusation, but I couldn’t think of any other way to put it.
    She shrugged. “Just the way I am, I guess. I’ve never been real jealous. Do you remember when you had that thing for Sindra Colpey?”
    “What thing?”
    “Oh, I saw the way you looked at her. I could tell what was going on in your mind, but I know you, Challers.” She went up on her tiptoes to kiss me on the cheek. “We’re in love, right?”
    “I don’t know, Valka, I feel like this whole thing is changing us.”
    “Yes, we’re growing, becoming Scouts. But love is more important than that.”
    I pulled her close. “We have to hold onto it, Valka. We have to hold onto it hard. I feel it, I don’t know, slipping away.” I bent down to give her a kiss, a kiss that would seal us together, a kiss like we had never had before.
    When I opened my mouth, probing with a tentative tongue, she pulled back. “Challers . . .”
    “What?” I held on. I couldn’t let her go, not like this, not now.
    She stiffened. “I don’t think we should take our relationship down that road right