"I told you," I said between my teeth.
She had the gun aimed right at me. Her face was gray, and her hand was
shaking.
"I told you the last time what I'd do if you ever pointed a gun at me
again." My voice was coming out low, but it had absolutely nothing in
it. It was just words, coming out one by one.
The gun muzzle was shaking badly. She put up her hand to steady it.
"I--" she said. There were tears running down her cheeks in a steady
wet stream.
She should have pulled the trigger. I think she should have. But she
didn't.
I smashed my fist against the gun, and it was out of her hands,
crashing into metal somewhere.
"Ash!" she screamed, and raked her nails across my face.
She kicked up her knee, and fire exploded in my groin. I fell forward,
slamming her down on the deck, and threw my entire dead weight across
her shoulders.
I didn't have to. Her head had hit the deck, and she lay unconscious,
blood seeping out through her hair.
* * * * *
She wouldn't talk to me. She lay on her bunk, her chest rising and
falling under the straps I'd buckled around her.