Snap Me Up Read online

  Snapper stepped closer. “Then allow me to show you again, though maybe you should spend less time reading books and memorizing facts about my planet and focus more on your job?”

  Gina stood her ground. “I found everything, and I’ll do better. See you at the meeting?”

  She could smell his sweat, mixed with a citrusy flavor that reminded her of the lime grove on the planet Eden. Sharp and bitter, much like him. Scents were another gift humans took for granted. She enjoyed the smell of new things, along with trying to determine which ones appealed to her.

  This close she could also glimpse the hairs on his chin, as curly and wild as the ones on his head. Though they weren’t all the same color—dark brown, ginger, even a couple of gray strands graced his face. Her exploration of his features meandered on to the Grecian nose, a near Romanesque style like the old books of Earth displayed. Bluest eyes with a smattering of wrinkles around the edges…and the indention between his brows that grew more pronounced every time he was frustrated.

  “Gina, why are you looking at me like that?”

  She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the towel there. Every mechanic kept one, though she didn’t sweat like the others and rarely had a use for it. Now she reached up and rubbed the grease away from his temples, one by one.

  He took in a sharp breath, almost a hiss. There a was creak and groan of metal at her side as he clenched his cyborg fist tightly. Another difference… He, like Drag and a couple of the others, was enhanced with cybernetic parts. While she possessed more strength than the average human, there was a good chance Snapper could give back as good as she gave. Another thing we have in common, but I can’t tell him that.

  She froze, and slowly pulled her arm back. “There. Clean.”

  Her fingers still tingled from the limited contact with his skin. So much sensation, three thousand touch receptors in a fingertip. How do you humans not go into overload from a fleeting touch?

  Snapper growled, that indentation between his brows back again. “Next time, Gina, ask for permission before you touch someone.”

  She dropped the cloth at his feet. “Excuse me?”

  “Leave Drag alone too. He doesn’t need you trying to moon after him.”

  “What does that mean? I don’t moon after anything. You’re implying a moon can move outside of its orbit?” She cocked her head to the side as he took a step back.

  “And pick up that cloth.”

  He walked off without answering her question, on top of treating her like some Mars adolescent or a cleaning robot. She wasn’t a damn robot anymore, and high time she showed him, too.

  Chapter Two

  Snapper Rodriguez followed his gut, one hundred percent. Trusting his instincts had served him well and going against them always resulted in bad things happening. He glanced at his cybernetic arm and flexed the metal fingers. The chip in his brain, the nano-connections, allowed him to control the movements. Scary shit he still didn’t completely understand.

  He used the same arm to shove open the door of his office with a bang and marched inside, headed straight for the private bathroom where he could see the damage Gina had left behind.

  Gina…infuriating female extraordinaire.

  When Drag had taken her on, told Snapper, instead of asking him, they would take on a female mechanic, he hadn’t planned on her. He stood in front of the mirror, his scraggly appearance echoing back at him. Hair curly and wild, goatee just as untamed, the dark brown a stark contrast to the piercing blue of his eyes. Eyes he shared with a father who’d never gotten the chance to acknowledge him.

  Fuck. He clenched his fists and stopped short of slamming them against the metal sink. Didn’t need to cause more damage when he already had an engine that didn’t work. The anger and frustration seeped into his brain like a poison determined to dredge up every little thing that had ever aggravated him.

  Including the blonde mechanic with purple eyes who’d put her damn hands on him. Even now he despised the semi he sported from her mere touch. He didn’t want her. His gut told him that much. Even if his body disagreed.

  She’d also cleared off most of the engine grease on his face, but there still remained a few stains. He yanked on the faucet, letting the water run and used his remaining human hand to splash water on his face and scrub away the remnants, being much rougher than her touch had been.

  “What do you have against that female mechanic, Snap?” Hemi Finster stood in his bathroom doorway, a smirk on his face.

  Snapper glanced at their champion racer. “Gut says we can’t trust her. What do we really know about her? And she’s annoying, spouting her facts, acting like she knows about mechanics when she’s never worked on racers.”

  The words sounded harsher than he’d intended and Hemi let out a low whistle. “Damn, Snap. Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

  “Damn straight.” He turned off the water and grabbed a dry towel from the hanging rack. The best way to keep up a good rep was to never apologize. “You headed over to the bar?”

  Hemi stroked his black beard with his hand and gave a single nod. “Meeting is still a good hour away, but I’d like to get a drink or two before the crowd shows up and a good seat. Come with?”

  “Yeah, may as well.” Snapper turned off the lights and locked up his office door as he followed Hemi out.

  Gina was nowhere to be seen, though Snapper imagined she’d gone over to the bar as well or was still putting her tools away. She’d been given a spare room in the mechanics bay to stay in and he wouldn’t lie that her quarters might have also contributed to his grumpiness…and the cot he’d set up in his office.

  “You sleeping here now too?” Hemi didn’t seem to miss a damn thing, but good racers never did.

  “Got to keep track of our investment, right? With all this new blood around here, we can’t take people for face value. Trust is earned.” They’d been taking in all sorts since Drag had taken over. The idea was to expand their little gang-town. Make it more balanced than others, invest in people, Drag had said. His best friend believed in giving outcasts a chance. They had been outcasts once too.

  But Snapper believed Drag had too much of a kind heart, one people might take advantage of.

  “Got a point,” Hemi replied as they both pulled up their neck scarves over their mouths before they pushed open the twin double doors of the bay. “Though I’d hoped I’ve proven otherwise by now.”

  Outside, the red dust swirled through the air, brushed up by the occasional wind. Today the wind was a little more fierce than usual, not like the dust storms that kicked up from time to time. They all wore scarves to help protect their faces. Though some of the remaining members of the Smith gang believed people who wore scarves weren’t tough.

  Hemi had come from a non-affiliated gang and worked hard to help benefit Full Throttle. Snapper clapped him on the shoulder as they walked down the road, past several houses and toward the bar. “You’re Full Throttle through and through.”

  Hemi’s eyes twinkled and he gave a single nod.

  The rest of the way to the bar, they passed familiar faces. Miners, hydro plant and Airponics workers. Folks doling out a single nod, a wave, as they crossed to their homes. Though the air carried a wave of foreboding. The town meeting hung heavy on everyone anxious for news about what would come now that the gang-town had lost their permits for mining and ship building.

  The faded wooden sign of Watering Hole creaked in the wind as it swayed back and forth. The building itself matched the sign—planks of wood, a metal roof and a sense the place had stood for longer than most of the residents.

  Hemi entered first. Snapper followed. The sounds of clinking glasses and voices mingled through the air, mixed with the sharp sour of shine and the bitter scent of beer.

  “The party has arrived,” Hemi called out to the quarter-filled room and a small cheer went up.

  Snapper shook his head as he headed to the bar. “Mug of beer.”

  “And you
want this on your tab?” Gaia, the bartender, set two mugs on the bar, foam spilling over the tops.

  “Put it on mine, gorgeous.” Hemi snagged one of the mugs and took a long swallow. “And give me a chance.”

  Gaia laughed, her long black braid swinging as she turned away from them and made her way down the bar.

  “Chasing after a lost cause,” Snapper offered as he grabbed his mug.

  “She’s worth the chase.”

  Snapper laughed. “Only because you can’t have her.”

  A hand slipped over his cybernetic arm, pale and petite. He couldn’t feel it thanks to the metal. “Are you talking about me again? Because, like I told you before, Snapper, you can have me whatever way you want.”

  Snapper finished off his mug in a couple of gulps and set the glass down carefully before smiling at Artemis. “Can’t stay away, can you?”

  The redhead had been a member of the Macintosh gang-town, like him once upon a time, but she’d joined up with Full Throttle. Her beauty was almost painful. Her ready smile, the dimples when she grinned, but something about her green eyes didn’t quite convey the same excitement. She’d been through a lot, like him…like everyone who had left Macintosh.

  “No, but still can’t get you to say yes to more than a tumble.”

  The door to the bar swung open again. Wouldn’t have mattered in a normal moment, but the room got a little quieter and Snapper couldn’t help but look away from Artemis and toward the door.

  Gina walked in, her long blonde hair divided into twin braids. She’d changed into a fresh top, a flowing long-sleeved shirt with a brown vest and matching pants…the boots too. Fuck me sideways.

  Her purple gaze landed on him, and he immediately looked away, at his empty mug.

  “Artie, why waste your time on this guy, when I’m what you need.” Hemi saved the moment, and Artemis wrapped her whole arm around Snapper’s cyborg one.

  “You don’t get to call me Artie.”

  Hemi chuckled. “No shit. Who does then?”

  Snapper glanced at the woman who seemed to want more from him, but he’d been too damn busy of late to take the plunge. He could feel Gina staring at him as she approached the bar and he found himself eager to be distracted.

  “I’d like to know as well,” he replied, reaching up to touch Artemis’ hand with his human one. Her skin was smoother than his, though she worked in much different environment. She was supple like this all over. But she won’t be Gina.

  “The only people who get to call me Artie are the ones I want to screw.” Artie winked at him.

  “Ooooh, boy.” Hemi stomped his foot against the floor. “I’ll take that as my cue. See you both later, though I hope you’ll let Snapper stay for the meeting, Artemis. Drag said he had to attend.”

  She curled up next to him, rubbing her thin frame against his body. “Oh, don’t worry. My plan is meeting first, and a good romp after.”

  Gina reached the bar then and Snapper needed to get away from her. She made the hairs of his neck stand on end and he hated how, with her entrance, he had the desire to shake away Artie and her intentions. That wasn’t how he should react.

  “Let’s grab a table, eh?”

  Artie smiled up at him again. She was much smaller and he had to look down at her. “Sure thing, honey. Just lead the way.”

  He maneuvered them away from Gina, across the room, without a backward glance. Jack, one of the other Full Throttle racers, and Rune, Drag’s brother, flagged him down.

  “Over here, Snap. Saved you a seat close to the front of the room.” Rune kicked a chair out from under the table with his foot.

  Snapper sat down and Artie took the opportunity to position herself atop one of his knees. She was lightweight, he’d give her that, but he couldn’t help but be reminded of how he’d demanded Gina ask for permission to touch him and here he let Artie do almost whatever she wanted.

  A tiny twinge of guilt balled up in his throat and he swallowed it down with a long guzzle of beer.

  “Almost time for this to get started. Did Drag give either of you any heads-up?” This was from Jack, a holdover from the Smith gang. Jack had joined Snapper and Drag in the cybernetic experiment to replace a leg he’d lost in a mining accident. The bond the three of them shared due to the changes they’d undergone was everlasting.

  Jack wanted Drag to succeed at running Full Throttle and Frog Lick as much as Snapper did. They were the ones who’d given their bodies to science and been considered a total loss, for whatever reason. The project had been abandoned within a year of them getting their implants. When the opportunity came to prove that they were more than a lost cause, Snapper wasn’t the only one to jump to Drag’s side. Cybernetic monsters had to have each other’s backs.

  Snapper shook his head as he pulled his mug from his lips and angled a nod toward Artie on his lap. No way would he talk business with her here. Whatever needed to be said could keep until later. If there were one thing he prized above all else, it was privacy. He respected discretion, and Drag’s challenges with running a gang-town didn’t need to be aired where people could hear.

  Not that Drag wouldn’t be honest about things in a few minutes. Artie had come with them, part of the group kicked out of the Macintosh gang-town more than five years past. Yet she was still dust honey material and for some reason she’d found solace with Snapper.

  He set the mug down on the table as she leaned back, scooting her ass against his dick. Naturally his lower anatomy responded with enthusiasm at the friction.

  “Sure we have to stay?” she purred, wiggling her ass against him some more.

  For some reason, at that exact moment, he glanced up and his gaze caught on a pair of purple eyes, staring right back at him. Gina licked her lips before she dragged a mug to them and took a drink.

  Snapper’s lack of response had Artie glancing over at Gina as well. “She sure is a weird one. Maybe she likes to watch. Would you like that?”

  Another image came to his brain that he needed to banish. One in which Gina didn’t watch as much as participate and Artie wasn’t there at all.

  Artie raised her hand and beckoned to Gina with her index finger. Fucking hell. He didn’t need this at this moment, or ever.

  “Artie, leave her be. She’s not the type for games…” The words died on his lips because he was too late.

  Gina walked over to them. Her steps were sure, but she seemed to have an odd canter to them. Something he hadn’t really paid too close attention to before. “Sorry, I was staring. You’re just—”

  “Did you like what you saw?” Artie asked.

  Snapper schooled his expression, a part of him hoping Gina would walk away or tell Artie to shut the hell up. He didn’t want this, no matter what his body tried to imply otherwise. Gina was off-limits—she worked with him and she was annoying.

  “I was intrigued by it,” Gina replied.

  Heat licked up his neck at her admission. The air seemed thicker and he silently urged his dick to not get excited. He put his hands on Artie’s hips and edged her back to his knee.

  “Would you like to—”

  “Hey, Gina, grab a seat. Meeting’s about to start,” Jack called out to her and Snapper caught the other man’s single nod of acknowledgment.

  Snapper owed Jack a beer.

  “Okay,” Gina replied and sat down in a chair at another table directly across from them.

  “I was talking to her, Jack.” Artie’s high-pitched agitation was drowned out by the tone of a metal gong echoing through the room.

  Saved by his fellow cyborgs yet again.

  Chapter Three

  A loud gong sounded up by the bar stage and Drag stepped forward. “If I can have your attention, we’ll get this town meeting started.”

  The crowd quieted and Snapper refocused on Drag. He didn’t so much listen to the words because he’d already heard them. He’d reviewed what should be said and what not to say with his best friend. The truth was brutal and would affect
everyone differently.

  “Our appeal to reinstate the mining and ship-building licenses for Frog Lick has been denied by the Mars Commission.”

  The murmurs of frustration rolled through the small crowd and grew to shouts of outrage. The gong rang again and Drag raised his arms. “I understand the upset and I agree we are being punished for someone else’s crimes, though we are bound to the same laws as all other towns across Mars. Our only option is win the regional race, secure a sponsor and go for the championship.”

  Failure had already burrowed a hole in Snapper’s belly, filling him with anger. The same way nights of starvation as a child had made him feral toward others, eager for any morsel he could scrape from waste bins or scattered on floors. Until he’d proven his worth. Now, with that unfinished engine in the mechanics bay, he was once again struggling to prove he could accomplish the one thing he was supposed to be a miracle worker at.

  “Do we have a driver?” someone in the crowd called out.

  Hemi stepped up next to Drag on the stage. “I’m ready to lead Frog Lick and Full Throttle to a win.” He flexed his biceps and the crowd cheered. A moment of positivity.

  “But we don’t have an engine. Prototype exploded in the bay today.”

  Snapper glanced around the room searching for the sludge sack who mentioned his failure. He had five mechanics and several squires who assisted in learning the ropes. What happened in the mechanics bay was supposed to stay there. He might have to look closer at who he bothered to trust working within his purview.

  The grumbles of dissent started to rise again and Drag held up his arms. “Hold on there. There are always challenges to a prototype. Snapper is working on it.”

  “What about using the experimental accelerant?” This was from Artie, of all people, perched on his fucking knee. He wanted to shove her off.

  She glanced back at him, red curls bouncing as she did, and grinned. He didn’t return the smile, just chugged the rest of his beer.

  “Yeah, what about the NiteOx?” cried out another voice.

  “What about that dangerous shit? It blew up my father!” This came from Petal, Rune’s girl and Drag’s sister-in-law. She jumped out of her chair and turned on the crowd. “Are you wanting to risk the lives of our racers, our mechanics, for something so dangerous?”