Jayne enjoyed the panic on Hadrian’s face as he quickly went over their settings. She knew it wasn’t the fuel, but it was nice to get a little payback on him for the discomfort she felt.

He let out a sigh of relief. “It’s the dampeners.”

“What I figured. Just messing with you.”

Growling at her, he flipped a switch near her hand that turned her instruments into Universal. “There’s a planet an hour away with an outpost. Can you make it that far?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Not unless you want me to jettison you.”

She gave him an arch stare. “Be kind of hard since you’d go with me.”

He snorted. “You seriously overestimate my survival instincts when up against my aversion to bodily fluids.”

Jayne laughed at his unexpected retort. “You’re seriously not right, are you?”

“No. I’m not. I’m completely fucked in the head. I have a death warrant I don’t deserve. An overprotective brother who is insane on his best day. A woman I don’t know about to piss in the only thing I own, and everything else I can claim fits into a backpack I have to carry with me everywhere I go because I never know when I have to hit the ground running. In what world would any of that make someone normal?”

He was right. And she couldn’t blame him.

She smiled sadly. “Sorry.”

“No worries. Could be worse.”

“Yeah. We could both be lying on the floor of your diner.”

“Or much worse. You could have ordered Izak’s steak.”

Jayne snorted. How pathetic that that was what it really came down to. A good day was one where she didn’t bleed. A better one was a day where she didn’t make someone else bleed more.

And the best days were when her sister came home alive and unharmed.

Sad, truly. It seemed like there should be more to life. A better reward for trying to be a good person.

She sighed heavily at just how pathetic it all was. “So, who’s this fighter registered to, anyway?” She knew it couldn’t be under his name, given his family lineage and how long he appeared to have been running.

“Does it matter?”

Not really, but she was curious who might come looking for him. “I can pull the reg.”

“Derring Orrin.”

That was weird. “Any particular reason you chose a cartoon character?”

“It has absolutely no relation or bearing on my real name. And if anyone looked it up, they’d be blitzed with a zillion thousand results that have nothing to do with any real living person.”

Made sense. It was actually brilliant given what he faced.

“So, what happens if you’re asked for ID?”

He handed her his comm.

She glanced at it, then laughed. It was a photo of him wearing glasses . . .

With the name Derring Orrin. That picture looked nothing like the adorable rogue she’d found. He was definitely a creature of many facets.

Still laughing, she handed it back. “Nice forgery.”