To Ocean's End by S.M Welles Page A

with her now? She took a deep breath and summarized her last two years with Tethys, doing her best to not use the “r-word” to describe events.
    Everyone fell silent. Ed squeezed her reassuringly.
    Ted said, “Hun, you need to get up so I can hug you.”
    Ed released her and gave her an encouraging nudge. She’d been so comfy and cozy, however she wouldn’t deny her new friend a hug. She slipped off the bunk. Ted picked her up in a hug and lifted her feet off the ground. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight. She felt a fresh wave tears wanting out, but she held them down. This treatment was overwriting her expectation that no one would want to touch her ever again. Ted set her down.
    Mido looked at her with sympathy wrinkling his brow. He held out his arms. “You don’t have to if it’d make you too uncomfortable, but I’d love to give you a hug as well.”
    Jessie hesitated. She took in his broad chest and strong arms, his gentle eyes and handsome face. All of it reminded her of all the crap she’d been through. Still, this was a different ship with a different captain and a totally different atmosphere. She tentatively reached for him and took a step forward, then another. A third brought them terrifyingly close. Mido tried to reach his arms around but stopped when she whimpered. Her eyes welled with tears.
    Mido said, “Need me to stop?” No anger or frustration was in his expression or voice. Instead he radiated empathy.
    “Please.”
    Jessie backed into Ted and he wrapped her in his arms. He said, “I still see their potential. We’ll give it time.”
    Dyne appeared in the doorway. “Is everyone more or less alright?”
    “Yeah, we got this, Captain.”
    “Alright then. Carry on.” He turned around and left.
    Mido cleared his throat, then spoke to everyone. “I gotta go. I was only stopping by to drop off your stuff. We’ve got two crew members to cremate before the storm rolls in. Jessie, remember: nickname only. And don’t let stupid get to you. We’ve got your back.” He smirked. “Especially if you’re busy being our bodyguard.”
    “Bodyguard?” Ed said.
    Mido pointed to the bruise on his cheek. “This is from her,” he said with a guilty grin.
    Ted said, “How many of you did she beat up?”
    “Just me, Dyne, and Scully, and she sucker-punched Sauna.” Ed and Ted laughed. “All in one day.” The two laughed harder.
    “What a hoot!” Ed said, getting up.
    Mido bid them farewell as he headed off.
    “How did you land that job?” Ted asked.
    “I haven’t actually accepted it yet.”
    Ed said, “You should! You’d be great. We’d love to have you as our bodyguard.”
    “Not everyone feels that way.”
    “Oh don’t worry about them. Captain Dyne looks like he’s got good control of his crew. You’ll do great.”
    Even with her new friends and their encouragement, she still wasn’t sure. It’d be nice to feel useful for more reasons than having a vagina, but body-guarding a strange group of men? She  guessed she could survive doing the job long enough to pay off her boots and clothes. “I’ll think about it. Let me get used to the idea.”
    *     *     *
    I headed to the galley for a pretzel snack. I needed something crunchy to work off my stress. Seeing Mido and Jessie had been great but it didn’t change the fact that chewing out the head dockworker had been a waste of time. Lawsuits and such weren’t worth the effort for skippers like me. I’d make less money trying to win a case than if I’d stick to my delivery schedule. I was better off never touching this dock again.
    Mido caught up with me as I was perusing the pantry full of slow-to-expire snacks. “Captain,” he called out, then lowered his voice. “Is there anyone else around?”
    “No. Everyone’s on the docks collecting pellets or helping Cancer.”
    Mido joined me in the pantry. “I just wanted to warn you that Jessie told Ed and Ted her real name.”
    “Did