Poe wasn’t usually the guy doing the manhandling. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, he was the only getting his ass hauled around by thugs who meant to do him harm. And Poe knew how to handle that. He did. Really. Get punched a couple of times, come home with rakish bruises, a few cuts, a broken nose or two. Easy. It was worth a few busted lips to be a jackass to the bad guys and do some good in the galaxy at the same time. Win and win.
But there was something to be said for being the guy to shove someone like, say, Terex around for once. “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he said. “You’ve got some nerve, pal. How did you even find us?”
“A gentleman never kisses and—”
Poe might’ve pushed a little, maybe kicked at the back of Terex’s boots, make him stumble a bit just so Poe could yank all the harder on the collar of his shirt. Poe’d dismissed the security detail on this last stretch of hallway outside the brig. It was a little personal having Terex here after everything he’d help put them through. Sure, try to kill Poe and his team. Whatever. Who hadn’t had a go at Black Squadron? But that was before the First Order destroyed nearly everything Poe held dear. That was before there’d been so little of General Organa’s leadership left that she’d had to promote him to Vice Admiral just to fill one of the unfillable gaps. “I’m a little short on patience. You’re gonna have to do better than that.”
Terex huffed. “Does it really matter? I’m here now. Your goons did a thorough search. I’m not planning on divulging your location to any interested third parties. Who cares how I found out? Wouldn’t you rather know what I know?”
“Yeah.” Poe laughed, bitter. “It’s cute that you think you’re leaving this base before the end of this war.” And, in fact, it did actually matter a great deal how he found out, but if it took Terex blabbing about other shit first, well. Fine. Poe had all the time in the world to listen to him drone on and on about nonsense that may or may not be useful.
But actually, Poe did have a question. And it had nothing at all to do with how Terex managed to get here.
“What changed your mind?” he asked, halting their progress to push Terex up against the cold, unforgiving duracrete wall. He needed to see Terex’s eyes for this, that horrible scar all along the right side of his face, the twitch of his lips as he answered. If he was being honest, he needed a great deal more than that. His attention sharpened and he focused on every inch of Terex’s stupid, smug visage as he waited for an answer he’d believe. His arm formed a bar across Terex’s sternum and he leaned in.
Warmth thrummed through him as he leaned in close. “Last time we talked, you were perfectly happy to let the galaxy burn down around you. What’s wrong? The prospect of Supreme Leader Ren and General Hux ruling everything in sight strike you as a little unfair? No way you’ll be king of the ash heap if they win, am I wrong?”
“You’re right. Ren’s still a freak and Hux was always a slimy, incompetent brat and neither of them have any business running anything. I’ll be honest, I didn’t see Snoke’s death coming.” Terex’s gaze sharpened and he sniffed. He didn’t seem to mind that Poe was exerting more pressure now, pushing him even harder into the wall until there was no space between them. “That certainly changed the complexion of things.”
“You’re a vile opportunist,” Poe said, deliberate, definitely disgusted.
Terex glanced down. His thigh shifted just so. Just. Enough. “I think part of you likes that about me.”
Poe shot back, grabbing Terex by the shoulder and putting as much distance between them as possible. If Terex wanted to make this hard on him, that was his prerogative. Poe didn’t have to play into it.
He wouldn’t.
“I’ll make sure the interrogators are nice to you,” Poe said. “Read you all your rights and everything.”
But it didn’t mean he didn’t want to.