Blossom and the Alien Actor

by Jessica Coulter Smith

  Brexton left the Terran station and went back out to his car. He sighed when he saw two women lurking next to the vehicle. With some luck, they’d just want an autograph, but he was seldom that fortunate. At least, not with single females. He’d even had a few married ones hit on him, right in front of their spouses. It was shocking, and disgusting. Where he came from, mates were faithful to one another and completely devoted to each other. The lack of integrity he’d witnessed in the humans he dealt with didn’t inspire great confidence that he would ever find a mate. Not here anyway. There were other worlds that had compatible females for his kind, but the small humans had always been appealing to Brexton.

  Compared to a human male, he was rather large. He’d met a few human males who were his size, but most were quite a bit shorter and not as broad. More than one human female had told him that he was intimidating, especially with his beard and longer hair. Brexton wasn’t going to try to change his appearance though. He hadn’t conformed when he’d been on his world, and he wasn’t about to start now. Besides, his size and overall looks were a sort of trademark at this point in his career.

  As he neared the address on his phone, he realized the neighborhood was worse than he’d thought. Most buildings and homes had their windows boarded, and graffiti covered their walls. The fences he saw had barbed wire topping them, and every single male seemed to be armed. What he didn’t see were any law enforcement vehicles. No wonder this part of town was so out of control. No one seemed to care what happened to the people who lived here.

  Brexton pulled to a stop outside of an apartment building that looked like it might fall down in a stiff breeze. He got out of his SUV and set the alarm before approaching the five-story brick structure. Movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, but it was just a pack of rats scurrying into the drain. The vermin didn’t bother him like they did some people, but he knew he had to get the little family out of this place.

  The door swung open easily enough, which made him frown. There was absolutely no security for a female and her children. He doubted that she would live here if she had other options, although not many humans he’d met acted in a way that made sense to him. He didn’t know what to expect when he met her. He’d seen some females on corners as he’d gotten near the address, and they’d looked hard and far too thin. The makeup caked on their faces had made them seem harsh, and he hated they’d fallen so far. Assuming they’d ever known anything other than this poverty.

  Brexton found the apartment number the female at the studio had entered into his phone and he knocked, the door shaking under the force of his fist. One hard blow, and he could probably break the damn thing. He heard whispers on the other side of the door, then it opened a crack. A chain ran across the inside not quite six feet up, but even that looked incredibly weak. The small female who peered through the opening didn’t stand a chance if someone was determined to break into her home.

  “I was told you need assistance,” he said, and watched as her eyes went wide.

  The door slammed shut and he wondered if maybe he should have gone about this a different way. After a moment, it slowly opened, this time without the chain in place, and the dainty female looking up at him nearly took his breath away. The way his heart was racing, he started to think maybe he was the one who needed help. His body had an instant reaction to the petite blue-haired pixie, and he hoped she didn’t notice. In all his years on Earth, he’d never once had a female affect him so strongly. Something inside of him was screaming mine.

  Things had definitely taken an unexpected turn.

  Chapter Two

  Blossom stared at the closed door of her apartment for a moment, her heart hammering in her chest. Was that… Brexton? She’d seen the handsome alien on TV, but what the hell was he doing at her apartment? She removed the chain from across the door and opened it again, looking at him and absently smoothing her hair back. Had she remembered to wash it this morning? Or this week? She couldn’t even remember what she was wearing, but couldn’t seem to pull her gaze from his long enough to check.

  His eyebrows lifted as he stared down at her from his rather impressive height. She couldn’t remember meeting anyone quite so massive before, even though she’d seen pictures of men his size. The thugs who lived in her neighborhood tended to run on the smaller side, but it didn’t make them any less deadly. If anything, she figured they were so mean because they were overcompensating for their smaller stature.

  “May I come in?” he asked, his gaze still locked on hers.

  Blossom felt her cheeks warm and she took a step back.

  Her apartment was really small, and the space felt even tinier once Brexton stepped inside. She glanced around, thankful she’d cleaned earlier. Not that it was going to matter much longer. Without a way to pay rent, they’d be out on the streets soon enough. Blossom chewed on her lower lip and eyed her couch, knowing it was polite to offer Brexton a place to sit, but the threadbare furniture might not hold his bulk.

  He looked around the room before focusing on her again. “I was told you have children, but I don’t see any. Are they in school?”

  He thought she was old enough to have school-age kids? Maybe she should rethink wearing make-up. If she’d felt inferior before, now she really did. The man standing in front of her was used to models and actresses, not worn out moms who’d dropped out of school, and apparently looked older than they were. She’d never envied the people who could afford all those expensive face products that kept them youthful until that very moment.

  “They’re taking a nap,” she said. Why was he asking about her kids? And who had told him about them? She was so confused. Men like Brexton didn’t know she existed, much less showed up on her doorstep.

  “You aren’t safe here, Blossom,” he said.

  “You know my name and that I have children?” she asked. “Why are you here? Who sent you?”

  She hadn’t been afraid until just then. She’d been so dazzled that Hollywood star Brexton was standing on her doorstep, she hadn’t thought that he might be there for nefarious reasons. The aliens had seemed nice, but what if they were just like humans and had people who did bad things? Just because they only showed one face to the world didn’t mean they were all pleasant.

  He lifted a hand and took a step back, apparently sensing her fear. “I’m not here to cause trouble. A young woman at the studio said you needed help, that your boyfriend was trying to trade you to a drug lord. She gave me your name and address.”

  Brexton pulled out his phone and showed her.

  She felt the blood drain from her face. Only a handful of people knew about that, and most of them were in on it. She’d only been brave enough to confide in one person, a young woman who had escaped the neighborhood and was making something of her life. And now that Blossom thought about it, Sabrina worked at the studio. If anyone had sent Brexton, it would have been her, but why? And why did the actor care what happened to her and her kids? They were nothing to him.

  “I want to help,” he said. “I live behind a gate, and no one has access except those I trust. You would be safe and your boyfriend couldn’t reach you.”

  “You want us to stay with you?” she asked, her brow furrowed. “What will that solve? Eventually, we’ll have to leave and he’ll come after us again.”

  “The authorities can pick him up.”

  She snorted and looked away, remembering that he lived in a vastly different world from her, and not just because he was an alien from outer space. The last time the police had come to this neighborhood, it was to clean up the dead bodies after a drive-by. No one gave a shit what happened to the people living in this part of town. Hookers, drug addicts, gangs… The people society didn’t deem worthy to wipe their feet on were the ones who lived in this neighborhood, and Blossom had been stuck here her entire life.

  “You mean they won’t?” he asked, looking confused.

  He couldn’t really be that naïve, could he?

  �
�The police don’t care what happens here. If people go missing or end up dead in this neighborhood, they just consider it the trash taking care of itself.”

  His eyes darkened and his jaw tightened. “Don’t refer to yourself as trash.”

  “You don’t know anything about me,” she said softly. “What do you want to hear? That I was abandoned when I was thirteen and dropped out of school, lived on the street to avoid foster care? That I got knocked up at fifteen, then lost the baby because the daddy beat the hell out of me? Or that I have two other kids, and they don’t have the same daddy? Ever heard the term ‘trailer trash’? Well, they’re a few steps above me.”

  Fire flashed in his eyes and before she could stop him, he was storming into her only bedroom. She followed, anxious to see if he would wake her kids, or do something that could hurt them. He jerked open her closet and dug around, then gave her an exasperated look over his shoulder.

  “Where are your bags?”

  “What bags?” she asked.

  “Your luggage. The thing you carry your belongings in when you move from one place to another.”

  “We don’t have any. We only have a few things each so it’s not really necessary. If I have to move, I just stuff everything into plastic sacks from the grocery store.”

  His gaze locked on her sweet babies, sleeping soundly in their beds, and he moved closer to them. She tensed when he reached out toward her one-year-old, but he gently ran his large hand over her daughter’s head. Her son was waking up, rubbing his eyes and fussing a little. He never woke up happy.

  The moment Drew opened his eyes and saw the large Terran in their bedroom, he got really quiet. Scooting out of his toddler bed, he approached Brexton, showing no fear, only curiosity. Her little sweetheart tugged on the alien’s pants, and without hesitating, Brexton reached down and picked up her son.

  “Drew doesn’t usually like strangers,” she said, a little taken aback at how easily her son had gone to the alien.

  Her baby boy pulled on Brexton’s beard, then grabbed his hair. Instead of getting angry, like other men in her life would have done, the big guy just smiled at her son, flashing even white teeth. Seeing her little boy in the alien’s arms was making Blossom feel funny. Her knees were a little weak, her stomach was flipping over, and… She closed her eyes. No! Just no. She would not feel desire for the sexy hunk. That way lay trouble, as three pregnancies had proven to her.

  “Something wrong?” Brexton asked.

  “No. I just…” She looked at her son, who was now snuggled against the alien’s chest. She’d never seen Drew so content before, not with someone who wasn’t her. He’d never even been that relaxed with his dad. “You’re good with kids.”

  “Kids are easy. It’s adults that I don’t usually understand,” he said.

  She smiled a little. Yeah, she could sympathize. She’d bet humans were strange to the aliens. From watching the news, she’d learned that his people came from a world where everyone had the same color skin, hair, and eyes, everyone spoke the same language, and there was no crime or violence. It had seemed like a strange concept to Blossom, who had known nothing but pain and violence all her life.

  Brexton cuddled Drew close as he looked around the room.

  “You don’t have a tree,” the alien observed.

  Tree? Oh, right. Christmas was coming. It was odd hearing someone from another planet ask about a Christmas tree, but she supposed the aliens had adapted once they had moved to Earth. She knew that some had decided to make their homes here, giving the small planet what protection they could.

  “No money for one. We’re barely getting by,” she admitted.

  “Blossom, I understand pride, and I also know that it’s not always easy to trust other people, but I really would like to help you. If you’ll let me.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because women and children should be protected, cared for, not placed in harm’s way, especially to settle a debt. I don’t like human males, or the way they treat their females. It’s no wonder women of all ages are always trying to get into the bride program. After being here for so long, I can see why they’d want to leave.”

  “If Earth is so horrible, why are you still here?” she asked.

  “Your planet isn’t horrible, just… different. On my world, I was training to be a warrior, but it didn’t suit me. Here, I have the freedom to do something different. We don’t have movies and music on my world, or we didn’t before I came here. I’ve heard that my people have borrowed some of your entertainment from Earth and taken it home with them. The human females who lived on my world were missing things from their home.”

  She had to admit that she’d been intrigued by the big aliens ever since she’d first seen them on TV. Then Brexton had started acting and popping up in commercials and movies. She’d never been able to look away, drawn to him even when he was just on a screen and not physically standing in her living room. Faced with the reality of the man she’d been crushing on, it was difficult to turn him away, especially when he was offering her a way out. She might end up right back in this neighborhood, but for at least a little while, her children would get to see a different way of life.

  “We’ll go with you,” she said.

  He looked around the shabby apartment. “Will it injure your pride if I offer to buy you new things and leave these here?”

  New things? Did he mean all new clothes for the kids? They hadn’t ever owned brand new items, except what she could get at the dollar store. There were so many things she’d wanted to do for her babies, and she hadn’t had the funds to do it. She’d stayed home while Mike had worked. Or at least she’d thought he was working. It hadn’t occurred to her that he would decide to be a drug mule, or lose his boss’s stuff. Blossom didn’t know why she always attracted the men who liked trouble.

  “A mother will do pretty much anything for her children, including swallowing her pride. I don’t need much, but if you could make sure the kids are taken care of…”

  He shook his head. “You’ll all get new things. I don’t have beds like these at my home, but I’m assuming they’re easy to find?”

  “Baby stores have them,” she said. “I got these from a second-hand shop, though.”

  “We’ll get new ones,” he said.

  “Brexton, I don’t think you understand how expensive children can be, especially if you insist on buying all new things for them.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Do I look like I’m hurting for money?”

  “Um, no,” she said, scanning his outfit, which looked pricey. His slacks appeared to be good quality, and she had no doubt his shirt was worth more than she spent on food in a week or two. “Where did you park?”

  “At the curb out front.”

  Blossom’s heart nearly jumped into her throat and she went running. When she cleared the front door of the apartment building and saw a shiny black BMW SUV sitting at the curb, untouched, she breathed a sigh of relief, and looked around in curiosity. Cars not even half as nice would have been stolen and stripped by now. Why hadn’t anyone touched his car?

  She looked around again and one of the gang members from her building emerged from the shadows of the alley and gave her a nod. Blossom tried to never make eye contact with them, and she froze, wondering if he was about to come talk to her. Or worse. She’d always feared what would happen to her kids if she disappeared.

  “He here to see you?” he asked, pointing at Brexton’s car.

  “Yes.”

  The guy folded his arms over his chest. “Then I’ll make sure no one fucks with his ride until you leave. What Mike did to you was wrong.”

  Blossom blinked, certain she’d misheard him. Didn’t assholes like Mike and this guy stick together? She’d never had anyone in the neighborhood take up for her before, and it was unsettling to say the least. “Thank you,” she managed.

  She hurried back inside and found Brexton with both of her kids clutched in his arms. Blossom pressed a
hand to her chest as she took in the scene. Drew had his head on Brexton’s shoulder, his little fingers threaded through the alien’s beard, and her darling little RaeLynn was contentedly staring up at the man holding her.

  “Everything all right?” Brexton asked.

  “Yes, I just… Um, I wanted to make sure your car was still there. Nice things tend to vanish in this neighborhood.”

  “Grab whatever you need and we’ll leave.” He looked down at the kids in his arms. “They seem a little small to wear a seatbelt in the backseat. How do you transport them?”

  Transport… She groaned. “They need car seats. We walk everywhere, so I don’t have anything for them.”

  “If you’ll sit in the backseat with your son and hold your daughter, I’ll drive slowly until we reach a store that sells the things we need. I don’t like the thought of leaving you here to go get car seats.”

  She looked at her kids and nodded. While it wasn’t safe to travel without them in seats, it also wasn’t safe to stay put. If the police pulled Brexton over, hopefully they wouldn’t give him a ticket. While no one would care if she and her kids were traded to some drug person in Mexico, she didn’t think they’d fuck with the big alien. He seemed intimidating, even if he did appear to have good intentions, and a gentle touch when it came to children.

  “I’ll carry them down,” he offered.

  Blossom grabbed her purse, a few diapers and training pants for the kids, and Drew’s only stuffed bear. She followed Brexton downstairs and out to his pretty vehicle. Once she and the kids were safely tucked into the backseat and buckled, he pulled away from the curb, keeping his word and driving slowly and safely. He got onto the interstate and drove to a part of Los Angeles she’d only ever seen on TV, not stopping until he reached a strip mall with a large baby store.