by Stone, Layla
“Well, you’re going to get your money back. They look like rags.”
“Fine,” she said, wishing he had told her exactly what kind of clothes he expected her to wear.
He made a noise in the back of his throat. “Okay. Well, good thing I prepared for this. Come on.” He motioned for her to follow him. In his office, he opened a tall cabinet, and she saw an extra pair of pants and a button-up inside, as well as a full extra outfit for a female.
He’d prepared for this? “Are those new, or leftovers from someone else?”
“They’re yours, and they have never been worn. I don’t keep a shrine of clothes that females leave in this office.” He unhooked the hanger and handed it to her. “Shower and dress. I’ll wait.”
Taking the clothes—another light-colored blouse, a floral skirt, frilly undergarments, and rounded flats—Adelia initially wanted to reject being dressed by Z. But unlike Olmy, the clothes Z had picked out actually looked cute instead of overly formal, buttoned-up, and proper.
Which were exactly the kinds of clothes she bought. Old habits die hard.
She took the hanger and walked to the bathroom.
“You’re welcome,” he shouted.
“Thank you,” she yelled back.
She didn’t bathe because she had showered in her own apartment. But she did slip on the purple, pink, and white floral skirt that hugged her hips, thighs, and ended at her knees. The white blouse dipped on her chest, the ruffles on each side making it flattering and not revealing. Her heels matched the purple in the skirt perfectly.
Adelia loved it. Turning slightly in the mirror, she glanced to see what it looked like from the back.
The only thing she would have changed was the shoes. She wished they had a higher heel. And she’d maybe add a few bracelets to give the look some sparkle.
When she walked out, Z didn’t comment on the outfit.
On the walk to the diner, he said, “I’ve forwarded you the information of the clothing shop I got your clothes from. They have everything you could need. I’ve talked to them and sent them five hundred keleps so you can buy a new wardrobe.”
His words were wonderful, but the toneless way he’d said them made her wonder if he’d done it because he was disappointed.
“I’ll pay you back.”
Z acted as if he didn’t hear her. In fact, he was walking faster than he had the day before. He didn’t talk to her the rest of the way or while they were sitting at the table. He was constantly checking his Minky watch and typing something on it. He looked impatient and flustered.
Adelia wasn’t ignorant that he had hired her for her contacts and not to be nice or honorable. She doubted he thought of those characteristics as virtues. To her, they were, and she lived by them—even if she’d messed up years ago. Honor was still in her blood, a part of who she was. And after the absolution Z had given her yesterday, she felt honor-bound to repay him in any way she could.
After their meal, she stopped him outside the diner. “I will pay you back for breakfast, too. How much do I owe you?”
He pushed past her and said, “Pet, when I want something from you, I’ll ask.”
Short and to the point, and it felt like a proverbial slap on the hand.
“Okay, but I also don’t want to find out later that I owe you for something I didn’t know was a favor.”
He was still walking fast, and it was hard to keep up with him. She took a step and almost fell. Since he hadn’t answered, she decided that the conversation was over, and she didn’t even try to keep up anymore.
He stopped when she fell behind. “Why are you stopping?”
“I am not speed-racing back to your office. I don’t want to break my ankle.”
He looked at her feet. “Fine.” After that, he slowed up and walked beside her. She didn’t know if she should bring the topic of repayment back up. Several minutes passed as Z typed on his Minky watch, and she decided to let it go. She would just pay him back and forget showing up so he continued paying for her.
They walked side by side in silence all the way back to the warehouse. He didn’t say anything as he left her in the reception area. Rounding the half crescent-shaped desk, she sat down, crossed her legs, and waited for her first call.
Sometime later, she still hadn’t gotten a call, but someone walked in. The male had sandy-yellow skin and was large with no hair. He had a full mouth and broad shoulders. A Krant. She stood up and smiled. “Hi, how can I help you?”
The Krant looked at her and sniffed the air then pointed down the hall. “I’m here to see Z. He asked me to stop in.”
Z had not told her that someone was stopping by. But he didn’t tell her much. He was always so busy. Figuring that Z knew who this was, she waved him through.
The male continued on his way. She heard a small knock and then, “It’s me.”
Adelia sat back at her desk, crossed her legs, and waited again. The Minky screen pinged. An incoming call. She accepted it, took the caller’s information, and told them that Z would get back with them.
She was in the middle of typing out the message to Z when he and the Krant walked past her desk to the front door. Z shook the male’s hand in true Terran fashion and told the Krant, “I’ll have your order in a few hours.”
“I’m counting on it.”
As soon as the door had shut, Z walked to her desk and moved the Minky screen so she had to look at him. “Until otherwise stated, no one comes to my office.”
“He said you told him to come by.”
“This is Adaamas. We’re all liars. Try to keep up, Pet.”
She pulled her lips into her mouth, keeping in her response. She was able to hold it in for about a quarter of a second. “How exactly am I supposed to keep up with anything when you share nothing. It wasn’t a far leap that you would have invited someone here without telling me. And then you act like it’s my fault. That I should have known that a random Krant would be a lying scumbag.”
“This morning, you said you were smart. I figured you’d know,” he snapped back.
“I am smart. But I’m not a mind reader.” Her Minky screened pinged. Another incoming call. She gave Z an annoyed look. “From now on, no one will get past me. Anything else you expect me to know?”
Z didn’t respond until he was past her desk. “I expect more names from Yunkin. Unless you were born and raised in an ice hut, I expect more than five names.” And then he was gone.
Plastering on a fake smile, she answered the video call. “Hi, thank you for calling Z’s warehouse. How can I help you?”
15
Strange Dreams
Adelia was lying slumped over the desk when she heard the back door open. She lifted her head and sat up straight.
She touched the Minky screens to act like she was searching for Yunkin contacts. She wasn’t really, because she was too tired to even think. For the past four nights, she had been woken up by several calls. It was made worse because several of them were people from her home planet.
She had learned to only answer as a voice call and not a video chat when she had to face her ex-husband’s boss. It hadn’t gone well regardless.
Z rounded the corner from the back and stopped by her desk, then looked at the screens and then her face. “What’s wrong with you? Are you sick?”
“No,” she said, hating that she looked bad enough to be called sick.
“Then why do you look like that?”
“Like a normal person?”
“No, this is not normal.” He used his hand to circle her body.
Jerk.
She rolled her eyes and went back to the search options. Z pulled her chair back, took her hand, and pulled her up.
“What are you doing?”
“You’re sick. You need the container.”
“I’m not sick. I’m just tired.”
Z slowed, looked at her face, then said, “Container should fix that, too.”
She was able to keep up with Z’s accele
rated pace all the way into the back of the warehouse. Z opened the door and gestured for her to get in.
Tired, she walked in and waited until the door was closed. Then she felt a pulse in her blood. Her breathing shortened for a moment, and she watched as her vision clouded to grey.
Then her world went black.
Adelia woke to the feeling of a body next to her. She looked around and saw that she was still in the red tube, and Z was next to her, wearing no shirt with loose and silky pants. “Hey, Pet. You okay?”
She rubbed her eyes, knowing she was never going to forget how amazing he looked without a shirt. “Fine. Still tired.”
Her body felt heavy as she turned towards him. “You were wrong, people call all the time. All night long.”
Z turned on his side so they were facing each other. He was so close that she couldn’t stop herself from touching his ripped stomach. Soft skin, hard muscle. When she took her hand away, Z took it and pressed it to his skin again. “I like it, Pet. I want you to touch me.”
She didn’t take her palm away this time, but she forced herself to say, “You’re my boss. I’m not supposed to.”
“Adaamas isn’t like your world. You absolutely can.”
She shouldn’t, though. Taking her hand away once more, she rolled onto her back. “I can, and then you’d just use this container again to clear your system.”
He moved closer, his thigh moving over her legs, and his hand slipping under her shirt. She didn’t stop him. His lips at her ear, he said, “You want me to be addicted to you?”
A shiver ran up her spine from his hot breath and soft words. She wanted his mouth on hers, but she didn’t want to ask for it.
His thumb moved over her bra, her nipples hard and wanting. He slipped his fingers inside and freed a nipple, flicked and played with it. His voice back in her ear, he said, “I’ll tell you a secret… I’m already addicted. To your scent, to the memory of your kiss and your taste. I miss it, and I want it back.”
He pinched the tip of her breast, and she felt his mouth at her neck. She leaned in.
“You going to give me what I miss?”
Turning to him, she grabbed his face, pulled him in for a kiss, opened up, and—
He was gone. She was back in the container. Alone.
Exhaling, she turned to the clear part in the container. Z wasn’t there. Thank Seth. Her body was tingling. She felt great.
Sitting up, the world didn’t spin like last time. She stood up and looked through the clear part and banged on the hard plastic.
“Hey! Open up.”
Z came from the hall. When they locked eyes, he looked back to his playful self. She knew this especially when he opened the door. “Now you look like a normal person, Pet.”
After she stepped out, he closed the door and added, “How long were you waiting? When you knocked out, I figured it would be a while.”
“How long was I out?”
“Ten minutes.”
Ten minutes, and she felt like she’d slept for a week. “Wow, that container is amazing.”
“It is,” he agreed. “But now that you’re able to actually focus, it’s time to get back to work.” He clapped his hands and walked back to the hallway that led to the offices.
A small frown pulled at the sides of Adelia’s mouth. To herself, she whispered, “He’s never going to be interested, and you know better than to fall for someone who puts his reputation and business first.”
16
Never-Ending Consequences
It had been thirty-two days of almost nonstop work. Mitigating Trent’s actions was like trying to use a twig to stop a mudslide. Trent had gotten to several of Z’s contacts, many of them now not returning his messages. Forced to extremes, he visited several in their dreams. That’s when he found out that many were scared of him, calling him a Demon.
His secret had been exposed.
His orders had declined, and he was working on the fifty names Adelia had given him. He got five to ten calls on his general line, and when he did, it was usually for silly and inexpensive items. Thankfully, the charming guns were in production, and would soon be called the Miska pistols.
Z was more irritable than usual. Mostly because of all the consequences of hiring and trusting Trent. The other reason he was forever irritable was Adelia.
He couldn’t breathe without smelling her tempting scent. Constantly in the back of his mind, he remembered tasting her mouth, the feel of her skin, and the passion behind her kiss. Not to mention the long, drawn-out clarity and peace he’d had for those short hours.
He also remembered the dream inside the container. Originally, he’d only entered Adelia’s dream because he wanted to find out what was bothering her.
Finding out that she was upset because he’d used the container flipped his mind. She wanted him.
Wanted him addicted to her.
If she saw his thoughts, she would know that he already was. The memory of her taste, the feel of her skin, and what they’d done in her dreams…he was addicted. But he couldn’t take that next step until his business was back on its feet.
He wasn’t addicted in the Grach way with uncontrollable hunger and withdrawal, but he was starting to think that he was addicted in the Demon way.
Most Demons didn’t settle down. They took lovers but nothing permanent. However, there were some, a very few, that did. It was known as bahity, the Demon disease. And in all of his one hundred and eighty-two years, he’d been sure he was like every other Demon. He took pleasure where he could and then moved on.
Except he hadn’t moved on. He was dwelling on Adelia in a way that was physically messing with him.
Z was at his desk when he heard Adelia’s voice. “I said, he’s busy.” Her tone was threatening. Being that she was short, thin-framed, and adorable, her threat must not have gone over well because he heard someone try to open his locked office door.
He pushed from his chair, rounded the desk in two steps, and twisted the knob, blood pumping, readying to take on the male who had ignored his pet.
Standing on the other side of the door with his permeant sneer was Nickle.
“It’s nobody. He’s leaving,” Adelia said, trying to get in Nickle’s way.
“I’m not leaving. And if you touch me again, Grach, I swear on your whore of a mother I will backhand you.”
Z touched Adelia’s delicate wrist and pushed it down to guide her away. He needed those milliseconds of her touch to keep down the instant anger he felt at hearing the tarq threaten his pet.
Z opened the door wider and invited Nickle in without a word. To Adelia, he motioned with his hand for her to return to her desk.
“I’m sorry,” she said, looking defeated and tired. She needed the container again; her eyes were nearly glossed over.
He shook his head once, letting her know that he didn’t need to hear an explanation and that he would take care of it.
Adelia’s small nostrils flared. “I tried to stop him.”
She was taking the moment wrong. He would clarify for her later, but not right now. Holding up a finger to silence her, he made her leave.
Z shut the door and let his control slip. His blood and adrenaline rushed to a point, and when he turned around, the arrogant prick was sitting in his guest chair, his feet on Z’s desk.
Zane didn’t hesitate. He bent his arm and used his elbow to hit the male hard in the face, breaking his nose. The impact was so hard, the male flew back, blood oozing out of his nose to drip onto the black-and-grey-swirl resin floor.
Nickle was holding his nose, cursing as he stood up. He spat blood on the wall before saying, “I came here to help you out. What the hell?”
“Don’t ever threaten my worker.”
Nickle’s blond eyebrow rose. “You’re pissed off because I didn’t want to be touched by a stinking Grach? Are you serious?”
“Dead serious.”
Nickle said, blood still coming from his nose. “Hundreds of females si
t at your desk. Hundreds leave your desk. Not one of them lasts. I’m going to remember this when that garbage leaves.”
Zane knew that his eyes had not changed. Nickle would have said something if they had. But in that moment, when the tarq called Adelia garbage, something shifted inside of Zane. Something so deep, he felt it but didn’t understand it.
He twisted the knob and pulled open the door.
Nickle looked offended that Z had not apologized and asked for whatever information he’d come with. But Zane didn’t need to know Trent’s big master plan. He already knew it: to steal Z’s contacts and ruin his business.
Zane was not new to this. He understood the steps it took to ruin someone.
“Everyone who works for me is to be shown a level of respect. You know this, and you’ve shown it. Until now. You break my rules, you break our understanding. Get out.”
“You’re going to want to hear what I have to say.”
“I said, out.”
“Trent’s coming for you. I know what he’s planning.”
“GET OUT!” Z thundered.
Nickle stared him down for two heartbeats as if he didn’t understand. Zane didn’t back down, he just held the male’s glare.
“Fine. Hope your Grach garbage is worth your career.” Then Nickle stormed passed Z, catching him in the shoulder as he did, dripping blood all the way out of the office and down the hall to the front door.
Z walked behind him to make sure he left without speaking another word to Adelia.
When the front door was closed, Adelia was still sitting at reception, her eyes taking in the drops of blood. “I’m not cleaning that up.”
Z’s insides melted a little at her assertion. “Then find someone who will. And for Seth’s sake, order yourself a gallon of coffee or use the container again.”
17
Family
Adelia was at her desk, waiting for another call or walk-in that would likely ruin her day. Like the one a week ago. She hadn’t cleaned up the jerk’s blood, but she had spent her own money to buy the DuroMulti Cleaner to clean the floors.