Wyst

by J. A. Hornbuckle

  Wyst nodded, while his mind tried to sort through all that Pete said and meant. But one thing was for sure: he and Pete shared the same opinion of the woman in question. “The owner of the motor lodge is a challenge.”

  “Gave you a good deal, did she?”

  Wyst turned his eyes out the passenger window as a crooked, rueful smile creased his lips. “You could say that. She charged us extra for everything except the air the Pam and I breathe inside the room.”

  “In advance, right?” Old Pete slapped his leg and laughed. “Shit, you’re lucky she ain’t worked out the square inches on the mattress and tried to make you pay for the space you sleep on.”

  His old watery eyes again turned Wyst’s way, but they contained a trace a humor. “And for any other things you two might do on the bed.”

  The alien felt his face heat as his mind immediately supplied a visual image of what he and his pixie had done the night before. An imagining which found his tailpor quickly lengthening as a curl of desire slid through his belly. In an effort to stop that line of thinking,

  Wyst brought his tresl up and checked the GPS. “Only another mile to go.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  When Wyst and Pete returned from their journey to fetch my stuff from the SUV, I had to admit I was pretty damn grateful. I mean, in my mind, he’d gone above and beyond the call of duty in going back down and then up that mother-effing hill. But when I tried to express my thanks, both in words and with a hug, he seemed annoyed with my gratitude.

  It was after we returned to our motel room I noticed the warrior appeared on edge, restless even. His inability to sit in one spot also seriously interrupted me as I emptied my suitcase while trying to decide on an outfit for work. It was like he was determined to get in my way with every move I made. Which only added fuel to my over anxious nerves.

  “What the hell, Wyst?” I kinda knew yelling wasn’t the way to make him stop since it hadn’t ever worked in the past, but it sure as hell helped me blow off some steam. “What’s wrong?”

  Looking at me as if noticing me for the first time, he blinked and then muttered, “Nothing, pixie. I’m fine. How are you doing?”

  Dickhead.

  But as I kept an eye on him while puttering around the room, he pulled at the neck of his t-shirt then twisted his hair up off his neck before letting it drop again. But it was when he started squeezing the back of his neck I realized he had something going on in that alien brain of his, something that caused his agitation.

  Since his can’t-sit-still tension was invading my emotional space, I decided to take a different tactic to try and calm him down. And one sure, tried-and-true method to do that with a Picari warrior was through touch.

  He’d used it on me more than a few times to help me relax or to ground me. Hopefully it would work on him. Although it could’ve been my own need to connect with him since the closeness we’d shared the night before had been on my mind all day. Either way, I could be forgiven a little stroke of a shoulder here, a caress of the back of his hair there when I passed by. Especially if it helped us both.

  I knew it worked when I finally finished unpacking and found him stretched out on the bed, (tresl in hand—ear-buds in and boots off) looking totally cool and completely at ease. Not to mention gorgeous in all his alpha-alien hotness.

  Score one for the Paminator.

  But as he walked me to the bar, most of my earlier confidence was gone.

  The thing about working in a bar and making the most tips you could (which was my goal to increase our stash o’cash), is you not only had to give good service but you had to give good convo and be more than easy on the eyes. To walk that fine line between a slutty angel and an angelic slut. And it had been a while since I’d taken on that particular role. I only hoped I remembered how to do it.

  I thought it was way cool and totally nice when Wyst insisted on walking me to Dr’ala for my first night of work. He didn’t have to, but as a warrior of the Protectorate I kinda understood he considered it his job.

  “I will meet you back here at precisely 1.45 a.m.,” he intoned before I’d even reached for the damn door to go inside in order to start my first shift. “Should your clean-up take longer, I will wait.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes and correct his thinking about where and when I was supposed to be at the end of the night. But the truth of it was, I found his words calming in the whole of the first-day-at-a-new-job jitters I had going. And that none of my other guys had ever offered, much less performed such an act?

  Yeah.

  I could cut Wyst some slack.

  “Thanks, but do I look okay?” With the whole of my packed arsenal, I’d chosen to play off of Dani’s black theme and contrast myself by wearing brown. Buff-colored, faux-leather pants adorned with the standard sailor buttons sitting low on my waist, paired with a halter-styled vest in the same fabric worn over a light blue, low-necked tank was the bulk of my outfit.

  The fact I’d combined it with five inch, platformed heels comprised of basically nothing more than skinny scraps of brown-leather that wove over my instep and around my ankle? Yeah, that’d work. Especially with the shit ton of silver jewelry I sported at neck and wrists.

  And Wyst’s eye-roam given there at the door more than told me I’d done good in achieving what I’d been going for—sexy, but not slutty. Hip, but not trying too hard. Working on a man’s crotch-like tendencies with my appearance, but not promising a goddamn thing about his chances in the obtainment. “You are showing too much skin, mica jain.”

  Uh-huh. I knew sooner or later he was gonna say something about the amount of boob on display, especially after spending so much time with him and his brother-warriors who had very definite ideas about how ‘nice’ girls both dressed and behaved.

  The old-fashioned fuddy-duddies.

  Tugging my vest down before reaching for my tunic length tank-top, I pulled out my wand and swiped another layer of gloss over my lips. “No, I’m not. Besides, like I told you. This kind of get-up is for tips. And we need to rely on my tips to keep your rounded ass fed in nine meals a day, okay?”

  I blinked and felt the glue of my fake eyelashes catch and hold, forcing me to open my eyes widely when I finally got them unstuck. “The makeup might be over the top, but I can assure you, I’ll be one of the most modestly dressed girls in the place, customers included.”

  He leaned down and peered into my face, his eyes doing an assessing roam as it slid over the three layers of brown eye shadows I’d used to create the ‘smoky eye’. While Dani went for black, I’d chosen a mixture of blue and brown in order to showcase my sky-blue orbs. And I’d thought I’d been successful until a cantankerous alien with a stick up his ass decided he was a master of women’s makeup. “I do not like you falsely coloring your eyelids.”

  “And I kinda wish you hadn’t shown up in my life, but we all have troubles to bear.” I didn’t wanna be late so I shut our good-byes down as firmly as I could. “See you later, Wyst.”

  “Yes,” he said, his eyes finally coming up to connect with mine. “I will. Then you can wash your face and turn back into the Pam-ah-la I know and recognize.”

  Freaking hell! As chiding went, Wyst’s little speech reminded me of my mom. A bittersweet memory by anyone’s standards.

  All was forgiven though with the hug he dragged me into, tucking my face into his chest as a calmness coated my insides. There was just something about the way the guy held me that took me from pissy to calm…that I found sexy as hell. Although it was a little disappointing too because I’m been hoping for something along the lines of a ‘good luck’ kiss.

  Once inside, I hightailed it to where Dani was, idly noticing there were less than ten customers seated around the high-top and at a couple of tables. All of them appeared to be regulars and, since they sat apart from one another, preferred to nurse their drinks alone.

  “Hey, you made it!” Dani was smiling as I approached to find her slicing lemons to refill the garnish trays.
“Ready to start?”

  “Eager is more the word,” I shot back, unhitching my purse from my shoulder. “You have some place I can stow my bag?”

  Wiping her hands on a nearby towel, Dani motioned me to the far end of the bar and lifted the pass-through. “Sure and while we’re back there I’ll give you an overview of the rest of it.” As we walked through a set of swinging doors, Dani led me through the small kitchen and passed the dishwashing set up before opening one of the two closed hallway doors with a key. “This is the office, which as you can see doesn’t get used much except when my mom comes in to do the books. You can put your purse in the bottom of that file cabinet there.”

  After stowing and turning, I caught Dani’s assessing stare as she negligently leaned against the door jamb. “What? Do I have lipstick on my teeth?”

  She smiled and shook her head. “I forgot to ask you yesterday, but what brought you to Wayward?”

  Okay. That was a question I hadn’t expected and I tried to think of which spin to take. “Car trouble.”

  “Do you mean car issues and trouble or is it all about your ride? ‘Cause Greyhound has a stop here. Doesn’t come by very often but it’s available.” Ooh, my new boss was not only beautiful but smart. I made a mental note to stay on my toes and keep my private shit even more under wraps.

  “It’s all about our wheels. Pete had to order the part we need to fix it.”

  She stared at me for the span of a couple of breaths before straightening. “So there won’t be anyone looking for you or coming after you for anything?”

  What the hell was she getting at?

  Oh shit! Had someone seen me and Wyst stealing Butch’s truck? Is that why she wanted to play twenty questions?

  “Not to my knowledge,” I answered careful to keep my eyes glued to hers.

  She nodded and turned around, leading the way back to the main part of the bar. Closing the door behind me, I let out a long low exhale only then noticing the pinch of sweat at my hairline and armpits.

  Stopping just inside, Dani waited for me to catch up. As soon as I did, she started talking again albeit low enough no one else could hear. “My family and I don’t need any trouble. But if you need help with anything, I’m here for you. Understand?”

  It was my turn to nod while I marveled at the unusual kindness of Wayward’s citizens. Ms. Myrtle notwithstanding.

  Going back behind the bar, Dani acted as if we hadn’t had a little sidebar conversation in the back. The one which made my heart race and hands tremble. “Here’s a list of the drinks and food with their prices. I suggest you memorize them as soon as possible so we don’t have trouble when you cash-out at the end of your shift.”

  It looked pretty standard to me and at least gave me an idea of how I was going to figure out what I needed to hand over at the end of the night. Having had a couple of arguments due to discrepancies in the past, I knew it was better to start keeping track at the beginning of your shift in order to avoid such unpleasantness when you were dead on your feet and aching for bed.

  “The kitchen doesn’t open until six and closes at eleven sharp,” she instructed. “My dad does the cooking and my younger brother busses and works the dishwasher so you’ll meet them later. Now let’s get you an apron and I’ll show you our ordering system.”

  And so it went, me learning the ropes at a small but busy bar in a tiny town in the eastern portion of Wyoming. Not that it was all that much different than the drinking establishments I’d worked in Phoenix. Schlepping drinks and food was pretty similar no matter what locale you were in. Same stuff just different faces.

  Some more than others.

  Like Dani’s dad and brother.

  Not that they were hideous looking or anything but they definitely didn’t work the normal side of the street when it came to their appearance. It wasn’t the color or style of their hair, because Dani’s dad was as bald as a cue ball and her brother wore one of those hipster beanie things hiding not only his locks but most of his forehead as well. And it wasn’t necessarily their clothes which seemed to be a mix of biker-meets-heavy-metal.

  No.

  It was their eyes and lips that found me trying not to stare when Dani performed the introductions. I’d honestly never seen anyone with purple eyes before. And that the family all seemed to sport blue lipstick? Well. I was just glad the use of it hadn’t become fashionable nationwide because it wasn’t a look I’d recommend to anyone.

  But both C’ynyt and Reg were nice, quietly correcting me when I made mistakes and giving me small grins when those mistakes weren’t repeated, just the way Dani did as I placed my orders at the terminal.

  All in all, everything went really well for my first day at Dr’ala’s and I was kept busy enough the hours seemed to fly by. So much so, I jumped a little when I heard Dani yell, “Sorry mister, but we’re closed for the night.”

  I was sitting at the bar, engrossed in counting the money in my apron and comparing it to both my hand-written totals and the receipts, but when she yelled my eyes automatically lifted to see who caused it.

  “Uhm, Dani? He’s with me,” I blurted, my eyes on my tall, built alien friend who, true to his word, had come to walk me back to the motor lodge. “Wyst, meet Dani. Dani this is my friend, Wyst.”

  She muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like the language the warriors used when they spoke amongst themselves. But that couldn’t be right because I knew they frequently slipped into Picari when they didn’t want Leah or I to understand what they were saying. And since Picari wasn’t one of the known tongues on Earth, there was no way Dani could speak it.

  Not that I was ever any good with foreign language as evidenced by the way I’d once dated a guy who told me his name was Antonio and was from Italy. Until I overheard him on his phone to his mother using a Texan drawl and calling himself Mike.

  “I’ve just gotta cash out, big guy,” I told him, turning my face back to the piles of greenbacks and coins in front of me. “Then we can leave.”

  Dani pushed a couple of buttons on the main register. “I’m showing three ten.”

  “I’ve got three fifteen,” I announced with a smile. “Pretty close though, right?”

  She smiled as I peeled off the correct amount of bills, very happy to see there was still quite a wad of cash left on the bar’s top. Handing it to her, I watched as she took four twenties off the stack and handed them back to me. “Ten bucks an hour for eight hours, right?”

  “Yes ma’am,” I said with a giggle as I shoved the notes in my wallet and the coins into my little change purse. I glanced up to thank her and saw she was staring Wyst’s way with wide eyes and parted lips. Not that hers was an unusual look from what I’d seen whenever I was with any of the warriors in public. All of them were totally hot and drool worthy, generating a lot of feminine attention wherever we went.

  But as I glanced at Wyst to give him a teasing wink in capturing my boss’s attention, his face wore the same expression as he gave her an equally intense look. One so concentrated I could only call it ‘extreme attraction’ and in doing so, my heart dropped to my knees.

  For a while, especially after the unbelievably awesome sex we’d shared, I’d forgotten.

  Wyst wanted to hook up with as many girls as possible.

  That I was his first didn’t mean a goddamn thing.

  Not in the whole of it.

  *.*.*.*.*

  Just as she’d been after her initial foray in the Dr’ala, his Pam was in high spirits after her first work time at the bar. Bouncing and almost skipping beside him, her zest was hard not appreciate even if it did appear a little bit forced.

  “One hundred and forty-five, babe! Can you believe it?” She stopped and shot both hands in the air, her fingers in the form of what she called ‘metal horns’. “Freaking A! And it was easy, Wyst. They were all so nice, like they wanted me to do good on my first day.”

  He smiled down into her shining, triumphant face and without thinki
ng grabbed one of her hands, entwining his fingers with hers. “I am glad, mica jain. So we shall eat as much as we want?”

  “You betcha ass we will! All because of little, ole me,” she crowed, swinging their joined hands between them.

  He didn’t know how to approach the next subject but after his conversation with Bronsyn and the other warriors while she’d been working it had to be broached. “Are there others working there or is it just you and…what was her name? Dani?”

  “Yeah, there’s more. Seems it’s a family business. Her dad, C’ynyt is the cook and her brother does the busboy thing. Her mom is in on it too, doing all the accounting stuff.”

  Okay, that explained a lot. Because the moment his eyes had landed on the female behind the bar, he’d known she was a Basule. As if her words, uttered under her breath and in the Baspic language he more than understood hadn’t been a signal. Signifying she at least had Basuli in her genetic background. A hybrid, perhaps? Half-Basule, half-human?

  Yes. That made sense. “What did they look like, those others in her family?”

  “Oh god, how did you know? I mean, Dani is a piece of work but with her exotic features she can totally pull off the whole Goth thing she sports. Her dad and her brother though? Yeah, men wearing blue lipstick aren’t quite what I consider normal.”

  His steps stuttered when she mentioned blue lips and he couldn’t help but ask, “What color are their eyes, pixie?”

  Pulling on his arm, she turned to walk backward which allowed him to see her expression as she answered. “That was strange too. Have you ever seen anyone with purple eyes before? Do they have them on Nutrol or Galaxia? ‘Cause I’ve never seen them before.”

  Frack! It was true then. A Basule and his family not only owned but also ran the Dr’ala. And his tiny female would be in contact with them daily until the two of them could continue on their mission.

  “But they’re really nice, although not all that outgoing. Dani is the only one who seems comfortable talking with the customers, which is kind of weird. But they’re probably just shy, right?” As her face went into a tiny frown of concentration, the little sprite turned back around and came to his side again and squeezed his hand. “But not everyone can be like us. You know, friendly, willing to talk to one and all.”