by Anna Lewis
She wondered how he’d been able to dodge the mind-reading ability of the prince. Maybe the other aliens had supplied him with a blocking device or something.
Lindy felt badly for her friend. She knew that Kay still had some love for him but had been trying hard to get over him. She should have told her about his rendezvous with the other cleaners.
They eventually moved away, and Lindy went back to the meeting place with her head swimming with possibilities and suspicions and plans.
“Hey, are you okay?” Kristan said when he saw her.
She immediately told him what she’d seen, their basket challenge all forgotten. He contacted some people, but was determined not to ruin their day together.
They went to the main house and decided to make a fruit salad out of the fruits they had gathered. As they worked together, Lindy shook off the uneasy feeling about what she’d heard—just for the time being.
The prince opened up about his past for the first time, telling her about his family and how life had been for him growing up with the pressure of royalty and of leading an entire planet. He told her about his painful experiences and how he’d been struggling to overcome them and be the best prince and leader he could be.
Meanwhile, Lindy also told him stories about her childhood and teenage years, how she’d had to move heaven and earth to become a big star in the entertainment industry.
It was a great bonding moment for them and she felt as if their relationship had moved up several notches. Now she could feel that they were much closer and they understood each other better too.
They spent the afternoon with their friends, enjoying not just the salad they had prepared but other snacks too that the others had brought.
Finally, night fell. Everybody else went home, leaving Lindy and Kristan alone in the back garden of the main house.
“Thank you, Kristan,” Lindy said. “Thank you for everything.” And he knew that she was not only referring to that day, but to the whole time she’d been there on the island.
He was trying not to feel sad about her pending departure. He needed to be brave for her and for his people too. He couldn’t let something like this get in the way of his game plan. There would be time for a real relationship after he won the war.
She stepped forward and kissed him on the lips. He eagerly returned the kiss, their desire building up and spreading across their bodies. He led her to a more private portion of the garden where they would not be seen. Quickly their kisses grew with passion and hunger. Clothes were strewn to the ground.
Kristan’s lips devoured her luscious breasts as she straddled him on the ground. Moaning, she wrapped her arms tightly around him and eased herself down to slide onto his waiting stiffness. He embraced her closely as she moved up and down on top of him.
Soon they were lying on the ground and he rolled her over so that he was now on top. Their bodies swayed in unison, perfectly synchronized.
Lindy could feel herself climbing to an incredibly blissful indulgence. He was going faster too, breathing heavily, and pushing himself further inside her. They reached the climax, the sexual explosion filling them both with amazing delight.
Lindy wanted more, but she knew she had to go and start packing her things. He offered to go with her and help, but she knew that he still had other things to attend to. Besides she could feel herself weakening as each moment passed by with him. If she let him go with her, she may decide to stay for good.
“Please, I’ll just see you early in the morning,” Lindy said. “It’s best we don’t spend the night together. Besides, you should follow up on what they found out about Calone, right? You also need to rest.”
“Okay,” he agreed reluctantly.
It was very difficult to part, but Lindy forced herself to leave. With a heavy heart, she climbed onto the special carriage he’d arranged for her and softly cried the whole way back to her sleeping quarters.
***
It’s time, Lindy thought upon waking up. Her eyes were a bit puffy from crying, but she knew she couldn’t stay on the island any longer. Besides, this was her only chance to go home.
After taking a quick shower and dressing, she took her duffel bag from the floor, the one she’d packed the night before. That was when she noticed that Kay’s slippers weren’t in their usual place. She glanced at the bed beside hers. It was empty.
I wonder where Kay went to so early today… she thought. She had wanted to say goodbye to Kay who had become her closest Vorton friend, while keeping her departure a secret from everybody else. It would be better that way—no fuss, no sad goodbyes.
On her way to the beach, she recalled Kay’s conversation with Calone. A feeling of dread suddenly came over her. She had a hunch that she just couldn’t shake off. So, even though she knew the boat might leave her if she didn’t make it there on time, she could not very well go without checking if her friend was okay.
She found herself hiking toward the cave. Just a strong hunch.
Quietly she approached the cave, her heart beating fast with rising fear and apprehension. At the entrance, she tried to listen for any sound that might be coming from inside. There was nothing.
She went in, anyway, to be sure. Carefully she groped her way in the dark. When she got to the drop, she went down on her knees and called, “Kay? Are you here?”
No answer.
“Is anyone here?” she asked, her voice echoing against the walls of the cave.
Still no answer.
She stood up then and was about to turn around when the stone she was standing on suddenly gave way, causing her to lose her balance. One leg fell over the side. She screamed.
Strong hands caught her before she tumbled over. She looked up and found herself staring into a face she knew well. It was Elixir, looking alarmed and worried. He pulled her up so quickly that she found herself falling forward and crashing onto his bulky chest. His arms immediately wrapped around her.
“Are you okay, Lindy? What are you doing here?” he asked. His face seemed genuinely concerned, but his eyes seemed to be amiss.
“I might ask you that same question,” she said at once.
His eyes flashed with annoyance. But he remained calm. “I…” he looked down, appearing uncomfortable. “I just… I saw you leaving your room a while ago, carrying a huge bag…” He motioned to the duffel bag on the floor beside her. “I followed you, Lindy. I was afraid you were going to leave.”
She surprised by what he was saying. Was he telling the truth? He did look sincere and terribly affected.
“Why do you have so many things with you? Where are you going, Lindy?”
“I’m going back to my home,” Lindy said truthfully. “There’s a boat waiting for me now. I need to go, Elixir.”
She tried to slide past him, but he suddenly enfolded her in his arms and hugged her tightly. “I’m going to miss you,” he declared, his voice breaking.
She hugged him back. “I’m going to miss you too, Eli. And everyone else here. You guys are my family.” She let go then and was about to step out of the cave when the entrance was blocked by a huge figure—Calone!
“Hey, what’s she doing here?!” Calone demanded, his eyes shifting to Eli who was standing right behind Lindy.
“Don’t worry,” Eli said. “There’s a boat waiting to take her home to her own people. I’ll walk her there myself. She won’t be able to tell anyone.”
“Are you fuckin’ crazy?” Calone said. “There’s probably a human soldier there who’s in contact with the prince! Nobody’s leaving!”
To drive home his point, he stepped forward intimidatingly toward Lindy. She was seriously afraid of him now.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, looking from Calone to Eli, her heart pounding very hard.
Calone just glared at her. “If she doesn’t show up at the boat, the prince will definitely start looking. We need to get the hell out of here!”
“Where is Kay, Calone?” Lindy then demanded. “What
did you do to her?”
“That woman is a curse! I don’t know where she is! Probably went off to tell on me!” Calone replied with rage.
Deep inside, Lindy felt relieved. At least she knew her friend was safe and sound.
“Well, we gotta get on that boat now and just get rid of whoever’s operating it,” Eli declared. He grabbed Lindy’s arm, twisting it with the force. She yelped in pain, which made him throw her a look of apology. But he remained quiet.
She wanted to scream for help once they were back in the woods. “Don’t you dare do something stupid,” Eli hissed as he dragged her. “Or else we’re going to send a message to our contact to attack this community right now.”
That definitely shut her up.
When they got to the boat, Calone calmly told the waiting soldier that they had been tasked to ensure Lindy’s safety. “We were asked to go with her, Sir,” he said.
The soldier wasn’t convinced. He asked a lot of questions.
Suddenly, Calone lunged at him, knocking off his gun in one swift motion and then strangling him on the floor. They fought for a long time before Calone gave him a series of punches that knocked him out.
The two men threw the soldier over the side into the ocean and hurried to start the boat’s engine. Lindy stood frozen on the spot, contemplating whether or not to jump onto the water and swim to the shore.
She had just decided to jump when Eli grabbed her by the waist.
“Let me go!” she screamed.
From a distance, she could hear the roaring engine of what she hoped to be a motorboat heading toward their direction. Help was on the way!
Eli yanked her hard into the enclosed cabin. When they were all alone, she cried, “Why are you doing this, Eli? I never thought you were this desperate! And I thought we could truly be friends, you know.”
To her surprise, his eyes were full of sadness. “All my life…” he began quietly. “… I never got what I wanted. I was never looked up to. I didn’t get to be a soldier. I didn’t get to be the person my parents expected me to be, that’s why they sent me to this island. And I didn’t get you.”
“I’m so sorry…” was all Lindy could whisper, not realizing how badly he was broken inside.
“It’s alright,” he spit out. “Those so-called evil aliens were the ones who were kind enough to give me the opportunity—to prove that I’m worthy too. The prince doesn’t know a thing about leading an army!”
She bit her lip to keep from retorting. She could feel the boat moving now, which deeply worried her. I need to get out of here, she thought in panic, her mind working double-time to improvise a way out. Her eyes darted around discreetly, looking for something to use as a weapon. She spotted a flashlight on the bedside table.
He was rattling on about all of the things he had against the Vortons, which pushed him to betray his own people.
Meanwhile, she was trying to come up with a plan on how to get the flashlight fast. She knew Calone would be busy figuring out how to run the boat properly, so she’d most likely be able to run out and jump into the ocean.
“I really, really liked you, Lindy…” Eli suddenly blurted out. “You should have given me a chance.”
It hit her then what she had to do. Without thinking any further, she stepped forward and raised a hand to his cheek, running her fingers seductively across his skin. “I’ve always liked you too, Eli…” she whispered. It caught him by surprise.
She pressed on. “I’m sorry we never got a chance to spend more time together. If I had known all this about you, then I would’ve understood you better.” She was jacking up her acting prowess to the best of her ability now. Her life depended on it. “It’s just that…you sometimes came on too strong…”
He looked very doubtful. But she had his attention now.
She moved closer to him, leaning forward until their faces were inches apart. “It’s my fault too, Eli. I should have made time to listen to you. You were one of my first friends on the island, after all.”
He grunted and looked away.
She mustered up enough courage to place both hands on his cheeks and turn his head toward her. “But we’re here now. And honestly, I feel like I just want to help you. I know you’re only doing this because you feel rejected by the community. But deep inside, I believe you are a good person, Eli. You are.”
She could feel he was beginning to fall for it, so she plunged ahead. “Let’s make a deal, okay? While we’re on the boat, I am willing to get to know you better, to make up for all the time that we should have spent together… But please help me to get home. That’s all I want.”
“What about the prince?” he asked.
“That was just a fling,” she said with a wave of her hand. “You think I’d leave the island if it meant something to me? All I want is to go back to my old life. And if you’ll help me, you can even join me. You can be one of us humans and start anew, you know…”
He was silent, mulling over the possibility.
“Think about it, Eli,” she said, caressing his face, and looking into his eyes. “You and me, away from all the Vortons. I’m not promising you anything but who knows where it will lead us, right?”
“Yeah,” he muttered.
She was definitely getting somewhere! Motivated by his response, she took the leap and kissed him on the lips. At first he was resistant. But she persisted, wrapping her arms around his neck, feeling the stubble on his chin rubbing against her skin.
He began to respond, kissing her back passionately while his hands pulled her closer. As he began groping her body, she pushed away all negative thoughts and feelings and simply pretended it was Kristan she was kissing. This was an acting challenge she knew she needed to win.
His hand snaked its way under her shirt, feeling for her breasts. She fondled his hardening manhood, making him grow even more as she slowly led them to the bed. They fell together to the soft mattress, kissing torridly with their hands on each other.
He was now under her. And in order for her to reach the flashlight, she had to sidle upward. She straddled him, making him groan with desire. He reached for her breasts and she leaned forward to cover his eyes with her chest as she fumbled for the flashlight.
Just as her hands tightened around the weapon, she heard the door swing open. She dropped the flashlight in surprise and broke apart from Eli. He also sat up quickly.
To her shock, Prince Kristan stood at the door with a pained look on his face.
Immediately, she signaled to him in her mind what her plan had been. But he was just looking at her with devastation, shock, and hurt in his eyes. He shook his head in disbelief, then turned to leave.
“Kristan, wait!” Lindy shouted, scrambling to get out of the bed. She followed him outside before Eli could stop her. “Why can’t you read my mind? It wasn’t what it looked like, and I’d never do something like that to you!”
Kristan angrily faced her. “Your thoughts are definitely getting through loud and clear, Lindy! You never changed at all! And you’re actually worse than what I initially thought of you!”
“Lindy was in on the plan all along, Prince!” Eli shouted from behind her. “She made a fool out of you, can you believe that?!”
Lindy threw him a look of fury. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Tell him how you had been playing him so that we could pull this off together,” Eli continued, placing an arm around her shoulders.
“It’s not true!” Lindy screamed. “Why can’t you read my thoughts? Eli’s doing something to change them or block them or—”
Eli grabbed her then and forced her back into the cabin.
“Help me, Kristan! Please!” she cried, sobbing.
“The soldiers are coming,” was all she heard him say. “You’re not going to get away with this!”
A gunshot sounded, making her whip around in time to see Calone pointing a gun into the air. “Stupid prince!” Calone yelled, charging toward Kristan with his gun.
>
Lindy screamed. “Noooo!” With a burst of adrenaline, she stepped hard on Eli’s foot and kicked him between the legs. He staggered backwards in pain while she ran to push Calone’s hand. The gun went off, fortunately missing them.
Calone grabbed her by the leg. She kicked and grappled, screaming. He slapped her so hard that blood spurted from her mouth. She fell to the deck, sobbing in pain.
Suddenly, she heard a loud crunching sound that made her whip around, afraid of what was going to happen next. It was Kristan who had hurtled himself at Calone, giving the big guy an angry punch in the face. It got him by surprise, which gave the prince the advantage. Calone tumbled to the ground with a loud thud.
Kristan, filled with rage, attacked again and kept punching him until Lindy was able to reach him and pull him back. “Stop it, you’ll kill him!” she cried.
He stopped, his knuckles bleeding.
A commotion on the side of the boat got their attention. Several Vorton soldiers had arrived. Kristan and Lindy stepped back to give way to them.
Calone scuttled to his feet, attempting to get his gun and shoot at them. But one soldier beat him to it, while another soldier had a gun pointed at him already. “Freeze or I’ll shoot!”
Calone could not fight anymore. He was captured and taken away. However, Elixir had escaped.
“He shouldn’t be far from here,” Kristan said. “He won’t be able to swim that fast. Catch him!”
“Yes, sir,” the soldiers replied.
“Kristan, I—” Lindy began to explain.
“Ssshhh…” Kristan stopped her, gazing into her eyes. The gold sparks in his eyes were flashing and dancing around like crazy. “I was wrong not to trust you. Sometimes, my mind can also mislead me. I must learn to follow my heart more.”
He took her in his arms, hugging her with great emotion. “I’m so sorry, Lindy. I should have believed you.”
“It’s okay,” Lindy assured him, hugging him back. “I would have reacted the same way…”
He pulled back gently to face her. Caressing her cheek with one hand he told her, “When I saw you getting hurt like that, it hurt me so much. I knew I couldn’t let anything bad happen to you no matter what.”