by Stasia Black
“Thank you, friend. You have helped me much this day.”
“I’m here for you anytime. Good Fortune to you.”
“Good Fortune.”
The phone pings several more times in quick succession. Frowning, I looked down at it. Little bubbles pop up, but they are not from Juliet. They are all from someone named Bull.
Where the hell are you brother?
If you don’t fucking get back to me soon, I’m going to skin your ass alive.
WHY THE FUCK AREN’T YOU ANSWERING??
I pull back in distaste. It seems the people Robbie associated with were just as distasteful as himself.
“Computer, disconnect phone.”
The phone goes black and I toss it back into the pile of earth junk.
Chapter Seven
Juliet
I stare back down at the message on my phone, barely able to believe it. Is it really that simple?
After three years of hell, Robbie just lets me go?
A joyous laugh bubbles up and I fling my arms out and spin in a circle in my kitchen. Oh God, am I really free? Really, truly?
Then I look back down at my phone, stricken. What if he’s just fucking with me?
What if it was a test of some kind and I was supposed to beg him not to leave me?
My joy turns to dread, sinking like a stone in my stomach.
I hurry over to my front door and lock the new lock. Robbie doesn’t have the key. Then I give a short, bitter laugh. Do I really think that’ll keep him out for long?
I’m breathing heavy, my heart racing in my ears as I back away from the door.
The text did say he wanted to see other people. Not that I imagine he really ever stopped. But what if a new woman really caught his eye? I certainly haven’t been any fun to live with these past couple years.
It’s terrible to be happy about the thought of him with someone else. To be happy that some other woman will be trapped in the hell I just escaped.
My forehead sinks against the door.
You can’t control what he does. You never could.
I can sit here feeling guilty about things I can’t control or… The joy starts to bubble up again.
What if it really is different this time? It already has been different. This is the first text he’s sent in days. And he hasn’t been around at all.
None of that is like the Robbie I know.
He might have really moved on. He hated making the drive down to my place. It’s an hour away from the MC compound. And he was always complaining that my cooking was shit, that I never dressed sexy enough for him, that I was shit in bed. He constantly called me boring.
Honestly, there was no reason for him to stick with me as long as he did except I knew he got off on the power of having me under his thumb.
I sit down and try to get some work done, but I’m too giddy to focus.
And before I can really think it through, my feet have carried me downstairs and across the street.
I get there just in time to see Shak at the door of the flower shop, flipping the sign at the door to Open.
“Hey,” I call out. “Are you closing early?” Maybe he was just accidentally flipping the sign the wrong way.
His face lights up when he sees me. “No, I just had to step out for an errand. I am back now.”
“Oh.” I laugh a little. “And you didn’t just close early for the whole day? It’s only thirty minutes until five.” He usually closes at five.
He’s still just smiling at me, that gorgeous white-toothed smile of his. He shrugs. “Some people like to come by at the end of the day. I’d hate to disappoint them.”
Why do I have the feeling he’s talking about me?
Just the idea makes me brave and crazy. Absolutely certifiable. Because the next words out of my mouth are, “So, that drink you mentioned the other day? My boyfriend and I broke up and… I’d actually really like to go get that drink with you.”
If I thought he was smiling before, it’s nothing to the breathtaking grin he shoots me now.
Chapter Eight
Shak
My plan worked. I have been full-grown for 281 years yet I feel like a child as I eagerly wait out the half hour for Juliet to return to the flower shop. She said she would be right back, that she just needed to go up and change.
I told her that she did not need to change, that I liked her just as she was. She laughed and said I was sweet and then still left.
I stand beside the door, eyes trained on her apartment. Every time someone exits, my heart quickens. And every time I am disappointed.
But then, just when I feel like I cannot stand another turn of the spinner around the clock, she emerges. The leap in my chest is such a foreign sensation. I put my hand to it and rub at the same time I swiftly exit the flower shop, flip the sign to Closed, and lock up.
When I next turn around, Juliet is there, cheeks pink and eyes bright. “Where do you want to go for drinks?”
She is wearing different clothing than before. More of her skin is bared now. All of her arms and from the knees down.
Is it an invitation for mating? This is all so much more complex than I first assumed.
“Shak?”
“Yes?” My eyes jerk back from staring at her knees.
She laughs a little. “Where do you want to go for drinks?”
“Oh.” I glance around us. “I do not know. I am not familiar with the area. Where do you like to go for…drinks?”
She smiles and then slips her thin, delicate arm through mine. I startle at the easy contact but then attempt to act as if I am familiar with the gesture.
“There’s a little pub just a block from here that I like to go to sometimes.”
I nod, too distracted by the feel of her skin on mine to say much else. I am glad I opted for a chest covering that stopped at my elbows today instead of one that went all the way to my wrists. The feel of her soft, cool skin against mine… It is indescribable.
Everything about Juliet is a wonder.
“So…” Juliet starts. “Have you been having a good week?”
“It has improved.”
She looks up, flashing her bright blue eyes my direction. “Why, what was wrong with the first part of your week?”
“You did not come into the shop.”
She rolls her eyes and withdraws her arm, giving me a small slap on the bicep.
I frown. “Did I say something wrong?” I have lost her touch and I do not know why.
“You don’t have to feed me a line.”
“A line?” She must see the abject confusion on my face because her features soften. “You know, a line. Things guys say just to sound smooth.”
“Smooth,” I repeat as if that will make the word make more sense.
“You know, a lie to smooth things over.”
“I am not lying,” I exclaim. “You are the best part of my week. I was worried when you did not come in. I worried I had offended you. Or that you were unsafe.”
“Oh,” she says and again her cheeks flush.
“Why does that happen?” I point at her cheek. “Why do they go pink sometimes?”
“Oh my God.” Her hands fly to her face, covering the pink.
“What have I said wrong now?” I am making a blunder of this. She will not want me to be her boyfriend if I do not stop it.
“I am sorry,” I hurry to say. Ezo made sure to drill me on this particular three word saying. He swore it was one that human males need to repeat often.
Juliet drops her hands from her cheeks. “Don’t be.” She smiles at me. “It’s refreshing to be around someone who says what they are thinking. The pink cheeks thing, it’s called blushing. Do people not blush where you’re from?”
Oh. How do I answer this? “I have not spent much time around females before.”
Her eyebrows arch in surprise. “I have a hard time believing that.”
“It is true.”
She still looks at me as if she does not b
elieve me. “Were you in the military or something?”
Military. I know this word and while my people have not fought wars in many centuries, the only duties I have been allowed to perform on the ship during our long journey here do share some similarities.
“I lived in an all-male barracks but we did not do any fighting. I spent many years on maintenance crews taking care of heavy machinery.”
“Oh.” She nods. “That makes sense.” Then she peers up at me. “How old are you?”
“28.” They prepared us for that question. Humans live such short lifespans in comparison to the Draci. “May we touch arms again now?”
Juliet looks startled and gives a little laugh but nods and again links her arm through mine.
We soon arrive at the pub Juliet spoke of. I open the door for her and she leads me to a small, secluded booth in the corner. When another female comes by and asks us what we would like to drink, Juliet orders confidently. Then they both look to me.
“I will have the same.” None of the words on the menu make much sense to me anyway. Ezo would be quite disgusted with me for not learning more about earth food.
But I do not care about food. I only care about the female sitting across from me. “Tell me everything about you. I want to know it all.”
“Um,” she laughs. “I don’t know. I grew up around here. Started college. Quit college. Tried to start again. Quit again. I always liked books so I got into freelance editing. I can work from home and it pays the bills, so…” She shrugs and her face looks pained. “Not very exciting.”
Her cheeks are turning pink again. Blushing. She still never explained why it happens but I think I am beginning to understand. She feels discomfort talking about herself like this. She does not believe she is interesting enough for conversation. She could not be further from the truth.
“What was it like? Growing up around here?”
Her face sours. “Not that great. My parents were…” She shifts uncomfortably in her seat. “Look, can we talk about something else?”
I nod. “Yes. What do—” I almost said humans but Ezo was very strong on this point also, that humans do not refer to one another as humans. “What do people talk about when they go out.” I try out the terminology to see if she will reject it or not.
She laughs. “God, I don’t know.”
My chest soars. She agrees that we are going out.
The female from before comes back with beverages for us. Juliet grabs her glass and takes a long drink. I mimic her, bringing the dark brown liquid to my lips. I take a large swallow, just like she did.
But then I sputter, almost spitting the liquid out all across the table. By the ancients, I have not tasted a more foul brew.
Juliet immediately starts laughing and then she claps a hand across her mouth, a look of fear entering her eyes. Will I never understand these humans?
“Did you intentionally befoul my drink?” I ask curiously, wondering if that is the reason for her fear.
She drops her hand and a wide smile splits her lips again. “Oh my God, the look on your face.”
She breaks into another round of laughter. For such a small creature, she has a big laugh. It is contagious and soon I find myself laughing along even though I do not know what the joke is.
“I take it you don’t like stout beer?”
I grimace and glare at the drink in front of me. “Hum— People actually drink that intentionally? Is it medicinal?”
I was entirely serious but this only brings on new gales of laughter from Juliet.
“Come on.” She stands up and grabs my hand. “Let’s go play darts.”
Chapter Nine
Juliet
So, Shak is kind of… Amazing. Unbelievably sweet. He’s got this innocence about him but at the same time, he’s definitely all man.
He’s built like a brick shithouse, for one. And I don’t miss the way he occasionally scans my body. But it’s not creepy or skeezy. He’s not staring at my boobs the entire time or anything.
It’s just like for the first time in forever, I feel…safe.
Which is delusional.
I’m letting myself live in this little fairytale where Robbie has actually disappeared from my life. Where he’s actually let me go and I can be happy, maybe for the first time since…well, in a really long time.
But as I watch Shak’s brows scrunch adorably in concentration as he lines up another dart, I feel it. Happiness. It’s bubbling up inside me like champagne. It feels so foreign but I’m already drunk on it.
Shak lets the dart fly and his entire face lights up when it hits the target, right outside the bull’s-eye.
“Fifty points,” he says, bright amber eyes flashing my direction.
I feel the look all the way down to my toes.
“You sure you’ve never played this game before?” I arch an eyebrow at him and sashay back his way, not able to help giving an extra swing to my hips. “That’s the third game in a row that you’ve smoked me.”
“Smoked?”
I smile, amused at the little things that are lost in translation. It makes me pause and think about language in a way I never have before. “You won. Beat the pants off me. Smoked me.”
His eyes immediately drop to my waist, like he is imagining the pants off me even though I’m wearing a skirt.
He licks his lips in that sexy way of his and then his eyes meet mine again and the light must catch them because I swear for a second, they flash golden.
“Okay, Prince Charming. It’s getting late. Walk me home?”
He looks a little crestfallen. “Is it over already? Our go out?”
I giggle. “Yes, this date is over but that doesn’t mean we can’t have another one.”
“Tomorrow?”
He looks so eager.
“Don’t you know you’re supposed to play hard to get?” I tease him.
I entwine my arm with his again as we leave the pub. He’s so big and warm beside me. After Robbie, I should be put off men forever. I absolutely should not be jumping right into something else. So what am I doing?
“Play? Is this a game?” His brow crinkles in confusion.
I sigh and pause on the sidewalk. Then I shake my head and break away from his arm, leaning back against the side of the pub, looking up at the dark night sky. “A lot of people think so.”
“Do you think so, Juliet?”
God, is it wrong that I already love the way my name sounds rolling off his accented tongue? I squeeze my eyes shut. “No. I’m tired of games.”
That’s all it was with Robbie. Mind games mostly. Me constantly walking around on eggshells, never knowing what would set him off.
“I liked the game of darts and I am new to this,” he gestures at his chest and then mine, “but I do not consider it a game between you and I. Maybe I am too serious. I have been accused of it before. And I like your laugh. But I do not want to be a game to you.”
His eyes are so earnest in the lamplight. I don’t think I’ve met a more genuine person. But everyone else? We’re so busy hiding our pain and building up walls to keep people from hurting us again—but Shak just puts it all out there.
“I don’t want to be a game to you either,” I whisper. And then I go up on tiptoe, grab his cheeks, and kiss him.
He freezes. Turns to absolute stone.
Oh shit. I read that moment all wrong. What the hell am I doing?
I start to pull away when his arms suddenly fly around me and he is kissing me back. Clumsily. Unsure. Unpracticed.
But hungrily.
His hand tangles in my hair and I feel the shudder go through his entire body when I peek my tongue through the seam of his lips and make contact with his tongue.
The sexiest growl comes from low in his throat. His tongue goes wild and performs absolute gymnastics against mine, like he can’t get enough of me.
In seconds I’m panting and pressing against the thigh he has slid between my legs. Oh God, we’re in public, we’re
in fucking public. We need to stop.
But then his tongue does this little swirl-flip thing that makes my stomach swoop and a spasm rock throughout my entire body. Oh. Oh.
I shudder in his arms and grip his shoulders hard as the wave crashes through me. Ohhhhhhh—
I gasp for breath. Holy shit. I just came. I just came on the sidewalk outside my favorite pub. From a kiss.
I finally pull back from Shak and press my forehead into his broad chest. “Holy shit,” I pant. “Holy shit.” Literally I have no other words.
His hand is still gripped in my hair and he too is breathing hard. “Holy shit is good?”
I laugh, wrapping my arms around his huge body and squeezing. My arms don’t even make it all the way around, his shoulders and chest are so broad. “Holy shit is really, really good.”
I feel him nodding above me, his chin bumping my head. “Really, really good,” he echoes.
Okay, we’ve already caused more than enough spectacle. I grab his arm, much tighter than before. “Come on, Casanova.” I tug him back down the sidewalk. “Time to get me home before I turn back into a pumpkin.”
He is silent a moment and then, “Now you are just intentionally spouting gibberish to confuse me.”
I laugh so long and so hard and it is the most amazing feeling in the world.
No, scratch that.
His tongue driving me to orgasm with only a kiss—now that’s the most amazing feeling in the world.
Or maybe just spending time with Shak at all, no matter what we’re doing.
Oh shit. I can’t be jumping into a new relationship right now.
I entwine my fingers with Shak’s anyway as we walk back down the street.
Chapter Ten
Juliet
My heart feels so light as I slowly walk up the stairs to my apartment. Did that really just happen? The most perfect date of my life with the most perfect man? He’s quirky, funny, sweet, and kind.