by Tasha Black
“That’s not possible,” Diaz replied.
Why not?
“Why not?” Hailey asked, echoing Rima’s own thoughts.
“It’s hard to explain,” Diaz said. “But basically we have too many angles on the thing. It would have to have been done by a movie studio, then loaded onto each phone separately. Which it obviously wasn’t. Why would a movie studio do that?”
The girl shrugged.
“You know, you don’t have to be afraid to tell me,” Diaz said fervently, putting down her clipboard. “I know it might seem crazy or you might think I won’t believe you, but I do. I’ve never seen anything like that ship. What was it like to watch it in person?”
Rima was moved to hear the passion in the other woman’s voice. They weren’t so different, she and Diaz - both driven, neither really up on their social skills.
In another world, Rima might have been friends with Special Agent Diaz.
But in this one she was afraid, very afraid.
Because Diaz wanted to find something that was very much there.
And Rima couldn’t allow it.
She was getting ready to interject when the bell at the front door dinged again.
Diaz almost jumped out of her seat as her partner, Agent Sykes, strolled in.
“Amy,” he said to Diaz, “I thought you were just grabbing our coffee.”
“Oh, well, I was going to, but Hailey Norman was here,” she said. “Hailey, this is Special Agent Sykes.”
“Hey there, Kayley,” Sykes smiled.
“And I thought I would interview her since her video was one of the first to be aired,” Diaz finished proudly.
“Has she been helpful?” Sykes asked.
Diaz studied Hailey for a moment, as if trying to think of something positive to say.
She gave up and shook her head.
“Yeah, teenagers,” he said. “They’re basically useless. I’ll get the coffee. Go clear your head.”
“Nice,” Hailey snorted, rolling her eyes.
“Hey, whatever, kid,” Sykes shrugged. “Don’t you need to go listen to Nirvana or something?”
“Only if you have the Oldies station,” the girl muttered, running a hand through her purple bob as she headed back behind the counter.
“Yeah, I’ll take two medium coffees, black,” Sykes said affably to the other woman behind the counter.
“You mean moyen?” she asked.
“Listen, I just want coffees, this size.” He made a coffee cup shaped space in the air between his hands. “Two of them. Black.”
“Moyen, then,” she told him. “Twilight blend, Dark, Midnight, or Organic Black Velvet?”
“Jesus,” Sykes said. “Whichever one your dad would pick, kid.”
“My dad doesn’t drink coffee, he says it gives him the shits.”
“Well, whichever is most like real coffee, then,” Sykes chuckled.
“Twilight, I guess. That’ll be four fifty.”
Sykes shook his head and swiped his card, then turned his back to barista and leaned on the counter, spotting Rima and her friends.
“Hey, there,” he called across the room. “How’s it going?”
“Great,” Georgia smiled back. Her smile was so glamorous. Rima was pretty sure he would be too busy noticing it to realize how intently they’d been eavesdropping.
A moment later he headed out with two coffees.
“Say hi to your mom for me,” he said over his shoulder.
“That was too close,” Georgia said, leaning in.
“Hey, did I say the right thing?” Hailey called across the room.
Oh crap.
Georgia dashed over to the counter to chat quietly with the girl, leaning in so that the curtain of her flame colored hair skimmed against Hailey’s purple bob, making them look like a sunset.
“I think I need some air,” Rima told Posey.
Posey nodded.
“Yeah, I’ve gotta run an errand. I’ll let Georgia know we’ll meet her back here.”
“You should wait for her, she needs to pick up something for the boys at the hardware store,” Rima advised Posey.
Posey nodded glumly and Rima headed outside.
The brisk air was a welcome relief to her heated cheeks. Rima was a math genius, or so she was told, but she had never been gifted at subterfuge. She couldn’t even be trusted to keep the big Santa Claus secret around little kids.
She wondered how long she could keep up this game with the agents wandering around town. If only it were just Sykes, she was sure he would just move on. But Diaz… If she were as impassioned as Rima thought she might be, who knew what crazy thing she might do to get to the truth?
Rima thought of the crazy things she had done in the name of her own passion.
Answering the ad for egg donation hadn’t been the first, but it had definitely been the biggest.
She had recognized the language in the text as her mother’s handiwork right away. And though she was surprised to see it in her own college newspaper, she figured it made sense that it was going out to all the top schools.
She’d been studying all day and watching her roommate madly texting about a rip roaring night out.
Rima felt out of place in the college scene sometimes. She was still the same studious girl she’d been in high school. She had no desire to get wasted and make out with drunken frat boys.
When the roommate took a call, and began to excitedly explain her exploits in graphic detail, Rima found it hard to concentrate.
“Can you keep it down, please?” Rima asked politely, indicating her laptop.
“Oh, come on, Rima,” the girl had moaned. “Live a little.”
In that moment it all clicked. Yes, she did want to live a little. Just not by making an idiot of herself at some stupid party.
She was going to go to the fake egg donation clinic and sign herself up for a chance at being an alien bride. How was that for living?
She knew it was just testing, and she wasn’t likely to be chosen. The chances of that were like winning a lottery. But participating in the testing would be really neat.
Of course it hadn’t been enough.
She’d met her best friends that day at the clinic.
And after a year with them she had known what she was going to do.
Rima’s mother was smart, but not overly interested in internet security. Besides, Dr. Bhimani had no reason to believe that anyone would be able to do anything with the algorithm the security was protecting anyway.
Hacking a data system that large, cracking the algorithm, and then manipulating the data so that a particular sub-set of participants would appear to be prime candidates, as well as compatible to each other and to the boys… Well, that sort of hacking might happen in the movies, but it wasn’t something anyone could actually pull off.
Fortunately, Rima Bhimani wasn’t just anyone. She had a knack for code breaking and high level math problems. And she didn’t go out much, so she had plenty of time.
Besides, Rima had a moral certainty that the computer could never sense human compatibility and values. On the surface she Georgia and Posey were as different as could be. Yet they were a phenomenal team. And in her heart, Rima believed that just about any man and woman could become compatible in time. Particularly men who would still be forming their personalities as newly born humans.
A computer algorithm would pick the shortest distance between two points, and might end up burdening her mother with brides who fought with each other, or worse, went straight to the press and ruined everything.
So Rima had done the impossible.
And here they were.
Diaz had that look on her face, the same look of wonder and determination.
“Rima Bhimani,” a harsh voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
Gretchen Rives.
Gretchen had been a bully in high school. And the years between hadn’t improved her. She’d been on Earl Road’s team during the Fall Festival and Rim
a had the feeling that if Earl weren’t a man of his word, Gretchen would have continued to harass the group.
“Hey, Gretchen,” Rima said.
“Don’t hey Gretchen me,” Gretchen said. “You really hate this town, don’t you?”
Rima looked around but her friends were nowhere to be seen. She didn’t hate the town, but she did hate confrontations.
“I actually kind of like this town,” Rima said.
“Then why do you and your family keep screwing it up?” Gretchen asked.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Rima said, and tried to walk away.
Gretchen wrapped a long-nailed hand around her arm.
“I’m not done talking to you, rag head,” she spat. “Your family fucked up this town by saying there were aliens coming when there weren’t. Now there are aliens and you want us to say there aren’t any. You’re making this town a laughingstock.”
“Not forever,” Rima began. “Just until we can make things safe for the boys.”
“The boys,” Gretchen laughed bitterly. “Those… things are not boys. And you - you’re as pathetic as you were in high school. Except now you think you’re special because you went off to some fancy college. You are trash, Rima Baloney, and you always will be. You won’t get away with this.”
Rima bit back her sobs, but the tears ran hot down her cheeks anyway.
She knew Gretchen was a bully and a loser. But she was powerless to say so, and it didn’t seem to matter if Gretchen was a loser, if she had the power to make Rima feel this way.
“Rima, what’s going on?” Magnum’s deep voice boomed from behind them.
Suddenly Gretchen’s tight hold on her arm was released.
“N-nothing,” she said.
“Who’s this?” he asked, gesturing to Gretchen, who suddenly looked less intimidating.
“That’s Gretchen,” Rima said.
“Hey there,” Gretchen rasped sunnily. “I’m Rima’s old friend from high school.”
“Is this the rude creature that insulted you at the festival?” Magnum asked Rima, ignoring Gretchen completely.
Rima nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
Magnum gazed impassively at Gretchen Rives as if she were a package of paper towels he was thinking of buying, instead of the force of nature that had buffeted Rima’s existence since she was a kid.
“You are not Rima’s friend,” he said flatly. “Never speak to her again.”
He took Rima’s hand and turned his back to Gretchen without waiting for a response.
Rima found herself warming from the inside out with the happy sense of belonging.
She smiled at the idea that it had taken an alien to make her feel at home.
6
Rima
Rima followed Magnum quietly, trying not to thank him or chat nervously.
It was the least she could do. He wasn’t a talkative man, and she knew he would appreciate the silence.
She tried to put the incident with Gretchen out of her mind and focus on being grateful to have her hand in Magnum’s. They were going someplace together, just the two of them.
He led her to the car.
“I’ll come back for the others later,” he said. “You’re ready to go home.”
He wasn’t wrong. She was definitely ready and eager to go home. Or anyplace he was going.
Oh, Magnum, Magnum, Magnum. I would go anywhere with you.
They got into the car. He waited until her seat belt was buckled, then started the engine and threw an arm over her seat to back up.
Rima knew she should look forward, but just this once she let herself gaze up at his big biceps and the angle of his jaw.
His hazel eyes met hers for a moment, then he returned his gaze to the road.
Soon enough, the little town was passing outside the windows.
But all Rima could think about was Magnum’s muscular thigh, radiating heat through his jeans, so close to hers.
She looked at the wheel and his large hands gripping it. She remembered how they felt on her body and blushed, looking down, only to see the bulge in his jeans.
Suddenly the car was too small and Magnum was too big. She shut her eyes, reciting the digits of pi. She could do that until they got home. Maybe even longer, until she was safe in her reading nook with a good book in hand.
“Are you okay, Rima?” he asked softly.
No.
“Yes,” she replied, opening her eyes.
They had reached the main road that led from town to the observatory. The bright fall sun floated in a cloudless sky, warming her through the windshield.
She didn’t dare look at him.
Suddenly, the car was crunching on the gravel of the shoulder as it slowed to a stop.
With a groan of surrender, Magnum slipped out of his seat belt, reached over and released hers, and then she was in his arms.
Her heart pounded in her ears as Magnum nuzzled her hair, brushed kisses across her eyelids, into the curve of her neck, and came back up to capture her mouth with his.
He kissed her hungrily.
Rima whimpered and arched her back, pressing her breasts against his chest.
7
Magnum
Magnum lost control.
He had only meant to help her out of an awkward situation with that horrible woman.
When her wounded eyes made him take her by the hand, he had intended merely to bring her home.
But her cool silence was terrifying.
He’d needed to comfort himself in her warmth, reassure himself that she was still sweet Rima.
Oh, but she was sweet.
Warm and melting against his lips, and the soft sounds that teased him…
He had meant only to hold her a moment.
But he couldn’t resist anymore. He didn’t want to.
Magnum was going too far.
He devoured her mouth, loving the sensation when her tongue met his, stroking and fluttering in a way that mimicked the act of mating itself.
Rima arched her back, flattening her soft breasts against his chest, maddening him when he felt the tips were as stiff as his cock, which throbbed painfully against the zipper of his jeans.
He wanted to touch all of her at once.
He wanted to consume her, to become one with her. Fill that vulnerable sweetness with all his strength.
He pushed her sweater down over her shoulders. It pinned her arms down to the seat, but he didn’t care. Good. She would hold still and it would be easier to coax the pleasure from her.
Rima stilled and he broke their kiss, gazed up into her dark eyes.
“Magnum,” she whispered.
Her lips were swollen from his attentions - they were bright as berries.
Her dress had slipped down a bit when he’d removed her sweater. He lowered his head to taste her honeyed skin.
She let her head fall back against her seat, sighing with pleasure as he kissed and licked and nipped at her tender neck.
He placed a hand on her thigh, wondering at the way his heartbeat sped at the warmth he felt there.
He could feel her waiting, wanting.
Slowly, he slid his hand up toward paradise, loving the way she held her breath.
The loud honking of a horn roused him.
“Get a room,” a voice yelled out as a car shot past them.
What was he doing?
Oh, gods, he was in a car, in the middle of the day, with the world going by.
Quickly, he straightened up.
“I apologize,” he said.
Rima didn’t move. Eyes closed, she leaned back against the seat, her legs parted slightly, sweater holding her wrists down.
Then she sat up, adjusted her sweater and put her seatbelt back on.
She didn’t look to him in her sweet inquisitive way.
She didn’t speak.
He had made a mistake.
He should not have been pawing at her in public. And now she was angry with him.
Magnum took a deep breath, fastened his seat belt and pulled the car back onto the road.
It’s better this way.
It would not be right to spoil her innocence only to leave her forever.
Magnum had been able to convince himself with those words so many times before.
But today, they didn’t ring so true.
He glanced over at her. She was inexpressibly beautiful, even in her anger. He had been willing to lose himself in her eyes forever, hunker down on this strange planet and make a home for them. Protect their young.
If only doing so didn’t put a target on all their heads.
It will get easier. You will forget her in time.
He told himself that often. But he was no longer sure it was true.
He saw her every time he closed his eyes.
8
Rima
Rima spent the rest of the day in a fog of regret.
If Magnum cared about her, it made no sense that he would drop her like a hot potato every time they touched.
If he didn’t care about her it made no sense that he had come to her rescue with Gretchen, and that he would hold her and kiss her, even for a minute.
Except that it did make sense.
It did, if she were being honest with herself.
Rima was used to being everyone’s little sister. She knew she’d been too wrapped up in physics to keep up in the social department. Add to it the fact that she regularly tripped over her own feet, and it left her in the inevitable role as a sweet, bumbling friend, not a sophisticated sex symbol.
Magnum was a nice guy. He was trying to like her as a woman. But he just couldn’t do it. He wasn’t attracted to her. No matter how much she had tried to convince herself of the contrary.
She had thought she could wait forever, but that wasn’t really an option. Magnum needed to click with his mate soon to make his mission successful.
Heartbroken, she knew what she had to do.