by Zara Zenia
“Yeah, absolutely, unless you’ve got a hot date with this guy?” he nods to the old dude with the rotten teeth.
“I’m going,” I laugh. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Once outside, my feet crunch on the powdery snow. Wrapping my coat around me tighter, I brace myself for the cold walk home. My wages for today are in my pocket and I grip them tightly in between my frigid fingers as though my life depends on them, which it does, I suppose. It sure is nice to have some money and to be able to buy food and keep a room but it’s not enough. I want something better, I want to save up and get an apartment and of course, I’ve got an alien to feed which, it turns out, isn’t the cheapest thing to do. I’ll have to get a second job at some point. I feel exhausted at the thought. I’m already tired just working the one. Still, it could be worse, I could be Voland and stranded on another planet. I couldn’t imagine such a thing, couldn’t fathom the sense of being so lost or of experiencing such terror. Considering this, he’s a nice guy, well balanced and pleasant to be around. I can’t say I’d be so tolerable if I were stuck on Mars or whatever.
I see the red flicker of the motel light in the distance like a beacon welcoming me home. In the middle of the street, I hear the revving engines of cars moving along the main strip, the one that I almost sold my body on. As I stop at the crossroads, I look right and see the girls in their tiny outfits, huddled together as they brace against the cold. I made the right choice not going back there, or rather Voland saved me from a life I wasn’t suited to. What if I had made some money that night? By now I could have slept with hundreds of guys! I feel disgusted at the thought and look away and head back to the hotel. I can’t wait to get inside, even if that does mean setting foot on that sticky carpet again.
As soon as I click the door open, I notice the mirror above the television is steamed up. Voland is in the bath again, a place that he seldom leaves.
“Yo!” I knock on the bathroom door.
For the most fleeting of seconds I’m sure I hear whispering but who would he be talking to?
“Hey! Open up! I’m dyin’ to pee!”
“Hang on!” Voland calls.
He opens the door and a cloud of steam escapes from behind him. He has a towel wrapped around his waist and I can see his muscular body glistening with moisture. It takes me a moment to look away and I blush as I run into the bathroom and close the door.
“Jesus, Voland! How hot is this bath? It’s like a freakin’ sauna in here.”
He doesn’t answer but I’m sure I can hear the whispering again. As I wash my hands, I strain my ears to hear better. Maybe it’s the television. No, it was definitely off when I came back. Maybe I’m just going crazy. That’s more likely. But as I open the door, I definitely see Voland whispering into a little device in his hand.
“Hey, what is that?”
“Nothing,” he says as he puts his hands behind his back.
“You’re lying! You’re hiding something, I saw it.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Voland!”
His eyes are wide and worried, his pupils dilating as I walk closer to him.
“It’s nothing!” he pleads.
“Don’t lie to me! You were talking to someone.”
I jump on him and we fall on the bed in a mass of tangled legs and flailing arms.
“Give me it!” I scream.
“I don’t have anything!”
I struggle to reach his arms which are still pinned beneath him.
“Stop it! Get off,” he yells.
“You’re lying!”
We struggle for a moment longer, the bed beneath us creaking and groaning at our amateur wrestling moves. Then something bounces off the bed and lands on the floor with a clunk. I see something small and black with an earpiece and a flashing red light.
“What’s that?”
“Nothing!”
He scrambles to the floor and picks it up.
“Voland, what the fuck? Tell me what that is!”
He looks to the floor, to the windows, to the walls, and to the television but doesn’t once make eye contact with me.
“You wouldn’t understand,” he says.
“I might.”
“It’s a communicator,” he explains.
I look at the device in his hand. It’s almost like a cell phone but a fraction of the size.
“Why were you being so secretive?” I ask.
He still doesn’t look at me. He shifts from one foot to the other and adjusts the towel around his waist.
“Were you talking to someone from your home planet?”
“Maybe.”
He finally looks me in the face with guilty eyes.
“What’s going on?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” he says as he sits on the end of the bed and faces away from me.
There’s nothing but silence between us, the tension in the air hanging thick and heavy. I stare at the back of his head and try to figure out what he’s thinking. I don’t like this, not one bit. Was he plotting something against me with one of his alien pals? Is he planning something sinister? After a few minutes, he stands up and begins to get dressed.
“I’m going for a walk,” he says.
“Fine.”
And I watch him walk out the room, the cold, snowy air blowing inside as he leaves.
I’m supposed to be getting ready for work but as usual, Voland is hogging the bathroom. I don’t know what his obsession with baths is, surely they have them back where he came from. I’m propped up against the headboard watching television. There’s some cheesy, old-timey movie one, something about a child tap dancer and her super supportive step-dad who seems to always be wearing a top hat. I think about the various step-dads I’ve had over the years and wonder why they never once showed any interest in me never mind supported me. I guess they didn’t stick around too long to know me, though. Can’t say I blame them.
Tears spring to my eyes as I think about Ronnie. He’ll be wondering where I am, so will my mom, except she’s probably happy to get rid of me. It’s not like she wanted me anyway… Ronnie… Someday I will go back for him. I roll over and make a silent promise to him as the tears fall onto the pillow.
“I’ll come back for you. You know I will.”
I hear the taps squeak in the bathroom as Voland turns off the water. Then I hear his body sink into the bathwater with a splash. But there’s another noise too, the sound of whispering. He’s talking on that device again!
Leaping up, I knuckle my eyes and tiptoe over to the bathroom door. Crouching down in front of it, I try to make out what he’s saying but I can only hear the occasional word.
“Saurad… Out west…Mexico…Orbans…”
Mexico? Who’s in Mexico? He’s plotting something, I know he is, otherwise, why would he have all these secretive bath time conversations on that weird, little earpiece? I press my ear up close to the door until my face is warm from being pushed up against the splintered wood.
“I promise you, you must head south-west…. Orba needs… the girl… she’s so young.”
What the hell? I’m officially scared now. Is he talking about me? He must be. I don’t know what to do. My fingers are trembling as they rest on the door. I hear Voland say goodbye, then I hear him splashing in the water again. It dawns on me that I know absolutely nothing about him. Everything he could have told me could be a lie. I need answers, but I have no idea how to get them.
Chapter 11
Voland
I’m sitting by the window drying off my body, toweling my hair as I look in the mirror. I feel as though I’m being watched and as I look over to the bed, I realize I’m not wrong.
“What’s up?”
Felicity is staring at me with a wary, cautious look in her eyes. Her posture is defensive, her legs crossed and her arms tangled around one another so that she looks like a human version of those delicious pretzels she’s always bringing home.
“What’s up?” she hu
ffs. “You tell me.”
I don’t know what’s bothering her but from I have learned in men’s magazines I bought at the mall with Alison, women are prone to bouts of intense huffiness and inexplicable temper tantrums. Until now, I had not witnessed this.
“Are you menstruating?” I ask.
“What?”
“Are you menstruating?” I repeat.
“Are you fucking out of your mind?”
Ok, that was not the response I was expecting.
“So you’re not menstruating?”
She glares at me, her nostrils flaring as her eyes bore into mine.
“No,” she sighs. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
She jumps off the bed and begins pulling on her snow boots, great, big fluffy things that she insists she needs to walk through the snow.
“Where are you going?” I ask confused.
“Out.”
“Out where?”
“Just out.”
She trips as she hobbles about trying to tie the laces of one boot while keeping her balance. Stumbling over, she lands on the bed and lets out a depressed sigh.
“Have I done something wrong?” I ask.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
She’s staring up at the ceiling, her legs dangling off the edge of the bed. I walk over and run my hand over the fluff of her boots. She pulls away angrily and rolls over before sighing once again.
“I’m no expert in human behavior but I know enough to see that you’re acting like a child.”
She rolls back over and glowers at me.
“A child!” she spits.
“Yes, you are throwing a tantrum like a child.”
She sits up and crosses her arms again, her face pink and angry.
“You have some nerve.”
“Nerves… a whitish fiber or bundle of fibers in the body that transmits impulses of sensation to the brain.”
“Aargh!” she flings her arms up in the air. “You’re infuriating! You drive me nuts sometimes but what can I do?”
“I don’t know, what can you do?”
“I might strangle you,” she threatens.
I gasp and reel back in horror.
“Would you?”
She rolls her eyes.
“Of course not but it’s just that… this situation in insane, almost impossible. I mean, I’m holed up in this stinkin’ motel room with an alien. An alien for cryin’ out loud! And although I thought I would do anything to help you, part of me just… doesn’t trust you.”
Her eyes are watery as she speaks.
“This is something that greatly upsets you, isn’t it? I said.
She nods, a small droplet of water rolling over her cheek before dropping off her chin.
“But why don’t you trust me?”
“Because of all those secret conversations you have in there!” she wails and points to the bathroom. “What’s going on? You don’t tell me anything and you’re so secretive. Sometimes I think I know you but other times I feel like you’re a stranger.”
I don’t know what to think. She wouldn’t understand the whole situation with Palzu or the atrocities that have taken place on my home planet. She wouldn’t understand what we went through when the shuttle crashed to Earth or how I’m still trying to protect my crew with the continuous lies I feed to Saurad. Lying down beside her, I take her hands in mine and squeeze them. She seems unsure of what to do and keeps her eyes fixed on the ceiling.
“Would sex make you trust me?” I ask.
“What?”
“If we have sex, would that make you feel more relaxed in my presence? I mean, we’ve been sleeping in the same bed but because you’ve been working so many nights we don’t always have the time to lie together and be close. Maybe that’s why you don’t trust me like you want to.”
“That’s not it.”
There’s a terrible, awkward silence between us but I continue squeezing her hand until I can think of something to say.
“But you liked the sex, didn’t you? I seem to remember you were having a lot of fun.”
She rolls over to face me and pulls her hands away, tucking them under her armpits as though she’s trying to warm them.
“Voland, you know I had a great time. You’re the best but…”
“But what?”
“You’re an alien.”
“Oh…”
“But I would like to cuddle,” she smiles.
We both jump under the covers and hold each other. She snuggles her head into the crook of my neck and I kiss the top of her head.
“This is nice,” I say.
“It is.”
“Especially because it’s so cold outside. This is like our own private little world of warmth and comfort.”
“It’ll be Christmas soon,” she says.
“What’s Christmas?” I ask.
“I’ll explain later.”
We hold each other tight. I can feel the softness of her body press up against me and instinctively, I find myself running a hand over her stomach to feel the curves of her waist.
“I think you’re really beautiful,” I say.
I can feel her cheeks grow hot as she leans on my shoulder.
“Thank you.”
“I mean it. I think you have the perfect body.”
She looks up to me and smiles before reaching up and kissing me. Her lips taste like the creamy stuff that she’s always rubbing on with a little pink tube. It’s like fruit and candy and it tastes amazing. I pull her closer and kiss her harder.
“I thought you didn’t want to do anything. I thought you just wanted to cuddle.”
“I’ve changed my mind,” she says. “Come here.”
She’s pulling her clothes off, hooking her fingers into the straps of her underwear and tearing it from her body. Then she’s yanking the towel from my waist and I watch as it crumples to the floor. At last, after all these weeks, we’re naked again, our warm bodies pushing together as the snow outside falls and the windows mist up.
“Do that thing again,” she says.
“What thing?”
She raises her eyebrows.
“You mean give you oral?”
She nods and bites her lower lip.
Anything to make her trust me. I dive between her legs and latch my mouth onto her, sucking hard and running my tongue up and down her sensitive spot. She responds immediately, flinging her head back and moaning as she arches her back.
“Oh, fuck! Right there! Yes!”
I suck harder and she writhes her hips beneath me as she rubs herself against my tongue.
“Harder!” she screams.
I suck as hard as I can, making sure to keep my tongue moving fast over her clitoris. I can begin to feel her climax, sensing it in her thighs first as they begin to tremble. Digging my fingers into her legs, I try to steady her movements but it’s no use, she’s lost control. It’s as though she’s gone completely wild and feral, thrashing around the bed as a scream rips out of her throat.
“Jesus, fucking Christ!”
She yells, and she’s climaxing hard, shaking uncontrollably as her vagina convulses in my mouth. I can feel how hot and swollen her clitoris is and how sensitive she has become. After a few seconds, she digs her nails into my scalp as she pulls at my hair.
“Stop!” she begs. “I can’t take anymore.”
I climb up and lie beside her. We’re both breathless, leaning into one another as we regain our bearings.
“I’m hard,” I say. “I’d very much like to be inside you.”
She lets out a little laugh and looks to me.
“I’d like that too but I don’t want to do it like before.”
“How do you want to do it?”
“Like this.”
She reaches up onto all fours as she rests on her hands on her knees.
“You go behind,” she says as she nods behind her.
“
Ok,” I nod.
Kneeling behind her, I soon find that I can enter her more easily. Her plump, wet pussy is waiting for me, swollen and pink and desperate to be entered. For a second, I rest the head of my penis at her opening, only gently pushing against her outer lips. This seems to infuriate her and she looks at me over her shoulder.
“Do it!” she says. “I need you so much.”
I don’t hesitate and thrust myself into her. She screams instantly and digs her fingers into the bed sheets as she collapses into the pillow.
“Fuck!”
I thrust into her repeatedly. It feels so good this way. I can reach deeper inside her and make her scream louder. She’s writhing and winding her hips back and forth as though she’s trying to push herself onto me further. She chewing down on her bottom lip as her hair covers her face.
“Oh, God, oh God, oh God,” she’s softly saying to herself, repeating the same words repeatedly as though she’s scared of forgetting them.
Meanwhile, I can feel myself reach a hard and fast orgasm and all I can do is hope that I won’t shapeshift back into my alien form as I do so.
“I’m coming!” I yell.
“Me too!”
The bed is screeching below us and her screams are so loud I’m terrified we’ll attract attention to ourselves. But I can’t slow down, can’t control my body or the loud moaning that’s escaping my mouth. I come hard, feeling as though I’m exploding into her. I ejaculate inside her, my buttocks clenching together as I fall forward and kiss her back. Meanwhile, she clenches tight around my cock, quivering as she comes.
Then we’re both collapsed on the bed in a sweaty mess, with her hair sticking to my chest and her legs wrapped around me.
“That… was… spectacular…” she gasps. “Fuck…”
She’s breathing hard, her words struggling to come out of her.
“I’m exhausted,” I say with a big smile on her face. “For a moment there I thought my mind was leaving my body.”
“Sex is the best,” she breathes. “Well, with you anyway.”
She cuddles up close to me, her sweaty skin cooling fast in the cold, winter air. I pull the covers up over her and kiss her cheek.
“Are you feeling better?”
“Uh-uh,” she grins.