“I'm sorry, miss,” I said. “I've already given away all I had. But did you look into the shelter two blocks from here?”
Tears welled in her eyes. “The Council closed it down two weeks ago.”
I sighed and shook my head. Though I – and a few others who shared my views – had not been present at the time, the Council had begun dismantling all of the social programs that Baz's father had instituted – including closing down the shelters for the needy. They'd said it wasn't financially viable and was draining the government's coffers while giving nothing of value in return.
I'd argued strenuously, but in the end, had been shot down. And in the ultimate form of disrespect, had begun voting to shut down the shelters one by one without even allowing me to cast a vote or lodge a formal protest.
Feeling miserable and powerless, I had to acknowledge that I was fortunate. At least, compared to so many, I was fortunate, I supposed. I wasn't on the streets. I had a roof over my head, a job that supported me thanks to skills that were always going to be in demand. I had food. I had the basic necessities that kept me going every day. I didn't have to live in a doorway or under a bridge. I didn't have to sell my body. And I didn't have to suffer the indignities and degradations so many of my fellow Optorions had to endure on a daily basis.
I also had the memory of my home before it was like this. Before it had fallen into ruin. Before the Regents had assumed control.
I never knew things could be worse than when Kapoc had been in charge – albeit briefly. But that small taste had given me an idea of how disastrous his reign would have been. Life on Optorio would have been hard and brutal under Kapoc, but life under the Regents seemed to be far worse. The deprivation was far greater and their corruption seemed more insidious.
Crime was through the roof, I now had to watch my back as I walked the streets. The government set in place by Baz was no longer concerned with our safety and welfare. They stayed away from the people, stayed away from the streets, and when they did come out, they had armed guards by their side.
Kapoc was a brutal tyrant, there was no doubt. But at least you knew what he was. The Regents pretended to be of the people, pretended to care about their welfare, and pretended to truly want to make life better for all. The reality of the world run by the Regents though, was far different. Far starker. And far, far worse.
I walked on, leaving the crowded and filthy streets behind me as I made my way home. A home that unlike some of the other Regents, was very modest. In fact, it was the same home I had lived in before ever joining the Council. Most of the other Regents, as their wealth grew as amply as their midsections, had moved to far more spacious, comfortable, and opulent homes. It was their right for doing so much work on behalf of the people, they said.
“It wasn't supposed to be like this,” I muttered to myself, unlocking the door to my small home on the outskirts of town. “It wasn't supposed to be anything like this.”
As I stepped into my home, I turned and made sure to lock the door behind me. I didn't fear the people on the streets so much. No, I feared those in the fancy clothes, with the ostentatious homes and friendly smiles – those who'd done this to our world. Our home.
I sighed as I walked through the darkened hallways of my home. My work day had been long, but I wasn't done yet. There was still more work to do. There was always more work to do. At least, for some of us. I signed into my security system and submitted to the bio-scan, authorizing that it was indeed me in the system. Once I had been verified and granted access, I got to work.
I began by pulling up some names – names of some of the members of the Council I was looking into. I'd been looking into them secretly, of course.
Ragor was the last one of the Regents I'd followed from a distance, and I watched as he came out of the building where many of the more exotic looking prostitutes often lingered. It was a private club you had to either pay very well to attend, or know somebody who could get you in. Somebody like me, just off the street, would not be welcome there.
But many of the prostitutes that I saw did not look to be Optorions to me. They looked to be from off-world. And although we did not forbid the practice of prostitution and companionship, we did have laws in place that prohibited the importation of alien woman for the purposes of forcing them into the sex trade.
The question in my mind though, was whether or not Ragor was only a patron. Or if he was working the sex club from the inside. After all, he'd paid several visits to that same club in the last week – often spending hours at a time there. Sure, a man might have a libido that high, but Ragor was aging, and it seemed highly unlikely that he had the stamina and vigor to spend an entire evening with prostitutes.
To me, it looked like Ragor was involved with the importation of women from other planets for the sole purpose of exploiting them. Of bringing in alien sex workers and likely, profiting handsomely from it.
But I couldn't be certain.
This was why I had much more work to do. I needed to get inside of one of these sex clubs, see what was going on inside. I needed to see where this new influx of women were coming from. I needed to figure out who else was involved with it. If Ragor was bringing alien women to work in his sex clubs, that meant that Urak, Regent of Commerce, was likely involved as well – he would at the very least, be turning a blind eye to Ragor bringing in loads of alien women.
Having met and spent a little time with Paige – Baz's wife – I was reasonably sure that many of the women in Ragor's club were from Earth. As far as I knew, outside of Paige, humans and Optorions hadn't had any contact before Baz. And hadn't had any since – or so I had thought, anyway.
Humans were something of a more primitive species. One without the capability of traveling all the way out here to Optorio. And until Baz had made his fateful trip, Optorions had no cause to visit Earth. So to now suddenly have so many human females popping up on my home world – in relative secrecy, of course – it made me wonder a great many things.
For instance, it made me wonder how they were all getting to Optorio.
And who was behind bringing them in?
I had an idea – a very dangerous one at that. But it was one I'd been working on for a little while now. However, until I had more proof of what I suspected – what I was reasonably sure I knew – I couldn't do anything about anything. At the moment, all I could do was record my findings and ensure that no matter what, this story would not die.
I wanted this investigation to continue even if, by chance, something were to happen to me. Like say a Regent assassin breaking into my home and killing me in my sleep.
Call me paranoid, but in this new world order, things like that tended to happen to troublemakers. I'd seen enough to know that although I was admittedly, a touch paranoid, I wasn't entirely wrong, either.
And I was reasonably sure Ragor would view me as a troublemaker. Or at least, he was going to.
Chapter Two
Riley
“So what do you think, Riley? Are you up for a drink tonight?” Sam asked me, smiling pleasantly as we closed up the restaurant. “I hear there's a really good band over at Mahogany tonight. We should check it out.”
Sam was a sweet kid and I had no ill feelings toward him. Honestly, I had no feelings toward him at all, really. He was a typical small-town boy who'd been born and raised in Sapphire Bay. He'd played football in high school, and was good enough that he'd earned a scholarship to play back on the east coast.
And from what I'd gathered, when he'd left for school, he'd claimed he'd never be back. But there he was – working in his father's restaurant as my manager. Not that it was entirely his fault, but it just goes to show the foolishness of making declarations like that.
Sam had blown out his knee during his junior year and after that, his scholarship had gone the way of the Dodo – as did his opportunities to play football at the next level. Sam didn't have a plan for his life. For him, it was football or bust and he'd never taken his studies all t
hat seriously. He'd truly believed that he'd be playing football professionally and hadn't given thought to a life without it.
Reality can come crashing down hard on you sometimes. And when it does, it can be a real bitch.
To his credit though, he could have been angry and bitter about it all, but he wasn't. He'd accepted that his dream had died the night he'd heard that fateful pop in his knee, but he'd somehow managed to maintain a positive attitude about his life. For the most part.
Once in a great while, I saw something akin to disappointment and sadness on his face – perhaps even a small trace of anger every now and then. But he'd always done a good job of hiding it and being positive and upbeat otherwise.
“Sam, you know I can't go out on a date with you. You're my boss.” I laughed it off as I finished wiping down the last of the tables in my station. “That would be so totally inappropriate.”
I'd used that excuse on him more times than I could count since I'd started there. But he remained undeterred and always came back, hopeful that he'd get a different answer. He was persistent and it was sweet in its own way. But even if he hadn't been my boss, I wasn't interested in him like that.
To be fair though, it wasn't him. Honestly, I wasn't really interested in any man like that. I was happy being single and in doing my own thing. But of course, men like Sam – or most men, really – couldn't understand that. Not without hearing my entire story, anyway. But who knew, perhaps even after hearing my story, he wouldn't understand it.
But there was no way in hell I was about to open up to him about all that. I preferred to keep the past where it belonged – firmly in the past. My story was my story and I wasn't going to talk about it. Not to anybody.
“Oh come on, Riley,” he said, leaning on the counter top, looking up at me with those baby blue eyes I was sure made many a heart melt in his day.
Sam was a good looking man, there was no denying it. With those heart-melting eyes, that strong and toned physique, and his Captain America good looks, I doubted he struggled with the ladies. In fact, I was pretty sure no girl had ever said no to him before, much less as often as I had. And maybe because of that, he was eager to turn my no into a yes.
Yeah, good luck with that.
“Not happening, Sam,” I said. “I have class early tomorrow and homework due. It's already going to be a long night. Sorry, babe.”
Sam rolled his eyes and sighed. He stood up straight and tried to flex a little bit, trying to give me a good view of the muscular body beneath that maybe too tight shirt he was wearing. He seemed to think his good looks would finally win me over and that I'd magically throw my panties at him or something. Maybe experience had taught him that was how things operated in his world. But if he genuinely thought that, it proved that he didn't know me. And that he was in for a big surprise.
When you got right down to it, I just wasn't attracted to him. Not in any sense of the word.
Sure, he was an attractive enough man. Tall, broad shoulders, well-built and with sandy brown hair and blue eyes. I assumed that most women would throw themselves at a man like Sam – and many probably had. There certainly was no shortage of cute little waitresses and hostesses in the restaurant he could have had a crack at. So, why in the hell was he all over me? I didn't get it.
I supposed that for many men, it came down to the chase. The challenge of conquering that which they deemed unconquerable. And the more I said no, the more he tried to win me over. Like he needed to conquer me. Like I was goddamn Mt. Everest or something.
I was starting to think that maybe it was time to start looking for another job. But the bitch of it was that I liked working at the Lazy Hen Cafe. The Hen, as it was called, was a family-owned diner that focused primarily on making amazing tasting home-cooked meals. Some of the food there was a lot like the stuff I grew up on myself. And they had the best pie in Sapphire Bay – not that we had many pie places here, but I still liked to indulge in free slices now and then. Just one of the perks of the job.
But staying at the Hen also meant that I had to deal with the likes of Sam. And all the pie in the world – no matter how amazing it was – just wasn't worth that.
“You really need to get a life, Riley,” he said as I clocked out for the night. “All work and no play isn't good for you. Like they say, it makes you a dull girl.”
“Sadly, I don't have the luxury to have it any other way, Sam,” I said, gritting my teeth and doing my best to suppress the anger that was rising within me. “I don't have those options.”
“Don't you have family?”
I clenched my jaw and bit back the scathing reply that was dying to come flying out of my mouth. I had to resist telling him it was none of his business – even though it really wasn't. Instead, I decided the best – and safest – course of action was to just ignore him. I'd told him before that I didn't have family – none who were worth dealing with at least. For all intents and purposes, I was alone in this world. And for people like Sam – people who had the good fortune to have good family they could lean on – they'd never get it. They'd never understand what it was like to essentially be an orphan.
He'd never understand his privilege because he had it easier than I ever did. It was his daddy who'd given him a job after his football dreams ended. It was why he was a manager when he wasn't the least bit qualified for the job. He was barely qualified to be a Walmart greeter. But that was life. It was what it was. And I wasn't one who was going to complain. Even if I did seem to get shafted in the grand scheme of things. All I could control was what I could control and all I could do was play the cards I'd been dealt. Sitting around bitching and whining about it got me nowhere.
“Goodnight, Sam,” I said, not bothering to wave as I walked out of the cafe and wanting nothing more than to be out of there and away from him.
I rushed to my car, just wanting to get home. I needed to get home. I wasn't lying about having homework and an early class in the morning – that was the norm these days. Class all morning, work all evening, homework until the early morning hours. That was my life, such as it was.
It wasn't easy. In fact, it was as hard as hell. But it was what it was. Like I said, sitting around bitching and moaning about it wasn't going to get me anywhere. The only way I was going to get anywhere was by picking myself up and pushing myself forward.
But guys like Sam would never even be able to comprehend the shit I'd had to go through in order to survive. They'd never understand how hard I had to work just to get by. Just to tread water. And that was because they had mommy and daddy there to pick them up when they fell.
All I had in this whole, wide world was myself.
ooo000ooo
As I rushed out of the restaurant and toward my car, I was surprised to see another car sitting in the parking lot at that hour. It wasn't Sam's car and I was the only other person working that night – it had been pretty slow. All the customers had left about half an hour before closing, giving us plenty of time to clean up and do our side work.
As I looked at the car in the lot, I let my paranoia get the best of me. I felt my heart racing and my hands trembling, but I tried to push it out of my mind. After all, it was a public parking lot. It could be anyone.
A homeless person. A driver stopping to making a call. Somebody who'd broken down. It could have been anybody.
It didn't mean anything at all.
I climbed into the car and tried to stop my anxiety from getting any worse than it already was. But this time, I was having some trouble talking myself down. Despite my best efforts, the fear was still there. Heavy and oppressive, it was still there. It felt like someone was watching me from the darkness of the interior of that car, and I couldn't get rid of the feeling. I shivered, even though I wasn't cold. Keeping an eye on the vehicle, I started my car.
“Please don't die on me,” I pleaded with my car, watching the vehicle in my rear view mirror.
Sam hadn't come out of the diner just yet – but part of me was actuall
y hoping he would. Just so I didn't have to be alone out there with the stranger in the strange car. But there was no sign of Sam.
I squinted my eyes and was able to make out a person sitting behind the wheel on the driver's side of the car. They were facing my direction, but were they watching me? Or was I simply being a paranoid freak? It was hard to tell. But given my history, it was understandable.
“Calm down, Riley,” I said, putting my car into reverse once it had warmed up. “It's not Mike. This car is unfamiliar.”
I kept trying to talk myself down, tried to stave off the panic attack that sometimes utterly crippled me. My ex-boyfriend, Mike, was always in the back of my mind. Lurking. He was a sinister and malicious presence in my brain – one I wished I could banish forever. But one I had never yet been able to.
Mike still scared the living daylights out of me – even though I hadn't seen him in months. The impact of our relationship – especially our parting – would forever be etched into my brain. There was no way I could ever not live in fear of him coming after me, not after the threats he'd made.
But it had been months – he had probably moved on by now, right? He had to have moved on. Besides, Mike didn't drive a black sedan – which was what was sitting in the lot behind me. That car was nicer than anything my ex could have afforded. By far. It wasn't him. Couldn't have been.
As I pulled out onto the main street in Sapphire Bay, I kept looking behind me, half expecting to see the black sedan pulling out onto the street behind me. When it didn't come out of the parking lot with me though, I breathed a sigh of relief and turned the radio on, allowing myself to relax as I drove the short distance to my apartment.
But my relief didn't last long.
As I prepared to turn the corner onto Oak Tree Road, I noticed that there was a car on the road behind me.
And it was the one that had been lurking in the parking lot.
Mated to a Bear (Legends of Black Salmon Falls Book 3) Page 30