Alien Mate

by Gloria Martin

  I plug my phone in because it’s been dead all night, and once it buzzes back on I find about a dozen texts from Dominic. Right now I choose to ignore them because on this gorgeous drive I’m not going to let his drama ruin such a good thing. I can deal with him another time. I haven’t even spoken to him since getting fired from Harvest Bar. Why does my conscience always insist on doing what’s right? I need to grab some of my things from his apartment anyway, so I decide to head for Century City.

  Before walking up to his place, I find a parking spot and think over the scenario I’m about to walk into. There is a chance that he won’t even be there, which would be amazing. However, in case he is home, I need to prepare for the worst. The texts go from bad to worse, until by the bottom most of the bubbles are full of curse words.

  Walking uphill on Beverly-Glenn always kills my feet, but at least once I’m a block away from Dominic’s I see his car in the outer port. This is it, Tara, I think. Go hard or get out of the kitchen.

  At his door I let myself in without the bother of knocking. No reason to be formal. “Tara,” he says, surprised. I guess I could have warned him that I was walking up. “I’ve been texting you and trying to get ahold of you. Is everything okay?”

  “Texting me and trying to get ahold of me?” I ask, holding up my phone to display the giant green bubbles calling me every name under the sun. “Do you think this shit is okay, Dominic?”

  “Tara, I put you on my Friend Finder. I could see that you were in Malibu all night.”

  I really need to spend more time learning about everything these phones do. At least I didn’t try to lie up front and now I can use his outburst of jealousy to my advantage.

  “Dominic, you know I appreciate everything you’ve done for me,” I say, putting the phone away because the sight of his words infuriates me. “We’re not together, though. We never officially said we were a thing, so excuse me but I can be wherever I want, whenever I want.”

  Did I subconsciously steal that ‘whenever, wherever’ bit from Denver last night before he finished on my chest? I can’t get his smooth, demanding voice out of my head.

  “So that’s how you feel, Tara?” he asks, standing up in a jolt. I sense his anger from his jerky movement. He’s trying to refrain from yelling. I’ve never seen him like this before, especially about me. He’s been with other women and I didn’t say anything, so why is this such a big deal?

  “Yes, that’s how I feel.” It’s surprising how much easier honesty is with one hundred million dollars behind you. I’m just now realizing that so much of me has been attached to, dependent on Dominic. With this money I finally feel free.

  “So I got you a job, gave you somewhere to stay while you got set up, made love to you a hundred times, and this is what you leave it at?”

  The tears building in his eyes are what burn the first hole through me. “I don’t know what to say,” is all I can say.

  We stare at each other silently.

  “Dominic, I can’t tell you thank you enough,” I say, eyes to the floor, unable to take in this grown man crying because I’m leaving him. “I don’t know what happened but, yeah, it got out of hand. For me, anyway. You know I love you, but not like that.”

  With his bottom lip trembling, he nods, averting his gaze once I finally look up. “Right, no, I feel you,” he says, turning to the window. I step forward, my impulses telling me to go to him, hug him, maybe even kiss him one last time. “Just get what you need and go, Tara. I know that’s why you’re here.”

  There are no more words I can to say to him, so I exhale and grab my phone charger, ThermoPoint thermometer (amazing for getting salmon right), and the clothes that are still littered around the room. I stuff my night shirts and panties into my bag, but when I get to the uniform I had lost the morning I got fired—under the recliner cushion—I decide to leave the jacket and pants because I don’t need them anymore.

  “I hope he takes care of you,” Dominic says, his back still turned.

  “What do you mean?” I ask. I haven’t mentioned anything about anybody, especially Denver.

  “You think I can’t put two and two together?” He turns around, eyes dry at last. “You and Mr. Money, right? Shit, I’d probably stay at his place in Malibu for whatever he’s paying you, too, if he was into it.” His assertion that I slept with Denver really bothers me, making it easier to turn and walk out the door. Even though he covered it up with a bad joke about homosexuality, he still implied that I had sex with a rich person for money.

  “Get over yourself, Dominic,” I say, standing in the doorway. “Nothing ever would have happened between us. We were both spinning our wheels. Don’t turn this into something bigger than it is.”

  “Get out, Tara.” His words are all monotone. With one last glance he turns and exits into the other room. So that’s it, then? Goodbye, Dominic.

  *****

  Pulling in through the mansion gates, I see that Denver has already had a parking spot reserved for me with a silver name placard and everything. “Tara Rogers – Professional Chef and Culinary Expert.” I like the sound of that. Too bad my beat up old car doesn’t fit in with the shiny, deluxe new models surrounding it. Maybe Denver gives his employees cars as bonuses, I think, imagining that anything is possible in this new fairy tale.

  The size of the mansion is growing on me. Now that I’ve entered it a few times it doesn’t seem so scary anymore. The morning is brisk and its air fills my nose—freshly mowed lawn, flowers, and a warm, salty California breeze.

  I start thinking of what breakfast I will prepare for Denver and the staff. With that freezer stocked full of hundreds of different foods, the possibilities are endless. Walking through the door, I decide the first thing that I need to do is create an Allergy List, so I look for Jill so I can ask her where I can find a whiteboard. The plan is to have every person on the staff write down his or her allergies so that I never have to live through another experience like the morning I met Denver.

  Of course Jill is in the library, flipping through old books on the green sofa instead of doing her job. If I decide to move in will this become my life? Maybe I shouldn’t judge her; this could be me if I decide to take Denver’s offer.

  “Morning!” I say, trying to start off chipper.

  “Morning,” Jill retorts, her eyes fixed on the book.

  “I was looking for some type of whiteboard or chalkboard I could put up in the kitchen,” I say, taking a seat next to her. This is a first. “Do you know where I could find something like that?”

  Before responding, she finishes the sentence she’s reading before darting her eyes over to me. “Hmmm,” she takes her time with her cherry-red lips pressed tight, eyes squinting at me. “You may find something like that at a common department store, I would imagine.”

  I take her dry remark unblinkingly. “I was hoping there might be something like that lying around here. I wanted to get started on breakfast soon, but I wanted to take inventory of allergies, so—”

  “You were with him last night, weren’t you?” she asks. Her lips and eyelids are locked in place.

  “What are you talking about?” I try to play stupid.

  “He took you to Malibu, didn’t he?” Does she have the Friend Finder on Denver’s phone? This is definitely a poker-face moment so I mimic her cold front.

  “I have no idea what you are talking about, Jill,” I smile.

  “Did he make you feel special?” she asks, the straight line of her lips twisting into a smirk.

  “Listen, Jill, I don’t know if we’re on a different page here or what. It sounds like you think I was with Denver.”

  “I know you were with Denver, Tara,” she says. “Don’t make me tell you how I know.”

  I freeze at the thought of what she could have over me. There is a fear instilled in me just at the thought of what she could do with the amount of money she probably has. “You know, since I’ve met you, I’ve never seen you step out of the mansion once.” This ha
s Jill interested. “Are you even allowed to leave at all? Or are you, like, contractually obligated to remain on the premises at all times for a certain duration?”

  She breathes in slowly, nodding her head. Her green eyes reptilian as she stares into me. “It’s not as bad as it sounds,” she says, the sarcasm in her voice enunciated as she bats her eyes. “If Denver invited you to be a live-in employee then you should consider yourself lucky,” she says, her eyes returning to the book in her lap as she turns another page.

  “Where is Denver?” I ask, realizing that he is usually either in the gym or working at his laptop in the kitchen over coffee at this hour.

  She looks up from the book, eyebrows elevated. “What do you mean, ‘where is he’?” she asks, closing the book. “Why isn’t he with you?”

  Something has changed in her cold visage—eyebrows now furrowed, mouth agape. “I haven’t seen him since yesterday,” I reply, which is partially true because I fell asleep something around 11:50. Why hasn’t she seen him? Is he still upstairs? Did my body take that much of a toll on him? Maybe he left early but is asleep upstairs, resting off the night of rough ecstasy.

  “Denver never came home last night,” she says, breathing heavily. “I stayed awake all night waiting for him—nothing.”

  If he didn’t come back to the mansion, then where did he go after I fell asleep in his arms? “Have you tried calling him?” I ask, taking out my phone to look for his number.

  “He hasn’t answered my calls or texts since he met you, sweetheart,” she says with a dry, sharp chagrin. I can’t help but feel flattered at the thought, but a sudden shriek enters the library, stealing both of our focus.

  “What was that?” I ask, jumping up.

  “Mae Lin!” Jill shouts, rushing out of the library.

  I follow her and find Mae Lin standing in the bright corridor with her phone glued to her hand. “I just got a call from LAPD,” she pants, “they found his car at Point Dume…” She drops to her knees and the phone hits the ground, shattering. “They didn’t find him, they found his car.”

  “So where is he?” Jill asks, her eyes wide.

  I barely know Denver but by gauging Mae Lin’s reaction, I’m guessing this is out of character for him. Jill shares in Mae Lin’s panic, and at first I don’t grasp the audacity of the situation—this is only my fourth day knowing him. But last night he changed my life completely, and now they say he’s missing.

  *****

  The billionaire I lightweight fell in love with and gave myself to is missing after our powerful night of lovemaking. He hired me to be his personal chef the day he met me, and ever since then my life has been one crazy ride. After throwing a Valentine’s day party, Denver told me to meet him in Malibu after we made out in a closet. Now his car has been found in Point Dume with no sign of Denver himself.

  This is my fourth day knowing the man, and already my heart is simultaneously busted and throbbing with passion. Damn you, Denver, I think, looking to Jill, Mae Lin, and Gloria. They are Denver’s Live-Ins, something he invited me to do the night we were together. The deal is that after signing the contract they live with him for one year to do the work he needs. Jill is the housekeeper, Mae Lin is the assistant, and Gloria is the chauffeur, which would make me, Tara, the chef if I sign the contract.

  By the looks on their faces, I start to worry that there may no longer be any contract to sign. The question of priority in my mind next to ‘Where is Denver D. Phillips?’ is ‘Which of these women have slept with Denver D. Phillips?’ Before last night, the thought never really occurred to me. For a moment I thought maybe something was happening between Jill and him, but the way he treated me felt like he hadn’t been with a woman in a long time.

  Or so I’d like to believe.

  “I’m not going to sit around and wait for the police,” Jill says, digging the keys out of her purse. With the rage in her eyes, I’d hate to be in any car where she’s behind the wheel.

  “Where do you suggest we look?” Mae Lin asks. “Wouldn’t it be smarter to just wait here for him to come back? I mean—I mean maybe he’s okay. Maybe he just took a little time to be alone.

  “Denver’s not the type of guy who wants to be alone,” Jill says, heading for the mansion’s front door. Just moments ago Jill and I sat in the library where she accused me of sleeping with Denver—which was true, but she had no way of knowing. What’s weighing on my mind is when she said, “I know you were with Denver, Tara. Don’t make me tell you how I know.” Those were her exact words.

  I really don’t want to know what she could possibly have on me and Denver, but by the sounds of it she could have something incriminating. I wouldn’t put it past anyone here with all this money and technology lying around. Hell, Denver made his money developing software. For all I know the entire house could be bugged.

  I look around the ceiling, for the first time realizing that a paranoid thought such as this might not actually be that stupid. I hate the feeling of paranoia coursing through me, unable to trust any of these women. As Jill exits the mansion, Gloria and Mae Lin look at each other and then at me.

  “Where did you go after the party last night, Tara?” Mae Lin asks me. I distinctly remember her having a lot to drink and being quite handsy with me, only to be sent off to do some menial task as soon as Denver entered the room. I haven’t seen her since, and it looks like she hasn’t slept at all.

  I don’t know how to answer her question right away. When Jill called me out, I replied on the offense, making judgmental cracks about being one of Denver’s Live-Ins. What do I say to Mae Lin? Her eyebrows are pushed down toward her eyes, as if it’s the most important question on the planet.

  “I was with a friend,” I say, relying on Dominic to be my alibi. Although I only saw him this morning after leaving the empty hotel room to get the last of my things.

  “Oh, because last night you just kind of left the party without cleaning up,” Gloria says.

  That’s right, I think. It took me 45 minutes to sneak away from the party after Denver, and I didn’t even realize it was my job to clean basically 70% of the party.

  “I’m so sorry,” I say apologetically. “I just broke up with this guy I’ve been seeing this morning and last we were fighting all night after I left. He kept texting me. I didn’t really know what to do. This job is important to me and I didn’t want any negative energy in my life.”

  “Shit, I understand that, girl,” Gloria says, shaking her head. “Good for you.”

  “Jill shouldn’t have just taken off,” Mae Lin says, drying her teary eyes. “Splitting up is not a good idea with Denver.”

  “Not even a good idea,” Gloria says, scrolling through her phone. Whose number is she looking for that’s so important?

  “Why do you say that?” I ask Mae Lin.

  “Because his life depends on us,” she says with a monk-like confidence. “That’s why we’re supposed to stay together in the mansion unless otherwise specified, and none of us were otherwise specified.”

  It’s like she has the whole contract memorized. Is that part of the job requirement? I don’t think I’m eligible, if so.

  “For example, I’m only allowed to leave when he needs me to drive him,” Gloria says, still going through her phone. At first I thought she was ignoring us but now I think she’s actually looking for something important. “And last night he didn’t ask me for a ride, which is why I had his car tracked in the first place. And he went to a hotel in Malibu.”

  “Wait, you had his car tracked?” I ask. “That seems a little extreme, doesn’t it?” Both Mae Lin and Gloria look at me shaking their heads.

  “It’s in the contract,” Mae Lin says. “We’re supposed to track him any time he doesn’t correspond with one of the four Live-Ins.”

  This is all starting to sound like nonsense, and without realizing it I have my face buried in my hands, suddenly feeling the need for a hot shower. “I don’t understand why somebody would want that,” I say, wh
ich is the truth. “Wouldn’t Denver want privacy considering his status?”

  “Actually, no,” Mae Lin says. “Denver prefers us to keep close quarters on him because of his status. Mr. Phillips has many enemies.”

  Enemies? The word alone puts some of this into perspective. It’s pretty naïve of me to think that a man with so much money wouldn’t need some people to watch his back. Does that mean he thinks I have some kind of capability to protect him? Because there is no way I’m raising a hand to protect a man, I don’t care how much he’s worth.

  Okay, depending on the size of the opponent, I might scrap a little for Denver. A billion is a really big figure.

  “It looks like he left the car at Point Dume at around four this morning,” Gloria says, showing us the screen of her phone. She’s been mapping out the path he took after the hotel.

  “That is supposing it was him driving the car,” I find myself saying. I wish I didn’t, because now I’m worried that I sound suspicious.

  “I didn’t even consider the fact that the car could have been stolen,” Gloria says, tapping herself in the forehead. “We need to go check his hotel room right now.”

  “I bet that’s where Jill is already heading to,” Mae Lin says.

  “I can’t believe her,” Gloria says. “She’s always doing this kind of thing.”

  “What kind of thing?” I ask.

  “Breaking the contract,” Gloria continues. “She thinks that she is some exception to a legally binding document because she has the delusion that her and Denver share a bond.”

  Mae Lin’s face tightens at those words, as if she believes that Denver and herself share a bond. Do all of us share a bond with Denver D. Phillips? Here, I thought I was special.

  Tara Rogers is nothing special, I remind myself. Get back to reality, girl. “Maybe Jill’s not stupid for going to look for him,” I say, against my instinct. “Maybe it’s dumb to sit around here waiting because of some contract. He could really need our help.” Now, even though I am growing a strong distaste for Jill, I find myself drawn toward the door after her.