The Dark Path of Romance: Find the aliens. Steal their toys. Save the world. Mostly, steal their toys (Kim and Angel Book 2)

by J. Judkins

  “Leverage, not blackmail.” His smirk was back. “You want to be treated like an adult? Fine by me. Try acting like one, and take full responsibility. Or buy me out and start making your own decisions.”

  “And how exactly do you expect me to do that?” Kim spread her empty hands. “I don’t have a spare ten or fifteen thousand dollars lying around.”

  “Then I still have some leverage.”

  “This isn’t fair.”

  “Life isn’t fair, Kimberly.” He stabbed a piece of steak with his fork. “Deal with it. Parents have always used financial leverage against their children. That’s the way the world works.”

  Kim looked away. Angel’s hand found hers beneath the table. It felt comfortable and warm, but did little to reassure her.

  “Look, Kim,” George sighed. “Don’t make me out to be the bad guy, here. I’m only asking for the two of you to get some distance. Stop playing house, stop acting as if you’re in a committed relationship when you’re not. Why are you so dead set against it, anyway?”

  Kim said nothing. At any other time, she might have admitted that her father had made a legitimate point, but the thought of giving in didn’t sit well with her at the moment.

  Angel didn’t have her own history, let alone a legal identity. She didn’t even have her own income. What other options were there?

  “Please, don’t ask me to do this. Angel is special.”

  “Is it that serious?”

  Kim absently picked at her food, not knowing how to answer.

  “I understand what you’re trying to do,” said Angel. “This is a mistake. Kim isn’t one to be pressured into decisions. We shouldn’t make assumptions that it’s all but inevitable. If it helps, I fully believe Kim intends to marry me, but lacks the courage to ask.”

  Kim’s head snapped up. “What?”

  George was already shaking his head. “Not good enough.”

  “Hold on a second, Angel,” Kim said. “Don’t assume I haven’t asked you to marry me because I’m too shy.”

  Angel turned her full attention to Kim. “Was there another reason?”

  For a moment, Kim could only gape at her. What’s wrong with “not wanting to get married”? Wasn’t that a good reason?

  But she couldn’t say that. Kim bit back the words, mindful of her audience. Dad was already convinced she and Angel were involved in an intimate relationship. The fact that it was true was beside the point. If she dared claim she didn’t want to get married at all, Dad would have all the justification he needed to order Angel out of the house.

  Fortunately, there was an alternative. Angel had made a critical mistake and overplayed her hand.

  Kim leaned closer to Angel. “Do you honestly think I’d consent to proposing to you in some random restaurant on the spur of the moment?”

  The question seemed to take Angel aback. “No,” she admitted. “I suppose you wouldn’t.”

  “That’s right.” Kim continued to drive her point home with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. “Don’t assume I’ve already asked you, or that I would ask you if only it didn’t embarrass me so much. I refuse to be pressured into anything. We are not engaged.”

  “I understand.”

  Kim sat back, grinning with satisfaction. “Thank you.”

  Angel gave George a steady look. “You’re assuming Kim isn’t taking our relationship seriously, correct? As you can clearly see, Kim has indicated she wishes to propose to me in a more romantic setting. How much more proof do you need? Marriage is only a matter of time, Mr. Rowland. I love Kim very much. I love most everything about her. Truly, deeply, and frequently.”

  Kim blinked. “Hey!”

  “And as she’s demonstrated, Kim loves me.”

  “Wait—”

  “If you consider what Kim and I share to be one step removed from an official engagement, will you grant me permission to stay?”

  “Hold on a second!”

  “Fine,” George waved a hand. “You’ve convinced me.”

  Further words of protest died on Kim’s lips as she lost a moment to sheer incredulity. “I’m sorry, what? What did you say?”

  “I said, Angel can stay.”

  “But she . . . but I . . . wait, what? What! What are you saying? You’re agreeing to this?”

  “You weren’t doing a good job of showing it, but Angel convinced me,” her father repeated. “I suppose if the relationship is that serious, then why not?”

  Kim sat back in her seat. The revelations of what had just happened rolled over her and left her dazzled.

  Angel was a genius.

  In one flawlessly executed move, she had taken advantage of Kim’s reluctance to provide an explanation by providing her own, implying that the relationship was deeply serious. So serious, in fact, she had convinced Kim’s father that marriage was inevitable.

  But it didn’t stop there. Not only had Angel appeased her father with a pseudo-engagement which only existed as a theoretical concept, but she’d also artfully arranged for herself to stay by implying that the mythical engagement was certain to happen.

  An engagement was supposed to be nothing more than a vague promise, an agreement to marry at some future point. Angel had managed to achieve the same results without the technicality of anyone actually proposing or agreeing to anything.

  Kim could only stare at her now quasi-fiancée, torn with amazement, respect, and a healthy dose of fear. She wanted to object to what had happened, to argue the point and win back her freedom, but how could she? Despite the severity of the situation, she and Angel still weren’t officially engaged. How could Kim object to an engagement that didn’t technically exist? Her status as a single woman hadn’t changed one iota. And yet, it had.

  Angel was a manipulative genius.

  Kim squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. Oh, God, I am so hot for her right now.

  George took note of his daughter’s expression. “I never would have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” he mused. He raised his fork in a parody of a salute. “Welcome to the family, Angel. Unofficially, of course.”

  Kim tried once more to find the words, but couldn’t. Angel had done it all so effortlessly. An absolutely flawless victory. She was so impressed she couldn’t speak.

  “If you want,” George said, “I’ll keep this to myself until you decide to tell your mother.”

  “I don’t believe that will be necessary,” Angel said, speaking for Kim. “Based on her latest romantic assertions, I believe Kim has finally overcome her shyness issue.”

  Kim made a strangled, unintelligible noise.

  “Mostly.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  That night had been a night for revelations.

  Kim sat next to Angel in her father’s F-150. She kept absolutely still, her hands folded in her lap. Angel would occasionally glance at her and out the window. No one spoke.

  Internally, her mind was racing.

  Angel intended to marry her. Kim hadn’t doubted it before, and she certainly didn’t doubt it now. It was enough to make her wonder if she ought to devote her life to prophecy, considering her stellar track record in getting things right all the damned time. It wouldn’t be a huge change at this point. All she’d need was a nice, hefty chisel and a decent supply of stone tablets to carve them on. Then she’d be in business.

  But that wasn’t the true revelation. Angel’s actions had inadvertently revealed a hidden truth. A truth Kim doubted Angel ever intended to reveal.

  Angel wanted to get married, but not because she loved her, or because it was the next logical, final step in a healthy relationship. Tonight, Kim had learned Angel’s true goal wasn’t marriage itself, that she considered marriage nothing more than a convenient tool. A stepping stone. A means to an end.

  From there, the conclusion was inescapable. What Angel truly wanted were the inherent benefits a marriage would bring. Angel believed love and sex followed marriage, and so she worked to secure the former by achieving
the latter.

  And that was it. Angel’s entire masterplan in a nutshell. She wanted Kim’s full participation in the bedroom and was willing to marry her to obtain it. It wasn’t any more excessively complex, underhanded, deceitful, or deeply meaningful than that.

  And therein lay the plan’s weak point.

  If Angel were truly only interested in the implied physical and emotional benefits a marriage would bring, that implied marriage was avoidable. That it didn’t necessarily have to be a part of Kim’s future.

  It further implied that if Kim wanted to avoid getting married, she could do so . . . by circumventing Angel’s need for it.

  In other words, if she deliberately chose to love Angel physically, if she chose to give Angel the sexual experience she desired, worked for, and envisioned as a direct benefit of marriage, it would immediately take away Angel’s reason to get married in the first place.

  Kim kept her breathing steady. Nothing in her mannerisms betrayed her thoughts. This wasn’t the first time she had envisioned such a future. The solution seemed viable on the surface, and she couldn’t deny that the thought of personally testing the theory to see if it held true appealed to her on multiple levels, but Kim also recognized in herself the telltale signs of a diminished sense of judgment. Internal self-realization made her doubt her own conclusions.

  Was the solution genius? Or was the solution deluded, lust-inspired madness?

  The idea felt right, but how could she know for certain? Kim recognized she was in a precarious situation. She was no longer thinking in terms of escape, or resistance, or of limiting her exposure to survive and fight another day. She was openly dreaming up ways to get away with it. As of right now, Kim wanted Angel so badly she quite literally couldn’t think straight.

  The words of a wise old Muppet rang in her ears. “Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.” Luke Skywalker may not have been worrying about aliens scheming to marry him, but it was still good advice, even if the advice did not necessarily apply to her.

  Surely the plan had merit. She and Angel were in a sexual relationship. A certain amount of sex was expected in sexual relationships. Wouldn’t it be even more unnatural for her to keep putting it off? It was going to happen eventually, wasn’t it?

  George parked his truck in front of the walkway to Kim’s condominium. He kept the engine running.

  Angel unfastened her seat belt. “Thank you for dinner, Mr. Rowland. It was very enjoyable.”

  “You’re welcome. It was nice meeting you, Angel.”

  Kim’s eyes remained fixed on the dashboard. Breathe in. Breathe out.

  “Good night, Kimberly,” George said.

  “Nothing. Just thinking,” Kim replied, not blinking.

  “What?”

  “Goodnight,” Angel said. She opened the passenger side door and stepped outside.

  Kim followed after her.

  Maybe what she needed to do was find a way to love Angel physically without it looking as if she had anything to do with it. Do it casual-like. Ease into it, somehow, as if she weren’t actually planning each move in advance. The fact she wasn’t actively planning each move in advance would even give her credibility.

  Then there was the added bonus. Angel surely believed she’d scored a telling victory, a significant step forward in her marriage scheme. It followed that, given her recent success, Angel must be feeling extra confident she’d be getting a little bonus tonight.

  If Kim gave in to her passions for no reason, Angel would certainly mark it as an extraordinary special occasion. But if Angel expected her to give in, as was the case tonight, then giving in would be the best way to keep her fooled. In fact, not making love to Angel this very night would make her suspicious, and alert Angel that she was on to her.

  A distant part of Kim’s mind tried to follow the twisted paths of logic. The rest of her mind ignored the inconsistency and rubbed its metaphorical hands together in gleeful anticipation, not caring if her internal justifications happened to make any particular logical sense or not.

  Angel was first through the front door of the condominium. Her eyes cast about before finally settling on the television remote. Kim gently but firmly took it away from her and tossed it out of reach. “None of that.”

  “None of what?”

  “I’m not in the mood for your ‘teasing indifference’ techniques tonight, Angel.”

  Angel raised an eyebrow slightly in an attempt to appear surprised and confused. Kim wasn’t buying it.

  “It really irritates me when you pretend not to know.” Kim’s voice became high and mocking. “Kim wants it all the time! Kim wants it more than Angel!” Her voice returned to normal. “Is that really what you think of me?”

  “I’m thinking it must be serious, if you’re referring to yourself in the third person.”

  “Yeah. Okay. You know what? Enough talk.” Kim took Angel’s hand and half led, half pulled her toward the bedroom.

  The moment they crossed the threshold, they were in each other’s arms. Kim allowed the pent-up desire she’d been suppressing to take full control. Angel was only a step or two behind. They left a trail of clothes as they stumbled in the general direction of the bed, lost in a frenzy of kissing.

  Kim attempted to keep her plan foremost in her mind. We’re definitely doing this, so don’t forget to keep it casual. The “no need for marriage” message needs to be subtle for it to have any chance of working.

  Wait . . . passionately subtle? Wasn’t that a contradiction?

  Angel took advantage of Kim’s hesitation to push her back onto the bed and take the lead. Kim wondered if she should interrupt and attempt to regain control. Her courage wasn’t infinite, after all. She felt ready and willing to indulge her fantasies, but if she waited her turn, she couldn’t be certain her courage wouldn’t abandon her.

  Angel’s hands began to work their magic, and Kim quickly lost all will to argue. If Angel wanted to go first, then that was fine by her. Nothing wrong with waiting.

  Kim found herself in a classic don’t-do-anything-that-could-possibly-in-any-way-make-Angel-want-to-stop moment, a theory she never once felt inclined to put to the test. One hand reached out to bring a pillow closer. The other gripped the sheets, readying herself for what was about to happen. Wouldn’t want to alarm the neighbors.

  But it didn’t happen. Angel pulled away. The unexpected rush of cool air was enough to jar Kim back to her senses.

  Angel returned to touch and tease, but even her magic fingers weren’t enough to fully distract Kim from an almost imperceptible hum upon the air. She had a brief moment to wonder at the source before she felt the distinctive pressure of a roughly cylindrical, vibrating something being gently eased inside her.

  This was new. She and Angel had never used toys before. Kim briefly wondered when and where Angel had managed to find the device, but then she lost her train of thought, picked it up again, and then wondered the same thought a few seconds later.

  Angel found a comfortable pace and settled into a steady rhythm. Kim took advantage of this relatively new position to pull Angel closer into a kiss. Her tongue danced with Angel’s. Her skin felt heated everywhere her lover touched. Kim felt lost in euphoria, delirious with passion. Nothing mattered but Angel. Nothing at all.

  Then it happened.

  The world slowed to an absolute crawl, and stopped.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kim remained conscious of herself, but everything seemed disjointed and muted.

  She could register Angel’s voice saying something, but the words carried no meaning. Nothing seemed to matter. It was as if reality itself had been dismissed, like an uninteresting television show playing in the background.

  The memory of a summer day came upon her unbidden. It had been hot, but not humid. A gentle breeze blew in from the south. She remembered standing on a busy city street corner, waiting to cross. The unfiltered, bright daylight seemed unnaturally strong. Kim felt she wan
ted to shield her eyes, but couldn’t.

  A building stood before her. It seemed ordinary enough, a two-story white structure with an empty shipping dock off to one side. The memory seemed of utmost importance, but nothing about it seemed familiar. Why was she here? When had she been there before?

  And then it was over. The unexpected memory ended as abruptly as it started.

  She was back in her own bed. Angel knelt at her side, saying words that made no sense. Kim’s entire body tingled from head to toe. It felt unpleasantly similar to that of a low-grade electrical shock, as if she were deliberately touching an electric socket, but lacked any inclination to let go.

  Kim realized she was in Angel’s arms, but the knowledge came as a gradual, growing sense of awareness. She could feel nothing of the contact beyond the tingling. Angel’s voice sounded frantic, and Kim couldn’t understand the reason for it.

  It took time for the words to become meaningful and clear. “Kim, please answer me,” Angel was saying. Over and over.

  Kim focused past the uncomfortable sensation and swallowed past a dry throat. It took several unsuccessful attempts before she finally found her voice. “I’m awake.”

  Angel let out a sigh of relief. “Thank God! You just blanked out.”

  Kim attempted to reorient herself. The unpleasant numbing sensation remained a constant irritant. Her entire body felt sluggish and unresponsive. It took a supreme effort of will for her to push herself up into an awkward sitting position.

  “Angel,” she rasped. She swallowed, then tried again. “Angel, where did you get that thing?”

  “We found it late this afternoon. Don’t you remember?”

  Kim put a hand over her eyes and spoke through gritted teeth. “That. Wasn’t. A sex toy!”

  Blind to Kim’s irritation, Angel nodded in agreement. “I think you’re right. The vibration effect is likely nothing more than an unintended side effect. It’s far more likely the device is intended for some other purpose. Nothing sex-related at all.”

  “Not what I meant.” Kim tried shaking her head, but it only made the disorientation worse. “I never once thought it was a sex toy.”