They got in and balked when she made them put on seatbelts. “This car doesn’t move without seatbelts on.”
They fastened up, and she took them out the garage getting directions from Enzo on how to get back to Second Ave. Once there she allowed the car some gas and they flew down the street. She decided to take them to a store a little further away so that they could enjoy the ride.
“This is a parking lot. Just in case you were wondering. The best stores have one so you can have a place to park that’s not too far away from where you’re going. Since were going to a grocery store parking is relatively easy.” She pulled into an empty spot close to the store.
She smiled at them before getting out of the car. They came up on either side of her. Heads turned as they walked toward the door. There were a group of teens ogling Ven, making Deja smile. She would ogle him to if she were sixteen.
There were a group of women that couldn’t keep their eyes off Enzo.
Let’s just take one of them out. Then they’ll stop looking at our male.
I know where to hide the body.
She pretended not to hear them because sometimes the voices in her head scared her.
She walked through the sliding glass door only to realize she was by herself, turning around she saw them on the other side of the door. Both of their faces had gone pale, and there was a fear in their eyes that she didn’t think was from their time on earth.
They were drawing attention two gorgeous males both around seven feet tall were blocking the entrance way.
She walked out laughing. “So this is the way the two of you decide to get me back for playing tricks on you. We’ll be having none of it today.” She took their hands and pulled them through the entrance.
“Nothing will happen I promise.” Her voice was low and soft, pitched so only the two of them would hear her.
Chapter Fourteen
Enzo and Ven visibly relaxed once they were through the door of the grocery store. Deja grabbed a cart and handed it over to Ven after she cautioned him that running wasn’t allowed in the store. Her lips quirked up as he walked in front of them with a proud look on his face.
She reached out and took Enzo’s hand as they walked through the store.
“Today we’re going to go down every aisle. This way you’ll see the different variety of products the store carries.” They started with fruits and vegetables adding a variety of food they never tried before.
“How do you pay for your food, houses, and other needs?”
“Our ships use a standard metal on the inside which is considered valuable on this planet. For us, it is so common that everyone has it. We were able to sell some of it for large profits. Also, your earth has an abundance of oil, but you don’t seem to be able to locate it easily. We own several oil fields, more than enough to take care of our needs and a few of us run sideline business.”
“So you are integrating.”
“Only recently. We expected every day to see one of our people come to retrieve us as the years passed we finally began to believe that no one would come for us.”
She nodded and turned to look at Ven, who was holding a pack of diapers with a baby on the package.
“What’s this?” he held them up for her to inspect.
“Those are diapers; we use them to help keep babies clean.”
“Babies?” Ven was staring at the picture on the box.
“You know when a male and a female get together and have sex; then she gets pregnant. Nine months later they have a bouncing boy or girl.” She gave the picture on the box a look. That baby was so cute, it made her biological clock scream, ‘we need to start soon.’”
“Forbidden,” Ven dropped the box like it was burning him before looking around to see if anyone was converging on him.
“It’s not forbidden here, Ven,” Enzo said placing his hand on his shoulder to help him pull himself together.
Ven gave Enzo a nod but refused to pick up the diapers. Deja picked them up and took them down the aisle explaining the baby food as well as the different soaps and combs used on a baby.
When they walked down the aisle with the feminine products, she was the one to turn red in the face as she explained the female cycle and why they needed to use these products. Then she found herself explaining how life worked for the female on earth.
“Didn’t your mothers or sisters go through the same thing?”
“My mother didn’t have any children except me. She was an infertile.”
“What’s an infertile?”
“The planet I lived on was over populated, so with every new birth, both males and females are given a number. At the end of every month, there is a lottery. Every child that has a number drawn must be brought in to undergo the infertile process.”
“How horrible,” the very thought was making her ill that a planet could do that to its children.
“The infertile’s are the privileged ones. They are allowed to live any life they choose with anyone they choose as long as their mate is also infertile. The fertile ones live a life in a dormitory where they are mated to several different spouses over their lifetime with only one object to produce as many children as possible.” Ven’s voice had taken on a quality of a narrator. There was no emotion in his voice.
“I would hate having my choices taken away from me, but I would also hate having my ability to have a child taken away. I have to say I’m happy I wasn’t born on your planet.” She was still holding Enzo’s hand, so she squeezed it before she let go and gave Ven a hug.
“I’m betting your mom wasn’t exactly happy to be pregnant.” She said it low because someone had come into their aisle.
He nodded his head agreeing with her.
“Deja? Deja Brown is that you?”
When someone says your name like that you know before you turn around that he or she isn’t a friend. They may be a frenemy but not a friend. She turned around to see the face of one of the women who worked with her in the doctor’s office. One who didn’t lose her job.
“Lisa? Lisa Hall as I live and breathe!” All right maybe she was channeling her mother at that moment.
Lisa was petite maybe five-five with brown hair that spilled over her shoulders and blue eyes that she liked to bat at the doctors when they were working. Her body was thin, too thin in Deja’s opinion but she got away with wearing skirts that were a little too short for work and tops that were a little too tight. She was the beauty queen of the office, and she knew it. Lisa also hated Deja with a passion. Deja didn’t know why and stopped caring a long time ago.
“It’s so nice to see you, Deja, we all wondered what happened to you. I have to say it looks like you’re doing okay for yourself. The girls pictured you out on the street, dragging your tired body from business to business looking for a job.” Lisa stopped to look her over frowning as if she didn’t agree with the curves she possessed.
“Here you are, though, in the store with two fine men.” She gave Enzo a look meant to stop him in his tracks as she reached out to touch his arm.
Before that primal part of her that she forgot to lock back up could reach for her hand to break it, Enzo moved to stand behind Deja. Both of his arms were securely wrapped around her. A low hiss came from her but nothing else.
Lisa blinked her eyes before rubbing them. She was having trouble processing what just happened.
“This is Enzo as you can see we are an item.” She smiled at Lisa although her voice was low and deadly.
“Who this prime specimen?” She indicated Ven. “Is he your son? You would have had to start young for that. We didn’t think you were seeing anyone. I mean the way you are…” Lisa’s voice trailed off.
“How am I?” It took all her willpower not to gnash her teeth before she tore into Lisa.
“You know.” She let her hand drift around in front of Deja, to indicate her body. “Who thought you had such a handsome young man for a son.”
She reached her hand out to touch Ven. Deja
placed her arm in front of him moving him backward. Her actions said he’s my son don’t touch.
How dare the bitch try and touch.
She should be happy she’s still alive after reaching for Enzo.
I say we kill her now. The feral side of her was speaking, and she meant every word.
I still know where to hide the body.
Deja was standing there trying to shake her head as she thought this was going to get out of hand. She leaned over to Lisa like they were friends.
“It’s a good thing no one knew about them because I’m not nice when it comes to my man or my son.” She leaned a little closer dropping her voice and told her in explicit words what she would do if anyone touched Enzo or Ven.
She pulled back a smile still on her face.
I’m proud of you.
We’re all proud of you.
“Lisa, sweetheart where are you?” a man a couple of inches taller than Lisa walked down the aisle and gave her a kiss. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I just ran into a friend we used to work together. Deja this is Don, my husband. Don this is Deja. It was nice seeing you again, but I need to be going.”
“It was nice seeing you again Lisa and remember what I told you.”
She paled, grabbed Don’s hand moving quickly up the aisle. Deja turned around to look at Enzo and Ven. A deep sigh left her when she realized that they heard everything she whispered to Lisa. Now they knew. She was possessive and territorial, and she thought they belonged to her.
Ven took the cart while Enzo took her hand and they walked up the aisle looking like a real family. They finished shopping quickly.
“I’ll drive,” Enzo said holding out his hands for the keys.
They already stowed the food away, and Ven was in the back seat waiting to see who was going to win the argument.
“You think you can drive us home?”
“I got the car back from the dealership without a scratch on it.” His answer was logical, and still, she was worried. “You’ll be in the car right beside me what can go wrong?”
What indeed? She handed him the keys it was his car and got into the passenger side. The first thing she realized was Enzo liked to go fast. The passenger side floor was going to have a permanent indent from where she pressed her foot into it putting on the brakes.
“We’re going home not to a fire you don’t have to drive this fast.” She tried to sound reasonable and not like her voice was trembling at the speed they were traveling.
“This isn’t fast.”
“It is for a car that’s not on a race track. Slow it down, so the cops don’t pull us over.” That did the trick he slowed to a crawl.
For a brief moment, she thought of pulling at her hair, again. Then she ditched the idea and talked Enzo through bringing his speed up until his speed matched the other cars on the road. He got them home in one piece. She gave him some pointers that he immediately incorporated making his driving that much better.
“Early one morning we can get up and take Ven back to the parking lot to start teaching him how to drive.” She went to the trunk opening it to grab a bag of food.
“What are you doing?” Ven asked coming up behind her.
“Getting a bag to take upstairs.” He took it from her arms. “Go open the door we’ll get the food.”
Deja looked between Ven and Enzo, then turned to do as he said.
They’re going to carry the groceries.
They care about us.
She couldn’t remember the last time someone carried anything for her without wanting something in return. In this day and age, she’d simply become used to doing for herself. To have Ven and Enzo care enough about her to carry the groceries was a simple thing, yet if made her feel protected, worthwhile.
Her thoughts drifted to Matt. She was going to have to tell Enzo about him soon. He might not want her after he found out the truth.
Chapter Fifteen
“Cole, why can’t I make some of these exotic drinks I keep hearing the customer’s order?” Deja leaned her hip against the bar and pierced Cole with her eyes. It was beginning to make her crazy the feeling that she was missing something.
“You have another twenty-one days to go, and then maybe we can talk about it.”
She was beginning to feel like a mouse on a wheel. The world around her was revolving, but time after time she felt like she was missing something that should be as plain as the nose on her face.
She’s spent the last week with Enzo and Ven falling into a routine that she liked. They worked at night, during the day she spent time with them. Sometimes she even walked with Ven to see Angel. He promised that he would talk to her soon.
The males in the club treated her with respect always including her in any conversation they could and teased her whenever the chance arose. If a club could feel like family, then that’s how she felt here. So why did she feel uneasy like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop? Fire had called her early making sure their dinner date was still on. They had decided on a nice steak place across the bridge in Waterfront because she knew her guys would appreciate the steaks.
Deja turned to wipe the counter one more time just to give herself something to do.
“Everything ok?” Ven was sitting on a barstool in front of her. Over the last week, he had become tuned into her feelings. Sometimes she teased that he knew what she felt before she knew.
“I’m fine.”
“You’ve been jittery for the last couple of days.”
She nodded but didn’t answer. They were going to see Fire tomorrow and still she hadn’t told Enzo about Matt, at least not the full tale. If her friend let something slip her happy household could go up in a puff of smoke.
“You ever have a secret that you kept so long that you got scared to tell it?”
Ven looked her in her eyes. “Yeah,” he stood and went back to his friends.
How she hated secrets, they were the things that would tear her life apart because she was too afraid to tell the truth.
If a secret tears our life apart then so will the truth.
If you can’t tell him the truth are you building a life?
I never pegged you as someone who couldn’t handle being honest about her past.
I never had anything worth losing before.
The voices in her head were right. She needed to be honest if she lost them then they were never really hers, or so the saying went. More importantly, she was never going back to where she was when she met Matt. With or without Enzo her life would always be different. Enzo had yet to make love to her. They fooled around he made her see stars every night, and she tried to do the same for him, but he refused to take the last step. Maybe he knew she was keeping secrets, or maybe he was keeping a few of his own. She didn’t know, but she knew she needed to come clean of hers before she made herself physically ill.
“Deja,” Cole voices brought her out of her thoughts.
“Yeah?” She turned around to face him.
“Remember, we’re closing early tonight, so you get to knock off early.”
She pulled her phone out to look at the time. It was close to midnight.
“Do you want me to help you with clean up?”
“Not tonight. Tonight I want you to go home and stay there until the sun rises.”
“That’s specific.” Enzo had talked to her about tonight for the last two days. Ven even mentioned it casually. Except it was to casually to be anything other than planned.
“Let me go get my purse,” and mace she added silently. She had no idea what was happening, but she wanted to to be able to deal with it. It was obvious they were concerned about her safety so she would go home and stay there.
It only took a minute to grab her purse and come back out. Enzo and Ven were waiting for her.
“We’ll walk you home,” Enzo said taking her hand.
“You don’t have to I know where the house is, and I have my handy dandy mace.”
�
�We want to walk you home,” Ven chimed in giving her his big eyes look the one he practiced because he knew it melted her heart when she saw it.
“All right if it makes both of you feel better you can walk me home. All I’m going to do is change into my jammies and be glad I get to sleep a little longer tonight.”
She threw a wave at the males watching her walk through the door and followed her guys out.
“One day you will tell me what this is all about.”
“One day,” Enzo agreed.
They walked in silence for a while each in their thoughts.
“Do you hear that?” she asked looking around. It sounded like heavy breathing before it turned into howling.
Inhuman forms slinked out of the shadows with glowing eyes that were red. A howl went up from the leader. He was taller and thicker than the rest. He wanted to kill her, she knew by the way slobber dripped over his fangs. She could see it in his eyes, he was imagining her dead.
“Deja, run. Get outside of the barrier. Ven go with her, make sure she makes it. Now!”
Enzo’s body started to break apart and reform. She turned on her heel and ran for the barrier Ven guarding her back. For once she was grateful she had on her tennis shoes.
Her heart beat like it was being shocked back to life while her mouth was open. The panting sound was coming from her. Her blood pounded in her ears as she got close to the barrier. She wanted to turn around even though she knew it would be stupid. She couldn’t help but think of Enzo even when she should be thinking of herself.
“Go help him,” She screamed at Ven who turned and ran.
She pulled out her phone to have a look at her weather app. Sunrise would be at six-eleven. She needed to stay safe for six hours; she could do that. She walked towards the dog park thinking about calling Fire. One night on her couch couldn’t hurt anything.
She started punching in her number when Don pulled up beside her.
“He said that if we were patient, you’d show up alone, and you did.”
“Don I don’t want any trouble. Leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone.”
Enzo: The Wolves Den: A BBW Scifi/Paranormal Romance Page 9