The Abduction

by Nichole Allen

  “Oh my God, Duke, what is happening?” she said, sitting up after what had felt like a lifetime and looking at Sean.

  He had turned green, his head an oval shape. He looked the spitting image of the aliens that they had seen on television as kids. Sandra had never felt as frightened as she was right now as she quickly got up and put her clothes on, as did Duke.

  “Come on, we have to get the hell out of here,” he said to her, leading her out of the craft and into the boat that they had used to get here.

  “Do you think that he’s an alien?” she asked, her voice filled with worry.

  “No, this is all just a dream, Sandra, I am going to take care of you,” he comforted her.

  By the time that they got back to their boat, the tide had come back and so they quickly set sail and raced away from the island, not even wanting to imagine that they had just come face to face with an alien. Sandra wondered if the alien’s having sex with Duke had any influence as to why he was suddenly in love with her. Maybe the alien’s sperm had some enzymes that had made him fall in love with her, and if that was the case, then she could live with it. Nobody would ever have to hear about their alien adventure.

  “When we get back home, I'm marrying you immediately, I can't believe just how much time I wasted before I opened my eyes,” he said to her, holding her close in the cabin as she steered the yacht.

  *****

  Sean had a cracking headache as he woke up, and everything seemed like a dream. He looked around and realized that the humans had left. Jumping out of the shuttle, he looked in the direction that their yacht had been, but it was gone.

  “Thank you for the best experience of my life. I don’t think that I'm cut out for this hunting thing, I'm going back home,” he said to himself as he went back into the vessel and reached out to their control base on radio.

  He asked them to come and pick him up, lying that he had somehow lost track of where he was. Could that have been sex that he had with Duke?

  THE END

  See the next bonus story at the next page!

  15 of 25 Bonus Stories

  One More Thing

  Unlike the average American woman, the one time of the year I always looked forward to was April 16- the end of tax season. After spending January through April working 60 hour weeks with only numbers to keep me company, it was a relief to finally take a much-needed break.

  Once the end of the season rolled around, my coworkers and I would continue the annual tradition of going out, getting absolutely hammered, and spending the entire weekend sleeping it off. This year was no different. My best friend, coworker, and designated wingman, Chris, joined me at the bar while the rest of our firm mingled between the pool tables and dart boards.

  “Two Captain and Cokes, double tall,” Chris told the bartender, throwing a twenty dollar bill on the bar in front of us.

  “I’m going to need way more than a Captain and Coke if I want to relax after tax season,” I grumbled, resting my face in my hands.

  “We have to start somewhere, Leash. We’ll get there eventually,” Chris laughed. He was the only person in the world I would let call me Leash. It made me feel like an animal when anyone else said it, but I knew Chris meant it affectionately. Chris could’ve even put me on a leash and I still would’ve been fine with it.

  The bartender set the drinks in front of us and moved down the bar before I could order a few shots of tequila, all for myself. My brain was already fried from work- time to fry my liver along with it.

  Chris and I clinked our glasses together in honor of surviving an accountant’s worst nightmare and chugged, the sweet soda and stinging liquor going straight to my veins.

  “So how are things going with that girl you’re seeing?” I asked, setting my half-empty drink on the bar.

  “What?” Chris asked. His confused expression almost immediately vanished. “Oh, right. Yeah, things are going well so far. We haven’t been able to spend much time together lately but we make it work,” he shrugged, tossing back another gulp of his drink.

  “Has she seen the disaster you call your apartment?” I laughed.

  “I’ve started organizing things, okay?” he laughed in response. “And to answer your question, yes. We actually usually stay at my place, just because it’s closer to both of our jobs.”

  I couldn’t deny it. Hearing about Chris and some other girl made me feel a little twinge of jealousy. We’d been friends for the better part of five years since I started working with him, but it was nearly impossible to not love a man like him. His blue eyes lit up every time he laughed and he had a personality that could charm the pants off damn near anyone.

  Even though Chris was everyone’s dream guy, including mine, I respected him enough to keep a platonic relationship.

  “Well if she has a hot brother, let me know,” I laughed with another sip.

  “What about him instead?” Chris said. He nodded his head towards the man sitting across the bar, his hands around a beer and his eyes on me. Damn, he was quite the sight. I’d always been a fan of a little stubble and this man had a perfect shadow covering his jaw. Dark brown hair fell carelessly over light eyes, either blue or green, I couldn’t tell from that distance. A sly smirk spread across his lips when we made eye contact and I felt my adrenaline start rushing at the thought of leaving with him. He looked like the kind of man mothers warn about and I was about to disappoint every mother in the country.

  “Oh, I like the looks of him,” I mumbled just loudly enough for Chris to hear. A quiet chuckle rumbled through his chest as he gently nudged me off my bar stool.

  “Well then, go on!” he urged.

  I shifted my weight back onto my seat and turned to face him with wide eyes. “I’m not nearly drunk enough to talk to a man like that!”

  “Fine,” he said with a roll of his eyes. He motioned for the bartender and ordered two shots of Fireball. “Take a shot and then go talk to him. Otherwise you’ll get sloppy drunk and you won’t be able to tell him your own name.”

  He had a point.

  I threw back the cinnamon drink and bit back a cringe at the slight burn down my throat. I took another glance across the bar and saw him ordering another drink of his own. Even with a little more alcohol pumping through my body, I couldn’t muster up enough courage to get off my ass and talk to the stranger.

  “I can’t,” I muttered to Chris.

  “Oh, come on, of course you can. You’re funny, honest, and smoking hot,” he smirked.

  Excuse me?

  “What?” I laughed, even though a part of my mind was racing at his comment.

  “Yeah,” he shrugged. “You know how guys are tall, dark, and handsome?” I nodded. “Well you’re short, dark, and gorgeous.”

  I rolled my eyes at him but didn’t even bother hiding my smile. I never figured out how to properly take compliments so I responded by finishing off the last of my Captain and Coke.

  “Come on, Leash. You’re a gorgeous, single, 35-year-old woman,” Chris said.

  “Don’t remind me,” I grumbled.

  “Leash, he’s not going to turn you down. Just give it a shot, okay? Trust me. That man is looking at you the same way I look at nachos,” he laughed.

  I looked back at the man across from us, his head tipped back as he downs a shot of something strong, judging by the curl of his lips when he looks back at me. I’d rather go home disappointed that he rejected me than go home wondering what would’ve happened. With one glance to Chris for a boost of motivation, I finally slipped off my bar stool and walked around the bar to sit beside my mystery man.

  *****

  My nerves didn’t kick in until I had already sat down and, by then, it was too late to back out. I had to talk or I’d look like an even bigger idiot.

  “Hey. I’m Alisha,” I smiled.

  His eyes shot up to mine and returned my smile, helping calm my fears. “Alisha. I’m James,” he replied confidently.

  Damn, a name to match his looks. W
e may not get a second coming of Christ but God just gave me a second James Dean.

  “So, James, are you from Chicago?” One thing Chris didn’t acknowledge during his pep talk was my lack of skills when it comes to small talk. This was about to go downhill real fast.

  “Yeah, I am,” he replied. “I’m a partner at one of the law firms downtown.” And he’s smart too. “What about you?”

  “I’m from Chicago too. I work at Cander Accounting.”

  “Accounting, huh?” he mused. “What brings you to a place like this?”

  “The end of tax season,” I laughed. I couldn’t sound more boring if I tried.

  “Well I’ve never seen a woman who looks more gorgeous in a pant suit,” he smiled.

  And that’s my cue.

  “Want to see what I look like without the pant suit?” I smirked. The alcohol had finally kicked in, if my boost of confidence was any indication.

  That confidence quickly fizzled out as James’s expression dropped to a thin-lipped smile. “I’d love to but I’m actually in a relationship.”

  There’s the bomb. The three words single people hate to hear when they’re flirting, especially when the flirting is reciprocated: in a relationship.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I should probably leave you be then.” Just as I was about to turn away, Chris walked up behind me and rested a hand on my lower back.

  “Everything going alright, babe?” he asked. Babe?

  “Uh, yeah, everything’s– ”

  Before I could finish my sentence, the entire night turned even more confusing as Chris leaned down to kiss James. My best friend kissed the man I was flirting with.

  “Whoa. What is going on here?” I asked, holding my hands up in baffled surrender.

  Chris kept his hand on my back and rested his other arm on James’s shoulder. “This is my boyfriend, James.”

  Wait, boyfriend? “I thought you were dating a girl,” I questioned.

  “I never said anything about a girl; you did. I said I met someone. I never specified a female someone. That was your own assumption,” he explained. For some reason, he was still smirking at me as if his stupid prank amused him.

  “So why did you send me over to flirt with your boyfriend if you knew nothing would happen between us?” I demanded. His previous encouragement was coming back to me in the form of rage.

  “Who ever said nothing was going to happen?” he asked.

  I froze. He wasn’t implying what I thought he was implying…was he?

  “Chris, I-I know we made out a while ago but we both agreed that was a one-time thing,” I stammered.

  He and James both looked so relaxed about the current situation. They had to have planned it all out beforehand. He sent me to flirt with his boyfriend so I would join them…in a threesome?

  “Not like that, doll,” James smirked, laughing at how flustered I was getting.

  “Well, not yet,” Chris corrected. “Hear me out, babe. I like you. You like me. You like James. I like James. James likes me. James likes you.” God, why did he sound like he was talking to a child? “We all like each other, right?”

  “I don’t know James well enough to confirm that,” I muttered.

  “But you think he’s hot,” Chris said. I shrugged in confirmation. “Here’s our proposal: you, me, and James all in a relationship.”

  “You want me to date you and your boyfriend? I’m confused; what’s happening?”

  “It’s a polyamorous relationship,” James chimed in. “If all three of us like each other, why stick with just one significant other?”

  That made sense. I was still confused about how it would all work out but the two men just stood there and watched me mull it over. It could be fun, right? Having two boyfriends? I knew I liked Chris and if James was anything like him, things could go really well. At 35 years old, who the hell cared what I did with my life?

  “Okay. Sounds fun,” I shrugged.

  Chris’s eyes went wide at my casual acceptance but he soon smiled at me and wrapped an arm around James, leading both of us out of the bar.

  *****

  April nights in Chicago were still a little chilly so Chris held me close to his side as we walked the few blocks to his apartment.

  “Since you’re new to this multi-partner relationship, we’ll help you get used to it,” he said.

  “There’s not much to get used to, is there?” I asked. “It’s just a relationship, except now I get to annoy two men.” I looked up at Chris with a smile, my eyes flitting to the far less familiar man beside him. Dating Chris wouldn’t be that weird. We’d known each other for five years and already acted like we were dating. The only difference was showing legitimate affection, not just hugs and the occasional drunken kiss. But James… James was a different story. I knew nothing about him but if Chris liked him, chances are he was a decent guy.

  “Sort of,” Chris laughed. “It’s kind of learn-as-you-go, just remember it’s not only you dating us. We’re dating each other too,” he explained, motioning between himself and James.

  We made it to Chris’s complex before he could explain much more, but all I wanted at that point was a warm blanket and a pillow. The three of us stayed silent until we got to Chris’s place. I went straight for the couch and coddled myself in a blanket, looking back at the two men expectantly.

  “Well are you two going to keep me warm or did I imagine joining your relationship?” I could already tell Chris was more interested in the relationship than James, probably because Chris was the connecting factor between all of us. He walked straight to me and wrapped me in his arms, ushering James over to join us. I rested my head against Chris’s chest and relaxed a little more when I felt James’s warm presence beside me.

  “Do you have any questions or am I allowed to kiss you now?” Chris asked. I looked up at him and sucked in a quick breath at how close we were, our noses just barely touching.

  “I still have a couple questions, if that’s okay.” He nodded for me to continue. “How did you two meet? And when did you realize you wanted someone else in your relationship?”

  Chris just smiled and leaned back against the couch, one arm still draped over my shoulders. “Remember when I told you about that person I met at the bar?” he asked. “You assumed it was a girl; it was James. Like I told you then, we started talking and we had a few drinks. Somewhere between those drinks, we ended up making out and I woke up the next morning with a headache and this guy beside me,” Chris smirked. I glanced back at James who had red flushed cheeks at Chris’s recollection of their first meeting.

  “When did you realize you wanted another person in your relationship?” I asked. That was the real question I wanted an answer to.

  Both of them shrugged in response. “I think James was the first to bring it up.” With that, I turned to my right to face the man in question.

  “Chris used to talk about you a lot and when I asked why he wasn’t dating you instead, he said it just never happened so I asked if he’d want it to happen. As I’m sure you can gather, he said yes.”

  “It took dating another person for you to want to date me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at Chris. “Why didn’t you just ask me out before?”

  He shrugged again. “We were such good friends. I didn’t want to risk ruining it.”

  “Let me guess, James told you to throw caution to the wind?” I smiled at the two. Chris laughed and leaned his head back against the couch, wordlessly confirming my assumption. I turned to James and quietly said, “I feel like you and I are going to get along just fine.”

  *****

  The next morning, I woke up cuddled between a shirtless Chris and a drooling James; fortunately the latter happened on the pillow and not me. Even though it was a king-sized bed, it was impossible to move without waking one or both of the guys. I slowly pushed James’s arm off my stomach and tried to climb off the bed, slinging my leg over Chris as gracefully as I could, only to have him grab my hips before I cou
ld make it to the floor.

  “Don’t go,” he mumbled, barely peeking his eyes open.

  “I’m not leaving, I just need a minute,” I said quietly. James rolled over and patted the mattress beside him, only to find the space empty. He opened his eyes to the dim light shining through the curtains and a sly smirk graced his lips when he saw me on Chris’s lap.

  “What about me?” he grumbled in his gravelly morning voice.

  “Nothing is happening right now. I just needed to get up for a second,” I laughed, once again trying to move off the bed. Chris’s grip on my waist tightened so I still couldn’t move, but being friends with him for five years taught me one important thing about him: he hated being tickled.

  As much as I hated resorting to fifth grade antics, I trailed my hands down his chest and stopped at his abdomen. He gave me a small smirk as if he expected something else to happen. That smirk vanished as soon as my hands met his sides and he went into a laughing fit. His grip finally left my hips so I could clamber off the bed and run towards the bathroom before he could grab me again.

  “I’ll be back in five minutes, I promise,” I said as I shuffled across Chris’s room.

  Once the door was shut and locked, I turned to face myself in the mirror and thankfully only slightly cringed at the sight before me. My hair was a little knotted and my mascara was a little smeared, but it could’ve passed as an attempt at a smoky eye.