She wanted to say no, but her head was between her legs as she tried not to hyperventilate and pass out. Cats that turned into people. Wasn’t there some old movie about that? It was a black and white one, right? Maybe it wasn’t that old, still.
When she finally looked up, she saw that Elfin was perched on Phoenix’s shoulder. They both watched her intently. Her head felt like it still wanted to explode, but it let her lift up. She changed positions on the floor happy that she hadn’t eaten anything.
“What does it mean?”
“Nothing you tell me will shock me.”
He did have a point. He was an alien who pretended to be human with cats that turned into people. Her secrets wouldn’t seem as damning against those.
“I was created in a lab and placed in my mother’s womb.” Her mother was an unwilling and unwitting part of the experiment.
“They gave you a mother.”
Was that all he heard? How would she feel if she had been born in some artificial womb and told she had no mother or father? That may be all she heard too.
“Hungry?”
She experimented with moving her head. When she found she could do it without getting dizzy or nauseous, she realized she was hungry.
“Yeah.”
He walked over and helped her up before leading her to the kitchen.
“You can cook?” she asked as she took a seat at the table. Standing up wasn’t her friend right now.
“All the sisters have taken the job of making sure we can feed ourselves if necessary. Jabari is the worse; they swear he can burn water. I would have agreed with them if I hadn’t of seen him take care of Brandi when she was sick.”
“They all seem to be in love.”
“They are. How do eggs, bacon, and toast sound?”
“Like a meal fit for a queen.”
He turned around and smiled at her. For a minute his eyes flashed with a red-orange flame. She was so attracted to him that she found herself standing before she knew what she was doing. Embarrassed she sat down hiding her eyes.
“Don’t hide from me, Rylee. Fire attracts fire; it's a universal law.”
He turned around and started cooking. She couldn’t stop thinking about his fire comment. It felt like she missed something and whatever it was; it was big.
There other things to think about, like could she afford to tell him the truth? Just knowing about her would put his life in danger. Would he think she was worth the risk? Did she think she was worth the risk?
A week ago, the answer to both questions would have been no. Today? Well, she felt like she met the white rabbit, and he led her to the well that led to… whatever this place was. Wonderland felt a little too Disney for her. Combine that with the fact that she was no Alice. All that, left her here.
“If you ask the average person if fiction inspires reality, they usually laugh at you. Then I point out the communicators on Star Trek that became the flip phones of yesteryear.” That says it all.
Phoenix glanced at her before taking the bacon off the stove and placing the bread in a toaster.
That didn’t say it all. “We talked about the movie Firestarter?”
He nodded. “I remember.”
“This experiment started long before that movie. The first case of spontaneous combustion was reported in the fifteenth century in Germany. I don’t know when the first case was reported here, but I do know there was a case in 1951. I believe that was the beginning of the experiments. That movie didn’t help. The prevailing thought was if we could bio-engineer a human to be able to use the heat of their bodies to start fires, we could have an advantage in future wars. I think they wanted more than a Firestarter, but everyone needs goals.”
“I have learned of many tests your scientist along with your government and military are responsible for.”
“Tomorrow’s innovations today. A whole new world without the worry of today.” Her voice was bitter as she repeated just a few of the common mantra’s that had been thrown at her through her life.
“Did they do these tests on you?” Phoenix plated the food setting a feast before her.
“They did.” She picked up her toast and took a big bite not wanting to talk.
They ate in silence neither disturbing the tentative peace until after the kitchen was cleaned.
“It will be easier to show you than tell you.” Rylee led the way to the living room. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes not wanting to see the disgust and pity on his face.
Her hair began to move around her head until it glowed with a fire that burned but didn’t consume. She held up her hand to show him the ball of fire that she held.
It was the shocked hiss coming from her mouth that made her open her eyes.
Chapter Nine
Her eyes popped opened when she felt Phoenix take her in his arms and pull her firmly against his chest.
“You’ll die,” she screamed. He was holding her laughing. The fire from her body danced around his but didn’t consume him.
She opened her mouth to ask a question. His dipped his head and took her in the sweetest kiss of her life. It soon turned into a deep panty melting kiss as his tongue explored her mouth licking up the fire that consumed her, feeding off it, like he was dry bush, and only she could quench the need within him to be burned to a crisp and remade.
Her mind demanded answers. She ignored it throwing her arms around his neck. She held on for dear life as if she was afraid someone would come behind her with a bucket of cold fire stopping what was only beginning to start.
“How? What? Why?” She finally managed to say as Phoenix broke the kiss allowing her the oxygen that she was being deprived of. “You’re alive.”
She patted him down, her hands unable to believe what her eyes were telling her.
“I am too young to see this.” A disgusted voice said. It did sound young.
“Please tell me you're hearing this,” she begged.
“Elfin go play with the other cats.”
“Ok.” Elfin walked over to Phoenix and squatted over his foot.
“You better not!”
“What? Just marking my territory.” He peed on Phoenix then left the room.
“Your cat,” Phoenix growled at Rylee. “I thought only dogs did that.”
Rylee looked down to see Phoenix’s foot covered in cat pee. It was the final straw. Her brain couldn’t take any more. She fell to the floor laughter pouring out of her as tears rolled down her face. She truly didn’t know if she should laugh or cry, so she did both. Phoenix cleaned the floor which was his extremely plush rug and then himself.
“May I join you?”
She lifted a hand still caught between tears and laughter. He laid next to her. He pulled her into his strong arms, and she gave a sigh. This is what she wanted last night to be held tight by him. It wasn’t fair that she had fantasies about him and dreams. She couldn’t forget the dreams. It made her feel like she knew him better than she did.
“I’ve waited forever to hold you like this,” he said into her ear.
“You have?”
He gave her a move with his head that she thought meant yes. They both closed their eyes and relaxed into the heat of each other.
The knock at the door is what made her open her eyes. She didn’t know if it was minutes later or hours. It didn’t make a difference to her. What she cared about was the time spent breathing in Phoenix’s intoxicating scent.
“Are we interrupting?” Quinn’s voice came from the other side of the door.
He groaned and leaned his forehead against Rylee’s. “I can’t get rid of them. If it was my brothers, I’d tell them to get lost, but my sisters…” he let the sentence trail off.
Rylee giggled making Phoenix smile. “It’s a woman thing,” she told him. “Once we own your heart, we own you.”
She went to the door to find all four of his sisters standing there.
“It dawned on us that you have no clothes,” Brandi told her.
> Brandi was the designer, it more than dawned on her. Rylee kept that thought to herself, mostly because she wasn’t used to having people care if she had clothes to wear.
“Mall trip?” Piper asked her.
“You should probably know…”
“Sounded like a yes to me,” Serenity interrupted.
They started herding her out the door.
“Wait, I need my purse.”
“Don’t worry Phoenix will reimburse us later.” She wasn’t sure who said that.
Phoenix was handing her shoes, and then she was in the elevator with the G pressed.
“Holy… how many cars do they own?”
“This isn’t even half of them,” Brandi told her.
“Is that a Rolls?”
“Your drooling,” Piper said. “I did the same when I first saw it. It’s Brandi’s.”
“We’d take it, but it’s not big enough for all of us and our bags.” Brandi led them to a large SUV. “If you want one tell Phoenix.”
“This is a lot.” She didn’t belong here with these women who took having a Rolls as no big deal.
“It’s too much,” Serenity told her. “The tradeoff is worth it.”
“Tradeoff?”
“Yeah. I deal with the trapping of being wealthy every day, but what I get in return is Akron. I’d be happy to be poor with him.”
She shut up and climbed in the back seat. “Rylee money won’t buy happiness, but it does pay the bills. You have to find yourself somewhere in the middle of all that.”
Her mom used to tell her that all the time. That’s how Rylee came to be. Her mom volunteered for an experiment that was supposed to be simple. The pay was great, and she was trying to pay the bills. They never told her about getting pregnant or having a child who could do things. When her mom who was single for over two years got pregnant she ran.
When she realized they would never leave her alone, she put Rylee up for adoption and disappeared. Her mom took Rylee in as a foster child years later when she thought she evaded the people looking for them. When she turned twenty, her mom died of ‘natural causes,’ they said. Rylee ran ever since.
She took a minute to think about having a real life with Phoenix. One where she didn’t have to worry about him kissing her, hugging her, making her… yeah, that. A life where she didn’t open her eyes to find her boyfriend in flames.
That hadn’t been pretty. Thankfully, she acted fast enough that he only lost his clothes with a minor burn here and there. Then she ran again and learned to stay away from men. The hotter they were, the hotter she got.
“I love Elfin,” Serenity told her.
“He’s a little strange.”
“Oh hun, they all are. That’s how we know you belong here.”
“Huh?”
“We each were blessed with a cat before we came here.”
“In my case, just an hour or two before I came,” Piper told her. “Did Phoenix happen to mention anything about the cats?”
“Don’t laugh but he said the cats can take the form of humans. I think he’s a secret romance reader or writer.”
“No, he’s definitely the dangerous alien with the alpha attitude.” They all laughed and passed high fives around the car.
“None of this freaks you out?” How could four seemingly normal women be okay with men who are self-confessed aliens?
“When you die and leave the one person you love behind, that’s when heartbreak, the kind I wish no one ever had to experience claims you,” Brandi said.
The car got quiet.
“Try knowing you will kill the male you love no matter how hard you try to resist,” Piper said.
“There are reasons to be freaked, but it isn’t because the guys are aliens,” Serenity told her.
“What if I’m different?”
“I was being groomed to be sold to a collector. How much different are you?” Serenity asked.
“You know what, I’m good. I’ll hand you the trophy now and shut up.” They all burst out into laughter, and Rylee found herself relaxing and taking part in the conversation that never seemed to cease.
When they got to the mall, they went immediately to a lingerie store.
“Girl cleans panties is where it’s at,” Serenity told her.
She had to agree. She wasn’t a clean freak or a neat freak, but she wanted clean panties. She just did. Her shoulders shrugged as she picked up more than she probably needed, but they were pretty.
“Somebody has a lingerie fetish?” Brandi teased.
Rylee lifted a brow and looked at Brandi’s hand. She slipped it behind her back.
“You didn’t see that, Jabari says we’re going to have to get another dresser if I buy any more panties or bras, but they match.” Her voice was high with indignation. They both laughed.
“I won’t tell him, I swear,” Rylee told her.
“And that’s why you fit in with us. Let’s get out of here and go look for clothes.”
They spent a couple of hours walking the mall before Rylee was ready to call it quits.
“No more, I’m peopled out.”
“Me too, I’m not used to this much interaction,” Serenity told her. “Let’s take the bags back to the car and get some food.”
“Why don't we go to a restaurant, the mall is too packed for the food court.” They agreed with Quinn and changed seats letting Quinn drive while Serenity sat up front with her.
“I’m wiped.”
“Is everything ok Brandi?” Rylee questioned.
“Yeah, remember I said that dying thing earlier. Well, I’m fine but sometimes my body reminds me of what it went through. I learned to deal with trauma, there was no choice because I wasn’t who I used to be when I came through it.”
“It changes you,” Quinn said quietly. “There are times I’m driving down the road, and I have a flashback. I’ve had to pull over more than once. The alternative is to be dead or without Mekhi, neither are acceptable.”
Rylee looked around the car and realized she wasn’t looking at four women who were rich, spoiled, pampered princess. She was looking at women who each survived a traumatic experienced and were proud to be here to keep living their lives and loving their males.
“Hey what about this new place up ahead? We were going to bid on the contract, but we had too much work at the time.” All eyes looked at the window at the restaurant Quinn was talking about.
“You own a construction company?” That’s where she first saw Quinn on TV advertising her services.
“I do, kind of. I’ve taken a back seat; I'm more of a silent partner now. I think I’m going to sell it to my forewoman. She'll take it to the next level.”
“This is good.” They all agreed.
Quinn turned off the road and into the parking lot.
“Are they opened?” Rylee asked. The lot only had three cars in it and one of them was theirs.
“Only one way to find out.” Piper opened the door and walked towards the restaurant as the rest of them got out. She opened the door. “Yep, they’re open.”
“How many in your party?” The waiter asked as they came in.
“Five,” Piper told him.
“Follow me.”
“Are we here before the rush?” Rylee asked.
“Most of our customers don’t come in until after dark.” He turned to give her a smile.
Rylee stumbled.
“Can I help you?” He reached out to touch her, but she flinched away.
“I’m good, thanks.”
They made a barricade around her as they walked to the table he showed them.
“I can’t sit here,” Piper told him. She started rocking back and forth like she was a child who couldn’t hold it.
“What’s wrong?” He snapped before his smile slid back in place.
“Do you really want to know?” She asked with a whisper looking embarrassed.
“Yes.” He leaned a little closer.
“It’s my husband,” She
confessed with a whimper. “The doctor said he was above average, you know down there.” Her lips poked out into a satisfied frown. “He hits places he’s not supposed to; it makes it hard for me to hold my urine stream, but it feels so good when he… you know. I can’t be this far from the bathroom. Please say you understand.” She turned her famous smile on for him.
The waiter was beet red, but he was also enthralled by her smile.
“I’ll put you by the door.” The bathrooms were in the front of the restaurant.
“Thank you, I’ll forever be grateful,” Piper said giving him another smile as she sat.
He took their drink orders and left.
“I swear, if we are ever poor and desolate I’m sending Piper to Hollywood.” Brandi was watching the door as they talked. “Anyone know who he is?”
A man walked in dressed in a suit that easily cost a thousand.
“That’s one of the bastards tracking me,” Rylee said.
Chapter Ten
“We need to get out of here. Quinn moved to get up. Everyone else followed.
They were hit by something that felt hot and heavy against their bodies.
“I can’t move,” Serenity screamed. It came out as a low keening note that the others barely heard.
“None of us can move.” Rylee’s lips had a hard time opening to let sound pass them.
“Can’t shift time,” Serenity told them before she collapsed in her seat.
“What do we do with them?” The waiter asked his eyes caressing Piper.
“We take the Firestarter and forget about the rest of them.”
“When they go for help?”
“What can a bunch of women do? You have been hanging around the women in the military too long. Grab her and let’s go.” The man in the suit executed a perfect turn using the heel of his expensive shoes. He reached the door before looking back over his shoulder at the waiter.
“I have her,” he spoke to someone. “I expect double for the effort I put into capturing her. If you’re not interested, I’ll sell her on the open market.” A grim laugh escaped his lips. “Nice doing business with you.”
The waiter stroked his hand down Piper’s hair before moving it into her shirt. “I hate to leave you behind beauty. I can do more for you than your husband.”
Phoenix (The Broken Book 5) Page 5