by Siren Allen
She was trying her best to do just that, had been trying to do that for the past few wanings. Each waning she failed. It didn’t matter what she did, she couldn’t be rid of him. One waning she managed to clear the restaurant out right at closing time, which was a feat in itself since the regulars liked to linger after their meals.
However, the moment she was alone, he appeared, always a second after closing time. He always caught her right before she locked the door for the night. No matter how much she pleaded with him, he wouldn’t leave until she answered at least a few of his insane questions.
What planet is this?
What year is it?
Who is the ruler here?
Do you enjoy owning a diner?
Where is your husband?
Have you ever wanted to explore the galaxy?
The male was insane. Staring down at the timekeeper on her wrist, she realized it was two minutes until closing. Okay, it was time for Old Jerry to go. Malia whirled around and strode over to his table, coughing as she went. When she reached him, he frowned, his green skin creasing across his forehead.
“What’s got you coughing? Don’t tell me you’re getting sick.” Jerry pushed away from the table. “I’m too old to be catching whatever bug you got.” He struggled to stand. Malia tried to help him up. He waved her away. “Keep your germies to yourself.”
Now she felt bad as she watched her favorite customer struggle to rise from his chair. She stared at her wrist again. One minute and thirty seconds. Come on Jerry, you can do it. Put those tentacles to work.
Malia glanced at the door. He wasn’t there yet. Thank the stars. She turned to Jerry again. He was no closer to rising than he’d been a moment ago.
“You sure you don’t need help, Jerry?”
“I got it. I just got to put this tentacle here. And this one here.”
If she didn’t help him he was going to fall down. Malia grabbed his front tentacle. Before he could complain she said, “I’m not sick Jerry. I drank some fyre tonic and it went down wrong. I guess that’s what I get for drinking on the job.”
A lie, she hated fyre tonic. She disliked any beverage that altered the senses. Getting drunk wasn’t a pastime of hers. But she’d say anything to get Jerry out before her mystery patron arrived.
“Oh, well, alright.” Jerry placed one tentacle around her shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with you drinking on the job. You own this place. You can do whatever the hell you want. But maybe you should try something weaker next time. That fyre tonic is some strong stuff. The same thing happens to me when I drink it, or any kind of tonic. Hell, if I’m not careful I can choke off my own spittle. It’s a crying shame. Don’t ever get old, Malia.”
“That’s one promise I can’t keep, Jerry.” Smiling, she helped him to the door.
She watched him limp over to his rover and climb inside. Once inside his vehicle he waved to her and Malia waved back. After he pulled off, she turned the lock on the door with three seconds to spare. She’d made it.
After turning the sign to CLOSED and pulling the curtain over the door, she strode back to Jerry’s table. She’d never cleaned a table as quickly as she cleaned his. With the lights out in the front of the diner, she moved to the back and washed the dishes.
If she had an employee she would be done by now. This was the reason she needed to hire someone to help her out in the diner or buy one of those automatic washers that cleaned your dishes in an instant.
She wasn’t a fan of all that automatic stuff. Most of the nicer restaurants had robots that waited the tables and did the cleaning. Robots made her uneasy. She liked to do things herself. But business was picking up. Running the establishment all by herself was becoming tiresome, especially now that the planet was on its night cycle.
Foreigners tended to visit Venus more when it was night out than when it was light. Less solar flares meant more customers for her. It also meant more dishes, more tables to clean, more currency to count and it meant she arrived home later than normal.
By the time she was done cleaning, it was ten minutes past closing time and still he hadn’t showed up. Her theory was correct. As long as she had the sign on CLOSED and the curtain in place, he wouldn’t bother her.
Not that he was really a bother. He was more like a sexy nuisance, a hot stranger who was tormenting her with his sex appeal. Malia could feel her cheeks heating as she gathered her items and strode to the back exit.
The first night he showed up, she’d thought her cousins were playing a prank on her, sending a handsome male her way to shake up her so called boring life. They’d done that to her twice so far. The first time they hired a male escort to show up at Malia’s home and strip for her.
She’d been so freaking embarrassed she hadn’t talked to them for a month. The second time they sent a stripper-gram to her restaurant. Her customers had thought it hilarious. It had taken her two months to get over that embarrassment.
Her cousins thought that just because Malia chose not to live in the city, she was easy prey for them and their jokes. She was the untamed cousin from the Outlands where technology was frowned upon.
She was the cousin who’d rather bake her own food than have a machine do it for her or eat those dehydrated meal bars some people loved. She was the wild one with the old school ways. Their thoughts proved they didn’t know her at all. Not really.
Just because she didn’t need a robot to do her dishes didn’t mean she wasn’t a modern girl. If they came to the Outlands more often they would see that. Though they loved playing jokes on her, this particular situation she found herself in was not of their doing.
She knew that, because the last time her mysterious visitor stopped by, she asked him if he knew Klaryssa or Luna. His reply had been, “Are those foods? Do you serve them here?”
No, her cousins hadn’t sent him. He’d found her diner on his own. Yet, she still couldn’t figure out why he showed up waning after waning, to ask her questions. Either he was insane, or he was a spy.
Malia chuckled as she turned her alarm on then opened the back door of her diner. A spy? How ridiculous was that? Apparently she’d been watching too many movies streamed from their sister planet, Earth. Why would anyone want to spy on her?
She was simply a cook who owned a small diner in a small town on Venus. There was nothing special about her. Well maybe there was one thing, but no spy would know that. No one else knew, not even her closest friend, Lucinda.
CLICK. Door locked, she turned to walk to her rover and came up short, her breath catching in her throat. Her heart raced, flesh tingled. Her mind screamed that she should be afraid, but her body couldn’t move.
He was here.
Malia stared into a pair of silver eyes. Well, they were gray, but in a certain light they changed to silver. Mesmerizing. She didn’t know what to say, what to do. All she could do was stand there with her back pressed against the door. A door she’d just locked. To unlock it she would have to turn her back to him.
Uh, uh, not happening.
“You closed early.” His deep voice washed over her.
Stars, whenever he spoke, she momentarily forgot how to think. Who in the heck forgets how to think? Her silver-eyed stranger cocked his head to the side, studying her.
“You closed early.”
What to say? I was trying to get out of here before you showed up. No, that wasn’t a polite thing to say, even to a semi-stalker.
“I timed it perfectly,” he told her. “Your last customer was the old man with the many arms. He takes forty minutes to eat. He should’ve been done four minutes after closing time. He never leaves before then.”
That voice, so deep, so masculine. Malia shook her head to clear it. “Uh, yeah, he had to get home early tonight. Work or something like that.”
The stranger shook his head. “He wasn’t ready to go. You rushed him out.”
Busted. That didn’t mean she had to confess. “Nope. I didn’t do that.”
“I
saw you, standing in the door, staring out. Then I saw you go back to his table and help him up.”
Wow, he had great eye-sight.
“At first, I thought you were rushing him home for me. I thought you were looking for me. I thought you were going to wait for me. But you didn’t.”
He paused waiting on her to say something. Malia stared down at her feet. What to say?
“You closed early.”
That again. “Uh, yep, I did.” She kicked a pebble and watched it bounce away.
“You were going to leave without talking to me.”
“Um.” Guilt assaulted her. “Well…”
“Last night, I told you I would be back tonight.”
He’d told her that ever waning for the past six wanings. “Yes. Yes, you did.”
“And yet, you’re leaving.”
Okay, enough of this. Malia raised her head to stare at him. “Yes I am.” This was her diner. If she wanted to leave she could. Who the hell did he think he was?
He frowned. “You didn’t want to talk to me. That’s why you’re rushing away.” His eyes narrowed and she didn’t miss the sadness that filled their depths.
Now she felt bad. “That’s not it,” Malia quickly assured him. “I just needed to get home. I’m really tired.” She yawned, faking.
The sadness morphed into concern. “Then I will go home with you. You can rest. And we will talk there.”
Red flag. “No,” she shook her head. “You can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“That wouldn’t be appropriate.”
“Why not.”
“Because, it’s not something people generally do.”
“Why not?”
Malia sighed. She shouldn’t have to explain this. He should know proper etiquette. The fact that he didn’t, worried her. She didn’t even know this male. He could be on Venus’ most wanted list. Hmm, perhaps he was on the most wanted list.
“What’s your name?” She asked.
He took a step back, giving her room to breathe. “I told you the first night, I don’t want to talk about me, only about you, your world, your life. I only want to talk about you.”
Bright red flag. “See, that’s why I can’t take you home with me. You’re a stranger. Ever heard of stranger danger?”
“I’m no stranger. You know me. I know you.”
“I don’t even know your name.”
“But you know me,” he touched his hand to his chest. And what a sexy chest it was. Clad in black pants with a black tee-shirt that fit him perfectly, he was the sexiest creature she’d ever seen.
His skin was the color of Earth’s moon. His hair was long and locked in tight coils that fell past his shoulders. Yeah, he was handsome as hell, but that wasn’t what drew her to him. It was his eyes that pulled her in.
Though he didn’t look much older than her, his eyes told a different story. They were full of wisdom. Her grandmother once told her that the eyes were the gateway to the soul. If that were true then his soul had seen a lot, it was all there in the depths of his silver gaze.
There was also a hint of danger that clung to him. It was there, in the way he moved, like every step he took was well thought out before he raised his foot. Though he was looking at her she knew he was cautious of everything that was going on around him. Mysterious, and dangerous. And she really shouldn’t be out at this time of waning with him.
“Listen, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. I don’t even know your name and I can’t keep calling you silver-eyes. This is just all so weird, you showing up all the time and only when I’m alone. It’s bizarre and I don’t like it. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you have to stop coming here. Unless you plan to buy food, you need to stay away.”
“I don’t have the funds to purchase food.”
Another red flag, but it left her feeling bad for him. Maybe he’d fallen on hard times. It happened to the best of them and it was nothing to be ashamed of.
“Maybe you should go to one of the mercy shelters. They help people who need a place to stay. Here,” Malia reached into her bag and pulled out a pastry. She always took a slice of apricot pie home with her to snack on while she sat up and read before bed. Tonight she would let him have it. Her hips would thank her later.
He took the food, eyes lighting up. “You gift me with this?”
He acted as if she was presenting him with a feast.
“It’s just pie. It’s not much, but it’s something. The shelter will have hot food for you when you get there. And the people there are nice. It’s in Aphrodite Terra.”
Aphrodite was about sixty miles away. Going on foot was not a good idea. The Outlands weren’t a safe place for strangers and she was sure Silver Eyes didn’t have a rover. Well, maybe he did.
“Silver, do you have any means of transportation?”
He hesitated before asking, “What did you call me?”
“Silver. Sorry, I don’t know your name, so in my head I’ve been calling you Silver-Eyes.”
“You think about me, in your head, when I’m not around?”
“Uh, no,” Malia blubbered. “That’s preposterous.”
“You just said…”
“You should wait until morning before going to the shelter,” she spoke over him, trying to take his mind off her thinking about him. “I’m sure they’re closed for the night. And if I was you, I wouldn’t walk. It’s not safe around here for people who aren’t known to the locals.”
“I see.” He stared down at the pie wrapped in plastic. “You made this, with your own hands?”
“Yep, with my own hands. I hate robots.”
Silver nodded before lifting the package toward his mouth.
“Wait, you have to unwrap it.”
Malia grabbed his hand to keep him from biting into the plastic and immediately regretted it. The moment her skin touched his, a bright light flashed and inside the light she could’ve sworn she saw herself sitting on the floor of a dark wet room, crying.
When the light dimmed, Malia was once again standing next to Silver. He’d removed her hand from his and was slowly moving backward, away from her.
“What just happened?” Malia asked, feeling dizzy.
“I apologize. I didn’t expect you to touch me. You’ve never tried to in our previous encounters. My guard was down. I wasn’t prepared.”
“But…but…” That explained nothing. “What did I just see?”
“I must go.” He turned away and began walking toward the outskirts of the Outlands.
“Wait, Silver…”
“I know. I must wrap it before I put it in my mouth.” He started walking faster and Malia thought about going after him then changed her mind. She didn’t know what just happened but it was strange. What the hell was he?
“You must unwrap it,” she called out. “And the shelter is the other way.” But he didn’t hear her. He was no longer there. Malia scratched her head. Did he just vanish right before her eyes?
Yep, he did.
Chapter Two
He dodged behind buildings.
Moving like a blur. Anyone walking by would think he was the wind. They would feel his breeze but never see him. Those with a discerning eye would see smoke that vanished as quickly as it appeared. He was the unseen. And now, for the first time since he’d awakened on board his mangled ship, he had a real name.
Silver.
His mate had called him Silver. No more answering to the name Alpha, though the title did have a nice ring to it. His team only called him that because of the book of Greek letters they’d found on the ship as they rummaged through what they could salvage.
When he and his team awakened, battered and bruised on board their ship, they’d been unable to recall their names. One of the members had decided they could use the book to name themselves.
Choosing a name from the book should’ve been simple. Not with him and his team. They’d wrestled for the right to use the first names in the boo
k. The person who won not only got to use the first name, they also got to be the captain.
Silver had won and now his kindred referred to him as Alpha, though it pissed them off to do so. He liked Silver much better. He kept moving until he reached the area where the dome ended.
He placed his hand on the dome. Unlike the rest of the crew, with each day that passed, more of Silver’s memories opened up to him, revealing some truths he’d rather forget. One thing that rang true in Silver’s mind was that he’d been here before, on Venus.
He could remember it like it was yesterday. Being a Time Dweller, every memory felt like is happened only yesterday. So much had changed since he was last here. So many new things were now on this world.
The first time he’d Galaxy-Jumped to Venus, there had been no diners like the one his mate owned. Neither had there been rovers roaming over the land. The people had been primitive. Yet, they’d also been strong and in their eyes he could see untapped intelligence.
The second time he’d Jumped to Venus the people had matured, become more advanced. Yet, this dome had been non-existent. This place, these creatures had evolved more over the years since he’d last visited. Some more so than others.
Silver forced his body to transform, his atoms rearranging so he could pass through the dome. Once on the other side he glanced behind him, in the direction his mate was. He knew she was gone from her diner now. He could feel her moving further away, leaving him. Her departure left an ache in his chest.
No matter how long he rubbed over his heart, the ache did not disappear. It was uncomfortable and unwanted. Had she allowed him to go home with her, he wouldn’t have this discomfort.
She’d stated that him leaving with her was inappropriate. But why? He enjoyed being in her company. He definitely preferred being with her to where he was about to go. Venusians were so unlike the people of his home world.
If Malia was a Time Dweller she wouldn’t care about how inappropriate it was to have him in her home, after only knowing him a few wanings. Once his kind found their mate, nothing else mattered.