by S. E. Smith
“Yes, they each have different flavors. The colors represent the flavors,” she said, picking up the container and walking back to where Pearl was sitting watching them with a speculative look that raised Tina’s warning alarm. “Red is cherry, green is either sour apple or lime, orange is orange, and so forth. Is Riley and your brother really getting married?”
“Yes,” Viper said, watching as Tina carried the colorful jar over to the table. “What are you going to do with those?”
Tina rolled her eyes as she set the container next to her. “I’m going to put them in my office for Tiny so if he has a sweet tooth attack, he can get one,” she said. “Now, I don’t know about Pearl, but I’d like a few questions answered about your brother, where in the hell my sister is, and a couple of other things.”
“Will you give me another one of your sweets if I do?” Viper asked with a raised eyebrow.
Tina stared at Viper for a moment, trying to remember how many he had already eaten of the sugar-free treats. Her eyes ran up and down his long form. He might be able to eat more than the recommended serving with no problems and if it meant she and Pearl learned more about what happened to Riley, it was worth it.
“Sure,” Tina replied with a sweet smile of her own. “You can have as many as you want. I have another bag of them, but I warn you, it says you should only eat the recommended serving.”
*.*.*
Viper bit back the grin of satisfaction threatening to escape him. Carmen’s trick with the white cloth had worked, Tina had accepted his gift of the flowers, and he had gotten rid of Bahadur for a while. His eyes glittered with triumph. He would have the females back on the Horizon before they knew what happened and he would have Tina in his bed, preferably under him.
Mate good, his cat purred. She give treat. She like us.
Yes, Viper agreed as he tossed a handful of the multi-colored beans into his mouth.
Viper sat down at the table, smiling at Tina when she pushed the jar of sweets closer to him. He spent the next hour patiently answering her and Pearl’s questions. The questions he couldn’t answer, he either skirted or made a non-committal response to. He didn’t want to frighten Tina or her grandmother with some of the darker sides to their world, including their current fight against traitors that were still trying to bring down their rule or the fear of whether there was the danger to their very existence.
Instead, he glossed over it. Before he knew it, he had almost finished off the jar of colorful beans. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as his stomach twisted. Even his cat was moaning. Viper opened his mouth to answer a question from Pearl when the door to the bar opened.
He turned in his seat, wincing as a sharp pain pierced him again. It reminded him of the one time when he had Tiliqua Flu. He vaguely wondered if there was an Earth variety that he was susceptible to.
“Are you friends with the aliens now?” Tiny finally asked from where he was standing by the door looking at the three people sitting at the table. “I hope so cause I don’t have no more darts.”
“Come on in, Tiny,” Pearl called out. “You can keep your darts. He came to give us a wedding invitation. Riley’s getting married to a king.”
“Oh,” Tiny said, looking back and forth before he closed the door behind him. “That’s nice, I guess.”
Viper watched as the human male cautiously walked over to the table and sat down. He pushed the jar away from him when he saw the male’s eyes light up with delight. His stomach twisted painfully again and for a moment, he felt like his intestines were about to explode. A slight bead of sweat broke out on his brow and he half wondered if he could make it back to the Horizon.
“Are these the sugar free ones?” Tiny asked as he picked up a red jelly bean.
Tina smiled at the male. “Yes, Karen told me about your diet,” she replied. “They are the sugar free ones.”
Tiny nodded and popped the jelly bean in his mouth before he reached over and picked up the lid to it. Viper watched in painful silence as the man carefully twisted the lid on it. He wished to hell he had done that about half a container before.
“You have to be careful with them,” Tiny said with a grimace. “I ate like eighty of them and spent the next twenty-four hours in the bathroom. Those things are better than Ex-lax.”
Viper shifted as the pressure in his lower abdomen increased. “Ex-lax?” He asked.
Tiny nodded. “Yeah, you know, a laxative. Too many of those jelly beans and you’ll be blowing out your plumbing for a while. How many have you eaten?” Tiny asked, looking at Viper’s pale, twisted face.
“Too many,” Viper forced out through gritted teeth as he stared at Tina’s innocent smile.
“Oops,” she said sweetly. “I guess I should have warned you.”
Viper closed his eyes and counted to ten as another twist to his gut told him it was time to return to the privacy of his cabin to deal with the effects of the tasty, but painfully horrible, colorful beans. He opened his eyes and rose from the chair. The movement was enough to make him wince. His damn cat was curled into a ball, snickering between moans.
Mate is sneaky, his cat groaned. Good, but sneaky.
Viper ignored his cat’s reflection and carefully stepped away from the table. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he focused on controlling his rebelling intestines. With a surprisingly steady hand, he touched the communicator at his collar.
“I’ll return with the papers this evening,” Viper bit out with a last glare at Tina. “One to beam up.”
*.*.*
Pearl looked at Tina as she melted into a fit of giggles. “That was bad,” Pearl grinned. “I feel for him. I had a small bag of the things once and thought I was dying about a half hour later.”
“They should be labeled lethal weapons,” Tiny said with a nod. “I didn’t listen to Karen when she warned me, either, the first time. I’ve learned since then. As long as I only eat about eight to ten of them, I’m okay, anymore and I’m ready for a colonoscopy.”
“Yew,” Tina said with a shudder. “TMI, Tiny, TMI. Listen, I still have a lot to do before we open,” Tina replied with a tired sigh. “I’m going to take Ruby upstairs for the night and grab a sandwich. I’ll be down in a half hour to help you finish up.”
“We’ve got it covered,” Pearl commented. “The two new guys are working out pretty good. They don’t know shit about mixing drinks, but they can cook, which is fine by me as I hate working the kitchen.”
“Thanks, grandma,” Tina said as she stood up.
“You know that boy can’t keep his eyes off you, don’t you?” Pearl commented, standing up as well.
Tina paused as she bent to pick Ruby up. She carefully straightened and stared at her grandmother. Yes, she had noticed that Viper d’Rojah had a tendency to stare at her. She also remembered his kiss the other day. It had haunted her every waking, and most of her sleeping, moments. She swallowed and glanced down at Ruby. A small smile pulled at her lips when the chicken picked at a thread on her shirt.
“He might not be so enthusiastic after this afternoon,” Tina murmured.
Pearl’s soft chuckle drew a wider smile to her lips. “True, after he blows out the plumbing on his alien warship, none of them might be very happy,” Pearl laughed.
Tina just smiled at her grandmother and turned to retreat upstairs for a few minutes of quiet time. She slowly climbed the stairs leading up to her apartment. A low sigh escaped her. Aliens might be Riley’s cup of tea, but Tina wasn’t ready for even the human kind.
She paused at the door to her apartment in shock as she realized that the sense of panic that normally made her sick at her stomach when a guy got too close to her hadn’t been there when Viper kissed her. There had not been any of the choking fear. Frowning, she thought about what kind of feelings there had been and she was stunned to discover that the only one that she could put a name to was… pleasure.
She had felt pleasure and a sense of being safe and protected. Her hand trembled as she
pushed the key into the lock and pushed the door open. She set Ruby down on the hardwood floor and closed the door. This was going to take time for her to absorb. Since the attack in high school, she had suffered panic attacks whenever a guy came too close to her. Now, an alien from another world had changed that.
“Oh shit,” she whispered, leaning back against the front door. “What do I do now?”
Chapter 11
“So, what do you think?” Pearl asked later that evening.
Tina rubbed her forehead and scowled at her grandmother. Between the conversation that had taken most of the afternoon, the strain of the last week, and her realization that she was attracted to an alien, she had the beginnings of a migraine coming on. Their grilling of Viper about his world had only added to her stress as she tried to figure out how to deal with the information he had shared. The idea of leaving the bar to go to Righteous, New Mexico had been difficult enough for her to deal with. The idea of traveling to another star system was beyond mind-boggling.
Now, on top of that, she was feeling guilty about not giving Viper a stronger warning about eating too many jelly beans. She was suddenly overcome with frustration at her confused feelings for the entire mess that had suddenly become her life. Considering her family, she didn’t know why she was surprised. If anyone could be kidnapped by aliens, it would be Riley.
She glanced at the sad-looking glass of weeds on her desk and sighed. “I don’t know,” she admitted to her grandmother. “I need to get caught up on some paperwork. I’ll think about it more once I’ve got the quarterly taxes done.”
Pearl glanced behind her when she heard a crash, followed by loud laughter. Turning back, she looked down at her youngest granddaughter. She worried about her. Tina had always been the quiet one of the family. Hell, she didn’t have much choice with a sister like Riley and a grandmother like her. Still, she had changed her last year of high school after the…
“You can’t hide out here the rest of your life,” Pearl said, ignoring the sounds from the bar. This was more important. This was Tina and Riley’s life. “Hell, you don’t go anywhere, but upstairs to your apartment or to the grocery store. I don’t want you to end up alone like… Well, hell, like me,” she added in frustration.
“I don’t hide out,” Tina said in a tone that warned her grandmother that she was about to tread on dangerous ground. “I went to see Toni for a couple of days,” she fibbed. “And, I’m not alone. I have you and Tiny and… and Ruby.”
Pearl released a deep sigh and shook her head. “I’m not going to be around forever, Tiny doesn’t count as he is already married, and I’m not even going to address the fact that you included a damn chicken in the conversation. You know what I mean, hun. I want you to have a life. A real life with a husband and kids and a damn pet chicken, if you want. I just don’t want you, or Riley, to be alone.”
Tina’s throat closed and she looked down at the desk. She understood her grandmother’s concern. She didn’t want to be alone either, which is why she wanted to find Riley.
The last thing she wanted her grandmother to know was that she had gone to Righteous, New Mexico to try to find out information about Riley. A silent groan escaped her as she remembered the knapsack she had taken and had thrown in her bedroom closet upon her return. She had forgotten all about it! The image of the papers she had taken from the desk danced in front of her eyes, making her throbbing head hurt even more.
“Listen, I need to get back out there. I think Tiny has his hands full tonight,” Pearl muttered with a wince as more loud laughter echoed down the hallway. “Why don’t you call it a night? We’ll talk about this in the morning after we’ve had a chance to look at those papers Viper says Riley wants us to see.”
Tina glanced up and gave Pearl a tired smile. “I’ll finish this and then head up. I am tired. I could use an early night,” she reluctantly agreed. She watched as Pearl gave her a smile and turned for the door. “Grandma,” Tina called out as Pearl stepped out of the room.
“Yes, hun?” Pearl asked.
“I love you,” Tina whispered.
Pearl’s expression softened as she studied Tina’s tired, pale face. “I love you, too, Tina,” she said. “I have since the day I held you in my arms.”
“Thank you for keeping us,” Tina replied in a soft tone.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Tina girl. You and Riley keep me feeling young,” Pearl softly laughed. “It also gives me a good excuse to wear leather. I loved pissing off the moms when you girls were in school. Suited them right for their stuck-up, holier-than-thou righteousness.”
Tina shook her head and laughed. “Good night,” she said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Night, hun,” Pearl said before she disappeared down the corridor. “Tiny, do I need to get my shotgun?”
Tina chuckled again as she listened to her grandmother. Pearl was right. The other mom’s either loved Pearl or hated her during her school years. Pearl didn’t give a damn what the women thought of her. If she wanted to wear leather and drop her granddaughters off at school by driving a Harley, she did it. The damn bike had a sidecar and Pearl always made them wear a helmet.
She shook her head and tried to focus on the numbers on the screen in front of her. Her fingers absently massaged her temple as she double checked the figures and made sure she had placed all of them on the correct lines of the form she was filling out.
She was so engrossed in what she was doing that she jerked when she heard the click of her office door shutting. A frown creased her brow and a wave of unease ran through her when she saw that a man had entered the room and closed the door that Tiny had fixed yesterday afternoon.
Standing, she rested her hand on the edge of her desk near the alarm. Staring at the man, she hoped that it was just someone taking the wrong turn to the bathroom. She raised her chin when he looked around the room without saying anything.
“I’m sorry, but this is a restricted area,” she said in a cool voice. “If you are looking for the restrooms, you need to return to the bar area and take the corridor on the far side near the jukebox.”
“I’m not looking for the bathroom,” the man replied in a rough voice. “I’m looking for you.”
Tina’s finger slid along the lip of the desk, searching for the button. She had never had to use it before, but both she and Pearl thought it might be a good idea to install it based on some of their previous experiences. She froze when the man raised his hand and pointed a pistol at her.
“I wouldn’t, Miss St. Claire,” the man said with a small smile.
“What do you want?” Tina had to force the words past her frozen vocal cords.
“My client wants the papers you took,” the man replied, stepping closer to the desk and waving the gun at her to move back a step. “He also wants to know where your sister is.”
Tina took a cautious step back. All her internal alarms were telling her that this wasn’t your typical bad ass. This guy reminded her of some of the men Toni used to tell her about; the ones her father and brothers used. These were men that knew how to kill and enjoyed it.
“I don’t know where my sister is,” Tina replied.
The man glanced down at the desk. She swallowed when he leaned over it and picked up Riley’s invitation. Turning it in his hand, he read it before looking back at her.
“You shouldn’t lie to me,” the man commented, pocketing the invitation.
Tina swallowed as she backed up. The laughter in the bar area seemed louder than normal. She gasped when she hit the wall behind her. The man stepped around the corner of her desk and paused. He ran his hand along the edge of the desk until he found the silent alarm. A low cry escaped her when he bent just far enough to rip the wires from it.
Straightening, he took a step closer to her. His eyes gleamed with determination as he stared back at her. She cried out when he suddenly backhanded her across the face. The scream that had been about to explode from her throat was silenced by his
hand covering her mouth and the cold press of the barrel against her temple. He breathed close to her ear for several long seconds before he spoke again.
“Now, let’s try this again,” he whispered against her ear. “Only this time, when I ask a question, you answer me with the truth.”
Tina pulled in a deep breath when he released her mouth. The fear and trembling melted away with the blow to her cheek. Instead, a low, burning rage had ignited. All their lives, they had dealt with predators that preyed on those that were weaker. In high school, she had come to a young girl’s aid. A girl that was marked for death because of her family ties. A girl that fought like a lioness against the mass of bodies that had surrounded her.
Tina had gone in swinging, kicking, and punching just like Pearl had shown her. Her screams had caught the attention of one of the few patrol cars that tried to monitor the area. They had come in time to chase the group off. The young girl had been taken to the hospital. Three days later, four of the boys that had attacked the girl were killed in a drive-by shooting and Pearl discovered an envelope containing fifty-thousand dollars tucked under their door.
Rodney, Pearl’s boyfriend, had wanted Pearl to keep the money, but Pearl had known that it had blood on it and had dropped it in the charity box at the neighborhood church. Rodney wanted it to help him pay off the bar that he had purchased in San Diego so that she could move down sooner. Instead, Pearl had donated the money and waited for Tina to finish the school year before moving.
Two weeks after the killings, Tina was jumped by three of the remaining boys. They had accused her of being a part of the Di Stefano family and blamed her for their friends’ deaths. They planned to rape her and leave her bleeding to death in the streets. Pearl had come looking for her when she didn’t show up at the library.