“I have two bathrooms. I call dibs on one of them.”
“Oh! I need the other one!” Syd pleaded with the group. It had been a couple of days since she’d had a decent shower with good soap and soft towels.
“Me too!” Xander seconded her.
For moment she started to argue, then realized what he meant and was surprised to find herself chuckling. Only Xander and Shay could make her laugh at a time like this. The siblings had an amazing ability to siphon off her stress and fears leaving her looking at the truth of her situation—she was still alive. And not alone.
“Hah!” Shay laughed. “Well, I’m not going to argue with that.”
Xander grabbed Syd by the hand and pulled her up the stairs. He opened the door to what she assumed was a guest bedroom or office and shut the door behind them. She barely had time to catch her breath when he pushed her against the door and covered her mouth with his. Her heart slammed in her chest and her stomach quivered. Running her hands up his chest and to his face, she pulled him closer. She wanted to feel him against her body so badly she could barely stand it. She used his shoulders to pull herself up his body and he helped by grabbing her legs and wrapping them around his waist. When he winced at the pain in his shoulder, she apologized. “I forgot!”
“I don’t care,” he moaned softly.
Xander’s rough beard scratched at her cheeks but it only made his kisses seem softer in comparison. His hands were warm against her butt and she sighed against his mouth, letting out a small moan that caused him to chuckle. She knew this was a crazy time to be distracted by sex, or even a relationship, but every fiber of her being just wanted to feel good for a while.
“Hey!” Zak called through the door.
“Goddammit!” Xander snapped, pulling away but not letting her down.
“I’m just bringing you clothes. So don’t get an attitude with me. I’ll leave them in the bathroom.”
“OK!” Syd called, she wiggled out of Xander’s arms. “Let’s get in the shower.”
He cocked an eyebrow and when she turned to go he smacked her on the ass. “Hey!” she squealed, but not unhappily.
The bathroom was across the hall and Xander kicked the door closed after them. Syd pulled her shirt over her head and he began unbuttoning her pants. They nearly fell over themselves and each other trying to get undressed in a hurry. While the water warmed, Xander kissed his way from her forehead to her neck, running his hands lightly over her body. Goosebumps rose along her flesh and she shivered.
The hot water against her sensitive skin was nearly painful but Xander soothed the prickling sensation with his fingers and mouth. He pulled her close and their wet skin seemed to melt into each other. Sydney couldn’t stop the small gasps and moans that escaped her. Every inch of her was on fire and she could barely stand the tension that was building. When Xander slid a hand down her stomach and between her legs she nearly whimpered. He slipped a finger inside her and she threw back her head, pulling him closer while with his free hand her cupped her breast and teased the nipple.
He slid his hand against her slowly and she dug her fingernails into him as she pushed herself against his teasing fingers. Her legs went weak when she came and she would have fallen if Xander hadn’t supported her weight. He lifted her off her feet, pushed her against the wall and plunged inside her so hard her breath caught in her throat. She grabbed the shower curtain rod and buried her face against his. His breaths, warm and frenzied, brushed against her ear and with each thrust he growled causing her to rush to the edge again. They came together but he still held her against him as he caught his breath. She kissed his jaw, his neck, his mouth and ran her fingers through his wet hair.
“I love you,” his whispered.
“I love you too.” She blinked back the tears that burned at her eyes and throat. She knew that if she followed through with her plan, she could die. She might never see him again. Never smell his woodsy, paint smell again. Never feel his rough fingers over her skin. She felt her heart split into a thousand cracks and was glad he couldn’t see her face. She knew the anguish would have been obvious. She held her breath to stop from screaming in pain, anger, and frustration.
“It will be ok,” he told her as if he knew.
She swallowed hard. It took three more gulps before she felt it was safe to talk without sobbing. “I know,” she assured him.
He pulled back and looked at her for a full minute before speaking again. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For coming to Chicago. For not running away from me—us. For letting us in. For letting us help you. For including us in your plans. For all of it.”
Sydney was lost for words. She wanted to argue with him. She wanted to tell him that he shouldn’t thank her for turning their lives upside down. But she knew what he meant. You couldn’t always choose what happened to you, but you could choose how you responded to it. Her decisions brought her here and she would be grateful for that. Even if everything else turned to shit, she still had these moments. She still had amazing friends. She had love.
“I’m glad I’m here,” she whispered and knew he would understand.
By the time they left the bathroom, Shay was in the office bedroom setting up an air mattress. “I hope you two left some hot water.” She looked at them, then looked away quickly. The emotion of the moment they had just experienced must have been obvious and Shay didn’t want to intrude upon it. “I’m going to sleep with Zak and ET will take the couch. Good night you two.”
Before Shay could leave the room, Syd caught her and hugged her until the other woman grunted. “I love you too, chick,” she told her.
Shay returned the squeeze and hiccupped on a sob before hurrying from the room.
Xander
Xander was surprised he had been able to sleep at all. When he and Sydney laid down they spent at least an hour just holding onto each other. The air mattress had made that mandatory since they both rolled to the middle due to their combined weight. But neither of them minded. Syd buried her face in his neck and he rubbed her back until she fell asleep. A short time later he was finally able to drift off as well. He woke up multiple times during the night, either jerked awake by his own unsettling dreams, or by Sydney’s unconscious fretting.
Everyone had agreed to get up early but he felt like he had barely slept at all when Shay knocked softly at the door. “Yeah,” he croaked. He had to prod Syd awake but when she groaned and burrowed deeper into his side it took a lot of willpower to not say fuck it all and go back to sleep.
“We gotta get up,” he murmured into her hair.
“No,” she huffed.
Her breath against his chest made it even harder to get out of bed. “Fine. We can stay here in bed. But if we do you have to promise to run off with me and forget this stupid plan of going with the Gringos.”
“Grrrr,” Syd growled and looked up at him through narrowed eyes. “Nice try.” She tried to scoot away from him but since he was heavier she kept rolling back into him. “Help me,” she whined.
He chuckled and rolled to his side of the mattress, which caused her to roll towards him. He reached down and pulled her from under the blankets. “You can still change your mind.”
While lying awake last night he had decided to not argue with Sydney about her plans anymore. If he was honest with himself, he couldn’t think of a better plan either. They needed the time that her going with them would buy. Even if it hurt like a punch in the balls, he had to trust her to take care of herself. He had to move forward even if that direction currently scared the shit out of him.
They got dressed in silence and he knew she was dreading what they were going to do just as much as he was. Sydney wore some of Shay’s old clothes that she left at Zak’s house. At one time Shay and Zak had been roommates, but Zak had gone through a wild phase that she hadn’t been able to tolerate for long. And when she opened her shop it made more sense to live closer to there. They had ended their roommate-ship
amicably, and Shay left clothes and toiletries here for nights when she stayed over.
Shay’s clothes fit Sydney fairly well, they were only a little baggy. A month ago the clothes would have fallen off her. Xander looked Sydney over. “You look a lot healthier.”
She smiled at him. “I feel healthier.”
“No more headaches? Nosebleeds?”
“Nope. Nothing.”
“No more hallucinations?”
“Nope.”
His gut twisted. A part of him suspected she was leaving something out. But, he decided to focus on the fact that she was feeling better. That was both good and bad. Good because it meant she was probably right. The alien in her was dead or just gone. Probably gone. If she had a dead alien in her brain that would surely cause her to get sicker. But it was bad also. If she couldn’t do what the Gringos wanted her to do would they kill her? How long would she be able to fake it? “How are you going to convince the Gringos you can help them?” He knew his voice sounded breathy and panicky but he couldn’t help it.
Sydney sighed. “I don’t know.”
He clenched his teeth and pulled her closer. “This is a terrible idea.”
“Probably,” she tried to laugh. The look he gave her stopped her laughter. “I know. But you guys will work fast. We’ll make this work. We have to.”
Everyone gathered downstairs and began devouring donuts that had appeared. “Who is the person I can kiss for breakfast?” Shay marveled.
“Well, I’ll pass on the kiss, but I got them,” Zak told her, opening a jug of milk.
“Let’s go over this stupid plan,” Xander pulled a stool up to the counter and shoved half a donut into his mouth.
Syd rolled her eyes at him. “Let’s go back to your mom’s house. We’ll wait for the Gringos to show. I think ET and Zak shouldn’t come in. They can be our contingency plan. If they don’t bring your dad, then call the cops. Even if they make things worse…maybe it will at least be a distraction.”
“I agree,” Shay nodded. “But you guys need to stay further away. Go to the library again or something.”
Zak and ET nodded. “If they do bring Richard?” Zak asked.
“Then I go with them.”
Xander’s gut tightened and it took all his willpower to not argue. She smiled at him gratefully for keeping quiet. “After you’re gone?”
“Get Richard any help he needs. Hopefully, they haven’t hurt him. Once your parents are OK, get them the hell out of here.”
Xander didn’t miss the fact that she didn’t insist they leave too. They were both making progress and it was relieving. It made him feel better about letting her go with the Gringos. He knew she was acting more reasonable. Not taking ridiculous chances anymore…he hoped. “I agree. And Zak, I think you and ET should follow Sydney to see where she goes." Sydney scowled at him. "Carefully," he added to placate her.
"Agreed," Zak nodded.
“We are going to have to fight our parents to get them to agree to leave,” Shay pointed out.
“I know,” Xander nodded. “They will want to help.”
“Well don’t let them,” Sydney’s hand tightened on her coffee.
“I don’t intend to,” he assured her.
“So, we can’t go to the cops,” Zak said.
“No. I guarantee they will give us the expected ‘we’ll kill Sydney if you go to the cops’ spiel,” Xander gritted his teeth.
“Obviously. In addition to that, we don’t know if the cops will help us or shoot us,” ET spoke up finally. “We need to go to the media.”
“We need proof,” Xander raised a brow at them.
Everyone went silent. So far, they had missing people, murdered people, exploded cabins, loose connections between attacks and small riots. They had no solid evidence anything unusual was going on. Everything was circumstantial and started to sound like paranoid, conspiracy theories. They would become especially unbelievable once they mentioned aliens. “Shit,” Xander cursed.
“We need physical proof,” Shay set her cup of milk down with a dull thud.
“How the hell do we get that?” Zak asked.
“Find a host?” Xander suggested.
“What? Just wait around until one attacks us?” Zak stuffed another donut into his mouth.
“I would rather you guys didn’t mess around with the hosts,” Syd shuddered.
“Well, then we are even,” he looked at her pointedly. He could tell she wanted to argue. Her mouth opened a couple of times before she closed it and pursed her lips at him.
“I can start trying to spread the word on blogs and message boards and the like,” ET offered. “If we can get the rumors some traction it will help. Maybe get a base going. Then we will be more believable. It's a start at least. Until we can find some kind of physical evidence.”
“That will take some time though, right?” Xander asked.
“Yeah.”
“It’s better than nothing,” Shay patted the kid’s arm. “Sydney, you have to be careful.”
“I know.”
“Do what you can to stall them for as long as you can.”
“I know,” she smiled at Shay. “I will.”
Xander’s stomach rolled making him wish he hadn’t eaten so many donuts. “Let’s go if we are doing this.”
Chapter Eighteen
Everyone piled into Zak’s truck and a silence descended upon them as they headed towards Heather’s house. The stone in Sydney’s stomach climbed its way to her throat and she kept swallowing to dislodge it, but it was stuck. Xander sat with his arm around her shoulders and she welcomed the warmth of his body next to hers. She was surprised that the biggest worry she currently had was meeting Shay and Xander’s mom. How was the woman going to react when meeting the person who had put her, her husband, and her children in danger?
She clenched her fists to stop her hands from shaking. With the Gringos she knew what to expect. Death or performance. That she could prepare herself for. But an angry mom? She had no idea what to expect. By the time they drove up to the suburban home where Shay and Xander had grown up, Syd was pretty sure she was going to throw up. The three of them hurried from the truck and Zak and ET nearly burned rubber peeling away from the curb.
Before they had a chance to knock, Heather threw open the door and yanked Shay, inside. Heather crushed her daughter in a hug, pushed her towards the kitchen before turning to Xander. He was over a foot taller than her but when she wrapped her arms around him he looked like a little kid. She pushed him inside and turned her attention to Syd. Still in the doorway, she got her first look at Shay and Xander’s mom.
The woman was tiny—barely five feet tall and wisp thin. Shay had gotten her wild, curly blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes from her mom but the rest must have come from their dad. Heather had a round face with an upturned nose. She looked like Tinkerbell in human form. Heather moved quickly towards her and Syd flinched a little. The little woman had a vise grip and pulled her inside the house and slammed the door behind her. The force of her hug knocked the breath from Sydney—physically and emotionally. Heather pulled back but held her by the shoulders.
“You poor thing,” she gasped before hugging her again.
Sydney looked up to see Xander and Shay watching from the dining room. Shay gave her a thumbs up and Xander grinned as if to say “I told you so.”
Sydney swallowed back the tears and tried to smile at the woman once she released her shoulders. Her entire face felt like it was made of water and she didn’t trust herself to speak. Heather’s face crumped when she saw the emotion on Syd’s. “Come on,” she said and pulled her into the living room on the right. Xander and Shay both craned their necks to see where they were going. Sydney’s heart thumped in her chest as Heather made her sit on the couch.
“Tell me everything,” Heather’s voice was steady, no nonsense.
“What-what do you mean?”
“I mean, tell me everything.”
“I…I thought Xander
and Shay told you.”
“Yeah, they told me what had happened to you. But I haven’t heard what you have to say.”
The dam that Syd built to keep back all tears broke and her shoulders jerked as she sobbed quietly. Heather folded her into her arms again and rubbed her back. She told her friends’ mom everything in a whispered and strained voice. The whole story spilled out and Heather remained silent the whole time. She stroked Syd’s back and hair as she talked and cried. When she was done she sat up and met the woman’s eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she looked down, embarrassed about her emotional purging.
Heather grasped her face and made her look up. “Don’t be. You didn’t ask for this. But lucky for you, you found us. And we aren’t going to let you deal with this alone.”
“But you shouldn’t have to. I’m sorry I put your kids and husband in danger.”
“Hush. Even if you hadn’t found us, we would be in danger. Everyone is in danger, right? At least this way we get to do something about it.”
Syd nodded. She couldn’t bring herself to do much more than that. “Thank you,” she croaked.
“No, thank you.”
“For what?”
“For making Xander so happy.”
Syd’s heart lightened a little. “I…”
“That boy has been lost since he was a kid. Even after he got his shit together he didn’t have a purpose. Now he does. You did that.”
Sydney didn’t know what to say. Instead, she hugged Heather again. The woman gave amazing hugs. They were strong—bone crushing and soul soothing. She hugged like she enjoyed hugging.
“Now, let’s go eat.”
Sydney wasn’t sure she could eat. Between the donuts and her nerves, she still felt like she was going to throw up. But she got the impression that you didn’t argue when Heather tried to feed you. You shut up and ate. Turned out she was right.
Shay and Xander looked up warily when they entered the kitchen. It was obvious Syd had been crying, but neither sibling commented on it. Instead, Xander pulled her into the chair next to him and rubbed her back. Heather began making grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. When she ladled the tomato soup into bowls in front of them Xander started to warn his mother. “Mom, we ate a bunch—” he jumped when Shay kicked him under the table. Heather had given him a narrowed, threatening look when he started to protest but she turned away when he shut up and picked up his spoon.
Show No Fear (The Dyian Series Book 2) Page 11
