Unintentional Obsession

by Stone, Layla

  23

  No Means You’re Stupid

  Shine was glad that he’d convinced Nara to move from having sex in the lab to the bed in his office. There, they had more room, and he had more options. At the moment, he was inside her, thrusting slowly because he was close to coming, but not ready to lose Nara’s warmth.

  She faced away from him, riding him in reverse from on top. His dick glistened in the light every time she lifted her hips. When she slammed back down, he could feel the resistance from the inside, and he didn’t know if he was a bastard for enjoying that.

  She was voracious. After she’d finished the polymer, she’d removed her safety glasses, shirt, and the rest of her clothes before rounding the table. Her eyes were dark, and her intention was clear. Being that desired by a female was a massive boost to his ego. A good dose, one that Shine didn’t realize he’d needed so badly.

  Leaning up on his elbows, he wrapped his arm around her thighs and felt between her lips, using her motion to rub her little nub. Her breathing hitched, and she widened her legs. He followed her up and down and then started to press a little harder. Her rhythm slowed. He could feel her tightening around him.

  Sitting up farther and moving to his knees, he thrust himself in, keeping up a steady pace as she crested. He looped his other arm around her neck, keeping her esophagus pressure-free. She rested her back against his chest and moaned. He applied a little more pressure, and she clutched around him. He removed his hand when she finished and then followed her when she fell forward to her hands and knees. He grabbed her hips and pulled her in as he jerked his hips. Her moans increased, and he rioted inside her, over and over. His back tingled, and he knew he was seconds from coming. Holding nothing back, it felt as hot as lightning.

  Nara screamed, climaxing again as he came. She continued to convulse around him, and he wrapped his arms around her middle.

  Moving was not an option until his dick softened. When it did, he slowly withdrew and grabbed a clean rag to clean her off before pulling her down to his chest.

  When he was on his back, he felt her lips on his skin. A baby-soft kiss. “I can’t wait to travel with you.”

  He chuckled, but it also brought back his thoughts from earlier. “I can’t take a long vacation, but I will go anywhere with you.”

  “Why can’t you take a long vacation? I thought we were getting off this planet when I finished with Karr.”

  “No, I can’t leave Lotus Adaamas.”

  “You can.” Her voice was soft for the first time in all the time he’d known her.

  “No, I can’t.”

  “That’s unfortunate. I guess the wedding’s off because I’m not staying here with that psychopath, Karr,” she said, rolling to her back.

  She had a point. Maybe it was because Shine knew how to stay off Karr’s radar, or better yet, that Karr just didn’t need him. “No matter where you go, there will always be a threat.”

  “That’s what you’ve told yourself to convince yourself to stay?”

  Mostly. “I have a job here. An apartment that was just redecorated.”

  “You can work in my lab and send the results to Z when you finish. It wouldn’t be any different than what you do here.”

  That was a good point, and true in a way. But he had another reason for staying. “I also visit my mother’s grave twice a year. I’ve been doing it since she died, and I will continue until I die.”

  Nara didn’t reply for a long, drawn-out moment. “You can always come back for that. I do have means of space travel. But can I ask why you go? I mean, why do you go back. How long has it been?”

  Shine had known the conversation would lead here, but talking about it would be hard. It would expose the greatest of his failures. “I killed her. It’s my fault that she died.”

  Nara sat up, her eyes wide. “Whaaaa…? How exactly did you kill her?”

  Shine closed his eyes, pulling up his painful memories. “My mother died alone on the floor of her living room, arm stretched out towards her Minky screen. My name was on the call that I didn’t pick up.” Even then, Shine felt the sting in his throat from admitting it. There was no recompense for what he did. “I was a horrible son. I moved out as soon as I could to start my own life, leaving her to barter with a deal-wielding Demon who made her pay him each month just so he wouldn’t hurt her. She worked two jobs with one day off for years. Died of a heart attack in her mid-forties.”

  Shine opened his eyes when he felt Nara’s soft hands touch the middle of his chest. Her eyes shone with tears. “So, you go to apologize?”

  “You could say that. Mainly, it’s to spend her birthday with her. Birthdays are important to Terrans, and my mother always made it special. She also took me to the beach every Saturday. Even after I moved out, I knew she still went there. I didn’t go then, but I go now to let her know that she’s not forgotten.”

  Nara’s hand rubbed his chest as if she could feel the dull ache there. “What was she like?”

  It had been so long, but some memories never faded. “She worked a lot. At first, I hated it because I didn’t like being alone. But then she would spend hours with me when she was home, cooking my favorite foods and getting me little things. Once, she bought me Kingling slippers. I loved them. Wore them all the time until the holes on the soles were so big, my feet went through them.”

  He still dreamed of those slippers; it was the craziest thing. But that wasn’t all that he remembered. “She was a good person. When I was fourteen, Z showed up at my door. At first, I thought he’d stopped by to hang out, but then he told me that his father and stepmom moved off Adaamas while he was at school. Upset that his parents had up and left him, I told him that he could stay with me. When my mom got home from work, she looked worn-out and tired, but she still made Z and I some hot chocolate and made him tell her all the things he would need. After that conversation, she left and went out to buy him clothes, a bed, and everything else he needed to move into my room. She treated Z just like another kid. Made sure he did his homework. And he was there with us every Saturday. The female was my mother, my only family, and I just let her die. I deserve to be punished for the rest of my life.”

  Strong hands wrapped around Shine’s neck. He rolled Nara to her back and laid his head next to hers. He closed his eyes and reveled in the skin-to-skin. She didn’t let him go, and for some reason, that made him feel even more broken. As if she were keeping his pieces together.

  “She sounds amazing, I wish I could have met her.”

  “I do, too. But she was Terran, and if she had lived, she likely would have died of natural aging sixty or so years ago.”

  “How long ago did she die?”

  “One hundred and fifty-three years.”

  Nara pulled her head back. “Are you serious? You’ve been punishing yourself for one hundred and fifty-three years? For the love of science, you need to let that go.”

  He rolled back, and she followed. Sitting on top of him, she said, “I’ll be honest, I don’t know what it’s like to have a mother like that, and I am envious that you had someone as caring as that in your life. I never did. But here’s the thing about all your guilt, if you don’t learn from your mistakes, then all those years you went trying to apologize were empty.”

  That made him angry. She didn’t understand. “I can’t apologize to her. Ever. I can’t go back and fix it,” he growled.

  Nara slapped his chest. It stung. “I know you can’t fix it, but you can at least do something about it.”

  “Like what?”

  “It sounded like she worked just as hard as you do, but she made sure to take time out for those she cared about. Do what she did. Make time for those you care about.”

  Those words settled in his mind. But he wasn’t sure what to do with them. They sounded logical, but he had held onto his pain and guilt for too long to let it go. Did he really just spend years seeing his mother not learning the lesson she’d tried to teach him?

  Nara bent dow
n and kissed the spot she’d just hit. “Live in the memory of your mother, not in the memory of her death.”

  Shine wrapped his arms around her shoulders, keeping her right where she was. Their skin-to-skin contact lulled him as he thought about what she’d said. His perception of life was being challenged.

  24

  Uncalculated Obsession

  Nara had her polymer sitting next to her. Denny didn’t say anything after she’d told him to load it up. He didn’t say anything once the Grummer headed to their destination either. She hoped that she didn’t reveal how absolutely upset she was.

  No. Nara wasn’t just upset, she was sad.

  Sad and disappointed.

  Maybe just disappointed.

  Shine was the luckiest male she knew, with an upbringing unlike hers in ways she would never understand. It rankled that he didn’t value his mother and the lesson she’d tried to teach him.

  Which made sense since he was doing it to her, too. He’d asked her to be his mate, no, his wife, but he wasn’t willing to leave the planet with her. He was just going to let her go. He didn’t say anything after she’d told him that the wedding was off.

  Stupid Night Demon.

  She would do anything for him—anything but stay on a planet run by a psychopath who’d already burned her and wanted to hurt her even more. Who chose that kind of life? Not her. That was why she was disappointed. Shine was choosing to live on a planet where it was inevitable that he would be used by Karr again.

  The drive to Karr’s lab didn’t take long enough. She was still recovering from the fact that Shine was just going to ruin their future because he couldn’t move on. And that made her sad.

  Denny got out of the Grummer and lifted up the tubs to walk them down the stairs to the underground lab.

  Following Denny through the double doors, she entered to see a glowing person already on the table. Not wasting any time, she told Denny, “Can you bring fifty more Flourgs inside? Preferable those with similar coloring.”

  “What?” Denny set down the tub on the sink and hooked his hands on his hips. “Maybe you should explain what you have planned.”

  “Karr doesn’t want them to glow, and I can remove the glow. But I can do it quicker than before with my polymer, so gather up the first fifty. Once they are done, we’ll grab another fifty until all three hundred and thirty-four are finished.”

  Denny didn’t move at first. “How are you going to do fifty at a time? I can’t follow this math.”

  Holding her head up, she said arrogantly, “I’d write it down for you, but let’s be honest, you can’t calculate at my level.”

  Denny whistled. “What did Shine do this time? He’s got you hot as lava.”

  Moving her hand, palm facing out, Nara said, “Let’s stop making everything about Shine. He doesn’t control my moods.”

  “Clue in, sweetheart. He does. Because regardless of his Terran mother, he’s still a Demon, and he’s gotten under your skin.”

  “You’re delusional.”

  Denny shrugged. “Sometimes. But not about this. I was there. I saw his breathless body and you over him, dry-heaving, trying to save his life. You’re a Numan. I didn’t figure I needed to spell this out for you, but apparently, you’re not as smart as you think you are.” Leaning in with a smug smirk, he added, “He’s twisted you up so bad, you’re halfway in love with him.”

  Nara rejected that theory. Because it simply wasn’t flattering. “Numans don’t love.”

  “Numans obsess, and love is just another form of obsession. Usually, it’s healthy. But it can get dark. Your kind of obsession would be demanding.” Slowly, he added, “It’s too bad you’re cuffed to him. I’d love a little demand in my life.”

  The thought of touching Denny made her feel oily. Contaminated. “I say this because it’s honest and I hope it hurts a little…you lack the presence that Shine has. And, you disgust me.”

  At that, Denny laughed. When he finished, he winked. “I’ll see if Karr’s good with the change, and then I’ll bring in the fifty.”

  She waved her hand at the door, inviting him to leave. When he was gone, she moved to the tub and pulled out the first pouch. Taking a sample of the unconscious female’s flesh, she decoded the color, the charge, and the composition to magnetize the powder to the skin. Then she punched the color code into the dye converter.

  Three seconds later, the dye converter pinged, and Nara let the new color drip into the pouch. She shook up the contents and then broke open the bag. The millions of charged polymer flakes fell on the skin, wrapping around every inch of the female, extinguishing the glow. As the polymer stuck, it solidified. A minute later, Nara rubbed her index finger on the female’s shin. She couldn’t feel the polymer at all.

  With nothing else to do, she sat back in her chair and waited for the next batch of Flourgs to come in.

  25

  It’s Over

  Shine was in his office, staring at the table that he and Nara had spent so much time on. He didn’t usually doubt himself, but he was now. Did he really have to stay on the planet? No. Nothing was tying him to the planet other than his mother and Z. And even though he valued both, neither would have an issue if he left.

  If he went with Nara, it would be like starting over. She probably had a dozen labs, one in each color.

  The morning had passed by, and it was probably close to one hundred and ten degrees outside. She had been gone for a bit, and Shine felt the vacancy acutely. She wanted him to leave Adaamas, and he didn’t want to.

  As she’d left, Nara had told him that the wedding was off.

  Words couldn’t describe how he was feeling, but if he could draw it, it would be like someone was reaching into his skin and pulling out his soul, leaving a heavy, fleshy body with nothing to brighten his life.

  Behind him, his Minky screen pinged. Tapping the metal table with his knuckles, he closed his mind to those emotions and locked them down.

  He received a message from Denny.

  I’m outside. I’m here to pick up Karr’s cuff.

  Shine had to read that a few times before he understood. Nara must have finished. But then why was Denny here and not Nara.

  Opening the door to his warehouse, he saw the Red Demon. “Where’s Nara?”

  Denny looked him over and said, “You look like you’re sick. Are you playing with chemicals you shouldn’t?”

  Shine rubbed the dull ache that had started at the side of his chest. “Haven’t touched a thing. Where is she?” he repeated.

  “With Karr, wrapping things up.”

  So, she might come back. “Where can I find her?”

  “Can’t say. Karr’s rules.” Denny grabbed Shine’s wrist and used the black fob to unlock it. Once it was off, he stuffed it into his back pocket and turned to walk away.

  “Karr’s going to let her go, right?” Shine didn’t think Karr was the type to kill someone after they’d completed a job, but the male wasn’t always logical.

  Denny turned around slowly. “What do you think?”

  “Karr’s unpredictable.”

  “Exactly.”

  Denny turned around and headed back to the Grummer when his Minky pad pinged. He read the message, turned back to Shine, and said, “Karr needs me to pick up one more thing.”

  Shine crossed his arms. “Nara took all of her polymer with her.”

  Denny looked calm and composed, and Shine didn’t anticipate that the male would smack his arm and hold on as the coldness zapped his skin. He knew what it was before he could speak. Fat-black-night tab. Unable to do anything but fall to the ground, he prayed to Seth. Even though Shine didn’t deserve it, he asked Seth to save Nara. Because if Karr were double-crossing him, a bystander, then he would for sure kill Nara.

  26

  It’s All About the Homner

  Nara had waited for Denny and Karr all day. On the wall, the clock read one hundred and eighty degrees, and still, no one had come in. No one had taken away the fema
le she’d treated either. She was so bored that she had started to reorganize the lab.

  The doors opened, and Karr finally walked in.

  Nara stood up and used both hands to gesture to the person who no longer glowed. “I’m not sure if you’ve been watching the cameras today, but I got this done in seconds, and have been waiting for a large batch of fifty since this morning.”

  Karr’s hands were in his pockets. He looked like he was calm, but something wasn’t right. Nara backed up, not sure what he might be concealing. The male noticed when she took a step back and raised an eyebrow. Making a big show, he stepped to the other side of the medical bed then leaned over and pointed at the empty dish. “Where’s the string?”

  Something was very wrong, but she answered anyway. “It’s still in her. I thought you said you wanted the glow removed. So, I removed it. Well, covered it actually.”

  Karr’s head tilted, and his voice lowered. “I thought we understood each other. But I can see you’re still confused. With that said, I’ve decided to be nice and explain it. Slowly…painfully this time so you’ll understand.”

  Nara didn’t know what that meant, but she knew that whatever it was, it would be bad. Her insides were ready to toss up her resolve and cower. “I can remove—"

  Karr cut her off as he sliced the air with his hand. “No, no time for that. It’s time for you to listen.” With the same hand, he pointed his finger at the door. “Come with me. So you can understand.”

  Karr moved first, but he watched her to make sure she followed. She did because she knew that there was nowhere to run or hide in the lab. Whatever was happening, she knew that he would heal her, at least so she could finish what she was doing. Her fears tripled. This was just like being locked in her mother’s lab with Veeda.