Unstoppable Roommate: A Sci-fi Romance (Marnak Series Book 2)
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Unstoppable Roommate
A Sci-fi Romance
Layla Stone
Prompt Penworks
Contents
Things You Need to Know
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Acknowledgments
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Things You Need to Know
Things you need to know before starting this book:
The alien races you will be exposed to in this book are:
Angnys are an alien race with thick gray skin and long lower tusks.
Sennites are a matriarchy alien race with purple hair and purple eyes.
Terrans are humans from Earth.
Night Demons are an alien race called Kirca that took the Demon nickname. Night Demons have horns, long sharp teeth or some form of unique bone formations.
Marnak is a refugee planet inside Federation controlled space. Many races live on the planet and cultures sometimes clash.
1
Mali was in bed, reclined on three pillows, watching a movie that had been on her to-watch list for two years. On her nightstand was an empty six-pack of Niffy drinks. The floor was littered with brown bags of left over fried diner food that she had yet to pick up.
There was a double knock on her bedroom door. Her roommate, Cabute, didn’t wait for an answer before he pushed it open. Standing there with his dark grey skin, dark black hair, dark black eyes and a pair of tusks at the bottom of his mouth that stretched past his upper lip, he looked at the littered floor before turning that classic Angny gaze on her. Two years ago that look would have frightened her.
“Hey,” Mali said not bothering to apologize for the mess.
“It’s been a week.”
“And?” she said, wondering if he was going to tell her to suck it up.
His head tilted to the side. Cabute was a massive six-foot-seven beast of a man who fought at The Pit. He beat up other males for money and yet, in their apartment, he was the quiet one, a mountain of assurance and calm assertiveness.
The kind of guy who only asks once.
“You going to come out of your room anytime soon? I know you’re not bawling your eyes out; the walls are paper thin, and I would have heard you.”
He was a thousand percent correct; she hadn’t been bawling her eyes out. And she never would. Her ex-job, ex-boss, even her ex-paycheck was not worth her tears. While she loved what she did, she didn’t love that job, and… they were just plain stupid for letting her go.
With the remote in hand, she waved her hand around her room and declared, “As you can see, I am not mourning being fired. I’m literally throwing myself a weeklong celebration.” Pointing at the far container near her trash can she said, “See that Charlie’s Barbeque bag? I haven’t eaten there in over two years. Two years.”
Cabute lifted an eyebrow.
“Jama Marketing liked their executive females to look a certain way.”
“So, stuffing your face is your way of celebrating?”
“Are you really asking me that?”
“Yes,” he said without sarcasm.
Was it cute that he didn’t understand? Yes, she decided, it was cute.
How did she get so lucky to have roommate like Cabute? Oh yeah, by begging him to take her in with the last apartment manager had proposed sleeping with him to cover her rent.
Back then she didn’t have time to find a new apartment before she had to travel off world to meet with a big potential client.
She was good at the numbers, the strategy, and the images. What she failed at was being a poised, soft spoken personality with a tiny waist. They wanted the type of marketing assistant that would sit at the table and let the main group talk themselves into circles until the perfect moment. She was supposed to be the calm one, the one who cleared the air and quietly but firmly tell them all what they were going to do.
So again, she didn’t love the job, but she was good at marketing. So, her food fest was…
“Celebrating may be a little exaggerated, but yeah, I’m indulging in everything I wasn’t allowed to eat for the past two years.”
Cabute was silent for a moment before asking again, “Okay, but are you going to come out of your room anytime soon?”
“To do what?” She frowned. She really didn’t want to get up if he just needed her to do something. She wasn’t finished… celebrating.
He shrugged his massive shoulders as if to say, you’re going to have to come out and see.
Sighing, Mali powered off her Minky screen and threw off the covers exposing her bare legs and a softy, comfy t-shirt dress she doubled as a sleeping gown. Cabute’s eyes zeroed in on her legs and she watched the hunger in his eye come and go.
Hmm. That was interesting. She smiled, letting her imagination run with the idea of his hands touching them.
But just for a second.
No way he was really interested in her.
His jaw set hard and turned away, leaving the door open knowing she would follow.
She got up and checked her curly shoulder length purple hair in the mirror. It was too wild, even for her current crazy mood. She pulled it back into a messy bun and then double checked that her sleeping dress was tight enough to hug her hips. Just for fun, she dabbed on a touch of lip gloss.
Her purple eyes were sparkling which meant she was happy. If she were being honest with herself, they usually sparkled when she was home.
Cabute was in the kitchen, Minky on the counter, scrolling through something. “What are your plans today?” he asked without looking up.
“Hey, you made me give up my perfectly good plans. I was fine to lay in bed for another day. Or two,” she said looking around the apartment. No dust, not trash, everything in its place as usual. “I’m assuming you didn’t interrupt me to help clean the apartment.”
“I didn’t make you do anything. I just asked if you were coming out of that stench you call a room.”
“That stench, as you call it, is delicious food,” she said hopping up on the counter. “Do you have friends coming over? Is this your way of asking me to clean my room?”
“I don’t have friends,” he said. It sounded like he didn’t want friends, and actively made sure not to have them.
“Are we not friends?” she asked teasingly. She held her breath. Deep down she wanted to know.
Cabute stopped what he was doing and peered at her. “I wouldn’t consider you a friend.”
“Ouch,” she said, playing off the hurt.
Cabute went back to his Minky pad.
So, not only not friends, but not even important enough to stop what he was doing for five seconds. That hurt more than she expected.
She slid off the counter, intending to head back to her room for another week.
His hand shot out and pressed her back against the counter. His hand was firm and did not let her move from where she stood.
“Where are you going?” The question sounded like a threat.
His hot touch seeped through the thin fabric of her shirt and warmed her skin. It was the most intimate he had ever been with her. She placed her small hand over his and stood still, shocked. Confusion and delight bubbled through her body.
She said the first thing she could think of to answer his question. “Food shopping.”
Cabute looked at her hand on his and caught her eye. Was he waiting for her to push his hand away?
She bit her lip and kept her hand on his.
“I know how to shop,” Mali pouted, already mourning the loss of his touch.
A faint expression of amusement crossed his face before he said, “Every time you go shopping you buy crap you never eat, and I have to throw it out a week later.”
Mali scoffed but shrugged when she realized it was true. Cabute saw her acceptance and went back to what he was doing.
“What are you looking at?”
“Houses.”
“Why?” She asked, surprised and hurt. He was moving? Was he tired of living with her?
He closed the screen and powered off the Minky pad. Then he wrapped his large hands around her waist, digging his fingers into her skin.
Lust sparked from the heat of his hands throughout her body.
She hoped his touch meant he was interested in her, because she was very interested in him. Stars, she’d been into him before she even moved in.
“Ready?”
She swallowed, unable to speak.
Cabute’s eyes softened. “You going to answer me?”
“Am I ready for what?”
The way he was in her space holding her waist, she figured he was asking if she was ready for a blitz.
If so, she needed to brush her teeth.
“Mali. We’re going shopping.”
Oh.
“I need to get my shoes,” she said rushing from the kitchen to her room. He followed her to the doorway and watched.
“I’m hurrying.”
“I didn’t say anything,” he said calmly.
But Cabute had a weight about him. A sense of raw animalistic strength that made her want to hurry, she needed to hurry.
“You didn’t have to,” she didn’t mean to sound snappy.
“What does that mean?”
“Means your very presence says hurry or else.” She finished strapping her shoes and stood up to make sure they felt right. Looking up she saw his unamused expression.
“Or else what? What do you think I’d do to you?”
Walking towards her door she said lightheartedly, “Hopefully not beat me to a pulp.”
His arm shot across the doorway and hit the other side. The metal doorframe bent and the sound dinged through her chest.
She didn’t even see him move.
She jumped back.
He leaned in. His voice deceptively quiet. “You think I would hurt you?”
“No,” she blurted.
His arm fell and he closed the space between them. The heat and irritation radiated off him was so thick it made her want to fall to her knees. A heavy and callused finger reached under her chin, forcing her to look up.
“You are the one person who could stab me in the heart and I’d let you.”
Stab him?
“I won’t hurt you, Mali.”
Her knees still felt weak, and her stomach fluttered at his words.
“But, you said we’re not even friends.”
He dropped his finger, pausing before answering. “We aren’t. Friends are people you like but you let them live their own life. I have no intention of letting you do your own thing. Not anymore.”
“What does that mean?”
“My people don’t live with friends, co-workers or strangers. We live with our family.”
Her heart dropped. She wasn’t family. “I don’t understand. Are you asking me to move out?”
Cabute reached down and grabbed her hand, pulled it up and nipped the fleshy part.
Her heart beat hard in her chest.
“I’m not asking you anything. I’m telling you I’m taking you as mine.”
2
Mali said nothing as they left the apartment in his Helix Rover. It was as clean as the apartment; no stray wrappers or empty Niffy cans like in hers. It even smelled new.
Sitting back in the seat, she couldn’t process Cabute’s words. And worse, he didn’t explain. He just said, you're mine, and let her freak out.
Was it too much to ask for more… like maybe a kiss? Or something that could distract her from his kinda terrifying words?
Angnys didn’t have mates. They called them life breeders. It wasn’t a physical or emotional connection that some other races felt when they mated. Nope, Angnys were much like Terrans in their matings; it was a choice with one difference, Terrans married and sometimes unmarried.
Angnys who claimed a life breeder never unmated. A life breeder was simply more important than everything else.
But she and Cabute hadn’t even blitzed. Not once. How can he claim her a life breeder if he didn’t even know if she was good in bed?
Who did that?
When the vehicle stopped, Cabute was the first to exit and then held out a hand. She looked at the massive grey hand. A long white scar crossed the palm.
This offering for touch was more than it seemed. Taking his hand would answer his unspoken question.
Are you accepting my claim? Or not?
In her previous job she was expected to make projections about the future, determine what would have the greatest long-term benefit and power down that path.
Being a Pit fighter’s life breeder didn’t have a great future.
She knew that logically. She also recognized he was different from other males she had encountered. He didn’t push his obvious desire on to her. He didn’t question or argue or try to tear down her defenses.
In a perfect world, he would have told her he wanted to claim her after a good long blitz that shook her world.
He looked like the kind of male that would make a blitz a life-altering event.
She wanted that.
But no, her roommate told her she was his and hadn’t said a word to her since.
“Never seen a female so far in her head that she looks more dead than alive. Give me your hand so I can keep you on your feet when you step out.”
She frowned again. No, wait… he wasn’t asking to steady her, he was asking if she wanted to be his life breeder, right?
Cabute got back in the vehicle, took her hand and pulled her out. “In two years, I’ve never seen you look more scared.”
“You can’t just throw, you’re mine at me and expect me to just say, oh okay.”
“I didn’t expect you to say oh, okay. I figured you would have questions or maybe tell me to go to hell. A fight was what I was prepared for. Silence is not what I expected.” He didn’t drop her hand as they walked into the vast indoor food market.
Inside they walked to a free kiosk and Mali entered in her Non-Federation identification. Cabute stood next to her and didn’t say a thing. The black Minky screen blinked blue and a private cab lowered from the thousands of rows and opened the doors.
They moved inside and took a seat in front of the wall-to-wall Minky screen. Once the door closed, she could feel the cab move to its intended position. The screen powered on, and initiated its first question:
Would you like a complimentary beverage?
Yes.
No.
Cabute reached over and pressed the yes and selected a hot Hormulch, a warm alcoholic drink for himself and a Niffy drink for her. He opened the slot and pushed the can towards her.
“Lucky guess.”
Cabute took a sip and sat back in the large chair and said, “I pay attention.”
“Do you?” she said thinking of a way to disprove he knows her. “What do I do when I’m not working?”
“You look at the most recent movies, but you don’t watch any of them. You’ll visit the greenhouse nursery to look at the plants. I’m not sure what you’re looking for, but I know you stop there. And I also know you never bring anything home.”
He knew a lot more than he should. She was kind of impressed, but... he didn’t need to know that. “You follow me around town?”
He pointed to her purse. “Your Minky’s location is linked to mine.”
It was what?!
Pulling out said Minky she asked sharply, “Why is it linked to yours?”
“When you told me the old manager wanted you to sleep with him, and I told you I would make sure he never got close to you. I added the link right in front of you. Told you want I was doing.”
“That was two years ago, how was I supposed to remember that? I was scared and worried you would turn me away.”
Cabute took a drink, not responding to her last comment.
Did he want to turn her away that night?
The Minky screen pinged asking if she wanted to proceed. If so, push start.
She did.
There were two ways to shop, she could do speed shopping by typing in what she wanted and checking out. Or she could sit back and watch the screen that took her on a virtual tour of the inside of the food mart. Most of the time she would speed shop.
Today, she let the virtual tour take her around and introduce her to all the new items. The tour guide explained the colors of each box representing which planet the produce was from. When it stopped at a purple box it said, “Pim fruit, a sweet and fleshy fruit with a shelf life of five days.”
She pushed for a sample and a second later a small door slid up and a sample of the fruit was inside. She reached in pulled out the sample from a mini porcelain plate and chewed. It was a strange flavor, but tangy and sweet.
She typed in to collect five.
“Have you ever eaten pim fruit before now?” Cabute asked.
“No, but I like sweet fruits.”
That was all he said as she continued to stop. At first it annoyed her he was so quiet, but every once in a while, he tell her to add a few more. That he liked those items.
Mali liked knowing what he preferred. She added everything he grunted at and said, those are good to a mental list.
When she got to the salads and she ordered ten mini boxes. Cabute didn’t say a word as he leaned forward and canceled nine of them.