Enduring Light

by Alyssa Rose Ivy

  He slipped a hand under the bottom of my shirt. “I always imagined you would be in a dress.”

  “Does it really matter?”

  “No. I would prefer this moment to any imagining I have had, whether awake or asleep.” He moved his hand to run it over my stomach, before using both hands to pull my shirt over my head.

  I lifted up my arms to make it easier. His eyes widened as he dropped my shirt on top of his. He reached to remove my bra, hesitating for a second. I had a pretty good idea he’d never seen that kind of bra before—or when I really thought about it, any bra.

  “Is this your first time, too?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Of course. Who else… why would you ask that?”

  I looked down. “I just wanted to know.”

  “Do not look away. I wanted to make sure you were not of the wrong impression of who I am.”

  “I know who you are.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his lips down to mine.

  He quickly responded to the kiss, groaning as he moved his hands to fiddle with my bra.

  “It clasps in the back.”

  He found the clasp and unhooked it. I dropped my arms, letting the bra fall to the floor. I refused to get embarrassed when his eyes zeroed in on my chest.

  He moved a hand to my breast while continuing to kiss me. I moaned, loving the feel of his hand on me. I’d been craving his touch since I’d met him, and I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. Without breaking the kiss, he untied my pants. As I stepped out of my pants and underwear, he brushed his hand against my leg. The touch sent chills down my entire body.

  He stepped back, devouring every inch of me with his eyes. “Beautiful. You are perfection.”

  His hands moved next to his own pants, and it was my turn to have wide eyes. Evidently, underwear wasn’t the thing for men in Energo. He stepped toward me, taking my hand to lead me over to the bed.

  After pulling back the sheets, he helped me in before slipping in beside me. “I promise to cherish you always.”

  Chapter Nine

  Samantha

  Charlotte owned a lot of short dresses. At first, I ignored those and concentrated on the four or five pairs of stiff blue pants that Kevin seemed to prefer, but a deep red dress caught my attention, and I had to try it on. The long sleeves seemed appropriate for the time of year. I found a pair of black leggings in her drawer that I assumed would go with the dress. I trusted that Charlotte was right that I could get away with wearing my boots. I packed a pair of the pants and a few shirts in my pack before going downstairs to meet the men.

  Kevin gawked at me. “Wow. You look incredible.”

  “Thanks. Charlotte told me I could borrow anything of hers.”

  “Of course. Charlotte wouldn’t mind at all,” Monty was quick to reassure me.

  I did not need the reassurance—especially not from him. I forced myself to stop thinking about the troubling dream I’d had.

  Talen walked into the room. “Is everyone ready?” He was dressed head to toe in white. With his snow white hair, he was quite the sight.

  “Way to blend in, man.” Kevin really had a problem with the Arco. I wondered where the bad blood stemmed from.

  Monty approached the issue more tactfully. “Talen, didn’t you see the extra clothes I laid out for you?”

  Talen leaned a hand on the counter. “I prefer to wear my own.”

  Kevin rolled his eyes.

  Monty shrugged. “I’d prefer it if you changed, but we don’t have time to argue. The car’s in the driveway.”

  We walked out the side door. A bright red conveyance sat on four wheels on the rock portion of the front yard, what I assumed Monty had meant by “driveway.”

  Kevin turned to Monty. “Umm, when did you get a new car?”

  Monty locked the door behind us. “It’s bad enough someone saw us in this house. We don’t need them tracing us to the airport.”

  “Okay.” Kevin opened one of the doors of the red vehicle for me.

  I tried to act as if I had a clue what I was doing, but I had never been in such a contraption. I took a seat and waited for Kevin to close me in.

  “You need your seatbelt.” He pointed to a strap attached to the inner wall of the car.

  “Oh. I see.”

  He must have noticed my confusion because he took the seatbelt and reached over me to snap it into some sort of buckle. His hand lingered on my lap as he pulled the strap slightly away from my body. He was evidently trying to adjust it.

  I smiled, trying to hide my embarrassment. I had a hunch I would be feeling that emotion a lot that day. “Thank you.”

  “Not a problem.” He closed the door, opened another in the back and got in to sit in the seat behind me. I did not need to look to know he was not providing the same service to Talen.

  Monty started the vehicle, and loud music blared from all sides of me. Monty quickly turned it down.

  He glanced at me. “Sorry about that.”

  “Not a problem.” I repeated the phrase Kevin used so often. I liked it.

  Kevin chuckled from behind me. “Glad I’m rubbing off on you.”

  “I find your speech amusing.” I grabbed a handle attached to the roof of the vehicle as Monty pulled out onto the road. I had seen many modern things, especially in Alak, but I had never imagined anything like the form of travel we were using.

  “Is this how all your people travel?” Talen asked. It was nice that I was not the only one new to the experience.

  Kevin answered, “Mostly, but we have mass transportation like buses and trains, too. And you’ll find out what planes are like pretty soon.”

  “And boats,” I added. I had seen boats on the water, and Kevin did not seem unaccustomed to them.

  “Interesting.” Talen stared out the window, and I did the same.

  We passed many houses as large as Kevin’s, but we also went through areas that were not quite as nice. My hunch that Kevin was from a high family in his world seemed correct. Not everyone lived as he did. Monty turned several times, and I lost all sense of our direction.

  “I have identification for everyone,” Monty said. “You need to take care to use only these names. If Kevin and I are taken in for questioning by the authorities, we will never make it back in time.”

  I hadn’t considered such an event. “Why would you be questioned? Can you not travel freely here?”

  “We can, but we’re missing persons,” Kevin said. “They’ve been expending resources searching for us, so we’d be in trouble if they found out we orchestrated it all. Plus Charlotte, Henry, and Liam are missing too. They’d want to know where to find them. They’d also want to make sure we didn’t hurt them or anything.”

  I moved my pack to the side in order to make more room for my legs. “Oh. I suppose that makes sense. So the authorities are here for your protection as well as to keep the peace?”

  Monty nodded. “In theory.”

  “How far is the airport?” It was strange how quickly I got used to using such foreign terms. I had only heard the word for the first time that morning.

  Monty fidgeted with a dial midway between our seats. “We’ll be there in just a few minutes. I timed it up so we’ll have just enough time to check in, get through security, and reach our gate. Any excess time in the airport is dangerous—especially so close to home.”

  “Security?” Talen asked.

  “You have to prove you aren’t carrying weapons or anything.”

  “But I am carrying weapons.”

  I turned just in time to see Talen pull out a knife.

  “You can’t take that on the plane.” Kevin sat forward and rested a hand on the top of my seat.

  Talen shifted in his seat. He still did not wear the seatbelt. “They would try to stop me? Surely I can overpower most men of your world.”

  “Putting the number of men aside, we can’t draw attention to ourselves. It’s bad enough you look like you’re ready to paint a house, or you’re a me
mber of a boy band.” Monty turned the car into a lot filled with cars and lined spaces.

  Kevin laughed. “A boy band? I don’t know about that.”

  “What is a boy band?” I asked.

  “Nothing you need to know about.” Monty pulled into a space. “Get your game faces on.”

  “Let’s do this.” Kevin opened his door and got out. Next, he opened my door and pointed to the buckle of the strap. “Just press that red button to release the belt.”

  He was definitely enjoying his position of greater knowledge. I decided to let him for the moment, but he was not getting away with it for the whole trip. I grabbed my pack from the floor and climbed out of the car.

  Monty placed a small flimsy card in my hand. “This is your ID. Show it to anyone who asks.”

  I examined the card. “Mary?” Luckily, we used the same written language. Otherwise, I would have really been at a loss.

  “It’s a common name here. Not like Brutus.” Kevin held up his card. “Where the hell did that come from?”

  Monty smiled. “I didn’t pick the names.”

  “Who are you?” Kevin craned his neck to peek at Monty’s card. “Marshall. Who’s Talen?”

  “Bobby.” Monty got serious. “All right, that’s enough name talk. Get yours memorized, and let’s go.”

  We crossed the paved lot and entered the building. Monty walked up to some sort of electronic box that shot out slips of paper.

  He handed me one with the same name from the card. “This is your ticket.”

  Monty led the way to what looked to be an endless line. For the first time, I really looked at the clothes people were wearing. Charlotte was right; my clothes would have stood out. Talen was getting a lot of attention—but not as much as Kevin. Two girls were openly ogling him. Really? In public?

  I inched closer to Kevin.

  He leaned down. “You doing all right, Mary?” His eyes twinkled.

  “Yes, Brutus.”

  “Oh, man! I love it. I sound like a villain from an eighties video game.”

  “Video game?”

  “I’ll show you sometime.”

  “Okay.”

  Eventually, we reached a high desk, and as Monty predicted, I was asked to show my ID.

  The man at the desk smiled at me when he handed back the card. “Enjoy your trip, ma’am.”

  “Thank you.”

  Kevin placed his bag on a moving belt. He stepped through a small arch. I went next, and we each grabbed our packs from the other end of the belt. Monty joined us as we waited for Talen.

  A man in uniform pointed at Talen. “Sir, please step over here.”

  Talen stopped short. “Excuse me?”

  “Sir, you’ve been selected for a more thorough search.”

  “A more thorough search?”

  “Yes. If you’d just raise your arms above your head.”

  “Are you out of your wits? Why would I do that?”

  Monty walked over to intervene. “Just do it, Bobby.”

  Talen turned purple. “Not a chance. Why am I the only one who needs to?”

  “Sir, I assure you it was a random selection.”

  “Random?” Talen glared at the uniformed man. “Not likely.”

  “Sir, would you please step to the side? You’re holding up the other passengers.”

  “As I should. No one should be subjected to such treatment.”

  The man pulled a small device from of his pocket, and I got a bad feeling. Someone needed to intervene.

  I took Talen’s arm and smiled at him. “Please, just do as the man asked.” Growing up with many men around, I’d learned the art of calming them.

  His expression softened. “Fine.” He stepped to the side with the uniformed man.

  Thoroughly searched, Talen was waved forward, and we walked to our gate.

  I adjusted my pack. “We have multiple flights today. Will we have to do that every time?”

  Kevin patted my arm. “Nope. That’s it for the day. You survived that part.”

  “It is Talen I worry about.”

  He was walking a little ways in front of us with Monty. From his gesturing, he was still upset about the incident. I did not blame him. I would have been outraged by the treatment.

  Kevin nodded. “Yeah, he’s like a loose cannon.”

  “He is part beast.”

  “He should have been the one named Brutus.”

  “You really have an aversion to that name.”

  He shrugged. “Kind of.”

  “Only kind of? So you would not mind if I called you that from now on?”

  “Do you really want to tell people your boyfriend is named Brutus? Hey, it would probably keep other guys away.”

  “Boyfriend?” I said the word slowly. I assumed it was akin to the girlfriend term Rachel had used.

  “Oh, I was just joking.”

  “Were you?” I pressed. I wanted to discover if his feelings ran further than the mere physical.

  “Only halfway. I wouldn’t mind the position.”

  “If I understand what it is, I would not mind if you had it.”

  He grinned. “I’m going to assume you do understand, and I’m taking it. I kind of feel like I’m back in middle school with this conversation, but no complaints.”

  “Middle school?”

  “It’s where you go when you are around twelve.”

  “Oh, so I sound juvenile?”

  “No. No. It’s a joke. Forget it.”

  “You really need to get better at expressing your humor, Kevin.”

  “I’ll try.”

  I decided to let him off the hook. “All right, tell me everything I need to know about this flight.”

  He smiled. “You’re going to find out in a few minutes anyway.”

  Chapter Ten

  Liam

  I stared straight ahead. It wasn’t as if there was anything better to look at. I sure as hell wasn’t turning around to look at that damn inn. I never liked Charlotte being with Calvin, but knowing what he was most likely doing with her made me want to punch something—or someone. He was the same age as I was, but he seemed so much older. Maybe it was because he was from Energo. Apparently, adolescence didn’t exist there.

  I couldn’t stand around any longer. I was sick and tired of sitting back and letting things happen. So what if he was her Gerard? I’d known her so much longer, and I understood her so much better. I was the one she was supposed to be sleeping with. I’d thought about it enough. I kicked a rock into the desolate street. I played it down, but the ghost town was giving me the creeps, which only added to my bad mood.

  Henry came out. “It is not the rock’s fault.” He had to be there to relieve me. Had three hours really passed?

  “Are you suggesting I kick Calvin instead?”

  Henry laughed. “No. I would not suggest that at all.”

  “I hate this.”

  “I know you do, but you cannot change things.” Henry put a hand on my shoulder. “He is her Gerard. It is surprising they waited this long.”

  “Great.”

  “You can go back in.”

  “Not a chance. You can sleep. I’m not going in there.” I knew I sounded like a whiny kid, but I didn’t trust myself not to do something stupid.

  “They are sleeping. It is not like you are going to hear anything.”

  I spun on him. “Damn it, Henry.”

  He held up his hands. “What? I am just telling you the truth.”

  “You’re just saying you heard them. I preferred pretending she said no.”

  “What good would that do you? Pretending does not change the fact that she is completely off-limits. Get through this, and you can go home and find someone available.”

  “Yeah, because there are a million girls as amazing as Charlotte out there.” Maybe at one time I would have considered it, but my feelings for Charlotte were only getting stronger. I wanted her so bad it hurt sometimes.

  Henry dug his foot into the
gravel road. “Maybe it is healthy that you are finally admitting it. James would pay to hear this.”

  “For once, I wish he were around. He’d support me on this.”