by Amber Stuart
The view in the hologram slows then stops somewhere just past where I would put Pluto. As it stops moving a planet I don’t recognize comes into view. Surrounding the planet like a swarm of bees are hundreds if not thousands of small ships darting in and out. They dive down towards the planet, circle each other in space, and move in erratic motions that seem completely random. I lean in closer and am blown away by the level of detail in the video. Whoever programmed this has mad skills. It’s hands down the best CGI I’ve ever seen, better than any movie even.
“Wow, that’s really cool,” I say then stand up straight. “So, I’ve seen that and now I do think it’s time you were on your way. I’ve got to work in the morning-”
“I don’t think you understand,” he says shaking his head.
“Yeah, but it’s cool. Seriously, I’m good. Thanks for a fun night.”
I touch his arm and try to guide him towards the door but I might as well have been trying to lift a building with one finger. All I manage is to get my fingers tingling again and my more primal thoughts turn back towards carnality. The all too familiar empty ache returns. The void I want to fill but nothing ever seems to satisfy.
“Abby,” he says. “I know this must sound crazy, but I know you. It can’t be, it’s impossible, but I know you’re her. That’s the only explanation for the connection between us. I know you feel it to, that instant feeling that we know each other, that we belong together. It’s because we do. I’ve been waiting faithfully, for you.”
“Oh-kay…” I say to buy time.
That crazy hot line just got crossed in the wrong way. I mean yeah I felt like we’ve known each other or I should recognize him but I don’t and there’s no way in hell I could ever forget a man like him. I mean, look at him, he’s amazingly, stunningly beautiful. Those perfect cheekbones and that jaw that makes me just want to drop my panties again right now. He’s not the kind of person you forget.
“You feel it? Don’t you?”
I shake my head. “Look, I’m not sure what’s going on. Tonight has been incredibly weird so I’d really like to just shower and go to bed.”
And I don’t want to be involved in any terrorist activity, thank you very much.
He frowns then nods and starts for the door. I follow behind him quietly. The ache inside me is screaming to make him stay. That primal part of me wants to know if I’m the crazy one letting him go but I’m rational. I’m not Kelley who’d probably have moved him in with her already. I’ll play it safe. I had a fun fling, it was great, but reality is reality. I can’t just move this crazy man in with his weird technology and strange ways. Besides, if he is a terrorist, yeah no thanks. I don’t want anything to do with that. Hell I should probably call someone but I mean, he seems mostly harmless even if he is crazy.
He grabs the door handle and stops. My breath catches in my throat as I wait to see what he does next.
“Take care Abby,” he says then opens the door and it closes behind him.
I put the chain on, turn the deadbolt, and lock the handle. As I stand looking at the door I still don’t feel safe so I grab a chair from the dining table and tuck it under the handle. Then I check every window in the house and make sure they’re all locked and the curtains are drawn. I’m especially careful with my bedroom window then I lay down and try to convince myself to sleep. My wound up nerves aren’t cooperating so I stare at the ceiling and watch the projected time from my alarm clock slowly tick by as my thoughts run in a crazy circle.
CHAPTER SEVEN
When my alarm blares loudly and rudely waking me up I feel like I’ve barely slept. I roll over and slam my hand down to silence its infernal racket. I stretch the stiffness out then get up and go to the kitchen and hit the button to start coffee. Once it’s finally brewed I sit down at my table and think about last night. A shiver runs from my core and up my spine as I recall the sensations of pleasure. Smiling around my mug I sip some more coffee.
“Okay Abby,” I say to the empty room. “That was fun but it’s done. So in the real, not crazy world, grocery shopping has to happen today.”
Something nice and mundane. Last night is over and this is today. Back to the real world and all that. My decision made, I dress and make a quick list then head for the grocery store. As I slide the key into my door to lock it the hair on the back of my neck stands on end.
“Not again,” I mutter closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.
A quick look around and nothing seems out of place. Maybe the crazy isn’t over yet? I go to get in my car and then I remember that I don’t have my car. It’s still sitting wrecked at the bank. I’ll need to call the police before something goes even worse than it already is, or a tow truck. Yeah, a tow truck. I pull out my phone and hit Kelley’s number while heading down the road. Her current boyfriend just happens to own a tow truck service so, perfect!
“This better be important,” Kelley answer the phone, her voice hoarse.
“Morning sunshine,” I respond.
“Ugh, I hate mornings,” she says.
“I know. Hey, I need a huge favor. Can you have Todd pick up my car and take it to a shop for me?”
“Why, won’t start?” she asks.
“No, had a bit of a wreck las-”
“What! Oh my god are you okay? Where are you at I’ll be right there did you go the hospital any injuries-”
“Woah!” I cut her off before she can run any more words into incomprehensible strings of thought. “I’m fine. Car not so much but I’ve got insurance. It’s sitting at the bank lot, can he pick it up before someone there freaks out and calls the cops?”
“Sure, he’ll do it for me,” she says. “Are you sure you’re okay? What the hell happened?”
“Nothing really, a deer ran out and I swerved to miss it,” I say.
I don’t know why I’m lying to her. Some part of me doesn’t want to tell her the whole story, at least not yet. I know she’d love it. Hell she’d be cheering what I did last night but right now I just don’t think I should tell her. I look around as we talk on the phone trying to find a source for the general uneasiness that is still sticking with me. My stomach feels sour, my skin keeps randomly crawling, and looking at my arm it’s covered with goosebumps. Did I eat something bad?
“Okay, if you’re sure you’re okay,” she says.
“I’m fine, promise. I just want to get the car into the shop. Can you let me know which one he recommends?”
“Yeah, no problem. He has several he works with regularly. He’ll make sure you don’t get ripped off.”
“Thanks,” I say. “Okay call me later.”
“What are you doing today?” she asks.
“Groceries then I have some paperwork to finish,” I say.
“Okay, well if you need anything call me. Hey, how are you getting groceries without a car?”
“I don’t need much so I’m walking to the corner store down the road.”
“I’ll come get you and give you a ride,” she says and I can hear her getting dressed.
“Don’t worry about it Kell,” I say. “It’d take you longer to drive over here then it will take me to walk there and back. Besides I need the exercise.”
“Pshaw, exercise is for prissies and gym rats, you’re perfect the way you are.”
“Aw, thanks, but a couple blocks of walking isn’t going to kill me,” I say.
“If you’re sure,” she says.
Something moves off to my left and I jump as a squeak escapes me.
“What’s that? Abby you okay?” I can hear the panic in her voice.
“Yeah, fine, sorry a cat jumped out and scared me,” I say shakily.
“Ah, so could you say you’re a ‘scaredy-cat?” she laughs and I join her.
“Yeah, okay, I’ll talk to you later okay?”
“Yeah, be good or-”
“Be bad for you, I will.”
I hang up to the sound of her laughter. I t
urn a slow circle looking all around. My neighborhood is a quiet, middle class place. Most of my neighbors are older, either retired or close to it, and we all like it quiet. This early on a Sunday morning no one is outside and the dark houses show little to no signs of life.
This is what it’d be like if everyone was gone, I think and a shudder goes down my spine.
What a morbid thought. Shaking my head I resume my walk to the grocery store but now I feel like every nerve in my body is jumping. I keep glancing over my shoulder then side to side. The feeling I’m being watched isn’t going away, if anything it’s even stronger than before. I walk faster but I don’t get very far before my thighs start to ache and my lungs are burning. Man I’m out of shape. What am I talking about, I’ve never been in ‘shape’ to get out of.
There’s a sound behind me and I jump then freeze. Fear grips every muscle and I can’t will myself to move. The paranoia is crawling up my spine and I know at any moment I’m about to be grabbed by… something. I don’t know what. I’ve got no words for it but I know it’s there and it’s reaching for me. I’m breathing in short, ragged gasps, and my head is spinning. My heart is pounding in my chest like I just ran a mile. The muscles in my legs start quivering and I’m sure that at any moment it’s going to be over. Blackness edges my vision and slowly creeps in.
RUN! RUN YOU FOOL!
I scream at myself in my head but my body doesn’t respond. Tiredness floods through me out of nowhere. How I can be tired and so scared that I can’t move at the same time? I have no idea but I am. It’s a bone deep weariness that makes me want nothing more than to lie down. The sidewalk at my feet can’t be that hard can it? Maybe I can make it to the grass. That grass looks very inviting, soft, I can just curl up there and…
“Abby!”
Vin is in front of me and yelling but I can’t focus my eyes. I want to, I want to see his sexy face before I go to sleep. What a thing to wake up to he would be. Either I’m weaving or the world is, I’m not sure which. Vin comes closer, then further away, and I can’t seem to keep my eyes open. They fall shut of their own accord. He grabs me by my arms and yells something. I’m sure he’s yelling, I see his lips moving and there’s this sound but I can’t make out what it is. It might be words? Is it? I’m too tired to decide.
The world turns and then everything is upside down and I’m bouncing up and down. The sidewalk is moving below me really fast. How is it doing that? The fog clears from my mind and the first thing I become aware of is that there’s drool on my cheek. I wipe that away as I try to figure out what’s going on. The exhaustion that came from nowhere is gone just as mysteriously.
“What’s going on?” I ask as my face bounces one more time and I realize dimly that I’m slung over his shoulder and he’s carrying me like I weigh nothing.
“I’m saving you,” Vin says.
“Saving me?”
“Yes,” he answers.
I blink and think about that. Then it hits me and I struggle to get free. He’s done this to me! He must have drugged me or something. I don’t know how or when but he must have. Did he put something in my coffee before he left? No, when would he have had time? I keep struggling but he barely seems to notice.
“Put me down!” I yell at his back side.
And damn my primal instinct or my biological clock but I can’t help noticing how fine his ass looks as I bounce up and down. The muscles move as he runs and I don’t even think about it as my hand strokes him. It’s hard yet supple. I can feel the strength as he runs. God help me it makes me wet just thinking about the things we could do together in bed.
“Not yet,” he says. “We’re not safe.”
“Not safe? From what? You’re the one who just kidnapped me!”
“I have not ‘kidnapped’ you. I’ve saved you. There’s much you don’t know. I need you to trust me.”
“Trust you? I don’t know you!”
“But we had intercourse.”
“And? That doesn’t magically make me know you somehow.”
He stops running then turns a slow circle. Once he’s apparently satisfied that we’re ‘safe’ he sets me lightly down on my feet. My hands are on his biceps. My core is wound tighter than the mainspring of a clock. The way his amazing muscles manhandle me with so little effort really gets my motor running.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I know this is confusing and I would imagine very frightening. Indeed there are very good reasons to be frightened. This planet is not prepared nor are we.”
“This planet? Prepared? And what do you mean nor are we? First off who says ‘nor’? Like ever? Second what are you talking about?”
He looks around once more and purses his lips. I want to feel those full stunning lips on my skin. Focus!
“We need to get somewhere safe, out of sight,” he says.
“Look, I appreciate you think you’re helping and whatever but I’d like to go to the grocery store, buy some eggs, and go home. I’m not interested in all this crazy and I don’t want to be part of your grand plan or whatever it is you’re imagining.”
“Imagining?”
“Yes, sure, or it’s real. Whatever, I’d just like to go home now.”
“Abby, it’s not safe. I’m serious. There’s an Infiltrator here and he’s found you. I don’t know why he’s after you but he is. And all that is completely beyond the fact that you are the spitting image of a woman I knew a long time ago but that’s impossible. She’s been dead longer than you’ve been alive.”
“Uh-huh,” I say.
Don’t argue with the crazy. He can’t be much older than I am so how could he know some woman who’s been dead longer than I’ve been alive. Everything Vin says just confirms the looney-bin aspect. Call the men with the white jackets cause this guy needs one. He must be completely off his meds. Why is it I always fall for the broken ones? Isn’t there a nice, normal guy out there somewhere for me?
“I know this is a lot to take in and I do owe you an explanation,” he says looking around then he points. “There, is that not a place to purchase protein?”
I look where he’s pointing and see a fast food place a block away.
“Yeah,” I say reluctantly.
“Let’s go there,” he says. “It should be safer if we’re around others. Also I could also use some protein.”
“Protein, right,” I debate what to do but what choice do I really have? He just carried me god knows how far like it was nothing. What am I going to do run away? At least there will be others around if I need help there. “All right, let’s do it.”
The distance to the restaurant is short but we pass several people as we walk. Older couples mostly out for a morning stroll but all of them look at us and smile.
“What a cute couple,” an older lady holding her husband’s arm as they walk leans in and whispers loudly to him.
A weird mix of emotions wars inside me. Pride mixes with the desire to scream we’re not together. Though, we are. We’re walking to breakfast like a young couple might and it feels right. None of my boyfriends have ever felt like this. It’s not something I’ve ever been able to put my finger on. There has always been this ache, a longing, a need for something more. I’d thought it was just my biological clock screaming at me but maybe it’s something more? Walking with him like this feels so… complete is the only word I can think of. Right. It just feels right, like everything in the world is better because he’s here beside me.
I shake my head. Is this some kind of Stockholm syndrome? No, that takes time, we’ve been together less than twelve hours. So what is it? I mean it can’t really be that this weird guy I just met is my fated mate or some other romance trope, can it? Eying him out of the corner of my eye some deep part of me hopes it can be. It’s absolutely stunning how good looking he is. He walks with this easy, purposeful stride that just screams he’s ready to take on the world and he’s going to win. If not by brute strength, which all those amazing muscles
proclaim in abundance, then by sheer determination.
His strong jaw is set, his sharp eyes rove constantly on the alert for any threat. He’s the kind of primal, alpha male any girl, deep in her heart, dreams of. And I had sex with him. Well oral sex sure, but still sex. Me, too big, too plain, I’m not a model by any means. I’m just an average girl managing a fast food joint, trying to make my way in the world. I’m just not that girl. I’m not the fairy princess. Those dreams died a long time ago. I’m a realist at heart I guess. No matter all that sometimes, late at night, I lay out in my backyard and stare up into the skies and I do dream. That’s private though and dreams aren’t real.
Except he’s walking here next to me. Everything I have ever dreamed of, my deepest, darkest fantasy given form. When I dream it’s always been of a man like him. A big man, strong, able, fast and who needs me. Wants me above all others, considers me first, a man who unlike all the other men I’ve known is loyal to one woman. A provider, a lover, and in all aspects a man’s man. Like Vintares.
This is crazy. I’m crazy. Maybe he’s not really here? Is this all a fever dream?
I reach over and touch his arm in the most not subtle move ever done. He glances at me and smiles so I smile back. Nope, he’s solid. Really solid, oh god it makes my thoughts turn carnal too fast touching him. Those strong arms will wrap around me and I know I’ll feel like the daintiest girl at the dance as he sweeps me off my feet. Our lips will touch and sparks will fly-
“After you,” he says interrupting my daydreaming.
He’s holding the door for me. I stare at him then the door then back at him. He’s holding the door for me? Seriously? My heart skips a beat. Who the hell is this man? Where did he come from and how did he find me? He looks concerned and I realize I’ve been standing and staring with my mouth open for entirely too long.
“Uh, thank you,” I mumble and walk through the door still half in a state of shock.
No man has held the door for me. Ever. Not even at prom did my date hold the door for me.
