Sci-fi Nights: Alpha bad boys & wild girls of futuristic romance

by Calinda B

I shudder before my eyes meet hers with defiance. “I don’t want to talk about him—ever.” Liam was my high school sweetheart. I loved the guy and I mean loved, body, mind, soul. He was my first sexual partner, too.

  We snuck away one night. I’d waited in my bedroom listening to the rattling hum and snore from my parents’ room next door. When it reached the right pitch and intensity, I slipped out the window. I met Liam at the boat dock where his father ran a boat recovery and rebuild business. He jingled the keys at me when he saw me. Then, he whisked me into his arms and kissed me breathless. Because of my unique sensibilities, I began to tremble. Liam thought I was just scared.

  At the boatyard, Liam took my hand and led me inside a warehouse filled with water craft in various states of repair. We climbed into a yacht. “Are you sure we should do it in this one?” I was so shaky I could barely walk.

  “This one’s the best. Wait until you see the inside.”

  We explored this opulent craft using the ray of his flashlight.

  “What if someone hears us?”

  “Who will hear us? It’s 2 a.m. and the harbor’s quiet.” He turned to me, grinning impishly. “You’re not going to back out of this, are you?” His eyebrows knit together when he saw me shaking. “Vienna! What’s going on?”

  “I’ll….b-b-be…..o-k-k-k-ay in a m-m-minute,” I said through chattery teeth. At least I hoped I would. I’d gotten shaky at times before but never like this. The shaking started when I accessed someone’s mind. I’d been learning to put a wall between me and whoever’s headspace I encountered. I couldn’t do that with Liam. I loved him too much. I was too vulnerable.

  “Did he do something to hurt you?” Grammy keeps up with her probing questions.

  “No! He…I…I don’t want to talk about it. It’s just that…that’s when I…when he…I couldn’t do it then, Grammy, and I loved Liam.”

  He led me into the master suite. This yacht was all slick and white and crystal and metallic luxury. The bedroom was a palace of love, or that’s what my teenage mind thought. The bed, surrounded by walls and mirrors on three sides, invited exploration.

  Liam tugged all my clothes from my body, tossed his to the floor, and pressed me against him. I shuddered and shook. Images from his mind flooded me. I felt his lust, his love, his kinky desires. I knew what he wanted and I could make him feel as if he was getting it, even if I just lay there, curled in a ball. I couldn’t control it, though, couldn’t control my own response. He lay me down and stroked my skin.

  “You’re sure different, V,” he said, smiling down at me.

  “Different how?” I managed to say without teeth clattering. I gazed at his muscular form through tear-filled eyes. He was a baseball player and his body was lean and solid. He wore his dark hair short which only emphasized his blue eyes. He kissed away my tears before sliding a hand down between my legs and urging them to part.

  “Different awesome,” he replied.

  He placed his fingers between my legs and moved them tentatively, gliding up and down my silky folds. “Does this feel good?”

  “Uh huh,” I said. “A little too good.” I was flooded with his thoughts and mine. They got all tangled up into one mess of want, desire, need, and commitment. Liam wanted marriage. He wanted babies. He wanted me.

  He pulled a foil packet out of his pants pocket and rolled it on. He eased between my legs and grabbed his erection.

  “Let me see that before you put it inside me.” I’d never seen a boy’s cock hard like that. It was a curious thing. I’d seen my brothers’ when we’d gone to the lake and they’d gone skinny-dipping. But those were just shriveled up “pee funnels,” as they called them. Liam’s was now long and sturdy, eager to get the job done. It pulsed with excitement as he held it up as an offering…as a gift. “Okay,” I breathed. “I’m ready.”

  “It might hurt.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I read about it.”

  “Oh.”

  “Are you ready?”

  “Are you?”

  “You tell me.”

  “Okay, then—I’m ready.” I squeezed my eyes shut.

  “Open your eyes. Watch.”

  I shook my head.

  “Come on, V, I want you to see me inside you.”

  I cracked one eyelid and peeked at him. “My parents would kill me if they knew what I was doing.”

  “That’s your parents’ job. They’re mean. My dad would just pat me on the shoulder and say, ‘Good job, Lee.’ He’s cool that way. And he knows I love you.” Liam pressed the head of his heat against my flesh. “Ready?”

  “I told you I was ready.”

  He inched into the opening. I clenched and gasped. “Ouch!”

  “Too much?”

  “A little. Give me a minute.” Filled with a mix of pleasure, want, and torment, I sensed everything inside Liam’s head. All his pride at being a baseball player. All his pride at being my boyfriend. He was a good guy. A really, really good, decent guy. And I was nothing but a worthless female. My mom and dad went out of their way to inform me of that, every day. They were abusive and unkind. Mean and manipulative. I couldn’t wait to leave home. “Okay, more,” I said.

  Liam obliged, urging his cock inside of me. He put the flat of his thumb between my legs and made tiny circles against me.

  “That feels good, Liam. That feels really good.”

  He smiled and it was like the sun had risen. He looked at me with joy and happiness scribed all over his face. He pressed deeper inside me, still stroking my little bud with his thumb. “I don’t think I’ll last very long,” he gasped. “I’ve been practicing but you…you feel too damn good, V. I had no idea you were going to feel this good.”

  His hips started to pump. His heart poured a stream of sensation into me. It battered against my fortified walls. It bashed against my chest. His love, it wanted in. The pleasure he evoked in me wanted release. The shame I felt over who and what I was—this freak with these stupid empathic mind-stalker abilities—rose up like a warrior, determined to conquer any positive thing I might be feeling. I wondered if I was going to just split apart from the intensity. I couldn’t control my spasming body. I shook like a never-ending earthquake. Pleasure built inside of me. My body writhed and trembled.

  Liam’s body struggled to hold on.

  I was just about to let go into something incredibly pleasurable, I knew it. I squeezed my eyes shut.

  Liam let out a strangled yell. His head arched back as he thrust inside of me. Wait. Was he outside of me?

  “Vienna! Oh, God, Vienna!” He collapsed on top of me, his face contorted in anguish. “You shook me into the wall!”

  “Are you okay? Liam?”

  “You broke it. You broke it!” He yelled and cursed, his body racked with pain.

  “What did I break? What?” I shoved him off of me and scanned his arms and legs.

  “My dick! You broke my dick!” His hands were shoved between his legs trying to quench the pain.

  I pulled his hands away and stared, slack jawed, as angry, bruised, red and purple bruises started to swell on his suddenly limp, tender flesh.

  “Jesus, V, help me. Help me! I’m in agony here.”

  “I don’t know what to do! I don’t know what to do! How did I do this?”

  “When you were in earthquake mode,” he said through clenched teeth. “I couldn’t keep it in. You shook me off. It slammed against the wall and broke.”

  “Oh, God, Liam, I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!”

  “It’s okay, V, it’s okay. You didn’t mean to do it. Go find me some ice, okay?”

  Even then, while he was in pain, he was kind to me. I didn’t deserve his kindness. I was rotten to the core. I scrambled off the bed, ran into the tiny kitchen and returned with chips of ice scraped from the bottom of the ice tray. “This is all there is.” I gently pressed them against his swollen flesh, not caring if my hand turned blue and lost all feeling. He was the only thing important.

/>   “I know you didn’t mean it, baby.” He stroked my hair. “We’ll get through it. I’ll be okay. I’m tough, remember?”

  “N-n-no, Liam. You’re too g-g-good for me. I c-c-can’t do this.” I sobbed and wailed.

  “You can’t do this?” he said.

  “I’m nothing. Nobody. You’re something. Somebody. And I hurt you. I hurt you! I’m a freak! I’m no good.”

  “Vienna, stop. Stop saying this. Calm down. Stop this.”

  I couldn’t stop. My body was on its own wild ride and my mind was filled with negativity. All the thoughts my parents beat into me were true. Every one of them. I was a worthless piece of shit. And with my nutcase abilities, I’d never be good enough for Liam. I vowed I’d never let myself get this vulnerable again.

  “I wondered.”

  “What did you say?” I shake my head to get back to the present.

  “I said I wondered. I wondered about you. I always wondered about you and Liam and I’ve wondered about you ever since.” Grammy continues to pat my hand. Pat, pat, pat. Pat, pat, pat. She clasps it in her warm, parchment skin and presses it to her chest. She pulls it up to her soft lips and kisses the knuckles.

  I frown. “Why did you wonder?”

  “Because, for one thing, if you had a guy who was giving you something wild and satisfying, you wouldn’t go through them so quickly.”

  “Yeah, well…” I stare at my fingers. “No wild wow in my corner, that’s for sure.” Unless you count my fantasy-filled job. Or unless you count Jonas.

  “And I haven’t seen you date much. Not lately anyway.”

  “Yeah, I’ve kind of given up, I think.”

  “It’s more common than you think.”

  “How does that help me?”

  “I’ll bet you haven’t talked about it with anybody.”

  “Just Jonas.” I groan. “I can’t believe I confided in him the other day.” I stand and start to pace. My jeans and purple tech-T feel like they’re going to suffocate me. I tug at my collar, trying to loosen it. “I told him my secret and now I feel like it was the thing that pushed him away.” I run a hand through my long locks.

  “I doubt it pushed him away. It probably made him feel close to you.”

  “So this is how he repays me?”

  “You said he and his girlfriend were having problems.”

  “Yeah, for a long time. He said it was getting worse.”

  “Women are smart. She probably sniffed it out—that he was feeling closer to you, that is. That probably caused her to react and wield whatever shred of power she has.”

  “Oh, she’s got more than a shred. She’s got her hands clenched around his balls and she’s squeezing hard.” I mimic the gesture, bearing down on invisible cojones before realizing that I’m doing it to Jonas in my minds. “Gah!” I fling my fingers away in disgust.

  Grammy laughs. “Feel better?”

  I smile. “A little.”

  She pats the sofa next to where she’s sitting. “Sit down, dear, you’re making me dizzy.”

  I pace over and drop beside her.

  “Let him work this out. Let him have the space he needs to sort things out. He’ll feel better about himself if he does that.”

  I turn and glance away. “Yeah, well, there’s this thing that he promised me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “He promised I’d have an orgasm by my birthday and I laughed and said ‘Who with, you?’ and then he said maybe and I said ‘No way’ and he said…” I snap my mouth shut. I’m babbling again, like a chattering monkey. When I get nervous I babble.

  Grammy laughs again. “Oh, so that’s the problem. Secretly, you thought maybe he was the answer to your dilemma.”

  My face scrunches. “Maybe.”

  Grammy takes my chin in her gnarled hand and turns it to face her. “Vienna,” she says softly. “I told you it’s not unusual for a woman to not have an orgasm, especially through intercourse. It may surprise you but most women have to learn how to orgasm. Some of us need more stimulation than others. I did.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “That I needed a lot of foreplay to orgasm. Your grandfather had to use his tongue, his fingers, and sometimes I had to do it myself.”

  I swallow and blush. “Really?”

  “Really and truly.”

  I try to look away. “That’s a little too much detail, Grammy.”

  “You shared. I’m helping. You don’t think I was going to let an orgasm get away from your old Grammy, did you? I wanted what was mine. I had a really supportive guy to help me get there. He knew if I was happy, he’d be happy. Sometimes you just get lucky that way.”

  “If you say so.” This conversation was getting way too intimate. And I sure didn’t want to tell her what happened to Liam long ago. “Need me to trim your hair?”

  Grammy patted her hair. “Does it need it?”

  “Maybe a little.”

  “Then by all means.” She slowly stands, pressing her hands into the small of her back. “I’ll get the scissors. And you…” She gives me a piercing gaze. “You get yourself out there and date a little bit, you hear me? This orgasm thing is not something that’s a done deal, written in stone. You just need to find the right guy.”

  The right guy… A disturbing thought burrows into my mind. Why haven’t I ever given Jonas a chance? A giant pulsing ache throbs in my heart. Whatever I felt for Liam I feel fifteen thousand times more for Jonas. I’ve used the friendship excuse to keep from getting close to him. Ever since Liam, I’ve been afraid to love anyone. One lone tear escapes from my eye. I swiftly wipe it away, sigh and consider Grammy’s advice. Okay, Jonas, space you want, space you got. It might take time, though, to let go of you. But if that’s what you want…I can’t finish that thought. It’s not what I want in the least. I’m just going to have to find distraction in the meantime. Himeros… He might distract me for a minute but he’s really not the answer.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I just disconnected from Magicka. I’m going to a Craze tonight. Then, I’ll see to my clients. Maybe I’ll meet someone. Crazes are wild parties. Everyone—straight, gay, bi, or tranny—shows up with an anticipation that anything might happen. And it might. The hosts all try to best one another. At the end of the year they’ll be judged for the “Best Fucking Craze in Seattle.” Local Crazes then compete for regional, then nationwide. Magicka assured me that tonight’s Craze promises to be extra fun as it’s being hosted by Kayos. Our instructions are to wear nothing but black. That should be easy as it matches my mood.

  We push open the big double doors to the warehouse in downtown Seattle. The warehouse overlooks the water. I’ve been to this place for parties before. But tonight all the windows have been covered in blackout screens. The space is illuminated by red throbbing lights making everyone look as if they’re in a blood bath. Either that or Satan’s Hot World of Delights. There’s an odd fragrance in the place, like someone has a rose garden planted in the middle of the room. It’s hot, sultry, and misty. It’s kind of disturbingly sexy.

  The second we’re inside someone rushes over with a tray of beverages. The beverages appear to all be red. I wonder if it’s the lighting or if they’re really red. I take one and let a tentative sip cross my lips. “Mmm. What is this?”

  Magicka answers. “It’s Devil’s Juice. Haven’t you had that before?”

  “Can’t say that I have. What’s in it?”

  “Dean tells me it’s part vodka, part amaretto almond liqueur, cranberry juice, and vampire blood.” He winks at me. “But he’s not here to confirm, is he?”

  I scoff. “You know and I know there are no such things as vampires.”

  “Tell me that after the effects have kicked in.” He waves to someone in the corner.

  “What effects?”

  He peers at me, watching me intently. “There may be something a little more potent in the drink. I’m not saying there is.”

  He says it like he’s not sure.
I know he’s lying.

  When I start to shift side to side he says, “Yep, the effects have begun.”

  I feel stoned, dreamy. Like all my muscles decided to go on strike. Like when I move, I’m moving through a fluid world and it’s pressing against me like strong caressing hands, holding me, molding me, guiding me. “Holy shit, Magicka, what’s happening?”

  “I should have warned you. That’s just phase one.”

  “What’s phase two?” I start to say but it hits me like a truck. “Oh. Oh. Ohhh.” I feel great. My body kicks into electric anticipation. It begins to buzz and hum, like the floor is an electric socket and my feet are fully engaged. “Shit,” I manage to say. “Holy shit.”

  “I’ll be your guide until you get the swing of things.” Magicka takes my arm and navigates me to the corner, where the person he waved to is standing.

  “Hey, Mag,” coos a big, beefy guy. “Who’s your friend?”

  “This is Vienna. She’s a Devil’s-Juice virgin.”

  The guy’s grin widens as if he’s just hit pay dirt. “Is she now? I can help.”

  “I don’t need your help,” I slur. The words roll around in my mouth like frozen peas sticking to my cheeks. I try again. “I. Don’t. Need. Help.” There. Much better. I smile.

  “Yeah. And I was born yesterday. Here, Magicka, let me take her off your hands for a few.” He grins wider.

  “Not on your life, Cro.” He turns to me. “This is Cro, by the way. He’s all talk.”

  “Looks like he’s all muscle,” I say, eyeing him savagely. “Oh, yeah, you’ve got some muscle, baby.” I run my hand over his biceps. Let them work my way up to his immense shoulders. I’m just about to run them down his stomach into his pants when Magicka plucks my hands away.

  “Calm yourself, V. You’ll get your self-control back in a minute…or sixty.”

  “Why should I get control of myself? Tonight seems to be about letting go.” I lurch toward Cro, who seems only too eager to catch me.

  “You’ll have to relive every moment of tonight tomorrow. That’s one of the perks of this drink. It heightens post-whatever memory, for good or for bad.” He nods at Cro and hustles me away.

  “Wait!” I try to squirm back to Cro but Magicka is surprisingly strong.