by Jane, C. R.
Once we were inside the car that smelled strongly of vanilla, a glass of champagne was pushed into my hand and we were off. Across from us sat two of the guards, both of them staring outside at the freeway we’d entered, while Derrial swirled the ice in his whiskey around in his glass.
“Is this normal travel for you?” I asked and took a sip of my bubbly, which was slightly sweet and tickled my nose.
I’d once tasted this stuff, but clearly it wasn’t the good stuff, because this drink was incredible. I downed it in two gulps, and Derrial collected my glass before tucking it into a compartment in the door.
“I prefer to travel lighter,” he replied, and shifted in his seat, obviously uncomfortable. In a strange way, it made me feel better to know it wasn't just me feeling like a fish out of water. Was this how he felt all the time on Earth? Knowing everyone around him hated his kind?
“You don’t like this?” He glanced over at me; his eyebrow cocked as if disappointed.
I shrugged. “Hard to compare when I don’t even have a car.” The laugh that followed my statement felt forced, and part of that was because being so close to Derrial still left me confused. My emotions were a jumbled mess around him. I couldn’t stop thinking of how easily he brought me to climax, how damn much I loved it, and even how I’d experienced a dream with him taking me again and again. I was being a fool.
He was a Vepar. Dangerous. Secretive. Not to mention my freaking kidnapper.
I had to get my head screwed on right and remember what was going on.
I was the victim who would pretend to be content with the current situation while waiting for an opportunity to escape. Sure, I hadn’t worked out the finer details of how I’d avoid them once I did run away, but that was my goal now--uncover their weakness, what made them tick, and how to vanish from their lives for good. Until then, I’d bide my time and make them trust me.
“You okay?” he asked, staring at me, trying to read my thoughts, but I smiled widely.
“All good.” And I turned toward the window and stared out into the world as we passed it by. A world that seemed so far away from me and out of my grasp that I felt like the alien. I hoped that when I did escape, I would be able to find a place again.
* * *
A soft voice sang in my ear. “Wake up, kitten. We’re here.”
My eyes fluttered open, still in the back seat of the limousine. Sitting up and looking around I saw that we were parked in the front of some kind of building. I rubbed my eyes as someone opened the door and I climbed out onto the sidewalk, Derrial on my heels. A soft breeze swished past, bringing with it a cocktail of smells from the garlic aroma of pizza to the subtle scent of aftershave coming from the concierge standing near me.
“This way ma’am.”
I didn’t move though because I was captivated, lost in the grandeur of the hotel towering in front of us. Glass doors stood ahead of us with a young man welcoming us with a bow. He opened the door, while two other men in penguin suits rushed to collect our bags from the trunk.
Derrial placed his hand on my lower back, urging me to move, and I let him guide me through the doors into a circular hotel lobby. Visiting hotels wasn’t something I did regularly or ever. Reception sat in front of a set of gorgeous steps that curled up around the wall to the next floor. My boots tapped the shiny floor, and I spun on the spot, taking in the glorious surroundings, the loft ceilings, the guests in their expensive clothes, the way everyone whispered when they talked. I’d never even set foot in such a place, let alone even fathomed staying in one.
Derrial was talking to a man in a tailored black suit and moments later he strolled over to me, smiling. “Ready, kitten?” He handed me his hand to take, so I did, and we made our way to the elevator, the guards following us every step of the way.
By the time we reached the top floor, butterflies somersaulted in my stomach. I shouldn’t have been excited, but I was so giddy I could scream.
“Is this the penthouse?” I might have squeaked a bit.
Derrial tapped his card to the door lock and opened it for me, staring at me with the widest grin.
I rushed past him and into a room three times the size of my entire apartment. More rooms stretched out in every direction. Sunlight flooded the penthouse through the enormous windows, reminding me of the kind on store-fronts, so high I felt as if I floated on air.
A bird flew past the window almost as a reminder that we were almost in the clouds. Expensive looking beige couches adorned one end of the room, near the biggest television I’d seen. Bowls of fruit and chocolate, along with more champagne filled the tables. I wasn’t sure where to look first, but I ran to the window, pressed up against the glass and looked down. The city lay so far away as if it were another world, the people looked like ants on the sidewalks below.
“We need to get ready quickly,” Derrial said.
I turned to him, noting how he studied me with a grin despite his words. “You’ll have time to admire the room later.”
“Can’t I stay here while you go to the Summit?” I’d watch television and eat everything in sight.
He shook his head. “Get dressed in the skirt and jacket suit you packed and bring the black cocktail dress and heels with you. We leave in ten. And if anyone asks, you’re my assistant.” Without another word, he marched into one of the other rooms, so well versed in the penthouse’s layout that it was obvious he’d been here before.
I nodded, even though only the guards watched me, and headed into the hallway where I found my bag sitting on a queen poster bed. If I needed to play the part of assistant or girlfriend for a few days while living here, well, I’d have to find a way to get through it. Either way I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face that I was in a freaking penthouse.
Today would be a day of sitting back and looking pretty, playing eye candy on the Vepar’s arm, which I could do if it proved to him I was happy to be theirs. A few days could be enough to get him to let his guard down and give me a chance to escape.
Hours later, and the day dragged. Holding back my yawns grew harder and harder. Here I assumed I’d sit in on the World Summit and learn who exactly Derrial was and what the Vepar were doing on Earth, but instead, Derrial hardly had said a word. He sat in a room amid a large circular table, joined by heads from around the world, listening to their concerns and how they intended to work with the Vepar. I almost choked on laughter as each of them tried to appease Derrial. I sat behind him in a wooden chair that numbed my entire body, attempting to play the role of an assistant by sitting there doing nothing.
Being disappointed was an understatement. Why did he want me to attend the Summit anyway?
Once the event ended, I was on my feet, ready for the cocktail party, but that was an even bigger let down. I spent the night with guards surrounding me, and I ate every hors d'oeuvres that was brought my way as I watched Derrial talk to everyone in the hall decorated with overelaborate vases of flower bouquets. Inconsequential polite conversation, wine, and a light orchestra filled the room. This wasn’t what I would call a party.
I stepped toward Derrial but a guard grabbed my arm and shook his head when I turned to face him. Right. My place was to sit. Or stand quietly by myself. To be invisible.
Derrial glanced my way and smiled, raising his glass to me. I raised my brow.
On the inside I was ready to scream. Especially since the black stilettos I wore pinched my toes.
After the party, Derrial led me out to the street, what felt like a thousand eyes watching us as we walked out of the ballroom where the cocktail party was being held. We got to the curb as our driver pulled up in the black town car we were using for the week. Derrial opened the door for me but didn’t follow me in.
“You’re not coming?” I asked, looking up at him and feeling strangely lonely at the thought.
“I have another meeting to attend. I thought you would want the break,” he answered, taking a step back from the car and beginning to close the door. He stopped
for a second and leaned back in, an irrational part of me thought he might kiss me goodbye.
“Don’t bother trying to get away,” he said. “Our driver is highly trained and will be walking you back to our rooms and there will be guards stationed outside.” With that ugly pronouncement he closed the door, not bothering to look back as he strode away in that smooth, predatory way of his.
As we drove away, I thought for a second of at least trying to get away, but I was so tired after the day of meetings that I immediately abandoned the idea. Especially when it meant dealing with the muscle heads guarding me. Once we arrived at the hotel, where I was indeed marched up to my room by the driver whose name I found out was Dan, I found myself on the news channels watching their interpretation of the Summit proceedings. There was a lot that I had apparently missed. One thing was for sure, all eyes were on Derrial. His face flashed across the screen repeatedly and I wondered how I had stuck my head in the sand so much these past years to not realize he was someone big for the Vepar. I fell asleep watching the news, barely realizing when a strong pair of arms that I vaguely recognized as belonging to Derrial, picked me up and took me to bed.
* * *
I woke to someone nuzzling my hair. I sat up in bed with a start, looking around frantically for who had been touching me. Looking behind me, I saw Derrial lounging near me in nothing but a pair of tight fitting briefs that left little to the imagination. He had a sleepy look on his face that still somehow managed to make him insanely gorgeous.
“Did you sleep in here last night?” I asked, quickly taking a peek at my body to be sure I remained dressed.
“Do you really care if I did?” he asked, an insolent grin on his face. For a brief moment I allowed myself to remember that minute before I had fully woken up, what it had felt like to be enveloped in his arms. And then I quickly pushed the thought away.
“I didn’t give you permission to do that,” I snapped, getting out of bed. His grin only grew wider.
“I’m pretty sure we’ve established I never ask for permission,” he replied, also getting out of bed. I averted my eyes from all of his perfect golden skin and rushed out of the room. “Be ready in twenty minutes,” he called after me. “I have an important meeting this morning.”
Twenty minutes later we were in the car driving back to the Summit. Today I was dressed in a sleek black sheath dress with shiny black shoes. I couldn’t help but feel a little bit like Audrey Hepburn, and the fact that the soles of my heels were red made me feel even classier. Who would have thought wearing such expensive clothes would make me feel different? Not in an arrogant kind of way, but with my confidence. Most of the time, I wore baggy clothes, putting comfort first, but I’d never experienced this feeling of satisfaction as I did now.
Derrial was dressed to intimidate today. He wore a dark suit with a shiny black shirt underneath and no tie. As we approached the venue of the Summit, the softness in his features faded, replaced by a man who looked ready to rule the universe. My stomach tightened, and the car seemed to close in around me almost as if a menacing, black cloud had descended. Maybe it was the Vepar’s version of a “game face” but his serious expression was extremely intimidating even though I had watched the change happen.
Derrial didn’t say a word as we strolled into the enormous building. Guards stood everywhere, along with paparazzi.
Inside, Vepar and humans stood clumped in groups, but everyone seemed to take a collective breath as we entered the room. Derrial didn’t stop to say hello to anyone, instead he strode in the room where the meeting was to be held, not looking back to see if I followed.
I found myself wanting to watch his face during this meeting, so I sat in a chair across the room from his designated table. He shot me a quizzical glance but said nothing about my move.
Only a few minutes passed, and the room filled. An air of expectancy flooded the space with everyone intently watching Derrial, expecting, waiting. After a few more minutes of him looking over some papers as if he didn’t have the eyes of the whole world on him, he stood.
“As you know one of our main initiatives since coming to this planet has been to improve the quality of women’s lives. On our planet, females are revered, they are worshipped. One of the first things we noticed about your planet during our first visits was the utter lack of care that is given to women on this planet. That’s why we mandated the use of a new birth control and that’s why we instituted higher penalties for crimes against women. Whether Earth wants it or not, things are going to improve. That’s why today we’ll be announcing a new mandate. All women will now submit to new health screenings, to be conducted every six months. Any medical concerns discovered will be automatically addressed at the cost of governments of each respective country represented at this Summit.”
Silence.
Not a word.
Then as if someone had unleashed a typhoon, a rising sound of gasps and groans escalated, followed by loud whispers because this was huge. It was fucking goliath in terms of the impact it would have on our society.
Holy shit!
Derrial was forcing governments to cover medical bills for females! Who the hell was he again to sway such power?
I stared at him in shock. All of this came from a creature that literally had stalked me for a week and abducted me in the middle of the night. And now he claimed that women were important to him? Had I misread his intentions? Where I called it kidnapping, did he call it protection on his planet?
I studied the faces around the room. Shocked expressions, a few women nodding, and some men scowling.
But I didn’t miss how Derrial’s eyes focused on me for the entire speech. Even in a room full of people and the distance between us, I thrummed with a feeling deep in my gut for him. There was no way for me to escape his pure magnetism, for me not to want him. Not after he’d just showed part of his plan, and it wasn’t horrific or the end of the world stuff. But simple things, like ensuring all females received the medical treatment they deserved for thousands who couldn’t afford it. So many were too afraid to visit a doctor. This would change so many lives.
When I met Derrial’s gaze, the sparkle in his green eyes glinted, my knees weakened and damn him on how he affected me, how he touched me so deeply with his mandate. I wanted to keep hating him because I understood those emotions. The itch I felt for him now made me see him in a different light, but underneath the surface I couldn’t forget what he was… Along with why he was so protective of human females.
I sensed his stare over me like a lover’s caress. Maybe if I itched this persistent scratch, we’d both move on from one another. Maybe that was the answer right there to finally end his obsession with me. And mine with him.
* * *
We were on our way back to the hotel from yet another dull cocktail event that night, and I was glad for it, as I’d had enough of watching the most attractive women on Earth paw at Derrial all night, trying to get his attention. For some reason it had bothered me. I scanned the traffic quietly as it passed by, trying to understand why I felt this way.
“The traffic. I never appreciated it before tonight.” Derrial moved closer to me, taking my face in his free hand. Derrial’s other hand softly stroked the skin that was showing from my short cocktail dress. “This skin has been torturing me,” he murmured. My breathing shifted to panting as he slid a finger along the hem of my dress. He began to lift the hem higher, ignoring my startled gasp at the fact that he was doing that in the backseat of a car with a driver in the seat in front of us.
He brought my face closer to him but stopped short of kissing me. Instead, he lingered for a moment, and I breathed him in, losing myself momentarily to his touch, his scent, his nearness. When he finally crushed his lips to mine, my hand flew up and caught his, shocking both of us as I held him to me, greedy for the taste of him. As he kissed me, Derrial’s hands urged my legs apart and he slipped his hand up so high that his fingers brushed against the silk of my underwear. I wrenched myself
away from him, gasping for air. When his fingers moved to pull my underwear to the side, I locked my legs on his hand.
“No,” I mouthed to him.
I could see the driver struggling to keep his eyes on the road as it was impossible for him to miss what was going on in the backseat.
Derrial took pity on me and withdrew his hand, giving me a smirk as he did so.
“I can smell you,” he said, inhaling deeply and closing his eyes as if he was in ecstasy and the car was somehow full of my scent. I blushed and turned so I was staring out at the traffic and the historic buildings instead of looking at him. My lips burned from his efforts and it was a struggle to sit still in the car as we made our way to the hotel. I could see him in the reflection of my window, silently watching me with that infuriating look he always had that told me he could see right through me.
We couldn’t get to the hotel fast enough.
By the time we had made our way to the Mandarin Oriental, I had almost convinced myself to go through with it. Sex with Derrial. It was clearly what he wanted. And maybe once the whole mystique of what having sex would be like with me was over, he would be over me and I would be left alone.
I ignored the part of me that balked at the idea of him leaving me alone.
He seemed in no hurry as we got out of the car. All of his motions were smooth...and slow. It took him what felt like a year to come and open my door, and then he chatted with the driver for another five minutes before we moved to go inside. The only thing that signaled that he still wanted me was his hand placement on the small of my back. It burned through my dress and into my skin and I was halfway certain that there would be an imprint in my skin when I took my dress off.
We walked slowly through the hotel lobby, Derrial stopping to chat with other Vepar staying there as we did so. They stared at me curiously, but Derrial never introduced me. Which was probably a good thing since his hand that was on my back had started to slowly trail lower, rendering me speechless.
