by Layla Stone
Uninvited 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
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Untitled
Things You Need to Know
Things you need to know before starting this book:
The alien races and places you will be exposed to in this book are:
Terrans are humans from Earth.
Night Demons are an alien race called Kirca that took on the Demon nickname. Night Demons have horns, long sharp teeth or some form of bone abnormality.
Hettens are an alien race of empaths that can feel other people emotions and can manipulate them by thought or touch, depending on the person.
Marnak is a refugee planet inside Federation controlled space. Many races live on the planet and cultures sometimes clash.
Lotus Adaamas is a Demon run Port Planet
1
Naff’s lids were heavy and his muscles ached as he lurched through the restaurant kitchen’s double doors with a helio-carrier topped with dirty dishes.
Hickory smokers full of ribs and brisket lined the back cooking area. The sweet undertone of Charlie’s barbeque sauce combined with the woodsy odor of cooking salty meat stung Naff’s nostrils.
Steam and smoke haunted the ceiling with an eerie white glow churning on the currents.
Passing the hot grills and fryers, Naff continued to the rear where an android moved to rinse, wash and sanitize the dishes. A second android took the clean plates and bussed them to the front where the cooks could refill them for the Seth-forsaken-filthy-mouthed Terrans that loved their nasty barbeque.
Naff hooked the helio-carrier to the magnetic bar and unloaded the top plate with three uneaten ribs. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching, took the ribs, wrapped them in the extra foil he had carefully folded in his pocket, and wedged them in his pocket. Then finished unloading the plates and utensils.
Removing the red-stained glasses, Naff’s Minky watch trilled. His alarm. Time to clock out.
“Naff,” a male voice called.
Naff turned his head, waiting for the Terran male to speak. He could never remember his name. Terran males all looked the same.
His own race made things easy to distinguish them apart. All Night Demons had distinctive bone formations. Some had claws or spikes along their spine. Others had sharp teeth or horns.
Naff was one of the Night Demons with forehead horns. Black ones. Ten inches long… with spikes.
A hellbeast. That’s what the Terrans call him behind his back.
The male Terran in front of him was short, thin and had baby soft hands. Whatever his name was, this one liked to think he was important. And he liked to tell Naff how to do his job.
If this Terran lived on Lotus Adaamas, Naff’s birth planet, the Demons there would call him a nip. In other words, a nobody.
“Hey, you need to clear off table sixteen.”
Not a chance. “Sixteen’s still full. They haven’t left yet.”
“I know. I have eyes. You need to go over there and start clearing their table, so they get the point. If I go over there, the two lovers will ask for more coffee. And they already drank a pot.”
Naff shrugged. “If they’re paying for it, make another pot.”
The Terran’s eye twitched. “We have other people waiting. You need to pick up the table.”
Last he saw, there wasn’t any line. “Not gonna happen, Chip. My shift’s over.”
“My name is Gage, and it’s not over if you still have tables to clean.”
Naff untied the black stain-free, fire-resistant apron and tossed it in the laundry chute. “You want them gone, Chappy, you do it yourself. I’m off.”
“You do understand that I’m the manager’s nephew, right? If you leave, I’m going to tell him you left with a table full of dirty dishes.”
With a yawn, Naff walked to the back door. On the wall was a hand scanner to clock in and out for each shift. Peering back at the arrogant Terran, Naff held his hand up to the device. “You do that.”
Naff turned back because he enjoyed pissing off the arrogant little nip. Just as predicted, the little Terran glared at him like he could actually do something, but while the Terran stood there sputtering with impotent anger, Naff had years of fighting in the bare-knuckle arenas on his side. Which was why he was tired and his shoulder ached.
Chap or Chip or whatever his name was, curled his upper lip and walked away. Naff would have laughed, but he didn’t have the energy. For the last three years, he worked non-stop just to make rent, and rent kept increasing.
He pushed open the back door that emptied into a small parking alcove.
Adjusting to the dim light of dusk, Naff walked to the side street and used his Minky watch to alert nearby Nack Krawlers he needed a ride.
Several streams of unmanned hover crafts followed a single glowing cable above the buildings. A few seconds later, a Nack Krawler left the yellow-sky line and descended to the street, stopping right in front of him. The passenger door opened and a young Terran jumped out, saw him and slunk back into the Krawler with both arms pulled into his chest.
The idiot was wearing a black t-shirt with a red Charlie’s Barbeque logo on the chest. The same logo that was on several t-shirts in his drawers at home. Not that he wore them, he refused. He had a reputation to maintain.
“If I was going to hurt you, you’d already be on the ground with a broken neck. Now move.”
Amazingly, the kids’ eyes widened further. And he didn’t leave.
“Now,” Naff barked. The half-grown kid zipped forward, running in a wide arc away from him and the open door.
He sneered. Terrans.
Slinking into the seat, he programmed the navigation to his apartment building, then moved to the back bench, laid down and threw his arm over his eyes. A twenty-minute drive meant a twenty-minute nap.
The smell of barbeque sauce wrinkled his nose. After three years working in that Terran slop of restaurant, he still couldn’t stand the stink.
An audible growl resonated from his stomach followed by an acidic burb. He needed to eat, but he didn’t have time to stop.
That’s when he remembered the ribs.
Thrusting his hand into his pocket, he pulled out the foil and sat back up, already feeling nauseous. He needed the food, but this sticky sweet stuff was going to make him sick. He scraped away most of the sauce from the ribs with the foil and forced himself to take a bite.
Naff needed the energy or he would get his ass handed to him in The Pit tonight. Rent was due, and he needed to win to cover the bill.
2
The Nack Krawler stopped in front of his apartment building. He hit the release button for the door and shrugged out.
On autopilot, he made it through the double doors that didn’t automatically open like they should. The dark grey stains around the baseboards were getting darker, and the stagnant air was musty with a hint of melted plastic.
The building manager, a slimy Terran named Frank, liked to turn off the air conditioner to keep out the loiters.
Thankfully, the elevator still worked.
He exited on the fifth floor. Walking down the hall, he glanced down at the brown c
arpet and tried to remember if it used to be green with blue diamonds or black with green diamonds, he couldn’t remember.
The door had no handle. The sleek design looked great when the building was new and almost entirely automated. The keypad on the right-hand side was black with red numbers. Naff reached up and stabbed the enter button without entering a keycode.
The constant power surges fried the program and now the piece of junk only responded when he hit enter.
Naff pushed open the door and welcomed the chilled air. The extra cooler he bought was worth every kelep.
The door slid shut. Inside, Naff shuffled to the kitchen, pulled the refrigerator door open and gaped. “What the hell?”
Why was there food inside?
A female voice behind him said, “Um, can I help you?”
Naff’s fighting instincts took over as he slid one foot behind him and turned ready to defend himself from the intruder.
In the hall between the kitchen and the living room stood a short, curvy female Terran with a look of confusion and fear pretty face. She was holding a bowl of rice to her chest like a shield.
“What are you doing in my apartment?”
The female swallowed and tried to keep her voice firm as she said, “I just signed a lease for this apartment. Were you the previous occupant?”
She leased his apartment? Impossible.
Naff rubbed a hand up his forehead to the base of his right horn. He didn’t need this right now. He didn’t need any more crap muddying is already rotten life.
It was proff Seth of Stars hated him and enjoyed seeing him suffer.
Pointing a crooked finger at her he said, “Pack your crap. You’re not staying.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said pack your crap. This is my apartment, and I’m not leaving.” And when he got done with the manager, he would eat her bowl of rice, too.
He turned and stomped out of his apartment and all the way down the hall.
When he rang for the elevator, he saw the female at his door, staring in his direction, looking at him with curiosity, and not… in terror like she should. He was a Night Demon and pissed. She should be peeing her pants.
Terrans had the hardest time around him. They said he looked like a hellbeast. The female at his door looked like a Terran. She didn’t have white-pale skin like a Yunkin, or green scales like a Bolark.
Figuring she was still at the door for a reason, he asked, “You going to follow me?”
“I was thinking about it.”
“Fine, then come with me. You’ll hear it from the idiot’s mouth that you rented an occupied room.”
The female shut the door behind her, and to his dismay, she took tentative steps in his direction. Seth of Stars, this couldn’t be happening… no one walked that slow. No one.
He glared, but she didn’t look him in the eye, so he was left staring at her like a creep.
Her long, light brown hair shone in the fake light. Naff would bet both paychecks that if he grabbed a handful, it would be silky to the touch.
The elevator dinged, and he closed off those thoughts.
Terrans never blitzed him. There was no reason to dream about it.
Naff stepped inside and the female didn’t quicken her pace. He wanted to let it shut on her, to teach her to walk like a normal person, but he forced himself to hold the door. He grit his teeth.
Three seconds later he lost his patience and hit the side of the cab. The clang echoed, making the female jerk back.
“Today, Baby Steps.”
Her light brown eyes found his and held on like an animal unable to move or think. “If you’re coming… you have to hurry. Do you see the door open?”
Baby Steps started to move again, and he heard a muffled, “I thought Demons were just scary, not jerks.”
Naff narrowed his eyes at the female but she didn’t look at him.
Was she talking back to him?
Inside the elevator cab she moved to the furthest spot she could get.
“Look, after we talk to Frank, and you find a new place to stay, you’re going to have to wait to pack until after I shower and lay down for thirty or so minutes. Then I leave for work. I’ll let you hang out on my couch if you’re quiet. If not, you can wait in the halls for all I care.” Naff didn’t mean to explain himself, but the words were already out and he would not take them back.
The elevator dinged, and he walked out first, checking both directions because he didn’t want Baby Steps to get approached by the loiters who liked to hide in the corners of the lobby. Once he saw it was clear, he jerked his chin for her to follow.
Baby Steps didn’t keep up, so he had to keep looking back to make sure she was heading in the right direction.
Pointing to her legs she said, “This is as fast as I go, I don’t have your long legs, so stop glaring at me.”
He let out a long breath and waited.
By the time they made it to the office door, he was ready to smash someone’s face. Naff banged on the door twice and pushed it open, not bothering to be polite.
Frank, the manager, was in his seat, eyes black with lust and Naff heard a female moan coming from the Minky screen. The Terran shot up from his seat. Another moan came from the Minky and Frank fumbled to power it off the screen.
“W-what do you want?”
Naff touched his chest with his fingers. “I…want to know why you double rented my apartment?”
“Because you didn’t pay your rent,” snapped Frank, trying to make himself look intimidating. “You’re out. She’s in. Got a security deposit from the lady too, so it’s done.”
Naff had fought guys like Frank before. The idiots who thought their words would keep a Demon like him in line.
Words meant nothing – fists meant everything. Which is why Naff pushed the desk, pinning Frank between the wall and the desk.
Leaning close, Naff said in an ice-cold voice, “Rent’s due today, I’m not late and my stuff’s in there, ya’ nip. You can’t kick me out of my apartment without taking the proper procedures and filing an eviction with the Federation.”
Frank struggled for a moment, but then gave up and puffed his chest out, using his tone to try to get Naff to back up. “Rent was due yesterday. The new payment schedule was announced on the Minky screen in the back. So, you were late. And I don’t need to file anything because you have a history of paying late. So… if you don’t leave right now, I’ll call Federation security and tell them you’re threatening me.”
Naff sneered, “I haven’t begun to threaten you.”
“You can’t do this; you can’t come harass me for doing my job. I told you last month that I wasn’t going to take another late payment.”
“I wasn’t late!”
“You were. You should have checked the announcements. Been up for a week. I don’t have to remind you to pay on time. I’m not your parent.”
“Thank Seth you’re not anyone’s parent, you ugly conniving-rat-bastard,” Naff snarled.
Naff didn’t remember his parents, he was twelve when both disappeared. He was living on Lotus Adaamas then. A month later, one of his neighbors took him to a Federation officer and told him that Naff was homeless and needed to be taken to Marnak. And from that day forward, he had Yunkin and Terran rules shoved down his throat.
He was a Demon, and he’d be damned if he broke down and started acting like an honorable-nip.
Frank was obviously trying to bully him into thinking it was totally within his rights to kick Naff out without proper authority. It wasn’t. Naff knew it wasn’t because he had gone through this before. Paying bills on time was not in his skill set, which was why grace periods were his saving grace.
“I’ll make you a deal,” Naff said “You find Baby Steps a new place, and stop trying to kick me out – and I won’t tell the Federation you’ve broken the law by double renting a room.”
Frank’s eyes were still wide, but his tone tried to cover that fear. “All my rooms are full
. And I did nothing wrong. We had an agreement. You broke it. You’re out.”
“There was no written eviction. It’s illegal, you idiot.” Naff’s insides coiled with revenge. Everyone knew that the first deal a Demon offered was always the best. Everything after that was meant to punish. The ugly rat-bastard just declined and sealed his fate.
Frank held still when he said, “I gave you a verbal warning and you said you understood.”
Lying bastard.
Naff would not let him get away with it. “Take my deal, because I promise the next offer won’t be half as good.”
“No deal. I have the law on my side. I have the lady’s contract signed and approved. You can’t do anything, Night Demon.” The manager flicked of his hand in the air as if the gesture would deter Naff.
Curling his lip, Naff said, “Right, well don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll see,” and with that, Naff turned around, grabbed Baby Steps by the arm and pulled her back towards the elevator.
Naff kept his gaze on Frank, waiting to see if the manager would take the bait and assume he was going to take his anger out on the female.
Frank’s mouth dropped. “You hurt her and I will call the Federation guards. They will be here in a second.”
Naff chuckled darkly, “They won’t be fast enough for what I’ve got planned.”
The elevator pinged and Baby Steps tried to pull from his hold. Wrapping both arms around the soft and sweet-smelling body, he lifted her up and walked backwards, making the show a little more dramatic.
The scene was playing out perfectly, but there was one thing missing. The little extra – that could sell it.
Putting his play into action, he leaned his mouth to her ear and whispered, “If I were you, I’d be screaming already.”
