| |
Days later.
Earth
Year of 2254, September – October
Izzy scooped another spoonful of lemon sorbet into her mouth, swearing upside-down, she could still taste the alien’s arm from when she bit him. Here she was, in her ice cream parlor while a Malo chased after a vanished Caro. Who knew where across the galaxies and damn stars he’d find her. Not that Izzy doubted he would either. The man had reeked of danger. What worried her was how long before Caro was safe. All knew, time mattered in kidnapping cases.
She sighed. From harrowing days to this. Outside the sky was its usual blue, the clouds were wisps of shredded cotton wool, and the variegated blue waves crashed across the sand. And here she sat, with her elbows on the counter, watching folks live their marvelous lives.
“Argh, I have eaten too much.”
She whipped her gaze at Garix hovering in the office doorway. “You say that every day.”
He harumphed, even as he ran his dark blue gaze over the flavors available while rubbing his flat-as-a-pancake stomach.
“Listen here, big guy, if you didn’t bring in the masses, you’d have to start paying. No one on this planet can afford to feed you.” She wagged a finger at him.
Seven feet of bronze muscle in military black dominated the small store. And yet, he refused to leave her, claiming she needed protection. Showing him her teeth had made no impact, like biting hadn’t saved her life. Shrugging, she scooped his favorite—black cherry—into a new container. Without him, she would be bored up to her eyeballs. As predicted, he lived with her, now occupying Caro’s too-small bed. His legs dangling off the bed was hilarious, which was why Izzy hadn’t ordered a longer bed for him.
“Anything yet?” She asked him at least five times a day if he’d heard about Caro.
“Nothing. Not since Ronin messaged that they were going dark on all comms.”
Right. Garix had mentioned that already. She studied him, curling her lips in suspicion. “You’d tell me the moment you hear?”
“Of course.” He said it with confidence, but still, she wasn’t sure he would.
The clock in her office ticked closer to lunchtime when mamas, blushing teenagers, or plastic housewives flooded her store to ogle Garix. Not one had brought him to his knee—the sign he had found his soulmate or Dar Eth. Caro had her Malo, who hunted her with a single-minded determination that scattered Izzy’s wits. That’s what she wanted. An alien of her own, with those ice-blue eyes, his obsidian hair down to his heels, and shoulders broad enough to handle her sass.
She had no one, nothing, except Garix’s friendship.
“How about pizza tonight?” She wiggled her eyebrows. “I want cheese, four kinds of toppings, and maybe deep base?”
He rumbled around the spoon hanging from his mouth and pressed his palm to the glass counter.
“Thought we could visit my sister?” She bounced around the counter to offer him the black cherry and throw a pout at him. Although, she shouldn’t have bothered when he didn’t understand most of her expressions.
“Your sister? As in blood-bond?” He arched a brow.
“Yup.” She grabbed the waste bin and wheeled it toward the double glass doors. “Going to the incinerator before the rush hour hits.”
He trailed her.
She paused, raising her face to meet his gaze. “No, don’t follow. It’s out back.”
He frowned. “Ensa, it is my honor to guard you.”
“But, Garix, if you follow me, then I have to lock up the store. I need you here to handle the customers.” She fluttered her eyelashes with mock innocence. A moment’s privacy would be wonderful since the only alone-time she had was when she used the bathroom.
He grimaced, and a shadow darkened his eyes.
“Listen, sweetcakes, if for some strange coincidence, a gray sharkman—”
“Yithian.”
She huffed since he was missing the point. “If a Yithian should attempt another kidnapping, I’ll holler like a pregnant heifer, screaming blue murder, enough to draw the crowds.”
His eyelids fluttered at her choice of words as his O.D.I. hurried to educate him.
She bolted out the store. Giggling at how mean she’d been to pull that on him, she skip-jogged along the glass façade to the rear of her shop where the waste incinerator dominated the back wall. Massive pipes traveled underground for the gasses generated by the fast-tracked decomposition process. Caro had tried to explain it all, but Izzy wasn’t a smart cookie like her physicist bestie.
“Izzy.”
Ducking her head at Garix’s roar, she clipped the bin in place, and hit the red button, tapping her foot as it did its thing.
“At last.”
She squeaked and faced the man standing too close for comfort. Peering around him, she frowned, wondering how he’d managed to sneak up on her. So much for hollering like a heifer. His brown hair fell across his forehead in greasy clumps, sticking up at the ends, as if he’d just rolled out of bed. She ran her gaze over the slept-in pants and button-up shirt he wore.
“Thomas Tenet from What’s Hot digi-mag. How do you feel about these alien warriors taking our women?” He held his forearm closer to her face, the flickering light under the skin indicated he was recording. Hmph, it looked like an O.D.I. How out of date was she?
She glared at him. Damn journalists. “No comment.” Facing the incinerator, she waited for the light to switch to green, then punched the start button.
“And where is Caroline Masterson? Have they kidnapped her? Is she working the brothels on the far side of the galaxy we have yet to map?
Izzy growled, shoving her hands into her pockets, ready to bitch slap the man. Couldn’t they leave her alone? The countless times they harassed her, posed as customers in her shop in the hopes of nailing a comment, and still, she’d said nothing. She gritted her teeth, gathering the tattered remnants of her patience. With an arched brow at him, hoping to appear unperturbed, she dusted non-existent lint off her parlor uniform, patted her hair barely restrained in a hairnet, and wrapped her fingers around the bin’s handle. He lunged between the bin and the sidewalk, his eyes wide. His cheeks trembled, and for a second, she thought he might burst into tears like a toddler who’d dropped their ice cream.
“Please, I just want to know what happened,” Thomas whined. “The media vids show you being attacked by a two-legged shark. Did you know—?”
“Attacked? More like an attempted kidnapping.” Her vision blurred red with black spots around the edges. She jerked as she tried to hogtie her emotions when she never did so, never kept anything inside. “I bit the alien ass, that’s what I did. After they shot Caro with an antique pistol—”
She snapped her lips shut, and with a violent nudge to his abdomen, wheeled the bin past him.
Then, as anger set her chest ablaze, she faced him. “Etterians are trying to protect us. There’s a spaceship chasing after whoever has Caro. I don’t know if it’s the sharks, I just know there are people out there eager to farm us for whatever gain. I’m going to side with the most powerful race, but that’s just me. I don’t have plans to die anytime soon, but hey, if you want to chase away a stronger and more advanced species, leave me out of it.”
She rounded the corner and slammed into Garix, bouncing off his hard stomach. He caught her by the elbow while glaring at Thomas.
“Are you well, ensa?” Garix’s deep voice soothed her ruffled feathers.
She released a long sigh. “Just an irritating journalist, Garix.”
“Why do you have a bodyguard? Are they manipulating or drugging you?” Thomas held up his arm as he inched nearer to her and farther from Garix.
“Garix is my friend, you ass. Besides, why would I need protection?” She raised her chin and sauntered off, leaving Garix to pull the bin behind them.
“You are my friend too,” Garix said as he clipped the bin in place behind the counter. “The closest I have are battle-bonds. It pleases me you think of me as such, Izzy.”
She snorted, despite the sting of tears. Her one bestie was too far away for comfort, and visiting her sister sent Izzy into the dark side. She closed her eyes to calm the slithering oily guilt that wouldn’t leave her, no matter what she tried. A lifetime of making amends couldn’t fix what she’d done.
Blinking at Garix, she forced a smile. “Like I would let just anyone live with me.”
Unable to resist, she threw her arms around his waist, as best she could with their height differences. He patted her shoulder since they had yet to discuss human social etiquette. At least, he no longer ate a stick of salami like a bar of chocolate. Well, not in front of her. Small steps.
“When someone hugs you, you wrap an arm around them.”
He chuckled. “I know what a hug is, ensa.” Sliding his hands under her armpits, he hoisted her as if she was a six-year-old, pinning her against his chest. Her feet dangled. “Better.” He squeezed, and she swore she heard a rib crack.
“Can’t. Breathe.”
He released her, and gravity took over, yet when her sneakers touched down, nothing jarred except where he gripped her upper arms. Sure, she was small, but did he have to manhandle her like a doll?
“Does Earth have giant females?” He scanned her, then draped his arm across her shoulders. Her knees almost buckled under the added weight.
“Does Etteria have tiny males?” She grinned.
Giggling preceded the ding of the shop bell. Garix bolted for the safety of the office. Teenagers barreled in, their school bags hanging off their shoulders. They rose on their tippy-toes to sneak a peek at him through the glass. Izzy considered ordering him a bigger apron and forcing him to stand behind the counter.
She laughed. There was no way she could get all his hair into a net, and he would eat while he served. Sighing, she pulled on a fresh pair of disposable gloves and waited for the estrogen masses to get their fill of him.
Maybe she should close shop early today. Gone was the sense of accomplishment she’d enjoyed when she’d first bought the ice cream parlor. At that time, a steady income and mostly something to do had been her motives, but with Caro out there in the unknown, where did Izzy fit into the picture?
She couldn’t abandon Caro, nor could she leave Simmy on Earth. Miri could survive anywhere, so Izzy didn’t feel guilt about an even greater distance between them. They had the kind of friendship that time and absence didn’t diminish.
And if Izzy found her soulmate, her Eth, then what?
The shop had to go.
She scanned the turquoise-pink walls, the various trays of sorbet or ice cream, and the swirly patterns on the tiled flooring. Papa and Milly’s next door had once asked her to sell. A trip there this afternoon would give her some sort of direction.
If they bought Cheery Cherry, then the universe, the fates, and the powers-that-be had decided. Izzy would be happy with that. Then all she had to do was convince Simmy to fly the galaxy with her and Caro. Her sister could sculpt anywhere.
To leave all this behind? Izzy released a slow breath, as if an anchor-like heaviness was taken off her shoulders.
She bit her inner cheek as a wave of despair trembled the polite smile she wore. A relocation for Simmy meant relearning the layout of her new home. Could Izzy do that to her sister? Would Simmy fight her on this?
“Oh, death by chocolate, please, two scoops in a cup.” A young mother rested a hand on the counter with her card clutched between her fingers. Clinging to her jeans was a small girl, pigtails flying along with her tutu as she twirled. “And strawberry in a cone, one scoop.”
When Izzy circled the counter to offer the girl the cone, she’d vanished. A squeal reached her from the office where she tugged on Garix’s hand, begging him to play.
Her mom gasped and hurried to intercept. “Cindy, sweetheart, leave the nice man alone.”
Garix exited the office, carrying the little girl as if she were a bomb about to explode. His eyes were wide, and a smile teased his gaping mouth.
“Spin me.” Cindy giggled. “Mama, I can touch the ceiling.” She stretched to brush her fingers across the pink stars Izzy had spent days painting.
“I’m so sorry,” the mom said, wringing her hands as she peered at Garix, but having to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact.
“Having fun, Garix?” Izzy teased, offering the girl her ice cream, fully expecting a messy Etterian warrior to emerge from this.
With one arm looped around his neck, Cindy licked her ice cream before wiping it across Garix’s mouth. “Yummy.”
“Oh.” The mom’s face contorted in dismay. “She’s learning to share.”
“Don’t worry about it. Garix’s a natural with children.” Izzy laughed when he glared at her while pink ice cream dripped off his chin.
The teenagers sighed as one when he lowered the girl into her mom’s outstretched arms. Izzy offered him the towel hanging from her back pocket. He took it with a flick of a wrist and disappeared into the office again.
The mom clasped her daughter’s hand, ensuring no more disappearances would occur. “I’m truly sorry—”
“I’m not. Here’s yours.” Izzy handed over the cup, accepted payment, then waved at Cindy as they left the store. Now that was fun. Eyeing the simpering teenagers, Izzy arched a brow. “Who’s next?”
Page of 117