Page 27 of Matched to the Alien King
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“I’m afraid, Rain.” Nera said it so matter-of-factly that I could almost assume she was talking to the flickering TV, its volume muted.
“Afraid…of what?”
She held the sleeping, bundled-up newborn closer to her and shifted uncomfortably so her back rested against the couch’s cushion. “Everything.”
I brushed some imaginary lint off the couch and sat next to her. When I first arrived at the house a week ago, Nera had described her cleaning habits as “chaotic evil” and “there appears to have been a struggle.” There were piles of laundry, piles of dishes, piles of everything imaginable, even piles of shovels.
“You never know how many dead bodies you’re going to have to bury at night,” Nera had said with a giant grin while rubbing her swollen belly. “Geez, Rain. Catch up.”
The house was spotless when she came back from the hospital earlier today, and I’d kept it that way for her and Lucy. And Mike, I suppose, who was upstairs sleeping.
Now, I trailed a delicate finger over Lucy’s velvety-soft cheek. “Everything…like what?”
“Being a mother. The responsibility. I can barely handle the whole adulting thing with just myself. Before I got pregnant, I used to eat nothing but pretzels, for god’s sake. What if I can’t give her everything she needs? Or what if I give her too much? Or what if she becomes the bully at school, and everyone hates me because my daughter is the devil incarnate?”
She heaved a breath, and I put a gentle hand on her shoulder to try to ease her worry.
“Nera. My programming…says this…is normal,” I told her. “You…love her. That’s all…you need.”
It was unquestionably true. I never really knew what love looked like, up close and personal, until I saw Nera smile down at her baby with her shining big brown eyes. That was love, unconditional and infinite in its strength.
“Thanks, Rain,” Nera said softly.
“Of…course.”
We sat in silence for a moment, then Nera rested her head on my shoulder.
This show of trust and warmth coursed pleasant energy over my artificial neurons. I was where I was meant to be, with Nera and little Lucy.
And that was the beginning of the three of us ///Error///—together.
///Error///
(((((((((((hurt))))))))))
Memory 030501 Code: 010184\ * * * * * * * * System flux: 8 sksk sldk.
Memory terminated. ***
Chapter ten
Nera
“WelcometoepisodethreeofAlien Love Island, the show that gets hotter if you lick your screens.” Pete winked into the closest camera drone with a heavily made-up eye to cover the bruise Maxx had given him. “Trust me on this, baby.”
I groaned. I couldn’t help it, and it drew a lot of sneers and dirty looks from my fellow female contestants.
Except June next to me, who patted my leg. “Learn to bottle those feelings up like the rest of us, number three.”
I peered closer at the one-eyed alien. “Number three?”
“Third place. I’m in second.” At my non-reaction, she looked down her nose incredulously at me. “Do you even know what you’re doing here?”
“No, I don’t. I never signed up for this shit.”
Her eye widened.
