Page 26 of Loved By the Alien King
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah, you did. More than you know.”
I didn’t understand exactly what that meant, but the shaky way he said it tugged at my heart. Whatever Pete was going through deep, deep down, he kept it well hidden, and what I was seeing was his raw, unfiltered self. I had a feeling that few were allowed close enough to see it except for those he deemed worthy.
My chest warmed. Funny how I’d once hated this show and everyone in it with a passion. Now, this stage sort of felt like my ship. Like home.
I turned around, stunned at the realization, and found myself reaching toward Maxx. He was a part of this new home—the biggest part.
He caught my hand and grazed my fingers through his with a warm smile, a passing gesture filled with the understanding and love I craved.
He had to know what I was thinking, what I was feeling, because he was surely thinking and feeling the same. That even though this planet kept trying to kill us, that even though he’d been sitting next to a Killian who’d been his mortal enemy for centuries, this place kind of felt like home for him too.
We were insane. We had to be. Either that, or it wasn’t so much the place that you called home but the people in it. And some of those people were the very last you ever expected to burrow their way into your heart.
Despite being able to hear now, I’d completely missed that everyone had already taken their seats and someone had apparently shouted “action!”.
In the next instant, Pete twirled around, his arms outstretched, his jeans not too tight, and his showman’s smile firmly planted on his face. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode five ofAlien Love Island!”
Chapter twelve
Maxx
Neraworeanewexpression today. One that only crossed her face when she flicked her gaze away from Pete and stared out across the sea to the cliffside and the pulsing beacon on top, which she was doing a lot.
The expression clenched her jaw so tightly, it was a wonder her teeth hadn’t turned into something akin to sawdust. Fire burned brightly in her dark, sad eyes, and she looked paler today, despite the careful application of makeup by her style team.
I wished she’d tell me what had shaken her last night. Had she gone out there? Seen something?
I also wished I would’ve told her what was shaking me. I’d had all sorts of chances but hadn’t seized a single one.
“…so episode four was spent with you all fighting for your very lives as you tried to escape by the skin of your teeth,” Pete was saying, “and to help you all cope from that amazingly tense, heart-pounding good time, I have a really grand, extra-special surprise for all of you. Before we get to that, and to who ourdamnsexy audience has voted to bid farewell to, today’s game is one you might’ve heard of, and it’s called Truth or Dare.”
There were several raised eyebrows at that. This was Pete playing it safe after his deadly escape rooms.
“What are we, twelve?” June asked, blinking her one eye up at him.
Sal, seated next to me, shrugged. “We’ve seen most everyone naked already.”
“Can you just pretend to be excited?” Pete hissed from one side of his mouth.
For his sake, the others instantly perked up.
“The rules are simple,” Pete went on as though he hadn’t been interrupted. “You’ll be asked to choose truth or a dare.But.” His eyebrows bounced at the same rate as his index finger. “There’s a twist. Some of you won’t get the chance to choose.Someof you have black stars underneath your seats with either truth or dare written on them.Thatis youronlychoice. Go ahead and see if you have a black star now.”
“This show’s about to go from zero to orgy,” the Killian said from my other side, patting under his chair. “You know that, right?”
Sighing, I reached between my legs and felt around the underside of the hoverchair. Sure enough, I had a black star with the wordTruthwritten in bright white letters.
Fuxx. I quickly flipped it over in my lap before the Killian could see it.
“Now, there are only two rules,” Pete continued. “One, anything goes, and I do mean”—he gyrated his hips—“annnnnything.”
Some of the contestants hooted.
If he were any other man, I’d drag him across a thousand suns on principle alone.
“And two,” he went on, “you cannot pass. Youhaveto say a truth or do a dare.”
