Page 8 of Bound to the Alien King
He grinned and wiggled his bleached eyebrows as he sauntered inside the room and offered me a fist-bump.
I obliged him.He’d be really annoying if I didn’t like him so damn much.
“Something on your mind, Pete?”I asked with a smile.
“Yeah, are you about to say something that will make us punch you?”the Killian asked.
“I mean…probably?”Smirking, Pete spread his arms out wide toward the expansive walls.“Can you believe this dump?I’m kidding.It’s not a dump.I want to live here and make a ton of babies with the drop-dead-gorgeous crew and drink all of that red juice in the kitchen.Goddamn, it’s good.How are you, Miekil?”
My mind spun with Pete’s random word purge, so I could only imagine what the Killian was feeling.
He groaned and rubbed his forehead.“Worse now, thanks.”
Pete turned to me, his expression pinching into a grimace, and swung his arms in front of him into one giant, slow clap.
Oh good, here it came.I could already tell.
“So…about Nera…” Pete began.
“If she’s in trouble with the show for not coming with us, I’ll pay her exit fee.”Goddess only knew she didn’t need that extra stress.
His bleached eyebrows skyrocketed.“Shequitthe show?”
“I don’t know,” I said, sinking into a nearby chair.
“They got into a little bit of a misunderstanding,” the Killian cut in.“You know how it is, Pete.”
“Sure, but you both seemed so happy.So…” Pete waved his hands like he couldn’t think of the word.
Perfect.We’d been perfect together.Exactly what the other needed, and now, it was all gone.Ripped away with a powerful undercurrent of deception and lies because of me.
“And Bling…” Pete turned to the Killian.“What the fuck was that about, Miekil?”
He sank his eyes shut like he didn’t have the strength to go there quite yet.
“She held a dagger to my throat and threatened to take me back to Earth Space Fleet,” I answered for him.“Nobody saw that coming.”
Least of all the Killian
“But why though?”Pete asked me.“What does Earth Space Fleet want with you?”
Given how quickly gossip traveled through the crewmembers, and that some of them had been there to witness everything, it shocked me that he didn’t already know that I was a Faid.Unless he was faking ignorance for some reason.Trying to spare me some embarrassment maybe…but only making it worse.
“Pete,” the Killian said with a note of warning as he pointed to his bedside table.“Get me a glass of water.”
He nodded slowly, his keen blue eyes ticking between the both of us, as he headed for the water pitcher on the table.“All right, all right.I hear the change in subject loud and clear.”After he poured the water into a glass and handed it to the Killian, he turned to me.“Is the reason Space Fleet captured you the same reason why Nera isn’t here?”
“Yes,” I admitted, and then left it at that.
Lucky for Pete, he decided to accept it and move on.Sort of.
“I get it.I really do.My first marriage ended in disaster.I was too young, and she was too good for me, and…well, our relationship couldn’t survive…” Pete swallowed thickly as he gazed down at the plush carpeting.
My hearts skidded for everything he wasn’t saying—that his marriage likely hadn’t survived the death of his child.I’d learned of it while he and Miekil had sprung me from Earth Space Fleet, and it had thrown a whole new light onto Pete.After that, it was impossible not to feel for the guy and put up with his odd idiosyncrasies.
“But you two…” Pete shook his head.“You aren’t us.You’re stronger.You’ll get through this.”
“Thanks, Pete,” I said.“I appreciate that.”
