Page 55 of Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind
“I’ll be right there. There’s something I need to do.”
Tiberius dragged Drew outside, not seeming the least bit apologetic when Drew’s head hit the doorframe on the way. Meanwhile, Ryan took a quick look around the shack. Just as she had suspected, there were packages of weed stacked up everywhere, cut, bagged, and ready for sale.
Ryan no longer cared to hold it as leverage over the man. Drew was officially no longer her informant. And the old lines between right and wrong, good and bad, were no longer as clearly defined as they used to be.
Picking up one of the dozens of wrapped bricks of weed and an old Bic bearing a photo of Mork from Ork, she flicked the lighter and held it to the corner. Once it caught, she placed it near the bottom of the stack, and then lit another, and another. It didn’t take long before the plastic wrap melted away and the weed caught on fire.
As the flames started traveling up, igniting the other bricks stacked on top, Ryan pulled her shirt up over her mouth and nose as she moved quickly and methodically, doing the same to the other stacks stored around the shack. By the time she walked out, there wasn’t a pile left untouched.
Despite his blood-soaked shirt and the fact that she hadseenTiberius get shot, he continued to hold Drew off the ground as if he weighed nothing, a look of disgust on his face.
For his part, Drew was sniffling and sobbing, no longer actively struggling beyond a few ineffectual kicks.
“You better not be lying to us, Drew, or your inventory isn’t going to be the only thing that gets destroyed.”
“Not ... lying. Black ... Eagle ... Oh, God ... what ... did you ... do? You ... crazy ... bitch!”
Ryan exhaled. Her job here was done.
“Put him out of our misery, will you? Nothing permanent, just enough so that, when he wakes up, his precious shack is nothing but a smoldering pile of ash.”
Tiberius snarled, “I should kill him.”
Ryan shook her head. “Too easy. After losing his inventory, he’s going to have a lot of pissed off clients after him. And when word gets out that he’s a two-faced little weasel, playing both sides, he won’t be able to run far or fast enough. Let’s go find Quintus.”
In one smooth move, Tiberius adjusted his stance, pulling Drew into a sleeper hold. Drew tried to fight, but it was useless against Tiberius’s superior size and strength. In less than a minute, Drew was unconscious. They then ran to her car and jumped in.
As Ryan drove away, she gave one last look in the rearview mirror, watching Drew’s livelihood go up in THC-scented flames. She had crossed another line, and this time, there was no going back. If knowledge of this ever got back to the appropriate channels, her career would be just as over as Drew’s.
However, as she looked over at Tiberius, she started to wonder if her career was what mattered anymore. Perhaps it wasn’t. Perhaps one large alien mate with super strength, speed, and a burgeoning psychic connection was where her true future lay.
Her life was changing faster than she could blink, but she didn’t care, because somewhere in the last couple days, her priorities had changed, too.
