The new guy slides into the dirty booth, his thickly-muscled legs parted wide and his arms hung along the back of the seating as he quite literally takes up the whole space. His ear flicks like he’s agitated, and that’s the first time I notice that they’re long, like an elf, with a few golden studs. There’s a glint of a gold chain at his neck and chunky gold rings on his darker fingers too.
So maybe, more Georgian pirate, than landed gentry? Either way, this whole look is-
“You do not have to stay if you do not wish, but I’d wager those Yoxxarii will corner you again if they see you unoccupied.”
His deep rumbling voice cuts through all my mind-babble and brings me right back to the danger I’m still in. I don’t even need to look to know that those Yoxxarii are still staring over at their meal getting away. “No, I definitely want to stay,” I say, sliding into the booth and onto Mr Space-Darcy’s lap. He stiffens instantly, and not in the fun way - as in, his whole body tenses like he hadn’t expected me to take him up on his offer, and now that I have, he’s not quite sure what to do about it. “Thank you so much for saving me back there,” I tell him earnestly. I don’t normally like the thought of having to be saved - especially by a man - but I’m not stupid. Sometimes a damsel is genuinely in distress. And there’s nothing a man likes more than to play savior, so I will shamelessly play that card. “I don’t know what service you want in return but-”
I glance at my little floating friend - the money-collecting orb - only to see the amount shown shining on the surface isfarmorethan when I’d last taken notice. “You paid twenty million credits?!” I gape at him.
The male swallows and rubs the back of his neck. “Is that not enough? I’m happy to book your time until close so you do not have to resort to entertaining the Yox-”
“Enough?” I shift in his lap to face him better and I don’t miss the way his breath hitches at my movement. “You could outright buy thirty of me for that amount! That’s-” I suck in a breath.
Why did I say that?
I don’t want to highlight the fact that I can be purchased to anyone here in this club! Niska, think before you speak, for God’s sake!
The gray male’s eyes drop to my throat briefly before he’s looking away and shifting his hips beneath me. “I am not in the habit of buying people,” he says, holding up two fingers to one of the Raxilli servers nearby. I watch as her eyes widen and then she scurries away to go and get the man’s drinks. “Nor am I in the habit of frequenting places like this. I came here to find my brother. I know he’s down here somewhere.”
‘Down here somewhere’. Oh, this guy is definitely from the upper levels. If the giant tip he’s paid wasn’t enough of a giveaway, he’s too clean, and he smells lovely - like sea salt and vanilla. I still don’t knowwhathe is exactly, but whatever it is, I have never seen his species come into Mama Z’rykby’s looking for a house-servant or bed-slave.
“Well, I’m really happy you happened to be here to help me out with…you know,” I jerk my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of the creepy Yoxxarii, “…that situation.” It’s just as my arm falls back down to my lap that I’m reminded of a teeny-tiny detail that should have me freaking-the-fuck-out. The details stamped on my arm - details that those assholes saw. “Oh, shit!” I gasp, slapping my arm tightly to my chest. “Ohhh, no. No, no,no.”My hand slides up my face and into my hair, gripping it tightly at the roots like I might start pulling it out.
“What is it?”
“The Yoxxarii,” I say, holding out my arm now for my new friend here to see. “They saw where to purchase me. They’re for sure going to buy me as soon as they can, and then-” God, I might start hyperventilating. What if they buy Jaya and Lois too? There’s three of them. What if they each want food they can fuck to really round off the night perfectly?!
“They will not,” my big patron drawls.
All I can do is stare at him, silently wishing he had blasted their brains out right here in the club when he had the chance. My tongue rolls out to wet my lips and I ask, “they won’t?”
He clears his throat and shifts his hips beneath me again. “Because I will follow them from this place and kill them.” He’d said the words so calmly, and yet his jaw ticks as he looks over at the group of paper-white, people-eating assholes. “I would have done it earlier but I’d prefer to be discreet.”
He was so damn casual about it all that it instantly started to calm my oncoming panic attack. It was like he’d just offered to give me a ride home or something, not take out three, incredibly dangerous males.
I stare at him, so very grateful for the offer of casual murder on my behalf, but still a bit confused. “Whatareyou?” I need to figure out if I can trust him. Do I go along with his offer to just stay here on his lap or do I leave? What services is he going to want? Will he want some kind of repayment for saving me or killing those Yoxxarii?
The gray alien’s mouth tips up on one side. “Xaviann,” he answers, like I’m meant to know what that means. I start trying to wrack my brains as to whether Yix has ever told me anything about the Xaviann race. “And what areyou,little creature?”
“Human.”
He nods his head contemplatively. “Are human females normally so trusting of males?”
“What makes you think I trust anyone here at all?”
Because I really don’t.
His green gaze lingers on my neck and collarbone before the Raxilli server returns with two tall, slim glasses filled with green bubbling liquid. My new Xaviann friend thanks her before he takes one and indicates for me to take the other. I pick up the glass but don’t drink. I’m thirsty as hell, but I don’t know what this stuff is or how it affects humans. Besides, I need to keep my head clear in a place like this.
“Because females where I am from would not freely seat themselves on the lap of a male,” he says, answering my previous question. “That would demonstrate great trust in the male indeed,” he adds, taking a gulp of drink and putting the glass back down. I watch as he idly wipes at the condensation on the outside with his big, charcoal gray thumb.
“But it wasn’t free, was it?” I comment, tipping my glass toward the glowing credit-orb lit up with the obscene amount this man has paid to get me out of a fucked-up situation.
He says nothing, but I can feel his eyes on me as I look away to scan the room, my gaze barely flitting over where the Yoxxarii still sit, glaring at me. I can also feel that this guy is still tense, and that he’s not touched me once. Normally when I have no other choice but to sit in a lap, there’s touching. Even the most respectful guys in here (which isn’t saying much), pull me in close and wrap an arm around me.
Maybe he doesn’t even want me to sit on him? Maybe that’s why he brought it up?
My cheeks flame at the thought. “I’m sorry,” I say, making a move to get off him and find somewhere else to park my butt in this booth. “Did you not want me to sit-”
