“I don’t know. That’s the thing about not being able to remember. You can’t remember.”
There’s salt in my tone, and it makes his scaled brow rise a fraction in a warning I somehow feel very low in my stomach.
“I don’t know,” I repeat in another, less aggressive tone. “I don’t know me, and I definitely don’t know you.”
“Alright. Get some rest. We’ll talk and decide what to do with you.”
The arrogance is extreme. How dare they decide what to do with me, as if I am some possession to be managed and handled. I’m going to make them regret coming for me, I decide. If I ran awayfrom them once, I can do it again. And this time, I’ll make damn fucking sure they don’t come after me.
“Who the fuck are you people? What are your names?”
“I’m Sharp,” he says. “The one who spanked your ass is Kronos and the one with the horns is Boss.”
“Is Boss in charge?”
“Not really,” he says. “We have a flat management structure. There is no true captain.”
“So I am also in charge, as much as any of you?”
“Oh, no,” he says with a sexy, indulgent smile. “You’re our pet. We look after you, and in return, you occasionally do what you’re told.”
The door opens and Kronos, the alien who just beat my ass comes in.
I have an animal urge to hiss at him and retreat into my blanket burrow, so I do both those things. I don’t know how I ever stood being handled that way by them. I hope I made his life hell before I ran away. Stupid sexy beautiful mean alien.
“Pet? I’m sorry that hurt you so much,” Kronos says. “I didn’t want to frighten you.”
“I wasn’t frightened. It hurt. Idiot,” I answer from inside my blankets, treating them like an invincible alien force field.
“Your mouth has gotten coarse over the years,” he says. “You must have suffered.”
“I’ve been having a really good time, actually,” I say. “I’ve been in the club most of the time. I’ve been dancing every night,partying, enjoying myself. I haven’t remembered or missed anything, and I’ve definitely not been hit by any massive aliens who want to hurt me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he says. “I thought you were misbehaving. And you did choose me to punish you.”
“I didn’t know that’s what was going to happen,” I whimper. “I told you I don’t remember.”
“You used to lie a lot,” he says. “I thought you might be lying again.”
“I’m not lying! I’m not a liar! Fuck you!” I curse. He has all these reasons, but he still did what he did and that was not okay.
“Okay, pet?” he says. “I am trying to take care of you, but for someone who doesn’t like being punished, you are practically begging for another punishment. You are acting like a spoiled little girl.”
“And you’re acting like a massive fucking asshole,” I shoot back.
The blankets get pulled off me at that point.
Sharp and Kronos look down at me sternly. I make a rude gesture at them both.
“I forgot how much trouble she is,” Kronos says to Sharp.
“Absolutely constant,” Sharp says.
“Take me back and let me go,” I say.
“Never.”
They reply in unison.
