“A couple of things. First off, who was that blond guy you were laughing and carrying on with upstairs for so long?”
Valene shrugged. “I don’t know, some customer looking for a gift for his niece. Besides, I didn’t talk to him that long. I don’t remember carrying on with him.” Why was Wyatt acting jealous? She was the one who’d had to deal with Daphne Charlene.
“I guess it depends on your definition. Seemed like quite a bit of time to me.” Wyatt didn’t look very happy about her talking to anyone. “Plus, he had his hand on your shoulder. Kind of extra familiar, if you ask me.”
“I didn’t ask.” Valene didn’t mean to be so short with him, but another question floated to the surface. “How did you guys get here so fast?” She looked at the clock on Cam’s wall and saw it was half an hour later than she thought. “Is that the right time?”
Wyatt glanced at the clock and nodded.
Valene remembered what Nova had told her when she read Daphne Charlene’s thoughts. Not to mention her bombshell information regarding aliens hiding in plain sight at the truck shop.
“Were you with Daphne Charlene last night?”
He gave her a sharp look. “No. I was with you.”
“But in the middle of the night I woke up and you were gone.”
“I heard the dogs barking again so I went out back to take a look.” He shrugged.
“Your side of the bed was cold when I felt the sheets. You must have been taking a really long look.”
Wyatt looked skyward and sighed. “I might have been thinking about our future. I might have sat in the kitchen at my table and pondered living with you…elsewhere.”
“Daphne Charlene says she was with you in your kitchen late last night.”
He frowned. “And you believed her?”
Valene stared at him. “She also said you told her about space aliens living in plain sight at the Big Bang Truck Stop. How could she know that if you didn’t tell her?”
Wyatt’s eyes widened, but he didn’t have time to say anything before the door opened and Cam stepped in, Defender in hand.
Before Valene could do anything, Cam shot Wyatt and he crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
“Why did you do that?” Valene said, dropping down to see if Wyatt was okay.
“Because Daphne Charlene just ratted him out to Diesel. Said Wyatt told her about our big secret during pillow talk.”
“She’s lying, Wyatt would never divulge that secret, with or without a pillow.” Hadn’t she just accused Wyatt of that very thing? She was a hypocrite.
“All right then, tell me this—how else could she know?”
Valene opened her mouth to defend Wyatt, but nothing came out. The memories from the night before raced in to fill her head with a variety of what-if scenarios and none of them cleared Wyatt.
Who else had recently been told about aliens living in plain sight at the truck stop?
No one that Valene could name. Why would Wyatt tell Daphne Charlene anything about that unless they were together? Valene couldn’t think of a single situation to make that deplorable information work.
Chapter Ten
Wyatt woke up in Gage’s lab again, only this time he was strapped down and couldn’t move. His last memory was trying to convince Valene that Daphne Charlene was not a viable candidate for his affections even if his memory was erased. And seeing the surveillance tape Gage watched of Valene with some customer in the convenience store.
Nova also watched the tape, her awe-filled expression and subsequent blush when Wyatt walked in on the tape made him wonder how long Valene had been chatting, or rather flirting, with the blond guy before they arrived back with the hairy, un-skunk-scented alien.
Cam directed Wyatt to his office and told him he’d send Valene in so they could have a chat. When Valene finally arrived, they’d only spoken for a few moments. He hadn’t yet convinced her that Daphne Charlene was lying about meeting with him in the middle of the night. Then he blacked out and woke up here.
“Hello. Hey!” he called out, hoping he wasn’t alone. Scenes from every alien horror movie he’d ever seen slid uneasily into his mind before Gage stepped into view.
