Alien Captain's Bride - Scarlett Grove Page 0,33
Leia costume. There aren’t any chains. And no one’s been raped.”
They both stare at me, and Bobby raises an eyebrow. I roll my eyes and set down my wineglass.
“I told you already. Jaxxo has been nothing but a gentleman.”
“I don’t think you’re telling us the whole story,” Bobby says. “I know they injected you with something. What is it doing to you? Why aren’t you more suspicious? I don’t think you’re acting normal.”
“You don’t know me well enough to know what’s normal for me and what isn’t.”
“I know you just dumped your boyfriend like two days ago. And now you’re ready to jump into another man’s arms? I know you well enough to understand that that’s not normal.”
“She has a point,” Bethany says. “I don’t think you’ve really dealt with the breakup yet.”
“How am I supposed to feel? We were abducted by cannibalistic aliens! As far as I’m concerned, the Martians rescued us. And Jaxxo has been pleasant. He is a good man as far as I can tell. I really don’t know him that well yet. And if you really must know, he’s been extremely reserved.” I say the last few words with a thread of anger that reveals more than I had wanted to.
“Is there something wrong with him being reserved?” Bobby asks.
I feel cornered, as if I’m going to have to tell them what’s going on. It’s too embarrassing to say out loud. But maybe if I talk about it, it will be easier for me to organize my thoughts. I wouldn’t mind discussing it with Bethany, but Bobby is the last person in the world I want to talk about it with.
“Of course not. We barely know each other. I only mentioned it because you think we were brought here to be sex slaves. When the truth is that the Martians haven’t and will not do anything even remotely against our will.”
“They’re keeping me here. That’s against my will,” Bobby snipes.
“Do you want to go back to Earth? Or would you rather have been eaten by the Mantises?”
“You know they couldn’t take you back to Earth, Bobby. They explained all of this aboard the ship,” Bethany reasons.
“Whatever. You two are sheep. I’m done with this conversation,” she says, standing. She strides out of the room, and her bedroom door slides closed behind her.
I glance over at Bobby and roll my eyes.
“What’s really going on with you?” Bethany asks. “How are you dealing with this new arrangement with the captain right after your breakup?”
“It’s a lot, I’ll be honest.”
“Why do I get the feeling there’s more?”
“I’m not going to talk about it here, not when Bobby can walk back out here any minute.”
“Let’s go somewhere private.”
I pick up my half-empty wineglass and follow her into her suite. It looks almost identical to mine, except the painting on her screen appears to be a classical oil painting rendered by Rembrandt. It has the same play of light and shadow as the old master. But this is a piece I’ve never seen before. So I assume it is by someone else. Maybe a Martian. In the picture, a naked man, rippling with muscle, is battling a ferocious male lion. The beast’s long yellow mane bristles with energy. Its massive, sharp fangs are bared, and they glisten in what little light shines from above.
We sit in her living room area, and she stares at me from the armchair across from my seat on the couch. I take a sip of wine, trying to figure out how to tell her what has been happening with me ever since I was paired with Jaxxo.
“There is more to the story,” I say slowly. “It’s just hard to explain. And more than a little bit embarrassing.”
“I’m not going to judge you. We are all in the same boat. Any experiences that you recount with the Martians could help the rest of us process our transition.”
“Well…” I’m searching for the right words to say, but none of them feel any less embarrassing. So I decide to just jump in and tell it like it is. “Every time I’m near him I feel so turned on it’s like I’m an adolescent boy.”
“Oh…”
Silence hangs in the air between us. And I feel that maybe she is judging me, until she speaks again.
“Do you think it’s because of the injection?”
“I don’t know. It only happens when I’m in his presence. But then it slowly fades. So it must have something to do with him being close.”
“Maybe you’re just