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Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

CARLA

Day four.

They needed to talk about the kiss. The one thing they absolutely had not accomplished was talking about the kiss.

Ari had just stood there, still as stone. It was like trying to French a statue. She broke away immediately, blushing furiously. Embarrassment and panic at what she had done burned so bright that she felt certain she’d incinerate on the spot. She ran away, diving under the covers of her little pet bed—basically a person-sized marshmallow donut on the floor next to the massive poster bed—and pretending that she didn’t exist, like a coward. Yes, the situation was disgusting and mortifying.

And the worst thing? It wasn’t the indignity of sleeping on the floor in a doggy bed. She’d slept in worse places, and the pet bed was cozy. The worst thing was that she couldn’t even tell if the kiss had been nice.

Of course, it hadn’t been nice. She basically assaulted Ari, and if she got even the tiniest bit of pleasure from forcing a kiss on a gargoyle that clearly didn’t want it, she was a horrible person. The kiss was gross. She was gross.

Ari didn’t say a word. The bed groaned as he sat on the edge, but he didn’t speak a word. She peeked out from under the blanket.

“You are better than this,” he said.

“I’m really not.”

With a dramatic sigh, he tore the blanket away. She tugged fruitlessly at the fabric but lacked the upper arm strength to yank it back.

Fine. She had to stop being a coward and do the hard thing and apologize like a grown -ass adult, even if she didn’t wanna.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” she said, every word dragging out of her like they weighed twenty pounds each. “I don’t want to talk about it right now. Can I please just be mortified in peace?”

As apologies went, it was lame.

Ari seemed unimpressed. “As you wish,” he said and left the room.

There. She somehow made the situation worse. Good job.

Sleep was impossible. Her mind kept replaying the kiss on a loop. She grabbed him and slammed her mouth to his. He remained passive, barely even breathing as far as she could tell, and then she stumbled away to hide. Her behavior was so reprehensible that Ari had to leave. Ari. The dude who literally bought her off the street. Apparently, there was a line, and she had crossed it.

Then Ari made the situation even worse by being thoughtful.

Not long after sunrise, Carla gave up trying to sleep. Ari had been gone all night. The hotel’s casino operated at all hours, so she imagined that’s where he went. He’d be back. Probably. She had a brief moment of panic, worrying that Ari would abandon her there.

No. He wouldn’t. They had a bargain.

Yeah, but he was putting considerably more time, effort, and cash into the deal. Maybe he decided she wasn’t worth the hassle. Doubt was a vicious thing.

Ari returned as a delivery of her and Poppy’s stuff arrived. All of it, the expensive human-sized shoes, the clothes, cosmetics, toiletries, her toothbrush, and the dust bunnies from under the bed filled two trunks. It wasn’t much to show for a life, but she and Poppy had been living out of rented rooms for two years, so it wasn’t like they had a house to furnish.

“This is amazing,” Carla said as she inspected the contents of the trunk, scattering items across the hotel room’s floor.

“Your landlord would not hold your rooms even after I offered to pay for the month. It seemed prudent to retrieve your possessions,” Ari explained. “I hired a service to pack and ship your possessions.”

“Wow, that’s thoughtful and generous.” And pricey.

“It is nothing.”

Carla continued to empty out the trunk, separating her items from Poppy’s. It wasn’t nothing. She didn’t really know what it was, but it was more than nothing.

The contents of the trunk were more than just her possessions. It represented all her material wealth. Literally. She shook out a jacket and felt along the seams. The credits she’d sewn into the lining were still there. The same went for the credit chips hidden in the hem of a skirt. Excellent. She picked at the lining in the jacket and removed a credit chip.

Ari frowned the entire time.

“Before you get all judgy, I don’t have the ID to open an off-world bank account,” she said, slipping the credit chip into a pocket. Regulated banking just didn’t exist on the planet. Hiding money in her clothes was barely a step up from stuffing money into a mattress, but it was the best option she had.

“I made no remarks.”

“But your face did that thing. You know, the judgy thing.” She wiggled her fingers in his direction.

Ari’s frown intensified.

“That’s the thing. You know, I’m surprised the landlord didn’t sell our stuff the first night we were gone,” she said. It was that kind of place but safe enough. Carla never worried about the landlord selling copies of her room key or someone busting down the door. Anything valuable, however, that wasn’t nailed down was stolen in a heartbeat.

With a delighted gasp, Carla grabbed the faded purple-and-cream-colored quilt from the bottom of the trunk and immediately wrapped it around her shoulders.

“That is an atrocity,” Ari said. “I will provide you with a proper blanket.”

Carla pulled the fabric tighter around her. “My grandmother made this. It’s vintage.”

“It has holes.”

“That’s character.” Carla poked a finger at a burned spot in the fabric. The quilt had been in rough shape when the aliens stole her—quilt and all—from her car. The lumpy batting was just plain gone in spots and the frayed binding was in desperate need of being replaced. The holes happened when her pod crashed into Poppy’s ship. Despite all this, she had a soft spot for the old quilt. “It’s the only thing I have from Earth. I thought I lost it. Thank you.”

“Yes, well—” He looked away, his wings doing that shivery-fluttery thing. He cleared his throat before repeating, “It is nothing.”

“It’s not nothing.” When you had so little, every piece, no matter how battered and humble, mattered. She doubted Ari understood that and seriously suspected that he never had to count pennies waiting for a paycheck to hit his bank account. “How can I repay you?”

“Do not trouble yourself. It is what a friend does,” he said.

“How can we be friends? I shot you,” she said.

“A misunderstanding,” he said in a breezy tone.

“I kissed you.”

“Yes, and I sincerely hope that was not a misunderstanding,” he said in the same breezy tone as if this was a joke.

Somehow, that made it all worse.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you without permission—it wasn’t cool, and I hope you can forgive me,” she blurted out, the words running together. She sucked in a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry.”

Ari crouched down in front of her, muscles and wings moving fluidly like this was his preferred pose. He seemed very alien just then, like a gargoyle perched on a building ledge, silently watching from above. Except this gargoyle stared directly into her eyes with some serious, prolonged eye contact.

“I refuse to accept that apology,” he said.

“Hey, I’m trying?—”

“Because,” he continued, speaking over her, “you apologized for the wrong transgression.”

“The kiss was a mistake. You clearly didn’t enjoy it.”

“Incorrect.”

“Oh, now you’re being impossible. Is this funny to you? I overstepped. I’m embarrassed. I’m sorry,” she said, struggling to keep the sarcasm from her voice and failing. “Can we move on?”

He watched her intently. It was… unnerving. She wanted to go and hide under the blankets again.

“Why did you kiss me?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I was happy and excited. It just sort of happened.”

He nodded, as if satisfied with that answer. “I remained still because I feared you felt an obligation to please me.”

Carla snorted. As if. “I’m not organized enough for an ulterior motive.”

“You lie with such ease. It’s impressive.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said, “The situation between us is complex.”

“A little bit.”

“When you kiss me again—and I very much hope you will—it will be because that is what you desire. Not from obligation. Not a transaction. Your desire is all I want.”

Yeah, so that knocked the wind out of her.

“Sounds good,” she managed to croak. Wording was hard, what with making them coherent and not just a jumble of gurgling noises. “I’ll see what I can do.”

ARI

All he could think about was the kiss.

He wanted more. He wanted to hold her against him. He wanted her to climb over him and threaten him again. He wanted more of her scowls, her biting sarcasm, her laughter, her nonsensical ramblings, the little noises of pleasure she made when eating a meal, and even the rumbling snores in her sleep.

All of it. More.

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