The Krinar Exposé--A Krinar Chronicles Novel, page 8
“Take my bed,” Jay offered. “I’ll take the couch.”
“No way. I’ll sleep on the couch.” Lord only knew who and what had happened in Jay’s bed this week and whether his cleaning lady had washed the sheets since.
I was already feeling woozy and swaying on my feet as I brushed my teeth and washed up in Jay’s bathroom.
I’d just managed to pull my pajamas on and climb atop the couch Jay had made up for me when I succumbed to the state of blissful, dreamless darkness that only pharma-induced sleep provides.
Chapter Fourteen
I awoke to a light shining directly in my eyes as someone pried the lids open. I grumble-moaned my displeasure.
“Relax,” Vair’s voice soothed in my ear. “Let us have a look, darling.” I felt his arms around me. They felt so good, so comforting as they held my dead weight upright in his lap.
I was dreaming. And I didn’t want to interrupt what I already sensed was going to be a pleasant dream about Vair.
Even in my dream state, I felt drugged—unnaturally exhausted—making it easier to do as he’d asked and relax into his embrace despite the blinding light presently in my eyes. I reveled in the masculine scent of him, in the sensation of his full lips pressing against my temple and his warm fingers gently stroking the side of my head.
My eyelids were released and the light extinguished. It occurred to me that someone other than Vair had been holding them open. He was talking in that foreign language of his again. And not to me, I deduced when a female voice responded in kind.
Cool, feminine fingers palpated the glands on either side of my neck next, and an irrational sense of jealousy washed over me when Vair laughed softly at whatever the woman who spoke his language had said.
“No,” I murmured. “Not funny.” I wasn’t sure why. And my words came out slurred. Garbled.
They both laughed this time.
“Agreed,” Vair said. “It’s not at all funny how you make me worry. Never mind the way you disregard your liver.”
He was chastising me. But any sense of indignation I might’ve felt was forgotten as he hugged me tighter against the warm, solid mass of his chest.
Because in that moment, he felt safe. Normal. Better than normal. Nearly human.
And in my dream, I believed him. I believed Vair truly was concerned with my well-being. And it felt… nice. So nice that I didn’t object when a glass was pressed to my lips and Vair told me to drink.
I swallowed all of the strange-tasting, sweet liquid as he stroked my hair and made promises that I was safe with him, that he would never do anything to harm me.
After a while, I got the sense that we were alone. I didn’t open my eyes, though. I was too afraid that the dream would vanish and I’d wake up.
My brain felt more lucid after the drink he’d given me, my tongue certainly more adroit as I mumbled in response that I would never harm him either, and assured him that he was also safe with me… if he turned over all copies of that video footage he was blackmailing me with.
My declaration was met with a barely suppressed shout of laughter. I felt his body quake beneath me.
“Clever, delicious little minx,” he half-chuckled, half-growled against my neck.
My equilibrium shifted and I found myself flat on my back, trapped beneath him. His weight settled between my legs.
My nipples instantly tightened.
I moaned as his lips brushed mine, his tongue flicking out to tease me as the hard length of his erection did the same, grinding into the soft, pulsating notch between my thighs.
In my dream, I lacked the arm muscle strength and coordination to reach up and pull his head down to me. But I wanted him to kiss me. Really kiss me.
So badly.
Who was I kidding? I wanted him to fuck me. Consume me.
I told him so.
He groaned and told me to “shut the fuck up.” It sounded so out of calm, collected alien character for him that I giggled. And then he shut me up with his hard, insistent mouth.
The sensation of his tongue thrusting between my lips to stroke my own was torture, especially coupled with the masculine grunts of arousal that reverberated to the back of my throat as he ground his massive cock where I wanted him most.
Torture of the best kind.
“I should fuck you,” he managed between kisses. He sounded angry.
I liked it.
My inner muscles squeezed in anticipation. My pajama bottoms were already soaked.
“Until you can’t”—he thrust his pelvis against me just right—“fucking walk.”
“Who’s stopping you?” I gasped out.
He growled and rotated his pelvis hard into me once more.
Then twice. And by the third time—
Oh, God…
I was on the brink of orgasm when he stopped, released my mouth, and abruptly pulled his delicious weight from me.
My hands that had been too weak to lift a moment ago were somehow gripping his T-shirt in an effort to halt his retreat. I made a wounded sound that didn’t even sound human as his panted breaths fanned my forehead.
“Don’t want you to go.” My voice emerged shaky. I sounded so forlorn. Lost. So… needy.
So god-awful!
I opened my eyes to end this dream-turned-sudden-nightmare and found Vair’s hungry gaze studying me through the darkness surrounding us—a pained, vulnerable expression on his face that somehow mirrored my own tortured emotions.
I couldn’t decide if I should take comfort in that or feel worse about it.
His irises were so black they were nearly the same shade as his pupils, making him look scary. And yet hot.
Creepy otherworldly.
Still hot.
But most of all, he looked real. Very real. Felt real. Smelled real.
“I’m dreaming.” Please say yes. Please say yes. “This is a dream.”
He simply stared. Didn’t answer. Eventually, he told me to close my eyes.
I did.
His lips brushed my forehead. He told me he had to leave so I could finish dreaming—neither confirming nor negating whether I was, in fact, dreaming at present.
I was still clutching his T-shirt. He told me to let go, joking that even aliens needed rest on occasion.
“I promise you, I don’t want to leave you. But you need your rest now.”
He told me he hoped I was brave enough to come to his club that evening. Way to throw down the gauntlet. His implication that I had a choice in the matter was as odd as my feelings and behavior toward him in that moment, further corroborating that I had to be dreaming.
I felt him gently removing my fingers from his shoulders.
He told me he would stay until I fell asleep. I told him I was asleep.
The last thing I remembered was letting him know that he was wrong.
I didn’t have an intimacy problem.
Chapter Fifteen
Someone was singing “Bad Romance.” That someone was also cooking eggs and bacon. And hash browns. More importantly, I smelled coffee.
I smiled and rubbed my eyes open. Jay was preparing breakfast less than fifteen feet away in his open kitchen, using animal products that only wealthy people like his parents had easy access to.
“You’re an angel,” I called out to him, stretching as I rose from my makeshift bed. I felt surprisingly well-rested and energized, my mind clearer than it should’ve been, my head and body suffering none of the aches and pains I would’ve expected after consuming wine and Xanax and sleeping on a couch. Even my looming anxiety over the prospect of going to Vair’s club tonight had somehow abated during the night, because I felt markedly less panicked over the whole situation.
“So I’ve been told. Breakfast is in five.” He waved a spatula at me. “Chop-chop.”
I hit the bathroom, washed up, and was back in ten to take a seat next to Jay at his island countertop. He had already shaved, showered, and dressed for the day—which was atypical Jay behavior for nine a.m. on a Saturday.
“The hash browns, fruit, and coffee are all vegan,” he announced proudly, making me laugh as he bit into his bacon.
“Look who’s a funny man this morning,” I teased, picking up my fork and digging into the hash browns Jay had plated for me.
He seemed to be in remarkable spirits, full of energy and beaming from ear to ear like he couldn’t wait to get going with his day. Or to tell me something?
“Did you go out partying after I went to bed last night?”
“Without you?” he exclaimed with a look of mock horror. “I slept great is all. You?”
“Surprisingly excellent as well. Thanks again for letting me stay with you. And for making breakfast.”
“My pleasure. Can’t let my only female friend face Ks on an empty stomach.” He glanced at his watch. “But hurry it up; we’ve got less than fourteen hours to figure out what you’re going to wear tonight to the club, not to mention come up with brilliant interview questions.”
I frowned. “I’m sorry, did I miss something? Last night we were plotting my escape from the city. Now you want me to go to Vair’s club?”
“I know, I know, but I feel better about the whole situation after sleeping on it. Because guess who’s going to the x-club with you?” He raised his brow and gestured to himself.
My eyes popped. “Jay, I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not. I’m crashing your party.” He grinned. “I took it upon myself to contact Vair this morning to let him know I’d be coming. Also, to negotiate our terms.”
My fork slipped to the quartz countertop with a clatter. “You what?”
“Told him you were only going if I came with you and if he guaranteed our safety.” His puppy-brown eyes lit with excitement. “And if you got to interview some Ks.”
“You spoke with him?”
“No, we texted.”
“Texted?” My jaw dropped. “You have Vair’s phone number?”
He shrugged, looking sheepish. “I swiped it from your exotic fruit basket.”
“What?” There had been no number written on the card included with the basket Vair had sent me. I’d read that note over a thousand times. “Jay, there was no number anywhere on his card.”
“Not on the personal card, no. But there was a business card tucked inside the basket that included a phone number.”
“And you kept it all this time and never told me?”
He held his palm up. “You wanted nothing to do with that basket, Amy. You were spazzing out and didn’t even want to touch it, remember? I barely had time to look through the cool fruit and snag the card for safekeeping before you tossed the whole thing into the incinerator.”
“So you just woke up this morning and texted a K?” I couldn’t process it. “You texted Vair?”
He nodded, his mouth now full from the bite of eggs and bacon he’d taken.
“And he responded?”
Another nod. He raised his finger as he finished chewing. “Yeah. He said I could come tonight.” He paused to take a sip of coffee. “I asked about the Council members, too. He said everything was cool and he was handling it.”
“He said everything was cool?”
“I’m paraphrasing. He said you aren’t in any danger from them or any other Ks offended by your article as long as you stick close to him. You know, so that he can look out for you. That’s why he wants you to come to his club.”
Jay said this like it made perfect, rational sense. As if Vair was blackmailing me into coming to his alien sex club for altruistic reasons.
I couldn’t decide if I should be relieved and embrace my best friend’s abrupt change of perspective on my situation, or be alarmed that I might be living the Krinar version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
“Come on, eat up. Everything’s going to be fine.” Jay gave me a reassuring smile. “Think about it: this will be way better material for your next K article than the veganism stuff.”
I shook my head, my appetite gone. “What deal did you make with Vair about me interviewing Ks?”
“Like I said, I told Vair you’d come to his club tonight if I came with you, and if you got to interview some Ks who frequent the club for your next article.”
“This is a bad idea, Jay.” Writing articles about Ks is how I’d gotten myself into this whole mess.
“Will you stop shaking your head at me and listen for a minute? Vair gave me his word that we’d be safe under his protection at the club.” He spoke slowly and clearly, as if he thought I wasn’t getting it. As if Vair’s word on this was somehow gospel.
“He also agreed to let you interview Ks, but only Ks of his choosing.” Jay scrunched his nose at the last part—like it was the most regrettable news. “And only on his terms, which include him being present for any and all interviews with these other Ks. For your protection, of course.”
Once again, Jay was quick to present Vair’s actions as considerate—practically noble. What the heck was going on?
“To be honest, I got the impression Vair just wants you to interview him, actually.”
Great. “Jay, you know I want to help get factual information about the Ks out to the public more than anyone, but don’t you think I should avoid pissing off the Krinar Council any more than I already have at this point? What if Vair’s lying and this is all a trap?”
Jay cocked his head, studying me with a distracted expression.
“If you come with me, we’re both endangering our lives,” I pointed out. “We could disappear off the face of the Earth, and no one would ever know what happened to us.”
Jay’s eyes widened, like he’d just had an epiphany. “Hey, you’re not wearing your glasses. And you’re not squinting at everything like you normally do without them.”
“Did you hear anything I just said?”
“I heard it. Are you wearing contacts? I thought you’d lost your last pair weeks ago and hadn’t reordered them yet?”
I was about to flip out on him over his bizarre behavior when I realized he was right; I wasn’t wearing my glasses. I had lost my contacts weeks ago. Over four weeks ago, to be exact—the night I’d hooked up with Vair.
And I could see fine without glasses or contacts right now. Perfectly, in fact.
I could see flecks of gold and black in Jay’s brown irises that I’d never noticed before. I could read the tiny print on the dial settings on the small Viking convection oven nestled within the wall of cabinets that was well over six feet behind Jay’s back.
“Oh, my God…”
I hopped off my stool and dashed over to the couch. I found my glasses right where I’d left them on the coffee table the night before and put them on.
Then I took them off. And put them back on again.
I couldn’t see for shit with them on.
It wasn’t a new prescription that I needed. Apparently, I didn’t need glasses at all? Something wasn’t right.
Then it hit me. His scent hit me.
My heart thudded in my chest. I dropped to my ass on the couch, balled the mess of tangled sheets between my hands, and raised them to my face, inhaling deeply as I recalled my dream.
“Um… what are you doing?”
I looked up at Jay. “I think Vair was here.”
“Don’t be silly. We have doormen downstairs.”
“Like that matters. Jay, we watched him disintegrate a wall right in front of us at his club, remember?”
“Point taken.” He joined me on the couch. “But maybe it’s just my cologne you’re smelling.” He attempted to pull the sheets from my grasp, and I jerked back reflexively, clutching them to my chest.
Like a possessive, K-sniffing xenophile. A crazed K addict.
I tossed the sheets at Jay like they were on fire.
Subtle.
“No—I mean, it’s not, um… your scent.” I took my glasses off and busied my fingers by fiddling with the hinges. “You can sniff for yourself.” I sounded like a lunatic.
The look on my best friend’s face confirmed my worst fear. I put my glasses back on.
Perfect vision was overrated.
He stood. “Okay. Ah, suppose it’s from your limo ride yesterday then? You didn’t shower last night, right?”
It was a perfectly plausible explanation. But somehow I knew my gut was right this time. Vair had been here. And I had very confusing mixed feelings about that.
My body did too.
“You’re probably right.”
“Of course I’m right. I’m always right,” Jay said with a forced laugh, doing his best to lighten the mood. “But why don’t I try to connect with that friend of mine from college anyway?” He tucked the crumpled-up sheets under his arm. “The one I think ended up at the CIA. You know, as a precaution.”
I nodded. Maybe the government was quietly working on a Krinar vaccine that could make me immune to Vair? I’d gladly volunteer to test it.
“I think that’d be a good precaution,” I said, though I doubted any human could protect us from Ks. “Especially if we risk going back to Vair’s club tonight.”
“Baby girl, I know we were both pretty spooked last night, but I feel better about the situation this morning after texting with Vair. I really don’t get the sense that he intends to harm you. Think about it: he would’ve done it already. And besides”—Jay puffed his chest out, assuming a comical stance—“you’ll be with me! What could possibly go wrong?”
I had to laugh. “What indeed.”
“I mean, look,” he said with a shrug, “maybe Vair wanting you at his club isn’t about angry Krinar Council members or about Vair wanting to love you long time. Maybe it’s as simple as Vair wanting to reignite the buzz about his club that your last article created.”
“Maybe,” I said doubtfully.
“It’s just possible that not all vegan, bloodsucking alien overlords are villains, right? Vair could simply be opportunistic and capitalist-minded—like everyone else in this city.”
