Page 72 of Kissed By the Alien
I crawl over the bed to the side where he’s standing. “Why did you think I wouldn’t be safe at home?” I grab his hand to keep him from pulling away. “Tell me.”
Conflict swirls in those dark blue eyes, turning them a deep black. “Sholani, I cannot lie to you, but I will not hurt you either.”
“You really think my dad’s behind my kidnapping?”
“Yes,” he whispers as he pulls me against him and strokes my hair. “I have a lot to tell you about your father, and it may not be easy to hear...”
* * *
LUTAN
As I applya soothing ointment to Lexi’s bruised shoulder and to the rope burns on her wrists and ankles, I recount every detail of my conversation with her father. I leave out nothing, including how I followed him to where he met and paid Moses.
“It sounds like a ransom drop, nothing more,” Lexi says as she relaxes.
I spare no detail about her father, destroying any childhood falsehoods she held onto. I let go of mine when I was twelve, the day my father took Narzan away. I had hoped to spare Lexi the truth, but I swore if I’d ever be fortunate to find my sholani, I’d never lie to her. A sholani deserves the utmost respect and above all else, the truth.
“Your father is a man who controls his environment, and by extension, yours.”
“Only to keep me safe.”
She’s listening, but not hearing me. Perhaps I haven’t done enough for her to trust my judgment yet.
“Your father knows about your hideout, Lexi, and yet he’s never stopped you from going there. He bought the entire block to ensure you’d have the place to yourself.”
“He what?” She whirrs around. “Damn, he’s trying to control the situation. Controlme. No wonder I get past his guards so easily. He knows where to find me.” Her eyes widen. “Does he know I’ve been gathering intel on the streets, or does he think I just come to my hideout to get away?”
“He only mentioned your safehouse.”
Her shoulders sag in relief. “That’s good in a way. If he knew about the people I mix with and did nothing to prevent that, then it would mean he didn’t care about me at all.”
I hate myself for what I’m about to say, but I do not want her blindsided like I was as a youngling. “Not all parents love their children. My father didn’t. I do not know your father well, and he may indeed love you, but I’ve seen enough to know one thing. He makes you think you’re in control while in fact he’s the one in control.”
She shakes her head again. “He can’t control everything. I gave Moses the idea about ransoming me. Virtue wanted to sell me. Suggesting they ransom me was the only idea I could come up with. They were paid a lot of money to secure blasters, and the deal fell through. I don’t know if the og’dals ever reached Earth. Only that Moses needed money to repay the Brotherhood who fronted money for the blasters. Virtue appeared genuinely surprised to find out who I was, how much I’m worth. Moses, though...” Lexi stares out the window, her confident smile of moments ago now gone. “He didn’t seem surprised.”
“Because he knows your father personally, sholani.”
“Don’t call me that,” she snaps, then immediately tilts her eyes to me. “I’m sorry. None of this is your fault. I just… I don’t know what to think right now.”
I stroke her hair, drawing a soft whimper from her. She’s hurting inside and there is no ointment I can apply to soothe that type of pain.
“What happened to Virtue, Lutan? When you opened that body bag, I thought it was him coming to hurt me.”
“He’ll never touch you or any other female again.”
She nods, without asking more details. Eliminating those in my way is part of my job, but not something I do unless necessary, and never to innocents. Killing the male responsible for harming Lexi was not only necessary but warranted. I could not chance him hunting her down again.
I open my mouth, then close it, debating if she’s ready to hear the rest.
“What?” she asks, leaving me no choice.
“After your father handed the bag of credits to Moses, they shook hands. Like business partners.”
“He did it. He really did it,” she says, rising from the bed, the shock on her face clear. “Oh, God, Lutan, my own father had me kidnapped…”
When her eyes fill with tears, I pull her in close. I curse myself for my weakness, but I cannot let her stand there, alone, thinking no one cares about her.
Her arms reach up my back and as they come down, they move to my front. Lexi unlatches my pants. My cocks thicken too easily at the thought of being with her.
