Page 34 of Kissed By the Alien
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LEXI
Three guards leadme and five other buyers into the hangar where a man wearing jeans and a leather jacket meets us. I’d guess from his commanding presence, this is Damon, the guy in charge.
Before we head up the stairs to an office, Damon’s dark eyes narrow on one of the guards. “Bates, why are theresixbuyers?”
The man with barbed wire tattoos on his neck shrugs. “That’s who showed up at the pickup point, Boss.”
Damon walks the line of buyers and stops in front of me. It takes him all of two seconds to rip my hat off my head, exposing me as a woman. “Who the hell are you?”
“Bailey.”
“I don’t fucking care what your name is. Why are you here?”
“I’m here to buy. Like the others.” I motion to the men in the group. A group that’s backing away from me.
“And how the fuck did you get here?”
“I hopped in the van with the rest.” I cross my arms over my chest, hoping to look seriously annoyed. “How’d ya think?”
He towers over me to intimidate me. It’s working, but this is one of those stick to your guns moments. Not literally, though I did bring my gun along. I hope I won’t need to use it. I’ve never shot one before and I’m not sure I’m ready to take a life, even in self-defense.
I wish Lutan were here. Sure, he’s a warrior who could snap this guy in two, but he’s strategic, not impulsive and stubborn like me. Once I get an idea in my head, I can’t let go. Like trying to get a lead on those blasters he’s searching for. So he’ll agree to meet me.
Then, maybe Lutan will give me a chance to convince him that what happened to his brother, while tragic, doesn’t mean the same will happen to me. That I can take care of myself and being with Lutan doesn’t put me at risk.
“Eat a mint, man,” I say waving my hand in front of my face because if I don’t do something, I’ll cave into a puddle at Damon’s feet. He’s massive and hasn’t stopped glaring at me.
“Who the fuck told you where the buyers were meeting?”
“Max.” I hope I’m wearing my I-belong-here face as I wink at Max, who moved behind Damon the second the man started questioning me.
Damon’s face darkens as he turns and glares at Max. “You bringing the girls you screw now?”
“Not screwing her. She’s not my type. Little Snake sent her to me.”
Damon swings back to me. “And how the fuck do you know Little Snake?”
“A friend of a friend of a…” I start counting back on my fingers, trying to remember the trail of people I had to bribe, cajole, and sweet-talk to get myself here.
“Never mind. You’re too stupid to be a cop.”
“Hey, no need to insult me,” I snap, genuinely ticked off. Yup, this is not one of my finer moments.
“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t slice your throat?”
“Because that’s bad business. I’m in the market for some alien tech.”
He scrubs his face. “Alien tech’s illegal. Go home, little girl.”
“I’m thirty-one.” Yeah, I heard how stupid that sounds in a room full of burly men with muscles and knives.
Their laughter bounces off the walls, which only irritates me further, but coming off as flighty works to my advantage.
“Miss Thirty-One, unless you have some rich daddy, your life and whatever the fuck you came here for means nothing to me.”
I have a rich daddy, but that’s the last thing I’ll tell him. I hold open the flap of my tattered coat revealing my baggy men’s pants. “I shop at the finest stores.” I drop my coat hem and deliver a full-on stare that tells the guy I mean business. “I can get credits to buy what I need. Which includes a blaster.”
