Page 82 of Kidnapped By the Beast
“I did some work for the Kindred while I was visiting Natalie. You know how well they pay. So don’t worry—it’s fine. I told you I’d get the money and I did. Now just hurry and pay off that horrible Butcher guy and never, ever borrow money from him again.”
His eyes shone with sudden tears. He got up and hugged her, his arms trembling around her shoulders.
“Thank you, Lexi-girl. You saved me and your aunt both—and the house. I’ve got a meeting with Butcher Friday night. I’ll pay him everything I owe him then.”
Lexi hugged him back, guilt clawing at her throat. She’d saved her uncle and aunt and their house, but who was going to save her from the aching pain still filling her?
No one, that was who. She was just going to have to get over it. And in the meantime, it was back to work.
Spring Break was over, and reality crashed back over her like a tidal wave.
The middle school hallways where she taught smelled of bleach and cafeteria pizza. Sneakers squeaked on the floors and lockers slamming filled her ears. Her classroom was the same—rows of scratched desks, curling posters on the walls—but Lexi wasn’t.
She felt dead inside.
The trip to Bio-Terius Centra already seemed like a fever dream. The lavender-scented air…the four-eyed merchants…the humiliation and the aching sweetness of letting herself be milked…it seemed impossible that it had all been real. And of course Brandt—the big Kindred was the most improbable part of the whole experience. His golden eyes when they darkened with need…the way his deep voice rumbled through her when he called her little Lexi…the feeling of his big hands on her body when he touched her and tasted her and made her come for him…
Lexi dreamed of him every night. In her dreams he was always bent over his workbench, shoulders hunched, his face bleak and sad. He never spoke, never turned toward her, but she knew—she knew—he was as lonely as she was. She woke crying, aching for him, miserable and depressed.
And her students just made everything worse.
Before, teaching had been bearable. Sometimes even rewarding. But now the kids seemed louder, rowdier, and more impossible to deal with than ever.
“Skibidi Toilet!” they shouted in unison, bursting into laughter, when she tried to quiet them down.
“Settle down!” she snapped, her voice sharper than she meant it to be. But they wouldn’t be still. They screeched and laughed and howled like lunatics, shredding her nerves until she thought she was going insane!
Her head throbbed and her chest felt like it was splintering apart.
I can’t do this anymore, she thought, pressing her fingers to her temples. Not after everything. Not after him. How can I go back to a normal life after everything we went through together?
But she had no choice. This was her life—her paycheck…her bills…Aunt Helen and Uncle Herbert were depending on her. She had the extra sixteen thousand in the bank, but that was marked for paying off her student debt and starting her PhD. She didn’t want to touch it if she could help it. She would just have to keep soldiering on, trying to keep going until she could forget the big Kindred who had shattered her heart.
But as bad as things were now, Lexi had no idea how much worse her life was about to get…
46
LEXI
On Friday, Lexi stayed late at school, determined to finish her lesson plans for next week before she went home. The hum of the overhead lights was loud in the empty classroom, the stale smell of dry-erase markers clinging to the air. She rubbed her temples, forcing herself to focus on the columns of objectives and assignments glowing on her laptop screen.
If she finished them now, she wouldn’t have to think about them later. She didn’t want lessons planning hanging over her head when she was strapped to the milking machine in the lab on the Mother Ship, tubes tugging at her nipples while Dr. Brandt avoided looking at her like she was nothing more than equipment.
Better to get this done now. Better not to try to do it after the milking.
Because she was pretty sure she was going to be emotionally shattered after her time with the big Kindred—in no shape to make any kind of plans for her students.
She was tempted to skip the milking session entirely to spare herself the pain but two things stopped her. One—even though she and Brandt couldn’t be together because of his vow, his research was still important. If he really could cure breast cancer, it would save thousands of lives. Lexi wasn’t going to stand in the way of that, no matter how hurt she was.
And two, her breasts were getting really full and achy. She’d been leaking golden droplets of nectar for the past few days, wetting the fabric of her bra. Her nipples were tight and her breasts felt swollen. As much as she hated to admit it—she needed to be milked.
So she had reluctantly decided not to skip the milking. She would just have to manage the best she could. There was supposed to be a Kindred shuttle coming for her around six o’clock and she fully intended to be on it.
By the time Lexi packed up her plans and laptop and left the school, her car was the last one in the cracked lot. Dusk pressed against the windows of her old Honda, the yellow pools of light from streetlights flitting by as she drove. She gripped the wheel the whole drive home, trying not to think about Brandt, about the ache in her chest whenever she dreamed of him and how hard it was going to be to see him again tonight.
When she finally walked in the front door, Lexi intended to change into something comfortable and get ready to go when the shuttle came. But Aunt Helen was waiting for her.
Looking at her aunt, Lexi knew something was wrong at once. Her hands were twisted in the dish towel and her lined face was pale with worry.
