Page 28 of Her Alien Neighbor

“It’s a Shirley Temple with a shot of coconut vodka and chili salt around the rim. Remember?” Sam says, giving me a strange look. “You made these all the time when we were in high school. You even gave it a name too.”

“Th––,” I swallow, my throat suddenly dry, “the Baby Spice.” I get the words out, but I don’t recognize the hoarse tone coming out of me.

“Everything all right, Vanessa?” Izzy asks, leaning on the bar.

Sam looks over my shoulder, and I know when she spots him. Her eyes widen and I see her jaw clench, but almost immediately, her features soften and return to a neutral expression. I find it odd. She knows what he did to me, but something about how quickly she masked her reaction puts me on edge even more than I was.

She smiles and turns to Izzy. “Uh, Izzy, can you give us a moment, please?”

Izzy nods and heads to the other end of the bar to check on the older man snacking on peanuts and nursing what looks like a dark beer.

Sam wraps her hand around my forearm once we’re alone. “You have every right to be here. We can leave if you want, okay? I’ll go with you. But you shouldn’t let him run you out of here. Fuck him. This is your town too.”

She’s right. Rationally, I agree with her. But the sweat covering my palms and the way my heart is beating like a hummingbird on cocaine are not reactions tied to rational thoughts. They are rooted in fear, in sheer panic, that what he did to me once, he will do again.

“Just keep looking at me,” Sam says with a warm smile. “Follow my lead.” She takes a few deep breaths in and out, and I breathe along with her. “Good. See? You can do this.”

Maybe if I don’t turn around, I can pretend he’s not there at all. It seems like an insane thought when everything inside of me is screaming “Run! Get out while you still can,” but I have to try.

It doesn’t matter if I leave here and go back to L.A. in a few weeks, I need to do this. If only to prove to myself that I physically can.

“Has he noticed us yet?” I ask Sam before I take a big swig of my drink.

She looks over my shoulder again, a slight wince flashing across her face. “No, I don’t think so. He’s playing pool. Hopefully, that will keep him occupied and over there for the rest of the night.”

I nod, not comforted by her observation because he could spot us at any moment and decide to come over. I wouldn’t put it past him to greet me with a smile as if nothing happened, but I’m glad I’m facing the door and won’t have to look at him. All the same, I can’t help but take a cautious glance his way.

Trevor is still tall and lanky, just over six feet tall, though he seems to have filled out a little in the midsection. His jeans still hang off his bottom half, his belt working hard to hold them up as if he still has no clue what size he is after twenty years of wearing clothes. His brown hair is styled the same way it was back then, spiked up with too much gel with the front pushed forward, and shaved on the sides. I remember his inability to grow facial hair back then, and it seems the only progress he’s made in that area is a trimmed goatee that makes him look like he owes child support in Tallahassee.

I wouldn’t put it past him. I wouldn’t put anything past him, in fact.

Sam looks down at the drink in my hand and starts laughing. Then I realize my glass is empty. I place it on the bar and look at Izzy. “Another? No rush, just when you get a chance, please.”

Izzy smiles and immediately comes over. Sam’s jack and Coke is still half-full, so she waves away Izzy’s offer for a refill.

With my new drink in hand, I look up to find Axil entering the bar with a guy who looks very much like him (one of his brothers, no doubt). Instinctually, I wave him over the moment his eyes meet mine. His lip curls up on one side, pleased, giving me a single nod.

It’s weird, I realize, to randomly spot him in a public place. So far, I’ve only seen him on my property or his, and they were tense interactions, if not all-out confrontations. But now, I find myself thrilled and relieved he’s here. This is likely due to the fact that Trevor is here, and with Axil at my side, I feel safer. Or maybe my irritating neighbor is starting to grow on me. Or, a third option, it’s the wine and vodka pumping through my blood.

“Vanessa, here you are,” Axil says, coming to stand next to me.

That’s a strange way to greet someone. “Were you looking for me?”

He looks like he’s about to say yes, but then changes his mind. “Uh, no. Of course not.”

The man to his right clears his throat, and Axil appears grateful for the interruption. “Vanessa, this is my brother, Zev Monroe. Zev, Lady Norton’s niece, Vanessa.”

I shake his hand. “Zev, nice to meet you.”

He’s a lot shorter than Axil, and also leaner, like Mylo. His hair is a lighter shade of brown, almost dirty blond, and pulled back in a tight, small ponytail at the nape of his neck. He’s wearing a black AC/DC tee shirt beneath a black leather jacket. He has two different colored eyes, one green, one blue, and a slightly crooked nose. With the exception of his face, every speck of exposed skin I see is tattooed, including his long neck and slim fingers.

“Zev, Axil, this is my friend Sam Rodriguez,” I say.

When Sam shakes Axil’s hand, she pauses, looking between the two men. “You…look like someone. Have we met?”

Axil looks surprised. “No, I do not believe so.”

She shakes Zev’s hand, and he says, “Perhaps you have met one of our brothers. There are five of us in total.”

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