Alien in the Depths (Thryal Mates #2)

Chapter 13

Sofia

The thumping bass of the tightly packed club filled Sofia’s ears, coursed through her body, and vibrated in her chest as she stepped deeper into the belly of Goendir. The place immediately got her hackles up, its sticky floors tugging at her high heels while all around her, the club’s seedy clientele yelled, drank, smoked, and danced in varying states of inebriation.

The walls were painted a dull black, the occasional strobe light picking up the grime that had accumulated there over the years. Other than those bright flashes, the whole place was dark and shrouded in smoke. The music, apart from being bad, was loud, and Sofia could hardly hear herself think.

Aliens of all kinds moved on the dance floor, limbs, tentacles, and antennae bouncing in unison to the beat. Some moved deftly, others wildly, and some, Sofia noticed, appeared to move with very little control over their bodies at all.

As she followed Vexis further into the throng, she noticed a strange smell permeating the hazy air—something between burning rubber and strawberries. When she caught several pairs of shaky eyes staring at her from the club’s darkened corners, she shuddered a little.

“Let’s dance,” Vexis yelled over the music, turning and placing his hand on Sofia’s lower back to steer her toward the crowd. She could feel his fingers touching her skin where the black dress opened at the waist, and it made her skin crawl.

“Aren’t you going to offer me a drink first?” Sofia countered with a flirtatious smile.

She figured this might help prolong their night for Zaraq’s sake. That and she didn’t want Vexis to start grinding on her any time soon. The Rikuan paused, the club’s strobe lights intermittently showing the smirk that was forming on his face.

“You women are all the same,” he scoffed but turned around, guiding Sofia toward the bar instead.

When he finally took his hand off her back to order the drinks, she breathed a sigh of relief and buried her indignation at his sexist remark under the desire to get out of this date alive. Zaraq had said he only needed an hour or so to get the job done, and Sofia figured she could do anything for an hour. Even flirt with this cretin.

Sofia watched closely as the bartender mixed her drink, some bright orange concoction that Vexis had called a singe. Zaraq’s words came back to her. “Watch your drinks, don’t accept any ‘cigarettes,’ and most of all, stay alert.”

She could definitely do those first two things, and she hoped the singe wouldn’t impair her ability to perform the last.

Her thoughts were broken when she saw Vexis’s enormous mauve hand wrap around the glass and lift it from the bar, along with his own drink.

“Let’s hope this loosens you up a little.”

“I’m sure it’ll help,” Sofia replied with a wink, taking the glass from him.

That seemed to do the trick, and soon Vexis was grinning at her, running his eyes hungrily over her body without a hint of subtlety. Without even looking her in the eye, he leaned down close to her ear.

“This way,” he growled, taking her free hand in his.

He pulled her away from the bar, past the throng of dancers, and toward a set of red-carpeted stairs that led up to the club’s mezzanine. A security guard blocked the staircase, but as soon as he caught sight of Vexis, he nodded solemnly and stepped aside. It was as though Vexis owned the place.

“Friends in high places?” Sofia asked as Vexis guided her to a VIP booth. As she sat down, the fake leather seats grabbed at her exposed thighs, and she attempted, in vain, to tug her dress down to cover them.

To her surprise and disgust, Vexis reached over from the seat opposite and stilled her hand, letting his fingers graze her legs.

“Leave it,” he instructed, before letting his eyes drop down to her lap. It felt, to Sofia, almost as intrusive as his touch.

She could think of plenty of things to say in return, plenty of things she’d said to men in the past who couldn’t keep their hands to themselves. But tonight she knew she wouldn’t say any of that. She would play the perfect blushing beauty.

And then, when she got back to the hotel, she would take a long, hot shower to wash his touch, his gaze, and his words off of her.

“So, you’re a big deal around here, huh?” she asked again, trying to turn the conversation away from how long or short her dress was supposed to be.

Vexis seemed to like this boost to his ego, and he removed his hand to lean back in his seat, sipping his drink with an arrogant grin.

“You have no idea how big I am,” he told her once he’d swallowed his mouthful of singe. “But if you’re lucky, you might find out.”

Sofia forced herself to smile seductively, though everything in her wanted to throw her drink in his face. The only thing that kept her going was the knowledge that she was helping Zaraq, and her plan was working.

Maybe working a little too well , she conceded and tried to figure out how to keep Vexis on the hook but not give anything up.

“Aren’t you a charmer?” she lied, twirling her straw in her drink. “You learn that at the casino?”

She figured she could pump him for some information while she was at it, flirting just enough to distract him from what he might be giving away. She was just some bimbo dancer, after all. Right?

As a little extra incentive, Sofia pulled the straw out of her drink and lifted it to her mouth, keeping eye contact with Vexis the entire time. She twirled her tongue around the straw and sucked the slick orange liquid off it, knowing what she was doing was driving the Rikuan crazy.

The look in his eyes reminded her of a hungry dog, and she raised an eyebrow as if to say, well?

“I’ve had my fair share of women there if that’s what you mean,” Vexis replied, leaning forward again. “Women love a man in power.”

“Is that so?” Sofia asked, her nerves starting to get the better of her. Her flirtation was beginning to get dangerous, and she knew if Vexis got impatient, she might not be able to rein him in.

Instead, she took another sip of her drink and tried to figure out what to do. She figured she only needed to keep him busy for another half hour or so, and then she could make some excuse to leave or slip out while he was buying another drink.

“Never had an Earthling girl, though,” Vexis continued, looking her up and down again. “I look forward to finding out what that’s like.”

“You’re very confident, I see,” Sofia teased, trying to slow him down. The pulse of the music below was getting faster now and so was the beat of her heart. Not only that, the singe was making her head spin a little.

“You want the job, don’t you?” Vexis asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s how things work around here.”

Sofia panicked a little, but outwardly, she remained cool and calm.

“And here I thought you liked me for my personality,” she joked, letting out a low, sexy laugh.

Vexis seemed to enjoy this, and he grinned at her again, downing the rest of his drink in one shot.

“Come on, no more teasing,” Vexis told her as he smacked his lips. “I want to see you dance for me again.”

“Here?” Sofia asked, a little relieved. He might have been asking for a private show, but it was a hell of a lot better than him dancing with her. At least this way she could keep her distance.

Vexis nodded and leaned back in the booth again, gesturing with one hand for her to get up.

Setting down her half-finished singe, Sofia made a show of getting up slowly, the way she had at his house the day before. She could feel his eyes on her as she stepped out of the booth, as she adjusted her dress, as she took her place in front of him.

Like last time, she started by shaking her hips, each movement getting more and more pronounced with every beat of the music. The look on Vexis’s face told her he still liked this move, and she shot him a sultry smile to make sure she was holding his attention. The longer she could dance, the less she’d have to put up with him touching her.

As the bassline bounced, Sofia began to swivel her hips and run her hands up her sides, stopping to caress the skin that showed through the dress’s cutout. Vexis literally licked his lips at this, and Sofia instinctively turned away to grimace.

Thankfully he didn’t appear to notice, and instead, she worked the turn into her moves, giving him a spin to show off her body. When she turned back, though, she started. Vexis was making to get up from his seat and Sofia dreaded what would come next. Her skin crawled at the thought of him trying to kiss her, or worse, but she still had at least twenty minutes to kill for Zaraq to make it out safely.

A bright, high-pitched tone suddenly cut through the thumping bass, and in the dim light, Vexis’s wrist comm lit up, casting the mezzanine in a ghostly blue glow. The call stopped Vexis in his tracks, and Sofia watched as a scowl crossed his face.

“Hold that thought,” he told her before sitting back down and tapping the comm to answer.

Sofia let out a breath of relief. If this call lasts a while, I might get out of here unscathed .

“This better be good,” Vexis barked into the device, his mauve skin turning a dark purple by the light of the comm. “I’ve got an alien girl practically begging for it over here.”

Sofia felt another surge of disgust and anger rise in her, but by then she was practiced at swallowing her vitriol and fluttering her eyelids at the sleazebag, which was exactly what she did.

“Boss, someone broke into your place!” came a gruff voice over the comm, and Sofia’s blood suddenly ran cold. “The guy took something from the gun cabinet and get this… I think it was Zaraq!”

Sofia knew she should run, but the sound of his name made her freeze, and when Vexis turned his flaming gaze toward her, she couldn’t react fast enough. Her purse was still on the table, the blaster safely inside, but before she could reach it, Vexis was out of his seat. A split second later, his enormous hand was clamped painfully around her arm, and his face was right up in hers.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he yelled at her, spittle flying from his mouth. “Nobody plays me and gets away with it.”

“What are you talking about, sweetie?” Some part of Sofia hoped she could still fake her way out of this, the way she’d faked her way into it, but even as she spoke, she could hear the guilt in her own voice.

Vexis was having none of it. “Save it. I’m not as dumb as you think.”

With that, he grabbed her purse off the table and yanked her toward the stairs. As she stumbled along, she caught the eye of the security guard who had let them pass.

“Help, please!” she pleaded, hoping that someone in the throng of hundreds of people would see what was happening and help her.

But the security guard simply turned away, acting as if he hadn’t seen her. The rest of the patrons and staff did much the same—either too inebriated, too jaded, or too well-trained to make a fuss over her. To Sofia, it was clear a helpless woman being dragged from the club was business as usual.

Outside Goendir, Vexis shoved Sofia into his pod, slamming the door behind her. She considered, for a second, making a run for it, but even if the door was unlocked, which she doubted, where would she go? The club clearly offered no sanctuary.

An abrupt noise beside her startled her. Vexis had thrown open the driver’s door, and the pod visibly dropped as he deposited his enormous frame into the seat beside her. He threw her purse at his feet before turning to her with a scowl.

“Give me that,” he growled, pointing at her comm device.

Sofia’s heart sank, knowing her last hope of escape was being confiscated, but she did as she was told. The look of pure hatred in Vexis’s black eyes scared her into obedience. At least for now.

She unbuckled the silver clasp of the wrist comm, but he grabbed it before she could even hand it over.

“Zaraq huh?” he muttered hatefully, as he tapped at her comm.

She could see the white markings on his shaven head glowing dimly in the night as if his anger was manifesting physically. For a brief moment, Sofia wondered if it was the Rikuan equivalent of getting red in the face, but she knew she had better things to be thinking about.

As Vexis searched for Zaraq’s name, Sofia let her eyes drift to her purse. She could just see the corner of the pink leather sticking out beside Vexis’s foot. It was impossible to reach from where she sat, and of course, Vexis was between them. Her mind raced with possible solutions, but nothing came up.

“Zaraq, you worthless jirt!” Vexis suddenly barked into the comm, and Sofia could see he was sending a voice message. “You have something of mine and I want it back! Luckily, I have something of yours, too.”

He shot Sofia a wicked smile, something between desire and hatred.

“If you want the girl to live, you’ll bring back the sigma blaster,” he continued. “You’ve already lost your friend. Do you want to lose your pretty little girlfriend, too?”

At this, Vexis set down the comm and turned to Sofia again.

“Let’s hope, for your sake, he actually does like you for your personality.”

With that, he put the pod in drive and sped away from the club, the dark streets flying past their windows in a blur. A stone of dread rested heavily in Sofia’s stomach, getting heavier with each passing moment.

She knew she couldn’t let Zaraq come back for her. He’d be giving up everything they’d fought for. And more than that, she knew Vexis wasn’t the type to give a fair trade.

If she had anything to do with it, Zaraq wouldn’t get anywhere near Vexis’s house. Now she just had to figure out how to make sure of that.