Chapter 17 #2
Niko, who’d been staring into his coffee as he sipped it little by little, looked over at Feral. “No, I was genuinely being nice. Might be the last one you get for a while. But, hey, if you think you stink, you might really want to fit it in.”
“Thanks, but my clean clothes are in the Suburban,” Feral said.
“Give me your clothes, I’ll throw them in a quick wash and then the dryer. They’ll be ready in time,” Alison said, standing up and holding out her hand.
“What am I going to wear while they’re washing?” he asked with a grin.
“A bath robe, or a towel around your waist?” she asked. “You’ll still be more covered than most swimsuits.”
“You sure?” Feral asked.
“Of course, come on. I’ll show you to the bathroom, and take your clothes. You hurry and you’ll have time to eat, too,” Alison said.
“Yeah, okay. Thanks.” He stood up and followed Alison up the stairs to the bathroom.
“So, any idea when you’ll be back?” Alison asked.
“We don’t know. There’s not a set return date, where we just return to Alliance when that day comes. And as this is not considered a combat mission, it’s just recon, so we’re not on a firm timetable.”
“So, you’ll just go back home whenever you go back home,” Alison said.
Feral nodded, but didn’t seem very happy about it.
Alison seemed to take a second of ‘stillness’, not really interacting with him. Almost like she was stepping back, without physically stepping away from him.
“You alright, love?” he asked, lifting an arm to reach toward her.
“Of course,” she said brightly, lifting her hand to shoo him into the bathroom he stood blocking the door of. “Go take off your clothes real quick and give them to me so I can get them cleaned before you have to go.”
He looked at her, knowing he was missing something but not sure what it was, then backed into the bathroom. “Okay. Give me one second.”
She barely had time to take a breath and he was opening the door again, just a crack to hand her his clothes through. “Here they are. I really appreciate you doing this for me.”
“Not a problem. And breakfast will be ready when you come down.”
“I’ll be right there,” he said.
Alison turned and walked away, skipping down the steps to the first floor.
Once she was sure she was out of his line of sight, she dropped the happy act, even taking a few minutes to simply stand quietly at the base of the stairs as she took slow measured breaths and steeled herself against having to go into the kitchen and pretend everything was alright.
And in a way it was. She wasn’t surprised that Feral would be leaving and she’d most likely not see him again.
But she was disappointed. She’d hoped that his pretty words and seemingly sincere affection for her was real.
And maybe in the moment it was. But now he’d confirmed he was leaving, and he’d made it clear he was returning to Alliance, not here.
Despite the fact that they’d just met, it still stung.
Her attention was drawn toward the kitchen by the clink of utensils against plates.
Sighing, she smiled, held it in place and walked toward the sounds.
Maeve looked up when Alison walked into the kitchen. “There you are! I served your plate for you.”
“Thanks, Maeve. I’m going to throw these into the washer real quick, then I’ll be right back.
” Alison went into the mudroom, which doubled as a laundry room off the side of the kitchen, and quickly had Feral’s clothes in the washer.
A few minutes later she was seated at the table, forcing herself to eat a small serving of Maeve’s quiche.
And a few minutes after that she heard footsteps on the stairs before coming toward them in the kitchen.
“Damn, that was fast,” Niko said, looking up at Feral walked into the room.
“Perk of being Variant. No time to waste in the shower. Get in, get clean, get out,” Feral answered.
Alison, who sat with her back to the doorway, turned to look at Feral.
Her eyes widened and she almost choked. He stood there with one of her bath sheets wrapped around his waist, his hair was damp, though appeared to have been towel-dried, and his upper body was on full display.
Her eyes focused on the thin line of dark hair climbing from beneath his towel up toward his chest and the few stray water droplets clinging to the hairs of his chest.
“Wow,” Maeve said, her attention on Feral’s body, too.
Niko swung his attention to Maeve exaggeratedly, his expression clearly questioning her appreciation of Feral’s physique.
“No! I mean, yeah, he’s attractive, but I was referencing the scars more than anything,” Maeve snapped at Niko. “Like it’s any of your business anyway.”
Niko glared at her. “It’s my business,” he said steadily with almost no inflection at all.
Maeve made a face at him.
“You’ve really been through the wringer,” Alison said, her own gaze taking in all his healed injuries.
Feral looked down at his own body, then shrugged. “I guess so. I don’t really notice them anymore. It was just the way it was,” he said.
“I’m glad you survived,” Alison said. She got up and walked over to the stove where Maeve had left the casserole dish sitting, and scooped Feral out a large serving, added a few slices of bacon to the plate, then walked back over and handed it to Feral.
“Want more coffee, or maybe some orange juice or milk?”
“Coffee works for me,” he said.
Alison topped off his cup, then picked up her plate, intending to throw it away since she just couldn’t seem to make herself eat at the moment.
“What are you doing with that?” Niko asked.
“I’m just not very hungry, but I already ate some of it, so I was going to throw it away.”
“I’ll eat it,” he said, holding out his hand for the plate.
Alison laughed and handed him her plate. “Should have known,” she said.
“Did you eat anything at all?” Feral asked.
“Oh, yeah. And I’m not working today so I’ll be around here all day. I can eat a little something whenever I want to. I just don’t seem to have an appetite at the moment.”
Feral took a bite of his food and nodded as he took another. “Maeve, this is delicious.”
“Thank you! I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”
“You’re welcome,” Feral said.
“It’s very good. Thank you for making it,” Niko said.
“You’re welcome,” Maeve said, keeping her tone even.
A buzzer sounded from the laundry room and Alison got up.
“That was fast! What was it, ten minutes?” Maeve asked.
“I just put it on delicate cycle. Makes for a really quick wash. Let me throw it in the dryer, I’ll be right back.”
Feral watched her as she hurried into the laundry room, knowing something was off, but not sure what it was.
“Do you want to go swimming with me, Niko?” Griffin asked.
“Griffin, Ms. Alison doesn’t have a pool. We are not going over to Alpha Jack’s house to bother them all day again,” Maeve said.
“He said we could! He said to come back whenever I want,” Griffin said.
“I don’t care. They live there, and they shouldn’t have to have everyone filling their house all day every day,” Maeve said.
“Tell you what, buddy. Let me rest a little, and I’ll check to see if anybody else is swimming. If they are, I’ll come back and get you.”
“It’s morning. Why you gotta rest?” Griffin asked.
“Because I’ve been up all night.”
“Why?”
“I work all night, and I’m kind of tired. So, I’ll get a little rest and let you know what’s going on after, okay?”
“Okay,” Griffin said, picking at his food. Then he looked up suddenly. “What are you going to do if nobody’s swimming?”
“Haven’t decided yet. Why, what did you have in mind?” Niko asked, smirking as he watched the boy that had quickly won him over trying to finagle hanging out with him today.
“Nothing. He’s going to hang around the house and help me with whatever I decide to do, and then if Alison doesn’t need us, maybe we’ll go out and take ourselves on a walking tour. You can go do whatever it is you plan to do,” Maeve said.
“Sounds like a great idea. I’m going get a few hours rest, then I’m going to get on my side by side and take a nice slow relaxing drive around the mountain. It’ll be nice showing you around,” Niko said.
“I didn’t say…”
“Didn’t have to. I decided when you said I can go do whatever it is I plan to do. I plan to take the two of you on a ride to show you the lay of the land. I’m nice like that,” Niko declared.
“Yes!” Griffin said, pumping his little arm in the air. “We’re going with Niko!”