Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
CLEM.
As I take another bite of cookie, half of it crumbles and falls down the front of the jacket Otis has lent me, right between my tits.
“Oops,” I say with a smirk, and delve in to retrieve the missing half.
I mean—I can’t waste it, can I? It’s the best cookie I’ve ever had.
Glancing up from under my lashes, I see Otis’s gaze fixed on my cleavage. Immediately, he flicks his eyes away and his face turns a darker shade of green.
I guess that’s an orc blush.
Weird thing is, I feel flattered. I can tell by his demeanor and good manners that he’s not the kind of guy who eyeballs women. I sense he’s quite shy behind all that muscle.
And really, those tusks aren’t so very scary when you take a better look. And the smile I got when I complimented his cookies lit up his whole face.
He’s not what you’d call handsome, not in the human sense of the word, but there’s something very appealing about his face, those extra wide cheekbones, and a broad nose offset by a full, sensual mouth.
His red eyes are deep set, his brow strong.
His hair is darker green than his skin, and almost buzz cut, but it looks soft, and my fingers itch to touch it.
My gaze flicks over his huge chest and equally buffed biceps.
His forearms in rolled-up shirt sleeves are thickly roped with muscle.
His neck is the same, and what I can see of his chest. Gods, he sure is built.
His khaki pants are belted tight, and his thighs are like tree trunks.
My eyes travel to where his pants stretch over his groin. Yep. He’s built there, too.
Oh heavens, now it’s my turn to blush.
To save myself embarrassment, I do what I always do when I’m nervous: I start jabbering.
“This is all a bit of a shock, isn’t it?
I mean it is for me, so it must be for you too,” I chirp like a manic squirrel.
“Jax is a terrible communicator. I had no idea he was about to, erm, portal me down here and so, yeah… I didn’t have time to prepare or anything… ”
I glance up as I stop to draw breath. He’s staring at me out of those red eyes, and they seem to have a sudden twinkle of humor in them, the skin at the corners crinkling.
It’s… sexy.
Don’t think that word.
“I’m not exactly dressed for the job,” I babble, “but believe me, I’m good at administration. I run all the accounts for DeVines department store, I have a very organized brain.” I laugh, a little hysterically. “Not that you’d know that right now. I must look a total mess.”
You look—” he hesitates as if searching for words, “—fine.”
“I’d just arrived back from the beach when Jax grabbed me.”
“It must have been a shock, going from your vacation to the Labyrinth in a few seconds flat.”
“Sure was. But at least I knew the Labyrinth existed. I found out when Jax got beaten up in a brawl three years ago. Well, more than beaten up, actually. More like, erm, bitten and clawed.”
His lips twitch. “Understandable that you thought I’d bite, if that was your introduction to monsters.”
“Oh, yeah, I guess. But since then I’ve found out there are some fantastic monsters that live down here,” I gush, hoping I haven’t offended. “It was a relief when Sammy met Arlo. I could hardly pretend I knew nothing about the Labyrinth after that, could I?”
“I guess not,” he agrees. “Must have been hard keeping it secret for so long.”
“Yeah, it was. You feel so alone when you can’t talk about this stuff…
I always wonder what’s going on down here and if Jax is safe and…
” I shrug. “But now it appears I wasn’t safe up there…
which is kind of ironic, isn’t it? Knowing I was Sammy’s friend must have made the authorities suspicious.
But anyhow, I’m here now…” I haul in a deep breath and look around properly.
The room is cozy, lit with sconces, and there are pictures on the walls and brightly colored rugs on the flagstone floors.
The desk is a real mess of metal contraptions, cords and papers spilling off and onto the ground around it.
I focus on the positive. “You have nice lighting. Are they real flames?”
“Yes, lumen gas, but it burns cool, so there’s no fire risk. It’s what powers your so-called ‘sunshine’ in Sparkle city.”
My jaw drops. “Truly?”
“Yep.”
“Wow, I had no idea.”
“Jax probably thought the less secrets you had to carry, the better.”
“Maybe.” I shrug, clutching his jacket tight around my body. It smells nice, sweet and musky and very male. And suddenly my nipples harden. Yikes, my body is responding to his scent in a very primal way. “So, getting back to practicalities, what do you need me to do?”
Otis snorts a laugh. “Pretty self-evident.” He makes a sweeping gesture with one big green hand toward his desk. “Help me to get all this under control.”
“That sure is a big pile of stuff there,” I agree, looking at the teetering mountain of appliances and papers.
“Tell me about it.” He huffs. “I’m running the sheriff’s department with a skeleton staff and trying to work out how to outsmart the Sparkle authorities in my downtime.”
“I guess you’ll have to fill me in on what’s going on, because Jax hasn’t. Though he did admit earlier that he’s working for you guys, like, as a double agent. I’ve suspected that for a while, but it helps to have it confirmed, even though I’ll probably worry even more about him now.”
Otis looks down at his hands. “The human authorities have no idea he’s a spy. They still trust him to supervise the shipment of classified goods from here.”
My scalp prickles. “Classified, in what way?”
He hesitates. “Munitions.”
I feel my eyes bugging. “Seriously?! You make weapons down here and give them to the humans?”
“Not by choice.”
“Then why?”
“Because we’re forced to.” He shrugs. “They want to give us monsters a message. Stay underground or else.”
I stare at him. “And you just go along with that? Even though you’re so big and…”
He smirks. “Were you about to pay me another compliment?”
“I was just going to point out that you’re um, green, maybe.” I smirk back. Now we’re on a better footing, it feels okay to tease him a little.
Otis’s lips curve higher. “My standout feature. Along with the tusks.” His brows furrow.
“But back to your question. We—the monsters who reside on all ten levels of the Labyrinth—tried to rebel a hundred years ago. The uprising failed. After that, we were forced to sign a covenant that allowed us freedom to roam the Labyrinth without being chained up, provided we never went above ground again. That’s why you never see any of us—apart from when Arlo escaped.
We’re working on a solution, but it’s not easy. ”
“And Jax is helping?”
“Yeah, Jax is our eyes on the ground, so to speak.”
I sigh, rubbing my tight forehead. “Oh, it all sounds very complicated.”
“Don’t try and understand everything at once,” he says quickly. “The Labyrinth can be a hard concept for a human brain to take in.”
I nod, but still my curiosity won’t let up. “What are those flat metal things?” I ask, pointing at the thin, book-like contraptions on his desk.
“Computers.”
“What are computers?”
“Devices you humans invented before the apocalypse to share data. There were whole systems that linked information at lightning speed, but it all disappeared after Earth was devastated.”
“Where did you get these ones?”
“When we were digging out the Labyrinth, we found piles of human antiquities. We locked everything up in a vault built into the rock. That’s where the computers are stored, and the ancient textbooks about the magic that made them work.”
He picks up a threadbare-looking book with the words, Computer Coding for Beginners on the cover.
“I have hundreds of manuals like this. I’m working out the spells needed to operate them. Humans used to call it coding. Lots of letters and numbers strung together. I’ve got some systems up and running, but we need to develop more.”
My mouth slackens with admiration. I love intelligence in a guy, it’s super hot. Not that I come across it in Sparkle. Human men are such knuckleheads.
And to think I thought Otis would eat me.
“I’m so embarrassed,” I groan, covering my face with my hands.
“Why?”
“That I said, don’t bite me.”
“I get it, I look fierce.”
I drop my hands. “I can see past that now, it was just the shock.”
He looks at me solemnly out of deep red eyes. “Clem, I have no intention of hurting a hair on your head.”
“I know.” Our gazes hold for a few seconds more than necessary, and I feel a zing of heat low in my belly. And something else along with it, a warm, fuzzy sensation in my chest, like this guy would do everything in his power to keep me safe.
Trust.
That’s the word that comes to mind. I’ve never trusted men before—except my dad and Jax, but even that’s been sorely tested in recent years. The fact that the one guy I suddenly find trustworthy resembles a green warlord is weird to say the least.
“I’ll show you to the spare room, give you some time to yourself.” He splays his hands on his knees and stands.
“Oh yes, thanks,” I mumble.
When I stand up, his jacket hangs to my knees. It’s thick and heavy with silver buttons and a big silver star on the lapel.
He seems to notice my shoulders sag under the weight of it.
“I’ll get you one of my shirts to wear for now. Probably be more comfortable.” He turns that dark shade of green again.
“Cool,” I say, “and then you can have your jacket back. In case you need to go sort out a crime.”
“I’ll leave that to my deputy. He’s on duty tonight.”
He leads the way down the corridor, and I’m fascinated by the way the walls and roof are tunneled out of the rock itself.
He shows me the kitchen briefly. It’s very old-world charming, the kind of interior you don’t see in Sparkle City.
There’s a wood burner stove, and utensils strung along the brightly tiled walls.
There are shelves of condiments, spices, all placed higgledy-piggledy, along with jars of flour and sugar and rice and dried beans and pickled vegetables.
“You enjoy cooking?”
He grins, and I like the way it makes his tusks curve upward. “Yeah, I do. It’s my way of relaxing.”
He sure is a complex mix, this orc, I decide as he strides out of the kitchen and ahead of me along the rocky corridor.
He also has a really nice butt inside those khaki pants.
Stop perving, Clem.
I focus on the doors running off the hall on either side of us; there are quite a few. We come to a T junction with another corridor and more doors, and Otis goes left.
“Big house,” I remark, Hell, what if he has a partner? Kids, even? “Is it just you here?” I ask, trying to sound casual.
He nods, and weirdly, I’m relieved. “These days, yes. I grew up in this house,” he explains. “My dad and mom and four of us orclings all lived here. Dad is dead. My mom’s in a care home. My siblings work on other levels.”
“I’m sorry—about your dad…”
“He died in the line of duty.”
Seeing his face tighten, I decide not to pursue it further. “Do you see much of your family?” I ask instead. He grunts. Wrong question, obviously. “My siblings, no. I see my mom twice a week.”
“Oh.” His heavy tone makes me feel sad.
“My room is in there,” he says, but doesn’t open the door to show me, and I find myself musing what his bed would be like, how big it would have to be to fit him.
An image of snuggling up under that huge arm, my head on his chest, sneaks inside my brain, and I can only conclude that I’m going crazy.
Hardly surprising, with the day I’ve had.
Next, he opens a door right opposite his room. “This is the guest room. You can pitch in here for now. Bathroom is next door to your left. I’ll go get one of my shirts for you.”
“Thanks. And for this.” I slide the jacket off my shoulders and hand it back to him.
As his big hand reaches out to grab it, he glances down my bikini-clad body. It’s the most fleeting of looks, but his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows.
“Make yourself at home. I’ll be back shortly.” He strides out, almost slamming the door in his haste.
I hitch myself onto the big bed, my feet dangling over the side, and take a good look around.
The room is furnished with cumbersome dark furniture, a big stone bedhead, a massive carved wardrobe that looks like it’s made of petrified wood, an ornately carved chair in the same style, covered in threadbare velvet.
It’s all meant for a bigger species than human, that’s for sure.
Needs a woman’s touch.
I happen to love interior design. I love making things look beautiful, enjoy working with materials, sewing and the like, ensuring that colors coordinate. Already I’m looking at the lamps and imagining different shades on them, re-covering the chair in red velvet, maybe.
A moment later there’s a knock on the door.
When I call out, “Come in,” Otis enters with not one, but two shirts over his arm. “Choose, please,” he asks with an almost shy smile.
I take the lumberjack style shirt, with blue and green checks. I shove my arms in the sleeves and pull it around me.
Like his jacket, it comes to my knees and would probably wrap right around me three times.
His smile widens, his red eyes softening as he looks me over. “Suits you.”
I smile back, tuck a strand of my dark bob behind one ear. “I’m pretty much sorted then, apart from accessories.”
Suddenly he laughs, deep and mellow, displaying an arc of white teeth and the full length of his tusks. It transforms his face. Softens the hard lines of his jaw and forehead, sends crinkles fanning from the corners of his eyes.
I wonder how it would be to kiss him, how I’d navigate those tusks… and eek, how he’d kiss me somewhere else if he went down on me…
Heat floods my pussy. An answering heat spreads to my cheeks.
Luckily the doorbell rings. “I’ll go get that,” Otis says and disappears.
A moment later there’s the sound of voices—Jax and… Oh, I recognize that sweet laugh. It’s Sammy!
With a squeal of pure joy, I fly out of the room and into the arms of my bestie.