Chapter 31
FIRST ANNUAL TAKE YOUR ALIEN TO SCHOOL DAY
Luckily, work was hectic enough that, for a few short hours, I was able to forget it all.
Sky had yet to return from his apartment, but I knew he would. He’d made it clear he didn’t want me out of his sight. We were stuck together. At least until we could come up with a better plan.
I found myself glancing at the door, searching for him, more times than I wanted to admit. I told myself it was out of self-preservation. Not anticipation.
The brunch rush hit the fast-forward button on the morning, and by the time I checked my phone during a lull, I was nearly through my shift. Which meant it was nearly time for my communications midterm.
I grimaced. I’d managed to cram last night, but I didn’t feel remotely ready. I’d been slacking this past week. Schoolwork had taken a serious backseat to all the running for my life I’d been doing lately.
I swiped a tip off my empty table and grabbed the dishes to help the busboy, Adam. When I turned, I caught sight of the tall figure perched at the bar. I stopped short. My insides fluttered.
I would’ve recognized those shoulders anywhere. Sky was finally back. Absorbed in his phone at the moment, but there he was, leaning on one of the high-top stools, hip braced on the bar counter.
His hair was still damp and curling from beneath a black ball cap, and he wore a matching long-sleeved shirt and dark jeans. The combination wasn’t helping the sudden heat flooding my face. He looked long and lean, and the pang of attraction hit me square in the middle.
I tightened my grip on the dishes.
Ashley, the afternoon’s bartender, approached him, and he looked up and pocketed his phone.
My mouth went dry as he leaned over the bar, pointing at something behind the counter, one boot propped on the footrail, those jeans pulling tight over the world’s best ass.
Or maybe it was the galaxy’s, considering.
I tore my attention from his backside when Ashley nodded. He offered her that polite, professional smile before tapping the counter and straightening, turning—
His eyes snagged mine. Where I stood in the middle of the dining room, practically gaping at him. I was so busted.
His faint smile faded to something more intent as he pushed off the stool and moved toward me in easy, long-legged strides.
Realizing I was still gazing stupidly at him, I bobbled my load of plates and hurried toward the kitchen. He veered into an intercept course and cut me off halfway there.
“Almost done?” he asked, already pushing up his sleeves. He reached over and relieved me of most of the plates before we made it to the swinging door.
“You don’t have to…” I trailed off when he gave me a look and fell into step beside me. “Thank you,” I mumbled instead, clutching the trio of glasses and lone chip basket he’d left me with.
Well, this was it. If Kelly hadn’t already spread it everywhere, people were going to notice that he wasn’t on shift and clearly here with me. Helping me carry dishes. We’d shown up together and were getting ready to leave that way, too.
If I wasn’t careful, people were going to get the idea we were more than friends.
We passed Emily at the server station. She’d frozen halfway through tying her apron and watched us pass, clearly stunned. Her wide eyes shone with disbelief behind her glasses.
I flushed. Okay, that was a bit much. Wasn’t it truly so far-fetched that Sky might actually be interested in me?
I wasn’t sure whether to feel validated, considering that’d also been my reaction…or insulted.
Maybe both.
Oblivious to the looks we were getting, Sky pushed open the kitchen door and held it for me with his shoulder. “You ready to go?”
Once I’d slipped through, we deposited the various dishes where they went.
“Almost,” I told him, wiping my sweaty hands on my apron. “Give me a couple minutes.”
“Okay. I’ll be at the bar,” he said, glancing around us at the suspiciously quiet kitchen. Tony was staring at us, but when Sky noticed him, he quickly looked away. Sky frowned a little and turned back to me. “Come find me when you’re done, and we’ll head out.”
“Sure.” I went to work stacking my chip basket while he left through the swinging doors.
After grabbing my bag from the employee lockers and finishing my close out, I made my way back through the kitchen. Tony and Jackie were waiting. Tony didn’t waste any time, either.
“Oooh,” he said and, at my eye roll, began making kissing noises.
“Real mature,” I muttered, making a face at him. But when I turned, I found Jackie eyeing me sidelong, too. “What?” I snapped, hefting my bag. “Why’s everybody doing that?”
Jackie held up their hands, feigning interest in the menu board. I huffed and gave them both my back, marching toward the exit. Ridiculous.
These people seemed more surprised to find Sky willingly interacting with me than the prospect of aliens being among us.
This was doing real stellar things for my ego.
I was still mulling that over as I finished getting ready in the bathroom.
There hadn’t been a Kelly in sight—thank God. She’d vanished somewhere once her last table had left. I’d changed into the same jeans and long-sleeved blouse from earlier, and now I stood at the bathroom sink, palms gripping the counter’s edge.
Now that the shift was done and I’d had a moment to breathe, that surreal feeling returned. The full weight of what I was dealing with. The reason the hot bartender-slash-undercover alien was waiting for me in the dining room.
I took a long breath and stared at myself in the mirror, patting down the damp weather-induced frizz.
I had to push it aside. As wild as exploding tablets and alien mech-suits were, I still had a very real midterm to take. One that had very real consequences for my very real degree.
Exhaling slowly, I straightened my shirt.
I still had a future. I still had a life to live. That was what grounded me now. I might’ve wanted to run home and hole up there until this threat was gone…but I wasn’t doing that. I wouldn’t run. That wasn’t what Raven Barrister did. I’d never shied away from a challenge.
Which meant I had to stop hiding in the bathroom.
So I left it, and I took a deep breath before rounding the corner. Sky was at the bar like he’d said he would be, peering at his phone again. Texting, it looked like. Again, curiosity rose, but I tucked it away when he looked up.
“Hey,” he said in greeting when I reached him. “Ready?”
Suddenly nervous—everything outside this tiny bubble of normalcy felt unsafe—I swallowed hard and nodded.
“All right.” He glanced back down, thumbs tapping a few more words before he slipped the phone into his pocket and straightened.
Maybe that was Bast he was texting. His partner. What exactly did “partner” mean? Because if they were bonded, or mated, or whatever the space equivalent was, then…he was right about kissing me being a mistake.
Hadn’t he just given me a lecture, though, on why he couldn’t afford attachments? It hadn’t seemed like a lie, either. He’d seemed genuine.
God, we were getting ready to brave evil alien robots. Why was I fixating on Sky’s love life, of all things?
“What’s wrong?” Sky asked, and I jumped, realizing I’d been staring at him.
“Oh. Nothing. Sorry.” I tightened my grip on my bag. “Just lost in thought.”
He paused to scan my face, lingering. Concern formed a line between his brows. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
This was certainly a broad enough generalization for…well, everything. Starting with spending the rest of my immediate future with Sky.
But I forced a smile. “That midterm isn’t going to take itself.”
He waited another second, as if giving me a chance to change my mind. When I didn’t, he nodded and jerked his head at me to follow. “All right. Let’s go then.”
I kept to his heels as we made our way to the side door, studiously ignoring Emily and Kelly, who’d appeared from the kitchen and were now gaping with the rest of them. God, even Ashley was watching with raised brows.
I held my chin high.
Outside, the rain had lessened to a soft mist, but the sky was still gray and swollen with the promise of storms. We crunched across the damp gravel toward Sky’s SUV.
I glanced once over my shoulder at the building.
As we passed into the shadow of the structure, something cold crawled over my skin. Something a lot like foreboding.
Imagination, I told myself. Stress.
The product of too much caffeine, too little sleep, and far too many glowing alien objects. I hunched my shoulders against the chill and picked up my pace.
First, I needed to survive this midterm.
Then I’d take on the Enil.
One thing at a time.
I climbed into the SUV and buckled in. Sky’s music spilled from the speakers and wrapped around me, a slow, glitchy melody that sounded like outer space dreaming. That tugging feeling of danger settled deeper in my chest.
Maybe it wasn’t foreboding. Maybe it was inevitability.
Or maybe it was the understanding of how much everything had changed.
The memory of that bloody handprint drifted back. I focused instead on Oasis disappearing out the window before turning my attention to the road ahead.