Chapter 14
WILLA
There it was. My little silver-and-rust car with the primer-gray rear fender, and duct tape holding the left front wheel well trim on.
I looked down at my purse for a split second to get my keys and out of my peripheral vision I saw a large shape disengaging from the shadow of an SUV near me.
Adrenaline flooded my veins. A deep voice said something, but only fear and instinct registered in my brain.
I kicked, punched with the hand I’d been about to grab my keys with, then I let loose with the pepper spray.
I’d no sooner slammed my finger down on the button than I realized that I had recognized the voice.
It was Eng.
“Holy shit! Eng, I’m so sorry! Damn, you scared the crap out of me. What are you doing sneaking up on a woman like that?”
“Arrrrr!” he shouted in reply, dropping down to the pavement and digging his palms into his eyes.
Tears streamed down his face. Snot poured from his nose.
He was even slobbering. It wasn’t a good look, but it was all my fault and I felt terribly guilty that I’d assaulted my…
friend-with-benefits? Probably just benefits without the friend part.
“Oh, God! Oh, God!” I dug around in my purse, pulling out the water I’d smuggled into the arena because I hadn’t wanted to pay twelve bucks for their marked-up bottles. “Move your hands and open your eyes.”
“No! Arrrrg, it stings. I can’t see. I can’t smell anything.”
I had a moment of panic wondering if orc physiology reacted more strongly to pepper spray and I’d just permanently disabled my…sex partner or whatever. Either way, washing the stuff off his face and out of his eyes would help.
“Move your damned hands and open your eyes,” I snapped. “I’m trying to help you.”
“You tried to kill me.”
Okay, that sounded like a petulant whine. I let out a sigh and took the cap off the water. “You scared the crap out of me. I wasn’t expecting you and I thought you were someone who was going to rob me. Or try to rape me.”
He growled at that, pulling his hands away and opening his eyes to look around the parking lot with an expression of fury. If his eyes hadn’t been so red and I hadn’t known him intimately, I would have been afraid.
Instead I took the opportunity to pour water into his eyes and over his face. He sputtered, blinking and gasping. I waited a few seconds, then repeated the dousing.
“Better?” I asked as I emptied the last of the water over his eyes.
“It still hurts.” And now he sounded sullen, which I was taking to mean he did indeed feel better.
“It’s supposed to hurt.” I sat down on the pavement beside him. “It is supposed to disable someone, giving a victim an opportunity to escape an attacker. It’ll wear off in a bit.”
He looked over at me, his eyes already a little less red. “Do all human females carry this terrible spray?”
“Not all of them. Sometimes women take precautions, like going everywhere in groups or holding their keys in a defensive position, or having a whistle or something that lets out a loud sound to bring attention to an attack—anything to allow them a few vital seconds to get away.”
He scowled. “You thought I was an attacker?”
“I didn’t know it was you,” I explained.
“I saw a large person coming toward me and reacted. I don’t know how things are in your world, Eng, but here women always need to be prepared for a possible attack.
We’re taught from a young age that someone could kidnap us, convince us to come with them using lies about a lost dog or an injured parent, or just overpower us physically.
Every human woman is aware of the likelihood they may be attacked, so they’re vigilant, especially at night in an unpopulated area. ”
“No male with any sense would attack or attempt to rape you,” he told me.
I wasn’t sure whether that was a compliment or not, but I’d been feeling rather vulnerable tonight, so I went with an insult.
“Because I’m not sexy? No man would be attracted to me or so overcome with lust that he’d resort to violence to have his way with me?” I knew as soon as I said it that I sounded just as petulant and whiny as Eng had a moment earlier.
He frowned. “No. That is not at all what I meant. You are desire walking. Males turn their gaze to watch your body as you stroll by. All it would take is a swing of your hips to bring nations to war. But rape is not about sex, it is about intimidation and oppression. Those who are powerless and insecure try to punish those they see as having the power they crave. No male with any sense would attack or try to rape you because you would easily kill them and they know that. You walk like a female who has the ability to destroy any opponent. This is the…the romgara that shines from you like the sun. You are a warrior, and those who see you know that.”
Now it was my eyes that were stinging. No one had ever said these sorts of things to me. And for them to come from Eng, the guy I’d assumed was just with me for the easy sex…
“I am not happy that other human females are not taught to have this same power that you have. Human males are not special. They are not stronger, and they are not faster. No female should have to walk in fear here.”
I agreed. And the fact that Eng, the cocky, arrogant, shallow asshole who was just here looking for a princess bride had the same opinion shook me.
Once again I saw a glimpse of the Eng under the surface, a guy I really wanted to know, a guy I hoped might give me the opportunity to know who he really was.
“Better yet?” I asked. His eyes were still tinged with pink, but his nose was no longer running, and tears no longer spilled down his face.
He nodded, but didn’t show any signs of standing or leaving. Suddenly I wondered why he was in the parking lot behind the pub my friends and I had been in, right near where my car was parked.
“What exactly are you doing here?” I’ll admit there was a healthy dose of suspicion in my tone.
“Getting something to eat and a beer. This is where we always go after a game.”
I felt instantly guilty. Eng wasn’t a stalker.
It was me who was a borderline stalker, not him.
The guy was always eager to have sex with me, but it wasn’t like he’d ever sought me out, or asked to see me outside of the bedroom.
He’d made it clear I wasn’t his type as far as non-sexual activities went, so there was no reason for him to waste his time following me around town.
“Come on then.” I stood, then took his arm and pulled him up from the pavement. “At the very least I owe you that dinner and a beer.”
He stood up then hesitated. “You just left. You won’t want to go back.”
Wait a darned minute. How did he know I just left? Was he following me? Or did he see us leave and decide to wait for me by my car in hopes of a booty call? Or had he seen us leave and was hiding here trying to avoid running into me? If the last one, then why scare me half to death by accosting me?
It was either the booty call, or the stalking. Honestly, I was okay with either one.
“It’s not like they have a rule where I can only go to McHenry’s once in the evening.” I paused a second. “Unless you were wanting some alone time?”
“I don’t want any more alone time. I have too much alone time and it is making me crazy.”
“Then come on.” I hooked my arm around his, pretending it was in case the pepper spray was still blurring his vision. To my surprise he reached down and linked his fingers with mine.
We walked back to the street and around to the pub. “Too much alone time? I thought all you orcs would hang out together when you’re not practicing, and that hockey practice would take up most of your time.”
“I don’t practice.”
Yeah. I could kinda tell.
“And we don’t spend much time together outside of our games,” he added. “We didn’t know each other before we were offered a job with this team, and none of us know hockey enough for it to be a shared…passion.”
It took him a moment to find the right word.
Honestly I was really amazed at his grasp of the English language.
He had a better vocabulary than a lot of us humans.
Jordan had said that some of the orcs knew English from other humans who had lived in their world and that they’d been given language learning applications on their phones, but it was still impressive.
I had a three-month streak on Duolingo and couldn’t do more than ask someone where the library was in Spanish.
“I assumed you all would get together and talk about difficulties adjusting to living in the human world, like how hard it is to find clothing that fits properly, or why the M&Ms always get stuck in the vending machine.”
He growled. “M&Ms. I had to break that machine to get them out. And the candies were very disappointing. I had expected a fruit taste from the way they were colored.”
“I’ll pick you up some Skittles. They’re fruit-flavored, but it’s not real fruit so they might be just as disappointing as the M&Ms”
He let go of my hand before we reached the door, then took a few quick steps to open it for me.
“Thank you.” I walked inside then waited, surprised as he took my hand once more. Instead of heading to the bar he waved at a waitress with short blonde hair and pointed to an empty corner booth. She smiled and nodded, so that’s where we sat.
“Are you alone a lot back in your kingdom?” I asked after we’d settled into our seats. “I guess as a prince you can just tell everyone to get lost if you need some quiet time.”
He shook his head. “Even alone I am surrounded. Staff always stay where they can hear if they are needed, so there is little privacy.”