Chapter 10
TWINK
Well, that was a weird-ass day.
I had a lot of things in mind when I was showing Daddy around town.
Figured I’d show him the popular sites, then maybe go back to his place, where he could plow any thoughts I still had about that asshole cheat out of me.
But what actually happened is something I’m still struggling to believe.
It’s wild to think I went from wanting to bang him, to being terrified that he was some kind of monster, back to thinking that not only was what he did sweet as fuck, but incredibly sexy.
As wrong as he was about my phone, he could have easily left me to fend for myself, but he cared enough to abduct me to help me.
I don’t know… I’m still trying to wrap my thoughts around it all.
Daddy’s a tentacled alien, a very hot tentacled alien, but still a tentacled alien, which still hasn’t sunk in.
Since Sunday, he’s been working on his ship repairs. When he has time, he’s made a point to visit the café, which I’ve had more shifts at since my coworker Monika keeps calling out.
“At what point do they fire a person?” I asked Eric, my frustration building since this would be my fourth week of covering for her.
Eric sat in his usual spot at the bar, today with a Spider-Man comic book in hand. “You’re getting the hang of it,” he said as I finished pouring water into the carafe. To think, I used to call it the big coffee thingy.
I glanced at the door to the café. I kept looking for Daddy since he tended to stop by around one o’clock. I was disappointed not to see him.
Maybe Daddy had a lot of work to do on his ship today.
He hadn’t explained much, but from what I could make out, he was making trips to hardware stores, and he was getting frustrated they couldn’t help him locate some tools and crystals he needed.
I’d been worried about how he would manage to pay, but the same technology he used to reorient rooms and make things appear out of thin air could be used to imitate currency.
Although, really, using cash these days might have been the biggest giveaway that he wasn’t from this planet.
“Yeah,” I told Eric, “but I’m worried the longer they keep me over here, the less likely they’ll be to find someone to do this job.”
“Paycheck’s a paycheck, right?”
He wasn’t wrong about that.
“Huh,” Eric said. “Weird.”
“What?”
“It’s the middle of my break, and Daddy hasn’t swung by to see Twink yet?” He shot me a probing look.
It’s been hard not to break and tell him everything that happened.
I’ve never been good at keeping secrets, and discovering that not only were aliens real, but that I’d been abducted by one, was a biggie.
Maybe it was overdramatic to call that an abduction, but it sure as hell felt like it at the time. That had to count for something.
But if Roger and Eric knew the truth, they’d be concerned about me spending time with Daddy, and I’m not sure I could explain how I know he’s safe to be around, given all the weird shit that’s happened since I met him.
“Don’t play coy with me,” Eric said. “You think I can’t tell when you’re into a guy?”
“Stop.”
“Your eyes lit up just at me mentioning his name.”
Did they? I did enjoy when he swung by for our chats, and not only because he’s hot. Though knowing I didn’t have to be scared of him, I could now admit how attracted I was to him. Or to his human form, to be precise.
“He may seem all nice and friendly because he wants to bang you,” Eric said, “but that guy’s got skeletons in his closet. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
If only he knew…
Before I had a chance to come up with a response, the café door swung open. Daddy headed in, a smile sweeping across his face as soon as our gazes met, and those butterflies began swirling around in my stomach again, warmth prickling at my cheeks.
As he approached the bar, he asked, “Could I have a black coffee?”
“Do you actually like that?”
“You said it was the easiest thing for you to make.”
Eric rocked in his chair, making a face like he was about to hurl.
Whatever. I thought it was sweet that he’d remembered I’d said that when he first visited me in the café after my abduction.
“You want me to warm up a muffin for you?” That was one of the treats I gave him on his visits.
Eric snickered. “I’m sure it’s already warmed up and douched.”
At my glare, he smirked particularly mischievously.
“I would enjoy another muffin,” Daddy said, obviously not catching on to Eric’s joke.
I went to work, glancing over my shoulder occasionally. His eyes lingered on me, and the expression in them…let’s just say I haven’t had a man look at me like that in a long time—or maybe I should say a Furker for the first time?
I placed his muffin in the convection oven and set the timer before heading over to the bar with his coffee.
“I don’t know that it’s right to leave you drinking this,” I said. “I wouldn’t mind trying a Javanilly shake for you.”
“What is that?”
“Basically, a Javanilla shake from Seattle’s Best,” Eric replied. “But they got the trademark, and our café needed to get some of those customers without getting sued.”
“I don’t want Twink to have to do too much,” Daddy insisted.
“I’m sure that’s the easiest thing he wants to do for you.”
“Eric,” I snapped.
“You have to let me enjoy this.”
“You’re enjoying it plenty.”
He shrugged, quirking a brow. “You’re not wrong.”
“I need to practice anyway,” I told Daddy. “Javanilly is one of the more complicated beverages to make. Maybe I should use you as my guinea pig to figure out this gig.”
“What do you do with these guinea pigs here?” he asked in that very direct way of his—since I learned his secret, he’d become more forthcoming with his questions about Earth, and particularly things he encountered around town, and I was only too happy to clarify.
But the odd question earned another look from Eric, and when I laughed to deflect, I might’ve overdone it because Eric’s attention sharpened.
“Isn’t it getting time for you to clock in?” I asked him, not just because of the attitude he was giving me, but because I wanted to chat with Daddy alone.
“I have another twenty minutes,” he replied, but he must’ve noticed my cross expression because he rolled his eyes. “Fine, dude. Have fun flirting. I’ll catch you later.”
After he headed off, I glanced around to make sure no one was in earshot before asking, “So how are the repairs going?”
“The findoneum vines are healing up nicely, and I’m patching up the raydicore crystals, but I have yet to procure anything similar to the hyperblemic crystals or a means to repair the one I have, which is an essential component to traveling the universe, especially with regard to moving at hyperspeed, so it’ll take some time. ”
It was impossible to ignore the bizarre words he used. “Hyperblemic, raydicore, findoneum…those are more placeholders?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“And these are just randomly made up?”
“Sort of what feels right based on my limited understanding of the language.”
I laughed. “Well, that’s one way to do it, but I hope Daddy isn’t just working.”
“I’ve spent some time walking through the park.”
He mentioned during earlier visits that he did this to adjust to our language and customs, so he could blend in.
“I don’t think you’re gonna have a lot of people figuring out who you are,” I said. “I mean, they might think you’re weird or that you have neurodivergent behaviors, but no one’s gonna be rallying people around to drag you to Area 51.”
“What is Area 51?”
I was about to say something, but I stopped myself. This might not be the time to get into all that. “Eh, I’ll tell you about it another time.”
I started working on a Javanilly shake, using the laminated recipe sheets available to help me through my shift. Daddy didn’t take his eyes off me, something I didn’t mind. When I finished his shake, I passed it to him, eager to see how he’d react.
What started as a sip turned into a gulp, which turned into him downing the entire thing. As he finished, his eyes widened, and he took a breath. “Oh, wow. That’s amazing. Very, very sweet.”
“You like sweet?”
“This body definitely responds well to it, aside from the fact that my head feels like it’s about to explode.”
I laughed. “That’s called an ice-cream headache.”
“I thought you gave me a shake.”
“A shake is made with ice cream.”
“Oh…”
Daddy quieted and just stared at me, and we probably stared at each other for way too long before I asked, “What?”
“Sorry, just spaced into my Furker brain.”
“And what goes on in a Furker brain?”
He sized me up, and the way his gaze probed me sent a jolt up my spine. As I gulped, he said, “I don’t think it’d be appropriate to say.”
The convection oven pinged. “I should get your muffin.”
I plated it, and as I passed it to him, he asked, “What is douched?” catching me off guard.
“Huh?”
“What Eric said, about your warmed-up and douched muffin?”
I’d forgotten about his quip, and now I was left resenting having to explain. “We’ll talk about that another time.”
“Is this like Area 51?”
“Um…sure.”