“
Does this happen all the time?”
He gave a slight shrug.
“Slavery is illegal in this sector, but still rather common. They usually drug the girls to be docile. Some are sold over a hundred times each year.”
She hugged her bear, burying her chin in its soft and furry head.
“I hate slavery. We can’t just leave her here, poor thing.”
“
Well,
I
could
.”
She narrowed her eyes a
nd he made a soothing gesture.
“
Why don’t you just teleport her home?”
“
No... She has been through so much already. I think she needs some normalcy, and some time to calm down before she meets her family. We need someone who can be trusted, someone who’ll take her home safely...”
Their eyes met, and Stephan filled in,
“...and I know just the man for the job. It would keep Dean occupied, off my back, and far away from you.”
Was that a slip? I don
’t know if I want to hit you or kiss you...
“
You know you don’t have to worry, right?”
He looked a little
guilty.
I should probably take the encouraging
approach. I’d be much more upset if he didn’t care.
“
Thank you for helping me with this.”
“
I’ll go find Dean.”
When he turned to leave, Maria watched his back for a second.
“Stephan, wait.”
He sent her a puzzled glance, and she wrapped her free arm around his neck, pressing her lips firmly against his and slipping him some tongue.
Took you by surprise, didn’t I?
His arms around filled her with heavenly warmth, and for a moment she forgot all about the abused girl waiting. Stephan pulled himself back to the present quicker than her, put his hands on her hips, and pushed her gently away. His eyes glittered.
“I’ll be right back.”
“
You’d better be.”
This time, she let him go, and on the way back to
Chrys, she took her bracelet off. To her it was a shiny trinket, but to a human the diamonds could buy a lifetime of luxury.
“
You two look very happy.”
Maria smiled and fastened the bracelet around the girl
’s slender arm before producing a wad of money.
“
I think we are. Do you want to go home?”
The tear-drenched face nodded.
“Okay. We know someone who can take you and look after you, you’ll be safe with him. I’m going to pay you, so you don’t have to worry about that. Take this...”
S
he pushed the money into the girl’s pocket.
“
It should get you by for some time. Now, if I was you, I wouldn’t show the money or this bracelet to your pilot. Keep it a secret for now, just to be on the safe side, okay? Everything’s going to be alright.”
Chrys
stared at her.
“
Are you an angel?”
Angel? I
’ve been called many things, but that’s not one of them.
“
No. I... Don’t worry about it.”
“
How can I ever repay you?”
Maria
touched her cheek.
“
That’s easy. Keep safe, and take care of yourself. Live a happy life. That’s all I need.”
Our paths will cross again. I just don
’t know where or when.
It was a matter of minutes before Stephan returned
with Dean, the latter babbling.
“
So you mean you’re paying me to transport a girl? A real girl? Not a statue or anything?”
Stephan rolled his eyes.
“Yes, a girl.”
He stopped and let a heavy hand fall on the other man
’s shoulder.
“
No fooling around. No detours. Pretend she’s your sister or something.”
Dean sighe
d and sounded exasperated.
“
Man you’re serious nowadays.”
Maria waved them closer and held up a wad of money.
Dean grabbed it and leafed through the bills.
“
For you I’d do it for free, but this helps...”
She held up a finger
, wanting to get his attention; he seemed somewhat preoccupied by the feeling of money in his hands.
“
This is Chrys. I want you to fuss over her, treat her like a princess. Can you do that for me?”
“
Baby, toss in a little kiss for me, and my ship will be her palace.”
He bent forward,
puckering his lips, but Stephan’s hand fell down on his neck and pulled him away.
“
Yeah, man, that’s not happening.”
“
Wow, she’s really got you. Where did you say you two met?”
Stephan
grinned.
“
I got drunk and rammed her ship.”
To Stephan, it seemed to take forever before Dean and
Chrys were on their way.
When Maria wanted to walk them to Dean
’s ship, he whispered, “They’ll be fine.”
She stopped abruptly with the teddy bear dangling under her arm.
“
Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were so eager to get rid of them.”
“
I’m not, I’m eager to be alone with you. But, if you really want to go wave them off we can catch up.”
It was clearly the right thing to say; she flashed a smile.
“No. We’ll see them again.”
What?
“Why? When?”
“
I don’t know. I try not to pay attention to the future.”
God
, I love her, but sometimes talking to her gives me a headache.
He put his hands on her shoulders.
“Don’t go picking fights with guys that big if I’m not around, okay?”
Her mouth twitched.
“Why? Don’t you think I can take care of myself?”
“
Of course you can, but it’s my job now. You shouldn’t have to deal with it.”
She
’ll probably just teleport out of the way, or turn them into cotton wool or an ear ring or something, but why risk it? Dammit, I want to hug her, but that bear is the size of a bus. Maybe I’ll always have to fight it for her from now on.
“
Would you mind sending Mister Teddy home? He can wait for us in the ship.”
He expected her to say something cheeky, but the bear disappeared and she stepped closer, wrapping her arms around him.
A part of him wanted to suggest they return home too. Her little black dress was darned sexy, and he wanted to unzip it and take it off. The closet they’d borrowed wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t their own bed, or even the kitchen...
Maria’s voice shook him back to reality.
“You seem far away, what are you thinking?”
“
I’m thinking about you on the kitchen table.”
The honest answer made her laugh.
“Well handsome, good things come to those who wait, and you’ve only waited a couple of hours.”
It wasn
’t easy to pretend to suffer, but he sighed and tried a sad puppy look.
“
But, that’s forever.”
He trailed his hands up to her shoulders and
rubbed them.
Think, Stephan... I want to take the dress off, but it
’s so sexy on. Stop thinking about sex. What’s here that’s safe and something she might like? Oh, I know.
“
C’mon.”
“
Where are we going?”
Grinning, he
smacked her butt.
“
I’m not telling. Good things come to those who wait, remember?”
She stuck her tongue out.
It was impossible not to tease her.
“
Oh sweetheart, I know somewhere you can put that.”
She rolled her eyes and tucked her hands around his arm.
“You’re hopeless.”
“
Yes, but you’ve grown fond of me.”
Even when zigzagging through the crowds it was a matter of minutes before Maria gaped at the entrance to the
holo-theatre with its fourteen holographic movie posters. She stepped into one of them and walked around the objects and characters.
I wonder how many hundreds of years it has been since she saw a movie.
She
circled an ugly alien with hairy mandibles and five purple eyes on long stalks, and Stephan couldn’t help but look at her ass when she bent down to check if she could see the underside of things too.
“
Can we see that one?”
The poster promised knights on horses, kings, queens, and a wizard.
“Whatever you want.”
He balanced tickets, sodas, and snacks down an aisle to surprisingly plush chairs.
It was only a few minutes until the next showing, and Maria squeezed his hand, nibbled popcorn, and looked around with wide eyes.
“
You’ve been at movies before, right?”
“
Of course. Back on old Earth... nineteen...eighty...something. It wasn’t anything like this.”
The movie was true 3D of course, and even he found himself ducking when a
horse appeared to jump over their heads.
“
Can I sit on your lap?”
He winked at her and
gestured to come on over.
Holding her tight, he murmured,
“I’m the luckiest man in the universe.”
*****
A few rows behind Stephan sat a man with wide shoulders and eye-catching red hair next to a man in khaki-coloured pants, beige shirt, beige tie, khaki jacket, and khaki shoes. His hair was almost the exact same colour as the shirt, but his eyes were bright blue, completely out of place.
“
You know you could have your eyes changed to match the rest of you?”
“
Shut up, Paulie.”
“
How can two people be this preoccupied with each other? I wish they picked another movie, this is damned boring.”
He started to pull out a weapon, but the man in beige shook his head.
“No, no, no, you can’t start shooting in here. We’re supposed to keep it quiet, idiot. We’ll get them when they leave.”
Paulie
looked disappointed, but shrugged and tucked the pistol back into his pocket.
“
Wha’cha say we go wait outside? There’s nowhere else for them to go.”
*****
Stephan lost interest in the movie the second Maria sat on his lap.
He had never seen a knight in armour, a wizard throwing flames from his hands, or even a horse, and
the story was too far from his world to captivate him. Besides, it was impossible not to think about sex when she pressed against him. He rubbed her back, enjoying the silky fabric of her dress and her warm body close to his.
When the king
’s best friend seduced the queen, Maria whispered, “It wasn’t like that at all.”
Does she think this is real? Oh well, at some place in this vast universe, something along the lines of this might have happened, and maybe she was there.
To his joy, it ended her interest in the story, and she gave him her full attention instead, kissing his neck, tickling a sensitive spot with her tongue and caressing his chest. He pulled his finger along the side of her breast.
The dress
was
sexy on, but she might wear something even more enticing under it...
Making out in the darkness in the middle of a crowd was a turn-on in itself, something j
ust a little bit forbidden, and a soft moan escaped him.
“
Babe, maybe we should go back home for a bit, but if you keep that up I won’t be able to walk out of here.”
“
Yes we should, but walking isn’t required.”
Her hot breath on his skin made coherent thought impossible. A split second later, he sat on the edge of the bed with Mister Teddy next to him and Maria tugged at his shirt.
*****
Outside the theatre,
Paulie and the man in beige watched people pour out, but Stephan and Maria was nowhere in sight.
Paulie
wheezed, “We can’t have missed them. There’s no way to miss those two, and there’s no other way out.”
“
Maybe they’re still making out in there.”
“
Oh come on, they can’t be
that
interested in each other.”
They didn
’t have to take many steps into the now brightly lit room to see it was empty.
“
What the hell? Where did they go?
*****
Maria rested with her head on Stephan’s shoulder, trailing lazy patterns on his chest. She was relaxed and content, and completely unprepared for his question.
“
Does this happen to you a lot?”
“
What?”
He smirked.
“Hooking up with a mortal, staying until you get bored or they grow old and die.”
Whoa, where did that come from?
“No.”
And I really don
’t want to talk about this, so please drop it.
“
But...”
“
But what? I’m so old?”
“
No... Well, yes, but I didn’t mean it like that.”
Dammit.
“I’ve never been in this kind of relationship with someone outside my own species, if that’s what you’re getting at. You’re the first, and you’ll probably be the last. Happy?”
She rolled over enough to be able to lean on an elbow and look at him. He didn
’t
seem
particularly happy.
Handled that well, didn
’t I... Is he still worried I’ll disappear?
“
I know I’m not human, but you’re not really human either. I think we make a good team. The past is gone and now is now. I think now is pretty good, don’t you?”
Please, let
’s not fight. I don’t know how I lived without you, and any day now I might even be able to say it.
He pulled her closer.
“
Now,
right
now, is very good.”
She relaxed again, closed her eyes, and enjoyed the feeling of his strong arms around her.
“Hey, I should probably take you to dinner.”
She opened one eye.
“Naah, it must be late by now, and if you’re hungry, I can get us something right here.”
He brushed a lock of hair away from her face.
“
It’s late ship-time, but that doesn’t matter on the station, you know. It’s always open. I know this really nice restaurant and I think you’d like it.”
Sounds like he wa
nts to go.
“
Okay.”
She crawled out of bed as slowly as possible, mak
ing sure to tempt him. With any luck at all he’d change his mind and want to stay on the ship.
Stephan gave her butt a
slight tap, but showed admirable constraint, so she pulled on one of his shirts. It made an excellent robe.
His eyes burned into her back.
“What?”
“
Nothing. You’re just too cute.”
She shrugged
and moseyed over to the closet. Nothing seemed just right and she twirled a lock of hair around her finger.
“
Put a belt around what you have, and it’ll be fine. Or take it off...”
Now
he looked like he wanted to eat her. She poked his chest with a finger.
“
Think unsexy thoughts, Mister.
You
wanted to go to dinner. I don’t even need to eat.”
He flashed a smile, clearly trying to look innocent.
“
How about something red?”
*****
Paulie leaned against a wall, struggling to look casual. When Stephan and Maria walked by, arm in arm, it seemed even more improbable that he could have missed them leaving the theatre. Either of them would draw attention on their own. Together, they were stunning.
Enjoy it while you can, it won
’t last.
As soon as they passed, neither acknowledging him with as much as a look, he lifted his arm and spoke
into his cuff.
“
Jack, I got them. They’re on the move.”
“
Good. Let’s try not to lose them this time.”
“
I’m not too worried about that, they stand out.”
“
Well, that’s what we thought in the theatre. Keep your eyes open.”