Phates mate, p.2
Phate's Mate, page 2
“We won’t be able to withstand another flare at this rate,” Kien said.
Solgre’s hands moved frantically over the controls. “I can’t get control of the ship’s guidance system to jump us out of range.”
“I’ve been trying to jump to the dark side of the planet since this began,” Phate told him.
“There’s only one option,” Kien said.
Phate glanced at his friend, coming to the same realization. “We have to drop to the planet’s surface. The flares can’t reach us there. Their ozone layer is preventing it.”
Solgre didn’t hesitate. “Do it.”
“Strap up!” Phate yelled as he cut the guidance system. The adjustment would send the ship plummeting to the planet’s surface.
“Let’s hope these humans are welcoming to newcomers,” Solgre said.
Phate strapped the harness across his chest as the “Systems offline,” announcement blared over the speakers.
Phate prayed Solgre was right.
Chapter One
Apparently, bored with pressing the side of her face and ear against Tasha’s incredibly thin apartment wall, Nisha sighed, turned around and dropped from her knees to her butt on Tasha’s equally thin couch cushions. “Have you met your new neighbors yet?”
Sitting in the reclining chair across from Nisha, Tasha didn’t look up from the laptop perched on her lap. Although winter was approaching fast, she was already working on the upcoming spring line for her small boutique. She’d started selling her current winter’s line two months ago and business was doing well.
And the main reason business was doing so well was because she didn’t rest. Rest was a luxury a small business owner couldn’t afford.
When Tasha didn’t answer right away, her friend cleared her throat. Then, after a few seconds when Tasha still didn’t acknowledge her, Nisha cleared her throat louder.
“You’ve asked me that question, like, twice already,” Tasha finally said, not lifting her head from her work.
“Three times today, but who’s counting? Me. I’m counting.” Nisha grabbed the bag of sour cream and onion potato chips from the coffee table and pulled out an unhealthy amount. “Even though I’m posing it as a question, it’s more of a suggestion. Meet your new insanely hot neighbors, chica.”
At this, Tasha finally glanced up to stare at her oldest and dearest friend in the world who could make stuffing her face with chips look hot. They were both around the same height, five-foot-four, but that’s where their similarities ended. Tasha was lighter skinned, and Nisha was darker. Tasha kept her straight hair cut and styled in layers while Nisha wore her naturally wavy hair free and wild.
Tasha raised her eyebrow. “Then what?”
“Then what, what?” Nisha responded with a mouth full of chips. Her large and expressive brown eyes were lit with confusion as she stared back.
Tasha lifted a shoulder. “Okay, so I go over there, knock on the door and say—”
Nisha’s perfectly pink lips stretched across her face in a wide grin as she waved a hand. “Hi, I’m your smart and sexy entrepreneur next door neighbor—”
Tasha rolled her eyes. “That statement would never leave my mouth. Ever.”
Nisha pointed a chip at her. “We gotta work on that, because it should—often.”
Tasha shook her head, not wanting to take this already ridiculous conversation down another path. Aside from being her best friend—almost like a sister—Nisha was her biggest supporter. She thought Tasha should tell everyone she met that she owned a boutique, was single and ready to mingle.
Only one of those things was true. The other two, eh. She didn’t have time for a man and definitely didn’t have time to mingle.
Tasha let out a breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. She’d been staring at her laptop screen for the past three hours and her eyes were on fire. On top of that, she could already feel the headache coming on from engaging in this conversation.
“Nisha, they moved in like two weeks ago and I’ve only seen them a few times in passing. They stay in their apartment and keep to themselves. I don’t think they want to meet any new friends or new neighbors.”
Nisha scooted to the edge of the couch and rested her elbows on her knees. “Didn’t you say they have an accent and speak a different language? Ask them where they’re from.” She shrugged. “That’s a good icebreaker.”
“They haven’t spoken to me directly. I’ve only heard them talking through the vents.” Tasha nodded toward the vent directly above Nisha’s head by the ceiling.
Nisha waggled her eyebrows. “Girl, why were you letting me waste my time with my ear to the wall?”
“I didn’t—” Tasha stopped speaking when she realized Nisha wasn’t paying attention.
To her shock, her friend stood on the couch in her sock clad feet and stretched her neck toward the vent. “All I hear is a whooshing sound. Turn off the heat so I can hear better.”
“What? Turn off the heat? In November? In Minnesota?” Tasha let out a snort. “Yeah, right.”
Nisha positioned one leg to brace her weight against the back of the couch to give herself extra height.
“What are you doing?” Tasha gasped.
“Just for a few minutes so I can hear.” Then Nisha’s eyes widened. “Wait! I hear them talking.”
Interest piqued, Tasha asked, “What are they saying?”
Nisha angled her ear up toward the vent. “I can’t quite make it out. Besides, I think they’re speaking another language.”
“See? There’s no point in eavesdropping on them.” She knew she shouldn’t entertain Nisha, but she needed to give her eyes a rest anyway.
“This is purely for research purposes. We need to find out where they’re from, if they’re murderers, how often they hit the weights, what’s their hair routine, if they have any girlfriends, what they do for a living—”
“Those are super intrusive questions. If I wanted to know any of that, I would knock on their door.” A look that Tasha recognized all too well splashed across her best friend’s face. “Oh, no. No, no, no.”
Nisha jumped from the couch and dashed toward the front door. “Oh, yes.”
“Nisha, I’m sure they don’t want two strange women bothering them.” Tasha sat her computer aside and scrambled to her feet in pursuit.
“But we do!”
Pausing, Nisha and Tasha swiveled their gazes toward the vent where the deep and very masculine voice had come from.
Nisha giggled and slapped her hands together. “See! They want to meet us.”
Tasha could’ve been mistaken, but she was sure that when she groaned, a groan had also come from the vent.
“Come on! Let’s go meet your new neighbors.”
Tasha’s eyes lingered back to her computer. “I still have so much work to—”
Ignoring her protests, Nisha pulled Tasha’s hands to lead her. She was being dragged to the front door before Tasha could finish her sentence.
“TELL ME EXACTLY WHY you did that?” With his arms crossed, Solgre braced himself against the bathroom door, watching Kien as he tried to smooth the curls in his hair back.
Even from his seat on the ridiculously small armchair, Phate could tell that it wasn’t working. The abundance of water in the atmosphere was doing something strange to the texture of their hair. What use to be short and smooth, was now too long and too wavy.
“Why did I do what, exactly?” Kien asked. “Invite human women to our apartment to cure the boredom that’s been plaguing us since crash landing on this awful, backward planet?”
Phate sighed and leaned back in his chair. “He has a point, Solgre. We’ve been stuck on this planet for four of their Earth months and stuck inside this apartment since we acquired it, only leaving for essentials. Since we couldn’t send the distress beacon via a jump, we don’t know how long it will take for it to reach Thelli.
“We might as well make the best of this situation and meet the locals. At least, we’ll be able to tell the others how first contact went.”
Solgre scrubbed a hand down his stubbled face. “You, too? I thought you would be on my side with this. We should lay low until we get direction from home.”
“Which we won’t receive for a while. The communicator is still down, there’s too much interference in the atmosphere,” Kien pointed out as he squeezed his way through the bathroom doorway and past a disgruntled Solgre. “We’re scientists. We shouldn’t pass up this opportunity to meet the locals and explore their culture firsthand.”
“It’s like neither of you saw that Area 51 documentary on the television. You know the one where humans found a downed spaceship and proceeded to slice up and dissect the aliens inside,” Solgre protested.
Phate frowned. “Did that actually happen or was it just speculation? The aliens didn’t look real at all.”
Kien raised a finger in the air. “Oh, that happened. What I’ve learned so far from watching the television is that documentaries are real. Reality television shows are real. Sitcoms and movies are fake.”
“And still you invited the neighbors over,” Solgre said with a shake of his head.
Kien’s smile stretched. “Female neighbors.”
Solgre slapped a hand over his face. “Great. We’re going to end up in a documentary, dissected for all to see because you’re horny.”
“Captain,” Kien said, all playfulness dropping from his demeanor. “I’ll kill you myself before I let them dissect you alive.”
Solgre’s eyes widened as he turned toward Kien. “Should that make me feel better about the situation?!”
“Listen.” Phate stood. “We have some time here. I know you don’t want us bringing attention to ourselves, and we won’t. But wouldn’t it be nice to tell the others that we at least tried to learn the human ways?”
A look crossed Solgre’s face as he mulled over the idea.
“Fine,” Solgre finally said. “But no telling them who or what we are. I would like to keep my insides firmly inside.”
A determined knock sounded at the door. Solgre glanced pointedly at Phate then Kien. “Understood?”
Since Phate couldn’t think of one reason why he would ever tell a human about himself, he nodded.
“What if they ask why my penis vibrates? I’ll have to tell them something,” Kien said.
“For the love of the Ancients!” Solgre erupted. “How would they find out your penis vibrates?! You’re determined to get us sliced up.”
“How about we don’t have sex with them?” Phate asked as he made his way toward the door.
A horrified look splashed across Kien’s face, and he took a step back. “Don’t have sex?”
Phate unlocked and opened the door. “Right. Don’t have se—”
Phate didn’t get to finish his sentence because his jaw dropped. Standing on the other side of the threshold was the most beautiful female specimen he’d seen in his entire life.
“Oh wow,” Kien muttered from behind him.
“We’re going to end up in so many little pieces,” Solgre grumbled under his breath.
Chapter Two
Phate was definitely...what was the human word used to describe their situation he’d learned from the television?
Oh, yes.
He was definitely screwed because he could only stare, mouth agape, at the female standing in the hallway. There was an overwhelming urge to tell her everything about his life and he wanted to know everything about hers.
Phate wanted to tell the female about Thelli. No. He wanted to take her to Thelli. He wanted to introduce her to his parents and siblings. He wanted to take her shopping on one of the many pleasure planets known for their expensive dining, and leisure activities and spend every credit in his account on her.
He would rob, steal or kill to make her happy. Anything she required, he would do.
As overpowering emotions he couldn’t identify or control poured over him like warm water, Phate took a shuddering breath. He knew he was done for. He would lay the galaxy at this human’s tiny feet just to know her name.
The female next to her waved a hand in the air. “Hey! My name is Nisha.”
Nisha was pretty. Both were the same height, the top of their heads barely reaching his shoulders. The one who had his heart pounding was rounder. Voluptuous was the word he would use to describe her.
The unnamed female wore a black, long sleeved, loose shirt with matching pants while Nisha wore jeans needing repair to fix the rips down the front of them and a form fitting shirt that hugged her small frame.
Nisha elbowed the female next to her.
“Oh! Um...I’m Tasha. This is...uh...Nisha.”
Phate couldn’t take his eyes off Tasha and her beautiful, pink-tinged lips.
Tasha.
He hadn’t heard that name before. He liked it and repeated it over and over in his head to make sure his brain could pronounce it correctly.
“I already told them my name,” Nisha whispered to Tasha from the side of her mouth.
Tasha’s expressive brown eyes widened. “Oh, yeah. Well, um...I’m Tasha and this um...is Nisha.”
Nisha groaned and rolled her eyes. “Jesus. Get it together.”
A fine sheen of sweat formed on the top of Tasha’s brow and Phate had the urge to wipe it off just to feel her skin under his palm.
“My friend. I mean...she’s visiting. She doesn’t live here.”
Kien shouldered his way to stand next to Phate. “I’m Kien. The one at a loss for words is Phate and the one pacing behind us is Solgre.”
“Kien, Phate and Solgre,” Nisha repeated. Her lips curved into a smile as she bumped Tasha with a slender shoulder.
“It’s nice to meet you all. Sorry, for...um...eavesdropping,” Tasha said, shifting from one foot to the other and rubbing her hands down the front of her soft looking pants.
Nisha turned her back to Phate and Kien and stepped in front of Tasha, blocking her from view. “What is up with you? Pull it together.” Then Nisha stepped back into place and smiled again. “The walls in this apartment building are paper thin, am I right?”
“The walls are made from paper?” Solgre asked. He walked over and knocked on one of the walls. “No wonder tornados cause upheaval on this planet.”
Tasha chuckled nervously as her gaze moved from Phate to Solgre. “What did you say?”
Nisha’s brows creased in confusion. “What do you mean, ‘this planet’?”
“Great Ancients! I thought it would be one of you who wouldn’t be able to keep their mouths shut. But it’s me!” Solgre threw his hands in the air before stomping between Kien and Phate to slam the door shut in the females’ confused faces. “There. No more of that.”
“I never would’ve guessed it would be you who spilled the bananas,” Kien said, turning toward Solgre.
“I think it’s beans, not banana’s,” Phate offered, finally finding his voice.
NISHA AND TASHA STARED at the closed apartment door.
Nisha’s smile dropped. “Well, that was weird. It’s not just me, right? Him saying ‘this planet’ was totally weird.”
Tasha stood in a daze. The entire meeting had been weird. It was weird the way the Phate guy had stared at her like he wanted to lick every inch of her skin from head to toe. Guys did not stare at her like that. Ever. Especially not guys like Phate. And since when did she stammer and become flustered when talking to a man?
Apparently when one as hot as Phate focused his attention on her.
With the door closed, she could finally get her thoughts in order. Tasha wiped the sweat away from her forehead. Her hammering heart? Only distance would get that under control and distance she would give it. Tasha turned on her heels, making her way back to her apartment where no hot men were, and she could forget about making a fool of herself.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Nisha yelled at her back.
Tasha opened her door and crossed over the threshold, leaving it ajar for Nisha. “You wanted to meet them. We did. Mission accomplished.”
Entering her apartment made her feel better already. Now, she only needed to avoid her neighbors and maybe they would forget about her stammering and sweaty face. That should be easy enough. Her hours at the boutique were long.
As the sole proprietor, she worked hours before opening to make sure the place was clean, and the inventory was wrinkle free and ready. At night, she usually unpacked any shipments, tagged the items and did more inventory. She was supposed to have one day off—Sundays—but she was never truly off.
Today, she’d spent her day stuck to her computer, handling the administrative end of the business.
Nisha finally came into the apartment but didn’t take her favorite seat on the couch. Instead, she leaned a hip against the kitchen countertop, tipped her chin up and drawled, “Tasha Louise Moore.”
“Anisha Tabitha Jones,” Tasha said, matching Nisha’s chastising tone. It was a tone Nisha had gotten from her adoptive Asian mother and thought would make Tasha—or anyone else she used it on—listen to her.
Nisha hiked her thumb toward the wall separating the two apartments. “Are we seriously walking away from all that hotness next door?”
“Yes. It was easy to do. Do you know why?” Tasha plopped down onto her loveseat. The cushions immediately molded comfortably to her bottom, making her feel at home. She glanced at Nisha and raised her eyebrow. When Nisha didn’t answer, Tasha continued, “Because they slammed the door in our faces.”
Nisha waggled her finger. “Shut the door nicely.”
“Slammed,” Tasha corrected. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have to get back to these new orders because they sure as hell aren’t going to order themselves.”
Things had been easier when she’d first started. She’d spent the last five years growing it from an internet only operation to a small kiosk that sold scarves and jewelry on the weekends at the local mall. Now, she owned a storefront in a corner suite downtown.
“Oh, what’s that noise?” Nisha crossed the apartment to peer out the main window overlooking the parking lot and tree lined street below.
