Page 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

-Clay-

ARCAY DRAGGED ME to the pool and shoved me in. Water shot up my nose, burning the back of my throat, before my feet even hit the bottom. I reemerged, drenched, my hair plastered to my head and my t-shirt sticking to my skin. I flicked it out of my eyes and glared up at him where he towered over me by the side of the pool.

As far as I could tell, it was normal water, pleasantly hot and steaming, and not a pool of deadly acid. It lapped at my chest, and would have felt nice on my aching muscles and grimy skin under any other circumstances. But as it was, I was furious.

Arcay tossed his tousled white hair over his shoulder, gold flecks glinting in the light, and gestured to various bottles and clothes stored at the side of the pool .

“Clean yourself,” he said in his heavily accented voice.

The translator chirped away in the background, turning Arcay’s words back into his native language.

“Fuck yourself,” I replied.

It might not have been smart to fight against this glowering titan, but spitefulness overruled my survival instinct. Fuck this dude.

His face visibly darkened at my words, eyes narrowing and nostrils flaring. It should have frightened me, but instead I got a sick kind of rise out of it. It felt good to piss him off.

My vindication was short lived though. Arcay placed the translator at the edge of the pool, and, without another word, he jumped in. Water exploded around him, drenching me again, and then he rose like a vengeful god of the sea. Water cascaded, making every muscle and line of his body shine. My eyes widened and I stared, mouth open as everything moved in slow motion.

Arcay was an asshole, but fuck me he was hot. Like something out of a horny fever dream. Lilac skin showed through suddenly transparent wet and clinging material. His hair clung to his cheeks, damp strands falling over his amber eyes, which burned into me and held me pinned in place. Did it suddenly get hotter in here? Blood rushed upwards to my face and downwards to other places at the same time.

He moved towards me and I snapped out of it. Oh shit, he was coming at me, and he was pissed. I backed away but the water tugged at me, like every nightmare I’d ever had, and I slipped, almost going under again. A small tidal wave slopped over the edge of the pool as Arcay pulled me up by the arm and dragged me over to the bottles, lifting me off my feet. He scooped some goop out of one of them, a clear substance with an opalescent sheen, then rubbed it into my hair with one big hand, working his fingers against my scalp and jiggling my head back and forth. Sweet smelling foam dripped down the side of my face, and I blinked to clear it from my eyes.

“Hey,” I said. I felt like a naughty kid, flashbacks of my mom scrubbing me while I squirmed. That, or a goddamn dog.

“Hold still,” he said.

Arcay worked the soap in until I was covered in suds, then released me. I wiped at the lather, taking scoops of the warm water to wash it away. It was hard not to enjoy the feeling, but damn it if I’d give him the satisfaction.

As I rinsed I felt his fingers slip under the hem of my t-shirt and brush against my belly. I yelped and jerked away from him, yanking my top down and wrapping my arms around myself.

He sighed. “I must remove…clothing,” he said.

“No, you mustn’t,” I snapped.

Arcay gave me a tired look. “You cannot be cleaned…in soiled clothing.”

“I don’t care. You’re not taking them off.”

He took a deep, steadying breath that was universal language for ‘I’m trying very hard not to get fucking pissed with you right now’.

I considered refusing, still just for the sake of it, but I was feeling weird. And I didn’t exactly cherish the thought of being forcefully stripped by the behemoth. Not again anyway. So I scowled and turned in an attempt to keep any shreds of dignity I had left intact.

I needed to cool off. My hot head had gotten me in trouble too many times for me not to at least try to learn from it. This purple psycho was infuriating as hell, but maybe if I went along with what he said he’d calm down and I could reason with him. Then I could ask to talk to my crew, or to someone else in authority here.

My wet t-shirt stuck to my skin and I had to yank it a few times to get it off. Arcay’s eyes burned into my back. I turned around and held my top awkwardly against my chest, unsure what to do with it. He reached for me, and I thought he was going to touch me, but he just took the wet bundle of cloth and placed it by the side of the pool.

Arcay turned back and looked, still waiting.

“What? I took it off.”

“All of it,” he said.

He wanted me to get fully naked. The thought of getting my dick out in front of him was enough to make my skin crawl and my chest tighten. I had no problem taking off my underwear in front of other guys, even if they were strangers I’d just met. In fact, I preferred it that way. But this was different. Mostly because of the huge alien watching me like a hawk.

I gritted my teeth so hard they creaked. In a rush, I pushed my underwear down, balancing awkwardly on one leg and then the other. Arcay watched closely, almost curiously. Thank god for the water obscuring his view. I pulled my socks off too, bundled them with my underwear, and threw them to splat next to my discarded shirt.

“Happy now?”

The translator chirped out my words. Arcay growled, his eyes raking over my body, and an expression I couldn’t read settled over his face. What was that? Excitement? Nervousness? Or was it just relief that I was finally doing what he said?

Heat spread again, and I shuffled as Arcay turned to scoop up another handful of goop. Green this time. With slow motions, he started to rub it into my chest. His face was stern, but his movements were more careful now. The stuff was thick and oily; it coated my body and didn’t dilute in the water. Annoyingly, my skin tingled at his touch, and I found myself holding my breath as his warm hand smoothed over me. He was so close I could smell him. A deep, warm scent of wet skin and something else.

I averted my eyes and endured the rest in sullen silence, my face burning hot. It was bad enough being washed by someone who must have weighed twice as much as me, I didn’t have to enjoy it too. I stayed that way, staring down at the surface of the water, until Arcay’s hand dipped lower and brushed against my dick. I jerked away and my hand flew down to cover myself.

“Whoa, back up,” I yelped.

His face, which had relaxed into what I assumed to be his natural scowl, darkened again. “I must apply it to—”

“Yeah, I get it. But I’ll do it myself.”

He thought for a moment, then nodded. I scooped up a load of the stuff. It was gelatinous, like jelly, and I quickly rubbed it over my crotch. “There. Done.”

Arcay spoke in his own language, and I waited for the translation. Clearly, this conversation was going outside the realms of his basic Panlin knowledge. “Why are you uncomfortable about your genitals? Are you abnormal?” He eyed me suspiciously, squinting at my crotch through the rippling water.

“What?” I said, a little too loudly “No.” I tried to bat his gaze away. “It might be hard for you to get your huge head around, but I don’t want some psychotic alien grabbing my junk.”

Arcay’s frown deepened, like that was the weirdest thing I could have said, as the translator buzzed out my words, twisting them into something unrecognizable.

This was crazy. Only a few hours ago I was sitting at the controls of my ship, doing my boring but predictable job, and planning how I was going to spend my money. My biggest worry was the job dragging on for another two days. Oh, how foolish I’d been.

Now I was being held prisoner and forcefully washed by a seven-foot aubergine looking creature who wanted to jump my bones. This had to be some kind of weird, kinky nightmare. Maybe the re-fried eggs that morning were bad, and I’d wake up in my bunk covered in sweat. I’d tell Caldwell all about this and he’d laugh at me and tell me I needed to get laid. Or maybe I was still unconscious on the ship after hitting my head, bleeding out while my mind went off on a brain damaged fantasy trip.

Whatever this was, Arcay seemed completely confused now. “Your kind considers your genitals to be garbage? ” he asked.

“What? No, it’s—junk is just something we call it.”

“ It does not seem appropriate. Humans do not value their genitalia? ”

“We—no—”

I sighed and gripped the bridge of my nose. This was going some weird places, and I wasn’t going to argue with my alien abductor about the etymology of slang terms for my dick.

“I want to see my crew,” I said, my voice hoarse. “Where are they?”

He scowled. “That does not concern you.”

“Actually, it concerns me very fucking much. Did you hurt them?”

Now it was Arcay's turn to sigh. He could see I wasn’t going to drop it. “They are safe and unharmed, ” he said.

“So they’re here on the ship too?” Was that a good thing or a bad thing? “Let me see them.”

“You are in no position to make demands, ” he growled.

“And you have no right to keep me here. Let me go.”

“No.”

“Then let me talk to my captain.” I forced my voice lower and tried for politeness. “Please.”

He paused.

“No.”

I let out a frustrated growl. Ok, I took back everything I thought about him being hot. I was being fucking polite and he was still the biggest asshole this side of the universe.

“Can you at least tell me what you lot are planning to do to them?”

“Nothing, if you stop aggravating me and do as I say.”

My chest tightened. Was that just an idle threat made out of irritation? Or was there bite to it? It was so hard to tell. “Are you going to let them go?”

Arcay paused for a long moment, his face unreadable. I waited for an answer, a drip of water snaking down the back of my neck. Finally, he spoke.

“Your crew attacked us.”

My mouth fell open, and this time I didn’t try to keep my voice in check. “That’s bullshit. They were defending themselves.” I gestured at him wildly, sending water flying through the air. “You are the ones who attacked us. They only fought back when you abducted me. And we’re only here in the first place because that stupid fucking wormhole glitched and sucked us in. My crew didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Then perhaps we could make a deal. They are safe, but they are our prisoners for the time being.” He paused again, letting the moment grow heavy. “But if you agree to remain here, I can guarantee their immediate freedom.”

The floor shifted beneath me. Was I hearing that right? “If I stay here, you’ll let them all go?”

He nodded, watching closely. “You must stay with me permanently. You will not try to run away or escape.”

This was insane. This was bat shit crazy. The water lapped at my chest as his words sank in. I would have to stay here, with him. I couldn’t do that.

But then I thought of Caldwell and his mum. She relied on him for everything. And Martinez. His wife waiting for him to come home. They had a baby on the way.

Did I have any other choice?

As my mind reeled, he called out and one of the little guys hurried into the room. Arcay held up his hand for them to wait, and looked back at me. “Shall I give the order?”

I couldn’t stay here. But maybe if they all got away they could go and get help. And then they’d come back for me. They wouldn’t leave me here forever. It might take some time, but they’d alert the authorities and someone would come back for me.

“OK.” The word came out strangled.

Arcay’s eyes lit up, but his expression didn’t change. “Swear it. Swear you will not try to escape. Swear you will stay with me.”

I worked my jaw as a pit opened up in my stomach. “I swear.”

He nodded. “Lendel, go and inform Jursin—”

“Wait,” I said, and he paused, hand half-raised. “You have to swear too. That they’ll be safe.”

“I swear it, you have my word.”

“And I want to see them before they go.”

Arcay considered it for a moment and then nodded. I searched his face for any trace of a lie.

“Ok,” I said, my voice hollow. “I’ll stay.”