Page 8 of Songbird (A Space Pearl’s Treat #1)

A heavy, suffocating feeling of dread settled over me like a thick blanket. I never wanted to be Sam Harlow’s beard. Sam was a sweet, genuine guy who only wanted to live his life truthfully, but the studio forbade it.

As usual, it was all my mother’s idea. And like most of her ideas, it didn’t take long to spiral out of control.

Our fake relationship lasted for months until Sam’s managers thought it best to move on, lest people began expecting to see a diamond ring on my finger.

The story would be that we ended things, as my touring schedule didn’t leave us much time to see each other.

Of course, my mother couldn’t stand the fact that I might look less than perfect in the scenario, so she did what she always did—manipulated and lied.

She broke into my phone, finding a photo I’d taken of Sam and his true love Arnold in an intimate embrace, and leaked it to the press, claiming that I was shocked and heartbroken by Sam’s lies and betrayal.

Sam was destroyed—not only emotionally, but his career teetered on the brink of ruination. I couldn’t let it stand. Sam might not have been my lover, but he was my friend.

I managed to convince my mother that Sam and I needed one last dinner together.

One last time in front of the camera lens so that I could be seen as forgiving—the bigger person in the situation.

The restaurant we picked stood only a few blocks from where Jimmy Fallon’s show filmed in Rockefeller Plaza.

With Arnold’s help, we slipped away from the bodyguards my mother had dogging my every step and made our way to Studio 6B.

Jimmy was only too happy to have us on his show to set the record straight about our relationship.

Of course, it was all a lie. We spun the tale of how Sam tried helping his lifelong friend try out for a Broadway role that would require him to play a gay man, going so far as to rehearse the audition with him while I filmed the scene for critique purposes.

Unfortunately, I lamented, my mother saw the video on my phone, got the completely wrong idea and overreacted.

The whole time, Sam sat by my side, holding my hand, kissing my fingers, stroking my hair, and doing the dozens of things that kept him ranked as the most romantic man on television.

With millions of viewers watching our every move, Sam and I promised that our romance was as strong as ever. Of course, we mentioned that with our conflicting schedules, spending time together was hard, laying in an excuse for when we would inevitably break up a few months later.

My mother was livid. It wasn’t the first time she’d slapped me, but it ranked as one of the hardest.

Sam and I never broke up. The aliens grabbed me two weeks later, right before my concert at the Gorge Amphitheatre.

I could only imagine the circus that followed my disappearance.

My mother, of course, would use the incident to drag the spotlight onto herself.

I just prayed Sam was spared her theatrics.

Yet here I was, ready to dive into a fake relationship once again.

However, this time, I truly felt I had no choice.

The thought of ending up in Kayzon’s hands made me sick with dread and desperation.

And strange as it seemed, Tarrick provided a sense of safety and protection.

It wasn’t just his relation to Jala and Praxxan, who had shown me nothing but kindness since my arrival.

There was something about Tarrick himself that put me at ease.

Despite only having met him today, I hadn’t felt this secure with another person in a long time.

Even his spicy, musky scent was calming, like deep leather and Christmas morning.

Whatever it might be, I felt like I could trust him.

“So, how are we going to make this work?” Personally, I couldn’t fathom how we would navigate the ruse without social media, something that aliens lacked, even with advanced technology.

But perhaps there was still value in traditional ways, like gossip.

I thought back to the old movie magazines from the 1940s and 1950s.

It was a time when secrets and scandals were carefully hidden, as evidenced by the fact that no one knew Rock Hudson was gay until shortly before his death.

“You said photos of you and this male together were used to infer a mating?” Jala tapped her chin with a finger. I could practically see her mind whirring.

“Yes.”

“But we have nothing like this puppy-r-teratsi,” Praxxan reminded her. At least, I think he did. I wasn’t sure from the way he butchered the word.

“No,” Jala grinned up at her mate, lifting his hand to place a kiss on his thick knuckles. “But we have the Berajbe.”

A light seemed to go on inside both Praxxan and Tarrick, and they both grinned broadly. I, however, remained confused as shit.

“What’s a Berajbe ?”

“Nosiest species in the universe,” Tarrick told me with a grin. Gosh, he was downright handsome when he smiled, despite the sharpness of his canines. “Half the reason I’ve got such a reputation is because of them.”

“There’s a community of Berajbe on the station,” Jala added, waggling her brows.

“So, we just parade around in front of the Berajbe and do mating stuff,” I surmised.

“Mating stuff?” Tarrick huffed, appalled. “You want me to fuck you in front of them?”

“What?” I blinked at him until his words settled in my brain. “Good Lord, no!” I felt my cheeks burn. “Humans... we do things like hold hands and....” My gaze settled on his full, light brown lips. I had to admit, my curiosity wasn’t for the ruse alone. “Do your species kiss?”

“Stranac nuzzle,” Praxxan explained and proceeded to demonstrate by tenderly rubbing his nose over Jala’s hair and face like a big cat. He raised his gaze and grinned at me. “Although my brother Siemba kisses because he is mated to a human.”

“Okay.” Shit. Why did that tidbit of knowledge disappoint me? “Okay, so we go on dates and....”

“What is a date?” Tarrick had been quietly watching me through all this, his handsome face intent with curiosity.

I felt like I was teaching a Sex Ed class, and not very well.

“It’s where two people who are thinking about mating spend time with each other.

We can go to lunch… or dinner, take walks, hold hands and…

nuzzle, and make sure these Berajbe see us.

” A flush of heat spread across my cheeks, and my heart raced with anticipation at the mere thought of it.

Seriously?

Calm down. Just like Sam, it was only for show.

“You must appear besotted.” Jala scolded Tarrick, to which he gave a nod in agreement. Her eyes cut me, and I nodded as well. Personally, I didn’t expect to have any trouble playing the part.

“ Completely besotted,” Jala emphasized, her golden gaze intent on Tarrick.

“I know,” Tarrick grumbled, the light tan of his cheeks growing to burnished copper. Was he blushing? Why did I find it so adorable?

I forced myself back to business. “It’s too bad we don’t have a meet cute .”

Tarrick shifted his large body on the sofa next to me, drawing incrementally closer, and my heart increased in tempo.

“What is that?” His chocolate brown eyes focused on my face with such intensity, I actually felt his gaze tingle across my skin.

“It’s the moment when a couple meet for the first time,” I said, my voice rough and a little breathy. I cleared my throat before continuing. “Often, especially in videos and books, when a couple meet, they do it in a cute, memorable way.”

My meet cute with Sam was backstage after one of my concerts. There were so many flashing bulbs that I barely got through it without going blind. The next day, TMZ declared us the hot new couple.

“The whole restaurant is buzzing over the way Tarrick stared at you while you sang last night,” Jala said matter-of-factly.

I blushed, remembering the way his stare made me feel. “That will work.”

“We begin now,” Jala announced, rising to her feet, her body thrumming with purpose.

“We will use the staff at Space Pearls to spread the tale of how Tarrick became immediately enraptured when he heard you sing.” She grinned and waved her fingers toward where Tarrick and I sat.

“And you two get out and about, find some Berajbe... and mate.”

Beside me, I felt Tarrick’s body tense, his low growl of agreement rumbling through the air.

Our eyes met for a brief moment, and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips—sweet and understanding.

When we left this room, it would be under the pretense that we were a couple. .. a couple deeply in love.

I gazed at Tarrick's handsome face, feeling a flutter of something low in my belly. How bad could it be? I might even find some enjoyment in this charade.