Alien Adoration (3 page)

She continued to gaze outside, focusing on a small circle of light on the road. She’d never noticed it before. It fell nowhere near the glow from the street lamp, and there were no cars heading in the direction of her house.

Then the circle grew from the size of a basketball to a ring as big as her kiddie pool in the backyard. Trees swayed in the wind, like before a storm, but not a single cloud floated in the sky. The stars shone bright…. Except for one patch where there was only darkness.
Strange.

Rachel blinked and looked again. The blank spot had been refilled by twinkling stars. The trees stopped swaying, and the beam no longer shone on the asphalt.
In its place stood a boy. At least she assumed the shape was a boy.

She unhooked the lock on the window and yanked it open. The figure glanced up at her and she froze.
Definitely a boy, naked except for a shiny pair of under drawers. Holding in a giggle, she became caught up in his wide eyes.

He lifted a hand and waved, a smile spreading across his face.

“Hi,” she whispered, waving back.

He echoed her word, only in a deeper voice, though nothing like her father’s, just like the boys in her class.

“Where did you come from?” She kept her voice low so her parents wouldn’t hear her. If they caught her still awake, she would get a spanking.

The little boy pointed straight up.

“From space?”

He nodded.

Oh boy, she would rub this in Jenny Marshall’s face. Aliens really did exist. One stood in front of her house.

But when she scanned the street again, he had disappeared.
And I don’t even know his name.

Jumping up, she raced toward her parents’ room. They would stop fighting if she told them what she’d seen.

She burst into their room. “Mom, Dad, I just saw an alien.”

But they weren’t fighting. They were under the covers, her dad rocking on top of her mom.

Grunting. Skin slapping.
What are they doing?
Her throat burned. She backed away, covering her mouth.

“There’s no such thing as aliens.” Her dad turned toward her and glared. “Get the fuck out of here!”

Tears rolled down her cheeks. She spun around then ran out of the room. Her father had used the F-word before, but never to her.

Out. She had to get away.
Down the stairs and out into the screened-in porch. She opened the door, but came to a halt at the top of the stairs. The darkness scared her way more than her parents. She didn’t want to go back inside, though.

Curling up on the cushioned wicker rocking chair, she wiped her eyes. But the tears kept falling. Her dad had yelled at her, and her mom hadn’t stopped him. They didn’t care where she went. If she ran away, they probably wouldn’t even look for her.

But where would she go? Her friends who ran away always went to their grandma and grandpa’s houses. But she didn’t have any relatives nearby. She didn’t even know if she had any other family besides her parents. No one ever came around.

Something soft and warm touched her shoulder. With a glance behind her, she shrieked. The boy stood there, his skin shining in the dim light.

“Don’t be afraid.” He smiled. “I won’t hurt you.”

“No, I…” She rose and turned around to see him better. “You just surprised me is
all.”

He had the biggest black eyes. Her parents always told not to stare, but his eyes were just so fascinating, so different than anything she’d ever seen. They contained no white, only darkness.

“You’re really an alien?”

He shrugged. “I guess.”

“And where are your parents?” Everyone had to have parents, even space aliens.

His bottom lip quivered. “I don’t know. I was with them, and when they went to an assembly of the elders, I wandered off. I found a room with a lot of buttons.
All different colors. I started pressing them and then I turned up here.”

“Will they come back for you?” They couldn’t leave him on a different planet by himself. They could get in trouble for that.

He shook his head. “The ship flies one direction. It won’t come back for another two hundred star cycles.”

Star cycles?
She knew Earth rotated around the sun, a star, making a year. Was that what he meant? Two hundred years? Everyone in her life would be dead by then. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” He ran his hands up and down his arms. “It’s so cold here.”

“Hold on.” She knew how to help him. Dashing into the house, she grabbed a blanket then returned to the alien. Boy clothes weren’t going to be easy to find, but the quilt from the couch would work just as well. At least until the morning.

“If we cuddle together under the blanket, we’ll stay warm.” She would never offer to snuggle with any of the kids from school. They always tried to punch and kick her. This boy didn’t seem like he wanted to
do either. Maybe because he appeared a bit older than those in her class.

He sat on the chair first, and she squeezed in beside him, heaving the cover over them.

She giggled. Never had she been so close to a boy. And she didn’t even know what to call him. “What’s your name?”

Rachel tugged her pillow over her head, woken by another one of Luke’s women letting the entire neighborhood know she was leaving. So much for him driving her home last night, asking her over for coffee. That must have meant nothing to him. She’d denied him, so he simply found someone else for the next night.

She peeked out at her bedside clock. The red numbers glared 3:00. Having gone to dinner with Christine to fill her in on her rescuer, she hadn’t been around to see anyone enter his house. But the woman had left later than any of the others. Her chest ached and her eyes stung with the threat of tears. No, she wouldn’t cry. Her neighbor meant nothing to
her
.

Images of her dream—the delusion based on her childhood memory—flittered through her mind. She winced.
Why did I tell them I saw an alien? Maybe if I hadn’t, things wouldn’t have changed.
Two days after she walked in on her parents, her father packed up and moved out for the first time of many. And when he didn’t live at home, sometimes she would see him around town with another woman. Her mother seemed to resent her, always claiming she caused her dad to leave. Mom brought other men home, prompting her to hide in her room. They weren’t her father and didn’t want anything to do with her, anyway. But after a few years, her dad moved back for good. Her parents didn’t fight anymore, but they never paid her much attention.

Once old enough to figure out what her parents had been doing the night she’d walked in on them, she wanted to have sex, understand how it could change people. There were plenty of guys her age willing to show her. But not one of them made her comprehend why her parents suddenly shunned her.
Or their actions just after her nineteenth birthday.

She cringed.
Think of something else.

My alien.
Remembering him always calmed her down. There was something so innocent about him, making her feel like a child again, before everything in her life changed. And the dream of him came often. Too often. Though she would always awaken just before he told her his name. No matter how hard she tried to remember, his name remained elusive, always on the edge of her memory. The next morning, she’d woken up on the porch alone, wrapped in the blanket, and had failed to find her little alien since. Maybe his parents had returned to pick him up after all, or maybe she’d imagined the whole thing.

***

Rachel slammed her car door then plodded toward the grocery store. Her mind refused to settle after waking from her dream. She’d washed, dried, and folded her laundry, cleaned the bathroom, and scrubbed the kitchen floor. And minutes before the grocery store opened, she’d left her house, hoping to get in and out before she ran into her asshole of an ex-boyfriend or any of the church ladies who would insist she come with them next week to meet their
handsome, young
nephews, grandsons, and even sons who, in their forties, still lived at home.
No, thank you.

Inside, she grabbed a cart and headed straight to the produce aisle. After picking up all she needed in the frozen food section, she raced for the checkout.

The high pitch cackle of Jenny Marshall froze her in her tracks.
No.

She ducked down the nearest aisle only to run smack into someone else, steel grinding against steel. And who did the other cart belong to?
None other than the skank and the douchebag.

“Rachel, what a surprise to see you here.
We were just talking about you.” Jenny pinned on her widest smile, but Dirk didn’t even acknowledge her.

Thank God.
Like she had anything good to say to him.

“Yeah.”
Her fingers dug into the handle. “Sorry about running into you.”
Not really.
“But I’ve got to go.”

She backed up then made a beeline for the only open checkout. Guess he must have called Jenny when she wouldn’t fuck him. Just like
Luke.
Well, Jenny can have him. He has a pencil dick, anyway.

Driving past Luke’s house on her way home, she thought of Christine’s words. Could she settle for one night with him? He couldn’t be any worse than her other sexual partners. But did his offer still stand?

She would fall to pieces at his rejection. No, she would rather him remain in her fantasies than become a “never going to happen.”

Chapter Three

Luke nailed on the last fence board, letting out a huge breath.
Finally done.
Working long hours all week left him antsy. Every night he arrived home too late to stop by Rachel’s house. Not once did he find her staring out her window, only finding closed curtains every time he tried to catch a glimpse of her.

Today seemed especially rough. The hotter than hell weather drew on his nerves, and he swore he spotted his neighbor on the other side of the river with a young punk. Sexier than he’d ever seen her, she dressed in a short black skirt she would have to shave everything to wear, and a low-cut top. His cock strained in his pants. Then the kid groped the look-alike. He clenched his fists.
I can’t take this anymore. I have to see her, make my move.

With the extra money in his pocket, he wouldn’t have to work late the next day, and after a shower, he would make the trek over to his neighbor’s. Today he was too tired and his couch called to him.

Dogs yipped behind him, and he pivoted on his heels. Mrs. Yantzi waltzed toward him, her canine companions prancing along beside her. “Luke, you did a wonderful job. Are you all finished?”

“Yes, ma’am.”
He removed his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Starting early to get the job finished before the heat of the day, hadn’t made a difference. Not with the blasted humidity. “I just need to clean up my tools.”

She placed a piece of paper in the palm of his hand. “Here’s what I owe you plus a bit extra for working over the weekend, and in this heat.”

He nodded and pocketed the check. At least the woman appreciated his sacrifice. She’d been his best client since moving back to Hanton. “Thank you. When you’re ready for the deck to be done, just give me a call.”

She chuckled. “That won’t be until next summer, but I’ll be sure to contact you.” The woman and her little dogs returned to the house, leaving him to pack up.

He loaded his tools back in his truck, and took one last glance at the other side of the river.

***

Rachel stared in horror at her date.
What on Earth was I thinking when I agreed to meet him? Seriously, how many adult men walked around with their pants hanging halfway down their asses with their cartoon character boxers showing?
The way he strutted around, ogling her, reminded her of the punks from high school she used to avoid.

If Mrs. Norris and her group of church ladies hadn’t trapped her in the cubicle Monday morning, she never would have agreed to meet the woman’s nephew, Sol. She pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes.
Maybe I can fake food poisoning as an excuse to go home early.
Flicking open her eyes, she bounced up on her toes.
Let’s get started.

“Mmm, all that food over there looks delicious.” With reluctance, she grabbed Sol’s hand. “Why don’t we go eat?”

Mrs. Norris slapped their fingers apart. “It’s not time yet. They’re playing games out in the field. Why don’t you join them?”

Sure, if I was ten.

Sol took her hand again, and dragged her in the same direction anyway. “C’mon, I know another way we can pass the time.”

She groaned, but following him had to be better than hanging around with the church ladies. If they thought for one instant she wasn’t enjoying herself, they would set her up with another guy by the end of the day.