Alien Romance: Interview with an Alien (Football Paranormal Invasion Abduction Alpha Sci-fi Romance) (Fantasy First New Adult Contact Science Fiction Mystery Sports Alien Short Stories) (19 page)

*****

Darrius wasn’t surprised at the reply to his email. It had been exactly what he was expecting.

Saturday was a busy day. He had a mission to complete first. He decided to go with an old staple. He drove to a law office on the other side of town. Someone was waiting for him in the lobby. He handed over the package and they handed over the cash. It was a big stack. Darrius didn’t deal drugs —that would get him in trouble with the Mexican cartel. He liked to deal with classier stuff. He had all sorts of doctors who would write all sorts of prescriptions. He knew many people who would fill them. Everyone needed some extra help sometimes, especially when they were working hundred hour work weeks and making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Those were the types of clients he dealt with.

He didn’t feel bad about it at all.

After he dropped the money off, he knew he’d better start getting ready. Asha wasn’t going to be easy to impress.

But Darrius was up to the challenge.

He stopped by the barber shop. While they cleaned up his fade he told them a little about Asha.

“She’s a principal,” he said. “So I have to figure out how to get called into her office if you know what I mean.”

Everyone in the shop laughed. Darrius felt a little bad talking about her like that. It was just how the guys talked when they were together, so he didn’t mean any harm by it. But he’d be lying if he didn’t say he was looking forward to that part of the evening.

He wondered if she had a yard stick in her office. That had always been a fantasy of his.

But that was for another time.

Darrius took a long shower, exfoliating his skin. He had always had good luck in that department. His dark, chocolate brown skin was smooth and clear and bright without seeming shiny. It was the same all over. He made sure to add the muted sheen of the shea butter rubbed all over his body. He rubbed some moisturizer on his face as well. He’d been wearing the whitening strips all day so his teeth were gleaming. He looked good.

It would be hard to say no to him. That was exactly what Darrius wanted.

He drove to the restaurant in his sportiest convertible. Darrius had several vehicles rotating in and out of use. It depended on who had been able to obtain what the previous week. They changed out license numbers and VINs so the stolen vehicles were impossible to trace. He kept his vehicles nice and shiny so no one would possibly think that he had something he didn’t take great pride in. No one seemed to notice his frequently changing vehicles. Darrius knew how to fly under the radar that way.

He met the hostess up front and asked for a table near the fireplace. It was very cozy over there, nice and romantic, but in a central location so Asha wouldn’t feel like they were too alone. He knew she would be slightly on edge. He could just tell that about her.

Darrius sat at his table and waited. He was prepared.

After a half hour, he was feeling less prepared. He had told her where and when to meet him but she didn’t reply. He was beginning to feel a little paranoid himself.

First time for that.

Then someone cleared their throat.

He looked up. Asha stood there. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.

He remembered her from the bar and there was a picture of her on the Wayland High website. But it didn’t compare to seeing her in person, with the fireplace flickering behind her, just like that. Her hair was blown out and straight, falling over her shoulders. She was wearing a classy black dress with a belt that emphasized her small waist and curvy hips. The dress was long, just below the knee, but it was still completely sensual with a keyhole cutout right above her cleavage that had him taking a second look like he could peek through that hole and see straight into her soul.

“Asha,” he said. The vibration of her name on his lips rumbled in his chest. He bowed his head and then held out his hand for a handshake. “Darrius. I hope you remember me.”

Asha had a guarded look on her face as she shook his head. She seemed to nod tersely.

“I do,” she said, curtly. “Thanks for inviting me. It’ll be good to talk business with you.”

Talk business. Darrius refrained from smiling. Sure, they would talk business, but he was confident that they would talk about so much more.

After all, she showed up wearing that outfit.

Darrius walked around to the other side of the table and pulled her chair out for her. Asha stared at him for a long moment before taking a seat. He wondered what she saw in him just then.

“Thank you,” Asha said, stiffly. She might be a harder nut to crack than he thought.

He sat across from her and gave her a charming smile.

“Everything here is really good,” he reassured her. “You can’t go wrong with whatever you choose. I remember when this place first opened. They had a tasting.”

“I’m sure you did,” Asha said. She looked over at him with suspicious eyes. He wondered what she was looking for.

Still, he attempted to keep up the easy conversation.

“The sushi is excellent,” he said. “I could recommend a few dishes for you if you’d like. Do you like sushi?”

Asha gave him a condescending look he didn’t understand.

“Of course, I like sushi,” she said. “Who doesn’t? You think I haven’t been in the world or something?”

Darrius swallowed. He admitted that he could handle many things but he wasn’t sure if this was one of them. Asha was being way more aggressive than he expected for someone who agreed to go on a date with him.

“I just wanted to make sure you had all your options,” he said. He looked down at his menu again. But he could feel her eyes on him. So he looked up and met her eyes. They were just as beautiful as he remembered them.

“I want you to tell me the truth,” she said. “Before I get too involved in this.”

Darrius took a deep breath. He didn’t know why he was feeling so nervous about this. He had stared judges and pimps in the face and lied to them. This woman in her sexy black dress should be no different.

Yet, it felt like her eyes were piercing straight through his soul.

“Yes?” He asked, in a tight voice.

“Did you do it?” She asked, her voice icy cold. “Did you steal those wallets?”

His first instinct was to lie. But something held him back. Maybe it was the way she was looking at him. Or rather, maybe it was the fact that he felt something when he looked at her — a pull in his chest that he hadn’t quite experienced before.

“Yes,” he admitted. “I took them. But my lawyer got the charges dropped.”

They stared at each other for a few dangerous moments. She sat there in stony silence, just looking into his eyes.

“Is that…” he said after a couple minutes. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

He wasn’t going to apologize. He never did. He never did things that would truly harm people. Even if he did leave with those wallets, their credit cards would be restored in a few days and everything would be done.

Darrius expected Asha to get up. He expected her to leave.

Instead, she did something else.

She threw her head back and started to laugh.

*****

Asha saw Darrius from across the room when she got to the restaurant. She would have been drawn to him right away if she didn’t have an actual date with him. He was tall, dark, just like she preferred her men. But there was something else about him.

She knew he did it.

Asha couldn’t explain it. She just knew. And that was something that didn’t just frighten her.

It excited her.

First of all, he would be good for the kids. He actually did know his way around the legal system. And he had that charm that meant he really knew what he was doing. He would understand how they thought, where they came from and he could speak about that.

But there was something else. Something more primal that made Asha’s toes curl.

There was always something about the bad boy.

Asha was a woman who didn’t let herself have too many luxuries in life. Even after her promotion to principal, she kept her same small teacher’s apartment and old car. It allowed her to save more. She didn’t go out very much. She didn’t buy that many fancy things. Since she stayed at home, it gave her time to think.

And a fantasy emerged.

She wasn’t sure where it come from but the thought of this thug turned savior made something down there jump. Now she was sitting in front of him.

And it was coming true.

Asha took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

“Let’s get a bottle of wine,” she said.

Across the table, Darrius looked perplexed. She knew her attitude had done a complete 180 but she had told herself something else at home. If her theory turned out to be correct, she was going to relax.

It sounded strange. Relaxing in the company of a thief.

But at the same time, it sounded like exactly what she needed.

Darrius ordered a bottle of wine. She wanted red.

“What are you thinking?” Darrius asked from across the table. Asha didn’t know if her thoughts were so easily translated into words.

“I’m thinking about you,” she said. “I never believed you were innocent.”

“Yet, you’re still here,” Darrius said. “Why is that?”

She liked the way he challenged her. He was looking at her with those captivating brown eyes, not letting go. She could feel the chemistry there. It was like a spark between them. Asha took a shallow breath. The truth was, she was here for herself just as much as she was for her kids.

“I’m here because I have a vision,” Asha said. “I need to turn my school around. I need someone speak to them who’s on their level. My students aren’t bad kids but they seem to want to go there. And I feel like you’re there. You don’t consider yourself a bad guy but you’ve done some shit.”

She smiled, amused when Darrius’s mouth fell open. He laughed a little.

“I didn’t expect you to be the type that swears,” he said.

“Well, I’m an adult,” she said. “So it happens sometimes. So that’s what I expected to get out this.”

“I can deliver,” Darrius said.

Their wine came and he poured them each a glass. Asha held her glass up and gave a small smile.

“Let’s have a toast,” she said.

“To you,” Darrius said. “You’re surprising.”

She smiled and clinked her glass with his. Then she took a sip of her wine. She felt it running through her veins, calming her down from the inside out.

Darrius reached under the table and nudged his foot to hers. She smiled and then slipped off her heel. Although he started it, she was going to finish it. She rubbed her bare foot up his calf, all the way to behind his knee. She could feel his body shuddering slightly.

This date was already fun.

“So tell me,” she said, wanting him to talk business while she rubbed his leg, sensually. “What would you tell my students?”

“Well for the Scared Straight program, I’m required to follow this script,” he said. “But for your students, I would do something more.”

“What’s that?” Asha said. She was enjoying this side of her and he seemed to be enjoying it too. She noticed him squeezing his knees together under the table.

“I would speak from my experience,” Darrius said. His voice was a little tighter now, a little shaky. She brought her foot up higher and rubbed against his thigh. She looked that look on his face, his slightly pinched looked that said he was trying to look normal.

“I wasn’t the best in high school,” Darrius said. “But I was smart. I could have gotten a scholarship to college. But I chose to use my smarts for something else and now I ended up in jail every now and then. Just because I’m not officially charged doesn’t mean I like having to spend the night in the local slammer. They could avoid all of that.”

“Why don’t you change your ways?” Asha said. “If you don’t like it so much.”

“I’m addicted to fast money,” Darrius admitted. “Plus… maybe I was waiting to meet just the right woman.”

Asha had to laugh a little at that. “A woman who’s not impressed with all the fast money?”

“You seem to be impressed with something,” Darrius countered. Asha laughed again, lightly.

“I’m impressed you have everyone so fooled,” Asha said. “That’s why you can speak to the kids. They think they have me fooled. But I see right through them.”

She narrowed her eyes at Darrius for a moment. He seemed to gulp. She liked that about him.

The waitress came. Asha told Darrius to order. He got them four different sushi rolls and some bento boxes at well. Everything was going to be made nice and fresh by the sushi chef in the back.

It was going to take a little while.

“I have an idea,” Asha said. “I think I need a hands-on demonstration. If you are going to scare my kids straight, I need to know how bad you can be.”

Darrius raised his eyebrows from across the table.

“What do you mean?” He said.

He was going to find out soon enough.

“Meet me in the bathroom… five minutes,” Asha said. She headed towards the back. The bathrooms at this place were single stalls, unisex. There were two of them. She went inside the far one and flipped the marker to “occupied”.

Hopefully, Darrius would find the right one.

Asha couldn’t believe she was doing this. She wasn’t the type. She had never done anything like this in her entire life.

Yet, it was time for a change.

Asha only hoped he really was bad enough to join her.