Close Liaisons (20 page)

He waved his hand dismissively. “It’s not a big deal. I was once beaten up in high school because the head quarterback thought I was flirting with his girlfriend. Believe me, this was nothing in comparison.” And he grinned at her, his smile utterly infectious.

Mia smiled back a little. It was good to hear that he didn’t hold a grudge against her. But he still needed to go away for his own safety.

“Listen, Peter, thanks for checking up on me,” she said. “That was really sweet of you. But we now know that my boyfriend is not too keen on our friendship – and it’s really for the best if he doesn’t find out you were here –”

“Mia,” said Peter seriously, his smile completely gone, “are you really dating that creature? I just never pictured you as a xeno –”

“I’m not!”

“You’re not a Krinarian, are you?”

“Of course not! I’m not religious at all!”

“Then why are you seeing him?”

Mia sighed. “Look, Peter, that’s not really any of your business. He’s my boyfriend – that’s all you need to know. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that when we first met. I was just having a fun time at a girls’ night out. I really didn’t mean to mislead you in any way –”

“That’s bullshit,” said Peter vehemently. “A boyfriend – that’s a human guy, not some vicious alien who drags you out of the club like that.” He paused for a second and asked quietly, “Mia, is he forcing you to be with him?”

“What? Why would you think that?” Mia stared at him, wondering what would make him ask something like that.

He looked back at her, his brows furrowed in a frown. “You just don’t seem like the type to seek out one of these monsters.”

“What type is that?” wondered Mia, genuinely curious to hear the answer.

He tugged at his ear in frustration. “Well, a lot of people in the entertainment industry actually . . . models, actresses, singers – they get bored and look for something to spice up their lives . . . They’re shallow, and many of them are stupid – all they see are the pretty faces and not the evil underneath –”

“Evil underneath?” asked Mia, surprised that he felt so strongly about the Krinar. Prior to her own close encounters with Korum, she’d had zero exposure to the invaders and no real opinion about them. Maybe Peter was religious himself and believed the claim that the Ks were demons?

He grimaced. “I’ve seen people disappear, Mia, when they get involved with these creatures. That, or end up really messed up at the end. It’s not natural for us – to be with their kind. It never ends well . . .”

Mia took a deep breath and said firmly, “Peter, look, I appreciate the concern, but there’s really no need in this case. I know what I’m doing. I’m neither shallow nor stupid –”

“I never said you were,” protested Peter.

“– and I don’t really appreciate you implying anything about my relationship. I’m with Korum because I want to be, and that’s all there’s to it.”

She sincerely hoped that was enough to get Peter to go away. The last thing she needed was a bumbling white knight trying to save her from the evil monster – a white knight who would definitely end up getting slain in the process. Maybe later, if she survived the next couple of weeks, she would apologize to Peter for being so harsh. She liked him, and it would be nice to become friends with him, particularly if her life ever got back to normal.

He looked slightly hurt. “Of course, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply anything. Obviously, you can be with whomever you choose. I just wanted to make sure you were all right, that’s all.”

Mia nodded and gave him a faint smile. “I understand. Thanks again for stopping by.” Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the laptop and a couple of books.

Peter immediately got the hint. “Sure. I’ll see you around, okay?” he said, and walked out of the room. Mia heard him talking to Jessie and Edgar for a minute, and then he was gone, the front door closing decisively behind him.

Mia plopped down on her bed with relief. How had it happened that a cute guy – with whom she actually had a decent connection – had come along at such a wrong time in her life? Had she met him two months ago, she had no doubt that she would have been ecstatic to have him pay attention to her like that – but it was too late now.

Like those people he knew, she would likely end up messed up in the end – either that or dead at the hands of her alien lover.

Shortly after Peter left, Edgar departed as well. Mia heard them kissing and giggling by the door, and then there was silence. Almost immediately afterwards, Jessie came into her room.

“So,” said Mia, smiling at her roommate, “I take it things are going well with Edgar?”

Jessie gave her a huge grin. “They are going
very
well. He’s just so nice, and so fun, and so cute . . .”

Mia laughed and said, “I’m glad for you. You deserve a good guy like that.”

“That I do,” said Jessie without any false modesty, still grinning. And then her expression abruptly became serious. “And so do you, Mia –”

Uh-oh, thought Mia. Here comes the lecture.

“– and you’re clearly not getting it.”

“Jessie, please, let’s not beat a dead horse –”

“A dead horse? I’d like to beat up a certain K!” Jessie took a deep breath, clearly riled on Mia’s behalf. “Peter is such a nice guy, and he seems to really like you – to come all the way here like this after everything that happened . . . and you’re stuck with that monster!”

Mia rubbed the back of her neck to get rid of some tension there. “Jessie, please stop worrying about my relationship . . . everything will get resolved in its own time –”

“Speaking of getting things resolved, did you talk to him about the summer?”

Mia bit her lip. She hated lying to Jessie, and she so badly wanted to talk to someone about the whole maddening mess. If John was right about the Keiths’ timing, her trip to Florida would be merely delayed – and not even by all that much. Of course, that assumed she would still be alive at the time. Mia decided on a slightly edited version of the truth.

“I have,” she said slowly.

“And?”

“And we agreed that I’ll go later in the summer, and do an internship here in New York instead.”

Jessie stared at her in shock. “What internship?”

“I’m not sure yet. Korum promised to find me something in my field.”

“Oh my God, he’s not letting you go, is he?” Jessie looked completely horrified.

“Not exactly,” admitted Mia. “He did say, though, that we’ll go to Florida together once his business in New York is done.”

“Together? What, he’s going to meet your family?” The expression on Jessie’s face was utterly incredulous.

“I have no idea,” said Mia, and she really didn’t. She hadn’t had a chance to think about it, with everything that had gone on – but she couldn’t imagine her normal down-to-earth family interacting calmly with her alien lover. “We didn’t get as far as discussing the particulars –”

“That bastard! I can’t believe he’s doing it to you! No wonder you’re helping the Resistance – you probably hate his guts.”

Mia couldn’t believe her ears. “What? What did you just say?”

“Oh come on, Mia,” said Jessie calmly. “I’m not an idiot. I can put two and two together. John was waiting for you here in the apartment even before you showed up. Clearly, he knew you were coming. You’re communicating with them, aren’t you?”

Damn it
. Sometimes Mia forgot just how astute her pretty, bubbly roommate could be. Denying it any longer would be pointless, but Jessie could not know the extent of Mia’s involvement – it would be much too dangerous for both of them.

Mia gave her a piercing look. “Jessie, listen to me, don’t ever say something like that – and don’t ever talk about it with anyone, not even Edgar. Do you promise me?”

Jessie nodded, her eyes narrowed. “I would never say anything. When Edgar asked me if you and John were dating, I just said that he was an old friend of your family’s.”

“That’s good,” said Mia with relief. Then she added, “Look, I am not doing anything too crazy, I promise. John just asked me to keep an eye on Korum’s activities and report to him occasionally. That’s all I was doing today. Korum met a couple of other Ks recently, and I just wanted to tell John about it. Turns out he already knew, so it really wasn’t a big deal.” Mia had no idea where she had learned to lie so smoothly.

“Not a big deal? Mia . . . you’re dealing with an extraterrestrial who has no regard for human life. You saw what he did to Peter – and that was just for dancing with you! If he catches you spying, he would kill you for sure! Of course, it’s a big deal!” Jessie blew out a frustrated breath.

There was nothing Mia could really say to that, so she just shrugged.

“And it’s all my fault for blabbing about you to Jason! I can’t believe those bastards decided to use you like that.”

Mia rubbed her neck again. “They just saw an opportunity and decided to use it. It doesn’t really change my situation. I’m still with Korum, whether or not I’m spying on him. So I might as well try to help out, you know?”

Jessie gave her a frustrated look. “I can’t believe all this shit is happening to you. You’re the most by-the-book person I know . . . and you end up sleeping with a K and spying on him.”

Mia sighed heavily. “I know. I’m so screwed, Jessie – and not just in a good way.”

A small smile broke out on Jessie’s face, and she shook her head in reproach. “Mia . . .”

Mia grinned at her. “I know, I know, that was pretty bad.”

“Not James Bond caliber, that’s for sure.” And Jessie grinned back.

* * *

That evening, Korum got home around eight o’clock. Mia was already back at his place and frantically working on her paper.

He entered her study room and came up to kiss her. “Hey there, looks like somebody is hard at work,” he teased, brushing his lips briefly against her cheek.

Mia gave him a little frown. “Yeah, I have to finish this paper tonight. I have this and my Child Psychology paper due Thursday, and I’m not done with even one of them.”

“Sounds terrible,” Korum said, the slight curve of his lips giving away his amusement.

“It is!” said Mia, her frown getting worse. Couldn’t he see she was stressed? He didn’t have to laugh at her just because her worries seemed minor to him.

“Do you want some help with it?” he asked, causing Mia to give him an incredulous look.

“Help with my papers?” Was he serious?

“Isn’t that what you’re stressing about?” He didn’t look like he was joking.

“Uh . . .” Mia was speechless. Finally finding her tongue, she mumbled, “That’s okay, thanks . . . I should be able to handle it.”

Stifling a grin, she imagined turning in a paper on the effects of environmental factors in early childhood development – written from the perspective of a two-thousand-year-old extraterrestrial. The look on Professor Dunkin’s face would be priceless.

“I can write in English, you know,” said Korum, apparently offended by her reluctance.

Mia smiled with some condescension. “Of course you can.” This was the strangest conversation ever. “But there’s more to writing an academic paper than just knowing the language. You have to have read all these books and attended the lectures . . .” She gestured toward the big pile of paper books sitting at the corner of her desk.

“So,” said Korum, shrugging nonchalantly, “I can read the books right now.”

Mia gave him a dumbfounded look. “There’s about ten of them . . .” She swallowed to get rid of the sudden dryness in her throat. “H-How fast do you read?”

“Pretty fast,” he said. “I also have what you would call a photographic memory, so I don’t need to read the material more than once.”

Mia stared at him in shock. “So you can read all these books in a matter of hours?”

He nodded. “I would probably need about two hours to finish them all.”

That was incredible. “Is that normal for your kind?” Mia asked, still digesting that shocking tidbit.

“Some of us have that ability naturally, while others choose to enhance it with technology to keep up. I was born this way.”

Mia could feel her heart rate picking up. She’d known that he was very smart, of course, and John had told her that Korum was one of the best designers among the K. She just hadn’t expected him to have what amounted to superhuman intelligence.

“I probably seem really stupid to you then,” Mia said quietly, “given how long it takes me to do all this –”

He sighed. “No, Mia, of course not. Just because you’re lacking certain abilities doesn’t mean you’re not smart.”

Yeah, right.
“What else can you do?” asked Mia, realizing how little she still knew about her alien lover.

He shrugged. “I can probably do some math in my head that you would need a calculator for.”

This was fascinating and scary at the same time. “What’s 10,456 times 6,345?” she asked, simultaneously reaching for her phone to check the answer.

“66,343,320.”

That was exactly right. And he’d given her the answer before she even had time to input the numbers into the calculator on her phone. Mia swallowed again.

“So do you want my help with the paper or not?” Korum was beginning to look impatient.

Mia shook her head. “Uh, no – that’s all right, thanks. I’m sure you could write a great paper – probably better than me – but I still have to do this myself.”

“Okay, sure, whatever you want,” he said, shaking his head at her stubbornness. “Are you hungry? Do you want me to make something?”

Mia had snacked throughout the day, so she wasn’t starving. “I don’t know,” she said tentatively. “I don’t think I have time for a sit-down meal today.” She looked up at him, hoping that he would understand.

“Of course,” he said, “I’ll bring you something to eat here.” Giving her a quick smile, he left the room.

Mia stared at the door in frustration. Why did he have to be so nice to her today? It would be so much easier if he treated her with cruelty or indifference. The guilt burning her up inside made no sense; she knew she was doing the right thing by helping the Resistance. The Ks had invaded their planet, not the other way around; liberating her species should not make her feel like this – like she was betraying someone she cared about.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to focus back on the paper. It was an impossible task. Her thoughts kept wandering, jumping from one unpleasant topic to another. Had she set in motion something that would result in the loss of thousands of lives? And would Korum be one of the casualties? It still didn’t seem entirely real to her, the potential impact of her actions.

Korum came back a few minutes later. He had made some kind of sushi-like rolls with crunchy lettuce and peppers and an apple-walnut dish for dessert.

Mia thanked him and gladly dug in, finding that she was quite hungry after all.

He smiled at her and bent down to kiss her forehead. “Enjoy. I’ll be next door if you need me.”

And then he left, letting her work on her papers – and battle her own dark thoughts.