CHAPTER 8
A lex awoke before his alarm went off, which was a miracle in itself considering how exhausted he’d been. The second miracle? He felt as if he’d had the best night of sleep in his entire life. Smiling to himself, he had a feeling that his good mood might have a reason behind it. Reaching for his phone, he opened it and went straight for the Messenger app.
Good Morning
Bubbles immediately popped up.
Good Morning, Alex. Have a good day.
Thanks. You, too
He smiled, wishing he had more time to lounge in bed and chat with Cryss again, but he had a mountain of work ahead. He quickly showered, dressed, and walked out into the kitchen, surprised his brother wasn’t already out there with coffee made. Alex started a pot before frying up an egg and slice of toast.
Ethan shuffled out of his bedroom, frowning.
Alex eyed him and smiled. “Morning.”
“What the hell are you doing up so early? And making breakfast? Coffee?” He walked over and pressed his palm on Alex’s forehead. “No fever… is this Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Are you a pod person?”
“Funny,” Alex smirked. “I have to go in early for the next few weeks. I already told you that.”
“Yeah, but I’m used to you being drag ass in the morning and grumpy. You’re almost… cheery.”
Alex smiled at his brother. “I’m just… happy this morning. Is that so terrible?”
“Have you met someone? You have, haven’t you?”
Alex’s eyes widened before he flipped his egg. “What makes you think that?”
“The last time I saw you anything like this was right after you met Matt.”
For the first time in months, the mention of Matt’s name didn’t sting. “My happiness isn’t dependent on a man in my life.” Apparently, it is. Shit. I don’t like that.
“Bullshit,” Ethan spat. “You’ve met a man. But you worked at the shoot the last couple of days.” Ethan gasped. “Was it one of the models? Are you dating a model?”
Alex rolled his eyes and slid the egg onto a plate, shocked his brother had so quickly figured him out. If anyone should be scared, it should be him. He wasn’t ready to share information yet. He and Cryss had just met, and there was no way to know if it would become serious. “Can you stop?”
Ethan poured himself a cup of coffee, added a bit of cream and sugar, and then took a sip. He cringed. “I do make better coffee, don’t I? What in the hell did you do to this?” He walked toward the sink to pour out his cup.
“Is it really that bad?”
Ethan handed the cup to Alex before it ended up down the drain.
Alex sipped and cringed, pouring it out. “Ew.”
His brother pointed at the pot. “They call black coffee black coffee for a reason. It’s not supposed to be brown. You didn’t put enough grounds in.”
“In my defense, I haven’t made coffee in years. You always make a pot before I get up. I had to guess how much to put in.” Alex shoved a big forkful of egg into his mouth to get the terrible taste out of his mouth.
“The internet exists for a reason, you know? In case you have another early morning tomorrow, I’ll set everything up tonight before I go to bed. All you’ll have to do is turn it on. Don’t waste my expensive coffee,” Ethan said, grabbing the pot and pouring it in the sink, too. “I’ll make another pot.”
“Don’t make any for me. I don’t have the time,” Alex said as he scooped up the last of his egg. Snatching the toast, he shoved it in his mouth and pulled his messenger bag over his head.
“A morning without coffee? What blasphemy is this?”
“No blasphemy. I’ll stop somewhere on the way in.”
“The time you wait in line is as long, if not longer, than waiting for me to brew another pot.”
“Fine. Hurry it up, then.” He leaned on the stool that had housed his bag for the night and banged a palm on the breakfast bar. “Service, please.”
Ethan grinned. He quickly tossed out the grinds and carefully measured more. Once he’d hit the On button, he turned to face Alex. “So what’s his name?”
“There isn’t anyone,” he fibbed, taking a bite of his toast to avoid answering more questions.
“I know when you’re lying to me—and you’re lying.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “This is why you wanted me to stay instead of stopping for coffee. You wanted to grill me.”
“Maybe.”
Alex stared at his brother, silent. He took another big bite of toast to keep his mouth busy.
“His name?”
Alex sighed, shaking his head.
“I’m bigger than you and still the undisputed champion of Indian leg wrestling.”
“You know, it’s likely not PC to continue calling it that,” Alex murmured.
“It felt wrong the minute it was out of my mouth,” Ethan said. “But don’t try and change the subject.”
Alex swallowed what was in his mouth, sure Ethan wouldn’t let up until he answered. “Cryss.”
A broad smile stretched across Ethan’s face. “I knew it! When do I get to meet him?”
“You don’t. I just met him.”
“I have to see if he’s worthy of my big brother.”
“If it turns serious, which I doubt, I’ll introduce the two of you—but don’t get your hopes up.”
It was going to be semi-serious, wasn’t it? A five-and-a-half-week whirlwind romance, until the ball dropped. Perhaps calling it a romance was a stretch. Cryss was likely only interested in having a fuck buddy—regardless of what he said about the no sex part. Yeah, right. There better be sex and lots of it.
But then, who asked their fuck buddy to move in through the holidays? Next to Valentines it was the second most romantic time of the year according to Hallmark movies.
“Well, if he’s still not a thing by Christmas, you better work on your game face for Mom.”
Oh, fuck! He’d forgotten that he’d promised Ethan he’d go back home for Christmas. Alex hadn’t gone in a few years, and Ethan had demanded his presence. “So, Christmas?”
“Yes?”
“I know I promised I’d go home with you…”
Ethan cocked his head to the side, scowling. “But?”
“Could we maybe postpone that until next Christmas?”
“This guy isn’t serious yet and you’re already planning to spend the holidays with him?”
“I didn’t necessarily say I was spending them with him.”
“ Come on, Alex. I cannot handle another holiday being the only son Mom hovers over and nags. She harps on the fact you’re not there like it’s my fault and I’m tired of being blamed for your absence. You promised me you’d go. Please don’t do this to me. I can’t handle another year without you there to deflect her attention.”
“Okay, okay,” Alex murmured. “I’ll make it work somehow.”
“You could always bring this guy. That would really mess with Mom’s head.”
“I’m not taking him home to meet our parents.” While his family had been supportive after he’d come out, his mother had struggled some. In some ways, she still did, he sensed. “The reason I haven’t gone in so long is how she acted when she met Matt. I didn’t want to put him through that again.”
“I kinda liked that year. She was really quiet and got that squeaky little voice when she did talk. She didn’t nag me once that entire trip, which was a Christmas miracle. I vote you bring him.”
“No.”
Ethan sighed. He grabbed a travel mug from the cabinet above the coffee maker and filled it from the fresh pot. He added cream and sugar before handing it to Alex.
“You didn’t have to make my cup for me, but I do appreciate it.”
“Well, your head’s a bit up in the clouds. I can’t have you ruining more of my expensive coffee with an overpour of cream or sugar.”
Alex grabbed the cup, rolling his eyes. “My head is exactly where it belongs. About two feet above my ass.”
Ethan chuckled before pouring himself another cup. “Leave your tip in the tip jar before you leave, sir.”
“I’ll catch you next time.” Alex pulled his bike down off the storage hook beside the front door. “And remember I’ll be working late tonight on through the next few weeks.”
“I know, I know. Have a good day, Loverboy.”
A half hour later, Alex marched through the Marketing Department, offering hellos and good mornings to the few early folks on the way to his office. Jonas wasn’t at their desk yet, so he headed on in and set up his laptop to download the photos from the day before, then moved to his desktop to check emails while that loaded.
Jonas poked their head in through his door. “You beat me here? That never happens.”
“I woke up very refreshed today for some reason. And ready to work.”
“Kissing a sexy man can do that for you,” Jonas whispered.
Alex ignored their comment and continued. “I’ve got the photos from yesterday downloading so I can upload them to the shared server. I don’t want to put the loungewear files there. Skip usually does the video editing, so let’s give that to him on a flash drive and ensure he knows it’s important to keep it discrete.”
“Again, the whole world is going to see it soon.”
“I watched it all last night,” Alex said, not adding the fact he’d also jerked off to it before bed. “There really are some spots that are a little much for TV or social media. I don’t need the whole team seeing that. It’s bad enough Skip’s being added to the short list of those who either saw or have access.”
“Gotcha, Boss. We will be very discrete and not add those to the server. Do you want Skip not to save his edits there, either?”
“Maybe we should keep it all under wraps for a bit. We need to back his system up regularly, though, if it’s not on the shared server. Remind him.”
Jonas typed some notes into their iPad.
“Let’s also have a quick meeting once everyone’s here and I’ve had time to upload the images to the shared drive. We need to make sure we’re all on the same page moving forward since we have little time left to get this together. There’s no room for mistakes or miscommunication.”
“I’ll handle that. Anything else?”
“We need to add an addendum to Cryss’s contract. The agency sent him the old file with just the shoot dates, not the parade. If you can pull the file and change it to just the parade and send it over, I’d appreciate that.”
“Oh, damn. Do you think he’ll agree?”
“I’ve already negotiated it with him, and he’s going to sign. We just need to send it over today.”
“What are we paying him for the day?”
Alex froze. He eyed Jonas, sure his answer might cause more questions, but it needed to go in black and white. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Jonas lifted a brow. “Seriously?”
“He was very generous,” Alex murmured, sipping his coffee and feigning disinterest.
“Generous, hmm?”
Alex fought a smile. “Also, whenever you get a minute… anytime this week, no rush… if you can check with HR and see how much vacation time I have accrued?”
“You haven’t taken a vacation since I’ve been here, so I’m sure it’s a lot.” Jonas typed the note in their iPad before their head whipped up. “Are you planning one?”
“If we can get the holidays set and I can clear my desk, I might try to take the month of December off. If I have enough time, of course. And if Trevor will approve it. So, let’s not schedule any new meetings until after the New Year.”
Jonas grinned. “About time you took a break. We all need downtime.” They made another note. “Got anything else for me?”
“That’s more than enough for now. I’m going to make some calls about getting us a Christmas float made this morning and determine if I need to beg Trevor for more funds to make it happen. I have a bit left in our holiday budget, but I doubt it’s enough.”
“Take Trevor a few images from the shoot, particularly ones where Cryss looks really, really good. That might help him say yes if he knows that’s going to be on the PridePack float.”
“Good thinking.”
“Okay,” Jonas murmured. “I’ll get to work on this.”
E arlier that morning, Cryss had awoken with a jolt, searching the bed beside him for Alex. It had taken a moment to remember it had been a dream. He stretched his tentacles out before reforming and leaping out of bed. Before he could go far, his phone had pinged. A smile came to his face, seeing Alex’s text.
Scenes from the night before replayed in his mind, and he had to remind himself that they hadn’t been real even if they’d felt it. After breakfast, he and Qylar took a five-mile jog, leading them to Golden Gate Park. They ran the length of it and back to the Pacific Ocean. He paused at the coast, looking out at the water longingly. A swim together. Too bad the water along the California coast was so polluted. They’d have to go deep to find suitable swimming locations and there’s no way Alex would let them go out that far. Not without Cryss exposing himself.
All that water and little to swim in. That was one part of home he missed. His people lived half their lives in the ocean. Protecting the ecosystem was vital—especially for maintaining the spawning grounds. Their waters were pristine.
“Are you finally ready to get to work on the hull?” Qylar asked.
Cryss shrugged. Their ship was hidden miles out, under the water. “We don’t have enough materials.”
“We have some,” Qylar murmured. “Look, I know you don’t want to leave. Especially now that you’ve met Alex. But I don’t like not having an escape route in case of emergency.”
“I know. I know.” Cryss sighed. “We can go out there tomorrow. It’ll give me something to focus on while I wait for Alex.”
“I’ll spend today online and see if I can’t scrounge up some xenotime. I’m still pissed I lost that auction last month. One second it was mine and the next, I’d been outbid, and the auction was over,” Qylar said. “It was a massive chunk, too. The bastards.”
Their hull was made of two layers of a tungsten-titanium alloy. Both metals were fairly easy to come by on Earth, as they were on his world, too. The problem was the thin coating of dysprosium that fit between the two layers that helped create the magnetic field protecting the ship. While dysprosium was an abundant element on their world, it was considered a rare-earth element. Dysprosium was most often extracted from xenotime, a rare mineral. Rare plus rare made it harder for them to secure enough to make the necessary repairs.
“Near sunset, we can take the boat out with that last load of titanium in the garage and put it in the cargo bay,” Cryss murmured. “Then we can go grab some dinner.”
“Sounds good. What do you plan to do until then?”
Cryss shrugged. “Not sure. I can help you search online, I suppose. We took a chunk out of our savings with that last titanium purchase so it couldn’t hurt to peek in on the markets and take a few calculated risks. I’d like to refill that gap, and soon—especially if we’re going to get serious about buying more xenotime.”
“Good plan.” Qylar smiled.
“Are you ready to go home?”
“Yeah,” Qylar murmured, sniffing his t-shirt. “I need a shower. I stink.”
“I mean Nefyria.”
Qylar cringed. “No.”
“It’s been over three years. And with you mentioning the ship, I had to ask.”
“Nefyria stopped feeling like home when they ripped my father off the throne and tossed him into the bowels of hell, not caring if his children fell into it with him. It can rot for all I care. If we never returned, I’d be perfectly happy.” He lifted his stare to the sky. “I do miss the occasional jaunt through the stars, though. If we got our ship in better working order, we could zip off planet on occasion. Might make me feel less antsy.”
“I didn’t want to be the one keeping you here against your will.”
“Nah,” Qylar murmured. “I like it here just fine. No one knows my past and whispers behind my back. I can just be.”
“Then we’re okay.”
“You and me? We’re always okay, Cryss. If I wanted to leave this world, I would tell you. I promise.”
Cryss nodded. “Good.”
After their run back home, they went about their day as planned. A lead on some xenotime was found and the market was active. Before sunset, they went out deep into the Pacific and offloaded their supply, enjoying a rare swim in their shifted form to get down to the ship. Once back, they ate and drank before Cryss returned to the lap pool to wear himself out.
As he climbed upstairs after his laps, Qylar eyed him. “You already swam today.”
“Exhaustion helps me fight the urge to see him.”
Qylar searched his face. “Okay. But don’t tire yourself out so much that you’ve got nothing left for tomorrow.”
“I’ll be fine tomorrow,” Cryss murmured. “Night.”
He marched upstairs and showered. As he was drying off, his phone pinged.
Headed to bed. It’s been a long, long day, so I’m crashing hard. So tired. Night, Cryss
Cryss eyed the clock. Eleven-fifteen. He wondered when Alex had finally gotten home from work. He’d hoped they might chat a little, like they had the night before, but he wouldn’t push. Cryss had promised to go easy on his human.
Get some rest. Sweet dreams, Alex.
I t didn’t take Alex long to drift off to sleep as exhausted as he was. He wasn’t sure how long it was before he awoke again. He glanced around the unusual bedroom with the iridescent deep-blue metal walls and rounded doorways. Shifting to his side, he was face-to-face with Cryss again. Another dream of aliens, tentacles, and Cryss cuddles. He was ready for it.
He yawned, moving his hand to his mouth. “Sorry. I must be so tired that I carried it over into my dream.”
Cryss smiled, caressing his cheek. “No need to apologize. And for the record, it’s my dream.”
“Sure, sure,” Alex said before yawning again. He struggled to keep his eyes open.
“The last thing you said to me was you were exhausted,” Cryss said. “I must’ve carried that in here subconsciously.”
Alex’s eyes drifted closed. “I am…”
“Before you completely zonk out on me, come here.” Cryss yanked him closer. He tucked Alex’s head under his chin. “I rather liked sleeping with you in my arms last night, if you don’t mind.”
Alex spread a palm over Cryss’s chest, cuddling closer. He could get used to sleeping like that every night. “I slept pretty well myself. I’ll take as many nights like those as I can.”
Cryss rubbed his back in slow circles, lulling him.
“Night, Cryss.”
“Night, my love.”
Alex drifted off as Cryss kissed his forehead.