The Event

21.

"Didn't feel like it." I said disinterestedly.

He chuckled as he shook his head at me. "What exactly does having a boyfriend entail? What makes it so bad that you didn't feel like participating?"

I stepped away from him, crossing my arms over my chest as I leaned back to the railing. "I don't know, they-" I paused, trying to get my thoughts together, which mostly meant I was running through what I knew from movies. "Boyfriends and girlfriends like, go on dates, hangout a lot, and talk a lot..."

"That doesn't sound awful, Rowan." of course he wouldn't think so. "What are dates, anyway?"

Man, if I had a dollar for every time he asked a question I'd have like a ton of money. Not that there is anything to use money for anymore. It's just green paper now, but damn, the amount of questions he asks, I could have a lot a useless green paper.

"When you take a girl out," I shrugged. "You go to the movies, or a nice dinner, or like romantic walks on the beach or something. There's flowers and candles, or music. I don't know, you just do stuff."

"That still doesn't sound bad." He laughed, reaching over to cup the side of my face, without a lingering thought I leaned into it, letting him rub his thumb back and forth over my cheek bone. "We weren't allowed to do anything like that. Movies weren't like what you have, they were informational short programs about following rules and conforming. Music...we didn't even have it. The first time I heard your people's music here, I almost cried." He sighed and his eyes darted back and forth between mine. "We got our pairings, but spending time with them wasn't necessary. When the time came we'd sign the paperwork, move into our new housing, and then within three years we'd be expected to have one offspring." He said like this strange thing wasn't abnormal at all. "If you wanted to have more than one child you had to apply for the privilege, but Mundi would never be approved. Having two children was a sign of superiority. Not that many Mundi really wanted to have more than one child. Keeping just one alive was hard enough."

A moment passed without me saying a thing, but in my mind I was going crazy. What kind of world did he come from? How did they live that way? Why couldn't the Mundi come up and take out the upper-class? Inside my mind my thoughts were wild. Right up until I got the fact that the life he just described was what was meant for him and KaRayna together. They'd have been married, and lived together, and had a kid. She was meant to be his, but he was standing here with me.

"So what about now?" I asked after a minute and he furrowed his brows in confusion, tilting his head. "I mean, that's what you were supposed to do...Marry KaRayna and make babies." I duck my head to hide the pink in my cheeks. "What will you both do now?"

I hoped I didn't sound desperate, or needy, or like some pathetic girl, but if I'm going to spend time alone with him, kissing him, and staring at his perfect face often, I kind of need to know what his intentions are between him and his fiancé, and him and me I guess.

"Well," he muttered after a while. "KaRayna is a special person to me since she understands what I face and come from, and so I do hope to keep her as a friend, but..." his thumb drops lower to my bottom lip, forcing my mind to turn to mush so much so that I hardly heard the rest of his statement. "I don't plan to follow through with our pairing though...there is someone else who makes that seem like an impossible task."

"It's Kaylin, isn't it?" I joked, trying to brush off the nerves.

He chuckled lightly as he leaned in.

I heard a slight rumble coming from somewhere in building, but I hardly paid it any attention, not while Kayne leaned in closer. "It's you." He whispered. "From the moment I saw you I've been completely distracted."

"Not sure if being a distraction is really a compliment." I shrugged, but he shut me up with his lips on mine.

God, he just tasted so damn good. Like, all the time. Was that even normal? I mean surely at some point the guy had to do something unattractive, right? Eat some garlic at dinner, or getting sweaty and smell bad...something. Something other than this twenty four seven beautiful perfect smelling, tasting, looking, amazing guy.

I was so caught up in the kiss, and the way his hands dipped to my hips, one finger seeming to find its way to the place where my shirt met my pants, dancing across the strip of skin there, covering me in chill bumps. I didn't hear the door open, or the footsteps approach.

Not until it was too late.

"What in the fuck are you doing with my sister?" Jeremy's voice boomed into the stairwell, echoing back off the concrete walls and somehow managing to sound even more menacing after every echo.

Kayne and I jerked apart so fast that I nearly fell down the second flight of stairs before Kaye jerked my shirt forward, righting me on my feet before releasing me again.

"Jer, I, um-"

Jeremy's big eyes were bigger than usual, and maybe I was just imagining it, but I was pretty sure his entire body was shaking in a rage I'd be more likely to see from a cartoon character with steam coming out of its ears. "I didn't ask you to speak," he spat at me, more forceful than he's ever spoken to me before, so of course I got offended.

"Do not think you can talk to me like that." I snapped right back. "I don't answer to you."

"You don't think so?" He yelled.

Now I might actually see steam coming out of his ears. He started to stomp down the stairs to me, looking like he was gearing up to explode, but Matty appeared at his side, his blonde locks pushed to the side and his cheeks flushed. "Jeremy," He called his name, pulling him back by the arm. "We have bigger issues right now."

Bigger issue than him walking in on his baby sister making out with an alien?

"What's going on?" I asked, the sound I heard earlier coming back to mind, as my body goes cold and prickly with nerves.

"Kayne, we need you." Matty waved him up, the stairs and he and I both bolted up them. "We've got a hostile arrival."

"A mundi?" I ask as I pass by Matty, and he nods as Kayne disappears before us.

Before I can exit the stairwell, Jer grabbed me by the elbow. "This conversation isn't over." He growled at me before rushing out with the rest of us.

My heart hammered as the sounds from the lobby got louder.

Shouts, thuds, furniture scrapping, and to my horror, the sound of one of the special guns that KaRaya had been shot with before. I picked up my pace and dashed around the corner, skidding to a stop.

The lobby was upturned.

Chairs slid across the room, tables flipped over, and a mug shattered into pieces strewn haphazardly across the floor. Most alarming of all though was the man. He was tall, at least in his mid-thirties with dark black hair that had a slight curl to the ends. He was beautiful. A strong jaw and long straight nose. His speed was startling as he dropped low to his knees, sliding across the floor with ease in a move I'd only seen in movies as he knocked Kayne and KaRayna both to the floor with loud thuds.

They reacted quickly, but not as fast as him.

Before KaRayna could snap back up as Kayne had, the stranger had already grabbed her by the neck and pinned her back down, aiming a gun at Kayne who froze in place, holding up both hands.

The others stood around, the same looks of fear and utter unknowing written all over our faces. We knew Kayne and KaRayna were our only chance against this guy. And they didn't look to be doing so well.

"What is this?" The man's deep baritone sounded like a song even as he yelled. "What have the two of you done?"

"If you'll only give me a chance to-" Kayne tried to say, his voice a firm whisper.

"No." The man yelled out again, looking away from Kayne and scanning the room of all of us. To my surprise, he looked just as afraid of us as we were of him.

Whoever this guy is, he's our first Mundi arrival.

And he is not happy.