Alien Admirer (Alien Next Door) (6 page)

“I think that’s up to her. But if you ever
set foot anywhere near here again, you’ll be leaving in a body bag.”

“Are you threatening me, boy?”

Adam stepped forward. “Yes.”

Rushing
to his SUV, Derek gunned the engine and threw it into reverse.

Adam caught a glimpse of brown hair a few feet behind the vehicle.
No!

He bounded down the driveway. “Zach, move!” Scooping
him up, Adam raced to get out of the way.

The steel bumper slammed his knee
and he fell forward, letting Zach roll out of his arms to the grass. Heavy rubber rolled over his knees, grinding his legs into the gravel. Bones snapped. His vision wavered and dust coated the inside of his mouth. So much pain.
Help me.

He coughed
and his lungs burned as if shards of glass ripped through the tissue. His legs were on fire and he wanted to tear them off, get rid of the agony.

Figures surrounded him.
Faint voices buzzed, but their words remained foreign. Unable to focus, he tried to reach out, get someone to help him, but his body refused to respond.

Save me, please.

Chapter Seven

A restraining order. All she got for now. The rest took time. After Derek tried to rape her, nearly ran over her son, and left Adam in the hospital with broken legs, Sera pressed charges. More counseling, lawyers, and an upcoming date in the courtroom, though this time, she had to testify. Today, she craved a break from it all. Rob’s case had tormented her enough. She yearned for a different life, one far away from all the pain.

She
peered around her home. Could she really leave the house Rob built behind?
As long as Derek stays away, I’ll be okay.
And she always had Adam, the man who believed himself an alien, to look out for her. He’d promised. If she left, she’d have to leave his security behind.

Blinking hard, she
rubbed her temples. Regardless of his crazy talk, she loved him. And he’d nearly sacrificed his life to save her and her son.
I need to stop hiding. Thank him, at least.
When, though? Sure, she had more time with Melody and Zach in school, but she couldn’t waltz into the hospital and pretend nothing happened. All the blame for his injuries lay on her. She swallowed her guilt. He’d come back after she kicked him out and locked herself away. So, how was she going to face him again?

Knock, knock
.

Please don’t let it be another detective.
She wanted to be done with the police and the incident altogether.

Rising from the couch, she
sucked in a deep breath. A cold sweat washed over her.
Why can’t things go my way for once? For every good thing that happens in my life, something worse follows.
She hadn’t lost Adam, she’d pushed him away.

With a shaky hand, she
opened the front door. But, instead of a detective, she found Adam’s mom.

“Hello,
Sera.” The woman gave her a weak smile, holding onto a rolled-up brown paper bag. “I was wondering if we could talk.”

Talk to the woman who
’d married an alien and given birth to extraterrestrial offspring. According to Adam, that is. Yet, those were her son’s crazy beliefs, not Rachel’s.

Sera
held open the door. “Come on in.” Maybe her neighbor could clear up the issue.

“
Have a seat. Would you like some tea? Coffee?”

Rachel sat on the edge of the center couch cushion, still clutching the bag. “No, thank you. I only have a few minutes before I have to leave for the hospital.”

Panic, like a wave of fire, rushed through her. “Is Adam okay?”

“Besides being anxious to leave the hospital, yes,”
his mother said. “His bones are mending well, but after one week in bed, he’s going stir crazy.”

Sera
grinned and sighed with relief. She’d experienced the same need to leave after giving birth to her children. One night had proved long enough for her.

Yet, she hadn’t bothered to visit him, too disturbed by what he’d told her. “What about…? Did they find out what he is? What he thinks he is?”
Waiting for her neighbor to tell her Adam had made up the story, Sera gripped the chair.

Rachel’s eyebrows rose. Her soft smile disappeared. “Did they find out that he
’s part alien? No, but that’s why I’m here. I had a hard time believing his father was, too.”

Sera
gasped, covering her mouth to hide her shock.
No way. The tale can’t be true. They’re all delusional.

“I was
a young child when Luke arrived on this planet.” The woman set the paper bag down and folded her hands in her lap. “For years, I believed I’d imagined the entire thing. And my parents made me think the same thing, that the little alien boy I saw magically appear on the street in front of my house was simply a story I’d made up to get attention.”

If
Melody or Zach told her they’d met an alien, Sera would assume the same thing. Drumming her fingers on the chair, she waited for the woman to continue.

“Then I met Luke again. When I realized he was the same little boy, that I hadn’t made it all up, I freaked, running out on him and refusing to let him explain.”

Similar to how she’d reacted to Adam. “And yet, you married him?”

“Yes, because regardless of where he
came from, I loved him, and I knew he loved me.”

Sera
circled around to the front of the chair and sat. “You really believe he’s an alien?”

“I know it’s such an awkward concept to accept, but yes, I do. Though, I completely understand your skepticism. If I hadn’t seen Luke arrive with my own
eyes, I would not have believed his claims, either.”

“Then why are you here?”
Sera sprang to her feet again, too jittery to stay in one spot. “If you understand why I won’t talk to him, why are you trying to convince me otherwise?”

“Because he’s my son, and I know how much he loves you and your children. He would never have risked his life, risked being found out, if he didn’t.”

Her chest tightened. “Do the doctors know?” She didn’t want to be responsible for turning him into a lab rat, too.

“No. Except for his dark eyes, and his emotional connection to his soul mate, he’s no different than any other male on Earth. He’s learned to transform his eyes like his father
. As for the link with his soul mate, you’re the only person who can fulfill that destiny. You’re the woman he’s meant to be with. No one else. And he knows that.”

Sera
swallowed the lump in her throat. Regardless of the alien blood flowing through his veins, he’d saved her. God, why had she been so stubborn?

“Um, maybe I could
get a ride with you?”

“Tell you what
…why don’t you go up to the hospital on your own? I’ll stay home.”

“But….”

“You two have a lot to talk about. I’d just be in the way.”

Sera
’s stomach rolled.
By myself?
“I…I don’t think I can.”

“Tell me something.” Rachel’s stare hardened,
her brow creasing. “Before my son confessed his ancestry to you, did you love him?”

Yes, I loved him.
I still do.
“I….”

“Did you ever worry about him hurting you or your children?”

Not until he told me he was alien.
She suppressed her pride. “Okay, I’ll go. But will he forgive me?”

“I’m sure he will, but you have to talk to him first.”

Sera grabbed her purse. If she didn’t go right away, she’d lose her nerve. “What room is he in?”

“Three-seventeen.
It’s a private room.”

Easier for them to talk, yet did she rea
lly want to be alone with him?

Rachel held out the paper bag. “Oh, and would you take this to him?”

“Food?”

“No. It’s an object from
his father’s planet, so please be very careful with it.”

Reaching
for the bag, she almost dropped it, surprised by the heavy weight, and supported it from the bottom. “Will it hurt me?”

Rachel chuckled
and rose. “No, it’s meant to heal. And you both could use some of that right now.”

Before
Sera responded, her neighbor left. As if the woman had left her in charge of healing Adam. She had no idea how to use the object, let alone anything about alien internal anatomy. She didn’t even know what the object looked like.

Curiosity won out, and like a child
at Christmas, she peeked inside. Red light flooded her vision and she snapped her lids shut, closed the bag and hoped the flash hadn’t caused permanent damage.

Opening
her eyes again, she blinked to regain focus.
Good, I can still see. But how’s this supposed to heal Adam?
If it did have healing powers, wouldn’t it draw the attention of the entire hospital?
And how is he going to explain the miraculous mending of his bones? Witchcraft?

Grabbing
a sweater off the stair banister, she shrugged into it. He and his family had survived for this long without their secret being discovered, but trusted very few with the knowledge. They likely wouldn’t blow it now. And he’d trusted
her
enough, too. She owed him an apology, her thanks, and a chance to explain.

***

Adam cursed the straps holding his legs immobile.
Stupid-ass contraption won’t let me move.
He longed to get out of the bed and use the bathroom instead of pissing into a catheter all the time. He had broken legs, not a fractured spine. Surely, he could get on his feet by now.

And with the stench
of body odor, he dreaded anyone coming to visit. Sponge baths only cleaned off so much. Not even after a weekend of camping and drinking did he and his buddies smell so disgusting.

Adam
peeked at the wall clock.
Already eleven.
His mother, the one person who saved his sanity in the hospital, didn’t arrive any later than ten-thirty. Had something happened to her?

Reaching
for his cell phone, he dialed his parents, when someone knocked on the door.

“Hello? Adam?”

Desire stirred low in his groin at the familiar voice, and he set the phone down. Too much time had passed since he’d last regarded the woman he loved. Had he really heard Sera, or simply imagined her in desperation?

He lifted his head from the pillow, trying to
peek past the curtain to the doorway. “Sera, is that you?”

She
peered into the room, a wary smile on her face, her shifting eyes giving away her apprehension. Yet, he sensed a glimmer of something else. Hope? He held onto his own optimism, wishing one day she looked beyond his alien ancestry and let him be a part of her life.

“Hi, Adam.” She
walked into the room, keeping her distance, as if a wide dome surrounded his bed. “How are you feeling?”

A loaded question. He refused to tell her of his anxiousness to leave, and
all the pain he’d suffered after saving her from Derek. He already felt enough of her guilt. “I’m doing better now that you’re here. I’ve missed you.”

Tears rimmed her eyes.

Shit.
He’d purposely tried not to make her cry, yet failed.

“I’m so sorry, Adam. Sorry for treating you the way I did, and sorry that because of me, you ended up in here.”

“Hey, none of this is your fault. I knew the risks before I acted. Aware of the outcome, I’d do it all again. In a heartbeat. If that asshole hadn’t—”

“No. I was the one who kicked you out, avoided you for a whole week, all over something silly.”

“It’s hardly silly.” Hence, why he’d waited for so long to tell her, and had doubts even then.

Sera
shook her head. “That’s not what I mean. What I meant to say is that it doesn’t matter. I can learn to deal with it, if you can ever forgive me.”

Fuck!
He wanted to get out of the bed and hold her in his arms. “I already have. I could never stay mad at you, my soul mate, the woman I am madly in love with.”

Her bottom lip trembled and a tear escaped. “How can you be so sure? You’re still young, and yet you’re ready to give it all up for an old widow with two kids?”

“Geez, Sera. We’ve already been through this. I know what I’m doing. And you’re only eight years older than me, nowhere near being old.” He reached out, longing for some contact. “Now, get over here before I break loose of this contraption to come to you.”

Inching closer, she stopped a foot
away and held up a paper bag, as if suddenly remembering it. “This is from your mom.”

Her hands trembled as she placed it on his overbed table
.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She glanced to the left. “It’s just, I kind of looked at it before I came here, and the thing was glowing red. In the parking lot, it changed to purple.”

With a chuckle, Adam open
ed the bag. “And now, it’s likely to be blue. I should have known Mom would do this.”

Sure enough, the crystal orb, passed down to him from his father, glowed radiant
cerulean, the same shade as the sky on a clear day.
Perfect.

“What is it?”
Sera leaned closer, her eyes wide.

“Close the door and I’ll tell you. This isn’t something I want anyone else to know about.”

After shutting the door, she returned to the side of his bed. “Is it really from another world?”

“Yes.” Adam pulled out the orb, careful not to drop it. “My dad brought it with him when he came to Earth.”

“And what does it do besides flash different colors?”

“I’m not exactly sure. My father always said it told him right from wrong, flashing red when it disagreed with his actions, and blue when it approved.
And that only we can observe the colors, along with our soul mates.”