10 Things Aliens Hate About You (Alienn, Arkansas Book 4) Read online

  Valene had hoped Axel wouldn’t erase Wyatt’s recent memories, but it hadn’t worked out that way. She’d had to do quite a bit of explaining when Wyatt lost forty-five minutes of memories that night instead of just ten.

  The Defender looked like a hand-sized megaphone since her brother Cam—who was in charge of security for both the upstairs and downstairs businesses for the Big Bang Truck Stop—had modified the design to a compact one for everyday use.

  She usually carried the smaller version in her purse, because Cam insisted on it as standard protocol for the family. Especially after learning Wyatt had been zapped at the bauxite pit. Once when she accidently left the small one at home, she failed Cam’s surprise inspection of her purse. He didn’t even say anything. He just shoved another compact Defender inside her bag and gave her a stern look of reproach. She’d stowed the extra Defender in her parents’ glove box, not wanting to have to explain it to anyone.

  Wyatt watched her patiently.

  She waffled and waited and hoped some as yet undiscovered perfect answer would present itself that would allow her to live her life on Earth with the love of her life.

  But so far, nada.

  Wrapped in Wyatt’s arms, trying not to explain why she wouldn’t marry him, Valene had a burst of clarity. Abrupt and terrible logic. Unless Wyatt was suddenly identified as a royal Alpha alien like Juliana or some other non-Earth creature, there was absolutely no hope of them ever being together. At least not unless she forced him away from his large, wonderful family to live on Alpha-Prime with her forever.

  How could she live happily ever after if she forced him away from everyone and everything he’d ever known, leaving them wondering where he was for all time? This was the problem she pondered every single day. It wasn’t rocket science. She had her answer. She’d always had it. She couldn’t expect him to leave his family without any notion of where he’d gone.

  It was the same conclusion she always came to, but it didn’t help alleviate her feelings for Wyatt. She loved him, but she had to let him go. She had to let him go…once and for all.

  Valene stepped out of his arms. “I’m sorry, Wyatt. We can’t see each other anymore.”

  He looked stunned. “Not ever?”

  “Not in a romantic way.”

  Wyatt shook his head. “I do not understand, Vee.”

  “I know you don’t. And I can’t explain it. I do love you, you don’t know how much. But we can’t be together. Please don’t call me or try to see me.”

  She took another step away. A queasy feeling settled in her stomach. This was it. No more Wyatt in her life.

  “You’re really breaking up with me?”

  She stared at his incredulous expression for a couple of seconds and then nodded, once, unable to say the words out loud.

  He put a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face up. “Please don’t break up with me.”

  She blinked tears onto her cheeks and sniffed. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore. It’s too hard for me.”

  “Well, it’s hard for me, too, because I don’t want anyone else but you, Vee.”

  She swallowed hard, her resolve weakening. But she had to be strong. She pictured the expression on his face when he learned he’d have to give up his family and move two galaxies away. He’d get the look he currently had when Daphne Charlene tried to engage him in conversation or hug him or snatch him into her clutches. Aggravated. Perturbed. Repulsed.

  Valene never wanted Wyatt to look at her that way. She shook off her melancholy and backed away until her butt hit the kitchen door and they weren’t touching.

  “I’m sorry, Wyatt, but this is it. I hate that it has to be this way. I know you don’t understand. And I’m sorry that I can’t give you the explanation that you deserve. We need time apart. It’s for the best.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I don’t believe in ultimatums,” he said quietly.

  Where is he going with this? “Neither do I.”

  “I hope that you understand me when I tell you that I can’t keep this up, either. Breaking up with me after I propose to you has become too painful.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “If you are about to leave through the back door yet again for ‘time apart,’” his fingers raised to do finger quotes, “…then don’t bother coming back at all. My heart can’t take it. I’m done.”

  His expression shifted to one of absolute desolation. She saw how much it pained him to say those words. Her gaze shifted to his pocket. The one that held the perfect engagement ring. He saw her looking and reached in to pull the ring box from his pocket. He set it on the corner of the kitchen counter.

  “Did you like the ring I picked out?”

  “Yes. It’s perfect.”

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  “I love it. I just…I can’t…” More tears welled up in her eyes. Valene sniffed them away and looked down at the space between them. They were less than two feet apart, but it felt like a canyon-sized gap.

  “I love you, Valene. I don’t know what the problem is, but I’m willing to do just about anything to fix it.”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  “Please trust me. Just tell me the problem.”

  Valene opened her mouth to blurt everything out. Everything. She slammed her lips shut before she did. Closing her eyes, she got hold of herself, breathing deeply in and out a couple of times to steady her nerves.

  Valene opened her eyes, focused on his gorgeous face and said, “I understand. I truly am sorry.” She reached behind her to grasp the doorknob, knowing that if she didn’t get out of here right this second, her resolve would vanish completely.

  “Please don’t leave, Vee.”

  She paused. The vision of being with him on Alpha-Prime after he gave up everything for her dropped into her mind. His only bonus was having her as a wife, but in a completely foreign and literally alien land. Would he think she was worth it? Maybe she didn’t want to know the answer to that question. What if one day he regretted the decision to be with her while his family suffered not knowing what had happened to him? Easy. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t do that to him or his family.

  Valene found a slim shred of resolve, twisted the knob, opened the door and slipped outside without another word. She stood on the back porch for a long moment after closing the door on the only man she would ever love. Valene’s heart was about to break, but it didn’t hurt as much as hearing Wyatt slide the dead bolt into place.

  Locking her out of his home, his life and his love forever.

  Chapter Five

  <^><^><^>

  Diesel tried not to be annoyed, but it wasn’t working. Nova directed him upstairs to the Big Bang Truck Stop’s human convenience store area to speak to Daphne Charlene Dumont. He had heard of her, of course. She ran a business in a neighboring town, but he’d never met her. And he couldn’t fathom a reason for her visit.

  Diesel looked at the surveillance feeds before going to greet her.

  Tall, willowy, and fairly pretty for a woman who wasn’t his wife, Daphne Charlene waited by the registers with an expression he defined as determined.

  Diesel emerged from the back hallway and the sign above his door that labeled him Fearless Leader. He walked past the Maxwell the Martian fortune-teller box end cap and down the snack aisle to greet his unexpected visitor.

  “Miss Dumont?” he said when he got close enough.

  She whirled to face him, a large smile in place. “Diesel Grey. Please, call me Daphne Charlene.”

  “How can I help you?” Please let this be quick.

  Daphne Charlene looked over her shoulder at the clerk, moved closer to Diesel and asked, “Is there somewhere we could go that is more private? The matter I want to discuss is a bit, shall we say, delicate.”

  Space potatoes. This will not be quick.

  He motioned her toward the back of the convenience store and down the aisle with the sale items of Maxwell the Martian products. Currently
it was the quietest place in the store.

  “Will this do?”

  She looked around and shrugged, looking disappointed. She’d likely expected an invitation to the back office. Too bad.

  “Last night I happened to be in Old Coot at a local biker bar of all places, and I saw your sister there with someone very surprising.”

  “Oh?” His heart sank. This will be a lengthy disaster. She must have seen Valene with Wyatt.

  Daphne Charlene’s expression shifted to one of innocent concern. Diesel didn’t buy it for one minute. She wanted to tattle on them.

  “I hesitate to say anything at all, you understand, but Wyatt Campbell proposed to her last night. He had a ring and everything.”

  Diesel froze in place. He didn’t dare give Daphne Charlene the satisfaction of either animosity or joy at the idea of his sister getting engaged to a human sheriff.

  “And?” Diesel managed to say without giving any indication as to his true feelings on the matter. He hoped. Meanwhile, his mind raced with the implications of that incendiary situation. What had Valene said? Would she and Wyatt be moving to Alpha-Prime soon? His heart sank at the very idea of his only sister, the baby of the family, moving so far away.

  “And, well, I thought you should also know that Wyatt and I have been seeing each other for a month or two now. I was shocked, of course, by his actions and I wanted to warn you that his affection for your sister might not be completely true. I never would have pegged him as a two-timer, but there you have it.”

  Diesel felt his eyebrows furrow. “You’ve been seeing Wyatt?” He knew the shock was evident in his tone.

  She nodded, her expression an odd mix of innocent and gossipy. “As a matter of fact, I have dinner at his folks’ place on a regular basis. Obviously, his parents don’t have any idea about what’s going on between the two of them.”

  “Obviously.” Did that sound too snarky? Daphne Charlene made it sound like Wyatt was running around behind Valene’s back. But Diesel knew Wyatt. Skeeter Bite’s sheriff was a good guy. Either he didn’t know about Daphne Charlene’s feelings or, more likely, he had tried to spare her his lack of interest. Diesel had a pretty good idea that Wyatt was in love with Valene and he guessed she hadn’t been able to break it off with him.

  Daphne Charlene pouted. “You don’t seem that upset.”

  Outwardly, he shrugged. Inwardly, Diesel had to consider what Daphne Charlene hoped to gain from tattling to him about Valene and Wyatt. Why would she even think he cared? To the human world, his sister was a grown woman, capable of making her own decisions. No one outside Alienn’s Alpha population knew the restrictions that came with marrying a human.

  His eyes narrowed on the troublemaker. He needed to be circumspect with regard to his feelings. Yes, he liked Wyatt. No, he didn’t want Valene to marry a human and be forced to leave Earth to live on Alpha-Prime forever.

  “I’m uncertain what you want from me or what you think I would do about this.”

  Her arms lifted into the air with decidedly dramatic flair. “He’s cheating on your sister with me! I would think you’d want to warn her.”

  I don’t believe you. What’s your agenda here?

  “Valene is well over the age of consent. She can date anyone she wants to.” Not true, but Diesel wasn’t going to tell Daphne Charlene that.

  “But he’s a cheater. As her oldest brother I would think you’d care enough about Valvoline to warn her about this.”

  “First of all, don’t call her that. She goes by Valene for a reason.”

  She shrugged, but the smug smile on her face told him she knew his sister hated her given name. “Fine, Valene. Don’t you care about her?”

  “I think that goes without saying, but why would you still date him if you truly think he’s a cheater?”

  “What?” She looked stricken, like she hadn’t considered this as an argument.

  Diesel straightened. I get you now, Daphne Charlene. “You want me to clear the way for you, is that it?”

  Daphne Charlene also drew herself up straight. “What? I do not understand what you are insinuating.” Oh, yes, she did.

  He shook his head. “I’m her brother, so it obviously goes without saying that I care about her feelings. But I also trust her judgment about any guy she dates. So if you want Wyatt to stop dating my sister, you’re on your own. I’m not helping you. Maybe you should take your own advice and find someone else.”

  “But—”

  “But what?” Diesel wanted this conversation over with. “I don’t believe I can be any clearer on this matter.”

  The bell to the convenience store chimed, pulling his attention from her momentarily. When Diesel turned back to Daphne Charlene, the determined look had returned to her face. But now it was even more highly motivated.

  “Well, if you aren’t going to help, I’ll have to find someone who will.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  She glared at him. “Mark my words, you’ll be sorry you didn’t help me.”

  “Guess I’ll have to learn to live with making my own decisions and not butting into other peoples’ relationships. I think you should do the same.”

  She made a disgruntled noise halfway between a growl and a groan and stalked out the convenience store’s sliding doors in an angry huff.

  Diesel might well regret a lot of things, but not helping Daphne Charlene by sticking his nose into Valene and Wyatt’s relationship was never going to be one of them.

  Behind him, Axel said, “That woman is a menace.” Diesel hadn’t heard him approach. His brother was freakily silent.

  Stifling the urge to jump in surprise, Diesel said, “Truth.”

  “What did she want?”

  “Foolish things I don’t want to be involved in or discuss.”

  “Okay by me. Let’s go back down to your office.”

  The two of them made their way to the basement level.

  “What’s up?” Diesel asked.

  “I have some news.”

  “Good news?”

  Axel shrugged. “Some of it, sort of, but also a bit of bad news.”

  “Of course there’s bad news. There’s always bad news.” Diesel centered himself to bear up and hear really horrible news.

  “I just got a message that our next luxury liner visit will be earlier by two days because of some celestial display that only happens once every ten years or something. The cruise director has arranged for a sighting of it to be a feature of the trip.”

  “You’re saying that there will be only five days between the luxury liner’s visit and the gulag special run?”

  Axel nodded.

  “Is that the good news or the bad news?” One had to be clear with Axel. His concept of good and bad was sometimes skewed.

  “The bad news. The good news is Indigo Smith’s appeal was denied over some sort of technicality, but what with moving all the prisoners back to the interstellar ship, it will only be here a couple of days earlier than scheduled.”

  “So we’re back to a week between the two?”

  “Yep.”

  “Anything else I need to know?”

  “Well, solar flares from Earth’s sun are up lately, but scientists don’t know why.”

  “What does that have to do with this?”

  “Nothing. Just making conversation.”

  “Very funny.”

  Axel laughed and punched him in the shoulder. “I live to please.”

  Diesel delivered a shoulder punch of his own, then sobered. “I hate to say this, but I have a bad feeling about this whole out-of-schedule gulag run.”

  “Because of the time between the two visits?”

  Diesel shook his head. “No. Because of who will be aboard when it docks. I suggest you triple whatever security Cam suggests.”

  “Already did.”

  Diesel grunted. “I hope it’s enough.”

  “You and me both.”

  <^><^><^>

  Skeeter Bite – T
wo weeks later

  Wyatt managed to do all the things he normally did in the wake of his breakup with Valene. He got up every morning as usual. He showered. He ate breakfast. He got ready for work. He went to his job, did the sheriff thing all day long with a fair amount of dispassion and returned home. Then he changed clothes, sat in front of his television and watched mindlessly, not really seeing anything as he considered what to do with the rest of his life without Valene. The pattern had continued for a couple of weeks. He didn’t expect it to change anytime soon.

  Hunter was worried about him. He blamed himself for the useless texts he’d sent that pivotal night at the Smokin’ Hog Saloon, trying to warn Wyatt that Daphne Charlene had followed him there with her brother in tow. Wyatt said as few words as possible, but told his friend he appreciated the attempted warning and not to worry. He just needed time to adjust to his regular life without Valene. No one could help him with that.

  His parents were also worried about him. They said he seemed like a ghost of his former self, a phrase Hunter also used. They continually asked him what was wrong and invited him over for dinner each and every night. He politely turned down their repeated requests. He did not want to see Daphne Charlene. However, she was a continual thorn in his side as his days and nights blew by in a blur of desolate contemplation.

  Daphne Charlene had outdone herself by spreading rumors all over the county, and likely beyond, about his proposal to Valene Grey and her subsequent refusal to marry him, citing his relationship with Daphne Charlene as the reason for their breakup. It was a big, fat lie that he hadn’t bothered to dispute. He just hadn’t had the heart to set anyone straight over his personal life one way or the other. It was no one’s business. Let them all think what they wanted. It wouldn’t change anything.

  It also didn’t stop the annoying woman from approaching him at seemingly every turn, especially during the day. Daphne Charlene had cornered him at the station this morning, bearing a foil-covered baked sweet something special from her café, quietly imploring him to meet her at an out of the way place, or at dinner with his parents or to just simply meet with her anywhere. He turned her down and told her in as dispassionate a tone as possible to stop spreading tales about his proposal to Valene or he’d make her sorry.