“These chairs were made for weak humans. Not for the strength of the Vyastil.”
Everest sighs, putting more candy into his mouth. “Yep, that’s our cue. Let’s go order food in and make drinks at ours. We can watch a movie there.”
I nod, feeling half-panicked by the whole property destruction thing. I don’t know if we’re going to get out of here without being arrested, and that will really freak Cielo out. “That sounds really nice.”
He grins and then pops up. “Come on, Rath. We’ll leave.”
“I do not know if I want company at our place. You still owe me two more orgasms.”
Everest’s eyes widen, and he lets out a manic laugh. “Oh my god. Stop saying that out loud.”
“It is true. I have only had thirteen today.”
He slaps a hand over his eyes, and his shoulders shake. “Fine, but I’ll give them to you after our date is over. Okay?”
“I accept.”
Rathyn stands up, taking the other arm of the seat with him and creating quite a mess. But Cielo follows me into the aisle, the bag of fruit snacks in his hand.
‘Bring home?’ he asks me.
I nod and then link my arms with his, following the nervous worker toward the exit. As we go, we pass by the asshole who got us kicked out, and Rathyn seems to grow taller. He says something low in Eretharian, and it makes the man pale.
I lean toward Cielo, who is holding the empty bag over his mouth.
“What did he just say?” I ask, and Cielo shrugs, turning toward me and lifting his hands.
‘Just threatened to cut off his testicles and feed them to the hungry thrax.’ The way he signs that, classifiers and all, makes laughter erupt from my mouth as we make our way toward thelobby. I don’t know if I want to know what a thrax is or why it likes balls, but maybe one day I’ll have the courage to ask.
As we make our way to the exit, the worker stops us. “Hold on. Just…wait here. Please.”
Part of me thinks he’s going to call the cops, but when he returns with free movie tickets, it warms my heart.
“Sorry about that guy. He was an asshole.”
Everest blinks at him. “Even though we ripped up the chair?”
The worker snorts. “That kind of made my night.”
Everest sags in relief. “Uh, thank you.” He pockets the tickets. “You’re pretty fucking cool, dude.”
He blushes and glances up at Rathyn and then Cielo. “Our neighbor is a Vyastil, and he’s a nice guy. I just think people need to be cooler. But you did break the chair, so I can’t let you stay tonight.”
“It was far too small,” Rathyn says, and Everest touches him gently.
“Come on, babe. Let’s go home before you say something to get us in actual trouble.”
He nods, and then they stride toward the exit, leaving Cielo to glance longingly at the glass case where the fruit snacks are.
“We’ll grab some with dinner, okay? I’ll order some for you.”
He grins widely, and then his tail wraps around my waist tightly, pulling me into his side. My joints twinge, but I refuse to let him see it. I don’t want this date to be ruined.
I pocket the tickets the sweet worker gave us. Not that we’re going to come back, but I’ll hand them off to Gia and Amara or maybe even Luca. Maybe he has someone he can bring. I’m pretty sure movie theaters—for now at least—are not made for the Vyastil.
“Let’s go finish our date.”
He stares down at me, and a wave of affection pulses through me. It takes away the ache slightly as I lean into him.
