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Nisha finally opened her eyes to glance down at the card. “I really don’t want to know how you got a hold of a bank card.”
“Why not? It’s from Phate.”
She inhaled deeply. “Because.” She blew out another breath. “Okay, humor me for a sec. Where did Phate get the card from?”
Kien didn’t understand her confusion. It was all so simple. “From the bank.”
“And why did the bank give an alien a bank card?” she asked slowly.
“Because we have money in the bank,” he answered slower. “Isn’t that how the human monetary system works?”
Nisha closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I...I’m trying hard to understand. In order to open a bank account, you have to have proper ID, money,” she opened her eyes and waved a hand in the air, “paperwork and other legal documents.”
“Before we left our spaceship Phate replicated ID’s for us because we found that being documented as a US citizen was very important. We knew we would need to buy things, so he hacked into a banking system to deposit money. We went to the bank, the worker was more than happy to issue us a card to access our money.”
“He hacked the bank?” She shook her head and put up her hand. “Never mind. Save that story for a day I can handle it.” She still didn’t seem convinced, but she accepted the bank card, and turned it over in hand as she studied it. “How much did he put on this?”
Kien shrugged. “I think seven million, but I’m not sure. Phate is in charge of managing the account.”
She almost dropped the card. “Seven. Million. Dollars?”
“We didn’t know how much we would need or how much things cost here, and we wanted to be sure we were comfortable until the rescue came.”
As if abruptly coming out of a stupor, Nisha’s head snapped back. She held the card higher in the air. “Do you mean to tell me, I’ve been paying foreverythingwhile you had seven million dollars in the bank?!”
Kien shrugged again. “Doesn’t everyone have millions of dollars?”
The look she gave told him he was in trouble. “I’m getting a new truck and I’m getting some new clothes.”
“Okay.” It was the only thing that seemed appropriate. He was actually scared by the way she glared at him.
She smiled slowly, displaying a mouth full of white teeth. “I think I might like having you as a road buddy.”
* * *
KIEN SPENT THE DAYfollowing behind Nisha. After she filed a police report and called her insurance company, she called a car service. Their next stop was a dealership. He watched in awe as she negotiated a price that was much lower than what was posted on the sticker affixed to the truck’s window. The sales agent had called her a pitbull. Kien wasn’t sure what that was, but it must be fierce because that’s the only word he would use to describe Nisha in that moment. Fierce.
She was assertive and sure. She knew more about the vehicle than the sales agent and when the sales agent looked to Kien for help, Kien only shrugged and told him to talk to Nisha. The sales agent hadn’t liked that, but Nisha was all smiles and that made Kien happy. His only job had been to hand over his card when it was time to pay.
After they drove off the lot in a brand-new vehicle, she took them to a mall. He’d heard of them but hadn’t been to one yet. After an hour inside, he wished he’d never gone to one. His job had been to hold her bags while she went into one shop after the other. The only part that he did like was being able to watch her model clothes. He would sit in a seat she’d designated for him and have a full view of her sashaying from the dressing room, spinning and twirling as she asked for his advice.
He’d liked that part of the day very much.
When their shopping spree ended, they were on the road again, this time, with Nisha driving. They were a few hours behind schedule, but they’d finally made it to their destination.
The plan was to check into the hotel for two-days but in reality, they would be leaving in the middle of the night and hike to the spaceship.
At check in, Kien sat in the lobby with their bags while she laughed and joked with the hotel staff. When her transaction was complete and she had the room keys in hand, she sauntered through the lobby to where he sat. She had on a pants outfit that looked as if it was poured over her small frame with high heels affixed to her ankles by a single strap. Every male in the vicinity turned to watch her. Their actions made Kien growl low in his throat.
Nisha stopped in front of him. One side of her mouth tugged into a smile. “Nice. Showing jealousy will help. People will think we’re a couple on a romantic retreat.”
A hotel worker wearing a uniform and hat hurried over. “They’re going to take our bags to our room for us while we get something to eat.” Nisha pointed out their bags. “We have a suite this time,” she told him after the worker rushed away with their bags in tow. “The honeymoon suite. We’ll need to be really affectionate at dinner, so they won’t expect to see us for a while after tonight. The room has a large kitchenette. Which is good because the hotel staff won’t be worried if we don’t leave our room anytime soon.”
Kien stood and looped his arm into hers. She tensed against him but after a few short seconds she relaxed under his hold. “Are you okay?”
She tilted her head back to look up at him, smiled and fluttered her eyelashes. “Let’s give them a show, shall we?”
