Chapter 15
The next morning
Nina rolled onto her side trying to go back to sleep. It had been a long night, but the gathering had gone off without a hitch. It was awkward watching Esan surrounded by adoring women who were vying for his attention. She was jealous whenever she saw him make a connection with someone. She could have passed off the rest of the responsibility to Mindy so that she wouldn’t have to stay through the whole thing, but she had tortured herself by seeing it through to the end.
Esan thanked her when he left and she felt ... disappointed for some reason. Mindy had told her that he had picked three of the females to remain on board for him to get to know better. All that was now on him to plan; her hands were out of it. She should have been relieved, but the bags under eyes from the lack of sleep would say otherwise.
All her events were over. Maybe she should take this time to go home and visit with her family. Anything to keep her mind off of Esan. She really liked him. It was more than just the physical appeal, though he was extremely hot. She enjoyed talking with him. When he opened up, he showed a side that was intelligent, kind, and compassionate. He even had a great sense of humor. He was the total package — and he was unavailable. Her heart hurt a little.
Her phone rang, waking her from melancholy. “Hello?”
“Nina, how did everything go lassst night?”
It was Sersan. “It went great. The only unexpected issue we had was that your foster father showed up with five women he brought.”
“I can’t believe he did that! Esssan should have had him thrown off the ship.”
Nina laughed. “He thought about it, but your brother has too much class for that. Plus, the IDJ would arrest him for it.”
“Did my fossster father make the gathering weird?”
“He didn’t even bother coming to the gathering. He sent his picks though. Esan picked three women to remain on board the ship to get to know better. The rest of the women are leaving this morning to go back to your home world.”
“What are they like?”
“I think the ones he chose were the top of the crop, from what I saw of their profiles. Of course, one of them didn’t have a profile because it was one of the women your foster father brought.”
“Why did Esssan choossse her?”
“I guess he hit it off with her so well that it didn’t bother him how she got here.” Nina hoped she didn’t sound jealous.
“What happensss now?”
“Esan will arrange time to spend with the remaining three females. It’s all in his hands now.”
“I owe you for doing thisss for me and for Esssan. I know he may never sssay it but I’m sure he appreciatesss everything you have done.”
“It was my pleasure.” She hoped she sounded happy about everything.
“Nina, there’sss jussst one more thing. Could you continue to meet with Esssan while he isss going through hisss datesss? I want to make sure that he hasss sssomeone he can talk about everything with. He won’t call me about it becaussse I’m on my honeymoon. Zen offered but Esssan would rather kick hisss asss than talk about hisss feelingsss to another male.”
“Doesn’t he have another friend he can do that with?” Nina was hoping to leave the ship while Esan was dating his women. She didn’t want to have to watch him fall in love.
“You know my brother. He won’t open up to jussst anyone. He knowsss you and trussstsss you. You’re the perfect perssson to do thisss.”
She should say no and tell Sersan she had other plans. What she ended up saying was: “I’d be happy to.”
“Great! Thank you ssso much! Goodbye, Nina.”
“Bye, Sersan.”
She hung up the phone, wondering why she agreed to stay involved in this thing. She groaned out loud. She was exhausted but needed to get up. She was helping with the banquet that would follow the GCFA fight tonight. The GCFA director expected her to be there as well. Esan was fighting tonight, which meant he most likely would be at the banquet. He may even be with one of his dates. Great, she thought. Just what she didn’t want to deal with.
*****
Esan had a fight tonight and was completing his morning workout. His thoughts were unfocused but it wasn’t just because of the gathering. His foster father called him late last night furious that only one of the females he brought with him had been selected. Then Shrake demanded he be allowed to attend the date with Esan and Valkri, which was ridiculous. Esan threatened to have security force his foster father to leave with the other females this morning. His foster father backed off.
Truthfully, he didn’t understand why Shrake would want to stay. He never paid this much attention to him when he was living in the same house as Esan. His foster parents were not very loving or even attentive parents. Esan had been more of a father to Sersan than Shrake had ever been. Their foster mother was never there, always going to spend time with her own family. There was no love between his foster parents, their mating had been arranged by their parents. With such poor examples as parents, he questioned why he would even want to mate and start a family.
He could understand Sersan’s need for a family. She had never been accepted on Reptan and though Esan tried to be there for her, he couldn’t be everything for her. Thinking about his sister had him reaching for his phone. He just wanted to tell her that things went well last night. He dialed her number, expecting to leave a message, but she answered immediately.
“Esssan!”
“Hello, my sssisster. How isss your mate treating you?”
“We’re having a great time. There are new thingsss for usss to do every day and then the nights are…amazing.”
He rolled his eyes. “Pleassse ssstop there. I don’t need to know how the nightsss are going.”
Sersan laughed. He really loved to hear her laugh and since meeting her mate Ronin, she had done a lot of it. He was grateful for that.
“The gathering went well,” he told her.
“Nina told me. I am ssso glad you found potential matesss. What are they like?”
“I don’t know yet. I will sssoon though. The three I asssked to remain on board are sssmart, have a purpossse in life, and ssseem to want more than what their home world offersss for them.”
“Well, I would sssay ssso. If you’re a Reptan female, you basssically have to do whatever your father tellsss you until you are old enough to mate, then you have to do whatever your mate tellsss you to do. Not much of a life. No wonder they are jumping for a chance to leave. A big bonusss isss that they would be getting a great male like you in the bargain.”
He smiled as he listened to her championing him. “I think you are biasssed when it comesss to me.”
“Damn ssstraight I am! Oh, I have to go Ronin isss taking me sssailing. I want to wish you luck.”
“Thank you and don’t worry about me. Have a great time.”
“I’ll sssee you when I get back. Love you.”
“Love you, too,” he said as he hung up. He realized that Sersan was the only female he had ever told that he loved. He had dated plenty of females but he had never been in love. He would have to take a hard look at the remaining females to see if there would be any possibility of a love connection. That had not been his original intention; love had not been important to him before. Seeing how happy Sersan was made him rethink the whole idea of love. He finished his workout and went to shower and change. He had a lunch date with one of the females he had chosen last night.
An hour and a half later, he stood impatiently at the entrance of the cafe waiting for the female named Shena. The female’s curly black hair had caught his attention first. Most Reptans didn’t have curly hair and at first he thought it was possible she was mixed like he was. Upon speaking to her, he quickly realized that wasn’t the case. She had used a hair curling thing for females to set the curls. That was disappointing, but she was still pleasant enough to talk with. He began to realize that she was not, unfortunately, very punctual. He had taken a shower and changed in less than thirty minutes. He had been waiting for her since that time. He decided that in another ten minutes, he would walk away. Just as he thought that, the elevator opened and out sashayed Shena in a miniskirt, blue blouse, and sunglasses. Sunglasses inside the GCFA ship? Really?
“Sssorry I’m late. I couldn’t find a thing to wear.”
She was obviously seeking a compliment on her appearance, but he was hungry for lunch so he ignored the hint on purpose. He opened the door for her and let her enter first. The cafe was one in which they seated themselves, and the waiter would come and get the order. A human male waiter approached them.
“May I get you something to drink?”
“Water for me,” Esan told him.
“Do you have a wine lissst of your bessst winesss?”
He raised an eyebrow at her request but didn’t say anything as the waiter left to get her a wine menu. It wasn’t so much that she wanted wine at lunch time — it was how she asked for the best. He remembered that last evening she had admired his watch and asked questions about where he purchased it and how much it cost.
“Why don’t you get usss a bottle of wine and share with me?” she suggested.
“I can’t. I have a fight tonight.”
“Oh, that’sss right. Do you have a houssse somewhere?”
Esan thought surely she would ask him about his profession, but she didn’t. “I have a sssuite.”
“I mean, when your little fightsss are over and you take a break, where do you live?”
“Here on board the GCFA ship.”
“All the time?”
“Yesss.”
“But ... if you mate you will surely get a houssse on our home world to live. And when you do, I know the bessst areasss. My father isss a realtor. He can get usss into a luxury neighborhood where only the bessst of the bessst live.”
“I may eventually get a home off ship, but for now, thisss isss where I will live with my mate.” He watched as her face pinched with distaste. She had not said anything to him the previous night about not wanting to move. In fact, she talked about how exciting it must be to travel on such a luxurious ship. “I believe on your profile that you ssstated you were willing to relocate.”
“I thought relocating meant to a different neighborhood or region on the planet. I don’t know about living here on a ship for real. I could visssit here but staying here permanently would be a problem.”
Now he was disappointed that she had wasted his time. There could have been another female who did want to relocate here and this female had not been forthright with her answers. All the other females had understood relocating meant moving to the GCFA ship. The rest of the lunch went by awkwardly. At the end, he walked with her out of the cafe.
“Thank you for a lovely lunch,” she said.
“Thank you for ssstaying another day, but I don’t believe thisss isss going to work for usss.”
She tried to make some excuses about giving it another try, but he refused to change his mind on the situation. It caused her to lose her temper in front of a lobby full of people. Esan didn’t have time for her tantrum and simply walked away from her.