An Alien Love Bk. 02 Ch. 03 Again

Horray! I am done with my work on Holiday Cup Of Joe (That is my next Ice Era Chronicle.) So you know what that means??? I can play with this again. Writing about these alien takes me back to a time when I didn't have so much to worry about. I know. That's odd.

Anyway, if you are still here reading, thanks!

Cheers,

~M. from C.M. Moore

***

*Chapter 3*

On to the next job.

Sloan gave Elijah every cent he had in case Hugo found him again. After he left the coffee shop, he stopped at home. Once in his shitty apartment, he got cleaned up and then slept on the couch for a few hours. He had enough time to eat a few slices of cheese from the fridge and shower before he headed to his second job.

As he entered the bar, Lindsay waved to him as she mixed drinks. They both began working without talking. The bar was filling up fast. The dance floor was turning into a sea of jumping bodies. The night took off as the music blasted. It was well after one in the morning when the flow of people slowed enough for Lindsay to turn on him. He'd been waiting for her to give him her speech all night.

"You left with Reese? Again?"

"I know."

"I should kick you in the balls."

"I know."

"You said you dumped him."

"I did."

"So, what the hell was that?" Lindsay threw her arms up in the air.

"I wanted to get laid." Sloan shrugged. That excuse worked on Elijah. Maybe that explanation for his dumb-assery would work on Lindsay too.

"You work in a bar." She waved to the mob of people laughing and drinking. "Take any one of these guys home."

Sloan smirked. Oh yeah. Take home all these straight guys air humping the women on the dance floor. He rubbed his eyes.

Before Sloan responded to Lindsay's comment, his eyes caught an individual weaving his way toward the bar. For a second, Sloan felt like he was in a movie. The man was beautiful, and he didn't use that word often. This guy's body was chiseled perfection with shoulder-length thick brown hair and a charming smile. Easily six-foot-five of muscles and utterly gorgeous.

For the second time today, Sloan wanted to wax poetic. The stranger made his way through the men and woman like he was on a single-minded quest. As he walked, heads turned like he was on a catwalk. His clothes were plain jeans and a pale blue button-down, but he made the clothes look tailored to perfection. This guy was probably a model. His tan skin said he either vacationed in the sun or he had to be spray-tanned for his next shoot.

The attractive stranger marched up to the side of the bar and didn't look at a single woman in the room. Sloan's heart began to beat a little faster.

"What can I get you, sweetie?" Lindsay moved like a ninja and was in front of the sexy stranger in seconds. In the amount of time Sloan was picking up his tongue from the floor, she had managed to tug down her tank top so more of her cleavage showed.

The man didn't look at her or down at her chest. Even though Sloan was gay, he would admit Lindsay had a nice rack. Sloan considered that a sign that the heavens were favoring him tonight.

When the stranger turned his head, Sloan was met with piercing emerald green eyes. He had a flashback of this weird morning at the coffee shop. Eyes like emeralds in the moonlight.

"I want nothing from you." The man kept his eyes on Sloan. "But you have something I want."

Sloan nodded. Fuck yeah. Sloan would bet all his nonexistent money that this guy wasn't straight.

Lindsay stepped to the other side of the bar. "Lucky bastard," she muttered.

"You said I should pick up someone from the bar." Sloan chuckled.

"Yes," she whispered and pushed him toward the stranger. "Go with that one tonight and tell me about it tomorrow."

Lindsay moved to the other end of the counter and started to help people. Sloan strolled to the stranger trying not to drool.

"What can I get you?" Sloan couldn't get over this man's eyes. He considered asking if he'd ever heard of the Learning Institute. Now he wished that he'd caught the fat old ruler's real name. He also wished he'd had a chance to talk to Elijah before he headed to his second job. He didn't get the specifics of who JP was yet.

"What is complex?" His green eyes danced.

Sloan shook his head. What the hell was this? Was he in an episode of the twilight zone?

"Nothing is complex..." He scanned the bar. Was this Deja vu? Fuck it. He should just come right out and ask. Except, how could a man go from old to young and fat to thin? Vampire? He didn't believe in magic or crap like that. Maybe Sloan was going crazy. It had been a long day with not a lot of sleep.

Just as Sloan opened his mouth, he spotted Reese making his way up to the bar. His ex-boyfriend stopped next to the handsome stranger and seeing them side by side was jarring.

Reese's eyes were red and bloodshot. Bags surrounded his brown eyes and his cheeks were flushed. That mostly came from his constant drinking to forget he was gay. His beer belly hung over his pants, and for the first time, Sloan saw how much his unsatisfying life took its toll on his former lover.

"You want me to say sorry for last night?" The question was belligerent and not an apology. Typical Reese. His Ex made everything Sloan's fault and his unhappy life was always because of everyone else. Sloan wanted someone who could face life as it was, not hide from reality in the bottom of a bottle.

"I'm busy." Sloan grabbed an imported beer, popped the top, and smiling, slipped the drink to the gorgeous stranger.

"Whatever." Reese didn't look to his left or right, he only glared at Sloan. "I'll make it up to you, Sloan. We can meet after bar close. I'll wait in the parking lot."

"No."

"Where do you want to meet?" Reese sounded annoyed. "I only got tonight. Rachel took the girls to see her mother."

"I'm not meeting you." Sloan took a deep breath. He didn't want to do this at work, but he had to make a clean break. Time to rip off the Band-Aid.

"Why?"

"I told you, Reese. We're over. You know why." Sloan had given his list of reasons many times before. Only this time he was sticking with it.

"Fuck you, Trailer-trash." Reese chuckled. "You say that every time. I'll wait in my car."

"I do not think you will be with Sloan tonight." The handsome stranger spun his beer but didn't drink. "I am confident Sloan will be with me. You are dismissed."

Reese turned to stare. When his eyes met the sexy stranger, his jaw dropped. It was like they were in a film where prince charming came to pick up Sloan in a bar. Sloan had to admit he was staring too. Suddenly a little part of him cheered. That's right, Reese. Someone else wanted him.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I am Octnavin. I am a royal of a place you have never heard of, and I will be offering Sloan the opportunity to be with me. I am sure he will see that I can offer him much more than you can."

"Is this guy for real?" Reese scanned Octnavin and then turned back to Sloan. "What the hell is this?"

"You heard him." Sloan shrugged. "Octnavin and I were just getting to know each other." He smiled. Reese could choke on it. "I'm going to hang with him."

"Excellent," Octnavin said that word the exact way the fat old ruler guy did. Sloan had a few questions for this man. Maybe more than a few. He would hang with him for a while and figure out who the hell Octnavin was.

"You expect me to believe you're ditching me to be with a royal douche you just met?" Reese scoffed. "We're too old to play games."

"Yeah." Sloan shook his head. "We're too old to play games. I'm done with you, Reese. I'm out and I'm gay and I'm not going to be your secret. The sex blows and you don't even give a shit about me. I'm hanging out with my new friend, Octnavin."

"Excellent." Octnavin's grin was a slow curl to his lips.

Reese kept shaking his head back and forth like Sloan was the biggest liar on Earth. At this point, Sloan would double down if he had to. He was going with Octnavin just to prove that he was done with Reese forever.

"Whatever. I'll see you after the bar closes." Reese threw a glare at Octnavin and then stormed out.

Lindsay yelled last call and sidled up to Sloan.

"I saw Reese." She grabbed a beer for a customer and then turned on Sloan. "If you go with him, I'm going to castrate you for your own good."

"I told him to leave." Sloan lifted his chin. "I'm hanging out with my new friend, Octnavin." Sloan turned to the stranger. His green eyes gleamed like he'd won a prize. The look almost had Sloan backing out, but at the last minute, he grabbed his backbone. It would be fine to go with this guy for a while. He was hot and spending time with Octnavin made Reese see they were done. What was the worst that could happen? It's not this would kill him.

"Good to hear." Lindsay handed out another beer.

"I would like to spend time with you." Octnavin's tone was dead serious. Since it was last call, Sloan had a few guys ordering and he quickly moved around the bar. He caught the fact that Octnavin's beer was untouched. That move was the coffee shop all over again.

"What do you want to do?" Sloan asked when he got a second to come back to Octnavin. "I have to clean up after close then I'm free."

"I am staying in a place with sand, ocean, and sunshine. I want you to accompany me and..." The man looked lost for words. His brow wrinkled.

"Fuck on the beach?" Sloan chuckled. It was like the fat man created the fantasy with this guy. Yeah, he had a million questions he was going to ask after bar close.

"Fuck?" Octnavin's eyebrow rose. "Sex? To procreate? That is the definition? I know some words have more than one meaning."

"Yeah. Sex." Sloan laughed and then nodded at another guy who wanted a refill on his drink. Sloan got a few more drinks and then stood in front of those amazing green eyes again.

"I would like to be with you to fuck." Octnavin scanned Sloan like he was hungry, and Sloan was a steak. "I want you. You may think about my proposition and then decide. I will wait outside." The man stood. Once again, Sloan got an eye full of the most perfect body he'd ever seen. Maybe he was meeting a real-life vampire. He could get sucked dry. Maybe this was a bad idea.

"Octnavin," Sloan called. "What if I don't want to hang out with you?" A slight sense of fear slipped down his spine. The concern was weird, but he couldn't help the desire to explore what was going on.

"Then I will come up with a new way to pursue you until you are mine." Octnavin set down a hundred-dollar bill next to his beer.

Chills ran down Sloan's spine. He wasn't sure if that was a threat or a promise.

Sloan glanced at Lindsay helping with customers at the other end of the bar. She waved for assistance. They still had to clean up. He turned back to Octnavin to tell him that he didn't know when he would get out of here. By the time he glanced back to the stranger, Octnavin was gone.

Sloan scanned the bar and his eyes landed on the crisp bill next to the full beer. What should he do? Meet Reese like always or meet this Octnavin guy? He could go home.

Sloan wasn't going home.