Page 11 of Dealing With Drak
There’s no point in arguing with Drak. At least it’s a nice day out. Not too cold or windy.
My three-quarter zip, tactical belt, and tight but flexible jeans aren’t as hot under the sun’s heat, despite them all being black. A sure-fire sign that winter is creeping up on us. My showers are a lot less about cleaning sweat off of me and more about washing off the day now, which I suppose is nice. On the days when we go hunting, I usually work up a sweat still, mostly because it’s a workout just keeping up with the Aprixian’s big-ass strides.
“B’rook’s ugly pet got stuck in the garden netting today, but I freed him,” he tells me, practically bragging about getting a chicken free from the tomato plant mesh.
“Oh yeah?” I ask, pretending to be interested.
“Yes, it is a very dumb creature,” he informs me. “How long do you think it will live for?”
“Chickens live five to ten years if you don’t butcher them,” I answer, shrugging. “I have no idea how old Harold is, so your guess is as good as mine.”
He smirks like I’ve just complimented him. “My guess is good,” Drak agrees. “I think he will die soon. He is constantly hitting his head.”
Lovely.
“I guess we’ll see,” I reply, willing him to shut up or change the subject.
After a few beats of silence, he speaks up again.
“I believe your friend Meg-ham wishes to mate with Al’rik,” he informs me, and my jaw drops. Who the hell taught Drak to gossip?
“What?” I ask, pausing our journey even though it’s barely started.
“Meg-ham,” he repeats. “She wishes to have Al’rik, do you not think so?”
Al’rik is one of the more shy Aprixians. I think he’s said two or three words to me in total. He’s also one of the two twins, his brother being L’ore. They look similar in ways, I suppose. They’re both orange, but L’ore has some pretty gnarly scars. He’s also bald, while Al’rik only has one side of his head shaved. The other side is flowing with long black hair. I’m not sure why Megan set her sights on Al’rik in particular, but I don’t really care to ask. She can do what she wants.
“Megan,” I pronounce correctly, even though it’s no use. They can’t say her name to save their lives. “And I don’t know, Drak, I don’t care about other people’s sex lives.”
“Hmf,” he grunts, thinking about my words. “So you do not wish to know that I heard her complimenting his cock this morning?”
“Jesus,” I sputter. Megan has always been unapologetically sex-positive and admittedly horny, but coming right out and complimenting a guy’s junk? That’s intense even for her. “Has she even seen it?”
Drak lifts his shoulders. “It is possible. She comes to see him more and more now, but Al’rik is a quiet male. He does not pick up on her hints like I do.”
Yeah, because Drak is so good at reading human social cues.
I give him a flat look. “What hints exactly?”
He crowds me without hesitation, stepping so close that his chest is nearly touching my face. “She stands close to him,” he explains, voice somehow lower and more raspy all of a sudden. “She touches his shoulders like this—” Before I can demand that he doesn’t use me as an example, his huge hands are surrounding the top half of my arms, and his thumbs gently rub circles there.
I have to clench all of my muscles to hold back a shiver.
“And when she wants his attention,” he continues, moving his lips down to the shell of my ear. “She will whisper to him like it’s a private moment, even if others are around. As she does it, she presses herself against him to get closer, and she smirks to herself when he becomes flustered.”
A warmth of something I refuse to feel swirls in my stomach, but when I move to shake him off and step back, he’s already doing so.
I blink up at him, lips parted in shock. What the fuck just happened to me?
Drak’s smug smile doesn’t even shake me out of my stupor. Somehow instead of wanting to smack it off of his face, I want to—no. I’m not even going to go there.
“So she wants to fuck him, so what?” I gripe, turning away from his gaze to continue walking. “Good for Al’rik, I’m sure she’ll rock his world.”
The alien chuckles, walking by my side again. “Al’rik is a shy male, it will take some time. He does not know what to make of Meg-ham. A female has never looked at him the way she does before.”
“Well, he should get used to it,” I mumble. “Megan is good at getting what she wants.”
“She is a bold creature,” he agrees like he knows from experience. “Very forward.”