Kyro: A Sci-fi Alien Abduction Romance (Captured by Aliens Book 5) by A.G. Wilde (best summer books .txt) 📕

“I’m working.”

“On what?” His reply came immediately and Evren put down the bag of trash so she could send her answer faster.

“I got a job.”

She could almost feel him narrowing his eyes at her. “Why?”

“I need the credits. Long story.”

“If you need credits...I have many to spare.”

He was being so nice, but she couldn’t do that.

She wasn’t even sure she was going to go to the Intergalactic Hub. She just needed the credits just in case. She couldn’t have someone else fund a “just-in-case” mission. Plus, being out and doing something was good. It kept her busy. Even if it was cleaning dirty vehicles.

“No. No, I couldn’t take your credits. This is about me being sad and miserable and I think I need to do this on my own. That way I won’t feel guilty for taking so much from you. You’ve already given me much more than you realize.”

She watched the message send and bit her bottom lip. She hadn’t intended to go into so much detail. She’d said a little too much and she wondered what his response would be.

After a few moments, his reply came.

“I can help with your sadness.”

“How?” She was already smiling. She didn’t even know why.

“Jokes.”

That one word had her huffing out a laugh through her nose.

Jokes huh.

Her smile grew.

Her datapad pinged before she could return it to her pocket and she read the message that came up.

“A bowl of moofla...that’s food if you don’t know. Moofla is food. Solid food that you must chew.”

Before she could ask if that was his joke, another message came in.

“A bowl of moofla walks into a drink establishment. It proceeds to order some drinks. The drinks administrator looks at it and says, ‘Apologies, we don’t serve food here.’”

Evren’s brows wrinkled even as her cheeks rose, the laugh coming from her lips unexpectedly. Kyro’s jokes were so corny; she had to laugh even if she tried not to.

“Your jokes suck,” she sent back to him.

“Made you laugh.”

Now how was he so sure?

Once more, she glanced out of the shuttle and then mentally slapped herself. Of course, he wasn’t out there. He didn’t even know where she was.

“How are you so sure?”

There was a pause before his message came in. “I just know.”

Grinning, Evren rolled her eyes.

“I’ve got one for you.” She sent the message and paused to think for a bit. “What do you call a fake noodle?”

She waited for his reply.

It came soon afterward. “What?”

“An im-pasta.”

She burst out laughing at her own joke, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she looked out of the shuttle. He probably didn’t know what pasta or noodles were, but her joke was hilarious. Hands down.

Her laugh must have been loud because the pig-man turned his head in her direction, his nose pulling up in a snort.

Stifling her laughter, she glanced at her datapad as it pinged again.

“Your jokes suck too.”

That almost made her double over and she had to cover her mouth to keep her laughter in.

Better she get off the datapad before she got fired when she hadn’t even started working yet. She hadn’t come out today to set the record for the shortest bout of employment.

Sending a message that she wouldn’t be able to reply but that he could send her messages whenever he wanted, Evren set off to work.

18

All day, Kyro sent her the lamest jokes he could find. At least, that’s what she assumed. His sense of humor was just as corny as hers was. Not only did his constant messages make her day go faster but it almost felt as if he’d spent the entire day with her there, as if she was in his presence.

Neither of them mentioned what happened the night before and she was thankful he didn’t bring it up.

He also didn’t mention why he’d left before she’d woken up in the morning. She figured he’d had business to attend to.

After, all he was a soldier, a rebel...he had his own life.

The security system had been easy to arm, recognizing her biosignature and securing the place once she had exited the apartment. She assumed that was one of the reasons why he’d left so suddenly. He hadn’t needed to explain the system to her. It worked on its own.

Glancing at her datapad, Evren stretched her arms above her head and surveyed her handiwork.

An unexpected smile softened her features.

She felt filthy, in need of a long, warm bath but it felt good to have gotten her hands dirty.

As she hopped out of the shuttle, pig-man was just outside to greet her, and with greet she meant with a jerk of his head and a grunt.

He looked over the shuttle, his tiny eyes widening a little. She took that to mean he was surprised.

“Didn’t expect you to get it so...” He trailed off, snorting as he did.

“Clean?”

His tiny black eyes surveyed her. “Clean.” He snorted, flipping his datapad from his pocket and typing in some information. “Here’s your credits.” With another snort, he looked in her direction as if waiting for something.

“Where?” Evren’s gaze fell to his hands. Except for the datapad, he was holding nothing.

“Your datapad...” He snorted, his small eyes regarding her as if she was just a tad slow.

“Oh... Oh! You need the pad to”—she flipped out her pad, stretching it toward him as her voice faded—"transfer the credits.”

He touched his pad to hers without looking at the devices.

A small ping sounded and he slipped his pad into a seam in his pants where it disappeared.

“Same time tomorrow,” he grunted, snorting as he walked off.

Staring at his back as he headed toward the shelter, Evren’s eyes finally fell to the datapad.

Four hundred and twenty credits had been transferred to her account.

A surprising sense of accomplishment filled her and she grinned. She’d just earned her first paycheck on a new world, a new life, a new everything. The unanticipated pleasure of this one action shook her to her core.

All of a sudden, it felt as if