Water World Warrior: A SciFi Alien Mail Order Bride Romance (TerraMates Book 1) (3 page)

"420,000 credits."

I stepped backwards and sat down hard on the chair next to his desk. "No way," I said, terrified.

"Yes, Ashlyn. I'm such a fuck up. I've brought this down on all of us."

My blood ran cold. "What do you mean all of us?"

"If I don't pay in two weeks, they're going to kill me, Ash. And all of you, too."

He dissolved into sobs at this point, but I sat in shock. Could our lives be over? After how hard I had worked to keep us all together, taking care of the family?

I sat there until he stopped crying, trying to stay calm and think. I had to find a way out of this. I would not let someone kill us all for some stupid gambling debts. I would figure out a way. I was supposed to be smart. There had to be a way to get the money, and I was going to find it.

"Now what, Ashlyn?" he asked, and he sounded like a little boy — not like the man he was. He sounded the way he had when Mom had died, and he had asked me the same question. I answered him the same way I had way back then.

"Don't worry, Marlin. We'll figure it out. As long as we stick together, we can get through anything."

But this time, I was out of ideas.

The next day, I walked down to the lake and pulled off my shirt. I was wearing a black sports bra and matching black panties. To anyone looking, I might as well be wearing a bikini. No one came here - it was my special place. When things got too much for me, I came here and swam. The water away took my distress.

I climbed the rocks and stood at the top, then I launched myself out and away. There was a heart-stopping moment before I hit and then I felt the shock of the cold water. I swam quickly to the top and floated on the water, looking up at the clear blue sky.

I wondered how things could have gotten out of hand so quickly. I had taken the day off of work. I visited every friend I had to beg them to lend me money. I had gone to an appointment at the bank to apply for a loan. I had gone to a real estate agent to find out how much the house was worth.

I had even asked a rich professor to cover it for me.

Even if they had all said yes (and none of them did), it wouldn't cover half of what we owed. I watched as a lone cloud scuttled across the sky as if being chased by the wind. The water didn't soothe me today the way it usually did.

There was no way to raise that money. I slowly realized that we would have to run.

If the movies were correct, you could never outrun those sorts of creditors. We'd have to leave the planet. I needed a plan. Sam could help me.

I climbed out of the water and slipped my shirt and shorts back on over my soaking wet underwear and ran all the way to Sam's house. She wasn't working today. Then I stopped a few houses away as a thought occurred to me.

What if the loan sharks were watching me?

I didn't want them to add anyone to their death list. I couldn't lead them to Sam. I resolved to avoid her until all of this was over.

With a sigh, I realized that I was on my own. Again. I guess it had always been this way. When Dad left, my mom needed me to help out. She worked all the time, and I was left to take care of the boys. When she died, I was the only one to do everything. I put my university plans on hold, got a job, and started paying the bills.

Instead of going to see Sam or going home, I decided to go to work. I quickly changed and walked over to the shop. Maura was surprised when I walked in.

"I thought you were taking the whole day off, Ashlyn?"

"I was, but I got everything done. I'll put in my regular hours and stay late. There are only two dresses to work on, and that will give us time tomorrow to make the adjustments before the ball, without being rushed," I explained. And the extra money wouldn't hurt any, though as for that, there wasn't nearly enough.

Maura smiled broadly.

"That's my Ashlyn," she said. "Such a hard worker."

I gave a fake smile. That was me all right. Except this time, all my hard work was in vain.

When I had finished the last dress, my back was sore, and my eyes were aching. I closed up the shop and walked home in the moonlight. As I walked through the rich neighborhood, I wondered what it would be like to live in one of these houses. Marlin's debts would be pocket change, most likely. And for a brief moment, I allowed myself to feel bitter. Why did these people have so much and we so little? They had enough to solve my problems, but they would never give it to me.

It wasn't fair.

I emerged from the opulent homes and back onto the commercial stretch. The darkened shops looked forlorn and empty. At that moment, I looked up at the window and saw the sign for TerraMates - the marriage agency.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

How much had Sam said they paid girls to marry some guy for a year? I searched my memory. I hadn't been paying attention. It was not something that I would ever have considered doing before, but I was out of options.

Five hundred thousand. That's what she had said. That would cover Mar's debts. It would get us out of this mess.

Except I would have to marry a stranger that I had never met. Probably have sex with him. I would be selling myself to him for a year. I grimaced, sick to my stomach at the thought.

I had some boyfriends in high school, and I had given my virginity to my first love, so I wasn't exactly innocent. But after Mom died, I had never had time for a relationship. A single one night stand when I had been lonely and drunk, but other than that, there'd been no one.

Sam's words came back to me.

I'm not saying you should do it to find your Mr. Right. I'm saying you should do it for the money.

I shook my head and kept walking, leaving the marriage agency far behind me in the dark. I couldn't do something like that. There had to be another way.

I had dreams of someday getting married. And I wouldn't be doing it for money. I would be doing it because I loved the man. He would be my perfect guy. And he would love me. I would find someone who couldn't live without me, not someone who paid a headhunter to find him a bride.

There was another way.

I simply had to find it.

NATHANIEL

I stepped onto land and made my way quickly to the refugee camp. In a moment, I was calling softly through the canvas.

"Miralee? Are you there?"

A slight woman with soft brown eyes and mousy hair opened the door to the tent. She had a baby in her arms.

"Nat," she said, her face breaking into a pale smile. "You've brought a shipment?

"I sure have, Miralee. How's Mr. Johnny doing?" I said, holding out my arms.

"He's great." She gave me the baby.

"What is it?"

"I'm worried about my milk supply running out. Sometimes there's not enough food. And he's seemed sickly. I'm not sure he's getting enough milk when he nurses."

"What? You have to get a bigger share of rations then. You're eating for two," I said, feeling upset and worried. "There's plenty of people that can live off their fat."

She laughed though I could see her eyes were still anxious.

"I'll talk to my sister. I'll make sure you get a bigger ration."

"Will you, Nat? I've been so worried about John."

"Don't worry, Miralee. I'll take care of it."

I had dated Miralee for about a month last year. It hadn't worked out, and we had broken up and gone our separate ways.

She had called me three months later, saying that she was pregnant. Not me, thank goodness, but her special fellow ran the moment he found out she was pregnant. She asked if I would help her out.

I had given her some money and called her after her prenatal appointments to make sure she had attended them. The little boy had been born, and I continued to send her money. She hadn't asked for a paternity test, and I didn't suggest one.

Then the island that she and John had lived on was flooded, and she was suddenly an environmental refugee with a tiny baby. She had ended up in this camp.

"How are you doing? Do you need anything else?" I asked her.

Miralee shook her head. She was a proud woman and didn't want to take any more from me than she had to. If she had family or someone else to help her, I'm sure she would never have even contacted me. But there was no one. She was an orphan with few friends.

Getting the supplies and making sure the refugees had enough was personal for me. I wished for the millionth time that our father hadn't tied up quite so much of our fortune in illiquid assets. We had a lot of wealth, but not the cash it would take to help all these people.

If our lawyer got on it, we could have some money ready to buy the things the refugees needed. We could provision some of the camps, but not all of them on a long-term basis. We were rich but not RICH. It took money to support that many people, which was why it was important to me to make sure the supplies got to their original destinations.

It was the only way I could truly help Miralee and Johnny and all the refugees.

If the supplies got diverted, Johnny would go hungry or even die. I knew if a baby's mother didn't have the food she needed then the children failed to thrive. Miralee needed to keep up her milk supply. There was no one else to feed this little guy.

Nothing else could happen to Johnny. He was all she had.

I looked down into his sweet blue eyes, tucking a wad of bills in his blanket for Miralee to find later. Nothing would happen to him. He would have what he needed. I would make sure of it.

"Have we made the drop, Vess?" I said into my comm unit.

"We did it, sir. We offloaded the supplies."

"Good. Get out, then, Vess. Freya will take over from there. We're waiting for you at the rendezvous."

"Yes, sir. We'll be there, sir."

I signed off and waited, pacing back and forth on the deck of The Dream. The schooner had been in my family for two generations now, and I was the third Lachlan to command her. I had helped my grandfather restore it and I had done much of the work on it myself. I still helped with the repairs when we took it out of the water for three weeks every year.

There was something soothing about working with the wood and the tools. I liked it because it reminded me of my Grandpa.

The sun was down, and two of the moons were up, chasing each other across the sky. Soon the third would rise, and the others would be back. We would get away free and clear, and then we would go back and do it again, but the waiting always made me nervous.

An hour later, we were racing across the sea. I stood near the bow with the wind in my face, feeling free as a bird. When I was on my ship cruising out on the open water, I felt alive.

I sensed Vess come up behind me.

"How did it go?" I said.

"Smoothly. When you have a plan, it always does, Nat. You think of everything before it happens."

I nodded, still looking ahead to where the third moon had climbed into the dusky sky. I was good at planning and organizing - that's why I had wanted to be a scientist since I was young. I liked categorizing, organizing, and being precise.

It tore at my heart that I couldn't do that any longer, but you know what they say about desperate times. Everyone was doing their best to survive these days.

I was no different.

"Thanks. Once we're out of the restricted zone, we should head for Myim. The crew needs some well deserved time off. And you too," I said.

Vess nodded.

"Sounds good, sir. You're an excellent boss."

I shook my head.

"You are a good man, and a good friend, too. Thanks for your advice about Veralia. I did ask her out, and she agreed. I..." he hesitated, his massive hands fiddling with his T-shirt. "I like her."

I turned to face him and smiled for the first time in a long time.

"That's great, Vess. I'm happy for you."

He turned red.

"She's great. I'm glad you told me to ask her out. I wouldn't have had the guts if you had not suggested it."

"I'm glad it all worked out," I said, turning back towards the horizon.

I tilted my head and focused on the small dot. What was that? There shouldn't be any other ships out here. There shouldn't be anything out here.

We were in a restricted zone, which meant that only government vessels were allowed. There wasn't a government ship due to be passing through here for another week. I knew because that ship was on our list of targets.

The strange ship shouldn't be here. The problem was that we shouldn't be here either.

I pulled out my telescope and gazed at the ship.

"What is it, boss?" Vess said, coming next to me to see.

"Trouble, Vess," I said.

He looked at me questioningly.

"It's the police."

"All hands on deck," Vess yelled, running down the length of the ship to the wheel. "Hard turn to port."

The crew that was on duty went to work. The crew that was off-duty popped out of the hold, coming up and preparing themselves. It would be hard to outrun the foreign vessel, but I knew we could. The Dream was a damn good sailing ship.

We caught the sharp breeze that was blowing, and the sails billowed out tight and full. The ship leaped forward, and my confidence increased. They wouldn't catch me. Not tonight.

After an hour, the ship behind us fell away, and I couldn't see it anymore.

"Keep heading straight out of the restricted zone, Vess," I said. "Since we seem to be out of danger, there's a pile of paperwork that needs my attention. Let me know if the ship appears."

I knew that it wouldn't. The governments ships were all slow and ponderous. They could never catch a light schooner like The Dream.

It was time to get back to real life. I knew several bills needed paying. I had been avoiding them because I didn't want to think about the life I had left behind. Paying bills was boring. Being a pirate was fun.

Slowly, I trudged down to the Captain's quarters. I logged into my account and began reading — the first one was a bank account statement. I glanced to make sure it looked correct, hardly seeing the millions of credits there anymore. It seemed like the right number — several billion plus change — so I put it in my banking folder.