A Luxen didn’t kiss you, Evie. But neither did a human.
What was that supposed to mean? There were only Luxen and humans. Unless he considered himself in a league of his own, which wouldn’t be surprising. After just a short time with him, I knew there were very few beings in this universe who had an ego as massive as his.
“I cannot believe you were hiding with him in a hall closet or whatever,” she went on. On the drive back to her place, I’d filled her in on most of what had happened. “I can’t believe you didn’t take advantage of that.”
I made a face against my hands. I hadn’t told Heidi that Luc had kissed me. I probably wouldn’t even tell Zoe, because both she and Heidi would have questions, tons of questions. Ones I couldn’t answer, because when he’d kissed me, I . . . I didn’t even know what I felt. Panic? Yes. Pleasure? Oh God, yes, I’d felt that, too, and that made no sense. I was not attracted to any guy, no matter their species, if they were a jerk who thought they could just randomly kiss someone.
Besides, it hadn’t even felt like a real kiss, and I had been really kissed before. Brandon and I had kissed. A lot. What had gone down in that hidden room was barely a kiss—
Why was I even thinking about this? There were so many more important things to focus on, like, for example, the fact that we both could be sitting in jail at the moment.
“Luc is hot, Evie.” Apparently, Heidi hadn’t gotten the memo to move the conversation along.
“He’s a legit alien,” I muttered.
“So? From what I hear, they have all the working parts necessary. Not that I know from personal experience, but that’s what I’ve heard.”
“Glad to hear that they have the working parts.” That was a phrase I’d never thought I’d ever say in my entire life. I didn’t want to think about Luc and working parts. “And side note, the last time I checked, you don’t know anything about working parts.”
She giggled. “Just because I’m still part of the purity parade doesn’t mean I haven’t done a lot of research or used the Internet for nefarious purposes.”
I smiled as I dropped my hands. “He was a jerk, Heidi. If he talked to you like he did me, you would’ve punched him in the face.”
“Was he really that bad?” She threw up her hands, extending her middle fingers. “Like on the scale of one”—she wiggled the middle finger on her left hand—“to ten middle fingers, how bad was he really?”
“Fifty.” I paused. “Fifty times a million middle fingers.”
She laughed as she rolled onto her belly. “Then I probably would’ve punched him in the nuts.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s a shame.” She sighed. “When someone has the physical thing working out for them, it really sucks when the inner part is as ugly as a skinless rat.”
Skinless rat? Ew. “It was so weird. He was just so rude. He kept demanding to know why I was there, like I had the audacity to walk into that stupid club.” On a roll now, I wanted to start punching things. “Who is he? I mean, obviously, he’s an alien named Luc, but . . .”
Heidi sat up, dangling her pajama-clad legs over the edge of the bed. Her hair was twisted up in a messy bun that had flopped to one side. “But what?”
Pressing my lips together, I shook my head. There was something else I hadn’t told her. “He . . . he knew my name, Heidi.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
I nodded. “How is that possible? He said he knew who I was and he knew that I’d never been there before.” Uneasy, I folded my arms over my waist. “That’s really freaky, right?”
“Yeah, it is.” She slipped off the bed and came to her knees in front of me. “I don’t know if I said something to Emery when I was there before. It’s possible I mentioned your name to her. I mean, I know I’ve talked about you.”
“That . . . that would make sense.” Relief seeped into me. That made so much sense, but . . . but why would Emery be talking to Luc about me?
“It has to be that. There really is no other way he would’ve known you. He doesn’t go to our school. None of them do.”
Exhaling roughly, I nodded again. I didn’t want to think about Luc anymore. “Promise me you won’t go back there.”
Her gaze drifted over my shoulder. “Well . . .”
“Heidi!” Leaning forward, I smacked her arm. “The place gets raided for unregistered aliens. Those ART officers had the kind of guns that also kill humans. That place is not safe.”
Heidi let out a heavy, loud breath. “That’s never happened before.”