Wrong Place, Right Time
Okay, so here's my undoubtedly ill-advised attempt at something that might actually make some money (but probably won't). Not sure whether to end it after that last scene or come up with something to add on to it, but there's been a thunderstorm going on for the last half hour or so, and I figured I should post it before the power gets knocked out. I can already kinda tell the story's not really working. I have to slog through the hot scenes because I just don't care that much about what's happening, and I'm far more interested in writing the characters just having a normal conversation. Just can't get myself interested in writing something really trashy, which would probably sell a lot better, but I ended up focusing more on the character's emotions than the physical stuff.
Maybe if I'd thought up a better overall idea ... but this was stuff I had in the back of my mind already for the Trent character in Freelancers, and just filled in some of the details. Nothing else came to mind when I was looking for ideas for this. But if it doesn't work out, I guess I can at least salvage some bits of this and use them in Freelancers or somewhere else ....
[Edit] The final draft is now available on Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XKIZ28O
It was funny, how a person's life could change in an instant.
For Trent Lockwood, that moment came a few minutes after he slipped out his bedroom window and headed off to meet up with a few of his friends. His parents had gone to bed over an hour before, and he'd waited until he was sure they were asleep. Then he'd eased the window open, climbed through, closed it behind him, and worked his way down to the street from their ninth-floor apartment.
He was far less nervous about it now that it had become something of a routine - hooking up with the friends he'd made recently and finding their way into places they had no business being. Just exploring the city and seeing what was there. Trent's parents had gotten jobs at the spaceport in Gos Duronan, one of the biggest cities on Tevsa, and moved there a few months ago. He'd only just begun to find his way around.
Tonight was no different. He and his friends had planned to pick a random street, just start walking, and see what they could find. And if they got into any trouble, as they had a few times already, they were already pretty good at getting around or over whatever obstacles were in their path.
Things started going off the rails when Trent reached a particular street corner and paused to wait for a break in the traffic. He leaned against a lamppost and let his mind wander while watching the hovercars and older wheeled vehicles passing by. After about twenty seconds, he took a quick look around and noticed the people nearby. A few humans, some genetically-modified anthros and synthetics, but mostly aliens. Most of the aliens were Tevsa's native population, the mulathi.
But then, this was one of their colony worlds, so really, the humans and other species were the aliens.
The majority of people surrounding him were female, ranging from a couple years younger than Trent to middle age, and all of them hotter than hell. Particularly the older ones. Trent had always been attracted almost exclusively to adult women, ever since the teenage hormones had started working their magic, though he'd never been able to pin down exactly why.
A few feet to his left, another human approached, strolling casually, hands in his pockets. He slowed and gave the nearby females a thorough looking-over. He walked over to a very young-looking mulathi dressed in a tube top and short-shorts, with a backpack over her shoulder. They talked for a moment. Then she took his hand and led him over to a hedge concealing an alley between two large buildings.
Faint sounds of clothes coming off reached Trent, followed by heavy breathing and soft grunts and moans.
Uh-oh._The realization hit him a split-second later. _I've wondered into the red light district. Or whatever the mulathi call it.
Trent glanced around frantically, looking for police cars parked in the distance, their occupants awaiting the go signal. Assuming the age of consent was the same here as it was way back on Earth, and it only now occurred to him that it might not be.
He couldn't spot any local security, but that didn't stop him from nearly panicking. Oh, shit_! I've got to get out of here, just in case._ The last thing he needed was to have his parents bail him out of jail after being arrested for prostitution, when he'd only been walking past the hookers.
Still ... anything could be happening to that girl, out of everyone's view. Trent made his way over to the hedge and took a quick peek around, just to be sure she wasn't being hurt.
"So ... tight!" The guy behind the hedge gasped and panted as he railed the girl slowly from behind.
"You like that, do you?" Her voice was soft, lilting, with an accent Trent couldn't quite pin down. She smiled brilliantly, closed her eyes, and bit her lower lip. Her long, thin tail curled around his waist. "You like my tight, young pussy?"
The guy tightened his grip on her hips, held her against him, and came with a long, quivering groan. He gasped, slumped over and braced his hand on the ground, and took several deep breaths. The girl grinned.
"I guess you do." She laughed softly, leaned over to kiss him, and opened her backpack. She pulled out a cloth, wiped herself off, and dropped it into a disposal bag. Then she pulled her shorts back on, stood, and faced the guy.
He pulled his pants up, dug a set of four credit chits out of his pocket, handed them to her, and walked away with a huge grin.
The alien girl wore an even bigger grin as she returned to the street corner, her hooves clanging on the metal plates covering the street. As she walked past Trent, she slipped the chits into her backpack and winked her softly glowing eye. "Fastest two thousand credits I've ever made."
Two ... thousand? He stared at her and shook his head. For, what, fifteen or twenty seconds of "work"?
Trent hurried back to the corner and kept his eyes on the traffic, waiting for the vehicles to stop long enough for him to cross the street and meet up with his friends. Even if the laws here had more wiggle room than those on any of Earth's colonies, he figured it'd be a good idea to move on just in case they didn't.
The traffic on the cross-street finally thinned out enough. Trent took a step forward, planning to dash across the street and hurry on to the cafe where his friends had decided to wait for him.
But right then, a silver hovercar slowed and stopped directly in his path. The window retracted and a mulathi woman looked him over slowly before nearly blinding him with a brilliant smile. Even though mulathi had rather impressive canines, there was nothing threatening about hers. In fact, in a weird way, they were quite sexy.
Uh-oh.
He told himself to smile back, but keep walking. This wasn't something he should get mixed up in.
He smiled, but just stood there. After a solid ten seconds passed, he suddenly wondered if he looked like he'd been dropped on his head when he was a baby.
Mulathi were more or less humanoid, but their skin ranged through various shades of blue to obsidian, their eyes glowed with a natural bioluminescence, their digitigrade legs ended in large hooves, and they had curving horns like those of a ram. Their hands had a thumb and two large fingers, like most other alien species Trent had encountered, and they had tails. This one looked around late thirties, early forties, in human terms. And still gorgeous, with breasts that might be described as "ample."
"You're just what I'm looking for." Her voice was slightly husky and her accent similar to the girl's.
Tell her that I'm not with these people. Tell her I'm just passing through.
"Interested?" She pushed a button on her dashboard and the passenger-side door slid back.
This is a bad idea. There are too many ways it can go wrong. If she's some kind of whacko, you could end up dead. If she's picking people up for a slave trader, you could end up hundreds of light years away,_wishing _you were dead. Just keep walking.
He couldn't turn away from that smile. There was nothing malicious about it. It was warm, friendly, inviting.
His heart pounded and his hands trembled.
He got in, the door closed, and the car rose into the air.
***
"I'm Liluri," she said as they cruised between the tops of the skyscrapers.
"I'm Trent." He managed to keep his voice steady, even with the mixture of excitement and dread ramping his heartbeat up. Despite all the ways this could turn into a disaster, there was also the chance of having sex with this gorgeous alien woman. Not to mention the possibility of going home with a substantial amount of money, like the two thousand credits that girl had made.
_I'm probably not worth that much, but you never know._If Liluri had mistaken him for a hooker, there was a decent chance of some sort of reward in addition to the experience itself.
The more he thought about it, the more he wanted it.
Liluri remained silent for a few minutes. Trent decided to see if he could strike up a conversation.
"So, what brought you to that particular part of the city?"
"My ship is in orbit, undergoing a refit. We finished an extended mission a few months ago, and the crew has been on leave." Liluri smiled, but it was tinged with sadness. "The refit is complete and we ship out tomorrow. I decided to have ... I think humans call it a final hooray?"
Trent chuckled. "Last hurrah."
"Ah, yes! Thank you." She grinned and it made him practically melt. "One more night out before I go back to the same old grind that is my job."
Trent offered her what he hoped was a charming smile. In reality, he feared it looked either creepy or dorky. Most likely dorky. But all he could do was hope she didn't consider it a deal-breaker.
He wondered if she'd picked him out of the crowd because young dudes were one of her kinks, but kept his mouth shut in case she'd simply misjudged his age. It was possible she'd mistaken him for a slightly shorter-than-average human. He figured it was best not to say anything and risk blowing what could turn out to be the best night of his life.
He almost tried to adjust his pants to hide the rapidly forming tent-pole, but decided to let it show. At this point, why the hell not?
"So, what's the plan for tonight?" He smiled. "I've got nothing else lined up, so I'm free all evening." Just got to remember to let my friends know something came up, and try to get back home before morning.
Liluri's eyes darted toward the bulge in the front of his pants and opened a bit wider. She grinned and pointed at it before returning her attention to the view through the windshield.
"I'm glad to see that you're so eager to get started, but let's not rush it."
His face grew hot, but he matched her grin. "I'm all for making the most of the evening."
"I'm_very_ pleased to hear that."
He stretched his left leg out a bit, bent his right one at the knee, and rested his right hand on it, looking casual while giving her a good angle at his hard-on straining at the front of his jeans.
"We're almost there." Liluri brushed her hands over the controls and the car changed course slightly toward one of the taller buildings. She pointed at it and added, "That's the motel I'm staying in."
He nodded and realized his pulse had steadied and his trembling subsided. This was looking less likely to be a dangerous mistake and more likely to be heading exactly where he'd hoped it would.
***
Author's note: If you liked the above sample, the link to where the full story can be purchased is in the description.