Charming (Exiled Book 3) Read online

  She dropped off the goods and rushed to reassure Ana that she hadn’t been left alone.

  “Oh my god!” Ana said. “I thought you’d left me out here in this nothingness and were never coming back!”

  “Patience. I haven’t been gone that long. I’ve been making arrangements for you to disappear. Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be alright.”

  “It is?” Ana sounded incredulous.

  “Absolutely.”

  “Hang onto me and don’t let go. Places to go, things to do.”

  That time Ana took the ‘hang on’ part more seriously. Rosie took her directly to the hotel suite.

  “What is this?”

  “It’s a very nice hotel. My husband and I come here sometimes.”

  “This is where you’re hiding me?”

  “Don’t be silly. This wouldn’t be secure for long. This is just a stop to get you cleaned up and presentable.”

  “Presentable?” Ana looked down at her clothes. “Am I going to meet the queen?”

  “No. But you’re going to meet someone who will give you a place to stay and protect you as a favor to me. I don’t want you to look like a ragamuffin when we arrive. So you’re going to take a shower, wash your hair, I’m going to trim your split ends. You’re going to put on the new clothes I bought you. Then you’re going to vanish.”

  Ana just blinked slowly. “Okay.”

  Rosie knew the girl was putting a lot of trust in a stranger and she didn’t look like the kind of person who’d received a lot of spontaneous kindness in her life. She motioned toward the bathroom door while holding out two bags.

  “This one is full of toiletries you might need. This one has a complete change of clothes and shoes. Call me when you’re clean and while your hair is still wet so I can trim the ends. Just put on one of the robes and sit on that bench in front of the mirror. Then after you’re dressed I’ll blow your hair dry.

  “By the way, are you hungry? I can order something from room service.”

  “Um, yeah. I could eat.”

  “What would you like?”

  “Are you mega rich or something?”

  Rosie smirked. “Or something. Tell me what you want to eat.”

  “I don’t know.” She looked uncertain. “Steak?”

  “What else?”

  “Salad? French fries.”

  “Steak with French fries? I like that, too. What do you want to drink?”

  “Ginger ale?”

  “Okay. Go get clean. By the time we have your hair dry, the food should be here.”

  Ana looked a little lost, a little confused, and a little distrustful, but she seemed to realize that Rosie was her best bet. So she dutifully shut the door of the bathroom, which was larger and more lavish than any she’d ever seen, and looked into the bag with the toiletries. The hotel provided soap, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Ana assumed that Rosie knew that, but had some reason for buying more. So she unwrapped the new purchases, turned on the hot water, and stripped out of her clothes, after she’d made sure the door was locked.

  Twenty minutes later she felt squeaky clean and polished. She toweled off, shrugged on one of the white terry robes, which swallowed her, and opened the door.

  “I’m, um, clean,” she said shyly.

  Rosie looked up from her phone. “Oh good. Now let’s make you beautiful.”

  “Good luck with that!” Ana thought that might be a goal too grand, but she sat on the bench as instructed and allowed Rosie to comb her hair out.

  Rosie ended up taking about three inches off the ends, which left the girl’s hair at shoulder length. As she cut she asked, “So do you have family?”

  “No,” Ana said. “Nobody.”

  “How have you been getting by?”

  “Oh. You know.”

  Rosie took that to mean that the line of questioning was about to hit a wall. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but the people I’m taking you to… they mean a lot to me. I need to know that you won’t do anything to hurt them. In any way.”

  Rosie looked at Ana’s reflection in the mirror. She had big whiskey colored eyes and dirty blond hair. The girl was undeniably attractive.

  “Your basic needs will be met and you’ll be able to make what you want of your life. But I need your promise that you can be trusted.”

  Ana opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything. She wasn’t entirely sure what was being asked of her. “You mean you want me to promise that I won’t steal from people? Or that I won’t kill them in their sleep?”

  Rosie dropped her hands. “Kill them in their sleep? I find it beyond disturbing that you went there. Are you psycho?”

  “No, I’m not. Are you?”

  Rosie barked out a laugh. “Look. One of us is asking for help here and one of us is doing the helping. Yes. I mean don’t steal from my friends. And I also mean stow the attitude and try to appear grateful when people give you a hand.”

  Ana didn’t have any recent experience with being grateful or with being given a hand. But she thought she understood the concept.

  “You want me to be nice. Okay. I can be nice.”

  “Good. And there!” Rosie put the shears down on the counter just as the doorbell rang. “That will be your dinner. I’ll get that while you’re getting dressed.”

  As soon as Rosie left the bathroom, Ana locked the door. She hadn’t looked inside the Bloomingdales bag yet. She pulled out the clothes and decided they weren’t bad. Skinny jeans. A long plaid shirt. A sheep skin vest. When she pulled out the Coach high tops, she smiled with delight. When she started looking at the price tags, she whistled to herself.

  There was underwear at the bottom of the bag. Not the usual stuff. Lingerie so silky she gave in to the impulse to rub it against her cheek before putting it on. When she was dressed, she had to admit that she felt like a million bucks.

  Clean. Trimmed. Pampered. Dressed in finery. Maybe it was her lucky day.

  When she opened the door, there was a table set up with food that smelled so tempting she wanted to lunge for it and dive in with both hands. She was even hungrier than she thought.

  Rosie pulled the stainless cover off the plate. “Here you go. I’m going to watch TV while you eat.”

  “Thank you,” Ana said quietly. She sat down at the chair that had been pulled up to the table. The meal looked every bit as scrumptious as the aroma promised.

  Rosie made a point of not looking over at Ana even though she was aware that the girl was eating like she’d never seen food before. Neither of them said a word until the last morsel was consumed.

  “You done?” Rosie asked brightly.

  “Yes.”

  “If you’re still hungry, we can order more.”

  “No. That’s okay.”

  “Alright then. Let’s get your hair dry so we can go. My husband is expecting me to meet him in an hour.”

  Rosie went to work blowing hair dry while Ana watched in the mirror. She wasn’t sure her hair had ever been so shiny or full of body and concluded that there must have been magic in the shampoo or conditioner.

  The clothes fit perfectly and, even though the style wasn’t girlie, they made her feel pretty. After watching Rosie in the mirror for a few minutes, she said, “Why are you helping me?”

  Rosie stopped what she was doing and met Ana’s gaze in the mirror.

  “You could have run into anybody on the street. But you ran into me and asked for help.”

  As if that was a complete and thorough explanation, Rosie turned the dryer back on and went back to work. She used a rolling brush to style the girl’s hair into a layered pageboy.

  When she was satisfied, she switched the dryer off and grinned.

  “I could have been a stylist. You look great!”

  Ana nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m taking you back to the place where you waited before while I go talk to my friend about giving you a safe place to stay.”
r />   When Ana stood up, Rosie took her by the forearm. “Hold on tight.”

  Ana found herself plunged into the murky clouds of the passes again, but it wasn’t as scary the third time. Likewise, being left on a flat rock with an invisible barrier wasn’t as worrisome as before.

  “I’m going back to the hotel to get your things then I’m going to arrange for a safe place for you. I should be back in,” she pursed her lips and tapped her foot, “half an hour.”

  Ana just nodded.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Charming had reluctantly stepped into a leadership role when his mother was injured because his father, the former leader, didn’t want to leave her side. Though he was still in his teens at the time, he’d managed to impress his entire community along with the humans and garner the respect necessary to lead effectively.

  A lot of changes had taken place in the past six years, but unquestionably the biggest change in times of post Rautt occupation was the restoration of electricity and modern conveniences. Charming’s people, the Exiled, had moved to the city of Farsuitwail and integrated with the human population with the exception of his brother, Crave, and sister-in-law, Dandelion. They’d decided to live in the former Exiled settlement of Newland to oversee the orphanage that had been set up for Rautt children.

  Some of those children were now almost as old as Charming had been when he’d taken over leadership of the Exiled. His people had been required to make a series of adjustments getting used to such things as electric lights, recorded music, hot running water, and all manner of household appliances large and small. But being both smart and adaptable, they’d quickly taken to the wonders and convenience of life with power.

  Furthermore, many of them had been educated so that they were capable not just maintaining and repairing the machines, but designing and building them as well. Although Exiled had never seen television or used telephones, they understood the principles well enough to digest schematics and work on restoring cell towers for the eventual implementation of cell phone service.

  In the second year after restoration of power, Charming had taken a top floor apartment in one of the buildings that faced the downtown park and had been abandoned during the Rautt years when elevators were inoperable. One of the humans told him they used to call them penthouses.

  Charming loved it because he could see the desert to the north, the farmlands to the south, and the Newland hills to the west. It suited him just fine. When he was home, the views gave him the satisfaction of a big cat lounging high on a mountain outcropping, master of all he surveyed.

  He was sought after by Exiled and human girls alike, partly because he held the most powerful position in Farsuitwail, but also because he was an incredibly good-looking and eligible male with a charismatic personality. His mother had named him Charming the first time he let go of a tit long enough to smile up at her.

  He was in no hurry to find a mate and was happy with relationships that were casual, frequent, and short lived, meaning rarely lasting more than two days.

  Rosie didn’t have to ask many people in Farsuitwail where to find Charming. It seemed that everybody knew where he lived. She looked up at the top of the skyscraper where they pointed.

  She thought the polite thing to do would be to take the elevator and knock on his door, just in case he was engaged in an activity of a private nature.

  Charming had been helping with a vineyard harvest and had returned home to grab a shower before going out to meet friends for dinner and ale. He pulled on a tee shirt over jeans as he made his way to answer the front door. The last thing he expected, or could have imagined, was to find Rosie standing there.

  He gaped.

  “Oh my gods, Charming!” she gushed. “You look so different!”

  Before he could organize his thoughts she rushed him for a big hug and almost knocked him over.

  When she released him, he said, “You look just the same.”

  “Was that a nice thing you just said?”

  He grinned. “You know it was.”

  “You really do look different. You’re a man now.”

  “Rosie. You know how long it’s been?”

  “Yeah. Nice place you have here.” She walked toward the wall of windows.

  “Where did you go? How could you just disappear like that?”

  She stopped and turned, all levity gone. “It was a hard time.”

  He stared for a full minute before saying, “It was. For all of us.”

  “Did the best I could do at the time.”

  “Okay.” He shrugged in acceptance, not wanting to spend precious time chastising.

  “So,” she began again with renewed cheer, “what you been doing?”

  “Well, actually, I kind of run the place.”

  “Run the place? You mean like you’re the mayor?”

  “No. There’s still a mayor. But we kind of share responsibilities. The mayor and I. So, yeah. Sort of.”

  “What about Free?”

  “After what happened, he didn’t have the heart for it anymore.”

  “Oh.”

  “We got Crave back.”

  “I knew that. I sent Dandy something special to wear for her mating. Kellareal told me about it.”

  “That’s right. I’d forgotten.”

  “They’re still at Newland. They oversee the Rautt orphanage up there.”

  “No way. Dandy and kids?”

  “Yeah. They’ve got three of their own, plus a bunch they treat like their own.”

  Rosie laughed softly. “I never would have guessed that.”

  “Well, life is strange.”

  “Indeed it is.”

  “So are you going to tell me why you’re here?” He looked at the large rolling bag parked by the front door. “Does it have anything to do with that?”

  “Well, I do need a favor.”

  “You’re moving in.”

  “No. Not me.”

  “Okay. What is it?” He sat down on a couch.

  “Can I sit?”

  He made a gesture indicating that she could sit where she wanted. She sat on a large upholstered chair near where he’d parked himself on one of his sofas.

  “There’s a girl who needs to disappear from Loti Dimension. She needs a place to stay.”

  Charming nodded, waiting for her to go on. Then her meaning dawned on him.

  “You mean with me!?! You want to leave some strange girl with me the way Kellareal left you with my family?”

  “Yes. Exactly. Including the part that you may find her strange.”

  “No.”

  “You can’t say no.”

  “I sure as fuck can say no. Let me reiterate. No!”

  “You have room for a guest.”

  “That’s my business.”

  “I know. But it has to be you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I trust you.” She could see that his adamant position weakened with that declaration. “And you have a spare room, what with being the grand poobah and all.”

  She waved her hand in the air as if to indicate that he was overlord of the entire dimension.

  “I know I’m going to be sorry I asked this, but what’s a grand poobah?”

  “It’s the MAN, the big kahuna, the big giant head, yada yada.”

  “Was that supposed to convey information or make you sound unhinged?”

  “Look. I have a distressed damsel in tow. She needs a place to be so as to avoid death and dismemberment, not necessarily in that order. You have a place for her to hide out. So what’s the problem?”

  “What did she do?”

  “She’s taking the Fifth.”

  He shook his head. “Rosie…”

  “That means don’t ask, don’t tell. If she’s guilty of something, you don’t need to know. If she’s not, what difference does it make?”

  “What diff…? You’re not taking ‘no’ for an answer, are you?” Rosie cheered in direct proportion to Charming’s posture of defeat a
nd resignation.

  “No.”

  “Okay. New subject. Where have you been? Why did you disappear? Why is it that the first time you’ve spoken to me since my brother died is to ask for a favor?”

  “When you put it that way it sounds rude and inconsiderate.”

  “That’s because it is rude and inconsiderate. My family loved you, felt close to you. How could you just forget all about us?”

  “I didn’t forget all about you.”

  “Could have fooled me.”

  “I’m sorry. I knew that facing you, and your family, would be painful. I guess I was thinking mostly about me.”

  “But now you’re not.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, now you’re thinking about the needs of some stray human you picked up on the street in another world, right? Somebody you know nothing about. Am I right?”

  “Yes. Right on all counts. She was terrified. You should have seen her. I didn’t care what she’d done. I just wanted to help her.”

  “Well, that’s laudable. How have you been, by the way?”

  “I got married. That’s the other reason why I haven’t been back. I didn’t know how you’d take it… my moving on. He’s the one I was taking a break from when I came here.”

  “Oh.”

  “I wandered around for five years. Then we got back together.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So you’re happy?”

  “Yes. How about you?”

  “I’m… busy. I guess that’s the same thing as happy.”

  “I don’t think busy is the same thing as happy, but if you’re not feeling unhappy, that’s good.”

  “I missed you.”

  “Missed you, too.” After a minute of silence, Rosie said, “So. Will you take her in?”

  Charming sighed. “For how long?”

  “Until you find another place for her to stay?”

  His eyes widened. “You mean you’re leaving her with us permanently?”

  “If she goes back, she’s dead. So, yeah.”

  “Rosie, that’s not really a plan. Dumping somebody who doesn’t belong here. Do you really not see any problems with that?”

  “None that you can’t solve. You’re Charming!” She grinned. “You made me feel welcome and right at home from the very beginning. That’s why I know you’re the perfect solution.”