Alien in the Family

anyway?”
    “Checking out some leads it makes more sense for a human Federal officer to check out.” Chuckie grinned. “I’m not telling you, so don’t try to get it out of me.”
    “I’m sure I could if I worked at it.”
    His grin got wider. “Not with Martini around.”
    The room phone rang before I could come up with a suitable retort, and he went to answer it. I was relieved and wistful both, which probably wasn’t good.
    It was shocking to me to realize I was finding it harder to be here with Chuckie than I’d expected. This part of the Mandalay Bay hadn’t existed when we’d been here, but we’d stayed in the complex. The part of me that was thrilled to be staying here for a week or so was doing its best to ignore the other part that felt it wasn’t a good idea to put myself into any kind of compromising position with a legitimate romantic option. Martini was too easily able to pick up when I was thinking things I shouldn’t be.
    Gower and Martini hung up about the same time. “My parents are all set,” Gower said. “My mom’s looking forward to it, my dad, not so much.”
    “Have Michael come out here to finish his vacation. We can use the help—we need to have help we know we can trust—and maybe your dad will have more fun if he’s here, too.”
    Gower shrugged. “Good plan.” He opened his phone again.
    “My parents are coming,” Martini said in a voice of doom. “My mother has a different impression of why we’re here, though.”
    “Oh? What does she think we’re doing?”
    “Girl-time bonding.” He looked as doom-filled as he sounded. “You might want to see if your parents can come out, too.”
    “I’ll see if we have enough rooms.”
    Chuckie hung up before I could get my phone out. “Caterer’s a jerk, but the food was catered from one of the restaurants in their version of a food court.”
    “Which one?”
    “L’Avventura.”
    I shook my head. “There’s no restaurant named that here.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Yeah, I’m positive.” The week with Chuckie wasn’t the only time I’d spent in Vegas, and I lived to eat out at nice restaurants—at least, I had before I’d discovered sex with Martini. Fine dining had dropped a bit on my list since then. But not so much that I wasn’t fully aware of every restaurant here.
    I walked over to the huge television that dominated one wall in what I supposed was the living room. The hotel amenities book was there. I flipped through it. “No L’Avventura.”
    “Check the mall,” Reader said as he finished his call. “Could be there.”
    I did. “No. Nothing like it.”
    Martini and Christopher looked at each other. “Be right back,” Martini said. They both disappeared. I checked the double doors—they were unlocked.
    “That has to be weird to live with,” Chuckie said casually.
    “You get used to it.”
    “Do you?”
    I looked up at him. “Yeah. Thanks, by the way.”
    “For what?”
    “For still being you.”
    He grinned. “Well, that’s something.”
    “I’m going to fail the tests.” I hadn’t meant to blurt that out.
    Chuckie reached out and stroked my cheek. “He doesn’t care. It won’t matter to him. Martini’s not focused on regaining the throne—he’s focused on protecting you, the Pontifex, and the rest of his people. Not going off to a world he’s never seen to take care of it or solve its problems.”
    “You sure?”
    “Yeah, I’m positive. I wish I weren’t. I’d be happy if he disappeared and left you here. But he won’t, not willingly.”
    “What if they force him to?”
    Chuckie shrugged. “Then we’ll do what we Americans do best.”
    “What’s that?”
    He grinned again, but this time it was feral. “We’ll make them sorry they ever bothered us.”

CHAPTER 13

    MARTINI AND CHRISTOPHER WERE BACK, both looking angry. “Get your buddies in here, fast, and get the phones fixed,” Martini said to Chuckie.
    “Not that I mind, but why?”
    “Catering never took an order from the front desk for anything to come up to this suite. Catering says their phones haven’t been working all day—they’ve had to send a runner to the front desk on an hourly basis. Said runner also never took an order to or from the front desk for this suite. The desk clerk, however, is positive she gave your order to someone from her catering department.”
    Chuckie’s eyes narrowed. “You’re sure?”
    “Haven’t found a human yet who could lie to me,” Martini snapped.