Echo Book 2

13. Food List

I sleep through the morning. Malax tried to wake me up early, and I pushed him out of bed.

I get up at 11 and get ready. Then we eat lunch and go to the afternoon meeting. The room is a big oval with a straight balcony that looks over everyone. I sit up on the straight balcony. The kings and high kings are in the top row around the oval part. The planet leaders are sitting in 6 rows of chairs. They're set like theater seating, so everyone can see the platform in the middle.

Kehlani takes the floor and talks about a change to law 4, section 8. I zone out almost immediately. I think about Tim. His warm arms and soft lips. I scan the place and find him. He's talking quietly with a leader. He's pointing something out on paper. He is sexy.

"We can all see who you're looking at." Nadine whispers as she sits down.

Thora smiles. "I see the sexy outfit worked. Someone got kissed."

"I did." I stomp my feet quietly and smile. "He's so sexy."

Thora nods. "Kind of a cave man look going on. He is nice looking."

I turn towards them and lean in. "Did you know s*x isn't always good?"

They stare blankly at me. "How do you mean?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Tim told me, s*x isn't always good. Sometimes you just have to have it so your body stops needing it. It's not good with random women."

"You mean s*x can be bad?"

"Yes. It's bad if it's not a mate, I guess."

"That makes sense. Frode said I was the only person who he had good s*x with. I think you might be right."

Nadine turns into a dragon and goes straight over the rail. We watch Dipak turn into a dragon and go out the door. She chases his ass, blowing fire.

"Maybe he had good s*x without her."

Thora shakes her head. "She's going to kill him."

"Should we try to save him?"

"We can't get in the way. She'll light us on fire."

Marcus crosses his arms right in front of us. "What was that about?"

"He had good s*x without her." I whisper.

"What?"

Thora points at Tim. "He said s*x with random women isn't good. It's only something the body needs."

Marcus points at Tim, then at the door. "Let's go you 2." He points at a few more people on the way.

I get outside with Tim, Malax, Marcus, and Mason. Thora and I sit at the table.

Marcus rubs his face. "Tim, Dipak is going to kick your ass later."

"Why?"

"You told the girls s*x with random women isn't good."

"It's not."

Mason puts up his hands. "Everyone think very carefully about what they say."

Dipak lands. "Why the f**k is she chasing me?"

"Tim told them s*x with random women isn't good."

Nadine lands. "I WILL HURT YOU."

Everyone dodges the fire. "I AGREE WOMAN. BUT I DIDN'T KNOW THAT AT THE TIME. I DIDN'T KNOW HOW MUCH I WAS MISSING UNTIL I MET YOU."

"YOU MUST HAVE LIKED IT. YOU KEPT THEM AROUND AND KEPT DOING THEM." She goes after him again.

Malax winks. "I agree, babygirl. s*x was fine before, but then I touched you. You're so damn good. I never knew s*x could be this good. I sure as hell can't go back. You're mine."

Nadine lands and starts sobbing.

Thora pulls her up. "Malax said, s*x was fine before. He didn't know what he was missing until he met Echo. It must be a mate thing."

I nod. "He must have only thought the s*x was good because he hadn't met you yet. Now he knows what good s*x is."

"I'll ask Elek."

"Wait. I'll pull him out here. Don't cause an issue in there, angel." Marcus's eyes glaze over.

"Did you have good s*x before?"

Marcus shakes his head. "No."

Elek comes out laughing. "What?"

"Did you have good s*x without me?"

"No."

"But we were broke up."

"They weren't good. Only a couple of them could get me off. Then I felt bad because it wasn't you. s*x wasn't fun without you. I don't ever want to go back to that. I have no interest in touching anyone else. Where is this coming from?"

"Tim told them s*x with other women is bad."

"It is."

Mason nods. "They lost their mates and then had s*x with other people. That is a hell of a lot different from having s*x before you meet your mate."

Malax smiles. "Yea, we didn't know what we were missing. It was fine at the time, but this is so much damn better. I would go crazy if I had to go back."

Elek hugs her. "Do you feel better now? It's kind of like the brains. But not even as effective."

My hand shoots up.

"No." Tim points at me. "Put your hand down."

I put my hand down and Thora scoots closer.

Dipak lands and stands behind me and Thora.

Elek smirks. "Don't worry. I got Tim back for you."

Tim rubs his eyes and Nadine runs to Dipak.

Marcus cracks up laughing. "That was a good one. Good luck with that, Tim."

Dipak rubs his face. "Please remember, they talk to each other. Let's get some ice cream, sweetheart."

Thora grabs my arm. "Let's go to the pool. We went to the afternoon meeting. That counts."

We lay by the pool for a couple of hours. The sun here is so warm and a bit red.

Everything that was said makes me wonder about Tim. Zarina was his soulmate. Not me. I'm a 2nd chance thing. I wouldn't be enough for him. The s*x wouldn't be good.

I rub my face. "I'm going down the slide."

"Just say it. I can tell something is bothering you."

"If I ever had s*x with Tim, he would be wishing I was as good as his soulmate and thinking about Kehlani. I need a break from my head."

"Yea, that's a lot. Take a break."

I spend an hour on the slides. Then the boys show up in their suits. Malax is reading everything. Tim stares at me in a bikini over his papers.

"You boys are a little overdressed for the pool. What are you doing?"

"The rights list is written out really well. I don't think I would change any of it." Malax moves over to a table and sits.

Tim doesn't take his eyes off my hips. I snap, and his eyes shoot at mine. "Rights list." He sits beside Malax. Then he resumes staring at me.

"What are you doing?" Malax looks at Tim.

Tim shakes his papers.

Malax finally glances at me. "Woman, don't be so sexy. It's distracting."

"Malax, you are at the pool."

He nods and stands up. "Let's go to my room. She's not half naked there."

Thora comes over. "What's the problem?"

"Neither one of them knows where they are."

"They'll figure it out when they fall in the pool. Come on." She pulls me to the slides.

We play for another hour, then I get ready for dinner.

The boys, Dipak, Alden, and Tre are in my room. They seem to be doing a lot of things at once.

I'm combing out my hair when Thora and Nadine get there. They use the box to put me in a tank top and shorter skirt. This isn't so bad. It's not really made to be sexy. Then I use the box to fix my hair.

"What are you all doing? It's time for dinner."

"You bought this place." Dipak puts his arm around Nadine, and they go to dinner.

"You're taking a king ship to transport people on vacation."

"That makes sense."

"Your mate is refusing to pay for it because we have so many."

"That makes even more sense."

Tre stands up. "We made a few changes to the rights list. Nothing big. It's worded better now."

"Great, now we can go to dinner."

"Are you hungry, baby?" Malax puts his arm around me.

"Very. Swimming made me hungry."

Dinner is fascinating. There are big tables set up with food from a bunch of different places. Everyone tries to tell me what to do, but I know how a buffet works. I shove them off and start at the beginning.

Startlet comes over. "Tim told me you want me to make the food for this planet?"

"Yes, please. With gold wine. Malax loves that."

"This planet doesn't have food to pick from. I could pick from your planet."

"Let's pick from here. My people don't want to go to another planet to eat our food. We eat that already."

"Most people like orange fish. It's from Nobino. It's over here."

I try it and fall in love. Thus begins the food quest. The 2 of us try every single food available. And there is a lot of food available. Some meat is even differently colored. We never sit down. We work through every single table.

We walk over to the last table of people left. It's a mix of kings and high kings. Nadine and Kehlani are both there.

I plop down between Malax and Tim.

"Did you get it figured out, baby?"

Starlet rubs Collins' shoulders. "I think so. Each meal will be from a different planet."

I lay my head on the table and a silent fart sneaks out. It smells so bad.

Malax fans his face. "WOMAN."

Startlet starts sobbing. "I'M SORRY." She runs out.

I try to hold it together. "That was you, wasn't it?" Malax stares at me and I nod. Then I burst out laughing.

Collin leaves laughing. "This is going to be a bad night."

I lay my head back down and Tim rubs my back. His fingertips on my back feel so good. I relax, and another fart comes out.

"Damn it, woman. You can stay with Tim tonight."

Tim laughs. "It's too soon for that."

"How does something so smelly come out of a little tiny human girl?" Nadine fans her face. "Nobody breathe tonight."

The brain answers, "Humans digest food differently. More gas is produced."

Kehlani shakes her head. "You're not putting them both in my building."

I fart again and Tim loses it. "Make Tre go camping with you tonight."

Nadine about falls off her chair laughing.

"You did want to camp, baby. Tonight is the perfect night for that. Let's go sit on the beach."

We sit on the beach then go to our room. He opens all the windows and balcony doors. I laugh so hard, then he rubs my back until I sleep. I wake up a few times with my stomach making noise, but it's not too bad.