Echo Book 2

45. All The Tingles

I go to the command area on the ship. Malax smiles and puts us in hyperspace. "Did you get the suppra to its box?"

"Yep. And the bike is in the garage."

"Good girl." He gives me a kiss.

I sit on Tim's lap and snuggle him. "I should have brought the bike with me."

He kisses my head. "Oukrant has decent technology. They might have bikes there. Never checked though."

Hunter comes in and sits down. "I guess if I bite anyone, I'm sorry. Kane told me I was coming with you."

"Yea, you'll be fine. Just don't bite Zion."

Zion rolls his eyes and glares out the window.

Malax shakes his head. "Boy, why are you pissed off? You are traveling through space to a different planet. Most people would be happy about that."

"She was with that i***t. I told you this morning. She would call him. She wanted to go with him."

I throw a pen at him. "I ran into him at the mall. It's the weekend. He helped me get money for a purse. The sales lady wouldn't hold it for me."

"What did he do? I know damn well he doesn't have the kind of money you need."

I jump up and throw everything in reach at him.

Tim pulls me back onto his lap. "Words, babygirl."

"I have none."

"I'm curious too. How did you run into him? Is he following you?" Malax sits with us.

"No. It's the closest mall to our houses and it's the weekend. I was running out. I was going to take the bike home for money. I nearly ran into him. He said I could disconnect the suppra in his car then fly the money to myself. The purse was over 6k. I didn't have any money. So, I did his idea. It was faster. Then I bought my purse. When we left, I saw the jewelry store."

Malax nods. "Then you decided to flaunt money."

"Yea, he said he couldn't afford the air in the purse store." They chuckle. "So, I decided to show him what real money was. I was going to buy a necklace or something. But I didn't see anything I liked. Then the salesman got that set out of the vault. He said I would love it and he was right. I needed it. I love it. I should wear it now."

Zion crosses his arms. "He does like you though."

"He likes my money."

Malax checks his papers. "Probably even more now."

Zion nods. "Did he try to kiss you?"

I run for it. I don't get very far and Tim picks me up. Malax is right behind him.

I hear Rye laughing, "I think that was a yes."

Tim carries me into his apartment and Malax locks the door. "Did he kiss you?"

"Yes. When I was leaving, he opened the door for me and said be careful. I kissed him."

"Why?"

"I like kissing him and I like being chased."

Tim sits with me on his lap. "No more than kissing. You will get in trouble."

I shake my head.

"Oh yea. I will beat your ass. Is he a teenager?"

Malax sits in the chair. "I have no idea when it comes to vampire age."

"If he's an adult, her dragon will know if he's her mate. She'll feel the pull even if he's human."

"I felt it with her once she was old enough. She didn't feel it though."

"Humans don't. It wouldn't have been any different for her until they turned her into a vampire."

"I wasn't old enough on my birthday. I had to wait." I snuggle Tim. I'm glad they're not mad.

"It's different, baby. Vampires come of age at 400. That would be 20 in human age. It's set in stone. All of them do that. 300 is when they will turn the human age of 15. So they have 100 years to be teenagers. Humans have only 5 years between 15 and 20. And it's not set in stone when they'll be adults. Each one is different. It can be anywhere between 17 and 22 that I've seen. It's hard to pinpoint when a human turns into an adult."

Malax rubs his face. "I'll send Kane to figure out if he's an adult. But Leo said Scotch is not her mate."

"Leo will say what he has to. It seemed like that kid had some growing up to do. If she found out he was her mate then, it would have been bad. I'm not saying he is, but Leo would have protected her. Was she there when he said it?"

"Yes."

Tim hugs me. "If he's still a teenager, you can let him chase you. No more than kissing. If he's an adult, you have to leave him alone. He is not your mate. You would already know."

"Ok. My dragon said 'mate' that one day."

"We remember, babygirl. A human teenager that you had contact with before. She has a lot of old memories. I think she's losing them as she learns about your life. So, she may know who he is. But she's not telling. Everyone needs to grow up, and we can't rush that."

Malax smiles. "She won't tell you until you feel the pull. Then he's not getting away."

Tim pats my butt. "You have 3 marking spots, right?"

"Yes."

"I think someone else may like you."

"Who?"

"Zion."

"No. Just no. He has a girlfriend and likes all the girls anyway. I don't want that."

"He's growing up too, babygirl. He is protective of you."

"So is Rye. But nobody ever said it was him."

"He's an adult, woman. And he's not that protective. He doesn't care if you kiss people."

"Zion is weird. He seems to only care about Scotch. I could probably kiss anyone else, and he'd be fine with it. He just doesn't like Scotch. Punched him the first day he met him."

Malax laughs. "You might have something there. He may hate Scotch. Maybe it has nothing to do with you."

I nod. "I agree."

They crack up laughing.

"What was Scotch's last name, babygirl?"

"Vinsor. His dad is Azo Vinsor. He works for my dad."

"I'll send Kane to find out about his age. Let's go back to the command area."

We sit around the conference table and Malax has lunch delivered. Victor is here now. He's about to cry.

"So, how was the kiss?" Zion is glaring at me.

Malax shakes his head. "Boy, she is ours. We're not mad. Why the hell do you hate him so much?"

"He f****d her up with money. She tried to pay me 3k for a hamburger. That was his fault. She's scared to death to even have someone spend $3 on her."

Rye laughs. "She apparently got over that today."

Malax nods. "We can take care of her with money. If she doesn't want to take money from other people, it's fine. We can pay her way for everything."

Tim winks at me. "Even if it is a $3 hamburger. $3 is a lot to some people. And we don't know everyone's financial status. If she feels better paying her own way and not accepting gifts, it's fine."

I nod. "I don't want to owe people. What's wrong with you?"

"Eriska hates me." Victor puts his head down.

"My fault. I fixed the other one and forgot about you. But she doesn't hate you. She friend zoned you. You weren't pushing for a romantic relationship with her. Which I like. You were giving her space to get used to you as a friend. Tobias couldn't do that. But now, you're her friend and he's her boyfriend. I need to move you to boyfriend status too."

"How do I fix it?"

"You wait for me to come up with a plan."

Zion nods. "Eriska liked riding the bike with Tobias. You ride bikes?"

"Yea, we learned on Kehlani's planet."

I perk up. "It wasn't the bike. Well, that helped. But she liked him rubbing her legs. She said it was giving her tingles. We need to come up with a way to get you 2 in a very close space, and you can give her tingles."

"How the hell do I do that?"

"Touch her skin."

Malax nods. "Skin touching for mates is intense."

"For real?"

I reach over and drag my finger over Malax's marking spot. He side eyes me with black eyes. I giggle. "Sorry. I was demonstrating."

"Going to be paying for that tease later." He fixes his eyes. "Yes, really."

"OH I KNOW WHAT WE CAN DO. ARE THEY ON THE SHIP? BRING THEM HERE."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, this should be good." Malax puts his papers down.

I smile. "I need some ice water."

Tim rubs his face. "That poor girl."

"They did it to me. Victor, stand up. Go over there. Touch her arm or something when you can."

"I can do that."

Tobias comes in with his arm around Eriska. "What you need?"

"We were talking about something." Victor stands beside Eriska. "You 2 will both mark her. We don't want any arguing. Do you know which side you're going to mark?"

They kiss her neck at the same time. Her eyes go black, and she pulls them both against her.

I fall off my chair laughing.

Malax shakes his head. "Fixed it."

She pulls Tobias against her and kisses him. Then she grabs Victor. I throw ice water on her. "Cool off. Sorry, I was only making sure they wouldn't argue later."

She nods. "Good thinking."

"Tobias, I need you to go over these papers and make sure they're right." Malax hands him some stuff.

"Alright." He plops down.

Victor puts his arm around Eriska and leads her out.

Zion has an eyebrow up. "So, if they kiss your marking spots at the same time, will it do that to you too?"

I shake my head fast. "No reason to test that. I'm already marked."

Malax smirks. "Last time we did it, she was human and didn't have marking spots. Her body reacted like that anyway."

I wiggle and throw myself over them. "My boys." They rub on me. "I get all the tingles."