A Menage Made On Madison [The Federation 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 22

  This was her fucking honeymoon, and instead of being fucked, she was at loggerheads with them. Why had they lied to her about how long they’d be staying here? Why couldn’t they just have told the truth?

  She had to teach them this lesson, teach them she wasn’t a baby in need of protecting. Parker had survived the fucking evacuation of her planet, she’d killed to defend herself. She wasn’t some weak ass wallflower in need of saving at every turn. Wanting to keep her safe was one thing, but that changed when it meant lying to her, and when those lies revolved around making her stay in the family compound for longer than necessary, she was more than ready to show them the error of their ways.

  It was sad and irritating that she needed to do so at this point in their mate bond, but better now than twenty annals down the line.

  At least, she hoped so. A woman only got so many chances to honeymoon with her two felixads. That they’d spoiled this for her pissed her off royally.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Pass the orit, please,” Parker said, polite as could be the next evening.

  Knox and Rafer’s father, Osion, gave her the seasoning which she sprinkled over the yam-like vegetable dish that went by the name of toia. “You’re looking well, Parker. But then, we saw you in the paper and saw how you were doing. That was a good deed you did. You made this family proud that deya.”

  She sighed, but smiled. It was getting wearying, all of the good deed comments. It was one thing to be thanked by the Noris, but from her family, too? Marx had already congratulated her on behaving like any living person would. What had they expected her to do? Just walk off and leave the little girl alone? To fend for herself?

  Humans were badly thought of, she knew that, but the prejudice was really hitting home now. Sometimes, it was hard to remember that, to certain races, Knox and Rafer had mated themselves to a pet. It would be like an Earthling marrying a dog. As weird as that sounded, it was the truth. It was why their parents—namely their mothers—hated her so much.

  “I’m glad I did,” was all she said, once again, trying to be polite. “I’m glad I lived up to the Baxx name.”

  When Laro coughed and Fera, one of the girl twinlings, snickered, Parker’s hands turned pale as she choked the living hell out of the cutlery in her hands.

  Goddammit. She wanted to scream, she wanted to rail at someone, any-fucking-one.

  This morning, after sleeping on the armchair last notte, she’d woken up in a sour mood that hadn’t disappeared all deya. She was ready to bite someone’s head off. The thought made her snap her teeth together in readiness.

  Whenever they came to stay, the first notte, there was always a dinner. Because of last notte’s party, it had been postponed. Unlike before, this time she was mated to both Knox and Rafer, so she was seated between them, in safe territory. Everywhere else was danger.

  They had a large family. Shuzons usually had two sets of twinlings. And there was a reason behind it, as well. To have just the one pair would create a negative balance in the population. It was always encouraged, therefore, to have two sets. Hira, Laro, Osion, and Marx had done their duties, and in more ways than was required. They’d had four pairs. Two sets of boys and two of girls.

  Rafer and Knox were the eldest, though, and in this culture, like many on Earth, the eldest were the god spawn. It was just bad luck that the god spawn had settled for a single Earthling as a felixi, and that they hadn’t gone into politics like the family wanted.

  Sometimes, life sucked. Hell, her entire planet had been destroyed—you didn’t see her bitching about it.

  Not a lot, anyway.

  Silence beckoned after her words and the apparent amusement they caused to the females of this house. While Shuzon was a male-dominated society, the women had voices. Loud, loud voices.

  Shuzon females, that is. Not runt-of-the-litter Earthlings.

  She plastered on a bright smile and, sweet-as-pie, asked, “Would you like to know how much money my ideas for the hotel earned us this annal, Laro?”

  Currency wasn’t something to talk about, at any table, but sometimes, a point needed to be made.

  She felt Knox stiffen at her side, but he was smart. He kept quiet. Just like she’d done all these annals, kept her mouth shut when she should have mouthed off. Like she was ready to do now.

  Laro sniffed. “That isn’t appropriate dinner-table conversation.”

  “Neither is rudely scorning a guest, but that seems par for the course in this household. Maybe it would make you feel better to know that I’m not some trashy slattern trying to steal your boys out from under you. Maybe it would improve our relationship if you knew just what it is that I do.

  “Unlike some females, I don’t sit on my butt all deya bitching about my family. I work. I work hard. Madison Hotel is as much my baby as it is Knox’s, in fact, it’s more mine, because every single atom of that godforsaken place has my stamp on it. From the multi-billion dollar golf industry—a sport that I started in the Federation—to the award-winning restaurants.

  “I’ve had enough of being treated like a leper, like when you’re in my presence you’re being exposed to some contagious disease. Enough is enough, and it’s especially enough if you ever want to see any children we have. Because I swear to God, if you don’t start treating me better, I have to question if you’re going to treat our Earthling-Shuzon kids the same crappy way.”

  She didn’t know whether it was outrage or confusion that had most of the people at the table gawking at her. Instead, she looked every single one of the thirteen-strong crowd in the eye, and returned to her toia.

  Maybe she should have stalked out, left them to it, but she knew it would make it all the more uncomfortable for the sons of bitches to have to continue with their meal while she was still present. It also pissed her off that Knox and Rafer were stiff as a board next to her.

  Parker could have let the heavy silence continue, let it smother them in their own fucking self-righteousness, but instead, she pinned on another bright smile and turned to Marx, “Is it true the Shuzon government has refused to allow the Federation to construct a governmental body on the planet?”

  Marx blinked at her, obviously shocked at the change of topic, but he took the bait, hook, line, and sinker. With some alacrity, and relief, he nodded. “Yes. We had to vote on it a mens ago.”

  “Do you think it’s right to prod the beast in the belly like that?”

  He frowned at her. “It’s our land, Parker. We have a right to do with it as we wish.”

  She smiled. “Like Earth had the right.” She turned to Rafer. “Just watch, the Fleet will be called on to rape and pillage Shuzon like it did my planet. It doesn’t do to disagree with the Federation, boys. You should have learned that lesson through Earth’s destruction.”

  Hira hissed. “How dare you compare Earth to our beautiful world?”

  “I dare,” she spat, “because Earth had its flaws, but it was equally as beautiful. There are…were some places on that planet that were incomparable. But that didn’t matter to the Federation, they just wanted our goddamn fossil fuels. I wonder what the Federation wants from Shuzon.”

  “They want nothing more than our people to act as diplomats,” Laro retorted.

  “Yeah, right,” Parker murmured wryly. “All this lovely arable land, I’m sure it would be a great place for an agricultural center. Just swathe after swathe of farming land. As far as the eye can see. Shame you lot are all in the way, wasting land that could be put to better use.”

  Rafer scowled at her. “That’s enough, Parker.”

  “Oh, no, it isn’t, love. You see, your people decreed that my people were animals. But just you wait when the table turns. What was it you said to me the other deya, Rafer? That the Federation is changing?” She smiled. “Let’s see who’s next on the chopping board.” Standing, she placed her napkin on the table. “Thank you for a horrible meal.”

  With that, Parker turned and stalked out of the room, knowing that she ha
d to get out of there or make things worse.

  It shouldn’t have pleased her, it really shouldn’t have, but when she had one foot out of the door, she heard Hira ask, “She’s not right, is she, Marx? They wouldn’t come after Shuzon, would they?”

  She didn’t like to think she was mean or cruel, but she could only take so many snubs. What pissed her off the most was knowing she’d get an earful when Rafer and Knox came back from dinner.

  Retreating to their quarters, she sat in one of the armchairs and turned on the televisor. The best thing about Shuzon furniture was it always conformed to the body. Kind of like memory foam on steroids. It was like being embraced by a chair. Comfortable for a few heurs’ viewing, just not for a notte. As she’d discovered for herself this morning.

  She switched on the Shuzon female’s idea of a guilty pleasure, shopping TV, and tried not to frown at the robotic butler some poor Napalmi was trying to flog. The nonsense in front of her was just the white noise she needed. It helped her to sink into a relaxed state, something she knew she could only achieve because of her outburst.

  Being a bitch wasn’t her style. She didn’t know enough people to really complain about anyone. In truth, she led a very solitary life. Parker couldn’t call anyone, save Knox, close. Rafer would, with time, fall under the same category, but as it was, they were still in the fledgling phase of their mate bond. Aside from her two males and the few members of staff she could laugh and joke with, she was essentially alone.

  And didn’t that realization just sting like a bitch?

  It was hard to make friends when people looked down on you. When you were considered to be the lowest of the low. So low, your planet, your home, none of it mattered. It was just fodder for a huge, engulfing union of planets to do with as it will.

  She highly doubted anything would happen to Shuzon, and she really hoped it didn’t. No one deserved to lose their home the way Earthlings had. No one. But planting the seed had been easy, because everyone knew just how fickle the Federation was. And maybe, just maybe, if Hira and Laro realized that it was a sick twist of fate that had destroyed Parker’s planet but saved their own, maybe they’d stop busting her balls whenever they saw her.

  Some wish.

  Whether she dozed or napped, she couldn’t say. But the door opening and closing had her eyes popping open. She didn’t otherwise move, though. She felt like a deer in the woods. Wondering if the big, nasty hunter had her in his sights.

  The two men who sat down on the futon in front of her weren’t the two men she’d imagined coming to chastise her, however. It was Osion and Marx.

  She decided not to move, to stay curled up in her seat. Disrespectful? Perhaps. Disregarding every rule of being a hostess? Definitely.

  “Why are you here?” she asked, voice husky from sleep.

  “Because we didn’t want our sons to tell you off.”

  She frowned at Marx. “Why? Because you want the right to do that?”

  He sighed, and as he leaned back on the futon, crossing his legs at the ankle, he looked the spitting image of Rafer. Marx had passed on the purple streaks in his hair to his son, and Osion, the ruby red to Knox. She knew, that in eighty annals’ time, her guys would probably look like these two here. That really wasn’t a bad thing—they were still really cute. “No. We don’t want to reprimand you.”

  “Good, because I’m not a child. I don’t need to be told off. And if Rafer and Knox had come in here with that intention, I’d have told them where to go.” She narrowed her eyes at them. “I meant every word I said back there. Knox put up the money, and without him, the place wouldn’t exist. But without me, the hotel would be nowhere. Where do you think all those weird and whacky facilities come from? The ones that drive the guests wild? Me. That’s where they come from. I’m an equal partner in that place. I’m not a dog, looking up at the table in search of scraps.”

  “You’ve lost me. What’s a dog?” Osion asked, scratching his head. “It’s lukcin confusing talking to you sometimes, Parker.”

  She huffed. “A dog is a pet. Like what human beings are to most of the Federation. Nothing more than something to use as a server, or for a play toy.”

  Marx sighed. “I never doubted you and Knox were a team, Parker.”

  “No? Maybe you didn’t, but your mates sure as hell did. Where do they get off in disrespecting me like they always do?” Before either man could retort, she held out a hand. “You know, you should blame Rafer and Knox for this. I was willing to shut my mouth like I always do, but do you know what they told me when we arrived here?” She waited until they shook their head. She had to admit both of them looked sweet, with their mutual expressions of confusion. “That I might have to stay here for longer than two semanals. Maybe even a mens. A fucking mens. Can you imagine that? Me and your mates, under the same roof, for a mens? I don’t know what the hell they were thinking. And this is my honeymoon, for God’s sake. This is supposed to be a happy time. Not one of confrontation and misery.”

  “Knox told us the explosion at the hotel was because of a bomb, not a meltdown of one of the particle generators like the periodicals said,” Osion murmured. “It’s for your own safety that you’re here.”

  She grunted. “Some safety. It’s bad enough being undermined by your mates, insulted and scorned by them, but for a mens? No way.”

  “You had to know this trip might be extended.”

  “Maybe I did. But maybe I thought my mates would have the foresight to realize I can’t stay here without wanting to murder someone. They should have booked us into a hotel somewhere. I know there aren’t many on Shuzon, but there has to be one with a free room.”

  Marx scowled at her. “That would shame the family.”

  “Better than my being here and making your mates so goddamn miserable…oh, wait, maybe you’re right. Because if we did stay at a hotel, that would be something else to lay at my door. More shame to the family name.” She sighed. “I just can’t win, and I don’t particularly want to. That’s the thing. I want to come here for Knox, and now, Rafer’s sake, too. I want them to be at home here, I want them to visit their family. I wish like hell I could visit mine, and I don’t want to stop them from seeing you, but this isn’t my fight. Existing pisses Laro and Hira off, and I’m not about to go and slit my wrists just to suit them.”

  When both men gasped, she grimaced. Trust that to hit home. Suicide was the Shuzon equivalent of a mortal sin.

  “Look, just go back to the meal, or the after drinks, whichever. I’ll stay in here, and they can bitch about me to their hearts’ content. They don’t even have to watch out for me. I seriously can’t be bothered to deal with any of this. This past fortnight has been hard. I don’t need extra BS.”

  “BS?”

  She sighed. “Bullshit, Marx.”

  He blinked. “Oh.” He still looked confused.

  Osion shook his head. “I understand you’re upset, but it was cruel to make our mates wonder if the planet was safe.”

  “I’m not going to apologize. Because I’m more than upset. I’m furious, and I’m exhausted by it. It might do them some good to think of something else, like a viable threat, other than making me miserable while I’m here.”

  “They’re…they’re good females, Parker. Really, they are.” Marx reached forward and patted her knee.

  “I’m sure.” Not.

  “You have to understand it from their point of view,” Osion insisted.

  She held up a hand. “Don’t you think I’ve tried? Would I have liked it if, back on Earth, my son came home with a dog for a wife? No, I sure as hell wouldn’t. But I tell you what would freak me out more, my son coming home with two wives.” She smirked. “Now that would give me something to worry about.” She knew that was kind of back to front, but hell, they didn’t have to know that.

  Osion’s mouth dropped open. Marx’s, too. When they both cleared their throats at the same time, she had to wonder if they did everything in tangent.

  “Ar
e you being serious, Parker? A relationship like the one we have with Hira and Laro was considered wrong?”

  “Yep,” she told them cheerfully. “Just like what I’m doing with Rafer and Knox wouldn’t be appreciated, either.”

  “Then why are you doing it if it goes against your culture?”

  She sighed. “Why do you think, Marx? For God’s sake, I didn’t force Knox into the Ceremony with me, nor did I force Rafer. We’re made for each other. All of us have damned the consequences, and damned our own society’s teachings. Doesn’t that tell you how much we care about each other? That we’re willing to invite scorn to be together?

  “I want my men to have a relationship with you, I’ve told you that. But I don’t see why I should be cast out and stoned by your felixis when all of us made that decision. Not just me.”

  Both men were silent after that, and she watched them study their shoes. Marx eventually murmured, “We’ll have a talk with Laro and Hira.”

  “Don’t do it on my account, guys. And to be honest, I wouldn’t waste my breath. They want to hate me, then fine. But they have to pay the consequences.” She shrugged a shoulder, then leaned back into her armchair.

  “We’ll leave you now. Rafer and Knox should be along soon.”

  “Tell them not to rush,” she gritted out, then felt her cheeks flush when both of them chuckled.

  “Don’t be mad at them for too long, Parker.”

  “It depends on how they behave when they come in,” she retorted with a sniff.

  Marx grinned. “You certainly have more of a bite than I first thought.”

  “That’s because I have a brain. And I’m not afraid to use it.”

  Osion eyed her, then patted her on the shoulder. “We’ll warn our boys to be cautious around you.”

  “That might be wise,” she intoned, and turned back to the televisor as they left the room.