The Unclaimed Human Luna
Chapter 15

El POV

El didn’t care for the fact that Conner was giving her his own personal sailboard to use, she didn’t want anything to do with that man. As for the sunscreen, she was not stupid. Of course she was going to wear it. Always wore it, though tanned up nicely after a few hours in the sun.

Marlo was actually really nice and fun to be around, and some of his friends turned up, both boys and girls, and she got an introduction from him to them. A few of the girls were not so happy with him sitting with her all day and his attention, she noted, was on her. She even saw a few of the girls trying to get his attention and calling out to him.

“Are they always like that?” she murmured.

“Only when Adam or Conner are not around.” He shook his head “don’t worry about them, they’re used to being the centre of attention, that little curly-haired doll. She is Brayden’s little sister and if I so much as look at her the wrong way, I will get a beat down.”

“Who’s Brayden?” she asked.

“Oh, you see the guys that hang out with Conner. Well, the big blonde guy, that’s Adam. He’s my older brother, then there’s Brayden. He’s the one with black hair and Cameron is the brown curly haired one. That’s Conner’s social group, they’ll be the next in line to run things around here.”

“All of them?”

“Yes, currently Logan is in charge, then there’s my dad and Brayden’s dad and Cameron’s dad.”

“Keep things in the family, I see.”

“Yes, we do,” he nodded “Been like that for generations now. Will continue to stay that way.”

“That’s just weird.”

“No, that’s how big multimillion dollar companies run is all. We’re no different.”

“What does Logans’ company do and why does everyone live here work for him?”

“Logan has got lots of businesses, and as for everyone living here, that’s how he likes it El, all his employees in the one place. We even have a private hospital here in the gated community. Don’t need to go anywhere for anything most of the time, with the exception of food shopping and clothing shopping.”

“It’s weird.” She murmured again.

“Only to you, those who grow up here, think you would be the weird one, out there in a world that doesn’t just treat medical issues on the spot and we don’t pay for it here either. It is completely free, just walk in and state what the problem is, be treated for it and off you go.”

“Wow, wouldn’t that be nice. Are your doctors’ real doctors?” she asked, couldn’t but help it, had never ever heard of a place that treats everyone for nothing.

“Of course, they are.” He laughed. “Some of them train all over the country, can usually go to any university they want.”

“Good for them.” She muttered “Logan ripped me from my university and told me I can study here now.”

“What? He’s not normally like that. Where were you supposed to go?”

“Italy.”

“Oh, yeah we don’t really get to travel abroad so much, though the girls often move away at some point.”

“I doubt I’ll get that option, wasn’t even allowed to go out the front gate for over a week.”

“Logan can be controlling, but once you settle in and he sees that, he’ll loosen up a bit. I’m going to start at Utah State next semester, got a few summer classes right now. You should come. It’s nice there, you’ll like it.”

“I’ve got a tour tomorrow.” She nodded “Was given a bunch of brochures of places Logan thought was acceptable for me to attend.”

“Good, I’ll likely see you there then. We can hang out for lunch if you like. I’ll give you my number and just message me when you’re ready.”

“Gonna ditch class for lunch with me.”

“I might, if you’re nice to me for the rest of the day.” Smiled up at him, as he nudged her a little and then stated “Lets show this lot how to make a splash out there, got up and pulled her up and over to his jet ski, where he hopped on behind her and they were off.

She did actually have a good day, and some of his friends were nice to her, so she got to know a couple of people around here. They had a big barbeque lunch down by the lake and headed back mid-afternoon.

Where she found both her mother and Logan, waiting, it seemed, for her return, how they even knew she didn’t know. Her mother was smiling right at her as she hopped out of Marlo’s truck, he strolled around to meet her. “Did you have a nice time, El?” her mother asked her right away, seemed eager to know the answer.

“Yes, Marlo is nice and so are his friends.” She nodded.

“Good, I’m sure they’ll be happy to spend time with you.”

“Are you making them?” she asked right back, it was a little weird.

Heard Marlo laugh “No El, she is not, neither is Logan. I like you and I wanted to spend the day with you. Come on, let’s go inside and change. We can hang out as a group in the entertainment zone for a bit before dinner, yeah?”

She nodded “That would be nice.”

“Eliza.” It was Logan. She turned and looked at him. “I thought tomorrow after dinner your mother could show you a few apartments closer to where we live, though there are some renovations currently underway on the fifth floor, so be careful up there alright.”

“When did that happen? I didn’t see any when I walked about the other night.”

“This morning only. A whole hallway is being redone, it’s a bit messy up there right now. But tomorrow apartment hunting for you?”

“I guess that would be nice.” She nodded.

Felt Marlo tug on her hand “Come on let’s go change.”

Headed towards the stairs and Marlo frowned at her, “Why always the stairs, El? I’ve seen you take them more than once.”

“I have no access to the elevator, it’s coded and I wasn’t given a code for it.”

“What? That’s just stupid, I’ll talk to dad and get you one. You live on the Al…fifth floor, of course you need one.”

“The stairs are fine, Marlo. It’s a long hike up, but I don’t mind really. My high school had three-story buildings kind of used to stairs.” She shrugged.

“I’ll fix it.”

“Please don’t.” she shook her head, and headed up the stairs, only to have him fall into step with her. Not having a code for that elevator reminded her she wasn’t really welcome here, and was probably going to need that reminder, if she was going to be making friends. Staying put for a while to make it look like she was settling in, so she was granted that freedom to come and go as she please and they wouldn’t notice if she was missing for a whole day.

Was actively going to try and get along with everyone here for the next month and then hopefully she would be out of here for good. That was the plan anyway, needed Logan to stop asking her when she was due back. Would leave and come back willingly and then one day just leave and not come back.

Didn’t want to risk it right this second, didn’t think he’d leave her alone at all, send someone to bring her back, likely bloody Conner at that, and she wanted away from that man.

Showered and dressed in a pair of dark green casual Thai Harem Palazzo pants and matched it with a black smocked off the shoulder crop top. Pulled on a pair of strappy sandals and brushed her hair and pulled it up into a high ponytail so it wouldn’t get in the way of whatever games they were going to play downstairs.

Smiled at herself, liked her harem pants. They were so very comfortable, headed off only to replace Marlo waiting for her on the fourth floor landing, all showered and ready in nice fitting jeans and a tee-shirt that hugged every inch of his muscular chest and abdomen. Leaned off the wall and smiled right at her. Slid his eyes over her “You scrub up well El.”

“So do you.” she returned the compliment. “Does everyone around here look like you?” she waved a hand at his muscular body.

“Mm, yeah. It’s kind of expected that we all work out and keep ourselves fit and healthy. You won’t see many that aren’t all muscled up, some more than others. Depends on their training regime, I guess.”

She just nodded “I kind of feel unfit and flabby around all the girls here.” She murmured.

“You’re nothing of the sort. They train just like we do, is all.” He smiled right at her “I like the softness of your curves. Not every guy wants a ripped abdomen and no a*s on his woman.”

“Hey!” she gasped, knowing her butt was a little rounder than everyone here’s was, but jeez he didn’t have to point it out.

Heard him chuckle softly and then his mouth touched her ear “I like your a*s, perfect for grabbing onto it would be.”

“Don’t.” she shot right at him.

“I won’t, Conner will kill me for touching you. Warned already not to.”

That stopped her in her tracks. “Why would he do that?” He certainly didn’t care, had made it very clear to her that he was not interested, was an a*****e.

“Hmm, you’re his stepsister. It’s his job to protect you now, I guess.”

“Well, he can go and shove it. Is an a*****e.” She muttered and walked on down the stairs.

“What’d he do to you?” Marlo chuckled.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” she muttered again, but what hadn’t that man done to her, had done everything to her and she’d bloody let him, only to have him be in the arms of another girl within hours. Had been seduced by that man and dumped by that man in a matter of hours. Still couldn’t believe she’d let him do that to her.

She’d never let any boy do those things to her. Well, most of those things, she and Xavier had dry humped each other a few times and gotten off on it but their clothes had always stayed on, she’d told him she was going off to Italy, and didn’t want to just do it and have it mean nothing.

Though if she had not had that plan, she probably would have let him be her first, he was one of her closest male friends, was always fun and happy, known him for years. But no, she’d just let some man she barely knew have her instead. Only to replace out he was a real a*****e. Wasn’t going to let it happen again, that was for sure.

Shook it off, needed to, had enough to contend with just seeing him around, the annoyed looks he gave her, he didn’t want her here and she wondered if he’d done that on purpose now, to try and make her leave. Well, if she could have left she bloody would have. Now she had to plot and plan to get out of here. Pretend to like it here and be nice to everyone, including Logan himself. She didn’t want to do that, but was going to have to, to gain his trust, she supposed.

She hung out with Marlo and his friends and had dinner with them all in the dining room. She could see her mother with Logan and his regular group of men and women, she supposed, down at their usual table. She caught her mother’s eye a few times and she was smiling at her. Liked that El was trying to make friends and wanted to be there. Was going to at least try. Sighed internally, she was lying to her own mother, in order to get out of this place.

She watched a movie with Marlo and his friends after dinner, and was walked back to her room all the way to her door by Marlo. She looked at him and smiled, “You don’t have to walk me up here, you know.”

“I know, I wanted to. It’s quiet up here and we’re alone at that.”

Backed up when she realised what he meant, she shook her head. “Marlo, I don’t really know you.”

“You will over time, El.” He smiled and placed a hand on the wall beside her head. “May I k**s you El? I want to.”

She shook her head ‘no’ “I’m not looking for anything like that, Marlo, I’m sorry.”

“Hmm, pity. We could be a nice couple. I wouldn’t rush you into anything, El. Take it nice and slow. I’m not after s*x if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m quite a patient person.”

“Thank you, but I don’t think I want to date anyone at this point.”

“We can still be friends though.”

She nodded “Yes.”

“Alright, if you change your mind, just let me know. I like you, El. You’re funny and outgoing, we seem to enjoy the same things.” His eyes were on hers and he smiled right at her. “You have the most beautiful eyes, El.”

“I know everyone tells me that.” She nodded and they did. Rarely did any man or boy pass up that opportunity if they were looking to start up a conversation that was flirty.

“Like liquid silver, practically glow when you’re actually happy.”

“Mm, I’ve heard that before.” She smiled “Go home Marlo.”

He chuckled, nodded and headed off down the hallway. “Oh El, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She smiled at him and nodded.

“Oh, El, one more thing.” He turned and smiled right at her, just as she saw Conner coming up the stairs behind him, “you and I should go dancing under the full moon, this weekend.”

Her eyes moved from Marlo to Conner, and she saw the more than annoyed look on his face would have turned Marlo down normally, didn’t want to encourage his thoughts about dating her. Moved her eyes back to Marlo. “I’d like that, sounds nice.”

Saw him grin right at her and then just turned in for the night, didn’t care what Conner thought, didn’t care for his annoyed look right at her as Marlo asked her to go dancing.

Walked into her room and locked the door behind her. She must remember to lock it from now on. She did have that lock now. She’d thought it had been locked the other night, but clearly it had not been. Checked it this time, it was locked.