Page 86 of Red Marked

“We’ll keep the receipts. All of them. You can pay me back out of your first paycheck.” I take the pile from her and hang it over my arm. “I can afford it…I swear. Go and get more.”

She looks at me for a second longer, then blows out a breath and heads back to the racks.

I sit back down on the bench, and the curtain opens and closes, and opens and closes, and every single time it’s a fresh kind of torture. A black dress that stops mid-thigh. A green top that does something to her eyes. A pair of shorts I’m going to have to ban from the facility for the safety of my team. She turns in front of the mirror each time and asks what I think, and each time I tell her it’s fine, because the truth would get us both into trouble.

She picks out shoes. Some sneakers, a pair of boots, and sandals. She sits on the floor to lace the boots, walks a lap in them, and nods to herself.

Then she heads for the underwear section.

I follow, because I’m carrying everything, but I stop at the end of the aisle.

She picks up a plain cotton set and puts it down. She picks up a black lace bra, turns it over, checks the tag, and holds it against her chest. Then a matching pair of panties. Tiny-as-fuck things. She holds those against her hips and looks down at herself, head tilted, deciding.

Unfortunately, I have a great imagination. It’s not something I knew about myself before. Right now, I’m picturing her in nothing but those scraps of lace, on my bed, my hand sliding under the band of those panties and⁠—

Holy fuck!

My dick is hard and getting harder. I’m standing in a women’s underwear section, holding a pile of her clothes with a hard-on, and there’s a mother with a stroller ten feet away.

Shiiiiit!

“I’ll be over there.” I don’t wait for an answer.

I walk over to the men’s socks and briefs aisle. I stand in front of a wall of them and read the packaging. This is far safer.

Ten minutes later she walks down my aisle with a couple of things over her arm. I try hard not to look at any of them. I do note that the black set is on the pile.

What did I do to deserve this?

I look at the passersby while the cashier scans all of the items, folds each one, and beams at us over the top of it all.

“I just have to say that you two make a lovely couple.”

Star giggles.

“I mean it. It’s so lovely to see young love. Makes me wish I was a few years younger.” She sighs.

I shuffle from one foot to the other, trying to hold my smile.

“And look at him.” The cashier slides a shirt into the bag and winks at Star. “Spoiling you rotten. You hang on to this one, sweetheart.”

“Thank you,” Star says. Her ears have gone red. “I will.” She elbows me.

I tap my card.

“Thanks so much,” Star tells the lady.

We take the bags and walk out into the heat.

We hop into my rental vehicle after putting all the bags in the trunk. It’s a short ride to the hotel.

Star looks out her window with wide eyes.

“I think Mistveil is more developed than it was five years ago. These apartment buildings weren’t here.” She points. “Neither was that shopping center.”

“It’s growing. We have more humans living on both islands. Mistveil has been on a huge drive to bring in human females for the males to mate with.”

“That makes sense.” She nods. “It’s going to take years for our population to normalize after the Mainland’s interference.”