Switched: Brides of the Kindred 17 (38 page)

Of course, Carlos’s
howls and screams brought all of Frankie’s family running out of
the house.

“
What happened? What happened?” a dozen voices demanded both
in English and Spanish.

Though he was still
writhing on the ground, Carlos wasn’t too wounded to talk.

“
She kicked me,” he moaned, pointing a trembling finger at
Kerov. “Right in the
cojones!”

“
What?” Frankie’s mother turned on Kerov, her face red with
rage. “How could you kick him in his babymakers? How am I ever
going to get grandchildren from you if you damage your husband’s
equipment?”

This was more than
Kerov could take. His stomach was rolling, his head was pounding
and now he had to contend with more accusations about “poor wounded
Carlos.” He couldn’t stand any more.

“
Listen to me!” he roared—or shouted, anyway—Frankie’s voice
couldn’t quite manage a roar. “This male is
not
Frankie’s mate! She divorced him because he was
an inconsiderate ass and a poor lover who always put his own
pleasure before hers. She deserves better than this fucking idiot
and if I have anything to say about it, she’ll
get
better than him. Now
leave…me…alone!”

For a moment there
was shocked silence and all of Frankie’s family looked at Kerov as
though he was crazy. Then Frankie’s grandmother began to wail and
sway dramatically.

“
Dios mio!”
she moaned. “Oh, my heart…I don’t think I can take
this…”

“
Catch her!” Kerov heard one of Frankie’s sister’s crying.
“
Abuela’s
going to
faint!”

A
dozen hands reached out to catch the little old lady. Somehow Kerov
managed to struggle his way out of the crowd, well aware that
Frankie’s family were staring at him from the corners of their eyes
as he went. He felt sick—both mentally and physically. He had been
so determined to do well pretending to be Frankie at this
gathering. Instead, he had
completely
exposed himself. Even if her family didn’t guess that
a stranger was inhabiting her body, they would think she had taken
leave of her senses and was now completely insane.

I’m sorry, Frankie,
he thought miserably.
I fucked up again.

Suddenly he found
himself face to face with a very worried looking Lacy.

“
Frankie, what happened?” she demanded. “What was that all
about? Why are you talking about yourself in the third person
again? Are you all right?”

“
I’m fine,” Kerov said and vomited all over the front of
Frankie’s dress.

Lacy had taken him
home, mercifully driving in silence. But though she asked no
questions, she kept giving him strange looks. Twice on the way home
he’d had to ask her to pull over so he could vomit again. The
second time, she ventured to ask a tentative question.

“
Do you think you’re sick? Is that the problem? Was it
something you ate that was making you act so…so not
yourself?”

“
I
don’t know,” Kerov said dully, wiping his mouth on the back of his
hand. “I only ate the food
abuela
served me.
Ropa vieja, puerco asado, chicharones…”

“
But that’s all meat!” Lacy exclaimed. “No
wonder
your body rebelled—you haven’t had a bite of
meat in over two years. You’re a vegetarian—why would you eat all
that?”

“
I
don’t know,” Kerov groaned, as his belly heaved again. “It
seemed…seemed like a good idea at the time.” He fervently wished
now that he hadn’t eaten it. It had never occurred to him that
Frankie’s body might have trouble processing animal protein but
it
did
make sense since she was
clearly unused to eating it.

I’m so sick of this,
he thought bitterly.
So sick of being trapped in another’s body. So
sick of
being
sick
in another’s
body. Gods, I just want to go home!

At last they arrived
back at Frankie’s domicile. It had taken some talking but he
finally convinced Lacy that he just wanted to be by himself and
“sleep it off” as she put it.

And now, here he
was.

Kerov sighed. Home
at last. Frankie’s home, anyway. He just had to wash up and then he
would lie down for some much needed rest. And maybe, just maybe, he
would wake up in his own body.

Goddess grant it will be so,
he prayed. Though he had never been much of a
true believer before, he was desperate now.
Oh please, Goddess,
please…

* *
* * *

“
Well, this is the place.” Jorn’s tank stopped in front of a
small, square dwelling surrounded by a neatly clipped lawn of
purple grass. To Frankie it looked like the Tarsian version of the
suburbs.

“
So, this is it? I guess I just go…knock on their door?”
Frankie looked out of the high tank window nervously. “And you
really think they’ll be okay with it? I mean, this is a pretty big
deal, isn’t it?”

“
If they’re not accepting, call me,” Jorn said. “I’ll be
certain you don’t come to harm while you’re holding Kerov’s place.
But I think they…” He nodded at the small house. “Will be better
able to advise you than anyone else.”

“
I
hope you’re right.” Frankie turned and gave him a smile. “You know,
you’re really a wonderful friend. I’m so sorry about…for
everything,” she ended lamely.

“
You mean for the way Kerov can never return my feelings?” He
sighed. “Don’t be sorry. It cannot be helped. I knew it even before
he Switched with you.”

“
Well you don’t have to stay here on Tarsia and be miserable,”
Frankie told him. “You should move to someplace where you’re
allowed to love whoever you want.”

He sighed. “Maybe I
should at that. I’m almost certain my military career here is
ruined—as is Kerov’s, for which I am heartily sorry.”

“
That wasn’t your fault,” Frankie assured him. “It sounds like
that Brigadier person had it out for him from the
beginning.”

“
Unfortunately you’re right.” He shook his head. “Kerov tried
to warn me that there was still too much prejudice against his
people for him to rise higher in the ranks than Commander but I
didn’t believe him. I didn’t
want
to believe him.”

“
I’m just not sure how I’m going to break the news to him once
he gets back,” Frankie said glumly. “You know, the two of us have
been screwing up each other’s lives since this started but I think
I did a worse job in Kerov’s body than he’s done in
mine.”

“
Tonight was not your fault,” Jorn said kindly. “Even Kerov
himself would have had a reaction to those slugs—any Kindred
would.”

“
Yes, but it wasn’t just the slugs—I overdosed General Sponge
Bob on that soy sauce tears drink,” Frankie pointed out.
“
And
bumped
chunnels
with him. Kerov wouldn’t
have done that.”

“
I’m partly to blame for that,” Jorn said. “I was the one who
forced you to wear another male’s
chunnel.”

“
You’re very sweet to try and make me feel better,” Frankie
told him. “But I’m mostly to blame and I’m the one who’s going to
have to tell Kerov his career is over.”

“
Maybe it won’t be so bad for him. He can always go join
another branch of the Kindred—they are everywhere across the
universe. They go wherever there is a viable genetic trade to be
had,” Jorn said.

“
Well, I know there’s a bunch of them circling my home planet
now,” Frankie said. “They live in the Kindred Mother Ship. Maybe
Kerov could go there.” She sighed. “If he ever comes back to his
body and I ever get back to mine.”

“
I’m certain you will get everything straightened out. They
can help you.” Jorn nodded out the window at the small, cozy
looking house. “When you speak to Kerov again, tell him I said I am
sorry for everything that transpired at the banquet. I only had his
best interests at heart.”

“
I
know.” Frankie’s heart swelled at the longing way he was looking at
her. He’d been in love with Kerov for years and now he was losing
him forever.

Impulsively, she
leaned across the seat and took Jorn’s narrow face in her hands.
This was something he had probably dreamed of and fantasized
about—something that could never happen if Kerov was in his own
body.

But I’m here now—Jorn’s been such a good friend. The least I
can do is give him a little taste of his fantasy,
she thought. She drew
closer to Jorn, who’s deep purple-black eyes had widened with
uncertainty.

“
What…what are you doing?” he breathed.

“
I’m giving you what Kerov can’t give—I’m kissing you. Now
shut up and let me do it,” Frankie murmured. Then she brought their
mouths together and gave Kerov’s best friend a long, lingering
kiss.

Suddenly, she felt
someone else in her head.

“
What’s this? What’s going on?”
a familiar voice demanded.
“What are you doing? Why are you
using my body to kiss someone? Who are you kissing?”

Frankie’s eyes flew
open and she broke the kiss hastily. When she pulled back, Jorn
looked at her dreamily, one hand coming up to his mouth to touch
the place their lips had met.

“
Jorn? You were kissing
Jorn?”
Kerov roared in her head.

“
Shut up—I had a good reason to do it,”
Frankie ordered. Explanations would
have to wait though—she needed to get out of Jorn’s tank and do
what had to be done.

“
What? What reason could be good enough to kiss another male
while you were in my body…which is
also
male?”
he demanded.

Frankie started to
answer but just then, Jorn reached for her hand and squeezed
it.

“
Thank you,” he murmured, giving her a sad smile. “I
have…dreamed of such a thing for so many years. But I know you’re
right—Kerov could never have given it to me himself.”

“
What? He what? He dreamed of kissing me?”
Kerov sounded bewildered.
“Why would he wish such a
thing?”

“
Because he’s in
love
with
you, you big dumb Kindred,”
Frankie shot back, exasperated. Aloud, she said to
Jorn,

“
Well, I guess I’d better get going.”

“
Call on me if you need me—I’ll be here,” he
promised.

“
You’re a true friend,” Frankie told him, squeezing his hand
one last time. “Kerov is lucky to have you.”

Then she opened the
door latch and jumped out of the tank—it was a long jump since the
giant inflated balloon-tires made it so high. She gave one last
wave as the tank rolled away, then she turned and faced the neat
little house in the middle of the purple lawn.

“
What are we doing here?”
Kerov asked and she could feel his
apprehension.
“What are you planning to do?”

“
You came back just in time,” Frankie told him. “We’re about
to come out to your parents.”

Chapter Seventeen

“
We’re about to what?”
Kerov demanded.
“What does that mean, ‘come out’?”

“
It means we’re going to admit you’re a Switcher or a Jumper or
whatever you want to call it and ask for their advice,” Frankie
said firmly. “They
are
the
people you meant when you said you had someone you could talk to,
aren’t they?”

“
Yes,”
he
admitted.
“Though
I didn’t want to tell them—I fear it will be a grave disappointment
to them.
But I
don’t know where else to turn and I know they will not betray
me.”

“
Jorn wouldn’t have betrayed you either,” Frankie told him.
“He cares for you a lot.”

“
You seem to have gotten extremely cozy with Jorn since we last
spoke,”
Kerov
muttered.

“
What—you mean the kiss?” Frankie asked, frowning.

“
Yes, I mean the kiss—what in the Seven Hells was that
about?”

“
Didn’t you hear me back in the tank?” Frankie demanded. “He
loves you—he’s
in
love
with you and
has been for years. I kissed him to make his fantasy come true—just
a little anyway. He deserved it—he saved my ass tonight. And yours
too, for that matter.”

“
But…a male cannot love another male.”
Kerov sounded confused.

“
Not here they can’t but it’s not forbidden everywhere,”
Frankie pointed out. “People should be allowed to love who they
want to love.”

“
And so you used my body to kiss him in order to thank him for
‘saving your ass’ as you put it? How was your ass in peril?”
he demanded.

“
Well…” Frankie shifted uncomfortably. This was the moment
she’d been dreading. “I, uh…the banquet didn’t exactly go as well
as it could have,” she said at last.