Chapter 24

TWENTY-FOUR

Jesse

Pounding on the door jarred me awake. I blinked in confusion as dark arms surrounded me, then I remembered. Caspian!

He reacted to my panic, snarling and hurling himself over the couch and toward the door. He tripped at least twice, but didn’t let his lack of practice with legs stop him from attacking what he viewed as a threat. It was hard to see as dawn was just cresting over the horizon, bathing my living room in a golden, pink haze.

I couldn’t yell at Caspian to stop, so I did the next best thing. I sent my memory of Javi making out with his latest boy fling at a bar toward him.

Caspian lurched forward and froze, a look of shock on his face just as Javi unlocked the door and stepped through.

“Yah!” Javi stumbled backward and Caspian jumped at seeing the man from his head suddenly in front of him. I clapped my hands impatiently and made a ‘come here’ signal to Caspian.

The mer scowled at Javi but lumbered back to me, taking large and ungainly steps.

“Holy shit. And here I was thinking last night was a fever dream. Unless this is the fever dream.” Javi’s mouth was open as he took in Caspian. All of Caspian, quite naked. He gave me a look.

My own mouth opened angrily before I remembered I couldn’t yell at him.

He held his hands up in exasperation. “Hey girl, no judgment. Get yours.” Javi gave Caspian another appreciative glance. “I’m guessing this is another one of your friends from … down under? ”

I nodded, grabbing onto Caspian’s hand and refusing to let go, lest he lunge at Javi or view him as some sort of threat.

“Easy big guy. I don’t swing that way,” Javi snorted, amused.

Caspian’s eyes narrowed, clearly not trusting what Javi said or my memories of him. He took two steps to close the distance between them, dragging me along with him. He buried his fingers into Javi’s hair and yanked his head forward, sniffing deeply at his neck. With a satisfied grunt, he shoved Javi away and wrapped his arms around me.

“Woah. I think I’m in love,” Javi remarked, staggering to regain his balance.

Caspian lost his protective stance and simply stared. I shook him off and ran to the kitchen island, grabbing my pen and the notebook.

I think he smelled which way you lean.

Javi came around and read it over my shoulder. He laughed. “Right. As long as that’s squared away.” He ran a nervous hand through his dark hair. “We still doing this? Dario and I played sick, but it won’t take long for Mom to put two and two together. We better get out on the water before she comes down. He said he’d meet us at the docks.”

I nodded emphatically.

“Right.” He eyed Caspian again. “Think you can get pants on Mr. Fish Dick over here and get him in the car? I’ll drive, obviously.”

I rolled my eyes, but tugged Caspian back to my bedroom. I had a few pairs of long, men’s athletic shorts since they were often more comfortable for me than the itty bitty girl shorts that were popular. I found a large and kneeled before him, holding the waistband open.

Caspian frowned at me, staring down at the offered garment.

I sighed and sent him a mental image of a guy putting on a pair of shorts over his boxers.

Caspian grumbled, but put one leg into one of the leg holes. It was the wrong one, but I didn’t care. I worked the shorts up his hips, trying to ignore the huge, ridged merman dick bobbing in my face.

Grabbing his hand, I tugged him after me and out the front door, forgoing shoes all together. It would take too long to get him into shoes and used to walking in them, anyway.

Without a word, I yanked open the car door and pushed him down into a sitting position in the seat. He sat obediently, but fought me as I fussed with his seatbelt. An image of him struggling against ropes and the sea witch’s laughs rang in my ears, and I froze.

My hands dropped, and I took a deep breath.

He was triggered and traumatized. Compassion was the name of the game, despite his tough exterior and attitude.

“Everything OK?” Javi asked from the front seat.

I put up a finger for him to give me a moment and turned back to Caspian, who only had a wary look in his eyes now instead of pure panic. His hands gripped the fabric of the belt tightly, holding it away from his body. I sent a wave of calm toward him, then sat down in the seat next to him and modeled how to put on my seat belt. I wiggled around to show I could still move, and how the belt moved with me. Then I set an image of a car accident, and how the belt could save his life by keeping him in place, instead of throwing him out of the car.

His eyes darted back and forth in alarm, lips parting with mild horror. I unbuckled and leaned toward him, reaching for the belt again. He shook slightly, but allowed me to buckle him in. I gave Javi a thumbs-up, which he saw in the rearview mirror.

“Oh boy. Here we go.”

Javi peeled out of my stone driveway, zipping down the tiny road with purpose. Caspian’s throat bobbed, and he reached out and grabbed my hand. His grip crushed my fingers.

My free hand found his thigh and stroked lightly, trying to convey it was OK. Hard to get across when Javi was a terrible driver, but the closest pier was only ten minutes down the road. We’d live.

Hopefully.

After the most tense drive of my life, Javi pulled into the parking lot and straight through into a spot, laying hard on the brakes. Caspian and I lurched forward automatically, and I shot Javi a dirty look in the mirror. Seeing Caspian pale and sickly, Javi gave me an apologetic glance. I unbuckled Caspian and opened my door. My merman crawled out behind me rather than figure out his own door. He fell out in an undignified pile of limbs onto the pavement, uncaring as his face smacked into the asphalt. He simply looked relieved to be out of the car.

Not that I could blame him.

“There he is.” Javi pointed to a modest-sized, yet older fishing boat docked several rows out into the water.

I gestured for Caspian to follow me, but took care to stay a step behind Javi. I still felt embarrassed I’d had to be plucked out of the ocean by Javi’s family like a small child. Now I had to meet all of them face to face.

“Hola!” greeted Dario, smiling brightly at me from the deck, where he was busy untying ropes. His eyes lingered with excitement on Caspian.

My eyes narrowed.

He spouted off a quick stream of Spanish to Javi, who rolled his eyes and held out his hand to help me step onto the boat. I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at him, a questioning look on my face.

“Don’t worry about it. He’s eager to get going.”

I reached back for Caspian, but he scoffed at the small boat, preferring to strip off his shorts and dive gracefully into the water. Dario gasped and ran to where he’d disappeared into the water, staring hard. I guess Caspian preferred to swim. It was hard to make him out in the semi-darkness, as the sun was still struggling to rise.

“I won’t hit him with the motor, will I?” Dario asked, glancing nervously at the large blades on the back of his boat.

I scowled at him, indignant on Caspian’s behalf.

“Easy girl,” Javi reassured me, holding me back. “He’s a merman, not a fucking idiot,” Javi scolded his cousin.

Dario put his hands in the air and disappeared behind the wheel. The boat sputtered to life, the engine roaring in quick order. Worry and anxiety bled into my veins. What if Caspian didn’t know about engines and boats? What if he’d been down there with the sea witch for so long he had no idea about the dangers of modern technology ?

A strange sense of confusion bled through my worry, followed by a clear image of the ocean floor. Glancing up in my mind, I saw the outlines of many boats on the surface above me.

Caspian ! He was showing me he was all right! Well, that would certainly make this trip interesting.

“Chica! Where we going?” Dario asked, clearly primed for an adventure. I sent a question to Caspian, who responded by popping up in front of the boat, his black tail smacking the water. I pointed to him. Dario’s jaw dropped.

Javi just laughed. “Follow him, obviously.”

The boat lurched forward. The lights from downtown were still on from the evening, casting a glow through the retreating darkness. It was quieter now, but I knew soon it would be alive with the laughs and shouts of thousands of tourists on spring break. Merrick had been so excited to see it. I vowed to show it all to him, just as soon as we brought him back. And the first thing I’d say? It’ll be the same thing I said when we met.

“Hey, hottie.”