Chapter 8

8

Morning sunlight broke through the curtains, waking me where I lay, naked and sprawled across Reed.

“Well, you two clearly had a good night,” Grant commented as he walked into the room drinking a cup of steaming coffee.

“What time is it?” I asked around a yawn.

“Time for you to get ready for work,” Grant answered, “or I would have let you two continue sleeping.”

I nodded, kissed the still sleeping Reed on the cheek, stood, and kissed Grant as I walked by.

He slapped my bare butt and winked at me when I looked back. “Couldn’t resist.”

Rolling my eyes, I skipped up the stairs to take a quick shower and dress.

Today was the last day of work before we left for the tournament, so I was going to put on my best performance yet. The aquarium was going to put a sign up that I was sick and would return soon, which I hoped wouldn’t worry the kids too much.

When I made it to the kitchen, Grant had a breakfast sandwich wrapped in a paper towel waiting for me, as well as an energy drink I’d recently found that I loved the taste of.

Reed shuffled into the kitchen, still half asleep, but his eyes brightened when he saw me. He walked over and pulled me into a hug, claiming my mouth with a deep, hungry kiss that had me wishing we could stay home instead. “Good morning, beautiful.”

The bond between us thrummed and, had I been feline, I would have purred. “Good morning, handsome.”

Grant held out a metal travel mug towards Reed. “Your coffee.”

Reed took it, grabbed a breakfast sandwich from the table, and headed towards the door.

“Did you turn him into a zombie?” Grant teased.

I grabbed my breakfast, took a bite, and said, “No comment.”

Grant chuckled and slipped his arm around my waist as we headed to the car. “Well, you’re welcome to do the same to me tonight.”

Swallowing my bite, I answered, “Can’t. Tonight is trivia night.”

In the Fall, when there were less tourists, Gina offered a weekly trivia night at her pizza place. Theo and I went as often as we could, enjoying being one of the top teams.

“Oh, right,” he said with a soft exhale. “Guess we’ll order in and watch something.”

“Why don’t you all come?” I asked. Normally, it was just Theo and I, but there was no reason they couldn’t come, too.

“You want us to come?” he asked, stopping at the car to look down at me.

I nodded. “Yeah. You guys can form your own teams and compete against us. It’ll be fun. While I do enjoy times out with just Theo, I also always enjoy you being with me, and the trivia nights aren’t just Theo and I hanging out, but lots of our friends show up, too. So, it wouldn’t be abnormal for you guys to be there as well.”

The truth was, with this recent development with Reed, I wanted to spend as much time as possible with them, in case they all did end up leaving.

Grant pressed his fingertips against my chest, a scowl on his face, and whispered, “I can sense your fear, sweetheart.”

Swallowing the feelings down, I smiled wide and said, “Well, you guys can decide if you want to come or not. No pressure.” Before he could say anything else, I climbed into the backseat and focused on consuming my breakfast.

Grant took a minute to get into the car, during which Reed glanced at me in question, but I didn’t reply.

Once at the aquarium, I hurried to the locker area located behind the tanks, where I could strip and climb into the tank without anyone seeing me, that also had access to the large tank the kids came to see me at.

As I swam out into the large tank, joining the sea creatures there, I felt an uneasiness in my chest.

This trip was going to be my last chance to really show Reed what it would be like to be with me, to be fully mated to me.

It would also be my first trip with the others, so I wanted to make sure we all had fun and there were no regrets later.

Most of the fish and the sea turtles veered away from me far more than normal.

Swimming around the perimeter of the circular tank, I let my shark brain take over to stop focusing on my fears and worry, which were obviously being sensed by the others in the tank.

An hour later, the first group of students entered, pressing up against the glass to get a better view of everything in the huge tank.

Among the children was the little girl with the pink bow who came at least once a month to see me with her mother. Today, she held a stuffed creature, it took me a moment to realize it was a tiger shark. She was holding … me.

Spinning in joy, I did a barrel roll in the water that had everyone squealing and exclaiming in excitement.

The little girl hugged her shark tighter as her smile grew for me.

I knew I couldn’t do too much out of the ordinary for them or I really would risk exposing myself, but throughout the day, I did several more rolls and spins, especially when the parents weren’t looking.

All too soon, the day ended and I climbed out of the tank. Looking back at it forlornly, I tried to tell myself it was only for a week, but it felt like I was seeing it for my final time.

“Great work today,” Stacy, the manager, waved at me. She was a tall, thin woman who loved wearing business suits. Today, her platinum blonde hair was in a high, tight bun, and per usual, not a single hair was out of place. Her teal eyes sparkled like she’d sprinkled glitter inside them.

“Thanks,” I said and smiled at her as I pulled on my pants. “I saw a little girl with a tiger shark plushie. Did you guys start selling them?”

She smirked and held out a small manila envelope. “That’s part of why I came to see you.”

“What’s this?” I asked, opening the envelope.

“Your popularity has risen so much that we started offering merchandise. We felt it was only right to offer you a portion of the proceeds.”

My eyes widened at the check and the amount listed there. “Th-This is for me?”

She nodded. “You can thank the girl with her little pink bows. She demanded to know where Kass’s items were in the shop and asked every single time she came.”

“C-Can I see the items?”

She held up a small tote bag I hadn’t noticed at her side. “I grabbed you one of each item.”

Tears welled in my eyes as I looked inside the bag at the plushie, pins, magnets, and t-shirts.

“Don’t worry about you being gone, either. We’re going to let them know that you’re sick, but not to worry at all because the doctors are handling it and you’ll be back for them to see just as soon as you’re one hundred percent better.”

“Thank you, Stacy.” She had given me a chance, provided me a job, and previously a place to sleep. It was a lot of give someone you barely knew.

“Girl, I should be giving you twice that check. You’ve brought in tons of business and a lot of social media presence. Your aerobatics is so widely discussed that people are flying in from out of state just to try to see your antics.”

“Aren’t you worried someone might question my true form?” I asked, looking into her eyes.

She shrugged a shoulder. “Technically, we aren’t breaking any laws by having you swim around. Bars have mermaids who do the same types of ‘shows’ and you’re on our books, so it’s not like we aren’t reporting your wages. The laws are in place to protect shifters and you aren’t a captive here. We’ll be fine even if we have to announce it, but we don’t plan to.”

“I’d rather the kids think I’m just a smart creature,” I admitted softly.

Her smile softened and she nodded once. “I understand your wishes and will try my best to continue following them. Now, get on out of here! You’ve got to finish packing still, if I know you well enough.”

Cringing, I nodded. “You’re right. Thank you, again, for everything.”

She waved. “Just make sure you come back, okay? I don’t want to lose my star.”

Hugging the envelope and tote to my chest, I sniffled and walked out of the aquarium feeling so happy I wanted to cry.

“What’s wrong?” Reed asked and growled softly. “Whose ass do I need to kick?”

That had me laughing and a few tears leaked out. I wiped them away and kissed his cheek. “Happy tears, handsome. Happy tears.”

He draped an arm around my shoulders and steered me towards the car. “Oh, well, in that case. Yay, whatever made you happy.”

I shook my head and said, “Thanks.”

Grant waved from where he leaned against the car. “Ready to finish packing?”

“Nope, but I’ve put it off long enough. I’ll just grab the first outfits that draw my eyes and force myself to be happy with what I bring when we are there.”

“You could walk around naked, with your scales as an outfit, and no one would care,” Reed said.

“I definitely wouldn’t mind it,” Grant said and had to adjust his pants.

Throwing my head back, I laughed loudly. This was how they’d wormed their way into my hearts. Laughter and love. I just hoped they stayed there.