Mad Sea, page 6
“Ten ‘o clock,” Cassius growls.
It’s just the three of us on this run. Nobody else needs to see this shit go down. This is more than a business relationship changing hands. This shit is personal. My eyes flit to where he saw movement. Two well-dressed men stand beside a nondescript black vehicle, staring at us as we approach. But the one standing beside them aiming a Glock at us, is the one I want to throttle.
“Guttenberg,” I shout out, my fists clenching. “Steffan Guttenberg.”
He laughs coldly, and I stop about twenty feet from him. “And your friends led you right to me. I played them all so easily with this ‘deal.’ Now you’re going to die, asshole.”
Smirking, I cut my eyes to Jagger, and then to Cassius. I know where my loyalty lies. “What do you want?”
I hear the crunch of gravel as the two men approach. Both of my boys are tense beside me. One false move and there’ll be a bloodbath. The older one, with dark reddish hair, glowers at me.
“You stole her from us,” he practically spits out at me.
I raise a brow at him. “Hali does what she wants. You can’t stop love, man.”
The black-headed younger man growls. “She’s supposed to be mine. I’m the rightful heir and she was to be my wife. Then, some fucker swoops in and steals her. This shit ends tonight, and I take her back with me.”
At this, I laugh. “Ain’t happening, Zee.”
His dark eyes widen at the mention of his name. “What the—”
“This is nonsense. Steffan, take care of them.”
“What’s the matter, Hayden? Can’t do your own dirty work? What’s the offense of our people if one attempts to murder the king?” I question, my voice calm and collected. “Oh, that’s right, death by drowning. Pretty fucking awful way to die for a merman.”
Zee and Hayden exchange horrified glances.
“How do you even know about this? This is ridiculous,” Hayden barks out and glances nervously at Cassius, who remains as still as a statue, completely unfazed by talk of mer people.
“What? You afraid these boys are going to tell on you? Rat you out to the government or something? Turn you into lab animals?” I ask, shrugging my shoulders. “Nah, these are my brothers. They know everything. A nice dinner at Mama Constance’s earlier and everyone is up to speed on all of your bullshit. You will not be taking my wife. You will not be killing me. And you all will fucking take your bow to your new King. Including you, dear brother. Rules are rules in our community.”
I give my command with such a thunderous power, all three of them fall to a knee. Hayden’s face is so red it looks like it might pop. Zee looks positively disgusted. And Steffan, that psycho, isn’t angry at all. He’s the one I keep my eye on. Unhinged motherfucker.
“You’re not Zadden!” Zee bellows. “Zadden was weak!”
Storming over to him, I grab him by his neck and haul him to his feet. I bare my teeth, getting right in his face. “Do you feel the way my hand could crush your windpipe with one squeeze? I’m fucking dying to do it. It’s taking all of my strength not to kill you. Zadden may not have fit your perfect mold. But, Madden ‘Mad Dog’ Finn will pull your spine out through your throat and make fucking wind chimes out of your vertebrae to give to his mother,” I mutter with a growl. “Not weak at all, brother.”
When I hear a hateful roar behind me, I don’t have time react and see what the commotion is about before shots ring out in the air. Hayden crawls away, toward the vehicle, as the guns pop off like firecrackers in a bucket. I toss Zee out of the way of the gunfire. With a twist, I yank my pistol from my belt and swing it toward Steffan. But, as quickly as it started, all that’s left are echoes in my ears. Cassius and Jagger stand over Steffan’s lifeless body with their weapons aimed at him.
“I’m getting too old for this shit,” Jagger grumbles and tucks his gun into the back of his jeans.
Cassius slaps his shoulder. “Should I off you now then, fuck face? Go ahead and take my place as prez?”
Jagger shoves him. “Fuck off, Cass. I ain’t too old to kill your slimy ass.”
Gravel kicks up as Hayden and Zee tear out of the parking lot in their vehicle.
“Run!” I call out after the taillights. “Pussies.”
Cassius chuckles from behind me. “You don’t fuck with the Southside Sinners. I don’t care if you’re a goddamned-stupid-ass-wannabe-king mermaid or some shit. Sinners don’t play.”
I smirk. “Merman, asshole. Mermaids, are the chicks.”
“Well, by all means, go get your little mermaid, Mad Dog, and do marital shit. Whatever the hell that is. Cass and I will get rid of the body,” Jagger grunts.
Cassius groans. “Fuck that. Call Steam. Fat boy could use the exercise. What’s the point of being prez, Jagger, if you don’t boss some poor fuckers around and make them do your dirty work?”
Shaking my head, I hold up two fingers in a peace sign. “I’m out. See you on the flip side.”
“Pussy-whipped motherfucker!” Cassius calls out, and then laughs.
I laugh all the way to my bike.
Time to go get my girl.
As soon as the rumble of my bike cuts off, the sound of the chimes fill the air around me. Mama Constance loves those fucking things. And quite frankly, I love them too. The haunted musical sounds tug at memories from my toddler years. A woman, with hair as black as ink, singing to me as she rocked me. I don’t have pictures of my birth mother or much to go on, but the wind chimes remind me of her.
When I walk into the house, my adoptive mother is sitting at the bar with her reading glasses at the end of her nose, staring at her laptop.
“Hey Maddy,” she says, her eyes still glued to the screen. “Looks like they caught the next flight back to Cape Town. We can all breathe easy again.”
I saunter over to her and kiss the top of her head. “They can have their life there. And now that everything is out in the open, I think we’ll live ours here.”
She smiles and pats my arm. “And your people?”
“My people are here. I think Hali feels the same.”
“Good,” she says with a sigh. “I want my boy close by. And little Hali’s quite a catch, son.”
I laugh. “Yes, she is. Speaking of,” I question and look up toward the dark windows, “where’s my sea angel?”
She waves toward the ocean. “Doing what our people do best. Now, if you won’t mind me, I’ll be retiring early tonight. This old woman has had enough excitement for a decade. But don’t you two dare go anywhere tonight. I want to cook my son and his wife a congratulatory breakfast.” She stands and presses a kiss to my cheek. “I’m sorry I sheltered you your entire life. I simply wanted to protect you from them.”
“I know, Mom,” I tell her. “Thank you for that. I love you, you know?”
Tears well in her eyes. “I do know. I feel it every day. Love you too, Maddy.”
Once she’s gone, I head outside. I make my way down to the beach. In the moonlight, I see a pale figure swimming out beyond the waves. Hair silky red and blonde, a beautiful mix. I’m desperate to touch her. I start ripping off my clothes as quickly as I can. I’ve just shoved my boxers down, when two slender wet arms wrap around my middle.
Twisting in her arms, I pull her to me in a tight embrace. “Thank hell you’re okay, beautiful. God, I’ve fucking missed you today.”
She giggles and looks up at me. Her green eyes shimmer with love. “I missed you, too. Your mom is awesome. I think I love her.”
“She’s the best,” I say and press a kiss to her lips. “And that’s why I’ve been thinking. Now that everything’s out in the open, I thought maybe—”
“Yes. I want to stay here. Close to Constance.”
My heart swells, and I tangle my fingers in her wet hair. Our lips crash together as we kiss each other with desperation. She grabs onto my shoulders and practically climbs me like a tree. Sliding a hand to her ass, I help her slide down onto my cock.
“Yes,” she moans once she’s fully seated on me. “Make love to me.”
I stride over to a soft dune of sand. Lying her down on her back, I never lose stride and continue fucking my woman. Her moans are loud enough to wake the neighbors, but thankfully my mom’s wind chimes drown out our sounds.
“You’re my queen,” I tell her.
She smiles against my mouth. “So Constance tells me. Guess now you should worship me.”
With a growl, I nip at her ear and then her neck. Her fingernails dig into my shoulders as I pound into her. My body never seems to be close enough to her. Or deep enough. Or our physical union, long enough. I’d die happy, if it meant I could stay like this with her forever.
“Madden!” she gasps when my fingers find her clit.
I massage her until she’s careening off the figurative cliff. Her pussy clenches around my cock, and then I’m a goner. She and I are all that remains—the world has become nothing but a blur around us, as I fuck my climax into her. She’s slippery and tight and hot as hell. Fucking heaven, this woman.
“We’re going to be poor,” I tell her with a laugh. “I can’t ever see myself being able to part from you long enough to hold down any respectable job.”
She grins. “We’ll figure it out. We’ve done a pretty damn good job at it so far.”
I pull out of her and then scoop her sandy ass against my chest. With her squealing in my arms, I charge for the ocean. We’re not done yet. I think I just saw a couple of voyeuristic dolphins. And we all know what that means…
A year and a half later…
“HALI!!!!”
Madden’s horrified yell from upstairs has me hurrying to the front door. Becky, my store helper, already went home for the night so I flip the sign to closed, throw the deadbolt, and then charge toward where he’s still screaming my name. My heart thunders in my chest with worry that something’s happened. With each step toward our apartment above our store, my blood seems to grow colder and colder.
I push through the door and head straight for the bathroom.
“Mad,” I shriek, “is Lene okay?”
The first thing I notice upon entering the bathroom is there’s water everywhere. My eyes flicker over to my baby with the greenest eyes you ever did see and wild black curls. She flashes me a toothy grin. “Momma!”
Madden, bless his heart, is soaked. His black Metallica T-shirt sticks to his muscled torso, and I bite my lip to suppress the urge to attack him. Pregnancy makes me super horny we’ve learned. And this tiny baby, already growing in my belly, is no different than the last one. I jump him every chance I get.
“What’s going on—oh!”
Lene makes a splash. With her tail. “Fish!”
My eyes meet Madden’s freaked out ones. Our baby has changed for the first time. Her pudgy little legs are now hidden beneath a cute sparkly green tail.
“Fish!”—splash—“Fish!”—splash—“Fish!” Her giggles are too cute.
I lean over the tub and ruffle her curls. “That’s right, baby. You’re a mermaid. Can you say mermaid?”
“Mer-may!”
“That’s right!”
“And so it begins,” Madden say, stress straining his voice. “What if people find out? How will we protect her? If someone tries to take her, so help me I’ll put a bullet in their goddamn sk—”
“We’ll protect her. Stop your fussing. Finish cleaning up downstairs and I’ll take care of it from here,” I instruct.
All I get is a growl and a pop on my ass before he leaves.
Several hours later, after Lene has gone to bed, I sit in Madden’s lap on the back patio. The sliding glass door is open so we can listen for our daughter. Tonight, the sky is clear and the ocean is rather calm. I inhale the salty sea air before sipping my steamy cup of honey tea.
“Should we close the Pink Pelican? Move far away?” His hand grips my thigh and his entire body is tense.
I couldn’t imagine closing our shop and moving elsewhere. My postcards and the wind chimes are popular at the gift shop, but it’s the frozen yogurt that allows us to pay the bills. This is our life. Our home. We’d be lost someplace else.
“There are people everywhere, biker boy. We can’t run, nor should we. We’ll just have to teach her that she can’t go changing whenever she wants to. Nothing is going to happen to her. Besides, I thought you liked it here, Mr. Froyo.”
He grunts, which makes me chuckle.
“The frozen yogurt is your thing, not mine. I sell those wind chimes I make with Mom,” he tells me in a deep tone, as if to make himself sound manlier than he already is. “So technically, you’re the froyo girl.”
I laugh. “No way. I’m not the one who goes through a gallon of the pink stuff all by himself every week. You’re totally Mr. Froyo.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he finally admits and clinks his bottle to my mug. “Just don’t tell the boys.”
Lying my head on his shoulder, I then lean forward and kiss his solid neck. “I don’t think Cass has any room to talk. He let Lene stick bows in his hair last time he came over. I think you’re good.”
“Well Jagger would give me shit.”
At this, I burst into a fit of giggles. “As I recall, Jagger has a Pink Pelican punch card. In fact, I think he comes in solely to see Becky. Hmmm,” I say with a smile and run my tongue along the flesh near his ear. “Sounds really familiar.”
He groans, and I can tell he’s growing hard beneath me. So, I set my mug down and straddle him. His eyes twinkle in the moonlight with love and contentment. It’s such a beautiful sight. A sight I’ll never tire of seeing.
“Ready to show me what a badass you are, Mr. Froyo?” I purr as I grind against his cock that’s trying desperately to escape his board shorts.
He sets his beer down and then stands up with me in his arms. His full lips quirk up into a smug grin. “You just want me to lick you like I lick that spoon every day. You’re jealous.”
“Maybe I am,” I admit with a wicked grin. “But I want you to lick me better.”
His hands clutch my ass and he gives me a smoldering look. “You’ve always been my favorite treat, sea angel.”
The next few minutes are a flurry of our clothes being torn off and then his ravenous licking and sucking. And he does lick me better than that damn spoon. As soon as I’m coming all over his expert tongue, he flips me over onto my elbows and drives his cock deep into me.
We fit so well together.
Man and woman.
Father and mother.
Husband and wife.
Merman and mermaid.
King and Queen.
As he thrusts into me from behind, his hands find mine and he wraps them over the top of my hands. In the darkness, our wedding rings shimmer and glow.
Life always has a plan. You may think you can run from it. Outsmart it. Outplay it. But in the end, it’s going to find you.
And it’ll be the best thing that’s ever happened to you.
The End.
Thank you to my husband, Matt. You dry my tears when I’m frustrated, encourage me when I’m feeling low, and make me coffee when I turn into a zombie. You’re a keeper, my dear. Love you!
A huge thanks to Nikki McCrae. I appreciate everything you do for me. Your reminders and encouragement keep me going and on task. You’re a great friend!
Thank you to Sunny Borek. I can’t thank you enough for hanging in there when things get weird. Luckily we can be weird together. Thank you, friend!
A huge thanks to Elizabeth Clinton. Thank you for reading EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING I write. You’re always so accommodating and quick when I need a pair of eyes on my latest project. Definitely the biggest cheerleader I know! You are a star and I’m proud to have you as a friend!
I want to thank the people who either beta read this book or proofed it early. Nikki McCrae, Elizabeth Clinton, Ella Stewart, Jessica Hollyfield, Amy Bosica, Shannon Martin, Brooklyn Miller, Robin Martin, Amy Simms, Janie Hambic Bostic, Paige Jennifer, Robyn Crawford, and Sunny Borek, (I hope I didn’t forget anyone) you all gave me great feedback and the support I needed to carry on. You all give me helpful ideas to make my stories better and give me incredible encouragement. I appreciate all of your comments and suggestions.
A big thank you to my author friends who have given me your friendship and your support. You have no idea how much that means to me.
Thank you to all of my blogger friends both big and small that go above and beyond to always share my stuff. You all rock! #AllBlogsMatter
I’m especially thankful for my Krazy for K Webster’s Books reader group. You ladies are wonderful with your support and friendship. Each and every single one of you is amazingly supportive and caring. I love that we can all be weird page sniffers together.
I am totally thankful for my author group, the COPA gals, for being there when I need to take a load off and whine. Y’all rock!
Manda Lee, thank you for loving my little story and fixing it up nice and pretty just like it deserved. A big thank you to Jessica D. Your eyes and support on this project were the extra shine it needed. Love you ladies!
Thank you Stacey Blake for making mer-magic and making this project a beauty! Love you!
A big thanks to my PR gal, Nicole Blanchard. You are fabulous at what you do and keep me on track!
Lastly but certainly not least of all, thank you to all of the wonderful readers out there that are willing to hear my story and enjoy my characters like I do. It means the world to me!
