“Oh.” Tasmin swallowed and lifted her drink to her lips.
Skittles chirped and flitted from my shoulder to my bent knees, tilting her head as if waiting as eagerly as us to hear Tasmin’s tale.
Silence fell between us instead.
Tasmin looked away and focused on the sinking sunshine, her eyes locking on the horizon where a yacht even bigger than Calypso appeared.
It seemed Phantom had arrived, and they were free to go. Free to leave a conversation that had gotten dark quickly. A conversation she might not be ready to have.
Jess glanced at the men as they all turned to face the sea and the new addition to our small harbour. I sucked in a breath, ready to dispel the tension that’d sprung between us when Tasmin looked at me. “You freed everyone just by loving him?”
“I just reminded him that all living things deserved freedom.... He’d forgotten that along the way.”
“You sound like a woman I met recently. Tess. She loved a man who took her as a possession, but in the end...she possessed him.”
My heart skipped. “Tess?”
It couldn’t be...could it?
The blonde Australian girl who I’d met briefly in captivity in Mexico? The very same who married a man named Q, according to Sully.
A few weeks after our wedding, Sully had mentioned that some French vigilante had emailed him, threatening him with slaughter if he didn’t release me and the other goddesses immediately.
Sully had shown me the emails between them and the wedding video he’d sent as proof that I’d married him of my own free will. Q was too late to save the women on Goddess Isles—Cal and I had freed them while Sully had fought to stay alive—but it’d been a relief to know that Q had been the one to receive Tess and that fate had been kind to her too.
Fate had delivered her to her soul-mate as surely as fate delivered me to mine.
I wanted to ask for more details about Tess, to confirm if it was the very same girl, but I waved my curiosity away. Out of all the oceans and all the girls, the chances of Tasmin meeting the same one I had were ludicrous.
Don’t be silly.
Tasmin licked her bottom lip, before answering, “Tess helped us.” She looked at Elder in the distance, her stare tangled and full of love. “Her husband took me against my will, but it was merely a misunderstanding. Thanks to them, they helped in a war that Elder has been fighting for decades.”
“Wow.” I sipped my drink. “Sounds complicated.”
She shrugged. “I suppose.”
“Is that where you’ve come from?” I asked. “Why you’ve been at sea for a while?”
“After we were in France, we decided to go away for a bit. Just us.” Tasmin threw me a small smile. “Time to heal and space to be.”
“And you’ve travelled the world since?”
“Parts of it.” Her smile widened as willingness to share sparkled in her face. “This was our last stop. We hadn’t planned on personally delivering your yacht, but it worked out between our visits to Elder’s factory and now. However, we’re leaving tonight as we can’t be late.” She smiled into her cocktail. “We’re on our way to get married.”
“Oh. That’s wonderful.” I raised my drink. “Congratulations.”
“I never thought I’d ever say that or survive long enough to be a wife.” Tasmin continued to study her glass. “I’m ashamed to admit that somewhere along the line, I even thought of ending it so I wouldn’t have to endure anymore.” Her head snapped up, locking eyes with me. “I was someone’s toy for two years before Elder freed me. He treated me with patience and temper. He allowed me time to heal, all while pushing me past my comfort zones.” She shrugged again. “I owe him more than my life. I owe him my soul because if he hadn’t found me when he did, I wouldn’t be here today, and who knows where my soul would’ve gone.”
I didn’t know what to say. Two years? Two years belonging to someone who obviously tortured and used her. I wanted to touch her but settled for a soft, “I’m glad he found you.”
Tasmin nodded, her green eyes dropping to her drink again. “Where did Sullivan purchase you from?” Her forehead furrowed. “Not from Quarterly Market of Beauties, was it? Were you there with me? In that seedy hotel waiting for the auction?”
Goosebumps covered my arms. What the hell had this woman endured? “No.” I swallowed and added, “I was stolen from a backpackers where I was staying with my boyfriend at the time.”
“And I was snatched on shore leave when I worked on a cruise ship,” Jess said. “We were both held in Mexico but at different times. And it wasn’t a hotel.”
“QMB—where Alrik bought me from—exists no more. Q ensured of that.”
“Q?” My eyebrows popped up. “So it is Tess.”
“Excuse me?” Tasmin cocked her head.
“Tess. The woman you met. I met her too. She was in the same place as me. Q emailed Sully a few weeks before our wedding, ordering him to cease and desist or...well, he’d kill him.” I leaned forward. “Sully managed to convince him he was a changed man. A married man. In return, Q told him he was marrying a woman he’d received too. I was so relieved to know Tess was safe. And if she’s happy with him, who am I to judge? But it does sound as if Q sticks his nose in a lot of people’s business. How the hell did he steal you from Elder by mistake?”
“He thought Elder was the one to buy me from QMB.” Tasmin huffed. “He should probably do a bit more research before hunting men down. He almost killed him.”
“Thank goodness he didn’t.”
“It was hard to convince him that Elder was the one who saved me, not captured me.”
“Sounds pig-headed too.” I scowled. “He should definitely do more digging before he threatens someone’s life.”
“Or he just sees the worst in men and knows what they’re capable of,” Jess murmured. “He sounds a bit like Sullivan, really. Opinionated and egotistical but his heart is in the right place.”
I laughed, dispelling some of the seriousness of our chat. “Did you just call my husband egotistical and opinionated?”
“I did.” Jess threw a piece of pineapple at me. “And you can’t deny it. Just like I can’t deny that Cal is surly and sometimes cold, but beneath those shields, he’s a puppy dog.”
“A puppy with fangs.”
“Exactly.” Jess beamed then turned to Tasmin. “By the way, I overheard you have a dog. Spot?”
“Yes.” Tasmin sighed in total love. “We rescued him.”
“We rescue a lot too.” I pointed at Skittles preening her wing on my knee. “We’re surrounded by animals. It’s heaven.”
“I’d like to be surrounded too.” Tasmin’s face grew wistful. “I’d like to be surrounded by children but...” She pressed her lips together before shaking her head. “After everything I’ve shared, I don’t see why I can’t share this too.” Bracing herself, she said matter-of-factly, “I can’t have kids from what Alrik did to me.”
“Me either,” Jess murmured. “I had to have a hysterectomy to save my life.”
“I’m sorry.” Tasmin reached to touch Jess’s arm. “That sucks.”
Jess shrugged. “I’ve come to terms that I won’t be a mother, and that’s fine because I have the best people around me and a life I adore.”
Tasmin bit her lip, looking again at Elder in the distance as if seeking approval before blurting. “We’re getting married, and...we’re also adopting.”
“Wow.” I sat up, dislodging Skittles. “That’s two big life choices in one.”
“The men Q dispatches...who deal in trafficking and slavery...they often have women who have either had children in captivity or are currently pregnant. Some die, leaving orphans. Most children are traumatised and aren’t able to go to ‘normal’ homes or to people who haven’t endured similar situations.” Tasmin narrowed her eyes at Jess. “He’s arranging us to meet a little girl who’s mute. She’s...like me. I know what it’s like to be silent. To use quietness as a weapon. I suppose you
could say I’m uniquely qualified to help her.”
Jess went eerily still. “And there are others? Other children who need homes and help?”
Tasmin nodded. “I can ask Elder to email Q and get in touch with your husband...if you want.”
My heart lurched as something fierce and forever sprung between the two women. I’d always known that Jess had a piece of her ripped away and murdered the day Drake shot her in the womb and almost killed her.
Unlike Sully and me, who thrived on being parents to animals and had no intention of ever bearing our own offspring, Jess and Cal were different.
They couldn’t create their own tiny human, but perhaps they could rescue one who deeply needed their care and comfort? They could rescue children while Sully and I rescued animals.
They’ll need their own island.
Good job Sully had so many vacant ones in his empire because the look in Jess’s hazel gaze hinted just how much she wanted a family and just how much she’d tried to bury such a calling.
She’ll end up with as many kids as Sully and I have creatures.
“That would be...nice.” Jess cleared her throat. “I’d appreciate that.”
“Appreciate what?” Cal asked, appearing sneakily through the sand.
Tasmin and Jess broke apart, their cheeks matching pink. Jess leaped up to press a kiss to Cal’s rough cheek, her eyes glowing. “Nothing. None of your business. Not yet, anyway.”
“Humph.” Cal huffed and swatted at Pika as Skittles’s boisterous brother hurtled himself to me and plopped into my hair. He wouldn’t have come to me if he still had Sully to annoy.
Instantly, I stood and looked at where the men had been by the shore.
Nothing.
My heart pounded with worry. “Cal...where’s Sully?”
Cal rolled his eyes. “That’s why I’m here. Time to go. I’m driving you guys out on the speedboat.”
“But where are Elder and Sullivan?” Tasmin stood too, peering into the dusky twilight that’d abandoned colours and chose heavy greys instead.
“There.” Cal pointed at the quick splashes in the ocean, fading from view. “They decided to swim.”
“Swim?” My eyebrows rose. “All the way to the yacht?”
“Yep.” Cal snapped his fingers, moving toward the pier. “That’s why we’ve got to go now. I want to beat the bastards.”
Chapter Seven
THE OCEAN HAD ALWAYS been a place that washed my mind clean, eradicated the shit I did, and baptised me into the sin I’d chosen.
It was also my personal gym—a nightly ritual to swim in the moonlight as often as I climbed the slippery rocks by Nirvana before leaping off the top and plummeting with the falls into the pool.
I liked to think I was fit and strong. I knew how to propel myself through waves and salt. I had an affinity with the finned creatures beneath me and wasn’t afraid that something could bite me for invading their domain.
I belonged in the sea.
And that was why it gave me cocky belief that I would win over the man who’d become more and more distracted from our conversation about yacht building and business dealings the moment his Phantom had appeared.
He’d practically walked into the ocean fully dressed, signalling an end to our discussions and his undeniable need to trade shore for sea.
Cal had been the one to challenge us to a competition. Jokingly, perhaps, but he was still the instigator and the reason Elder had stripped his shirt, pulled off his trousers to reveal tight black swimming shorts and passed his belongings to Cal. “First to Phantom wins.”
“Wins what?” I crossed my arms. “Another yacht?”
“Respect?” Prest’s lips twitched. “An IOU, perhaps? A favour for the future.”
I didn’t like the thought of owing anyone—even someone I’d grudgingly started to like while sharing a few beers and talking nonsense. He was standoffish and guarded but also quick with sarcasm, which I found mimicked my own love of duelling with conversation.
Cal and I had made it a game.
Elder made it a challenge.
So, of course, I wasn’t going to let him wade into the ocean without accepting his current dare. Stripping off my t-shirt, I kept my shorts on and dumped my cell phone and keys to Singa Laut into Cal’s hold. “See you there, Cal. Bring my wife.”
Cal rolled his eyes. “It’s dusk.”
“So?”
“Feeding time for sharks.”
“Only if they catch us.” I smirked.
“Only if they catch you, you mean.” Elder sniffed. “I’ll be too far ahead for them to bother.”
“Pride goeth before the fall, Prest.”
“We’ll see.” Elder traded dry sand for lapping waves, rolling out his shoulders in preparation.
I followed, sighing in pleasure as the sea welcomed me back, licking at my ankles. “See you soon, Cal.”
Standing beside the man who had admitted he was well trained in martial arts and even that he played the cello—two things that I’d guessed about him back on Calypso—Prest cocked his chin arrogantly. “I’ll warn you, Sinclair. I swim every night around Phantom.”
“I swim every night around Batari.”
His hand came up. “In that case, let the best man win.”
“You’ll be eating my bubbles, Prest.” I shook his hand before tossing our grip away and striding into the water.
He followed, our speed increasing the more competitive we became.
We dived at the same time, swallowed by the sea we both loved, and the rest was a blur as we cut through the warm salt and struck off toward the towering floating city about a kilometre away.
The thoughts in my head vanished.
My body became master over my mind, falling into a meditation of stroke, stroke, breathe. Kick, kick, push.
I didn’t bother looking at where Elder was. I didn’t waste time or energy worrying if he would win. I set myself to the task of pulling ahead and propelled myself as quickly as I could.
At some point, the growl of a boat shot past us, leaving a spray of wake and the rock of displaced waves.
That was most likely Cal, driving Eleanor, Jess, and Tasmin.
I didn’t stop.
That bastard had beaten me thanks to a motor and machine, but I’d win against the other bastard swimming beside me.
The farther we swam from shore, the darker it became. Black reef beneath us and blackening skies above.
No sound apart from the systematic splashes and the rasp of my lungs as I exhaled and inhaled on alternating strokes.
I was used to swimming long distances around my island. I enjoyed the lactic burn and the challenge of pushing myself past my abilities, improving on my endurance with each round, so when the pain in my legs began—still weak in places from harpoon scars and broken bones—I ignored my body’s urge to slow down and added more power.
Lights flickered ahead, pooling on the ocean from the mega yacht.
The final stretch was both the easiest and hardest—easiest because I reached a state where the burn became inconsequential, and hardest because that same burn made my legs heavy and my lungs beg for a better breath.
Spying the platform that’d been lowered at the rear for our arrival and the moored speedboat that Cal had commanded, I changed my direction a little and ploughed the rest of the way to the finish line.
A round of applause and whoops sounded as my hand slapped onto the platform, hauling myself from the depths onto Prest’s expensive yacht.
Beside me, Elder launched from the sea at the same time, leaping to his feet within microseconds of my own standing.
We eyed each other. Dripping wet, chests heaving.
We scowled.
Who the fuck won?
“It’s a draw,” Cal muttered. “Photo finish. We’d need a video-tape and replay to know who arrived first.”
“Shit.” I swiped a hand through my soaking hair. “That’s just aggravating.”
“I wasn’t
expecting to have to work so hard.” Prest wiped his face. “You weren’t lying that you swim a lot.”
“Pity you didn’t get nibbled by a shark, seeing as you were behind.” I smirked.
“If anyone was gonna get eaten, it was you.” Prest panted, accepting a towel that one of his crew passed him. “You were the one splashing around like a dying seal.”
“Sore loser, huh?”
A girl in a trim uniform passed a towel to me. I accepted it with a nod and ran it over my chest and arms. “Regardless of my technique, I still kicked your ass.”
“Maybe I let you win.”
“Maybe I felt sorry for you and slowed down.”
He laughed. “Rematch?”
I narrowed my eyes, judging the length of his yacht. A couple of laps around the hull would ensure we were both fucking exhausted.
“Maybe another time.” Eleanor came to join me, kissing my cheek with a smile. “If it was up to me, you won.”
Tasmin went to Prest. “But if it was up to me, you won.”
Typical women, working on our pride to distract us from another challenge.
Prest eyed me with the same suspicion I did. It was just some friendly competition, but who did win?
Cal stepped between us, waving a white towel like a flag of surrender. “Shake and accept the draw, gentlemen.”
I gritted my teeth.
Prest paused.
The idea of a rematch still hovered between us.
“Sully...” Eleanor squeezed my waist.
“El.” Tasmin did the same to Prest, revealing who was in charge even when we pretended it was different.
“Fine.” I sighed and held out my hand.
Prest moved at the same time. We shook once before letting go. “Good race.” He nodded, rubbing his wet hair with his towel.
Jinx's Fantasy (Goddess Isles, #7) Page 5
