Heads Or Tails (The Fairytail Saga)

by S. K Munt

  Lincoln rolled his eyes as he came around the front of the bed, putting a stern expression on his face despite how hard it was not to laugh. ‘Grace you’re embarrassing yourself! Please-stop.’

  Grace giggled. ‘I’m a secure girl. This is hardly the first advance of mine you’re spurning.’ She reached out and took his wrist in a vice-like grasp. ‘It could be the last though. You’re here, Ivyanne’s there…. who’s going to know?’ She pressed her hand against the shallow valley between her breasts. ‘Feel how you make my heart pound?’

  Lincoln tried to pull his hand away, but her grip was strong. ‘Grace I’m not going to use you for sex. You’re a nice girl, and a beautiful girl-you deserve better than that.’

  Grace’s eyebrows lifted. ‘Use me? I’d never allow such a thing. I just want to play a little bit. I’ll save the grand finale for our wedding night.’

  Lincoln felt the wind knocked out of him. He yanked his hand away. ‘Grace I’m trying to be patient with you here but you’re not making this easy!’ He threw his arms up. ‘I’m in here, reminiscing about another girl-who I still love dearly-and you’re making wedding plans? It’s pathetic.’

  Grace’s eyes narrowed. ‘No more pathetic then trying to relive your glory days with a girl who doesn’t actually exist!’ She shot back, sliding off the bed and blocking his exit to the door. ‘Ivyanne isn’t Ivanna. She’s not sixteen. She’s not a virgin, and you’re no longer the only love of her life!’

  ‘What do you know about any of this? You’re a kid! You barely know me or Ivyanne!’

  ‘Yeah, well I know she wants to sleep with him, and now I know you want to sleep with me.’ Grace slinked across the floor to him. ‘And I also know that before you go back to her, you’re going to give in and kiss me.’ She reached up and touched his lips softly. ‘So you might as well do it now while there are no witnesses.’

  Lincoln couldn’t believe her nerve. ‘Grace I’m not going to kiss you, okay?’

  She raised an eyebrow. ‘Because you’re afraid you’ll like it?’

  ‘No. Because I don’t want you to see how much I don’t.’

  ‘I’m a big girl.’ Grace flung her arms around his neck. ‘I can handle myself. And to sweeten the deal I swear that if you kiss me and tell me that it left you cold-I’ll throw in the towel and leave you alone.’

  Lincoln froze, tempted more by the promise of peace than the promise of pleasure. He looked at her generous mouth and realized how much easier he’d breathe when she stopped trying to make him fantasize about her. ‘How do I know I can believe you?’

  ‘Because I love you,’ Grace whispered, lowering her gold-tipped lashes. ‘Once I see for sure that you can’t love me back, I’ll be able to move on knowing I tried.’

  Lincoln was blind-sided by the strength of her affections. ‘You think you’re in love with me?!’

  ‘I don’t think-I know.’ Her wide hazel eyes were glowing in earnest. ‘Why else would I move countries to be closer to a man so out of my reach?’

  ‘That’s stupid,’ he whispered fiercely, though there was a warm glow in his chest. ‘Really stupid. I’m going to break your perfect, foolish heart, you know.’

  Grace smiled. ‘Maybe. But the moment I realized I couldn’t sleep at night for thinking of you, I knew I had two options-give up, or fight for you. Which is what I’m doing right now.’

  Lincoln was entranced by her beautiful face and moved be her mission statement that was so like his own.

  Just kiss her! A voice inside his head snapped impatiently. To shut her up if for no other reason! Grace smiled and moistened her lips, her expression vulnerable and hopeful.

  ‘One kiss,’ he whispered softly. ‘If I don’t feel what you do, you’re going to let me go, okay?’

  Grace nodded dumbly. Lincoln swallowed and cupped her jaw in his hand, drawing her in. And then there was a vibration in his board shorts, shattering the moment so fiercely that Lincoln almost jumped from shock.

  Grace recoiled, looking up at him. ‘You can’t be serious!’ she complained.

  Lincoln groaned, releasing her. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said breathlessly, frowning down at the screen when he pulled the phone out of his pocket. ‘It’s Garridan. I can’t not answer it.’ He pressed the answer button. ‘Hello?’

  Grace groaned and turned away, looking disappointed to the point of tears. Lincoln felt awful-but he wasn’t sure which girl he was feeling more guilt towards-Grace or Ivyanne. Adrenalin was coursing through his veins regardless.

  ‘Hey Link... bout time you answered. Are you free to talk?’

  Lincoln glanced over his shoulder at Grace, who was sitting on the edge of the bottom bunk, her expression glum. ‘This better be good,’ he said warningly. ‘I was in the middle of something... significant.’

  Grace looked up and smiled winningly.

  But there was a sigh. ‘Sorry mate. But we have a significant situation here too.’

  Lincoln swallowed. That couldn’t be good.

  *

  ‘These places are the pits,’ Ardhi muttered to Jade as she led him into the dinghy bar on the main street in town. He was wearing a hat, a jacket and spectacles without lenses, and yet he felt like he was standing out like crazy.

  Tristan, Saraya... anyone of them could be anywhere around here. If one grabs me from behind, I’m dead.

  Sherri had texted him to let him know that Lincoln had driven away that afternoon and when he hadn’t returned after an hour, Sherri had gone on ahead to Seaview with Lorens by water to see what he was up to. Taking Loren’s was his idea-keeping Sherri distracted from her feelings for Lincoln the reasoning behind it.

  Strangely Ardhi felt insecure with Sherri gone. He’d seen her handle a dicey circumstance before, and she could recognize any one of their enemies. He didn’t like being in public without her. But Jade had phoned him an hour before and had demanded that he get to the mainland ASAP, and as he’d had nothing more productive to do, he’d agreed. Now he was swiftly regretting it.

  ‘Trust me when I say you’ll thank me for bringing you here.’ Jade said, her eyes scanning the room. ‘A candidate couldn’t be more perfect if they bit you on the buttocks.’

  Ardhi wasn’t sure why being bitten on the buttocks was a good thing, but he shrugged it off and followed jade as she weaved her way through the bar.

  ‘Dallas!’ She called out, waving to a scruffy looking but incredibly built looking young man in his early twenties. Ardhi knew with one look that he was an Aussie, not a migrant. That was an unusual choice. ‘Here’s the friend I wanted you to meet.’

  Dallas smiled warmly at him, reached out and shook Ardhi’s hesitant hand. He was sitting in the booth along, nursing a jug of beer. ‘Hey mate,’ Dallas said in a clipped Aussie accent-Victorian or something. ‘How’s it going?’

  Ardhi allowed Jade to pull him into the booth. ‘Going all right, thank you.’ Ardhi said stiffly, tossing Jade a questioning look.

  ‘Dallas is here from Perth,’ Jade said. ‘He’s a surfer.’

  Ardhi frowned, confused. ‘You’re a surfer who left Perth for the reef?’

  Dallas laughed. ‘Actually I’m making my way down the coast-I have other interests. And thank god, because the swell around here blows!’ He frowned. ‘Or should I say-the wind doesn’t blow at all!’

  Ardhi chuckled. ‘Wait for cyclone season and head two hours south.’

  ‘That’s why I’m here in March.’ Dallas grinned. ‘You surf mate?’

  Ardhi shook his head. ‘I’m more into... diving, you could say.’

  Dallas nodded. ‘Cool... cool... this is the spot then.’

  ‘I met Dallas at a snorkeling class last week,’ Jade said. ‘We had a wild night on back handed pandas.’

  ‘Yeah... they’re lethal all right.’

  Ardhi had no idea what that meant, but he nodded knowingly, appraising Dallas. He was clearly fit and friendly and keen on the ocean... but what made him such a perfect candidate?

  Jade leaned
across the table, placing her hand on Dallas’s. ‘Tell Ardhi about the hallucinations you had the next day-the one you were telling me about earlier!’ She turned to Ardhi, her eyes sparkling. ‘You’re going to love this. Proof of what alcohol does to the brain!’

  ‘Aw... shit Jade! That was between us!’ Dallas complained, making a face.

  ‘Bollocks! It’s funny as!’ She gave Ardhi a pointed look. ‘He was hungover right, and decided to go rock climbing-’

  ‘A brain dead move as it is,’ Dallas interjected.

  ‘Exactly. Anyway he falls in and hits his head hard-and wakes up in some rich tourists’s summer home, going at it with a chick he’d hallucinated as being a mermaid!’ Jade broke into peals of laughter, and Dallas chuckled.

  Ardhi froze.

  ‘It wasn’t quite like that- in my hallucination, I was convinced there were three.’ He took a swig of his beer. ‘But alas, in reality, there was only one girl and she didn’t have a tail. She must have pulled me out and taken me back to her place. She says when I came to, I just started going at it with her, and she couldn’t help herself.’ He shook his head woefully. ‘Kind of wish the blonde with the green eyes had been the one I woke up beside. Jesus talk about a fantasy! Long curls, and a rack you could sit a drink on!’

  Ivyanne! Ardhi was desperately trying to computer the man’s words in his head-it was like someone had just given him half the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, but he’d only seen half of the picture on the box. He’s talking about Ivyanne! He knows where she lives only he thinks it’s a dream!

  Ardhi wet his lips. ‘Can I buy you another jug?’ He finally asked. ‘This sounds like the kind of story I’d like to hear the end of. In fact, we have a whole carton back at our place if you’d like to come with.’

  Dallas grinned. ‘For free beer? Hell mate I’ll share all my stories with yah!’

  Ardhi smiled. He didn’t want a story. Just an address.

  *

  After Ivyanne had finished washing the dishes, she reached out her palm and stared at the telephone. It flew off the cradle and slapped into her palm. She hit then hit one on the speed dial, glanced outside to make sure Tristan was still down on the dock and well out of earshot (which was easier now that the roller door at the front of the house had been bolted down) and waited impatiently for Lincoln to pick up.

  He answered on the third ring. ‘Garridan?’ His voice came out as a shout. Ivyanne could hear loud music in the background.

  ‘No,’ Ivyanne said quickly. ‘Link, it’s me.’

  ‘Oh.’ Lincoln said flatly. ‘Right.’

  She bit her lip, rapping her knuckles on the countertop. ‘I know Garridan called you earlier, but I wanted a chance to speak to you. Alone.’ She turned away from the window. ‘How are you?’

  ‘Hold on a tic... I’ve got to get away from the speaker…’

  Ivyanne nodded and waited, until the background noise began to die down. ‘That sounds loud,’ she commented eventually. She could hear the strain in her own voice-she wasn’t used to having to force conversation with Lincoln.

  ‘It is,’ Lincoln responded finally. ‘The karaoke is mostly awful and there are only about twenty here-but they’re spending! Better than nothing, I guess.’

  ‘That’s great,’ Ivyanne said, her tone sounding too cheerful-forced. ‘Hopefully the bad singing will keep Ardhi and Sherri at bay as well.’

  ‘Well Ivyanne, as Garridan put it, seems like Ardhi’s there, not hanging around here.’ There was a pause. ‘Call me crazy... but you knew, didn’t you? Before I left?’

  ‘No.’ Ivyanne said, her cheeks heating up. He knew her so well-Tristan hadn’t even come to that conclusion yet! ‘But, yeah…. I would have kept it to myself until you’d gone if I had.’

  There was a sigh. ‘Thought so. You do realize the only reason I haven’t driven back there is because I’m pretty sure I’d strangle you myself for being so foolish, right?’

  Ivyanne winced. ‘You need to be at the resort,’ she said quietly. ‘You know you do.’

  ‘Yeah well... it should be my choice. You need to stop protecting me Ivyanne-I’m a grown man, and if memory serves me correctly, I’ve got six months on you and unlike you, I wasn’t sheltered from shit growing up. If you keep babying me, I am going to get pissed off.’

  Ivyanne glanced down at her hands. He had a point. In many ways, Lincoln was more mature and capable than any of them. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Yeah… I know… I’m hearing an awful lot of that from you lately. If you want to score yourself some actual points, try using a different two word sentence, hmm? Like ‘I do’ or ‘Screw me.’

  Ivyanne laughed. ‘Screw you.’

  ‘You will. But not before I put you over my knee first.’ Lincoln cleared his throat. ‘Garridan didn’t say it in so many words, but Tristan’s still there, isn’t he?’

  Ivyanne paused and glanced out the kitchen window, at Tristan’s back. ‘I thought he was gone so I dropped the bombshell. But he’d missed his flight and rescheduled a later one. Now, I’m stuck with him, and that’s bad for his business too. Sven’s getting swamped!’

  ‘I’m sure that’s exactly what Tristan’s thinking about right now,’ Lincoln said sourly, ‘how swamped his business partner is.’

  ‘I messed up,’ Ivyanne said softly. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘There those words are again. I just can’t express how much they fix everything.’ Lincoln’s tone dripped with sarcasm.

  Ivyanne rubbed her forehead, at a loss for anything else to say. ‘If it makes you feel any better... I miss you already.’

  There was a pause. ‘You do?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well I’d like to say I miss you too. But it’s relaxing to be surrounded by people who are not only happy to see me, but consider me useful for once.’

  ‘I guess that’s fair.’ Ivyanne managed to respond, even as stung as she was by that remark. The music in the background changed as Ivyanne digested this. A pretty voice swirled down the phone line. ‘Wow... that singer’s good.’

  ‘Beautiful.’ Lincoln agreed. ‘It’s Grace. Wow…’

  Butterflies took flight in Ivyanne’s stomach. I’m better! She wanted to cry-but what was the point? The songs she could sing that he’d be able to stay conscious through were few. ‘Well, so it’s not all bad….’ She said. ‘The karaoke I mean.’

  ‘No, it’s not…’ Lincoln cleared his throat. ‘Hey Ivyanne, I’m going to go, kay? They need me in there.’

  With twenty patrons? Ivyanne thought, narrowing her eyes as jealousy rippled through her like the first wave of an incoming tide. Clearly all he wanted to do was shut her up so he could enjoy Grace’s serenade. ‘Oh.’ She said flatly. ‘Well... don’t let me keep you. Lord knows I chew enough of your time.’

  ‘I know right?’ Lincoln chuckled. ‘Okay then-see you on Monday morning.’

  Ivyanne sighed. ‘Okay…I love you Link.’

  ‘Love ya too. Night!’

  The call ended. Ivyanne stared down at the phone in her hand, trying to get her mind around what had just happened. Lincoln had gone. Lincoln had rejected her calls all night. Lincoln had ended their brief call to pay attention to another woman! It wasn’t sitting well with her at all. Was she chasing him into another girls’ arms with her indecisiveness?

  The sliding door opened. ‘Hey gorgeous…’ Tristan swept in and wrapped his arms around her waist. His skin was cool from the evening air. ‘Who was that?’

  ‘The alien in Lincoln’s body.’ Ivyanne said shortly, replacing the phone in it’s cradle.

  ‘He rang?’

  ‘No. I rang him, to you know, apologize….’ Ivyanne glared at the phone, trying to get a handle on the new and unfamiliar emotion gurgling around in there-insecurity. She couldn’t seem to think or breathe around it.

  He sounded like he’s getting so fed up with me! She thought, feeling panicked. What if he runs? How far away have I pushed him?

  ‘You should have saved that
call for tomorrow…’ Tristan whispered in her ear. ‘You’re going to have a lot more to apologize for in the morning.’

  ‘Tristan knock it off!’ Ivyanne snapped, disentangling herself. ‘Can’t you see it’s not the time?’

  Tristan’s hand went to her wrist. ‘Hey! What’s going on? You’ve been flirting with me all afternoon, you know. And now what? You don’t want me in your precious bubble?’

  Ivyanne whirled to look into his confused toffee colored eyes. ‘No actually, I don’t.’

  ‘Why? Because you spoke to him? That’s just great!’

  ‘Well it is what it is.’ She said dejectedly. ‘I’m an awful, wishy-washy person, okay? So if you don’t like it then just... stay out of my hair!’ With that Ivyanne turned and stomped upstairs.

  *

  Lincoln’s heart was pounding as he hung up the phone, but once he pocketed it, he rested his head against the trunk of a palm tree near the pool and forced himself to breathe deeply and get a hold of himself.

  You did it! He thought. Calm down! That’s twice in one day you’ve managed to make her sweat! This is a good thing!

  Lincoln stood up and rubbed his forehead. ‘Oh boy oh boy…’ he muttered, heading back inside. ‘How am I going to pay for this?’

  ‘Pay for what?’ Bane appeared at the entrance to the toilet block, shaking his hands dry.

  ‘Giving the queen the cold shoulder.’ Lincoln said wryly. ‘Seemed like a good idea at the time and I pulled it off, but now I’m having a slight anxiety attack.’

  Bane laughed. ‘What did she have to say?’

  ‘That she’s sorry. That she misses me, and she loves me…’ Lincoln swallowed hard. ‘Oh god... what have I done? I talked to her like she was a telemarketer I was trying to get off the phone!’

  ‘You’ve gone for the upper hand.’ Bane said matter-of-factly. ‘It’s an old, time honored trick, I believe. And it works often enough.’

  ‘Yeah but while I’m here with my hand in the upper, Tristan’s there with his skillful hand lord knows where.’

  ‘Yeah well, queen or not-Ivyanne’s still a girl at heart, and girls like it when the boys play hard to get, don’t they?’