by Dani Stowe
He pops out of the water in front of me, startling me, but his voice is soft. “Do you think you could pretend?”
“Pretend?” I laugh. “You want me to pretend that I’m in love with you?”
“Mhm.”
“How am I supposed to pretend to be in love with someone?”
He chuckles. “Just hold me. Wrap your arms around my back. I promise I won’t bite.”
The idea is strange, but I already feel bad for all the misjudgments I’ve made about him and all he’s asking for is that I give him a hug.
I open my arms.
He moves in quickly, wrapping his biceps under my shoulders and his forearms around my back. He puts his face on my chest and I crisscross my arms behind his neck so we can hold each other.
Our bodies are wet between us. His upper body is warm, but my nipples are getting hard against his chest and I wonder if he notices. He’s squeezing me so tight around my ribs it’s hard to breathe, though I like the closeness until I feel it—his hard member again pushing firmly against my inner thigh.
I wonder what it looks like. I wonder how it’s shaped. Is it human or something else? It feels like it’s manly. Maybe it’s a combination of both.
Curiosity gets the best of me and I trace my fingers along his back to his neck and I squeeze my hand then my arm between us. He shifts upward to nuzzle my neck but allowing for a gap as I slide my hand flat against his smooth chest then his rippling abs and past his groin beneath the surface to reach for his prick. He whimpers into my neck as I trace my fingertips from the base and up along the shaft. His phallus—it feels human except it's much, much bigger. My fingers reach the head and I swirl my thumb around the rim of his mushroom.
Orphelius buries his mouth so hard into my neck it’s almost painful and he fists my hair with both hands. “Don’t,” he threatens, hot in my ear. “Don’t tease me. You’re going to kill me.”
“I’m just touching you, Orphelius.” I glide the pad of my thumb to the eye of his head and I gently circle it with firm pressure.
“Kumiko, please! You don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve been touched in any way. Have mercy and just hold me. Pretend you care. Don’t tease me when you know you are not going to lay with me.”
I’m amazed! This man, this half-monster and master of beasts, has the power to control all the creatures of the sea, but he’s helpless against me. I don’t think I’ve ever known so much power. I stroke him.
“By the gods,” he proclaims and covers my mouth, forcing his tongue in to dance with mine.
He’s gripping my head so tight, the bruises from this morning throb under his touch. As if he could sense my pain, he lets go of my head and grips my shoulders, also letting go of my mouth. I continue to stroke him going a bit faster as he hastily peppers slick kisses down my neck and over my pajama top until he reaches my breasts. He cups one and sucks the tip of my hard nipple through the fabric into his mouth.
The feeling is exquisite and the space between my legs burns. It doesn’t matter that Bradley tried to have his way with me earlier. I’m horny as fuck and right now, I want Orphelius to finish what Bradley started or better yet to replace the whole event—the memory, the hurt, the feel. I want Orphelius to replace the disgust, even if it’s just pretend love.
I push Orphelius off and lift up my pajama dress. Before it’s completely over my head, I hear a whoosh and I feel myself being picked up like I’m a sail atop a ship as I’m carried through the air until I toss my PJs and my back lands softly against the cold sand on the beach and I shudder.
My knees are spread and I shudder again because I know these are not hands that are spreading me. The push of non-human limbs against my skin, propping my knees wide open, suddenly makes me feel vulnerable. The soft roll of a cool wave washes over my center folds, drenching my panties before they are tugged to the side. I begin to regret that I’ve allowed myself to become so exposed.
Orphelius can do whatever he wants. He could choke me, hit me, and break me if he wanted with any one of his eight boneless limbs and then beat me with the other two, like Bradley wanted to.
I lift my head. I’m not so sure I want to pretend anymore when—he licks me. It’s soft, sweet, sensual, reminding me of my interrupted dream.
Orphelius grinds his tongue and I let my head fall back. As his fingers enter me—and they are fingers—my clitoris tingles. I look up at the stars; I almost feel like they are winking at me, watching me, and I feel vulnerable again like I’m finally giving in to some scheme that had predetermined me to be a sucker.
I lift my head again. Orphelius can sense my indifference. He swirls his head with firmer agitation as he plunges his fingers in and out. Oh fuck! It feels good.
I drop my head back once more. If the stars want to watch me, let them. They can watch me making love to a tentacled man all they want.
I reach to tangle my fingers in his hair and pull. Orphelius comes up pasting more kisses from my belly and up to my breast where he bites at my raw nipple; a yelp escapes my throat so he sucks my nipple hard into his mouth. Both of his hands have slipped under my back and are now hooking over my shoulders. I hadn’t immediately noticed my other nipple being pinched. I’m afraid to look down at what’s pinching me, not because I’m afraid of what’s most likely is going to be the end of a tentacle, but because I hate to admit I like it.
I feel more pressure on the inside of my knees, opening my legs wider, and I caress the man’s head to encourage him more because I don’t want to be teased. I don’t want to be fucked either—I want to be loved.
I feel Orphelius hunch as he continues to suck my breast and his prick invades me. He grips my shoulders firmly, grunting, and pulling me to him as he thrusts himself in me penetrating me so deep it’s like he’s reaching for my soul.
And somewhere inside of me, he hits it. It’s like he’s digging and pulling at it, trying to wedge my soul free. But I don’t want Orphelius to get at my soul because I know he’s not pretending. He’s really in love with me and I can’t allow him to be. It’s not because of what shape or form he’s in—it’s because love always just ends. I died because of it. Shelley’s parents died because of it. My parents divorced because they didn’t understand it.
“I love you,” Orphelius whispers like he knows what I’m thinking, what I’m feeling. “You don’t have to love me back, just let me love you. Let me make you come.” Orphelius rubs firmly on my clit and I know it’s not his hand. “Just come for me.”
I look back up at the stars and I wonder what it must look like from up there to look down at Orphelius and me together having sex on the beach. I realize he’s just as afraid as I am because he’s not using everything he has.
“More,” I tell him. “I can’t come unless you give me more.”
“Do you want more?” He sounds confused.
“I want you all over me,” I say, but it’s only out of spite. I’m vindictive towards the cosmos for all the control it has over me.
Before I can utter another word, I feel a tug at each wrist that spreads my chest open and then around each ankle, hoisting my legs into the air. Gentle hands caress my hips as each nipple is pinched. I feel the wrap of a flexible limb around my waist and the firm pulse of a tentacle at apex of my folds. Orphelius lifts me a little bit so my ass comes slightly off the sand and he leans up to pull my whole body onto his hard sex, impaling me.
I can’t fucking believe it. He penetrates me so deep it’s like he’s up to my lungs inside me and I can’t breathe. I’m gasping!
“There she is. I knew she was in there somewhere,” he taunts as my body jerks and gyrates from the impact of his hefty mass of groin grinding against me while he repeatedly pillages me.
Sand scratches beneath my shoulder blades and it hurts a little. I suddenly feel weak, like putty in his grasp. Orphelius can have his way with me any way he wants. I think of the woman he says I used to be. I look down at my body and see the dark shadows of his monstrous limbs t
hat have me completely contained and I begin to regret it. He has complete power over me, like Bradley did this morning.
Complete. Control.
“Stop. Stop. Stop!” I yell and Orphelius does as I ask. He withdraws from every inch of me, except now I feel cold and naked. I hug myself as I start crying.
I feel a soft kiss on my cheek already wet with a few tears and fingers stroke through my hair. It makes me feel good—better.
“I’m sorry,” Orphelius says. “I could sense you might not have been ready for this. I’ve been selfish. I’ve been waiting for so long. What do you need? Do you need me to leave?”
Truthfully, I don’t want him to leave. The thought scares me just as much as being tangled up in him. I just want him to kiss me again. I want him to...
“Will you hold me?” I ask.
Orphelius lays on top of me, wrapping his arms around. He stopped as I asked and I feel strangely secure. I know he won’t hurt me or let anyone hurt me.
He holds me until my eyes feel too heavy to stay open and I feel him slide off, exposing me to the chilly air until he comes behind me to pull me tightly to him to spoon me. Lightly gripping my fingers, he slides something over one—a ring, I believe.
The thought is comforting and Orphelius slides his arm under my head, making a pillow for me with his bicep as he wraps his other warm arm around my waist. My toes are chilly, but my core is warm. It’s not the perfect way to fall asleep. It’s different, but I can accept this.
Chapter 14
Kumiko
I HEAR A SCREECH. That dumb bird. It must be morning.
I open my eyes to the soft pink swell of barely parted lips. Sand is peppered across one half of Orphelius’ face with a few grains wedged between his fine stubble and at the rim of his nose. There are surprisingly many grains clinging to his lashes and I get startled when his eyes flinch, but he doesn’t open them.
I chuckle to myself. The corners of his mouth play upward a few times. I think he is dreaming. I can’t help but wonder if he’s dreaming of me.
He takes a deep breath and I realize my leg is hooked around his waist. Under my leg, wedged in the crease where my thigh meets my center is him. He sleeps, but he’s hard.
I wiggle my hips and I can’t understand myself for what I’m doing! But I wiggle until I feel the hard tip of him right between my slick folds.
I watch his face. His eyes are still closed but the space between his brows furrow as I gently swirl my hips to get his tip wet with me.
Oh God! I’m really wet.
I come up on my elbow for more leverage, digging it into the sand, and glance down to see the half sea monster—large, soft, and sprawled across the beach, but I still want the hard part.
I push down, allowing myself to become filled with Orphelius. I rock myself up and down over his length, turning myself on, and I hear a grunt.
Green eyes open wildly with surprise and hunger and need, and I notice pink lips get slick with a lick of tongue and they come at me all wet. Orphelius kisses me hard as he wraps his hand behind my head to pull me into him, which makes me want to ride him harder.
I lean on him, pushing him on his back and straddle him. He holds my hips as I flex them forward so top of my center is rubbing against his groin. I feel a tingle and I want to come. I want to come on this man.
“Ugh! Stop!” he cries and grips my hips tight.
“What’s the matter?” I’m sure he hasn’t come yet. In fact, he looks like he’s in pain.
“Look at me,” he says. “Don’t mooo—ah!”
“What’s wrong?” I cry and I don’t understand. With gritted teeth and squinted eyes, he’s tense and turning red.
“Mmm—uuuuuugh,” he grunts. His hands are gripping my hips so tight it’s beginning to hurt as his whole body tremors like he’s being tortured. I try to pull up, but he won’t let me and he finally lets out a long exhale of relief.
He caresses then nudges softly on my hips. “Please, don’t stop,” he begs, lifting his head to look at me eagerly. He’s still hard and inside me.
I don’t know what just happened and I’m about to ask him about it until he rubs between my folds at my bud with his fingers and I feel forced by my own urges to move.
I move up and down.
I ride him from the base to his tip, forcing myself to take his thick, long form and I can feel my base—my ring wrapped around him begin to pulse with need.
He circles his fingers firmer and faster and I feel like I’m almost there, like I’m climbing a mountain, ready to hit the peak when I feel the first light of the morning sun warm my cheek. I open my eyes to see the sun pierce through the horizon and heat shoots throughout my body as I come.
I am out of control—gripping at my own body, tense and shaking, letting my head fall back. Orphelius grips my waist and thrusts himself hard, plunging himself in and out of me until he jerks uncontrollably in unison with me, allowing the warm, wet ooze of his semen to shoot then drizzle down my inner thigh.
He leans up to roll me over to my back and wedges himself between my legs before he looks me in the eyes. “We have to help the pup.”
I sigh as he pulls out. I’m afraid to say it, but... “I know,” I reply. “I just wish you could come with me. I have no idea how to rescue a dolphin. I wish we could do it together.”
Orphelius comes to standing. “Well, c’mon then. Let’s go,” he urges holding his hand out to me but I’m afraid to touch him. The man has legs.
Chapter 15
Orphelius
“STOP MESSING WITH THAT,” Kumiko scolds.
I push on the switch again with my finger and the glass goes up. I pull back and the window glass goes down. “Is there a rope inside the door? Or a leprechaun perhaps?”
Kumiko laughs. It’s a bright, beautiful laugh and I’m happy to make her smile because, although she won’t admit it back to me when I tell her I love her, all I have to do is look at my legs and I know that she does.
“No, its all machinery,” she says, “and you need to stop messing around before you break something. This is Shelley’s car.”
A car. My brothers and I, the three mermen and sons of Poseidon, once talked about how we always wanted to ride in a car. It must be fine to steer one as well. “May I switch places with you and take the helm?”
“Helm?” Kumiko laughs again. “This isn’t a boat. You need a driver’s license or you could go to jail. You’re not allowed to drive without one.”
Driver’s license? I don’t know what that is. But jail? I know that term. Surely, the gallows are much worse in these times than they were during my time when I served as a Master at Arms. I sent many lawbreakers to the gallows for their crimes to live in their own shit and piss until they rotted with boils and maggots as their flesh oozed ripe with punishment for their injustices. Or at least most of them did. A few scoundrels I had hanged by their necks usually when shipmates got bored and needed a bit of entertainment.
I look to Kumiko. She is very entertaining as her long hair flies about and I’m thankful she does not have to wear a mask or robes to remain hidden as she did in her former life. In truth, she hardly wears anything at all. She wears the same style of trousers consisting of a thick blue fabric that I’m wearing, except my trousers, which I’ve borrowed from Henry, go down to my ankles. Her trousers are cut right under her arse.
I know we are on a rescue mission, but her skin—exposed and sunlit, makes me want her. I want to touch her, fondle her, and lick her.
I lean towards her, but I’m stopped! The safety device she has strapped me in will not allow me to get close to her. I tug at the strap.
“Baby,” she says. “Keep your seat belt on.”
“Baby?” I huff. “Is that what you think of me? I’m not a child? Is that why you’ve strapped me under this belt? I’ll have you know I’m centuries old.”
She laughs again. “Wearing a seat belt while riding in a car is also the law. Everyone has to wear a seatbelt.”
>
“There are too many laws of this land and in this time,” I growl.
“Maybe,” she smiles. “And just so you know, baby is a term of endearment we all use in these days.”
I manage to loosen the belt and slip it over my head and behind me. I lean over, sliding my hand over Kumiko’s inner thigh and pulling her head towards me with the other. She keeps looking forward—so intense, so focused on the road ahead, as I kiss her.
She trembles. “You really shouldn’t distract the driver.”
I lift up her shirt and brazier in the front to expose her breast and tuck my head under her outstretched arm with her hand clinging to the wheel.
“You shouldn’t call me a baby.” I take her nipple between my teeth and lick the tip of my tongue over it until it becomes erect; then I take the whole areola into my mouth, sucking on it as an infant would.
My entire body swerves as her breast comes popping out of my mouth and I bang my head on the steering wheel as our bodies go flying forward with such a force as if the car was just struck by a tidal wave. We both sink back into the seats as the car comes to an abrupt halt.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry,” she cries and grabs a hold of my head to rub it. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I smile. My head is throbbing. “Seatbelt. No distractions. I’m a quick learner, baby.”
“Oh,” she snivels with wet eyes. I think she’s about to bawl and now I’m thankful I took the risk because she’s cupping my face as she kisses me. Abruptly, a strange noise, like the wailing of a sea siren about to lure a sailor to his death, resounds.
“Ah fuck,” she says, fixing her clothes to cover her breast.
“What is it?” I look around and realize she’s nearly hit a welcome sign directly in front of us. I read it: WELCOME TO PORTERMAN’S BLUFF.
Porterman? Motherfucker. I became a keeper of the sea while he became a lord to the land.
“Fix your seatbelt so it’s in front of you,” Kumiko whispers and I do as she says.
