So she began to scream, sputtering and coughing as her lungs filled with the ocean. “Mooky!” she managed to yell, her pulse pounding in her ears in time with the roar of the waves. “Get heeelp!”
Mooky knew the water well. He loved the water. He loved to play ball in the water. If nothing else, he could draw attention to her, but she couldn’t see him anymore.
And then it happened, that heavy weight replacing her limbs, dragging her lower body down, down into the murky depths of the ocean. Her head suddenly felt heavy as the length of her hair flourished, the heavy ropes only making everything that much weightier as it twisted around her body and covered her eyes.
She began to sink with the heft of her tail, coupled with her hair, and the more she panicked, the more she knew she was panicking, the harder it became to keep her thoughts clear.
Just as water began to fill her lungs, someone latched on to her, someone with a grip like steel, and dragged her upward.
“Esther!”
She heard her name, felt that someone was trying to help her, but in her panic, she forgot those were good things, and she began to thrash against the very hands that served to save her.
Hauling her upward and dragging her body a short distance through wet sand and water, someone yelled again, “Esther! Stop fighting me!”
She stiffened as a wide hand she could just see through the wet mass of her hair, pushed the thick strands out of her face. That’s when she realized it was Tucker.
“Esther! Are you okay?” he huffed, his jeans and jacket soaking wet as he pressed her body to his and pulled her to shore. “What the hell are you doing?”
She began to cough, not caring that she was naked from the waist up or that she was in the middle of a public beach with a tail. Tears stung her eyes as she gasped for breath, heaving and coughing.
Tucker flopped down beside her, pulling his wet jacket off and gathering her to him. “Cam down. What were you doing out here?”
Running a shaky hand over her face, she pushed more hair from her eyes and fought to catch her breath. “I suppose you’ll never believe I was surfing.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “No. But boogie boarding? Eh, maybe.”
“Sunbathing?”
“Still cheeky,” he said, obviously fighting a chuckle, from the looks of the deep grooves on either side of his mouth.
“Oh, fine. I tripped, and then a wave rolled in and knocked me down, and I was out so far I couldn’t get my bearings.”
“Out so far?” he asked, tucking his jacket under her chin and peering into her eyes.
She made a face and coughed again. “Well, yeah. Didn’t you see? I was in pretty deep.”
He nodded his head, the overcast day making his skin ruddier as droplets of water glistened from the ends of his dark hair. “Esther?”
“Yes?”
“Look up.”
She did as instructed, following the line of his finger to the sand at their feet. “What am I looking at?”
“The shoreline.”
“So? What about it?” she asked on a violent shiver, the wind picking up and clawing at her upper body.
“You were, tops, two feet from it when I scooped you out of the water.”
Oh.
Shit. She’d panicked. She’d done that before on more than one occasion. Hell, she could panic in a puddle.
Esther let her head hang, though she didn’t have much choice because her hair was so heavy. But she felt very defensive now that he’d put her on the spot. This was a sore subject for her—her inability to swim—and today had proven she was going to be the suckiest mermaid to ever suck.
On a sigh, she gave him her guilty stare. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I should be sorry. I mean, you’re the one who did this to me in the first place, but I’m sorry you got all wet saving me.”
Tucker stared at her as though he were thinking before he said, “Care to tell me what that was about? Why were you fighting as though your life was on the line in a foot or less of water?”
“Nope,” she responded, her teeth chattering. Nope, she sure didn’t want to tell him what a complete fool she was, or what her reasons were for being one, either.
He put a hand on her shoulder, a hand that made her tingle. “Esther, you must be more careful. If you reveal yourself to humans, who knows what could happen to you. I don’t want something to happen to you.”
Humans. She almost snorted. “But I am a human, Tucker Pearson.”
He eyed her critically and nudged her with his broad shoulder. “No, you’re half human now, and you have to be very, very aware that not everyone thinks a real live mermaid is just a pretty creature. If someone who wished you harm got their hands on you, they’d turn you into a government science experiment. But you wouldn’t just risk your own life, you’d risk the lives of those in the pod.”
The pod. Who and where was this pod? Every time she heard that word, all she could think of was Invasion of the Body Snatchers and pod people. She loved a good horror movie. She just didn’t want to play a part in one.
“Hey! Chicken of the Sea, what the fuck?” she heard a husky voice call.
Nina came to a halt in front of them, her hair whipping in the wind around her pale face. She threw a blanket at Esther and knelt, wrapping it around her tail and up along her shoulders, handing the wet jacket back to Tucker. “What the hell are you doing? I thought you were going for a run?”
“I tripped,” she murmured sheepishly, which sounded ultra-lame even if it was true.
Nina’s eyes held skepticism when she tilted her dark glasses downward to get a good look at Esther. “You tripped, huh? You could’ve fucking drowned, you moron! Jesus, look at you. You’re gonna freeze to death. C’mere,” she ordered, rubbing Esther’s arms.
“Drowned?” Tucker repeated, his brows pushing together in a frown.
But that’s when Esther realized she didn’t know where Mook was. Immediately, she tried to stand, forgetting about her tail. “Where’s Mooky? I have to find Mooky! I lost his leash when I was in the water. Mooooky!” she hollered into the wind, terrified she’d never find him.
“He’s fine,” Nina reassured, tucking the blanket around her waist. “He’s the one who let us know you were out here splashing around.”
She breathed a sigh of relief on another shiver. “Oh, thank God. Now,” she waved her hand at her tail—her beautiful, shiny tail, poking out in places beneath the blanket from her couch. “What do we do about this?”
“We wait,” Tucker said, crossing his broad arms over his chest.
“Wait?” she almost screeched, then covered her mouth with her hand, lowering her tone and looking around to make sure the beach was still deserted. “We can’t just sit here on the beach and wait, Tucker. What if someone comes and sees us?”
That panic she’d felt earlier set in once again, making her stomach threaten to heave the lovely breakfast she’d had less than an hour ago.
“We’ll tell them you two like to fucking role-playing,” Nina cackled, pulling out a bottle of sunscreen and applying some to her nose.
“So…vampire, eh?” Tucker commented, gazing at Nina. “Can’t say I’ve ever met one before.”
“Half vampire, half witch, to be exact,” Nina corrected with a saucy smirk. “Wish I could say I’d never met a merman, but here the fuck we are.”
Tucker didn’t appear offended at all at Nina’s words. Instead, he nodded. “I can certainly understand that. We don’t make a point of announcing our existence.”
Esther reached a trembling hand out to Nina, touching her arm with concern. “You go back inside. It’s pretty cold today. I don’t want you to get sick because of me.”
She shrugged beneath her hoodie, tucking her hands inside the pockets. “Doesn’t matter, I can’t feel it anyway and I don’t get sick. You just shut up and think about your freakin’ legs. I’ll stay till you Free Willy,” she joked with a grin.
Esther’s heart warmed. She fe
lt safe with Nina—with all of them—and right now, as precarious as things were in her life, safe was good, and they were all she had.
Just then, someone called Esther’s name from behind them—an unfamiliar voice with a heavy New York accent. “Esther Williams Sanchez? NYPD. I have some questions for you!”
Chapter 7
Esther’s heart began to pound as the officer drew closer. She looked to Nina, terror gripping her throat. “What are we going to do?” she whisper-yelled as her glittering aqua fins flapped in the chilly wind and she froze on the spot.
“Stay calm, Esther. I’ll handle this,” Tucker assured her with a confident smile and a squeeze to her hand, pulling his phone from the back pocket of his jeans. He held it up and pointed it at her, pressing a button. “That’s it, Esther, just like that. You’re beautiful, babe! Now, give me your best look of fear, as though someone’s just exposed you as a mermaid after you washed ashore during a terrifying hurricane.” He reached down and pulled the blanket from her tail to expose her, snapping pictures on his phone one after the other. “You’re lost, alone, afraid! C’mon, baby, work that lens!”
Nina sent her a message with her eyes that said play along—or at least she was pretty sure it said play along. Maybe it said shut the fuck up, but she knew she had to get it together enough to make the officer believe she was pretending to be a mermaid for some crazy modeling shoot, and Tucker was her photographer.
So, she looked into the phone Tuck held up and grabbed her throat, mimicking a clutch-your-pearls moment, as though she were in grave danger, which duh. She was in grave danger—of being discovered. It wasn’t much of a stretch, but she was going to work that camera if it was the last thing she did, like her life depended on it.
“Gorgeous, Esther!” Tucker encouraged, yelling the words in an over-expressive tone, thickening his accent. “Can you hang on a sec, officer? I don’t want to miss this shot. It’s too good. The sky is perfect, wouldn’t you say, mate? Now, give me coy, Esther. C’mon, kitten, I know you have some vixen in you.”
When the officer finally reached them, out of breath and red-faced, he held up his badge. “Are you Esther Williams Sanchez?” he wheezed, his jowls shaking when he spoke.
Esther turned her chin into her shoulder and gave Tucker a seductive but shy smile. “I am Esther Williams Sanchez, officer, but I’m a lil’ busy right now, as you can see. I’m trying to earn a living. Can we talk at another time?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the officer look at a small notepad. “Actually, it’s Detective Johns. And it says here you’re supposed to be a divorce mediator, not a model.”
Esther flapped her hand at him and giggled like a giddy schoolgirl. Nina frowned at her over-exaggerated laughter and ran a finger across her slender throat, but Esther ignored her warning and plowed ahead. “If only that paid the bills. I model part time for extra money, Detective. Oyster Hollow’s not cheap, you know. A girl’s gotta make a living somehow. It was either this or the stripper pole, and I’m an epic fail at bikini waxes and keeping rhythm to ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me,’ so…”
As the wind lifted the hem of his wrinkled dark blue suit coat, he stared down at her tail. His tiny eyes, buried deep in his doughy face, registered surprise. “That looks so real,” he said in awe as it sparkled even under the clouds.
“Damn right it does, buddy. I made it myself. Nina’s the name. Costuming’s my game. Sewed those damn yellow and turquoise scales on one by one. Show ’em your fins, Esther. Show ’em how they fuckin’ flap.”
Esther lifted her hips and waved her fins at the Detective, who backed away for a moment and shook his head. “How…?”
If only she could tell him how much she could relate.
Nina nudged him with an elbow and tipped her glasses back up on her nose, leaning into him as though she had a secret. “It’s rigged. But I can’t tell you how or I’d reveal all my magic.”
Detective Johns blustered and gave her a curt nod. “Of course. Listen, Miss Sanchez, I need to speak to you about your Uncle, Gomez Sanchez. Can you give me a minute of your time?”
But Nina saved the day again, linking her arm with his. “C’mon up to the house and we’ll get you something warm to drink while they finish up. Shouldn’t be long now. The whole crew’s inside. They’ll hook you up,” she said in the pleasantest tone Esther had heard her use since she’d met her.
“I’ll be right there, Officer Johns!” Esther called out, winking at him as she turned her fact back to Tucker.
When they were far enough away up the beach, she looked at Tucker, her panic returning. “Good thinking. But now what?”
Tucker draped the blanket back around her again, sitting on his haunches. “Now we get you to relax. Just breathe and let your fear go. Your legs returned last night, there’s no reason they won’t today. I promise you.” As he spoke, his voice hushed and reassuring, he rubbed small circles on her back with the palm of his hand, and she found herself relaxing.
She also found herself some other things, too, but she was trying like hell to keep her thoughts focused on getting her legs back so she could find out what this detective wanted.
“What do you suppose the detective wants? I didn’t even know my uncle.”
“You said that last night.”
She turned to look at him. “Well, it’s true. I don’t really know him at all. He never visited my grandfather here at the cottage. Grandpa always went to see him in the city—so did my father. My dad told me little children overwhelmed him, which was I guess a nice way of saying he wasn’t too interested in his brother’s only child. I tried reaching out to him after my grandfather’s funeral, but he never returned my calls. I don’t even know where he lived other than in the city somewhere.”
“Your parents are gone?” he asked, continuing to smooth his palm over her back.
“Yes,” she managed without even a hitch in her voice, looking down at her fingers before clenching her eyes shut. She shook off the mention of them. “You do know how they say my uncle died, don’t you?”
His palm stopped moving over her spine when he looked at her with somber eyes, the gold flecks in them deepening. Jeez, he was hot. “I do, Esther. It’s why I came here to begin with. To ask you about his death.”
She forgot all about what he said when she felt her toes return as though shot from a cannon—they sprouted back into place like they’d never left. “Look! Oh, thank God!” she yelped, wrapping the blanket around her and struggling to stand.
Tucker helped by grabbing her around the waist with a strong arm and pulling her upward, bringing her tight to his chest when she faltered upon the awkward residual feel of her legs’ return.
Oooooh was the first thing she thought. The second was oooooh, too, but the third thing she thought wasn’t fit for polite company.
Then she brushed it off. She knew all about this kind of bonding. People in the height of a divorce did it all the time. She couldn’t count on her fingers and toes how many times parting spouses came to a mediation with guilty looks on their faces after a passionate night spent coming to terms with the end of their marriage, only to realize it had been a mistake made due to their heightened sense of fear of being alone.
Ironically, it happened most often after cheating spouses found themselves in the middle of a divorce, and it was called hysterical bonding. When a traumatic event drew two people together during stressful times.
And indeed, this was a stressful time.
Yet, as their eyes met, and Tucker smiled down at her, his luscious lips saying something she totally didn’t hear, Esther felt a tug. A sharp, distinct tug in her belly. A tightening of her chest, and the buttery soft give to her knees.
She’d felt it before. Maybe not quite this strong, but certainly similar.
And it was the last thing she wanted at this particular time in her life.
Do. Not. Want.
It was the last thing she thought before she said a quick thanks and made a stumblin
g run for the cottage where, if nothing else, something safer than this feeling waited.
* * * *
“So you say you didn’t know your uncle very well?”
“She said that three fucking times, dude,” Nina crowed from the corner of the living room, her face hard, her fists clenched. “Are you the best NYPD has to offer? Because you’re a few sprinkles shy of a cupcake, buddy.”
Detective Johns squirmed in his chair by the fireplace, everyone else plunked down around him to hear what he wanted to talk to Esther about. He ran a finger around his tight shirt collar, preparing to speak.
But Esther held her hand up to prevent Nina from saying anything else. She needed these women, and especially Tucker, to know she wasn’t completely helpless, and all she needed was a little support until she could get back on her feet—or fins. Whatever.
Changed into a fresh pair of yoga pants and a clean, warm sweater, she felt more in charge when she answered.
“Yes, sir. That’s what I said. I didn’t know him very well. In fact, I’ve met him three times in my life, total. My father told me he didn’t much like children, so it wasn’t like I even saw him around the holidays. But my grandfather went to see him in the city all the time.”
Detective Johns’ forehead wrinkled. “Did your grandfather ever tell you if Gomez was depressed?”
She had to think about that for a minute. Her grandparents had always been so proud of her uncle. Often, her grandfather would tell her about the important work Gomez was allegedly doing as a scientist, but he never got into specifics, and he certainly never mentioned depression.
Esther shook her head. “I can’t remember him ever saying much about my uncle, other than his work was important and he was proud of him, despite the fact that he didn’t come to visit. I grew up thinking of him curing sick children somewhere far, far away, locked in a hut, sweating over some beakers in a jungle somewhere. I know now that’s not what he did, but you have to understand, Detective Johns, he wasn’t a part of my life at all.”
The Accidental Mermaid (Accidentally Paranormal Series Book 16) Page 7
