Rive_Little Mermaid Retold

by Daniela Jackson

  What am I thinking?

  I don’t care. I never care.

  Zane could make her happy, but that thought evokes my black fury. I would give him my hand. I would give him my kidney. I would even give him my life but I won’t give him Sive.

  She.

  Is.

  Mine.

  I can’t have her, but nobody else will have her either.

  I lather my body with the mint shower gel, wash my hair, rinse the foam off, then step out of the cabin, and pat myself dry with the towel. The smudges of mud stretch around the bathtub like the sweet proofs of Sive’s presence here so I slide into my jeans and wipe the dirt with a dampened cloth. Kids. They’re dirty.

  I see Sive’s innocent face in my mind again.

  I would contaminate that pureness of hers; I’d rub my cum into her tummy and breasts; I’d mark her, make her smell of me. Tie her to my bed. Lick every inch of her perfect body.

  Brushing my teeth, I wipe away the steam from the mirror. A killer’s eyes glance back at me. Did Sive touch me because she was drunk or because she wanted to touch me?

  I will never know.

  With the cloth swinging in my hand, I walk out of the bathroom and remove the mud from the living area, then take the laundry out of the washing machine, hanging the clothes and trainers on the indoor airier. Sive’s bra and panties still have the labels attached. She needs a c-cup bra and panties of size S. I’m not sure about other pieces of clothing but the size S would probably do.

  She will need almost everything and my head starts to throb.

  Chapter 6

  Axel

  Rising on my tiptoes, I move towards the wardrobe and take out a fresh t-shirt. Sive moans in her dream. I pull the t-shirt on and lean over her. A few wet tendrils of her hair cling to her pink cheeks and she breathes with an audible sound. She is sick. My palm inspects her forehead. Her skin is clammy with sweat and hot like a desert in the middle of a summer day. She rolls on her back and opens her eyes, but I’m unsure whether she is even fully aware of my presence.

  “Sive, how are you, baby?”

  “A-xel,” she murmurs.

  “You want to sleep now, huh?”

  She sighs in response.

  “But you have to drink something first, okay?” I say and hurry to the kitchen to grab a glass of orange juice topped with one shot of vodka.

  It seems like Sive needs something stronger than rum.

  I return to the bedroom and perch on the edge of the bed, gripping the back of her neck. Sive sits up with a gasp escaping her mouth. Her lips are a bit dry and sweat beads her forehead. Her drenched t-shirt clings to her chest and my eyes fix onto her hard nipples visible through the fabric.

  I hand the glass to her. “Drink it.”

  She brings the glass to her lips and winces at the smell of alcohol.

  “It’s for your cold,” I say. “A perfect medicine, believe me.”

  “Rea-lly?” There is a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

  She takes a deep breath and swallows one-third. Her cough follows.

  “The whole glass,” I say firmly.

  Tears well up in her eyes as she struggles with drinking but finally, she hands the empty glass to me. I slam it on the bedside table and start gathering up the edge of her t-shirt.

  Sive puts her hands on my chest and pushes at my pecs, growling.

  “It’s all drenched,” I bark at her and tug the t-shirt over her head.

  Sive whimpers and curls up into a ball, covering her beautiful breasts with her arms and her knees.

  I stare at her, mesmerised. Her waist is slender and I’m pretty sure I could brace it with just my hands. My eyes travel to her perfect ass. I want to devour that ass. I could watch her for the whole night, but her body starts shaking so I lift myself, rummage around the room to find the blanket and throw it over her.

  The covers are suffused with her sweat as well. I remove them and bring a fresh bedding set from Zane’s bedroom. Sive wraps the blanket around her, moves into the worn out leather armchair by the wall and watches me as I’m dealing with the bed. With two final touches, I smooth the comforter and lean over Sive, pulling her into my arms to lay her in bed. She turns her back towards me as I tear the blanket off her and cover her up to her neck with the comforter.

  I have a young goddess in my bed and I can’t touch her. This is so absurd that even funny.

  “Sleep, Sive. I will be back in a few hours.”

  A sigh answers me.

  “You are safe here, baby,” I add and leave the bedroom.

  I have a few things to do before I attend the meeting in our office.

  First to visit Wendy. The majority of the shops are closed today so I need to be nice to her.

  My bike roars as I meander among the houses and aim for Wendy’s apartment in the town centre. Wendy is thirty and owns a shop where the occupants of the town can buy almost everything.

  I leave the bike on the pavement and go behind the shop where the metal staircase leads to Wendy’s apartment. My thumb presses the doorbell, and she opens the door almost instantly. She leans against the doorframe, showing off her black bra with a red kimono robe on top.

  “Did you miss me?” she asks in a low voice.

  I didn’t, but if I’m not nice to her, she won’t open the shop for me.

  “I always miss you,” I say and wink at her.

  “Liar. Will you come in?”

  Normally, I always step into her apartment whenever she invites me over, which happens two or three times a month. She is an attractive woman, with curly dark hair, artificial lips and tits, long legs. She knows how to pleasure a man, but today even thinking about her this way fills my veins with the kind of repulsion. Something is definitely wrong with me.

  “I need a favour, Wendy.”

  “Sure.” She rests her forearm against the doorframe, offering me the most perfect view of her body.

  I just want to erase her from my sight though.

  “I need to do some really big shopping, Wendy. Now.”

  “Did you forget about your mother’s birthday again?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “You are very mysterious—“

  “I don’t have much time, but I will return the favour; I promise.” I send her my most beguiling smile and her face softens in curiosity.

  “Okay,” she agrees then backs up to pick up the keys from the hook in the corridor and corrects her robe.

  We go to the shop through the back door, and she switches on the lights, leading me across the stock room and then towards the counter.

  “What do you need?” she asks.

  “I have a sick kid at home,” I say.

  “A sick kid?”

  “With a fever.”

  Wendy stands behind the counter from the shop assistant’s side. “Aspirin?”

  “Actually, a pyjama set or something. She’s sweating a lot.”

  “She? How old is she?”

  “Eighteen. And she needs some underwear. A c-cup bra and a few pairs of small panties.”

  Wendy’s jaw drops. “Your relative?”

  “Yeah, a cousin.”

  Wendy walks towards the hangers and shelves, plunging her hands into the pieces of clothing. The rustle of the hangers moving wafts through the air. She brings four boxes with lingerie and three hangers with pyjama sets. My eyes flick over all the items and I shake my head.

  “I want, you know, something more feminine,” I say impatiently. “Like a lace black bra and matching panties. And those lace top things women wear on their legs.”

  “For a cousin?” Wendy asks with sarcasm.

  I hope she is determined enough to wait for me to fulfil my promise. Her eyes narrow like she’s a cat that is going to claw my eyes out, but she rushes to the hangers again.

  “And a few nice dresses,” I say. “Some female stuff as well.”

  “Is she homeless that cousin of yours?”

  “Sort of.”

  We
ndy rummages around the shop as I lean against my elbows placed on the counter. After ten minutes, she spreads everything in front of me, and I must admit that I really like a satin nightdress with the open back and lacy black underwear. The dresses are nice too. And the stockings. Especially them. I can’t wait to see Sive wearing them. There are also two boxes of sanitary pads, female razor blades, a bottle of body lotion and a jar of face moisturiser.

  “You are wonderful,” I say.

  Wendy flashes me a cold half-smile and counts my shopping as I pack all the items into a plastic bag. I hand three notes to her. She gives me the change then clutches the edges of my cut and pulls me to her over the counter. Her lips brush mine, but a wave of repulsion washes over me. I don’t want to kiss her. She chuckles into my mouth, straightens and moves closer to me, standing right behind me. Her chest moulds against my back, and I feel her hand slipping under my jeans. My cock twitches as she strokes me. Heat rushes through me. For an instant, I fight the urge to drive my dick into her mouth like I did many times before. She would suck me off expertly. She’d take all the tension that’s been building inside me and seeking release since I met Sive. But the truth is that it wouldn’t be enough. Only that little mute chick shivering in my bed would be enough.

  So I grab Wendy’s wrist and take her hand off me.

  “I have a sick kid in my bed,” I say.

  “A sick woman, you mean.”

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  Wendy steps back as I grab my shopping and turn to face her.

  “If you needed an experienced woman to fuck, you know where to find me,” Wendy says.

  “Sure,” I say and she lets me out through the front door.

  Chapter 7

  Axel

  I leave the bike among the others that belong to the members of the Shadow Wolves MC and step into the bar as my eyes sweep over the sign above the main entrance, ‘Jilly Jet’. Blaze, my uncle, runs it. The interior has a rustic decor with a few industrial details like the enormous lamps hanging from the ceiling and the metal bar stools. Spray paint adorns the walls and the billiard table stands in the corner of the bar. Streaks of smoke drift in the air and my nostrils fill with the smell of tobacco.

  The shopping bag swings in my hand like a fucking reminder that I should be somewhere else now. Fucking hell, Sive has already messed with my head. I am where I should be, right? Among the boys.

  I can’t stop thinking that she is shivering of fever now and anger wells up in my chest. She will survive. It’s just a simple cold. It won’t kill her.

  Blaze approaches me with his big arms outspread and hugs me, slapping me on the back. His long silver beard scratches my face as he squeezes all the oxygen out of my lungs. Zane straightens beside the billiard table and shoots me a hostile glance. Dash and Gunner rumble their greetings, but a strange feeling pricks me like something is wrong. The boys smirk at me, all of them at once, and Boulder nods at me from his stool, raising his beer. He strokes Lisa’s thigh and she moves away from him abruptly. Ma knocked her two teeth out one day and since then Lisa has been avoiding my father at all cost. He likes playing with her as though her fear of Ma gives him the kind of entertainment.

  “Where is your little mermaid?” Gunner asks. His thin and long body waves like he is a fucking Daddy Longlegs. “You prince charming.”

  Gunner proposes to every girl who smiles at him, but so far, none has agreed to marry him. I think he will be a bachelor until his death.

  “None of your fucking business,” I growl. “We’re having a meeting, aren’t we?”

  “If you need a babysitter for her, my lady will help,” Blaze says.

  The whole bar erupts into laughter. They are grumbling like a horde of old toads. Mia, the bartender, locks her big blue eyes onto mine as she polishes a glass with a cloth. Sorry, babe, Sive has removed you from my to-fuck list as well. Only she is on my to-fuck list now.

  “My lady is organising a barbeque on Saturday,” Blaze says. “Bring your kid so she can play with my kids.”

  Another wave of the boys’ guffaws wafts through the air.

  Boulder plants his feet on the floor and the bar fills with silence. He is the president, after all. I watch him heading to the metal door, and the rest of the boys follow him to the office.

  I go as the last person and notice Boulder waiting for me behind the doorway in the narrow corridor with the photos of the boys hanging on the beige walls. He threads his fingers through his short grey hair.

  “Leave those sanitary pads in the corner of the room,” he says in a matter-of-fact tone and the boys guffaw from the office.

  I raise my hand and flick my eyes over the bag. Heat bubbles in my chest and rushes to my face. In fact, the pack of sanitary pads is visible through the bag. Boulder pats my shoulder and averts his face to hide a wide grin. We enter the office, take our seats at the oak table and I put the bag in front of my feet.

  “Did you speak to Samael?” Boulder asks.

  I nod. “The war is close. If Samael clashes with the Cobras, we may find ourselves in the very middle of the war. If Samael decides to have a deal with the Cobras we are fucked up as well. Samael suggested an alliance.”

  “He wants to suck us in,” Boulder says with anger. “To take our identity from us. Our independence.”

  We are a small MC, based in the middle of nowhere and things have been stable so far. Samael uses us to take on the dirty work from time to time, like storing guns and murder to hire which is mainly my responsibility. For the majority of time, we just carry on with our small town life.

  The Cobras are going to destroy that fragile balance Boulder worked out with Samael. We’ll have to pick up the side sooner or later. The Cobras are greedy murderers with no code, no honour, but Samael is a ruthless Mafioso connected with the Russian mobsters.

  “That’s what I told him,” I say. “But he offered an agreement.”

  “Which is?” Boulder asks.

  “His daughter,” I say. “He wants the alliance not fusion.”

  “Who is supposed to marry her?” Zane asks with sarcasm.

  The office erupts into laughter.

  “You, Zane,” I say.

  “Samael meant you, I’m sure,” Zane says. “I will take care of Sive, no worries.”

  “Fuck off,” I mouth to him.

  “You two,” Boulder reprimands us. “The fights only in front of the bar. You know the rules.”

  There is a moment of a gloomy silence as Zane and I exchange hostile glances.

  “We’ve always been independent,” Blaze says, his voice coated with sadness.

  “Aye,” others say with one voice.

  “We’ll see how the things progress,” Boulder says. “If it starts sizzling we’ll vote for or against the alliance.”

  “Aye,” we say.

  “Beer?” Blaze asks and the rumble of the boys’ excitement answers him.

  I pick up my bag and rush towards the door.

  “Where are you going, you lover-boy?” Blaze asks and I stop in the doorway.

  “I have a sick kid at home,” I say.

  “A sick kid you are saying,” Blaze says. “Who is going to wear those stockings in your bag then?”

  “What are stockings?” Dash asks.

  He is only nineteen and he’s the youngest member of our MC. Our little brother.

  “You’ll learn when you grow up, Dash,” Boulder says and the toads grumble again.

  I sneak out and hurry to my bike. My whole mind pulsates of worry about Sive.

  My bike roars as I advance through the town with as much speed as possible and jump a red light. Unpleasant flutter surges through my chest. I don’t like this feeling. It accompanies me when Zane is doing something dangerous or Ma is in a bad mood verging on depression. I had it when my first and only girlfriend broke up with me because of who my father was. Who I was.

  I have it now because of that little mermaid in my bed. It’s kind of interesting. And very unpleas
ant.

  I leave the bike in front of the garage and dart to the house, then hurry up the stairs and walk straight into my bedroom.

  Sive is fast asleep. She’s lying on her side and snoring lightly.

  The comforter covers her only up to her waist and sweat beads her forehead and back. Her cheeks burn with bright red and look a bit shiny. The sight of her makes me freeze in awe for an instant. She looks like an angel who fell down from the heaven.

  I kneel beside the bed and toss the bag onto the floor. My eyes trace a line along the curve of her neck, flick over the delicious fullness of her breast topped with a pink areola and fix on the seductive indent of her waist. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful, pure and perfect than her. Indeed, I saved a lost angel.

  I pull up the comforter and cover her, then go downstairs and call Ma.

  She answers with her deep warm voice. “Hi sweetie, everything fine?”

  “Hi, Ma. I need to ask you something.”

  “Since when are you interested in my opinion on anything?”

  “Ma, don’t be annoying. I have a kid here.”

  “I heard. Boulder called me ten minutes ago.” She chuckles. “It’s a girl. A real girl is living with you. I thought I wouldn’t live long enough to see you with a nice girl. When can I meet her? Maybe—“

  “She is sick, Ma. She has a fever.”

  “It won’t kill her. Just let her sleep. Did you give her Aspirin or something?”

  “A cup of tea with rum and then a shot of vodka.”

  Ma bursts into laughter. “She will sleep for two days. Is her body temperature very high?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Check it. If she’s very warm, you should cool her with a wet towel.”

  “A wet towel. Okay. Anything else?”

  “Don’t panic. It’s just a fever.”

  “I’m not panicking.”

  Ma chuckles. “A wet towel is enough.”

  Chapter 8

  Sive

  Iciness shakes me out of my dream. I’m so cold that I tremble. I can’t open my eyes and I can’t breathe because something heavy and cold is sitting on my chest. It feels as though an enormous icy hand is gripping my whole body and crushing me.