“That’s how it’s done.” Galadriel gave us a satisfied smile.
Jacob and I looked at one another, then just shrugged.
“Girls!” Galadriel yelled outside while she clapped her hands twice. “If it’s not nailed down, it goes in the yard! Get to work!”
The gaggle of mermaids poured inside. Girra sauntered in last and plucked the paintbrush from my fingers. “I’ll take that.”
“Oh, no you won’t.” I took the brush back.
She stamped her foot and looked up at me. “You can paint later.”
Jacob snagged the brush from me. “Just give us ten minutes, Princess, and then we’ll get out of your hair.”
She let out a huff, but clearly she’d allowed his charm to change her mind. “Ten minutes. And that’s it.”
“Come on, Fin,” he said with a laugh. “Before they kick us out.”
“I think you’re right.” I grabbed another paintbrush and followed him.
We quickly painted the trim in the main room, then rinsed out the brushes before Galadriel had a hissy fit. Jax joined us as we stood outside, far away from the mayhem surrounding sweating movers. Poor guys were forced to follow their every command.
“Dude, do you think we should help?” Jax asked.
“And be steamrollered? No, thanks, brother.” Jacob folded his arms. “We’re paying ‘em. Let them do it.”
Jax pointed to his brother’s arm. “What happened to you?”
He let his arms fall. “Nothing.”
“Is that a bite?” Jax leaned over for a closer look. “You and Tatch doing—”
“No! Geez!” He stepped away from him.
“Maybe we should sing,” I suggested, still watching the movers.
“Sing what? The funeral song?” Jax laughed. “They’ll be done soon.”
I shook my head. Each time I thought they’d unloaded the last piece; they took another out and unwrapped the plastic off of it. At this rate, it would take all day — a day I didn’t have to waste.
Jax nudged me in the side. “So, your bachelor party.”
I glared at him. I’d completely forgotten about that.
“It’s tonight, you know,” he added.
I let out a measured breath. “What? No. I— no. We can’t go now.”
Jax lifted his hands. “Dude! Can’t go? Why not?”
I gestured to the movers. “How can you suggest we go party in the Pacific when we’re behind schedule?”
Not to mention, I still needed to follow up on Ash’s stalker, which kept getting bumped for one reason or another.
Jacob put his hand on my shoulder. “It’s just cosmetic stuff. Your furniture is in, so you’re pretty much there. You need this break.”
“I want it done. We’re having a kid.”
Jax laughed. “It’s never done. She’ll want to change stuff. Add stuff. Move stuff. Just embrace it. We all need to let loose after the schedule Jack’s had us under. You’re wound up tight! Look at you.”
“No, I’m not.” I rolled my shoulders to prove I wasn’t wound up tight, feeling the ache. “We’ll go… next week.”
“No doing,” Jax said. “Gladdy has my social calendar booked.”
“And with the baby. This is the only night Tatchi is letting me out of her sight,” Jacob added.
I sighed. Going to the Pacific meant leaving at 4 p.m. at the latest to drive there. “Then let’s cancel it.”
“Whatcha be doin’?” Badge walked up, put his burly hands on my shoulders and shook. “Watchin’ the women folk work?”
“More like staying out of trouble,” Jax said with a snort.
Badger laughed. “Never.”
Jacob jerked his chin to me. “Fin wants to flake on tonight.”
“What?” Badger squeezed his hands, hurting me. “You ain’t doin’ no such thing.”
“Owww.” I wiggled free and turned to him. “There’s a lot to do and not a lot of time. It’s fine. We don’t need to—”
“We are leavin’!” he barked. “And not another word!”
“Let me handle this.” Jax cupped his hands over his mouth. “Gladdy!”
She marched over mad as a hornet fish. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”
I frowned at the both of them. Galadriel, of all the mer, didn’t have any say over anything I did or didn’t do.
Jax leaned over and whispered something in her ear. All of the anger melted off her face, a half grin took its place. She tugged out her necklace from between her cleavage. The vial of black liquid attached sent a shiver through me. I took a few steps backward.
“I’ll go!” I held up my hands. There was enough octopus ink inside to knock out every merman in Natatoria. “No need to use that.”
“Darn right ya will.” Badger hit me on the back and howled with laughter. “We got some stuff planned that’ll put hair on yer chest!”
Afraid to ask what that meant, I was going whether I liked it or not. Poseidon, have mercy.
Then again, maybe the furniture delivery came at a good time. I could drive to Reno, find out where Ash’s stalker was right now, then grind his face into the dirt… I mean, mind-wipe him.
“Hey, Jacob, you busy?”
He glanced over. “No.”
My lip curled. “Wanna go hunting?”
He returned my smile. “You betcha.”
“Just…” I said, eyeing his attire, or lack thereof. “Put on a shirt. Will ya?”
A scream came from somewhere inside the cottage. Jax, Jacob, Badger and I bolted to the front door just as a dark-haired mover tried to run out.
I latched onto his arm, smashing him into the side of the wall. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“It’s him!” Girra yelled out of breath. “The guy! The one who tried to take Ash!”
“Get your hands off me,” he yelled.
I grabbed his collar and pressed him up against the siding, spotting the stitches just under his hairline.
“Explain yourself before I introduce you to the bottom of Lake Tahoe,” I seethed.
The guy swallowed, sweat beading on his forehead. “I didn’t. She lies—”
“Hey!” another mover yelled as he marched toward us. “What’s going on here?”
“Shut yer gob and get back to work!” Badger sang, finger pointed at the truck.
The guy’s expression relaxed into that of a zombie, and he turned and went back to the truck.
“It was him. I’d know that face anywhere,” Girra raged.
“Talk!” I pressed my forearm harder against the guy’s throat. “I swear to Poseidon if you don’t tell me—”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he choked out.
“Does calling my wife a guppy ring any bells?” I reached for his phone attached to his belt with my free hand.
“Hey! What are you doing?” He tried to swing a punch at me.
I jumped back and sang, “Don’t move.”
He froze in place, arm outstretched in a weird angle. The tendons on his neck pulled taut as I retrieved the phone from his belt and touched the screen of his cell phone.
“What’s the password?” I sang.
Powerless against my commands, he spouted out, “Superman.”
I chuckled. “Figures.”
Flipping through the texts, I found the ones to Ash and her friends. I turned the phone to his face, sticking it an inch away from his nose.
“Explain yourself, asshole!” I raged.
“You could do this easier with—” Jax started.
“Don’t!” I warned.
I was done with persuading people. He’d tell me of his own accord or lose a testicle and remember every last detail of it.
His eyes widened. “I… I… I was just doing what I was told.”
“And what was that?”
“To watch her… and…” He clamped his mouth shut.
I lifted my hand, then slowly balled my fingers while singing for him to stop breathing. His eyes st
arted to dart around as his face reddened. Then he opened his mouth like a fish out of water, his jaw flapping.
“Uncomfortable, isn’t it.” I kept my glare trained on him while the others shuffled nervously around me.
Still stiff as a statue, the guy started to go limp, his lips turning blue, then purple.
“Fin,” I heard Jacob say.
“You can breathe,” I said, voice hard.
The guy pushed out a strangled breath. “What are you?”
“I’m your worst nightmare. Now tell me.”
“Yes,” he whimpered. “I was hired to do surveillance, and then try to kidnap Ash. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
My hackles rose, but I kept my cool. “By whom?”
“A company with the initials ARC. That’s all I know.” He grunted, still fighting the grip I’d sung on him.
ARC?
“And what have you told them?”
“That Ash is engaged to you. That you live here with your parents and sister, and Ash and her family are your neighbors. And you’re planning to marry her this Saturday, here on the beach, which is …” He stopped talking, and the curious crowd grew around us.
I leaned in. “Continue.”
“No one in your family is on social media, but Ash, her sister, Lucy, and mother. And that Ash climbs out of her bedroom window every night and doesn’t return until morning, and that your family and friends have come here daily for weeks now, without cars or any form of transportation. The house is big, but it’s not finished, so you all can’t be staying there, especially when after sunset, there’s no noise, lights, or anything. Then I saw Jack on the beach with a big fish tail. I was able to get a picture of him. I sent it to all of Ash’s friends to see their reaction. Most of them didn’t believe it.”
The crowd shifted around us, whispering their worries that our secret had gotten out, but I didn’t care at this point. It would end here.
“How does ARC know about us?”
“Ash’s blood test from her school.”
“Her blood?” someone said softly.
My shoulders slunk. Her coach had said the test had gotten lost, and I’d been a fool to believe her. But I didn’t think there would be anything odd in her blood, considering I’d healed her so long ago. “Is there anyone else working on this case?”
“Not that I know of.”
I pressed him up against the wall again. “Take me to them.”
“Aye,” Badger said. “We’ll teach ‘em cute hoors a lesson.”
The guy shuddered, face becoming pale. “I don’t know where they are, man. Honest. They just drove up in a black sedan with tinted windows. Gave me a package with money, and keys to the van.” He continued to shake. “Like I said, they offered me a deal I didn’t think I could refuse.”
I stepped forward, the song bursting off my tongue, “Go back and tell them that they are nothing but a bunch of—”
“Fin!” Dad yelled.
Badger put his hand on my shoulder. “I know you want to give ‘em a kick in the bollocks, but ya need to think this through.”
Dad pushed through the group of mer. “What’s going on?”
I swiveled around and exploded. “This son of a bass is Ash’s kidnapper! She’s wanted for her blood!”
Dad’s eyes widened. He turned to the crowd. “Okay… enough of this gawking. Everyone get back to work!” Once the crowd disbursed, he pulled me aside. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“What you’ve been too busy to do.” I jutted out my jaw.
Dad’s face hardened. “You need to check yourself, Son.”
“No, you do,” I fumed. “You seem to think we’re protected in this bubble you’ve created, but we’re not. We’re being watched and this is my wife we’re talking about.”
“And what did this spineless urchin get away with?” Dad asked exasperated. “Who did he hurt?”
“No one, because I’m handling it.” I didn’t want to mention Girra recognized him.
Dad gave me a glare, apparently warring with what to say next. “Can I suggest you do it away from prying eyes?”
My nostrils flared. Could he give me a freaking break? “I’m handling it.”
The guy grunted, still frozen solid. “What are you going to do to me?”
“Aye, can I suggest ya tell this bloke to be leadin’ his faceless cowards away from Ash,” Badger said steadily. “That’ll stop this.”
Dad shook my head. “I think it’s bigger than that.”
“Let me handle it. It’s my problem.”
Dad lifted his hands. “Are you sure?”
“Yes!” I spat.
“Then be my guest.”
I faced the abductor, tempted to tell him to go play on the freeway, but I knew they’d just send someone else in his place. I needed to find his boss and mind-wipe everyone at ARC. “Just forget everything that’s happened here with the mer and don’t ever come back again.”
His eyes glazed over. “Okay.”
“And if they contact you again, you get a name, and then come back and tell me. You got it?”
“I will,” he said robotically.
“Now get out of here.”
Once the song released him, he crumpled onto the porch. Then he bounded up and ran off, not looking back.
“Well, that’s just great,” Galadriel said from the doorway.
“Don’t worry. We’ll find this company,” I said to her.
“No.” She put her hand on her hip. “Now I’m down a mover.”
Badger laughed, loosening the tension. “Aye. We’ve got ya covered, don’t we boys? Let’s show these movers what we’re made of.”
But I couldn’t calm my mind down. This company knew all about my family, where we lived, about Ash’s blood and our wedding. Would what I’d just sang to him be good enough? Or would they just send someone else. Ash could never be out of our sight.
“Wait,” I barked, turning around. “No one breathes a word to Ash about this or Desirée, understood? No one! I’m not going to ruin her day.”
Galadriel and the rest of the mermaids all nodded, eyes wide.
“You don’t need to worry, Son.” Badger clapped me on the back. “Nothin’s getting by us.”
“Okay,” I said, hoping to get out of my bachelor party.
“But yer comin’ tonight whether you like it or not.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “As long as Ash goes to Natatoria for the night.”
“Yeah, sure.” Galadriel popped her gum like what had just happened was nothing. “Now can we get back to work? I’ve got a lot to do.”
I screwed up my face. “Yeah.”
“Get to work!” she yelled.
The group snapped to and disbursed, under the command of her shrill voice. But I couldn’t help but watch where the guy ran off to. He might not be back, but someone else would be. And when they did, we’d need to be ready.
THIRTY-THREE – ASH – June 6 – 4:32 p.m.
I tried to sit once more, as Tatchi grabbed my hand to lead me to the dance floor. “Oh, no you don’t!”
I fought against her tight grip, watching the three G’s laugh and spin in circles under the pulsing lights. Girra had Fin mer-mojo the club owner to let us in early, and we were the only ones here.
“I can’t. I’m so tired,” I begged.
Though it was the middle of the afternoon, all I wanted to do was sleep. I took off the plastic crown with pink feathers and leaned against the back of the booth. Little Joey chose to swim to the beat inside my tummy.
I rubbed my belly. The fact I’d be a mother very shortly felt so surreal. My eyes slid shut, and my mind wandered to little socks and baby powder.
Someone shook my arm moments later. “Wake up, Ash.”
The house lights were on and the music had stopped. I yawned and straightened, confused what was happening. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. We have to go.” Georgia tugged my arm.
“Ice cream?” Girra as
ked, clearly not wanting this party to end.
My head bobbed automatically. I was always up for ice cream.
After getting giant cones at a shop just a short walk away from the club, we sat by a fountain on the patio and people-watched.
“Do you think they’re in love, for like real?” Girra pointed to a couple holding hands.
Georgia turned to her, brow pinched. “Is there any other kind?”
“Well, the pro—” she started.
Galadriel coughed. “I think they’re totally in love. Just look at them.”
I nibbled on my Rocky Road, too tired to care that Girra had slipped. Another couple walked by and congratulated me. “Can’t I take this crown and sash off yet?”
“No!” Girra pouted out her lip. “This is still part of the party.”
Tatiana pulled out the layout of the wedding on a hand-drawn map. “Okay, so I need you to see this.”
Tiny chairs were spread out like a fan, filling most of the beach. On the parking lot that would be covered in grass, were tables and chairs. Too many guests. How could we not think this would be a disaster?
“No wedding stuff,” Girra demanded. “You promised.”
“This is important. We need to get the ceremony down,” Tatiana said to her.
My eyes, though, couldn’t stop staring at the little black dots posted around the edges.
“What are those?”
Tatiana moistened her lips, her gaze flicking to Galadriel. “Overseers.”
“Overseers?” I asked. “Why?”
“I think she means guards, and it’s overkill if you ask me.” Georgia smirked. “Those three are freaked we’re going to have wedding crashers.”
Girra, Galadriel, and Tatiana gave me fake smiles, but I knew why. They could have just said it was to keep Mr. White Van away from me. I straightened, so as not to show my concern as the near abduction replayed in my mind.
“Oh, that reminds me.” Galadriel bent forward, taking off her necklace. “Here. I’ve been meaning to give you this.”
On the end was a vial filled with black liquid. “What is it?”
She clasped it around my neck, then whispered. “It’s octopus ink. It’ll knock out a whole room of mermen. I always have it on me.”
Evermore Page 18
