Coming Up for Air

by Amanda Meuwissen

  “But you have not killed before.”

  “No.”

  “Why do you wish to start?”

  “Because I have to.” Leigh kicked at the water angrily, and Tolly floated around him to approach from the side.

  Not that Leigh would have…. He hadn’t meant to….

  “Do you? Have to?” Tolly pressed. “I can protect you.”

  “Tolly….”

  “I come from a race of killers, but I choose to be different.”

  Killers? Looking like that? Leigh hardly believed it, but he didn’t think Tolly was the type to lie. “Because you have a choice.”

  “You think it has been easy for me?”

  This was getting too heavy too fast, and Leigh still wasn’t sure about his plan. “Are you done?” He gestured at the water as he pulled his feet free and stood. “I need to get some sleep and don’t want to leave you down here alone.”

  “We can go up. All I ask is that you allow me to help you.”

  “Let me sleep on it.”

  Tolly lifted out of the water without any effort, and right then he had legs, naked again, since his suit was on the floor. “May I sleep with you?” he asked as he picked up the trunks to slide on for the walk upstairs. “I mean, may I share the bed with you?”

  “Of course. It’s fine.” It wouldn’t help Leigh sleep, but he couldn’t ask Tolly to take the couch, and he didn’t want to sleep there himself.

  Leigh got ready for bed, while Tolly, somehow, without showering or brushing his teeth or doing more than patting gently at his head a moment with a towel to get rid of the denser drops of water, was clean and fresh as a daisy. Even smelled it, like rain after a storm.

  It might not be a power Tolly understood, but it was definitely magical.

  He said he would prefer to sleep naked but agreed to wear underwear. It didn’t help, however, to watch that long, lithe body, clad only in too-tight boxer briefs, climb into bed with him. He needed to get Tolly some clothes of his own tomorrow.

  Amazingly enough, Leigh drifted off easily. He’d nearly fallen asleep earlier, after all, bone-weary from almost dying and having his world turned upside down.

  Only his dreams weren’t the pleasant ones of sun-kissed skin and boyish grins he’d hoped for, but of drowning again, very different from his shared half dream with Tolly at the pool. The water wasn’t welcoming anymore, but dark and hiding terrors.

  Something deadly was in the water with him, something with skin the color of blood and razor-sharp teeth. Something with claws like knives and eyes that same deep red, almost black as a void.

  And it was hungry, wanting nothing more than to possess Leigh entirely.

  He awoke with a gasp like choking on water again. He’d almost died. He’d learned mermaids were real. In a few days, he’d either be a murderer or dead himself. Of course he was dreaming about monsters.

  After catching his breath, he reached toward Tolly to make sure he was okay, but his hand came down on nothing. Leigh sat up quickly. He couldn’t hear anything, so Tolly couldn’t be awake. Had something happened? Had Tolly left? Had Leigh dreamed it all?

  Then his tired eyes took in the lump in the covers below the empty space, and he lifted the comforter to peek beneath, discovering Tolly curled up in a very small ball in the center of the bed. No wonder, really; he was used to sleeping beneath several tons of water.

  A knock at the door brought Leigh right back to yesterday, only at least this time he knew it wouldn’t be Miss Maggie holding Tolly by the arm in her housecoat. Padding across the apartment barefoot and in sleep clothes like the unfairest of déjà vu, he was still only half awake when he wrenched his door open.

  “What—” But his greeting died on his tongue when he saw the three Moretti goons who’d weighted his ankles.

  Leigh desperately tried to shut the door, berating himself for being so careless when he’d known this could happen, but they were too strong for him, armed and ready to take him out.

  The largest burst in first as Leigh stumbled back from the force of their push. “Hey there, Hurley. Fancy seeing you here—alive. Guess we’re gonna have to remedy that.”

  Chapter 5

  LEIGH THOUGHT of anything nearby he could use as a weapon, anywhere he could run, but there were three of them and one of him, and two of the goons already had their guns out. He couldn’t fight his way out of this, and he wouldn’t be fast enough to find an exit before they fired. Then, once they took him out, they’d ransack his place for that extra cash and find Tolly.

  He had to bargain.

  “We have an opportunity here, gentlemen, if only you’d see that.” Leigh dropped his fighting stance and stood tall. “Sweeney has a soft spot for me, being close friends with his son and all. Might have a soft spot for you, too, with cold hard cash or anything else you want if you forget you found me.”

  The lead goon, the largest, who’d burst in first and hadn’t yet drawn a weapon, gave a sinister laugh as he stalked up to Leigh, while the others circled behind him to box him in. “Always heard you had a silver tongue, even though usually you fly under the radar. Not under the radar anymore,” he said close in Leigh’s face. “I don’t know how you escaped that drop in the river, but you’re gonna tell us, and then this time we’re gonna be more thorough making sure you stay dead.”

  Before Leigh could say anything, the butt of a gun slammed against the back of his head and he stumbled to his knees, gasping to get his bearings. The blow hadn’t been brutal enough to knock him out. They didn’t want him out. Just less likely to fight while they got what they wanted.

  “I’m not saying we’ll go easy on you if you talk sooner.” A large hand grabbed Leigh by the neck and slammed him into the floor, laying him out prone. “But we’re definitely gonna go harder until you do. Now spill.” A gun barrel pressed against his skull. “How did you get out of the river?”

  “Me,” Tolly answered, his voice harder than Leigh had yet heard and far too close.

  No, he thought, because Tolly against three men wasn’t any better than just Leigh, not when he couldn’t help.

  He wasn’t prepared for how little help Tolly needed.

  The gun and the hand on Leigh’s neck left in a blink. He was still too dazed to push onto his feet, no matter how loudly he internally screamed at himself to move. Tolly needed him, he had to—

  A howl left one of the goons before a body thudded beside Leigh, the forearm he saw in his periphery looking bent at a ninety-degree angle in the wrong direction. Several oomphs and hard smacks followed, like someone punching a slab of meat, and then the second goon landed on Leigh’s other side.

  “The hell—” The leader spoke in a huff as if swiftly backpedaling, but Tolly’s bare feet darted past Leigh, moving like lightning, like the blur he could be when swimming underwater, as Leigh finally pushed onto his knees. “What are you?”

  The stabbing pain after a blow to the head made it difficult for Leigh to focus, but what he could make out was the goon pushed up against his door, staring in terror at Tolly, who slammed him back with frightening force. Then Tolly pulled the goon toward him to slam him back even harder.

  “Wait!” Leigh called. “We need answers. Don’t knock him out.”

  Lurching to his feet, he pushed past the instant surge of bile. The goons with guns were both splayed out, the one on Leigh’s left bleeding from his temple, unconscious, the one with a broken arm whimpering into the floor, while the leader kept staring at Tolly.

  Tolly didn’t turn, and Leigh wondered if he was as enraged as his brutality suggested and didn’t want Leigh to see his expression.

  “How did you know where to find me?” Leigh focused on the task at hand. “Who told you I was alive?”

  The man trembled in Tolly’s grasp, staring forward like he didn’t dare glance away.

  “Tell me,” Leigh demanded, “or I’ll tell him to keep showing you what a mistake you made coming here.”

  “It was….” That got the
man’s eyes to dart to Leigh. “Theilen!”

  Jake. Figured. “Who else knows? Leo? Vinny? Is Jake working with anyone else?”

  “I don’t know! I only ever dealt with Theilen. The bosses don’t know you’re alive. We were gonna tell ’em when we brought in your body.”

  Tolly slammed the man’s head back. “You will not touch Leigh again, do you understand?”

  “Tolly….” Leigh didn’t know how to finish the reprimand, because he couldn’t let these men go—they’d rat him out for sure and be back with more—but he didn’t want to put Tolly in this position.

  “Do you not wish for them to die?” Tolly asked, turning only partially so Leigh still couldn’t see his eyes.

  “I don’t want you to kill anyone.”

  “But it is too dangerous to let them live.”

  “I know, but—”

  “P-please,” the man stuttered. “I won’t turn you in. I’ll make something up. Anything! I won’t tell anyone I saw you.”

  What must Tolly’s expression look like for the man to be so terrified, even if he was a surprise powerhouse?

  “Leigh,” Tolly said, strange-sounding, stiff and cold, “cover your ears.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Because I am going to sing.”

  Leigh obeyed with a jerk, but in the moment before he did, he heard the goon gasp as Tolly’s song began. Leigh could still hear him, mutedly, but it wasn’t enough to draw him in or affect him like before. It was hauntingly beautiful, the simple tune without words, and caused the goon’s eyes to glaze over like the shopgirl’s.

  Then Leigh heard Tolly murmur commands, telling the men to forget what they had seen, where Leigh was and that he was alive, and to go back where they’d come from as if they’d failed in what they had set out to do.

  Leigh looked down to see the man with the broken arm staring at Tolly in a similar daze, and the unconscious man was awake now, lying with his eyes open, frozen by the spell. It wouldn’t last forever, not if Jake was a traitor, but it would buy Leigh time.

  When Tolly stepped away from the leader, the man moved mechanically to open the door. The men on either side of Leigh got up to follow. The one with a broken arm cradled it, the other holding a hand to his head, but what caught Leigh’s attention were the deep scratches through both their shirts, drawing trickles of blood.

  “Some sharp nails you have,” Leigh said once they had filed out of the apartment.

  “Yes,” Tolly said, though he sounded sad now, off.

  Finally, after shutting the door and taking a breath, he turned to look at Leigh, and Leigh honestly couldn’t say what the goon had been so afraid of.

  “Are you all right?” Tolly rushed to Leigh’s side, traces of blood smudged on his skin as he grasped Leigh’s hands.

  “You know what they say, it’s not the years, it’s the mileage,” Leigh said, letting Tolly fret and fawn, because it was nice to have someone worry over him so much.

  “Raiders of the Lost Ark?” Tolly tilted his head like an inquisitive puppy. He really was a movie buff to catch that.

  “I think Indie and Karen Allen’s character had it easy compared to us. I’ll live, though, maybe a concussion. You weren’t kidding about the bodyguard bit. You’re officially hired.”

  A crack of Tolly’s more familiar smile emerged. “I will keep you safe, however I can, I promise.” He stroked one hand down Leigh’s cheek before blushing in embarrassment and retracting the touch. Leigh hadn’t minded, but they had larger concerns.

  “If Jake’s a snitch, then so is Rosa. Maybe more, but the two of them for sure.”

  “The unfriendly pair in the corner of the club? You must tell Arthur Sweeney.”

  “Can’t. My word against theirs and I’m already on the shit list. I need to prove it or it won’t matter.”

  Tolly pursed his lips in thought. “Careful planning?”

  “Exactly.” Retrieving his cell phone from the coffee table, Leigh checked his messages. Nothing new from Alvin, but it was 7:30, and he had an appointment at 8:00 a.m. he couldn’t miss. “We’ll get to that. First, we have a date to keep.”

  TOLLY FELT shaken from his morning wake-up call. He had felt the loss of Leigh’s warmth and reached out beneath the covers to find the line of his body only to discover emptiness. He had not meant to curl so small and deep within the blankets, though it had been soft and warm, much nicer than he expected. If he could have had such safety and comfort under the water, nothing would have been more perfect.

  Before he could worry that Leigh was gone, he heard voices in the other room, a scuffle—trouble. He was up in seconds to go to Leigh’s aid, but he nearly lost himself in the attack, swift and brutal like his instincts fell to so easily, even though he hated the part of himself that could snuff out human life without thought.

  He was grateful Leigh had held him back, but he worried that some of his true form had come out. He could not risk that happening when Leigh could see him.

  “I am not certain I understand what a parole officer is,” Tolly said as they neared the woman’s office at the Department of Corrections.

  “You’ve never seen a movie with parole mentioned?” Leigh asked.

  “Mentioned, yes, but only in passing, never fully explained.”

  “I served time for theft but got out early for good behavior. Beckett makes sure they didn’t make a mistake. Keeps an eye on me, has me check in from time to time, that sort of thing. If I step out of line too much, a word from her could send me right back to jail.”

  “Ah, which is why you lie to her.”

  “Say that a little less loudly inside,” Leigh hissed before opening the door to the building. “And let me do the talking. Follow my lead again, got it?”

  “I understand.”

  Tolly was not a fan of this corrections facility, as it was very drab and lifeless, and no one seemed particularly happy to be there. The building was mostly small, however, and they reached the office of Tabitha Beckett quickly, even a few minutes early.

  “Who says I don’t deliver?” Leigh said with a wide, false smile. He was shaken from the morning too, his head in great pain. Tolly could feel it through their connection, despite the medication Leigh had taken before they left, but he hid it well, pushing on as any survivor must.

  “The roommate’s real, huh?” Tabitha stood from her desk to reach out to Tolly and shake his hand. “Tabitha Beckett. Pleasure to meet you.”

  “You as well, Miss Beckett. I am Tolly.”

  “Tolly what?”

  Oh. Right. Leigh had two names. Most people did, some three or even more than that, but Tolly was simply Tolomeo.

  “Allen,” he said quickly, thinking of the actress from Indiana Jones. Certainly, Leigh was the Indie between them. “Tolly Allen.”

  “Planning a background check already?” Leigh said. “You won’t find any records on him. Totally on the up and up. You looking for ID?”

  “I’d be within my rights to ask,” Tabitha said.

  “Excessive, considering I haven’t done anything.”

  She sighed.

  “You’re here to grill me, not Tolly.” Leigh took a seat in one of the two chairs in front of her desk, so Tolly took the other.

  “I must say, Miss Beckett,” Tolly said, “I appreciate that you wish to keep Leigh out of trouble. I only wish the same.”

  “Oh?”

  Tolly could feel Leigh’s flare of concern that he was going off script, but he could sense that this woman had no hidden agenda. They need not be at odds. “Oh yes. He is a good man, and I enjoy staying with him. I would not want for him to go back to jail.”

  She was clearly used to reading people and must have been appeased by what she read in Tolly, because after a moment of sizing him up, she nodded. “All right. I can play ball. You got a roommate to keep you honest. Couldn’t be happier. Now let’s hear how that happened and what you’ve been up to.”

  As requested, Tolly let Leigh take the lead, amaze
d at how seamlessly he weaved a tapestry of mixed truths and lies about them meeting by the docks, Tolly needing a place to stay, and helping Leigh with chores around the apartment building.

  “No pay stubs yet, they can’t afford to offer me much as backup super, but I’m looking into other options now that I got some help with the rent.”

  “I’ll expect a little more than that come next month before I sign off and you’re free of me.”

  “I know. I’ll blow your socks off, I’ll be so straight and narrow.” Leigh smirked, and she shook her head in amusement.

  “Tolly, can you give us a minute?”

  Tolly straightened. His instincts were to not let Leigh out of his sight, but he knew they were on safe ground, and he trusted Tabitha to want only what was best for Leigh. “Of course. I will return to the lobby so as not to disrupt anyone,” he said to reassure Leigh, whose eyes flashed briefly in concern.

  After excusing himself, Tolly moved down the hallway to find the chairs near the entrance. Just as he was coming around the last corner, however, he nearly ran headlong into a large man.

  “Whoa! Sorry about that.” The man grabbed Tolly’s arms to keep them from knocking heads, the suddenness of being touched without permission nearly causing Tolly to flip him over his shoulder before he realized he knew him. “Hey. You were with Hurley yesterday.”

  It was the nicer of the detectives they had encountered. Tolly read only genuineness from him, but still he steeled himself for confrontation as he pulled from the man’s grasp. “He is seeing his parole officer, Detective Horowitz.”

  “Good. That’s good,” Horowitz said. “Look, I know Nick—I mean, Detective Perez—is a bit of a hothead, but he just cares really strongly. I swear! He’s from the same neighborhood as Hurley, and he hates seeing how it’s devolved over the years to all this crime. He used to try to steer Hurley in a better direction, but the next thing he knew, we were hauling him off to jail. Really broke Nick up.”

  “I see,” Tolly said, better understanding now why Perez had been so sharp. “It is like Leigh and Ralph.”