Fated - A Mermaid's Curse 2 (16 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

OWEN

I’m surprised by how calm things have been lately, and I will be surprised if they continue that way at the company party tonight.

I had called this chick, Chloe, who I met last week and invited her to go with me, only because these parties are boring as fuck. She seems laid back. She even offered to meet me at a restaurant, so here is to hoping that she is drama free. There sure aren’t a lot of those around.

I make sure to get to the restaurant before she does and wait for her outside. When I see her in heels and short red dress… hmmm… she doesn’t disappoint. “You look hot,” I say.

I can tell she hears this all the time because she doesn’t even blush or look away.

“
Thanks,” she says.

I roll my eyes when she is not looking.

“
Ready to go in?”

She nods, and I put my hand on her lower back, leading her into the room we have reserved for the party.

Most people are already here. In fact, the only ones I don’t see are Blake and Arianna.

I see Mikaelis come in our direction and I quickly turn the other way.

“
I’m going to need a few drinks to survive this party.”

“
I have something better,” says Chloe.

I raise an eyebrow as I look at her. “Do you now?”

She bites her lip as she nods. She then grabs my hand and pulls me toward the back of the restaurant. We end up in the women’s bathroom where she pushes me into one of the stalls.

I put her hands above her head, holding her wrists with one hand. I press my body against hers and let my other hand wander around.

She moans like crazy and when I let go of her hands, they go straight to my belt. She just gets my belt undone when we hear a loud banging on the door.

We both laugh.

“
Kinda busy in here,” she says.

“
I’m sure,” says the woman on the other side of the door. “Look, just make my life easy, okay? People outside are complaining about the noises and either you come out or I’ll have to call security.”

I can tell Chloe is about to cuss her out so I cut her off. “Let’s just go. We’ll finish this later.”

She’s pissed so she opens the door and barges out before I can even buckle my belt back on.

The chick out in the bathroom blushes when she sees me.

“
Sorry,” I say, and I actually mean it.

She nods and walks away. When I make it back to the party, Chloe is nowhere to be found, which makes me shake my head and laugh. I head over to the bar knowing that I’ll definitely need a few drinks.

“
What can I get you?” the bartender asks as she turns around.

“
JENNA?” I ask, recognizing her from back when her mom worked at my house.

Figures that Chloe picks that moment to reappear.

“
I thought you were bad at remembering names,” she says in a jealous tone.

“
So much for drama free,” I mumble.

“
Ugh!”

That’s all she says before she turns around and leaves, and I know she’s not coming back this time.

I can’t help but laugh and when I face Jenna, I see that she’s trying hard not to laugh too.

“
Well, well, Owen. I heard rumors about you,” she laughs.

I grin at her. “So what have you been up to?” I ask.

She shrugs. “Work, school, and more work.”

I nod.

She glances over my shoulder.

“
I better get back to work,” she quickly says.

I turn around to see Dad coming my way.

“
Where’s your brother?”

I shrug. “I have no clue—Damn. There he is.”

I see him and Arianna and the door and they look good and happy. Arianna is wearing a black dress and has her hair down, practically no make-up, and she looks beautiful as hell.

I see Mikaelis walk toward Arianna and as soon as Blake sees him, his arms go around her, pulling her closer to him and there is this confidence in him that I’ve never seen before.

“
I can’t believe he brought her with him,” Dad growls. “Two weeks, Owen… two weeks.”

“
I know.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

ARIANNA

I hate that his dad watches us as we walk in. He’s not happy I’m here and I didn’t want to be here, but Carol and Mr. Jones insisted, and Blake said he wasn’t going to come without me.

I can feel his gaze on us the entire time. Blake looks from me to his dad and then he sees Jonathan and his arms come around my waist protectively.

“
Do you want to step outside for a few minutes?” he whispers in my ear.

“
We just got here,” I say.

He shrugs.

“
Yeah, let’s go.”

We walk outside to the balcony that overlooks the ocean. I close my eyes as I catch the smell of ocean. When I open my eyes, I feel dizzy and almost fall, but Blake places his arm back around my waist, steadying me.

“
What’s wrong?” he asks.

“
Nothing. I just need to sit for a minute.”

He walks me to one of the chairs and kneels down in front of me.

I can feel there is something wrong and I become overwhelmed by a fear of losing him. Tears run down my face.

I lean my head down and can feel his hand against my cheeks, wiping the tears away.

“
Please don’t let him get to you. I love you and that’s all that matters.”

I put my hands on the side of his face and lean my forehead against his. I take a deep breath before I feel the first sign of pain shooting down my legs. I don’t know what is happening, but I have a bad feeling that I won’t be able to stay with him for much longer. Ignoring the pain, I move my hand to the back of his neck and then up, softly tugging at his hair and pulling him toward me. My lips are on his and he seems taken aback by how passionately I’m kissing him, right here, right now.

When he stops to look at me, he grins. “Let’s get you out of here,” he says as he pulls me up and we walk into the restaurant, and then take the exit door on the side so no one sees us leaving. He leads me to his car. I can feel the pain again and I need to do something to forget it. This time, I know what the pain means. I feel the longing to be in the ocean and I feel the desperate need to tell him everything.

He opens the car door and I bite my lip.

He grins. “I love when you do that,” he says before kissing me.

When he pulls away, he closes the door, smiles, and leads me toward Owen’s car. Next thing I know, we’re climbing in the back seat. He grabs me by the waist and lifts me on top of him. I put my leg over, straddling him and I can feel his hands on each side of my legs and the pain vanishes. His hands move up and I kiss him until I can’t breathe anymore. Then his hand is on my back and he moves me, laying me down on the seat as he gets on top of me. I wrap both my legs around his back as he presses harder against my body. I pull his shirt over his head and run my fingers down his back, pulling him down toward me. He lets out a moan before I can feel him inside me, and for some unexplainable reason, the fear returns; the fear of losing him. There is nothing I want more than him, all of him, and I know I have to tell him the truth about what I am. The guilt of hiding it from him is killing me, even the doctor suggested that might have something to do with the pain, and I just can’t keep lying to him anymore.

We lay there for a while longer, with him on top of me, both of us breathing heavily. He kisses my neck as I slowly run my fingers through his hair and then lightly down his back.

We both jump when we feel his phone vibrate.

“
It’s Owen,” he says as he answers it. He lays his head down on my chest. “What?” he says.

I can hear Owen chuckle through the phone. “I didn’t want to walk into anything that I shouldn’t, but the party is over and well, by the look of the windows on MY car, I can tell you’re having more fun than any of us stuck in there.”

Blake sits up and helps me sit up too.

“
We need a minute.”

“
You better hurry up. People are starting to come out now.”

“
Okay.”

“
Are you ready?” Blake asks me, smiling.

I nod and he opens the door to let Owen know that we’re ready. I expect Blake to get out of the car but he stays in the back with me, putting his arms around my shoulders and pulling me closer. I lean my head against his shoulder and Owen gets in. He looks back and smirks at me. He then looks at Blake. “I understand that my car has more room and all, but come on! You owe me a car detailing. Just so you know…”

Blake shakes his head and looks at me, smiling. “It was worth it.”

I can see Owen smile at me through the rearview mirror and I blush and look away.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

I feel bad for not talking to Carol or Mr. Jones, but Blake and I decide to just hide out in Owen’s car until everyone is gone before we head back to the island.

As soon as I jump out of the boat, the pain comes out of nowhere, shooting down my legs. I can’t even hold myself up and I begin to fall. Once again, Blake is by my side and his arms instantly go around me.

He looks at me and sees the agony in my face. This pain is worse than ever before.

He scoops me up and turns toward the boat.

“
What are you doing?”

“
Taking you to the hospital.”

“
I would rather not,” I say nervously. “Can you just—put me down on the water? It will relax me.”

“
Okay. But if the pain doesn’t go away soon, I’m taking you to the hospital.”

I nod; hoping that the water will make the pain disappear and that won’t be needed.

He puts me down on the water and as soon as I feel the ocean, I can feel the draw… I know that I have to turn into what I am, even if it’s only for a matter of minutes, but I can’t do this with Blake around. I hate this… I hate having to keep secrets from him.

The longing for turning becomes too much and I rush out of the water.

“
What’s wrong?” Blake asks confused.

I’m panicking by then. The pain won’t go away and I freak out.

“
Owen. He’ll know what to do. Can you call him?” I ask in a panicked tone.

Blake looks confused and hurt, but he does as I ask. He walks a few steps toward the house to call Owen, but I can still hear him.

“
Hey, Owen. Can you come to the island? Arianna is asking for you. No, she is not okay, and I don’t know how you can possibly fix it, but she insists you can help. And she's refusing to go to the hospital… Okay…. See you then.”

I can feel the heat of his body as he approaches me. I’m sitting on the sand and he sits next to me. “He’s on his way.”

I look at him and he is now the one staring at the ocean.

“
Please don’t be hurt by this. It’s just that—”

“
What?” he asks.

“
Never mind.”

“
Please don’t hide things from me, Arianna. My whole life was spent with people hiding things from me and lying to me. Just please… don’t.”

By then, I’m in tears.

He let’s out a frustrated breath and kneels down in front of me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

I sob. “You’re right. You don’t deserve this. I need to tell you the truth but I can’t. Not without talking to Owen first.”

“
You’re scaring me,” he says. “You confided something in Owen that I don’t know about you?” he asks in a hurt tone.

I don’t know how to respond to this, so I just stay silent. Blake gets up and goes in the house. This is the first time he ever turned his back on me and I can’t blame him because he really doesn’t deserve a life where others, his fiancée especially, is keeping things from him. This is too much like Brooke… too much like his father.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

BLAKE

I can feel my hands shake as I walk into the house. I always knew she was keeping things to herself but figured she wasn’t read to talk about it. The fact that she trusted and talked to Owen about those things… I feel betrayed.

My heart pounds in my chest and I can’t think straight. Hell, I don’t want to think straight. I go straight to the bar in the living room, grab a bottle of whiskey and take a swig. I feel the alcohol burn down my throat. When I bring the bottle down from my mouth, I glance outside and see she’s in the same spot, sitting with her head down and even from here I can see that she is shaking from crying.