Fated - A Mermaid's Curse 2 (6 page)

“
I’m not going back.”

I grin. “Do you need a place to crash tonight?”

She shakes her head and laughs. “No.”

I smile. “You merfolk are tough.”

She grins wider. “I should get going,” she says.

I grin back at her. “You’re breaking my heart.”

“
I wasn’t aware you had one.”

I laugh. Sleeping with her just became my mission.

“
Here,” I hand her my card. “Give me a call tonight or tomorrow to check in on your friend.”

She shakes her head again. “How considerate of you.”

She smiles and not having a purse on her, she puts my card inside her bra. I know that she’s messing with me and I know she’ll be calling sooner or later. She turns around and I watch her walk away. I then walk to the parking garage and head over to Blake’s apartment.

When I get there, I find myself locked out. I knock, ring the doorbell, call him, and nothing. I start to ring the doorbell over and over again. Finally, he comes to the door wearing an old shirt that should be in the trash and pajama pants.

I can smell the alcohol on him and I know that he drank more after he woke up.

“
What?” he asks.

“
Well, can I come in?”

He moves out of the way. I walk in and see the empty bottle on the table next to a glass and a few beer cans laying around. I hadn’t been gone but for a couple of hours.

He closes the door.

“
What do you want, Owen? I’m not in the mood for visits.”

“
What the fuck is wrong with you, man?” I look around. “This is too much. I fucking left a few hours ago, after cleaning up this same mess from yesterday!”

“
Just leave me alone, okay?”

I look at him and shake my head. “She’s alive.”

He freezes in place.

“
She is at the hospital where you were… you know the one where you missed your appointment today? She’s going to be okay.”

He moves toward the couch, sits down, and reaches for his shoes by the coffee table.

“
What are you doing?”

“
I’m going to go see her.”

“
The hell you are.”

He stands up. “You’re not stopping me, Owen. I need to see her.”

I push him down on the couch. “The fuck you are. She needs you, but she needs you sober. Now sit down and fucking listen!”

I think it startles him a bit, but I know I have to keep talking or he is going to get up and try to leave again.

“
Do you really think she needs to see you looking like this and worst of all, smelling like this?”

That stops him. He sits forward and runs his fingers through his hair as he stares at the floor.

“
You should know better than to even think about driving drunk again. Don’t you remember what happened last time? You’re lucky to be alive! Go take a fucking shower and change. We need to talk.”

I’m surprised he actually does what I say without arguing.

When he finally comes back and looking like a civilized person, in jeans and t-shirt and not smelling like whiskey, he goes for his wallet.

“
Do you mind driving me there?”

“
No, but you need to sit down first. We need to talk.”

“
Is there something wrong? You said she would be okay.”

“
Sit down, please.”

I sit across from him. Shit. I can’t believe I agreed to talk to him about this. I don’t even know how to start.

“
Just say it.”

“
She—during the accident, well, I’m sorry bro, there is no easy way to say this… she was pregnant, and—”

The look on his face… I already regret telling him. I should’ve let the doctors tell him. They are trained for this shit.

He stands up and turns so I can’t see him. He goes back and locks himself in the bathroom.

Fuck.

I wait… and wait… Minutes later he comes out and his eyes are bloodshot. I don’t say anything though.

“
Let’s go,” he says.

I make it a point to grab him a cup of coffee on the way, I know he’s practically sober already, but it will help. Neither of us say anything on the way there.

When we get to the hospital, I wait outside and he goes in to see her.

CHAPTER EIGHT

BLAKE

My brain can’t even catch up with what I’m feeling. I don’t process any of it as Owen tells me she’s alive and that she lost— I shake my head. I don’t even know how this happened. It’s not like I ever thought about having kids before, especially with Brooke, but this… I just… I’m happy that she is alive, but aside from that, I’m falling apart.

Even on the way to the hospital, my mind is still trying to catch up with everything. When we get there, I practically run to the room that Owen says she’s in. Owen keeps up but stops me right outside of her door.

“
Are you sure you don’t need more time?”

I shake my head. I need to see her.

He nods and steps out of my way.

***

She’s sleeping when I walk in. I can feel my heart beating faster as I see her right in front of me. I stand there watching her sleep. There’s something calming about watching her chest rise and fall as she breathes. I’m afraid that if I get any closer, I’ll wake her up, and she looks so peaceful, that I decide to just stay where I am and let her rest for a while longer.

I never expected anything good to happen to me, not until I met her, and even then, I always knew that I wouldn’t be happy for long, and here we are now. Honestly, I’m afraid to wake her up because I know she’ll no longer be the same person. It’s like the curse from being a Crawford or being with a Crawford, seeped into her, causing the accident and everything that resulted from it. I know I should walk away from her. I know she’ll be happier without my toxic family and me in her life, but I can’t let her go, especially after thinking that I lost her.

I take a deep breath as I approach her bed. I lean down and kiss her forehead. Her eyes open and they are bloodshot like mine.

I’m still leaning over and manage to smile at her.

“
I’m sorry,” she says.

It nearly kills me that she’s apologizing.

I pull her up enough to where I can put my arms around her. “I love you, Arianna. Please don’t apologize again. None of this was your fault.” I pause. “I thought I lost you,” I say.

She cries even harder… we both do. I bury my face on her neckline and take in her scent. I thought that was gone forever.

When I pull away I tell her I’m going to let Owen know I’ll be staying at the hospital and that he can go.

I waste no time before I get back. I pull a chair next to her bed and put my hand over hers. Her hand feels ice cold and she trembles as my skin touches hers.

“
Are you okay? Are you in any pain?”

She shakes her head. I know she’s lying, but I let it go. I know she’ll talk about what happened when she is ready. This time when I look at her hand, I notice that her ring is gone. I think that maybe the hospital took it off so I don’t say anything, but she notices me looking.

She looks down at my hand over hers. “I’m sorry. It’s gone.”

I smile at her. I then stand up and lay on the bed next to her. She adjusts herself so that she can lay her head against my chest. I reach for her hand, bringing it to my lips and kiss her finger, where the ring was. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get you a new one.”

CHAPTER NINE

OWEN

As soon as I get in my car, everything hits me. “Fuck!” I allowed myself to feel bad for Arianna and Blake and I fucked up even more by doing so. I just single handedly managed to get them back together and dad is going to be furious. But what else could I do? There was no fixing Blake.

It’s getting late and I know I need to save my ass before it’s too late so I head over to dad’s house.

I’m greeted by my little sister, Molly, who hugs me and asks where Blake is.

“
He is taking care of some things, but I’m sure he’ll come around sooner or later.”

She looks sad. She’s only five, but ever since I can remember, she’s always been attached to Blake.

“
Where is mom?” I ask.

“
In the garden. I’m helping her.”

She grabs my hand. “Come on.”

I know I need to talk to dad before I tell mom that Arianna is back.

I stop Molly. “Is dad home?” I ask.

“
Yes. He’s working from his office. He’s not being very nice today.”

‘
Is there ever a day when he is?’ I mumble to myself.

“
Good,” I say instead. “I’m going to talk to him for a minute then I’ll go outside. Don’t tell mom that I’m here, okay? I want to surprise her.”

“
Okay,” she says before she runs outside yelling, “Mama, I have a surprise for you!”

I shake my head and walk to dad’s office, knocking on the door.

“
Come in,” he says in a cold tone.

I get in and lock the door behind me.

He sits behind the dark wooden desk, with a cigar on one hand and a glass of whiskey on the other.

“
I’ve had a long day. You better have good news,” he warns me.

“
Yes and no,” I say, still standing.

“
Spill it.”

“
Blake is… was… in pretty bad shape.”

“
Obviously. And now?”

“
Please listen to everything I have to say before you come to conclusions.”

He glares at me, “Are you trying to tell me how to act?”

“
No, sir. I’m sorry. It’s just that—there was a complication but it may actually help move things along.”

“
Go on.” He lifts the glass and takes a sip.

“
Arianna was found. She is in the hospital and Blake is with her.” I didn’t know how else to start saying it all, so I just blurted everything out.

He slams the glass on the desk with such force that I’m surprised it doesn’t shatter.

“
How the fuck is that supposed to move things along?”

I clench my fists to keep from shaking, clear my throat and shrug, “Blake is a Crawford,” I say as if that explains it all, “Arianna is just a phase. He’ll leave her sooner or later. He’ll get bored and move on.”

He considers it for a second. “No, I don’t think so. Blake is weak. I want her gone. Now.”

“
Dad, you didn’t see how bad Blake was. There was no bringing him back. He was going to end up drinking himself to death. You’re right. He’s different. Just let him be for a while. The novelty of it all will warn off. He’ll see what is good for the family and let her go on his own terms.”

“
And if he doesn’t?” he asks.

“
I’ll make sure he does. Just give them some space and I’ll make sure the rest is done.”

He sighs. “You’ll be the one paying for this if things don’t go as planned. If anything at all goes wrong,” he warns.

“
I know.”

He let’s out a grin. “Bigger mistakes lead to bigger scars,” he threatens.

“
Yes, sir.”

“
I still don’t want her in this house or at the island.”

I nod, leaving out the part that the island now belongs to Blake.

“
And Blake is to keep working for me.”

I nod and I know he is already planning to overload Blake with work so he doesn’t have time for Arianna, but at least this buys them some time alone until we all figure something out, because right now, other than buying time, I have no fucking clue what any of us should do. Who knows… maybe Arianna will miss home and have to go back… I can only hope.

Dad watches me carefully. “Don’t let this drag for too long or I’ll intervene.”

I nod and walk away to find Mom and Molly still working in the garden.

As soon as I step outside, Molly jumps up and down yelling, ‘SURPRISE!’

Mom watches me then asks Molly to run inside and put her gardening tools away.

“
I heard you were spending some time with Blake. Is he okay? He won’t return my calls.” She looks saddened.

“
He’ll be okay. I took him to the hospital earlier today. They found Arianna. She is going to be okay, too.”

She smiles and rushes to hug me. “Thank God!” she says.