The Mermaid and her King (16 page)

Chase

I roll off of Skyla and pull her to me. She’s different today. For the first time since I met her on the beach
, she seems … scared. Not of me but of something.

“That was a nice surprise,” I say.

“I love you, Chase.”

“I love you, too. Are you sure you feel better?”

“Yes, and I should get home.”

“Please stay with me, so I
’ll know you’re OK.”

“I nee
d to go home, and I promise I’m doing better. If I get feeling bad, I know where I can find you.” She gives me a faint smile.

I can’t figure it out. She wanted to be close to
me, but now she wants to leave. “OK, but I’m taking you.”

“I figured as much.
I’ll come see you tomorrow evening.” She kisses my cheek and gets up to dress.

I drive her home, and before she gets out of the Jeep, I take her hand. “Skyla, I want you to know that what’s mine is yours. I don’t want you to ever think you can’t stay over.”

“I know I can stay. You’re a great person, and I won’t stop telling you until you believe it, too. I’ll see you tomorrow. I Love you.”

Eric

It’s eight o’clock when I get a text from Skyla. She always calls, so it seems odd.

Skyla:
Could you come over? I need to talk to you … without Chase.

Fuck. Wha
t’s this about? Does she know? Maybe it has nothing to do with that.

Me
:
OK, I’ll be over in thirty.
My stomach tightens as I make the drive to Skyla’s. I hate not knowing what I’m walking into. If she knows, will she be pissed at me? I park in her driveway, my stomach aching even more as I walk to the door.

“
Eric, come in.”

“What’s up, chick?”
She stares at me for several seconds and begins sobbing. Shit. Don’t cry. I hate it when women cry. “Skyla, what’s wrong?” She throws her arms around my neck, so I hug her. Did Chase already hurt her?

I speak as I hold her. “Did Chase fuck up already? Do I need to kick his ass?”

She lets me go and gazes at me, tears trailing her cheeks. “We’re Shooter and Nixie,” she says, barely above a whisper.

Shit!
She knows. “I—I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. I haven’t known what to do. Please, Skyla, don’t be upset with me. I’ve been trying to protect you both.”

“Why? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Look, Chase cares about you. You know that, but he blames himself for Bud’s death. If I told, he would’ve pushed you away due to his guilt.”

“You’re right. He would’ve then. He was already pushing me away.”

“Andy and I freaked. Discovering you’re Nixie messed us up. I was afraid Chase would find out and not recover. He finally seemed alive again, and Bud wanted you together. You’re my friend, too, and I was afraid you’d move away.”

“So, what w
ere you going to do? You had to know Chase and I would eventually talk about Bud.”

“Andy and I p
rayed that by the time you two found out, your relationship would be able to survive it. Does Chase know?”

“No. I found a picture of Bud at his house today. I couldn’t believe it, but then after thinking about it, I couldn’
t believe I didn’t discover it on my own. You, Chase and Andy are just the way Bud described, and I’ve thought several times how lucky I am to have found guys that remind me of Bud and his friends.”

“You can
’t tell him yet, Skyla. You’ve only officially been together, what a week? I believe he’ll still push you away. He’s nuts about you, but he still thinks he doesn’t deserve you.”

“I’m not a deceitful person. I don’t know if
I can keep this from him. He might hate me later if I do.”

“
First, he has to believe Bud’s death is not his fault,” I say.

“I can’t convince him of that if I can’t talk to him about it.
” She paces around in front of me. “He told me he loves me.”

“
He said that already?” I’m shocked. I knew he was falling for her, but I had no idea he cared for her that much already.

“Did you know he used to watch me on the beach before we met?”

“What do you mean?”

“The first three months I was here
, I would go to the beach near Chase’s house almost every night since it’s near where Bud died. Lee showed me the spot when I moved here. Chase waited on his steps to watch me and claims he did it the entire three months. I never knew he was there.

“That’s why he was around when Troy and his friends approached me on the beach. He said he always worried about me being out in the dark. It’s as if it was meant to be, like Bud had him watching out for me.”

“He never told me.”

“He also paid Hilda a hundred thousand dollars to retire, so I’d be the one cleaning his house.”

I shake my head and laugh hard. “He’s so rotten. He goes to great lengths to get what he wants. That means he’d already fallen for you then. I know you’ve figured out how passionate he is, but it can be his worst enemy at times.”

“What I’m trying to say,
Eric is that he’s cared about me longer than you think, so maybe he wouldn’t push me away.”

“Skyla, you don’t know how bad things were. I almost lost him along with Bud
. There were many days that Andy and I didn’t think he’d be alive when we went to his house.”

“I don’t kn
ow what to do. I can’t lose him,” she says as she begins to cry again. I take her into my arms and hold her.

“I
still can’t believe you’re Nixie, and you’re really here.”

“I miss Bud,
Eric.”

I don’t let her go. “I miss him, too, but I feel like he’s with us when I’m near you, Skyla. You’re
so friendly and exude happiness like he did.” Dammit. Now I’m crying. None of us should have to deal with this shit.

She pulls away from me and sees my tears. I go to wipe them away, but she beats me to it.

“I won’t say a word. He has to love me more and be with me longer to ensure he can’t walk away from what we have. I can’t risk something happening to him from the guilt he feels.”

“Thank you, Nixie.” I hug her one more time.

“You like calling me that, don’t you?”

“How could I not? You’re Bud’s Nixie. Actually, I have no idea what I’ll call you, but it has to be Skyla for now.”

She frowns. I know it’s going to be hard for her to keep this from Chase.

“If he ever brings Bud up
, then I’m telling him the truth,” she says adamantly.

“
OK.”

“Thanks for being such a good friend,
Eric.”

I point my finger at her.
“I’ll see you later. Call me if you think you’re going to crack. Don’t tell him without calling me first. Maybe I can be there to help smooth it over.” I go out the door and inhale a deep breath. The future’s scary.

Skyla

I’ve refused to sleep over at Chase’s for the last two nights. I told him I’d only stay on the weekends, and he’s been pouting ever since. I’m afraid he’s going to get tired of me, and I don’t want to gradually move in with him. If we ever move in together, I want it to be because he’s put real thought into it and asks me.

I haven’t shared those thoughts with him, but I have to admi
t that if he asked, I’d say yes. That’s moving really fast, but I love him, and I miss him the second we’re apart. I’ll have to tell him that I’m Nixie for sure then. Since he seemed so upset with me last night for not sleeping over, I decide to go see him early this morning before I go to work.

He doesn’t answer the door when
I knock, so I go around back to find he’s not on the patio, either. It’s only seven, so I wonder if he might actually be sleeping in. He seldom sleeps, and I think it’s from anxiety. It’s not long before I need to go to work, so I decide to sit on his back steps on the beach instead of going back home.

I
brought pastries and fresh pineapple, so I get it out and eat. Staring at the water, I see one male surfer, and he’s awesome. While eating my breakfast I watch him. I’m wondering if I should just call and wake up Chase. I want to see him and be sure he isn’t sulking too badly.

As I
stare at the surfer some more, it hits me like a ton of bricks. I think it’s Chase. Oh, please be him. My heart races, and I can’t keep the smile off my face. The more I stare, the more I can tell from his body that it’s him.

I watch in ama
zement. He’s very good, and I can’t help but think that maybe I played some part in him surfing again. He’s becoming whole. I should leave. He might not want me to see him, and I don’t want him to stop, so I hurry and pack up my stuff. I quickly walk to my car and leave, feeling so much joy in my heart. I’ll make sure we survive this.

Chase

This is where I belong. Damn, I’ve missed this. It feels right, so I know I’m doing better. Skyla’s fi
lled the empty space inside of me that was created from so many losses in my life. I hope that Mom, Dad and Bud can somehow see her and know just how right she is for me.

I’ll be able to su
rf with her now, and I’m damn excited about it. Eric didn’t have to work this morning, so I told him to come at eight to surf. I needed to go it alone at first, but now that I see him paddling out, I’m glad he’s here.

Eric

Chase called me last night and asked if I had to work this morning
. He wanted us to surf. I told him I was free, but I lied.

I called my assistant right after we hung up and told her to move my morning appointments
when she got into the office today. I wasn’t about to miss a chance to surf with Chase, and I didn’t want to take a chance on him changing his mind.

“Bro
, I can’t tell you how awesome it is to see you out here,” I say, sitting on my board.

“It’s time, and I owe it all to Skyla. She showed me that I needed to get off the guilt trip.
”

“I’ve been telling you
that for almost a year now.”

“Yeah, but you’re a
dude. You don’t have a gorgeous face or tight body that’s trying to convince me, and she’s found some creative ways to be persuasive. I’ve let her share all of them with me, too,” he says, chuckling.

“I see
King’s crude humor is back, and I think it’s a good thing.” Fuck, why did I call him that? “Man, I’m sorry. It just came out. I guess because this is reminding me of old times.”

“
It’s time to hear it again. It makes me feel like he’s here, so it’s cool. Just don’t call me that around Skyla. I haven’t told her about Bud yet, so I don’t want her asking why you call me that. This rides for you, Bud,” he says as he goes to drop in.”

Bud
would say that Chase seemed like a king with his fortune and mansion on the beach. He also joked that Chase thought he was king of this part of the beach and ocean. He was right about that one.

Our nicknames have
been too painful to hear, especially for Chase. Bud earned his from everyone becoming his buddy. He was too damn nice and funny for anyone not to like him. Damn, I miss him. It’s cool to know I can call Chase ‘King’ again. He’s been King for years now.

I guess it’s still too upsetting
for him to tell Skyla about Bud. They’re getting closer every day though, and now that they’re both surfing again, it’s just a matter of time. Guilt would swallow King whole and not spit him out this time if he knew he was sleeping with Bud’s very own Nixie. We finish up surfing and sit on the patio.

“Man, I have to meet Sk
yla’s brother in a couple of months. I don’t know how I feel about that. She said he’s really protective of her, but she thinks he’s going to love me. She’s wishful thinking. What guy really loves the man who’s banging his baby sister? It’s cute, but damn, she’s naïve. Her twenty years of age shows sometimes.”

I gulp. I don’t know wh
at he said after saying that he’ll meet Skyla’s brother. Lee, or ‘Rock’ as we call him wanted someone to blame for his cousin’s death, so he blamed King. Most people who didn’t want to admit that Bud was flawed blamed him.

It was easy to do since King
was taking responsibility for Bud’s death himself. Most people have no idea that it was Bud who got him hooked on hard drugs, not the other way around.

Since King
had the dough and the house they could party at, everyone assumed he was the bad influence. I tried to take up for King, but he stopped me and wouldn’t let me say a word. He said there was no way to save his reputation without tarnishing Bud’s. He was right.

We didn’t hang out with Rock that often
. Aside from him disliking King over the drug use, he didn’t like that Bud had gotten so close to Andy, King and me, so he was a prick when he was around us. Rock mostly stuck with his Army buddies and saw Bud away from the beach. I didn’t even know he was deployed.

It’s going to
be ugly when he finds out King is with his sister. Shit, I’m sweatin’ bullets. This sucks.