Fated - A Mermaid's Curse 2 (20 page)

I say this as softly as I can but it makes her cry even more.

I keep holding her until the cry turns into sobs. Then I pull away. “Why don’t you lay down here and get some sleep. I’ll stay in the living room tonight. Tomorrow, if you still want me to take you away, I will.

She nods and goes lay down on the bed. I turn the lights off and when I turn to face the door, I see that it’s slightly open.

I get out of the room and find Blake sitting on the floor across from my bedroom door.

His eyes are bloodshot and I don’t know how much of our conversation he heard, but he thanks me and I assume he probably heard all of it.

I close the door all the way and motion for him to follow me outside.

We sit on the sand.

“
She let you touch her,” he says.

I give him a puzzled look.

“
She flinches every time I touch her. It’s like I’m a reminder of
him.”

“
Don’t do that to yourself, Blake. She needs time.”

“
I want him to pay, but every single plan or thought I come up with hurt Mom and Molly more than him.”

I nod. It’s true. So many times I thought about filing abuse charges against him and then I thought about how fast Molly would be taken away from Mom, even though he never hurt Molly.

“
Blake, talk to her in the morning. Just… I don’t know… offer to make her feel safe. You can talk to Mike about moving there. You need to stop worrying about everyone else and just worry and you and Arianna.”

“
What if she still wants you to take her away?”

I shake my head. “She won’t. Blake, you’re all she has. Just talk to her.”

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

BLAKE

After I’m done talking to Owen, I go into his room to check on her and see that she’s gone. The window is open and I panic.

I rush out into the living room.

“
What’s wrong now?” asks Owen.

“
She’s gone.”

“
What do you mean she is fucking gone?”

“
She’s not in your room. The window was open…”

“
She probably went back to the tree house.”

I nod and run out back and toward the tree house. Owen follows me. Once we get there, I climb up and find it empty.

I stop where I am and run my fingers through my hair. I just have this gut feeling… “I know where she is,” I say to Owen as I climb down. I take off back to the house and then toward the front. I stand there and watch the ocean and I can’t move. I just keep waiting for a sign that she’s there, any sign, and then I see her tail come above the water and I feel like I can breathe again.

Owen comes up behind my shoulder. “You should go in. Just talk to her.”

I shake my head. “I’ll probably scare her away.”

Owen shrugs. “If you ask me, you’re less likely to scare her away if you talk to her when she’s in her own element.” He pauses. “I’m going back in the house if you need anything.”

“
Thanks.”

He leaves and I approach the water, but I don’t go in. I sit on the sand and watch her swim for a while. I don’t even think she realizes that I’m here.

I don’t know how much time passes, but after a long time, I stand up, take my shirt off and get in the water and that’s when she sees me. I expect her to turn away, but she stays where she is and watches me as I approach her slowly.

“
I worry when you’re in the water,” I say.

She looks uncomfortable. “It makes me feel—” She looks away, but before she does, I can see the tears in her eyes. “It’s the only place where I can’t smell him on me.”

I clench my fits and I have to fight the tears myself.

“
Arianna, can I talk to you? Maybe by the rocks.”

She nods and we swim in that direction. Then we both climb and sit on top of the rocks.

“
Can I?” I ask looking at her hand.

She nods and I take her hand into mine.

“
Arianna, I feel like I have no room to ask you this, but please don’t leave. We can move away, maybe live close to Mike… whatever you want. Just, stay with me.”

She gives me a sad smile and her grip tightens around my hand.

“
The first time I saw you, I was on this very same spot,” she says. “I was probably eleven or twelve.” She looks away, staring at the house. “I fell in love with you right here, before I even met you.”

I smile at her and say “I wish I had known you then.”

She shakes her head. “I hated to see you when you were sad and that happened so often. After a while, I knew it was because of your dad and I hated him from the start. I hated him for whatever he was doing to you and even now I still can’t get a grasp how someone can be so evil. I know I was right about him, but there was one thing I was wrong about.” She pauses, “Whenever I saw you, I always wished more than anything that I had legs, so that I could come comfort you and fix whatever was making you sad, but I can’t, Blake. I feel like I’m… broken and I know that you are too and we can’t help one another put ourselves together because for every piece we put together,
he
will always find a way to break several more apart.”

She looks at me and all I can do is stare back at her and listen.

“
I don’t want to leave you, Blake, but I need time to put myself together and I think you need to do the same. I can’t deal with what happened while worrying about you and wondering if anything I do or say will set you off and make you go get a drink. I just need time away, alone, and I hope you understand it.”

I stare at her, not knowing what to say. She wants to leave, and she wants to leave because I’m weak, because I have a whole lot of problems and I can’t deal with them myself without turning to alcohol for the solution. I put my head down and stare at the waves crashing into the rocks.

“
Blake?” she says and I look up at her. “I loved you for years and I still do. That won’t change. I just need to do this for myself.”

“
Where would you go? You can’t go back to where you came from. Please don’t do this.”

I shrug. “I don’t know where I’m going but I can’t go back to where I came from. I’m hoping that Owen will help me at least until we figure out what is next.”

I shake my head. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand why you trust him, especially since he got you into all of this, but if that’s what you want, I feel better knowing that you won’t be alone.”

“
This is temporary, Blake,” she says, but I have a feeling it’s not.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

ARIANNA

If I close my eyes and try to imagine our future, all I see is destruction.

I’m not leaving because I want to. I’m leaving because I’m trying not to break down again in front of Blake and I know I can’t hold out for much longer. I’m leaving because I need Blake to be strong for himself. Every time something happens to me, whatever progress he’s made by staying away from his dad, sets him ten steps back and I’m afraid of what he’ll do if anything else happens to me as a result of his dad’s hate.

I don’t know what to expect or if I’m making the right decision, even if it’s temporary. I just know that I need this time to figure things out.

As the sunlight comes into the room, I get up, get my bag and go outside.

I look around and Blake is nowhere around, but I see Owen getting the boat ready so I walk over to where he is.

OWEN

I don’t understand what the fuck these two are doing. Being stupid, that is for sure. Blake woke me up at five this the morning to let me know that Arianna needs some time away and that I should go with her. He asked me to tell Dad that I’m taking off work for a while to make sure they stay apart or some shit.

Now here I am, at the crack of dawn, getting ready to drop everything and go who knows where and with my brother’s chick nonetheless.

I do send dad a text, “You win. They’re apart. Now leave her the fuck alone and btw, I’m taking off to make sure nothing gets in the way so I need time off…. Paid time off.”

He texts back right away. “Good. Take whatever time you need.”

I shake my head and store some food away in the boat. I know that wherever we go, Arianna will have to be near water in case she needs to turn, so we might as well take off in the boat somewhere.

When I come back up, I see Arianna near the boat. I jump out, lie down on the sand and close my eyes. I swear, I could go to sleep right here, right now.

“
Where is he?” she asks.

I don’t even open my eyes. “Probably sleeping, which is what I should be doing right now.”

“
I’m sorry,” she says.

“
Ugh. No, I’m the one who is sorry. It’s just… It’s too early and I don’t see how you and Blake spending time away is a good idea.”

“
I—I just need to be away from him.”

“
Why?”

“
Because I can’t let myself cry over what happened to me if I’m worried about what that will do to him. Because I love him, yet, I can’t stand his touch and I hate feeling like that. I know that leaving for a while won’t be easy on him. It won’t be easy on either of us, but it will be easier on him then if I stay.”

“
Shit. I really am sorry. Maybe this will be good. I mean, I don’t know if he was serious or not, but he was talking about checking into rehab after we leave.”

I take a deep breath. “I hope he does.”

ARIANNA

“
Hey.”

I turn around to find Blake standing behind Owen and me. He looks like he didn’t get any sleep at all. His eyes are red. His shirt is undone and his hair is a mess.

“
Can I talk to you before you go?”

I nod and Owen gets up and gets back in the boat.

I look down, avoiding his gaze.

“
Let me be the one to take you away,” he begs. “I can be that person for you.”

I don’t mention that I can smell the alcohol on his breath.

I walk closer to him, close my eyes, and give him a kiss on the cheek, then take a step back and look into his eyes.

“
Owen told me about you going to rehab. I think you should.” I reach for his hand and place the ring he gave me on his palm.

His eyes widen. “Please don’t do this,” he says.

I give him a sad smile. “It’s not what you think. I’m coming back for this and for you. I want you to keep this ring with you as a reminder of that.”

I let go of his hand and smile at him before I turn around to leave. As I’m turning, his fingers slowly go around my wrist. He pulls me to him and gives me one last kiss.

The End.

For now…

Coming Soon

Unbreakable

The Final Mermaid’s Curse Novel

Other Books by Daniele Lanzarotta

Academy of the Fallen Series

Wide Awake

Nephilim

Sins of the Fallen

Forsaken 

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Imprinted Souls Series

Imprinted Souls

Bloodlust

Divine Ashes

Blood Bound

Shattered Souls

About the author:

DANIELE LANZAROTTA

is the author of fantasy/paranormal novels, including Imprinted Souls Series, Academy of the Fallen, and Mermaid’s Curse. She enjoys reading and writing young adult novels with just about any sort of paranormal or supernatural bent ... vampires ... ghosts... Daniele currently lives in Virginia Beach, VA with her husband, daughter and two lovable puppies (who are not really quite puppies anymore), Stitch and Gizmo.

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