Page 21 of Bewitched By the Siren (The Bewitching Hour #1)
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Brendan
I wasn’t sure what to expect this morning after I woke up alone in bed, and even though it was a gamble, I felt the need to show up and invite Hali and Grace to breakfast. I needed Hali to know I’m still here. For now, anyway.
Plus, I genuinely like Grace, and I think she likes me, too. I could tell from our conversation last night at dinner that she really needed to get out of the house, even if she insisted otherwise. I’m so glad she agreed to go.
We had fun at breakfast, and seeing both of the women smiling and laughing as we ate made me feel so warm and happy. And that kiss Hali laid on me afterward? Perfection.
My phone chimes, and the message is from Hali. It’s as if she could read my mind and knew I was thinking about her.
Hali: Are you busy right now? I’d like to show you something .
Before I can respond, another text comes through. This one is from Julius, and my smile automatically drops into a frown.
Julius: Call me, now. I need an update.
Flipping back to my text thread with Hali, I shoot her a quick message to let her know I’ll be over in fifteen minutes.
When she sends back a thumbs-up emoji, I let myself feel the anticipation of seeing her again for just a moment before sighing and pulling up Julius’ number and tapping the call button.
“What kind of progress have you made?” he demands by way of a greeting, and I stifle the grunt rattling around in my chest.
Polite, as ever.
“I’m getting closer to her,” I say, swallowing thickly against the bile rising up my throat with the admission.
There’s no way in hell I’d ever tell him about sleeping with her, but even hinting at it and suggesting it’s part of my job makes me ill. The sex certainly had nothing to do with Julius or my job. That was all about me simply wanting her.
“She signs nothing until I hear her, for myself,” he says, and I squeeze my eyes shut as I reply.
“I’ll get that recording for you on Friday,” I promise, nearly choking on the words.
“Be sure you do, or you’ll be paying back all your travel expenses when you get back here.”
I roll my eyes as he ends the call just as abruptly as he began it. That bit about repaying travel expenses is a common threat he likes to use with all of his employees. No one has ever fell victim to it, because no one has failed Julius on something this important.
I might be the first.
Recording Hali singing without her permission feels like betrayal, no matter how you look at it. And now that we’ve gotten closer, I don’t know if I can do it. Hell, I don’t know if I even want to try.
Shaking off the dark thoughts, I head outside where Hali is already waiting with a bright smile and two beach cruisers. The bikes are identical––both pink and white with large baskets attached to the handlebars.
“What’s this?” I ask, my lips curling up to match hers.
“I thought we could ride to the spot I want to show you. Mom said you can borrow hers,” she replies, her smile twisting into a smirk.
“Be sure to thank her for me,” I say, taking the bike from her and throwing my leg over the frame to straddle it without complaint.
Hali chuckles and straddles her own bike, and I follow when she takes off in the direction of town.
I ride next to her, following her directions as we take a roundabout route through town.
The sun, the salty breeze, and the sound of Hali’s sweet voice as she describes the sights all leave me feeling light as air as we peddle, and before I know it, we’re on the opposite side of the island.
A long stretch of sandy beach spreads out before us, the only structure present an old-fashioned lighthouse with peeling white paint. A rocky cliff closes off one side of the beach, and the other side is barricaded by a long, rocky jetty.
We climb off our bikes and lay them down in the sand, and I follow Hali as she walks toward the building.
“This is Mermaid Beach, and that’s the Circe Key Lighthouse,” she says, pointing toward our destination.
“Mermaid Beach?” I ask with a grin. “Have you actually seen any mermaids swimming around here?”
I’m joking, of course, but Hali’s expression twists into one I don’t recognize for an instant before smoothing out. She pulls open the door of the lighthouse, then takes my hand and pulls me inside as she talks.
“There’s a documented history of mermaid sightings around here, actually,” she says as we head up the spiral staircase.
“Sailors have long claimed to have heard a beautiful singing, a song so sweet they had no choice but to follow it. Too many ships had crashed into the rocks on this side of the island, so the residents built this lighthouse to signal the sailors, leading them to a safe harbor and breaking the power of the sirens’ song. ”
“What would the sirens get out of killing the sailors?” I ask when we reach the top and look out over the vast ocean.
“I don’t know,” she says. “Maybe they just hate humans.”
“Or maybe they want to eat them,” I joke, but it falls flat when she doesn’t smile, her expression turning melancholy. I turn toward her. “Hey. Are you okay?”
She seems to snap out of her sudden funk, giving me a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes as she answers, “Of course, I am. Do you want to go walk on the beach? People find all kinds of shells and sea glass down there.”
“Sure,” I say, searching her eyes but finding no answers in their green depths.
My worry subsides as we hit the sand, though, because Hali seems to snap back into her earlier happy self.
We laugh and joke as we comb the beach for treasure, and Hali squeals when she finds a large piece of blue sea glass and declares I should have it because it matches my eyes.
I take it from her and slip it into my pocket while she smiles up at me, and I’m just so happy, I wrap my arms around her and pick her up off her feet.
She squeals and laughs, shouting, “Put me down, you big brute.”
“Big brute?” I snarl playfully. “ Rude . Maybe you need a dip in the water to cool off.”
I start trudging toward the water line, then freeze when Hali starts to fight me in earnest. Her eyes are wide and her chest is heaving as I set her on her feet. I take a step back out of her personal space, holding my hands up in supplication.
“Hali, I’m sorry. I was only kidding.”
“You can’t do that,” she says on a shaky breath. “You can’t force me into the water. Ever .”
“I would never,” I assure her.
She searches my gaze, and she must decide I’m being honest because she nods and starts to calm down. I’m relieved, of course, but also confused as hell. I know she can swim. Like a fish, in fact, judging by her nighttime swim the other night. She shouldn’t be scared of the water. At all.
We start walking again, and she stares at her feet silently for several long beats before looking up at me. Taking my hand, she squeezes it tightly before speaking.
“I’m sorry I freaked out on you, Brendan.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” I say, and she shakes her head.
“When I was little, I was at the beach with my mom when this older boy––who was a known bully––thought it would be funny to pick me up and toss me into the water when Mom wasn’t looking.
I got pulled deeper by a riptide, and if Mom hadn’t noticed me fighting for shore and jumped in to save me, I would have drowned.
The whole thing was traumatic, and even though I’m a strong swimmer now, stuff like that brings it all back. The panic. The fear.”
“Oh, God, Hali. I’m so sorry,” I say, feeling like the worst piece of shit.
“You didn’t know,” she says with a shake of her head.
“Well, I do now. I promise I won’t do that again.”
My promise seems to flip a switch inside her, because she shoots me an impish grin before moving in behind me and jumping on my back. I laugh and grip her thighs tightly to steady her, and she cheers me on as I run back toward our bikes.
When we reach them, I’m warm all over from the exertion and Hali’s joy, so when she hops off my back, I feel like I have no choice but to spin around and kiss her. She kisses me back with wild abandon, her earlier fear and anger forgotten, and I feel like all is right in the world.
We smile at each other for several long beats after the kiss ends, then we climb on the bikes and set out for home. I’m glowing like a teenager in the throes of his first crush, and I never want this feeling to end.
Ever .