Page 29 of Bewitched By the Siren (The Bewitching Hour #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Brendan

So…I didn’t get a recording last night.

I know I was supposed to. I know it was the whole reason I was there. The whole reason I was sent to Circe Key in the first place.

But when Hali walked out onto that stage and smiled at me, I couldn’t even bring myself to try. She trusts me. And I have a visceral need to be worthy of that trust.

But knowing I did the right thing doesn’t ease the turmoil in my gut this morning. Julius is going to be pissed. I’ve been dodging his calls and ignoring his text messages since midnight. I swear, the man stayed up all night waiting for his footage.

Footage I will never deliver.

I’m so fucked. At best, Julius will demote me and give me only the crappiest of crap assignments from now on.

At worst? He’ll fire me on the spot when I admit to failure.

And I have no doubt he’ll send someone else down here.

Someone who won’t give a shit about Hali and her desire to remain unknown.

For some reason, I have an innate desire to keep her safe. To protect her from my boss and his machinations. To protect her anonymity. To protect her from the whole God damn world, if necessary. And that desire is the most powerful emotion I’ve ever felt.

The thought of protecting her reminds me of what happened last night at the bar.

Rage nearly consumed me when Hali stopped singing, and I tracked her horror-filled gaze to the man in the back.

He was pointing a camera at her and refused to stop recording when she asked.

So, of course, I took the initiative to stop him, myself.

That protective urge swelled inside me, giving me no choice but to do something.

Then the man started screaming about mythical creatures, and though I realized he was probably off his meds, my anger didn’t lessen. The thought of him trying again when I’m not around, of him approaching Hali for any reason…

It makes my blood boil and freeze at the same time.

What would happen if he were to corner Hali when I’m not there? When she was alone and vulnerable?

My phone starts to ring, so I pull it from my pocket. My thumb hovers over the icon to accept the call, but it’s Julius, and I’m not ready to talk to him yet, so I tap the icon to send him to voicemail, instead. I can’t deal with that––with him––right now.

Slipping the device back into my pocket, I walk to the door and pull it open.

I need to think, and the beach is the perfect place to do that.

I breathe in the briny air as I walk across the sand toward the water.

The sound of waves curling against the shore relaxes the tight muscles in my neck and back, and I roll my head from side to side to stretch them out.

I can’t ignore Julius forever. He’s going to keep calling and texting.

If I want to have any hope of keeping my job, I’m going to have to get that recording of Hali at tonight’s performance.

I’m going to have to break her trust and send it to Julius.

And I don’t think I’ll be any more capable of doing that tonight than I was last night.

Hell, it would all be for nothing, anyway.

Hali doesn’t want to sign with me as it is, and she definitely won’t be changing her mind if I were to do that. If I were to go behind her back to get the footage. If I were to betray her.

Hell, I don’t even know why she doesn’t want to be recorded. I mean, at first, I assumed it was a bar policy, and that’s what I gave Julius as an excuse for not recording her last week. But getting to know Hali this week has given me a deeper perspective. The choice is hers.

She doesn’t want to be recorded.

I thought it’s because she has no desire to be “discovered,” but after last night, seeing the terror on her face when that jerk was filming her?

I’m not so sure that’s it. It feels like there’s something far deeper going on here.

She’s never even recorded her voice for herself.

That was obvious when we listened to the thumb drive Natasha made for her.

This whole thing just feels…bigger, and I can’t figure out why.

Lifting my gaze from my feet to the expanse of beach before me, I pause when I see a familiar figure walking about fifty yards in front of me. Her strawberry blonde hair is loose and flying in the breeze, and the skirt of her long dress tickles the sand beneath her.

“Hali,” I shout as I pick up the pace, but my voice get carried away by the wind and smothered beneath the crash of a large wave, so she doesn’t hear me.

I walk faster, then stutter to a stop when a dark-clad figure darts out from between two houses and rushes right for her. I shout her name again as I start to run, but the sand is thick and dry here, making my steps wobbly as I try to gain purchase.

My heart pounds up into my throat as Hali spots the man, whips around to face me, and starts running in my direction. But it’s too late. He’s nearly on her, and I’m not going to reach her in time to stop whatever it is he has planned.

I hear her scream as the man wraps his arms around her, picking her up off the ground.

Her feet kick violently as she fights for her freedom, but the guy is just too strong.

I grunt as I try to run faster, angling my body toward the ocean.

As soon as my feet hit the wet, more compacted sand, I pick up the pace, sprinting toward Hali and her attacker just as the man starts to wade into the shallow water.

Fuck. Is he trying to drown her?

I reach them when he’s knee-deep, but before I can snatch Hali away from him, he drops her.

Grabbing his shoulder, I spin him toward me as my other hand swings forward, fingers curled into a fist that clips him right on the cheekbone.

He howls and jerks out of my grasp, crab-walking backward through the water toward the sand where he’ll be out of my reach.

I turn to help Hali stand, but she’s already on her feet. Her expression morphs from horrified to regretful to resigned, then she groans and collapses.

“Hali!” I shout, lunging forward to help her up.

Before I can touch her, a giant fin arcs up out of the water, making me jerk backward.

I lose my balance and fall over, splashing beneath the surface.

I scramble to my knees before brushing the hair and water out of my eyes so I can see.

The fin flaps up again, revealing the large green tail it’s attached to.

I can’t move. I can’t even breathe.

Looking past it with my mouth hanging open, I meet Hali’s eyes. The color of her irises is a near-perfect match to the tail swaying in the water between us. Her eyes flood with tears before she looks away, flips over onto her stomach, and uses that large tailfin to propel herself away from shore.

Away from me.

“What the fuck?” I mouth, no sound escaping my lips.

“Yes! I knew I was right! And now I have proof .”

I turn to see Hali’s attacker on the beach, his phone out and pointed toward the spot from which Hali just disappeared. I push myself to my feet and charge him, not giving him time to run away and escape. I’m running on instinct. And my instincts are screaming at me to protect Hali.

He flinches like he’s expecting another punch to the face as I bear down on him, but I don’t take the swing.

Instead, I snatch the phone from his hand.

He shouts at me to give it back, but I simply rear back and chuck it toward the ocean with all the strength I possess.

It hits the water with a small splash, then sinks beneath the surface, hopefully to never be found again.

“You fucking asshole,” the man growls. “That was my only proof.”

He continues to berate me, but I can’t hear the words over the sounds of the ocean and my own heart pounding in my ears.

He must wander off eventually, because the next thing I know, I’m alone.

I’ve been staring at the water for who knows how long, looking for any sign of Hali.

Hoping she’d wade out of the water, laughing at how she got me good with that incredible practical joke.

But I know it wasn’t a prank. I saw her legs disappear and form into that tail. I saw the horror in her eyes as she watched me watching her. The resignation when she turned and swam away.

I start to walk, and the next thing I know, I’m standing in my rental with no idea of how I came to be there. Making a decision, I walk straight into the bedroom, pull my suitcase from under the bed, and start to pack.

I have to get out of here.

I can’t stay.

I just…can’t.