Page 8

8

Claira

I couldn’t believe Barren carried me back to his room just to leave me here all alone. My heart had raced as I’d watched him leave. Even more than it had when Laverne was snapping at my heels, though I didn’t blame her. If I’d found someone I hated spooning with my best friend, I wouldn’t be happy either.

But then Barren had appeared, carried me away from the madness, and practically ran from me. And for at least ten minutes, I stood exactly where he’d placed me, staring at the door, waiting to see if he would change his mind and run back.

Honestly, it was thoughtful of him to get me clothes. I needed them. So why was I so disappointed he hadn’t burst back into the room? Sigh .

“Because you’re a pervert now,” I mumbled to myself as I rounded the bed, heading for Barren’s bathroom. Maybe there would be a towel in there I could cover up with until he returned with some real clothes.

I might have been a pervert, but was it really my fault when these mermen kept touching me, hoisting me up and carrying me around like it wasn’t a big deal at all? And after being tucked close to Kai for the last few hours, my body was welcoming the contact. Heck, it was practically expecting it. Which wasn’t fair to Barren at all.

Leaving a hotel room naked after being chased out by a sea lion? Yeah, that wasn’t how I’d imagined my morning going. But again, Barren had saved me, dropping me off in his room and staring down at me with those dark, lustful eyes as he brushed his hand along my neck. And then he’d left me. Now that wasn’t fair.

Pushing the memory away, I stormed into the bathroom. Two rolled towels sat up on a little shelf next to the vanity. I grabbed the top one, snapping it open and folding myself inside it. Then I tucked the end of the towel into my cleavage, completing the look. Beautiful , I thought with a roll of my eyes.

I still didn’t know why Barren hadn’t offered me one of his shirts. He was so large, they’d probably reach past my knees. But everything in his room was so orderly, so maybe he was just as particular with his shirts? That made sense. I wasn’t exactly keeping up with my clothes these days.

Damn, now that I was looking, his bathroom really was eerily immaculate—complete with a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste sitting perfectly perpendicular to the edge of the vanity. Even the towel hanging over the shower curtain had its corners aligned, like he’d deliberately taken time making it square after he’d hung it. “ Huh. Can’t relate,” I muttered. He would hate seeing the inside of my closet.

Wandering back out of the bathroom, I took a seat on the edge of Barren’s bed and waited. And waited. Then the blank TV started calling to me, and while I was looking around for its remote, I noticed the phone sitting on the bedside table.

… How hadn’t I realized there were phones in these rooms?

I could have been checking in with Dad and Gram this entire time, instead of waiting around all sulky because a merman I barely knew hadn’t ravaged me the moment he’d had me alone and naked in a room with a bed. Though Barren had wanted me—well, his body had, at least. The front of his sweatpants had made that beautifully, pointedly clear. I bit my lip at the memory.

Mmm… Gray sweatpants. I hadn’t imagined someone as put-together as Barren would wear them, but I certainly wasn’t complaining.

My stomach heated, and I pressed my legs together to stifle it before I got carried away. Simmer down, pervert.

I needed to get that image out of my head before I made my call. So, I slapped my burning cheeks, then reached for the phone.

Just as I picked it up, two knocks rapped against the door, quick and confident.

Somehow, just by the sound of it, I knew it wasn’t Barren. Putting the phone down, I tip-toed to the door, holding on to the front of the towel to make sure it wouldn’t fall. “Hello?”

I peeked through the peephole and saw the distorted figure of a woman waving a hand in front of her face, her lips tight as she called back, “Hurry and open the door, darling.”

My hand hesitated on the doorknob. Barren had told me not to let anybody in. But when I didn’t immediately let her in, she added, “I’ve brought your clothes.”

My face heated. Barren had gone to see a woman about getting me new clothes? Nope, even though I had no right, something in me didn’t like that one bit. As soon as I turned the knob, the door swung open, and the woman strolled right inside, dragging a sleek, black suitcase behind her. My eyes followed her in, amazed at how every inch of her oozed a confidence I could only dream of. She swung the luggage right on top of Barren’s perfectly made bed like it was her own.

Who was this woman?

The emerald polish on her fingernails shined as she went for the zipper, and it hit me. The harpoons. The bag of pearls. She had sat in her Mustang in front of the hotel to deliver them.

“Claira.”

I jumped at the deep note of Barren’s voice. He was standing in the hallway, far enough away that it was clear he wasn’t trying to follow her in.

My eyes slid down his body, which was a mistake. He was still shirtless, still in those damned sweatpants. Had a store really let him in? A shoulder brace hardly counted as clothing. And more importantly, had he asked this woman to go with him for help? I couldn’t keep the tint of envy from shrilling my voice as I asked, “I see you’re back from shopping. Who’s your friend?”

Damn . That had come out at least a hundred times more accusatory than I’d meant it to, and Barren’s dark eyebrows drew together like it had shocked him, too.

His lips parted. “Clai?—”

“We’re not friends,” the woman sang out behind me, cutting Barren off. She waved a hand over her shoulder and tapped a heel over the carpet like she was already bored with the whole situation. “Now close the door, darling, so we can get to work. And then I can leave with a nice chunk taken off of my debt, okay?”

Well, that was blunt and to the point. I was about to close the door when Barren’s voice stopped me. “My Queen employs her.”

“Oh?” I looked over at her again, taking in her otherworldly features. She was a mermaid, of course, but she worked for Barren’s queen, not Barren. “Right. That makes sense.” I’d never heard him mention his queen. For Barren and the Indian Ocean’s sake, I hoped she was nothing like King Eamon.

Barren scratched at his neck, looking extremely uncomfortable.

“Okay, bye-bye now,” the woman trilled, edging next to me and forcing the door shut in Barren’s face. Then she turned her attention to me. “You can trust me, darling.” Grabbing me by the shoulders, she urged me over to the bed, where she’d already lain out an assortment of pants and sweaters.

“I’m Rocci. I didn’t know your size, so I just pulled together what I could find.” She took a step back, humming and focusing on my chest like some sort of psycho. Instinct had my arms moving up to the top of my towel, but she swatted them back down to take in all my angles.

I definitely hadn’t signed up for this. “Um—” I started, but my voice died away when she pulled out a couple of bras that could easily fit my entire head in just one of their cups.

“Well, these certainly won’t work.” Her tongue clicked as she tossed them aside, making room to dig through the rest. “ Curved didn’t exactly give me much to go by.” Why was she talking so loudly? It was like she was trying to make sure everyone on the entire floor heard every word she said.

As she worked to untangle a wad of G-string panties, I noticed a beige bra that looked close to my size and went for it. “What do you mean by curved?” I asked, dropping the towel to put the bra on.

The woman threw her dark hair around as she chuckled. “They asked for your size when they took the order, and can you believe that oaf said you were small and curved ?” She backtracked to the door as she spoke, taking another look out of the peephole like she was making sure there wasn’t someone listening on the other side.

My belly swooped as I thumbed through panties, looking for something that was held together by more than just lace and strings. “Barren said that?” Sure, next to him, everyone probably seemed small, but it was nice to hear. Then her words sank in, and I shot her a look, frowning. “He’s not an oaf.”

But her entire demeanor changed now that she had revisited the peephole, and dread pooled over her face as she pulled away from the door. “Oh, honey ,” she whispered, corralling me in her arms into an embrace I was not prepared for. “What has that beast done to you?”

“What?” My voice cracked as I shuddered, but she kept hugging me.

Nope, nope— I didn’t like this.

I ducked down, sliding out of her arms, and when my eyes found hers again, there was a sympathy swirling in the depths of her emerald eyes. “He was supposed to capture you, but this…” She kept to a whisper, cupping the side of my face when her voice trailed.

I really did not like this.

It was then that I realized where she was looking—the marks Kai had left on my neck. “Oh, you poor thing,” she continued, “I knew he was a monster, but I never imagined he would take you like this. ”

Pity soaked her words as her eyes swept over my body. Like this . This, meaning, marked and naked . The look she was giving, she thought Barren had done something unspeakable to me.

Wait—Barren was supposed to capture me ?

“Barren… Barren hasn’t done anything to me.” I kept my voice as low as she had kept hers. It was a good thing, too, with the way she was throwing around words like beast and monster .

Rocci hummed, leaning over to pick up a black knit sweater with an extra long neck, testing it against me to see if it would cover all the marks. “ Poor thing . Everyone is on standby, waiting for his signal to take you.”

What? It wasn’t true—it couldn’t be true. If Barren had wanted to take me without asking, he would have already done it. Nothing would have stopped him. He’d already had me alone when Kai and Laverne were both still asleep.

But he did steal glances at his phone a lot, that checking often accompanied by a nervous energy I hadn’t felt comfortable prying into. This wasn’t some sort of covert operation for him, was it?

Rocci offered me the sweater along with a pat on the shoulder, and my hands felt oddly numb as I took it and pulled it on. Although the knit was warm and loose around my neck, my throat was tight when I asked, “Where is he supposed to take me?”

“Oh, honey, I know you’ve got brains in there.” She planted a hand on her hip with the same attitude she’d had when she strolled into the room. “Or it wouldn’t have taken him this long to steal you away from the Atlantic. I think you know where and why he wants you.”

I shook my head. “He wouldn’t force me to go to the Indian Ocean. Not without asking first.”

Would he?

Rocci gestured at my neck. “You sure about that, darling?” She leaned in, lowering her voice to the barest of whispers. “Don’t let his silence fool you. You don’t know what he’s capable of. He knows every thought you’re thinking, so he’s always one step ahead, just like his scheming sister. Then there was that scandal with his impairment …”

A weaker neck would have snapped with how fast I pulled away from her. While she might have had good intentions, now… now I was angry.

“There is nothing wrong with Barren.” Despite trying, I couldn’t keep to a whisper. Rage shook through me as her eyes widened. I snatched up a pair of pants and a wad of underwear without even bothering to check their sizes. “I think I’m good with these. Thanks for the clothes. Sorry you had to bring them.”

Rocci settled her hand back on her hip as she sized me up. Then she scoffed. “Don’t worry, honey, I’ll be compensated nicely for this little errand.” She turned away with a twist, acting as if she was the one dismissing me. “Blow Queen Javalynn a kiss for me when you see her.”

She started throwing clothes back in her luggage, and I took the time to wrangle the plainest, least chafe-inducing G-string out of the bunch. Fantastic. I could only hope these weren’t hers.

When she had the suitcase zipped, I’d pulled the pants up. Fortunately for my curves, they had some stretch.

She threw the suitcase down on its rollers and headed for the door, her nose held high. When she opened it, Barren was waiting on the other side. His eyes snapped straight to me as he backed away, giving her room to leave.

“Take care now, darling,” she called out, waving her emerald painted fingernails over her shoulder, obviously not meaning a word.

I shuddered, thankful to see her go. Mermaids were something else.

Barren was just standing at the door, so I toed over to him and stepped out in the hallway, just to make sure she was gone.

“I seem to have trouble getting along with other mermaids.” I huffed, and although my sweater covered me, I could still feel Barren’s dark eyes on my neck.

Well, it was official. Even with clothes on, things were still weird between us. Rocci sure hadn’t helped on that front.

When he finally tore his eyes away from me, he let out a breath and shouldered through the door. “Let me get changed, and then we’ll leave.”

Wait—we were going somewhere?

Although he flipped the lever to keep the door cracked for me, I didn’t follow him in. Something about standing in the open felt safer, and I couldn’t help but think over Rocci’s words as I looked down the empty hall.

“Everyone is on standby, waiting for his signal to take you.”

Merfolk were savage—I knew that—so why would the Indian Ocean be any different? They’d bought a whole hotel at some point, though I’d assumed they’d done it when the curse had hit to monitor the Atlantic. But what if they’d purchased it to keep an eye on me ?

I pondered that thought until the door creaked as Barren came back through it. He’d gotten dressed so quickly, he was still straightening out his suit jacket so the buttons would lie flat underneath the strap of his brace.

“That was fast.” I offered a smile, then noticed his curls had gone flat. His hair spilled over his eyes. “Did you get a shower?” That had to be some sort of record.

“Mmh,” was all he said, and it made me nervous.

“Don’t let his silence fool you.”

“So, where are we going?” I asked, then held my breath as I waited his answer. At the top of his pocket, his car keys were just visible.

Barren froze to look at me from under his curls, his hand still on his jacket. “To breakfast.”

I exhaled. Breakfast sounded innocent enough, and I’d never known Barren to joke about food.

“Great. We ate all the food you left for Kai in the fridge hours ago. It was delicious, but now I’m starving.”

It was barely noticeable, but the corner of his mouth lifted, just a hair.

Then he mussed his wet hair, looking up at the ceiling. “And then I thought we could go for a drive,” he said, carefully. Too carefully.

Dammit.