Page 103 of Goldilocks
That was a lot to digest, and Sam took the time to think through Ivan’s words. He’d exposed himself. Laid his insides bare, and Sam’s instincts urged him to shield the vulnerable flank. “I’ll like you fine,” Sam said, “so long as you stop the crap about my dad. He never hurt Eric. He never hurt me. He’s a gentle soul, and he spent his life being flayed apart by the likes of you for no good reason.” Sam saw a range of emotions passing over Ivan’s expression. Saw the doubt wrangled into a smile.
“Of course,” Ivan said.
“You’re lying,” Sam said, hard. “You say I’m a good judge of character? Don’t you think I can tell what’s in my own dad?”
Ivan’s jaw clenched. “What about Eric? What do you make of him? The brother you don’t remember?”
What did Sam think of him? Serious and sensitive. A chronic overthinker and worrier. Eric, who showed up. Who made good on his word. And Sam would be so stupid to think it was only guilt or regret from leaving as a teenager. Eric had practically been shouting in Sam’s face how much he cared since the birthday party; Sam just wasn’t willing to listen.
“I wish I remembered all of him,” Sam said gently. “I know that…I know he loved me, and given how much, I know it must have been absolute hell for him if he was driven out and left me behind.”
Ivan leaned in, grabbing Sam’s wrist. “Can you appreciate, then, why I’m so skeptical when you tell me that your dad was good to him? Cause he loves you more than anything, so what in God’s name sent him running to the city and left him too petrified to ever come back?”
And Sam knew.
He knew why there was a gap in his head where Eric should be. Why he’d been so scattered. Why a nameless dread filled him whenever he thought of going home, so he avoided it more and more. Running away. Leaving his dad behind because he was too scared to go near the house. Leaving his dad behind, the same way Eric had left the both of them behind.
The worst part was that Sam had known for a long time now too. His mind just shied away from the information like it was something his brain physically couldn’t accept.
“Eric’s scared of the boat,” Sam said, realising. And he bet that’s where it started. A fish dredged out of the water with a vicious little worm inside of it. And once it was on board, there was no Goldilocks around to do anything about it. Nobody in this world, bar a solitary creature locked up in a lab, who even knew what it was.
“Where your dad was.”
Sam’s headache worsened to the point where it felt like his head was splitting apart. He gritted his teeth and focused on Ivan. Focused on the white knight ready to go to war for Eric.
“What if there was a third person on that boat?” Sam asked.
“A third – hah.” Ivan’s expression shuttered, swapping from intense to his more usual hard-to-read smile. “Let’s shelve this. We’re friends now, alright? So, as friends, let me tell you that texting Eric to go to the house to meet while you’re here having drinks is some next-level mean-girl bullshit which, frankly, I’m surprised you pulled.”
“When have you ever seen me text anyone?” Sam said, distracted. “Screens are a nightmare – wait, what? What did you just say? That’s a joke, right? Eric isn’t—” Sam knocked his drink standing up. “He went to the house?Alone?” Horror lanced through him. At the edge of the outdoor seating, Sam saw Jasper, and he had the pointed-eared guard in his grip in an instant.
“There’s a ghoul – I need you.”
Jasper’s eyes brightened. He straightened up, and his sharp chin jutted down in a quick nod. “Where?”
“A ghoul?” Laurence chimed in, his head tilting, not the slightest bit of alarm in his expression. Sam, so intent on Jasper, hadn’t even noticed Laurence behind the outdoor bar right next to him. “What’s that?”
Ivan came in at Sam’s shoulder. “Why the hell did you react like that?” he demanded. “What’s at the house? There’s no way whoever broke in is still—”
“Laurence.” Sam scanned his surroundings, finding no merman anywhere. Yachts crowded the ocean, none of them Connor’s. He’d said they were going out to recharge, and Roan had gone with them. “Can you find one of them? If any of them can hold their form, bring them to my house. Please.”
Laurence met Sam’s eye. “Okay. I will.” He leapt out from behind the bar and took off toward the pier, calling, “Bee! Dew! You there?”
Sam released Jasper and darted around the side of the pub. He didn’t need to haul Jasper with him; he was on Sam’s heels. Sam practically threw himself into the car and had the engine rolling over into a rumble. The faithful vehicle, his mom’s last gift to her sons, didn’t fail him now. Jasper got into the passenger seat, and in the same heartbeat, Ivan had the back door ripped open and leapt inside too.
Sam didn’t have time to chase him back out.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Sam pressed harder on the gas pedal.
“He’s not picking up,” Ivan said, his voice razor-sharp.
In the passenger seat, Jasper slid a wicked-looking blade from its sheath, tilting it toward the light, examining the edge with a practised eye. Ivan butted forward between the two seats. “Is that thing real?” he demanded.
“Real?” Jasper questioned. He re-sheathed the blade and tied back his hair with a brown leather band. “It is metal from the stars. I earned it through my skills at court,” Jasper informed Ivan. He probably hadn’t intended to wind Ivan up. Ivan took his irritation and unleashed it on Sam.
“What is going on?” he demanded. “Is Eric in danger?”