Page 15

Goldilocks froze.

Perched on the edge of the pool, Sam curled forward with a pained groan. He reached for Goldilocks’s offending hand, but he had already released Sam’s hips.

“Sam.” Goldilocks cupped his cheek. Bent forward, Sam saw Goldilocks’s cock slip back into his tail. The parted scales closed, and after a blink, there was no trace of it left. “I apologise. I did not mean to hurt you.”

Still curled forward, Sam waited until the sharp ache subsided into a dull throb.

“I forgot your injury. I…” Goldilocks’s head tilted. “Why is it this severe?” His tone shifted, softness giving way to anger.

A gentle touch explored the beginnings of the bruise on Sam’s thigh as Sam examined his hip. His skin, naturally pale, contrasted with the angry bruise surrounding his hip bone, standing out like a neon sign on a dark night.

“I hit it on a boat,” Sam said. “That’s a little more serious for me than it is for you. And it was sore from before too.”

Goldilocks picked up the jar he had been using moments ago, applying a generous amount of ointment to his fingers. Sam, recovering, straightened, shifting his weight to his right side to avoid pressure on his left. He watched Goldilocks work, feeling only the lightest of brushes as the strange-smelling ointment was spread over the bruise.

“I did not mean to hurt you,” Goldilocks repeated, regret in his voice. His brow furrowed, his face tense with unhappiness.

“I know,” Sam said. And he did. He fully believed that Goldilocks’s actions had been guided by eagerness and excitement, not carelessness or disregard. His skin heated as the back of Goldilocks’s knuckles brushed against the head of his cock. He sucked in a sharp breath, tensing anew, and reached to hide himself. The cover of the milky bathwater had been left behind, leaving Sam exposed.

Goldilocks touched the back of Sam’s hand, his golden eyes flicking up to meet his gaze. “You do not need to be shy,” he said plainly. “Your cock is pretty; there is a nice curve here.” Goldilocks guided Sam’s hand away, and Sam let him, transfixed, watching as Goldilocks took him in his hand. Goldilocks’s touch was exploratory. He squeezed, seemingly testing Sam’s reaction, and then thumbed the base of his head.

Sam jerked, grabbing Goldilocks’s shoulders as he curled forward again, biting back a groan. He’d flagged after that jolt of pain, but he was reviving quickly.

“Hm.” Goldilocks made a pleased sound. “I like this very much.” His free hand, the one not lazily jerking Sam off, thumbed his pubic hair. “Red? Very pretty. I said you would please me, did I not? There is no need to be shy.” Goldilocks affectionately nuzzled Sam’s cheek.

Sam leaned heavily into him, breaths ragged. He gripped those wonderful golden locks between his fingers. “That feels good,” he murmured. His dirty talk paled compared to Goldilocks’s, but Sam didn’t think the merman minded. And Sam was sure he wouldn’t be too pleased if he started telling Goldilocks what to do either.

Sam let his eyes fall shut and enjoyed .

“Your little gasps are pleasing to me as well,” Goldilocks told him, working his length with perfect pressure and maddening slowness. Sam wrapped his other arm around Goldilocks’s shoulders, drawing him closer. Goldilocks fit between his legs, pressing soft kisses to Sam’s throat.

“It is very sweet, the way you pull my hair, and I enjoy the way your cock twitches so nicely.” Goldilocks continued his praise. He kissed and nuzzled Sam’s throat, the line of his jaw; he even buried his nose into the sensitive spot beneath his ear and blew teasingly against the skin as he whispered more praise. Sam quivered.

His climax hit like a rogue wave, sudden after the torture of Goldilocks’s slow strokes. Sam jerked his hips, groaning as he spilled into Goldilocks’s hand. As he petered out, his energy receded, and he collapsed onto Goldilocks’s shoulder, spent and gasping for breath. Sweat tickled as it raced down his torso and back.

Goldilocks’s shoulder slowly tensed beneath Sam’s forehead. He touched Sam’s spent cock carefully.

“You did not enjoy it?” Goldilocks asked, clearly displeased.

“What?” Sam murmured, tired. “I did? I literally just came in your hand.”

“That was not even twenty seconds.”

“Um…” Head heavy, Sam didn’t really feel like straightening up to address this. “I’m pretty sure that’s normal for a guy.”

“It is not.”

Sam huffed. “Goldilocks, we’re different species. Alright? It’s normal for guys.” At least Sam thought so. Right? Right ? He was going to have to look this up the second he went home. He’d never given much thought to how long his orgasms usually lasted. Given that after Connor he’d been too scared to date another guy, his experience was pretty limited.

“You did come for a long time,” Sam mused, considering it. But he hadn’t exactly been clocking Goldilocks either.

Goldilocks shifted, releasing Sam’s spent cock to rest on his thigh. “Perhaps your injury is the reason,” he said. “Or your shyness. We will work on both,” he promised.

Sam, about to tiredly tell Goldilocks that he could show him the Google search when they got home, paused. He wasn’t sure if dissuading the merman from trying to give him a longer orgasm was really in his best interest. Sam chuckled. “I can’t believe we just did that.” He couldn’t believe he just did that. Four years of near abstinence and here he was, getting hot and heavy with a merman from another world. The chuckle turned into a snicker.

Goldilocks stayed still, not disturbing Sam, though he had practically collapsed onto his shoulders, and that was probably uncomfortable for the merman.

“We will rest after the bath,” Goldilocks promised him. “I will mount you after you are healed, only.”

Sam let his hand run down Goldilocks’s arm, his fingers gliding over wet skin. Every inch of him was a lovely golden tan. “I have to go home,” Sam said, reluctant. He didn’t want to put an end to the spoiling, but he couldn’t just stay here in good conscience either. He had responsibilities waiting for him at home. Obligations. And Sam could only ignore reality for so long.

Goldilocks tensed. “You will rest.”

“I” – Sam straightened up – “will go home.”

He met Goldilocks’s gaze and didn’t back down from the challenge in his eyes. Just because he’d let Goldilocks boss him around all morning didn’t mean he was in charge of Sam. “I have to check on my dad, and then I have to go to school. Midterms are due soon. I need to work on them.”

“You do not like school,” Goldilocks said plainly.

Sam couldn’t refute the flat statement, especially not after what he’d admitted to Goldilocks about it last night. But he didn’t have it in him to just agree either. “It’s not that I dislike it…I find it hard. But I want to attend.” It felt and sounded like a lie, and Goldilocks’s expression said so too. “I want to graduate and earn my degree,” Sam corrected. That much was true, at least.

“You can stay here. You do not need any of that.” Goldilocks’s top lip twitched. “You do not need to provide. I will do so.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. Did a hook-up in this world equal a commitment? Sam wasn’t sure that exchanging handjobs suddenly meant Goldilocks should be providing for him. “I want to graduate,” Sam reaffirmed. “And I need to go home and check on my dad.”

Goldilocks’s brow tensed, lines forming. “You are displeasing me,” he finally said.

“Be displeased then,” Sam replied firmly. “You don’t get to control my life just because of” – he gestured vaguely between them – “this.”

At that, Goldilocks’s top lip did curl back. He didn’t hiss or snarl, though Sam was sure it was building in his throat.

“You do not understand,” Goldilocks said.

“I’m sure I don’t. But you don’t understand me either,” Sam pointed out. “My dad matters to me more than anything. I’m never going to take off and leave him to starve in the house. Or…” Sam pulled his feet from the water, walking away from Goldilocks to retrieve his clothes. “Leave him for other people to take care of.” He slipped the robe on. “They don’t treat him well. I know it’s not on purpose a lot of the time, but they get impatient with him. It’s not fair on him. He isn’t being difficult on purpose. He just…” Sam trailed off, shoulders slumping. “It’s just better if I do it.”

Goldilocks stepped out of the water behind him as Sam stooped to pick up his boxers. He wasn’t going to wear them, since they were stiff from being dunked in ocean water, but he didn’t trust the robe not to become sheer in daylight. He’d be giving everyone an eyeful on the walk to the boat.

“I have clothes prepared for you,” Goldilocks said. “Leave it for the servants to clean. Come.”

Sam hesitated, twisting to peer at Goldilocks as he finished putting on his shirt. His expression was blank, but Sam could feel his irritation. Sam followed him through a door connected to the baths. A large bed dominated the floor space. It looked big enough for Goldilocks to fit on, even if his tail was out. And that, Sam guessed, was the entire point of it.

Goldilocks retrieved a pile of neatly folded clothes from a dark wood dresser opposite the bed. Sam accepted the bundle from Goldilocks and went to the bed. He turned his back on Goldilocks, leaving the robe on until after he pulled on the underwear – which were white and sheer. He tugged on a billowing white long-sleeved shirt with golden embroidery on the hem and neckline and a pair of brown soft-leather trousers. The outfit fit perfectly. Sam felt ridiculous.

Sam turned to the window, looking out at the ocean. White sails dotted the horizon line. Open oceans. Blue skies that had deepened in colour since Sam had come here. “What time is it?” he asked.

“Evening,” Goldilocks answered. “The time will change when we return.”

“They said breakfast when we ate. We haven’t been here that long?”

“Breakfast was served for you,” Goldilocks explained. “There is time to rest,” he added.

Sam sighed. “I’m going back.” He glanced down and saw his boat against the dock. Jasper, the tailed guard, was still inspecting it. He hoped Goldilocks was right about nothing being taken. “I can go myself.”

“I will lead you. Come.” Goldilocks walked Sam to the same door they’d entered from. At the dock, Jasper inclined his head toward them both as they approached, then kept it bowed until they were both on board.

At a quick glance, everything appeared to be in its rightful place. Sam entered the cabin and powered on his equipment, more out of curiosity than necessity. As he waited for everything to power up, he watched the compass spin endlessly. Connor had shown Sam this before; anytime they got close to The Tear, all the equipment began to malfunction. The radio crackled into static. The GPS fizzed out. The compass spun endlessly. Anything that could run independent of a signal seemed to be fine, however.

“Crap,” Sam said.

Goldilocks stood at the cabin door. “There is a problem?” he asked, eyes sweeping over the equipment.

Sam rubbed the back of his neck, brushing his hand over the bite mark by accident. “I’m low on fuel.”

“I will pull.”

Sam huffed. “I can’t even imagine how strong you are to be able to pull this across the ocean. And for miles?”

“Do not imagine. You will see,” Goldilocks said. “You may rest.” He paused, then continued with a slightly hesitant note. “If you wish more comfort for your nest, there are blankets here. A gift. I am not criticising,” he added quickly.

Sam stepped out to see quite the collection on board. The fabrics were deep blues and greens, clearly dyed pelts of some sort, though Sam couldn’t hazard a guess as to the type of animal they could have come from. “Thank you,” he said.

Relief relaxed Goldilocks’s face. “Rest. Sleep. I will wake you once we have returned.”

Before Sam could tell Goldilocks he wasn’t tired, he turned his back to Sam, quickly stripping and jumping overboard. His legs became a tail before he disappeared beneath the water. Sam turned to the dock to untie, but Jasper had already done so and was neatly securing the rope into its proper place. He nimbly hopped off the boat after a final tug, and the boat didn’t even dip under his graceful movements.

There was a click at the bow. Sam turned to see that Goldilocks had taken up the slack of the anchor and was tugging. The water rose up either side of the boat, and Sam caught the nearest railing as the decking suddenly lifted from the back. He turned in confusion, the wave rising out of nowhere in the well-sheltered cove and from the wrong direction. But his eyes didn’t provide any answers; he could only observe and watch as a wave that surrounded only Sam’s boat lifted it from the water and propelled it forward.

The wave kept Sam’s boat in its grip as they passed through the gap in the rocks and out onto the open sea. They reached the same speed Sam could achieve when pushing the engine at full throttle. Sam looked on in amazement as they travelled. Waves disturbed the surrounding waters, but all died and dispersed as they got close, not affecting the swell that had Sam’s boat in its grip.

The settlement was out of sight when the clouds and mist that concealed The Tear became visible. Sam gathered Goldilocks’s discarded clothes and put them away, then sat on the trunk, watching as they approached. His skin prickled, goosebumps breaking out across his entire body. Through the towering Tear, he could see the sky covered in clouds, the ocean dark and choppy. Beyond the protection of the swell, the waves grew larger. Two different oceans met here, and the wildness of the waves proved it. Apprehension tightened Sam’s gut. Any one of the powerful waves here had the potential to capsize his boat if they hit it broadside, and they all formed and broke in unpredictable directions. But even the largest could not reach him, not with Goldilocks and his power, which Sam now saw was far more impressive than his physical strength.

Sam tried to spy the edge of the rip in the sky, the exact moment where one world met the next, but it rippled where he expected to see a hard border. Growing and shrinking, waving like a flag in the wind. Sam wondered what would happen if they touched the edge. What would it feel like? What would happen to them?

The large waves died as they reached the boat, and Sam stood on the bow, seeing Goldilocks swim ahead, chain in hand, totally unbothered. Sam’s ears popped as they passed through, and a shiver worked its way down his spine. The temperature dropped; the sun no longer warming Sam with its rays. He waited, shivering, watching, until The Tear was well behind them and hidden behind mist and clouds, before digging out his jumper. It was stiff, the way clothes got after being dunked in seawater, and didn’t exactly match his strange outfit, but he pulled it on anyway.

Sam eyed the collection of fur blankets on board and stooped to pick them up, carefully putting them away in the cabin. They were luxuriously soft, and they were surprisingly heavy. Sam bet with them he wouldn’t spend another cold night in this cabin.