A Mermaid's Kiss

by Katie Holland

  We finished the joint and talk turned to how many women we were each going to bang. Since everything was a competition for us, I decided to make a wager.

  “Alright assholes, listen up,” I said. “Let’s make a bet on this. Whoever gets the most girls by the end of September wins. We each put in five hundred and the winner takes it all.”

  “Why not make it a thousand?” Bodie said.

  “Fine. A grand each and four grand to the winner,” I said.

  “How are we going to prove it?” Chad asked.

  “Take a picture of their pussy,” I said.

  “Are you fucking crazy?” Zack said. “No chick is going to let us do that.”

  “This is for four grand, we’ve gotta up the stakes on this one. Besides, I think you’ll be surprised what college girls will do. No faces, just pussy.” I knew they would agree. They always agreed to what I said. I watched them debate for a minute before we all shook on it. This was going to be fun.

  Chapter 3

  Kayleigh

  After we got back from the beach yesterday, we found a small café to eat dinner at then we went back to the dorm. More people had moved in, and true to my word, I made an effort to talk to them. Karma and I were now on our way to Orientation. It was sure to be full of nervous newbies, just like me. I was glad we arrived early yesterday, and had a chance to find our way around campus.

  We were divided into four lines alphabetically. That meant Karma and I were temporarily separated. We were both on full-ride scholarships, so that meant two different sets of lines. First, we had to get our ID’s and information packet, then we had to get our food cards.

  I was looking for Karma when I bumped into someone.

  “Excuse me,” I said to them.

  “So, she does have manners after all,” a semi-familiar voice said.

  I looked up. It was the guy from the beach yesterday. “Major, right?”

  “Yep. You remembered,” he said, looking a little too pleased with himself.

  I just nodded. I had no idea what to say to him.

  “So you’re a student here?” he asked.

  “Yes. You too?”

  He nodded. Wow, this was a stimulating conversation. I could do better.

  “So, I’m guessing you are from around here somewhere?” I asked.

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Watching you surf. You made it look easy, so I assumed you’ve been doing it for a long time.”

  “You know what they say about assuming things,” he said, with a smirk.

  I couldn’t win with this guy, so I decided to stop trying to be nice.

  “Do you have a problem with me?” I asked him. Even I could hear that it sounded bitchy.

  “Nope,” he said, popping the p and walking away.

  “Who was that?” Karma asked from behind me.

  “That asshole from the beach yesterday, Major.”

  “Asshole huh,” she said, with a smile. “What’d he do to piss you off?”

  “He exists.”

  Karma laughed. “Wow, I’ve never seen anyone get to you so fast.”

  “Oh, they have, I just usually don’t say anything.”

  “I’ve known you forever Kayleigh, and I say that he’s gotten under your skin.”

  “Whatever. So, are we done here?” I asked, changing the subject.

  “Yep. Let’s get out of here.”

  We had to be back at the swim complex at 2:00 pm for a team meeting, but until then we were free to do what we wanted. I was a bit of a worrier, so I wanted to find where all my classes were before Monday. And because Karma was my friend, she dutifully accompanied me. Since swimming was my main focus, I hadn’t decided on a major yet, it was the same for Karma. So until we did we just had a bunch of general classes.

  An hour later we were done searching for classrooms and my stomach was growling. We found one of the campus cafeterias and sat down for lunch. I was expecting the food to be terrible, but I was pleasantly surprised at the healthy choices they had. I ended up with a chicken avocado salad. Being a competitive swimmer, I had to watch my diet. I almost never ate anything greasy.

  “So,” Karma said, when we sat down, “What did that Major guy do to piss you off?”

  I was hoping she would have let that go, but I should have known better. I relayed the entire conversation to her. All she did was laugh at me.

  “What is it about him that bugs you so much?” she asked. “He seemed okay to me.”

  “I don’t know, but you know how I feel about guys that are hot and act like all women should fall at their feet.”

  “I don’t think he acted like that at all. Actually, I think he and his friends were all very nice.”

  I snorted. “Nice, that’s funny. I think you mean hot. You just want to get all of them in bed.”

  “True,” she said smiling. “I mean, come on Kayleigh, they all had bodies I could lick for days.”

  Despite the visual, I had to laugh at her. “Well, he’s a student here so the chances are good that his buddies are too.”

  Karma licked her lips and smiled. “I might have to go hunting.”

  I just shook my head at her.

  We finished lunch and went to the bookstore to get what we needed. It was a good thing I was on a scholarship, because otherwise, I’d have never been able to afford to be here.

  We got what we needed and went back to our dorm. I was trying to unlock our door when my phone started ringing. As I tried to answer my phone, my books fell everywhere. That was typical for me.

  “I’ll get the door,” Karma said. “You answer your phone.”

  I did what she said. “Hello?”

  “Kayleigh dear, it’s Nana.”

  “Hi Nana,” I said loud enough so Karma would know who I was talking to.

  “How are you settling in?”

  “Okay,” I said, putting the phone between my ear and neck and started to pick up my books.

  “Met any cute boys yet?”

  “Nana!”

  She just laughed on the other end. “Alright. We won’t talk about boys. So tell me what’s it like out there?”

  I told her about the campus and the beach, leaving out the part about the hot surfer boys. There are just some things a girl doesn’t tell her Nana. But I should have known better.

  “Nana,” Karma yelled, “we met some hot guys at the beach yesterday.”

  I was hoping Nana didn’t hear, but she did. I wasn’t going to talk about that with her so I handed the phone to Karma. She’d talk to anyone about anything. I took the opportunity to put my books in my room. By the time I was back, Karma and Nana were laughing about something, probably me.

  “Bye Nana,” Karma said. “Love you.” She handed the phone back to me.

  “What were you two talking about?” I asked. “Wait, I probably don’t want to know.”

  Nana chuckled so I knew I was right. “I’m glad you seem to like it there,” she said.

  “So far it’s great. But, I’m reserving judgment until classes start on Monday. We have a team meeting this afternoon. I’ll let you know my practice schedule when we’re done.”

  “Okay honey. You take care and have fun.”

  “I will. I miss you, Nana.”

  “I miss you too. Bye, sweet baby.”

  “Bye,” I said and hung up.

  “I just love your Nana,” Karma said, when I put the phone down. “She’s a cool lady.”

  “I can’t argue with that. I’m lucky to have her. So, what do you want to do? We’ve still got an hour until we have to be at the swim complex.”

  “I say enjoy some of this California sun. Let’s go people watch.”

  Karma loved people watching and, truthfully, so did I. I grabbed my sunglasses and we left the dorm. We found a bench close to the swim complex and sat down to enjoy the afternoon sun. Back home in Tulsa, it was over 90 degrees today, but here it was a lovely 75. I could get used to this.

  Just before 2:00, we
walked over to the building that was going to be our second home. There were about a dozen other people sitting in the stands waiting. Karma and I joined them.

  “Excuse me, are you Kayleigh Mills?” someone said, from behind me.

  I turned around. “Uh … yes,” I answered. I had no idea who this guy was.

  “It’s great to meet you. I’m Wes.”

  “Hi, Wes. Do I know you?” I hoped that didn’t sound rude, but I had no clue if I was supposed to know him or not.

  He smiled at me. “No, we’ve never met in person, but I’ve seen you compete before. You’re really good.”

  “Oh, well thanks.” I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or creeped out.

  “It was last year at Nationals. I got knocked out in an earlier meet and got the opportunity to watch the rest of the competition. You swam the 100m freestyle and kicked everyone’s ass.” He grinned.

  Okay, so maybe he was a little cute.

  “I remember that swim. It was a good day.” I glanced at Karma and silently begged her to rescue me, but she wasn’t moving. Instead, she smirked at me. “So, where are you from?” I asked.

  “Dallas. I’m here on a scholarship.”

  “Me too, I mean the scholarship part, not Dallas.”

  He smiled at me again. I’m sure I sounded like an idiot. Luckily for me, one of the coaches got our attention and our meeting started.

  Forty-five minutes later, we were done. I’d met my teammates, was issued my school swimsuits, and given our practice schedule. Karma and I compared schedules, they were the same. We had practice Monday through Friday from 6 am to 8 am, and again Monday through Thursday from 4 pm to 6 pm. If there wasn’t a meet on Saturday, then it was practice from 8 am to noon. The only time off we had was Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday. It was going to be hectic but if I focused, I could do it.

  Chapter 4

  Major

  As I predicted, I hated my dorm room. It was cramped and ugly. But at least I found a place to put my surfboard. Somehow I was able to get Bodie as my roommate. I suspected my parents had something to do with that. They were both alumni of Bay State, and still heavily donated to the University. Even one of the buildings was named after our family.

  “Hey man, you ready to go?” he yelled from the other room.

  “Yeah, just give me a minute,” I yelled back.

  I took one last look in the mirror. I knew I looked good and I was sure to score tonight. We were headed to a party that I’d heard about, and I was planning to get into someone’s panties tonight.

  “Alright, let the games begin,” I said, as we left the room.

  We met up with Zach and Chad then found our way to the party. It was in full swing by the time we got there. It was a frat house. I had no intention of joining a frat, but I knew they could throw a hell of a party.

  “Okay gentlemen,” I said, before we walked in. “remember, no faces and unless you actually stick your dick in, it doesn’t count.”

  The boys looked at me and smiled. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

  I walked in and started searching. There were a lot of hot women here, this was going to be easy. I found the keg and got a beer. I chugged it down and refilled it. Now it was time to make the rounds.

  Flirting came naturally to me and women fell for it every time. I walked around the house stopping to use my charm on the women that caught my eye. I loved this part just almost as much as I loved fucking them.

  I was in the living room when I spotted her-- the brunette from the beach yesterday. I had fun riling her up earlier when she ran into me, so I thought I’d do it again. I walked over until I was standing in front of her.

  “Kelly right?” I yelled over the music, knowing full well that wasn’t her name. I had an excellent memory when it came to people.

  “Nope,” she said, popping the p like I’d done earlier.

  “Karla?”

  She glared at me and I smiled. This was going to be even better than at Orientation.

  “Kerri? Katie? Karly? Kathy?” I asked, picking random names.

  Her glare intensified so I sat down beside her. She moved over so that she wasn’t touching me. Naturally, I moved closer to her.

  “Don’t you have someone else to go bother?” she asked, with disgust on her face.

  I loved her accent. “Nope, I’m all yours Kayleigh.”

  “Lucky me,” she said sarcastically.

  “You know a lot of women would love to have my attention.”

  “Then, by all means, go give them your attention,” she said, gesturing to the room.

  “Are you always such a bitch?’ I asked, knowing that would really get to her. In my experience, most women hated when you called them a bitch.

  “Wow, asshole much? And bitch, really? That’s the best you’ve got? I figured you’d be more creative than that.”

  I just smirked at her and she continued talking.

  “Believe it or not, I’m usually a nice person. You just seem to bring out the worst in me.”

  I laughed. I hadn’t expected her to be so honest.

  “I’m actually surprised you remembered my name,” she said.

  “A lot of things about me might surprise you,” I said, and left her sitting on the couch. I don’t know what it was about her that got to me, but so far she was my favorite thing about Bay State. I finished my beer and went to find the girl who was going to be my flavor of the night.

  Chapter 5

  Kayleigh

  I’d already been done with the party, and after my encounter with Major, I’d had enough. I don’t know how I even let Karma talk me into coming here. I went in search of her to tell her I was leaving. I found her in a corner making out with someone. I tapped her on the shoulder, not caring that I was interrupting her.

  “I’m leaving,” I yelled over the music.

  Karma told the guy to wait a minute. “Come on Kayleigh, stay a little longer, I’m just starting to have fun.”

  “I’m not asking you to leave. I just need to get out of here. Besides, we have practice tomorrow morning and I want to get some sleep. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  “No need,” I told her. “You should continue what you were doing, wouldn’t want the poor guy to get a bad case of blue balls.”

  Karma laughed at me like I’d just made the world’s best joke. To anyone else you’d have thought she was drunk, but neither one of us ever touched alcohol after what happened to my parents.

  “You’re sure?” she asked.

  “Positive. Have fun. The dorm is only a few blocks away. I’ll be home in like five minutes,” I assured her.

  She finally agreed, and I fought my way through the crowd to the front door. I had barely taken five steps out the door, when someone grabbed my arm. Without even thinking, I grabbed their wrist and bent it back to the point they were on their knees. Nana had made me and Karma take self-defense lessons for the last two years.

  When I looked at who it was I almost laughed. It was Major.

  “What the hell?” he said, looking up at me, clearly confused.

  “Sorry, it was a reflex.” I helped him up.

  “Do you do that to everyone who touches you?” he asked, stepping back from me.

  “I do if I’m in a strange place full of drunk guys and one of them grabs me.”

  “Okay, fair enough,” he said rubbing his wrist. “I guess I shouldn’t have grabbed your arm like that. I just wanted to know where you were going.”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m going back to the dorm,” I told him.

  “By yourself at night? That doesn’t seem very smart to me.”

  “As you can see, I can clearly take care of myself.”

  That put a smile on his face.

  “Clearly. But let me walk you home anyway.”

  “You don’t need to do that. I’m sure there are a dozen girls in there just waiting for your attention.”
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  “I’m sure there are, but my mother would kill me if I let you walk by yourself in the dark. You owe me that much after almost breaking my wrist.”

  “Fine. I can’t stop you from walking in the same direction as me,” I said, and started down the sidewalk again.

  “Where did you learn to do that anyway?” he asked, as we headed in the direction of the dorms.

  “My Nana insisted that I take self-defense classes. I took them for two years.”

  “Looks like they worked,” he chuckled. “The only time a woman has brought me to my knees before is when …”

  I don’t know why he stopped, but I wanted to know what he was going to say. “Is when what?”

  “When I fuck her from behind,” he finally said.

  “Did you think that was going to shock me or something?” I asked.

  “Maybe. I don’t know. You’re a hard person to read.”

  “Yeah, well so are you,” I told him.

  This was one of the strangest conversations I think I’d ever had. I was glad when the front door of the dorm was in sight.

  “Well this is me,” I said.

  “But this is the athletic dorm?” he questioned.

  “And?” I said.

  “I know you’re not from here by the way you talk, so what are you at Bay State for?”

  “I’m a competitive swimmer. And, I have practice tomorrow at 8 am so I’m going inside now.”

  “A swimmer huh, cool. So, you want company tonight?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

  “Thank you for walking me home. I guess I’ll see you around,” I told him.

  He laughed at me. “Good night Kayleigh,” he said and walked away.

  I went up to our room and changed into my PJ’s. I looked at the clock, it was only 10:30. I had to laugh at myself. My first Friday night in college and here I was in my PJ’s, at 10:30 at night about to read a book.

  At least I’d gone to the party. Watching a bunch of people get drunk just wasn’t for me. I’d also never been one to stay out late. I usually had practice early every morning and I wasn’t good on little sleep. I propped my pillows up and settled back with my eReader. I was in the middle of a really steamy romantic suspense book, and couldn’t wait to see how it ended. I dove right in and was soon lost in the fictional world.