Ménage of the Siren [Sirens and Sailors 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Bella Settarra

  “That is not all! She broke it in two places thanks to your mate, Zigor Durango. She was in the boat he sabotaged. He damn nearly killed her, as well as the men.” Ligia was getting really annoyed now.

  “He’s no friend of mine,” Palben said grimly. “I didn’t know anything about all that until afterward, and I certainly didn’t know Ademia was onboard. You poor thing.” He put a soothing arm around her shoulder. “I’m so sorry that happened to you,” he said softly.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Ademia said with a smile.

  Palben lifted her chin up and kissed her squarely on the lips.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Dr. Jay suddenly appeared in the doorway. Everyone in the bar looked around, as the large man strode over to the little table, and his two colleagues filed in behind him.

  Ligia looked up to see Aitan glaring at her. She felt as though history were repeating itself, having been caught in a similar position with Kalliope not so long ago.

  “I asked you a question!” Dr. Jay’s booming voice filled the bar.

  Ademia was bright red. Partly due to embarrassment, partly with rage and partly because of the amount of wine she had drunk. “He was kissing me,” she said with a tiresome sigh.

  “I could see that!” Dr. Jay was furious. “Would you care to tell me why?”

  “Maybe he likes me. Maybe he thinks I’m worth spending time with,” Ademia said in a singsong voice, which made Ligia gasp.

  “Oh he does, does he?” Farris joined in.

  “Gentlemen perhaps you would care to take this outside?” The barman suggested.

  “Good idea.” Farris smirked. “You…outside!”

  He gestured to Palben who silently stood and scurried out the door.

  “And you.” Dr. Jay pulled Ademia’s chair out from the table. She shot him a glare and stood up. Then she almost fell down again. Dr. Jay caught her, and she tried to shrug him off angrily.

  “I can manage,” she snapped at him.

  “Clearly you can’t.” His voice was deep and gruff. She thought it best not to argue.

  “Come on,” Aitan gestured to Ligia with a sigh.

  She got up and followed them outside, with Mikel bringing up the rear.

  Dr. Jay sat Ademia down on a bench outside the tavern and stared at her. She didn’t like that look. He still looked angry, but there was something else there, too. Hurt. Disappointment.

  “Would you like to explain what the fuck you were doing with our girl?” Farris snarled at Palben, who shrank back against a wall.

  “I…I was just consoling her,” he said in a meek voice. He really did look very puny next to the large, muscular sailor.

  “It’s true, Farris,” Ligia said with a sigh. “He was just saying how sorry he was that she was caught up on the ship that night. He hadn’t realized she was onboard.”

  “And that gave you a right to kiss her, did it?” Farris was in no mood to relent.

  “Well, I…I didn’t know she was with you.” Palben’s attempt to reason with the big man was falling on deaf ears.

  “And that makes it OK, does it?” Farris had the scrawny young man by the scruff of his neck. Palben was looking even more pale than usual.

  “I’m s-sorry,” he managed.

  “Let him go,” Dr. Jay said with a weary sigh.

  “Can’t I rough him up, just a little?” Farris was disappointed.

  “No, I can’t be bothered to wipe up the mess.” Dr. Jay replied as he helped Ademia to her feet.

  Farris shoved Palben roughly and the young man slumped down against the wall, breathing heavily. Mikel rushed over to help him, once he was sure Farris wasn’t going to do any more damage.

  “You leave our women alone in future, d’ya hear?” Farris yelled at the two men as they tried to scurry away from him.

  They nodded up at him nervously.

  “Where are we going?” Ademia’s words were still a little slurred, which made Dr. Jay fume.

  “We’re going home,” the doctor announced and hoisted her up into his strong arms.

  “I can walk,” she protested.

  “Not in a straight line you can’t,” the doctor reminded her.

  Reluctantly she put her arms around his neck and allowed him to carry her up the street to the harbor. Her arms were tense at first, but as his heat and masculine smell surrounded her, she found herself relaxing into the comfort of the handsome medic. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the ride.

  Ademia slept most of the way home. Ligia explained to the men exactly what had happened and Farris thumped the side of the boat in frustration.

  “I still don’t see how he thinks he has the right to kiss her!” he grumbled.

  “I’m just sorry she thought I’d chosen to be at the hospital instead of being with the two of you,” Dr. Jay said a little sadly. “I didn’t want her being bored while she waited for them to fill me in on the scan, that’s all.”

  “It was what that nurse had said that upset her,” Ligia explained. “She told Ademia that you two were an item.”

  “That’s rubbish. I wouldn’t touch that woman with a barge pole!” Dr. Jay was clearly annoyed.

  “Good,” Ligia continued. “Because she made Ademia feel very self-conscious about her size.”

  “What’s wrong with her size?” Farris was genuinely shocked.

  “She feels a bit, you know, big!” Ligia blushed as she said it.

  “She’s not big, she’s just right!” Farris exclaimed, “No offence Ligia, but could you really see us with someone your size? We’d be terrified of breaking ’em in two if we touched ’em. Ademia is perfect. You can hold her and touch her and cuddle her and…well, you know what I’m sayin’.”

  Ligia giggled as Aitan gave her a hug.

  “It’s all to do with proportion, Farris. That’s what makes Ligia so perfect for me.” Aitan laughed.

  “And I’m very happy for the both of ya,” Farris grinned.

  “So, Nurse Reis was rude to Ademia about her size?” Dr. Jay was still looking serious.

  “I don’t know if she said anything exactly,” Ligia said, “but she certainly made her feel uncomfortable. Women can do that sometimes just by looking at someone, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know.” Dr. Jay was quietly seething. He stroked the hair of the blonde beauty asleep in his arms, and kissed the top of her head. She smiled in her sleep.

  “That’s how they get away with it,” Aitan said ruefully. “They make sure you can’t pin them down on anything. I’ll see what I can dig up on the bitch.”

  Aitan and Rechavia had the only computer on the island, and they all used it to full advantage. Not only had the young girls been able to learn many things about the outside world from it, but it had proved invaluable to the islanders when they needed to get advice and information to fight for their rights to keep their homeland. Their ability to Super-Skype had kept them in touch with those on the mainland on both sides of the water.

  By the time they reached Refrainia it was getting dark. Dr. Jay carried Ademia up to the big house, where they said good-bye to Aitan and Ligia. As the young couple strode up the path to their little hut, the two large men entered the house. A candle was lit and a cold buffet had been left on the table for them.

  “That girl is golden!” Dr. Jay said as he looked around their tidy home. The drapes had all been pulled across and the place was spotless.

  “Good old Melantho,” Farris said with a grin as he helped himself to some flatbread.

  “I’ll take sleeping beauty straight up,” Dr. Jay said and made his way up the staircase.

  He placed Ademia on her bed and covered her with a soft blanket. This was the only house on the island that didn’t rely on leaves for bedcovers and tree stumps for stools. Hermandine, the chief elder who used to live here, insisted on the best of everything. Her house was filled with items that she had ordered the Sirens to collect from the shipwrecks for her. They dared not disobey her, and she relished in
all the luxury she could get.

  “Will she be OK?” Farris asked as they tucked into a delicious supper.

  “She should be,” Dr. Jay said with a sigh. “She’ll probably be a bit sick when she wakes up, though. Alcohol and meds never mix well. I’m surprised she did it.”

  “She thought you’d rather be with that nurse than her. She was jealous, bro,” Farris said with a smirk. “That’s what I call progress.”

  Dr. Jay wasn’t so sure. “She was annoyed at me so she went and kissed another guy.” He shook his head.

  “We’ll just have to keep a closer eye on her next time,” Farris said, finishing another griddle scone.

  “Like we should’ve kept a closer eye on Tomasine?”

  “Ademia is nothing like Tomasine and you know it! I don’t see how you can possibly compare the two. I know that girl hurt you, bro, she hurt me too, but she chose to cheat on us. She was a lying, scheming…”

  “I know, Farris. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I know Ademia would never do anything to hurt us. We’d never have to worry about her cheating on us. I can’t believe we let Tomasine get away with it, how did we not see it coming? And the way she tried to laugh it off as if it didn’t matter really makes my blood boil. She wasn’t the person we took her to be at all. Ademia’s not like that, we can trust her. She’s a lovely girl, without a mean bone in her body. I just wish we could get through to her, you know? Make her see how good it could be.”

  “Well, I don’t think she’s got a problem with ménage, bro, and we only have to look at her to know she feels the same way about us as we do about her. All we’ve got to do is put the two together.”

  Both men had been badly hurt by their previous ménage relationship. They had been together with Tomasine, a young nurse from Eastland, for four months before they found her cheating on them. One of their trips from the other side of Eastland had docked early so they thought they’d surprise her. Instead, she tore their hearts out by having another man in their bed. It wasn’t just being unfaithful that hurt, she took the opportunity to unleash a barrage of cruel insults at them, too. She called them freaks for wanting a permanent ménage, she said it wasn’t natural and they were fools to ever believe they would find a woman who wanted to live her life that way. In her opinion, ménage was only for one or two nights, not for life.

  Her words had stayed with them far longer than she had. Neither felt that they would ever trust anyone enough to try again. They had the odd one-night stands, but never attempted anything more permanent. Not until they docked at Refrainia and met Ademia. She was all that they wanted in a woman, and more. They clicked as soon as they met each other, and always had lots of fun together. They could feel the sexual tension mounting as they spent more and more time together, and the men were certain that it was right this time. She was everything they ever wanted, beautiful, funny, carefree, happy, caring, intelligent, tactile, helpful, sweet and loving. They couldn’t love a woman more.

  “If only it were that simple.” Dr. Jay sighed.

  * * * *

  It was still dark when Ademia awoke. Her head throbbed and she felt sick. She went woozy as she stood up and held onto the bed for support before straightening up and heading for the door. The sound of heavy breathing filled the air as she crossed the landing and made her way down the narrow stairs. She held her hand in front of her mouth, breathing deeply to try to delay the inevitable.

  The air was still cool as she left the house and made her way toward the sea. Bile rose in her throat and she was soon heaving noisily as far from the house as she could get. She went onto the beach and lay on the cool sand when she had finished. Her head was swimming and she felt her limbs go limp. She wasn’t sure how long she lay there, listening to the sea shushing quietly as the tide made its way out. The soft breeze that flowed over her was soothing, and the sand beneath her refreshed her flushed body.

  Opening her eyes to bright, dawn sunlight, she slowly stood and strolled along the water’s edge. The sand was quickly warming in the hot sun, and she relished the relative coolness of the water as it washed over her feet. Ademia slowly strolled all around the island until she came to Destiny Rock, the small outcrop where the Sirens used to lure the sailors to wreck their ships. Being a little shaded this early in the morning, the rocks were still quite cool.

  She laid her hot body on a flat boulder and enjoyed the peacefulness and cool air that wafted over her. She allowed her thoughts to drift as memories of yesterday slowly re-emerged in her foggy mind. As she remembered the wrath she had incurred of Farris and Dr. Jay, her thoughts led to Palben. He had done nothing wrong, and yet they had humiliated him in front of all those people. Her sympathies lay with him, and she began to feel angry with the two men, who had acted like thugs instead of gentlemen. She felt disappointed in them. Dr. Jay, in particular, was always well-mannered. It was one of the many aspects of the man that appealed to her.

  Her mind slowly drifted to the other aspects that appealed to her about the man, his big, pale-blue eyes, his large, muscular frame, his deep, sexy voice. She felt a gush between her legs and giggled to herself. Farris’s gorgeous face appeared in her mind’s eye. His looks were more rugged. His masculine stubble which tickled her face when he came close to her, his deep, brown eyes, and those muscles! Another gush in her bikini panties convinced her it was time to move. She dived off the rock and into the deep, green sea below to cool off.

  She welcomed the bite of the water against her flushed skin as she dove deeper into the sea. As Sirens, the girls had all learned to dive and swim underwater so that they could retrieve whatever treasures the ships held. Anything, from small sticks of furniture to boxes of food, was valuable to the islanders in those days. Sometimes they would be asked to look out for certain items, usually by Hermandine, but the key was to get whatever they could as quickly as they could. Most items were no good to the women once they had been in the sea for a while. Food would perish and furniture would rot. Fabrics didn’t last long in the salty water, so it was rare that they would pull out any clothing or linens. It was only Hermandine who made use of textiles, anyway. Ademia found herself down by one of the old wrecks and she spent a while investigating it.

  * * * *

  Farris was the first of the men to wake in the big house. After a good wash, he pulled on the pants of his sailor’s uniform and made his way next door to check on Ademia. The sun was just rising, and streaks of light peeped through the gaps in the drapes of the guest room. Frowning, he neared the bed, where her pillows lay askew and her covers were still ruffled and open, but the girl was gone.

  His heart sank as fears of her being taken ill in the night flashed across his mind. He went straight down the hall to Dr. Jay’s room, thinking he might find out more.

  The doctor was just crawling out of bed, stretching widely, as Farris burst in. “You OK, bro?” he asked through a yawn.

  The look on Farris’s face told him the answer was no.

  “Where’s Ademia?” the sailor asked cautiously.

  Dr. Jay’s face fell in horror. That told Farris all he needed to know and he ran down the stairs to search the rest of the house. He ventured outside but there was no sign of her.

  “She’s not here, Jay. I’m going to check the beach,” he told his friend, who soon appeared behind him wearing just his pants.

  “I’ll check the girls, she may have gone back home after all,” Dr. Jay said, recalling yesterday morning’s conversation. He knew she had been annoyed at them for making the decision to move her in without consulting her. It was just possible she had decided to go back to live with Melantho and Sapphire.

  The two young girls were shocked to see the handsome doctor on their doorstep so early in the morning, and even more shocked when they discovered the reason for his visit. His face was crestfallen when they replied that they hadn’t seen their friend. He made his way to where Aitan and Rechavia lived next to each other up the little path. Again, no one had seen her. Rechavia
offered to go and ask Hebe and Naida if they knew anything, but didn’t hold out much hope. Dr. Jay returned to the beach where Farris had searched everywhere for her, and was even more anxious when he heard that there was still no sign. At the little harbor, they checked that all the boats were still there, so they knew she hadn’t taken off to the mainland again.

  As the sun rose higher over the ancient island of Refrainia, more and more people joined the search. Once it was established that no one had seen her since last night, panic began to set in. They were running out of options by the time they all gathered on the beach to discuss what to do next.

  “She was such a strong swimmer, she can’t have drowned,” Kalliope announced with a worried frown.

  “She had been drinking on top of taking her medication,” Ligia reminded her friend. “She might not be in full control of her body.”

  Both girls held each other tightly as the possibility dawned on them, and there were several murmurs from the rest of the islanders.

  “We’ll take the boats out and go look for her,” Rechavia said, rounding up some of the best sailors.

  “We need everyone else to search the island, she must be here somewhere,” Dr. Jay called out as the sound of nervous chattering rose higher.

  “And what if she’s not here?” Farris mumbled to his friend as the crowd dispersed in all directions. “What if someone’s taken her?”

  The thought had crossed the doctor’s mind too, but he couldn’t bring himself to dwell on it. “Who would do that? And why?” Dr. Jay perused.

  “Well, that bastard Durango swore revenge when Rech humiliated him in front of the women, maybe that scrawny fucker from yesterday bears grudges too. We don’t know him, he could have contacts.” Farris suggested thoughtfully.

  “I get that they could have sailed over in the night, but surely we’d have heard if anyone had got into the house. Besides, I couldn’t see our girl going quietly.” Dr. Jay replied with a shake of his head.

  “Unless she didn’t have a choice,” Farris said ruefully.