He shivered, but his eyes never opened. I couldn’t help but let my gaze wander down his muscle-carved chest to his cock, sitting limp against his thigh, before I shook myself and grabbed the towels from Joey. We dried him as quickly as we could before we had him up and on my bed, the blankets wrapped tightly around his body.
“Don’t you want to get him into clothes?” Joey asked, panting in exertion as he stared down at the stranger. Now that the man’s blond hair was dry, the curls seemed bouncier and tighter.
I chuckled at the absurdity. “If you want to attempt to get him into clothes, good luck. He’s unconscious, Joey, he’s not going to help us.”
Joey shook his head, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “What was he doing in the water? Do you think he was in a boat accident? I didn’t see anyone else.”
“I don’t know….” I sat on the bed beside him, frowning. “Go upstairs. Find out how far we’re out. He needs medical attention. Call the Coast Guard while you’re up there, we’ll need an ambulance when we get back to the marina.”
Joey didn’t need to be told twice. He rushed out the door, closing it firmly.
The stranger shivered again and his mouth moved, like he was trying to say something, and I leaned in to try hear what he’d said, but there was no sound. I touched his face, his skin as soft as any I’ve ever felt. Not even a woman’s was as smooth and gentle as his.
“Who are you?” I whispered, memories of that night our boat overturned flashing through my head. Had he gone through the same thing?
I ran my thumb over his brow and down his temple, and he sighed, the glimpse of a smile playing over his lips. Fuck, he was beautiful, more than any woman I’ve known, even Amber in her incredible exquisiteness. His plump mouth parted and he let out a breath, small and barely there, but at least I knew he was still alive.
“We’re going to get you back safely,” I said, running the pads of my fingers over his bottom lip. “You’ll be okay.”
Chapter Four
Ethan
It’d been two days since we got the stranger to the hospital, two days since I waited for news about him. I gave them my contact info, and when I finally got the call, I was on the boat with Joey. The crew had been let off for a few days with pay, and I kept them updated with what we were planning, but I didn’t want to leave until I knew the beautiful man was okay.
“Hello, is this Mr. Turmont?”
“It is.” I stretched and glanced at Joey, who’d stopped the cleaning he was doing to stare at me.
“Your John Doe is awake at Marina Hospital, sir.”
I nearly tripped over my feet trying to get off the boat. Joey clearly didn’t need to ask what was happening because he shook his head and grinned at me as I waved at him on my way down the jetty. Marina Hospital wasn’t far from the harbor, which is how it got its name, and all I had to do was run a few blocks before I got to the three-story red-bricked building that looked older than most of the other ones around town.
I was met by the receptionist, who knew me well by now, and she led me past the security doors.
“You know where to go. Nurse Cassidy is waiting for you,” she said helpfully.
I didn’t bother thanking her as I strode to the elevators and reached the second floor. Like the receptionist had explained, Nurse Cassidy was standing behind the nurses’ desk when I stepped out. She was the same lady who’d helped me with the stranger when I first walked into the emergency room with the paramedics. She was older and had her gray hair pinned at the back of her head. Silver cat-eye glasses perched on her upturned nose. It also wasn’t hard to recognize her as the nurse who had helped me after Amber found me.
She smiled when she saw me and ambled around the desk to stop in front of me. Her light blue uniform dress was pressed perfectly, same as every other time I saw her. “Hello, Ethan.”
“Nurse Cassidy.” I glanced down the hallway and then back to her. “Is he….”
“He’s awake.” She waved at me to follow her, and we started a slow journey down the ward. “Though he hasn’t spoken. He’s tried, but he can’t speak.”
“He’s a mute?” I frowned at her.
She nodded. “We believe so, yes, but it seems he’s also surprised by that fact. There could be a number of medical reasons why he can’t talk. His larynx could be damaged or he could still be in shock.”
“Have you seen this happen before?”
She hummed before shaking her head. “Not to this extent. We’ve never had an awake John Doe before. We asked him to write his name, but he couldn’t do that, either. Actually, he looked very confused when we gave him a pen and paper.” She stopped outside a room numbered 213 and turned to me. “But you did want to know when he woke up. Maybe you can help us with his recovery.”
I glanced toward the closed blue door and shrugged. “I’ll talk to him.”
She smiled and opened the door. Stepping inside first, I walked past the curtain which had been half pulled around the bed to give him some privacy. The moment I saw him, however, I held back a gasp. He was even more gorgeous now that he was dry and not looking like a drowned rat. His skin was healthier, his cheeks brighter, and his eyes were open and the color of the same ocean we’d fished him from—the bluest blue I’d ever seen.
He stared at me for a second. His mouth curled and he held up his palm in a wave. He moved his lips, almost like he was saying hello, but when nothing came out, his dark blond eyebrows furrowed.
“Hi.” I stepped closer to the bed. “I’m Ethan. I found you floating in the water.”
He nodded and grabbed my hand, placing it on his chest, and then he made some dramatic hand gestures that I didn’t understand. I turned to Nurse Cassidy, but she shook her head. She pointed at the pen and paper on the small portable table that rested over his bed, the kind on wheels that most hospitals had.
I grabbed the paper and pen and wrote down my own name before I showed it to him. “That’s my name. What’s yours?”
He tilted his head, nose wrinkling, and looked up at me again. He didn’t move to touch the pen and paper, which made me wonder if he even knew his own name or if he knew how to write.
I sighed, and so did Nurse Cassidy. She squeezed my shoulder. “I’ll be outside if you need me.”
She left, and I watched her go, not quite sure what I was supposed to do now. I didn’t know this man and he didn’t know me. I couldn’t help someone like this, not that I wanted to. My life now revolved around finding the merpeople.
I sat my ass on the bed near his thigh and frowned down at him, and he stared back. There was something about the look in his eyes, though. I couldn’t decide if it made me uncomfortable or not. It felt like worship. Was that because he knew that I’d saved him?
“Do you understand me?”
He inclined his head, and I took that as a yes.
“I found you floating in the ocean on a piece of wood. Were you in a boat accident?”
He shook his head. At least he spoke English.
“What were you doing there?”
He shook his head again. Okay, maybe he didn’t understand as much as I thought he did because now he smiled at me.
“What’s your name?”
Another shake of his head.
“Fuck.” I shoved myself to my feet and stalked to the window to stare outside. The Marina Hospital had the perfect view of the ocean, with the waves rocking boats of all shapes and sizes in the harbor. I could see The Mermaid Hunter from here, and Joey, too, but he was more of a dot than an actual person.
Hands touched my arm, and I jumped, turning toward John Doe as he stepped closer to me. He wore a white hospital gown that reached his knees, but his feet were bare. Smiling at me, he pressed his hand against the glass of the window and looked at me again with a tilted head.
“Yes, out there. I found you out there.” I shifted closer to him, like an instinct I couldn’t deter, and his gaze traveled down my body with an intent I couldn’t quite work out. His stare jerked
back to my face and he stepped closer, bringing a strange crisp scent of the ocean with him. How was that even possible?
He reached up and touched my mouth with his finger, pulling at my bottom lip, and his smile grew wider.
“Who are you?” I mumbled, a strange sense of recognition stirring in my belly. It was like I knew him, but didn’t. Maybe I’d met him before.
He pushed himself up on his tiptoes, and his mouth was so close to mine that it didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was about to do. A stranger—a male—was about to kiss me. It was at that point I should have taken a step back, told him off in my typical asshole way, but I stood there instead, let his lips touch mine in a gentle, inquisitive kiss that felt both strange and attractive. He was a dude, yet his mouth was so soft, and it didn’t last long before he pulled back. A flush filled his cheeks and his mouth curled in a wide grin, almost like he was laughing without the noise of it.
I frowned down at him, at the way his chin dipped in embarrassment, and moved with an outrageous need that I’d never felt in my whole life. I didn’t do anything gentle, so I grabbed his face between my hands and slammed my mouth against his in a kiss that would have made whores blush. Kissing wasn’t the right term for what I did. I fucked his mouth as hard as I could, tongue shoving between his lips.
By the time I was satisfied, his cheeks were flaming red and his knees nearly gave out. I grabbed him before he could fall and carried him back to the bed, dumping him there.
“That’s how you kiss, Boy.” The name for him slipped out so easily, like that was what it was always meant to be.
He touched his lips, staring at me with wide eyes.
“Are you going to tell me who you are?” I growled, gripping his chin in a rough grip. “Tell me how you got there.”
He tried to shake his head, but he couldn’t move it much with how I was holding him.
“You don’t want to, or you don’t know the answer?”
He held up two fingers to me, and I thought that meant the second answer. I could work with that.
“Fine. Listen to me very carefully, Boy. If any memories of who you are come back, you’ll tell me immediately. I don’t care if you have to use charades or if you write it down, but you will tell me.”
Blinking, he nodded.
“I leave on my boat this afternoon. I’m a hunter, Boy, and I hunt merpeople.”
His eyes widened again and those big blue globes stared curiously at me.
“Yes, you heard me right. Merpeople. They’re real, and I’ll prove it. I lost two days because I saved you, so you’re going to come on The Mermaid Hunter, my boat, with me this afternoon, and you’re going to help me and my crew. Do you understand?”
Hesitation passed over his face, and he glanced down at his bare knees. The gown had ridden up his legs, and I couldn’t help but follow his gaze. I placed my hand on the inside of his right knee and slid it up his thigh, and he swallowed, the small apple in his throat bobbing.
I stopped midthigh, tickling the unblemished skin there. “Do you understand?”
He glanced up at me with a passionate gaze that made my belly turn. Fuck. He was a guy, with a dick and balls, and one I didn’t even know. Why the hell did I want to kiss him again? No, I wanted to do more than that. My cock twitched in my pants at the feeling of his heated skin under my fingers. I wanted to fuck him.
He reached out nervously and cupped my cheek, smiling. His nod was the only answer I needed.
Convincing Nurse Cassidy to let him go would be harder. Usually they needed proof to who he was and then insurance, but everyone felt sorry for me in this town. Getting him out of the hospital would cost some cash, but it could be done.
“Are you insane?” Taylor asked from where he’d perched himself on the side of the boat. His gaze jumped from me, to Joey, to Boy, and back again.
Boy sat curled up on the bench against the port side of the boat, his legs bent beneath him and his head tilted curiously as he stared at Taylor. I’d gone out to buy him a few sets of clothes, some jeans and T-shirts, and some shorts for the hotter days. It was spring going into summer in Florida after all. We had scorching days that left sunburns on our skin, the reason I managed to get a dark tan. I’d spent years out on boats, searching for the existence of mermaids with Dad. At the time, I’d loved the tan because it made the girls swoon. Now, the only thing I cared about was getting the job done. Nevertheless, you could still get cold out on the ocean as the boat powered along.
“That’s one word the people in this town used to describe me.” I glanced around at the other crew members. A few more of the guys had decided this wasn’t worth it and had grabbed their bags and left, which meant I only had five, including Taylor. Joey stuck around, he always did. “Other descriptions include mad and crazy.”
“I’m serious, Ethan. You don’t even know who he is.” He glared at Boy, jaw tight. “He could be a spy.”
“A spy?” I snorted. “Who the fuck would he be spying for? Oh, maybe he’s really a secret agent for the government. They’re onto us. They know we’re right and merpeople exist.” Rolling my eyes, I shrugged. As much as I believed they existed—I’d seen one—everyone else thought I’d gone off my rocker like Dad. No one else was searching like we were. “He’s a guy we found in the water who can’t remember his name or how he got there.”
“It’s risky bringing him on the boat,” Taylor continued with a growl. He stormed over to Boy and leaned down. “Who. Are. You?”
My blood boiled, and I stalked over to Taylor, grasping his arm and yanking him away from Boy. “He’s here because I said so. Stay away from him. You’re forgetting who’s the captain.”
“You?” He laughed and shook his head. “You’re bringing a fucking stranger onto this boat. He doesn’t even know his own name. He’s a dumbass.”
I didn’t know what compelled me to do it, but I swung, my knuckles meeting Taylor’s cheek and sending him flying to the side. He nearly went overboard onto the jetty but caught himself on the railing. Grabbing his cheek and wincing in pain, Taylor glared.
“Fuck you, Ethan. I’m done.” He grabbed his duffel bag and threw it over his shoulder, striding across the gangway and onto the jetty.
The other crewmen grumbled, but they followed, and I watched them, not caring enough to stop them.
Joey crossed his arms. The afternoon sun glinted across his hair and the boat as it slowly descended. “Now what?”
I stared at the glowing horizon and smirked. “Now, we go chase mermen.”
“With just the three of us?” Joey peeked a look at Boy. “What do you call him if he doesn’t remember his name?”
“You can call him John. He’s Boy to me.”
The good thing about Joey is that he didn’t question me. He was the kind of dude who went with the flow.
He shrugged. “When do we leave?”
Chapter Five
Lyric
I’d never quite seen the ocean like this, in a boat and headed toward open water. I was on the surface. It was hard to believe.
I have legs!
Staring down at my two new body parts, I wiggled my toes and grinned. I’d done it. I’d gone to the sea witch and made a deal, although I couldn’t quite remember what happened. The memories were blurs, like flashing images that I couldn’t get rid of. I didn’t know why, but I remembered the sea witch’s voice, deep and condescending as he asked me why I wanted to go live with humans. For love. He’d thought my answer was ridiculous. He’d laughed. We’d made a deal, but I couldn’t remember what. It must have worked, though, because here I was, on the boat with my human, and I had legs. But I didn’t have a voice.
I opened my lips, tried to say anything, but nothing came out. Silence. Frowning, I glanced back at my human, the man I’d given it all away for, Ethan. He was as handsome as I remembered, tall and dark haired with eyes that melted my insides. He’d kissed me, too, so passionately, and I’d felt a strange stirring down below.
&nb
sp; As soon as I’d woken in that hospital bed, I’d gone to the bathroom—that’s what the nurse had called it—and examined my new body. I still had the same chest and face, but below was different. I had a phallus, exactly the same as the see-through treasure I’d found, and long legs. My tail was gone, and I couldn’t decide if I missed it or not. The human body parts were so plain, the same color as the rest of my skin, unlike my tail which had been red and scaley, glimmering under the diffused ocean light. I doubted my legs would glitter the same way.
Now I was on the boat with my human and the smell of fresh ocean water assaulted my nose. I closed my eyes and breathed it in.
“Do you remember anything?”
My human’s voice startled me, and my eyelids flicked open. I glanced at him with a gentle smile and shook my head because that’s all I could do without being able to talk. Even if I could speak, would he understand me?
He rocked on his feet and placed his hands in the holes in the sides of his pants. I didn’t know what they called them, but I was sure they’d have a name. “We’ll travel for an hour or so, keep an eye on the weather. We’re searching for anything abnormal with the radar, something that doesn’t look like an animal. It’s hard to tell sometimes because sharks can have a similar shape to what you’d expect mermen to look like underwater.”
I cocked my head and furrowed my eyebrows. I didn’t understand what he was saying, not really. He was hunting merfolk. Me.
“Don’t look at me like that. They’re real. I’ve seen one.”
I widened my eyes at him.
“Yeah. Little more than six months ago, my dad and his crew, including me, were hunting them. A storm came out of nowhere and our boat overturned. I was the only one to survive, and I don’t really know how, but I remember a merman. A fucking merman with a bright red tail swam me to shore.” He shook his head and rocked harder on his feet, his mouth pressed in a thin line. The ocean wind fluttered his hair and it was a little longer than I recalled from when I saved him. “They’re the reason Dad’s dead, so I’m going to find them and hunt them all down.”
A Merman's Tail: A dark gay retelling of The Little Mermaid (Grim and Sinister Delights Book 14) Page 4