I swallowed around my fear and sat straighter in my seat. Would he kill me, too, if he knew the truth? I went to stand, but I couldn’t feel my legs and I nearly collapsed. He grabbed me before my face could meet the floor of the boat.
“Careful.” He laughed and it was so deep and melodic, better than any mermen’s laughs in Atlantia. It sounded different on the surface, too. Lighter, somehow. “Your legs get numb?”
Numb? I didn’t know what that meant, but I nodded.
“We need to find a way to communicate. Do you write?”
I shook my head. I understood now that what the lady had passed me at the hospital had been a pen, I’d seen my human write with it when he signed me out. They wrote their language with it, but I wouldn’t know where to begin.
“You need to learn. I’ll teach you.” He stood me upright, and I stared at him. He was so much taller than I was.
We gazed at each other, and I couldn’t look away from the brown depths of his eyes. I didn’t know any merfolk with that color.
“Do you like dudes or something?” he asked, and I startled.
I nodded, although I didn’t know what he was asking. Dudes was a new word to me.
“I don’t. Never been with one.” His gaze roamed down my body, and I shivered at the intensity of it. Did human males mate with other males like mermen did? Even though the same gender couldn’t result in children, merfolk happily had connections with everyone, no matter their sex. “You been with a guy before?”
I shook my head and smiled. At twenty-five, I was considered too young to have physical connections with other merfolk, but I’d had heard rumors of my people starting early. I’d been scared, too. Being a prince meant I needed a certain decorum.
“Right. Fuck, you’re a virgin.”
Virgin? I’d never heard of that word, either.
“Who’s a virgin?” the other young human male I’d met earlier climbed down the rungs of the boat ladder. Joey, I reminded myself. My human had introduced him. I didn’t know where he’d come from because I hadn’t moved from my spot on the seat since we left land. I was curious what this kind of floating device looked like all over, though.
My human snorted. “He is.”
“Shit. He’s never been with a woman? He remember that, did he?”
Their conversation made me frown, and I stared between them.
“He’s into dudes. He kissed me at the hospital,” my human said with a smirk.
“No way.” The other man—Joey—narrowed his eyes on me before he shrugged. “Not surprised actually. He’s prettier than any woman I’ve seen.”
Ethan narrowed his eyes on his friend.
The other human held up his hands and laughed. “What? He is. Look at those eyelashes and mouth, man. I’d love to see what those lips can do.”
“Get back to the fucking wheel, Joey.”
I let out a long sigh. I hated that I didn’t understand what they were saying, but whatever it was had finished because Joey threw his head back and laughed before he went back the way he’d come, climbing up those steel steps to get on the next level.
“Fucking asshole.” Ethan stepped closer, and I turned my attention on him. He licked his lips and something hot stirred in my belly and lower. The twitching feeling was weird, and my skin tingled, heart galloping so fast that I thought I’d faint. “You are pretty like a woman.”
I wasn’t a woman, though. Even with new legs, I was still a male. I had the male mating appendage: the phallus. Maybe I should show him to prove it? I tugged at the string of my pants to loosen them and pulled at the waistband, opening them and my tight underwear that kept my phallus secured, so he could see.
His mouth parted in surprise, but he looked and then stepped back, laughing. “Christ. You actually showed me your cock.”
Cock? Was that slang for the phallus? I heard humans had multiple names for the same thing. I smiled and nodded.
“Fuck.” He ran his hands over his face and turned to stare at me, chewing at his bottom lip with his teeth. “You’re a dude, but fuck it. You are pretty.” Then he stormed forward and grabbed me so roughly that I nearly tripped backward. He gripped my upper arms and yanked me forward, our mouths connecting hard enough that it hurt. He slipped his hands lower, and then he was grabbing my behind, fingers kneading into my flesh. It felt so good that the strange feelings in my body grew and my phallus shuddered on its own accord.
The experience both hurt and felt good, and I wanted more. I didn’t know what was happening, but I needed my human in any way I could get him. I made a noise, low in my throat. It wasn’t words, but it was something, and whatever it was made him groan and press against me tightly. Everything felt so good, like an explosion of emotions I hadn’t experienced before.
Yes. Every touch was a yes from me.
He broke the kiss and panted, face flushed and pupils blown. “Fuck it.” He grabbed my arm and spun me, and I crashed against the side of the boat, the bendy part of my leg pressed into the bench I’d been sitting on earlier. Yanking down my pants, he groaned again.
The cool air danced across the bare skin of my bottom, and I shivered at the cold against my heated body.
“I’m going to fuck you.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but I’d let him do whatever he wanted.
“You don’t understand me, do you?” He leaned his chest against my back and his breath teased my ear. “You don’t know what I’m about to do to you, do you?”
Yes. No. The answer didn’t matter. I wanted whatever he did.
“Wait here. That’s an order. Don’t move.”
The heat of his body against my back disappeared, but I didn’t move like I’d been ordered. I stared out at the ocean and the rolling of the gentle waves, so unlike the night I saved him. The sound of something slamming made me jump, and then his hands were at my bottom again, squeezing.
“Fuck, I don’t even care that you’re a dude. Your ass is hot. I want to eat you up.” His hand slid under my shirt and up my back, and I sighed at his touch. Then his hands were gone again, and I waited with bated breath. Fingers dragged at the cheeks of my bottom—ass, Ethan had called it—and opened me up. I couldn’t see that far down, so I didn’t know what was there, but whatever it was, Ethan could have it.
Fingers touched me somewhere between my cheeks, and I gasped, hands curling around the railing. I leaned forward, clenching my eyes closed as a digit, slippery with something, slid into a hole. That’s what was there. Was this what humans used to mate? It was both painful and pleasurable, and I bit at my bottom lip as the mixture of feelings ripped through me like an underwater earthquake. My limbs shook and it became increasingly hard to hold onto the boat.
My cock twitched harder in my underwear until it grew, the soft appendage already half solid. Warmth spread in my belly, and I huffed at the tidal wave of emotions.
“You’re so tight,” my human whispered as he pulled his finger out. Something bigger nudged at my entrance, and I held my breath. “I bet you’re tighter than a woman.”
He pushed whatever it was inside, and this time a world of agony came crashing around me. It hurt, and I squeezed my eyes shut. My arms shook, as did my shoulders, and I gritted my teeth.
“It feels like you’re gonna break off my cock. Relax.”
His phallus? That was what he must have been pushing inside me. That explained everything. He was trying to mate me. I took a deep breath and glanced around, but he grabbed my chin and jerked my head forward again.
“Don’t look at me,” he growled into my ear, biting down at the lobe.
I gasped at the added pain, and closed my eyes again, hoping that would somehow relieve it. Then, he bottomed out, and I felt his hips flush against my ass. I could finally breath again. The tip of his cock hit something inside me and a more powerful need shot through me, making my soft phallus grow again until it felt as hard as a rock. I reached down, felt it, and gasped at the pleasure that made my skin tingle.
> “Don’t touch yourself,” he ordered, reaching around to grab my hand and hold it tightly in his. “I want you to come from my cock, you little whore. That’s what you are, aren’t you? A tight little virgin whore.”
I didn’t know what those words meant, but his vicious tone made my body buzz. Clearly he enjoyed saying those things because I swear his cock grew bigger inside me. The pain and pleasure mixed and wasn’t as bad, and I hummed my approval.
“Yeah, you’re a whore for cock.” He grabbed my hair, fingers curling around the strands, and tugged it until my scalp burned as he slid his cock out of my entrance and then back in again with a fast, rough movement. I didn’t know what hurt more, my burning scalp or the stretching of my hole, but it also felt so good I wanted to cry.
I gripped the railing with my spare hand and used it as leverage to push back against him. My cock throbbed, and I couldn’t tell what I wanted, but I needed something. A release maybe. There was too much pressure in my body.
“Fuck.” Both his hands went to my hips, and he began to push in and out of me. With every thrust, I was shoved forward, and the only thing that saved me was the seat under my knee and my hand on the rail. My heart raced, my belly tingled, and with my human’s attention on thrusting into me, I took the chance to reach into my pants and pull out my cock. I wasn’t sure what I was meant to do, but instinct led me, and I wrapped my fingers around the hard flesh. Liquid built at the slit of the phallus, and I jerked the firm organ in time with my human’s thrusts.
The world around me spun and tilted, and I felt like I was about to explode. Between the tingles of my skin and the sparks flying around inside my stomach, I knew it was about to be over, I just didn’t know how. The round things dangling beneath my cock grew tighter against my body and I panted, pumping harder until that explosion I was waiting for happened. Some kind of liquid spurted out of the slid of my phallus, slathering the seat beneath me. I was riding a feeling I’d never felt before, a pure ecstasy that sent my mind floating. Was it joy? I had no idea but I could finally see why even merfolk made connections. It was amazing! I had no words for the trance of need I’d been sent into.
Ethan tugged at my hair harder and shoved in so deep that I thought I’d feel him forever. He was so wide and long, and it was the best feeling I’d ever had. “Fuck, Boy. Right there. Shit. I’m coming.”
He stiffened, his fingers tightening in my hair, and then I felt something wet inside my hole. Was it the same stuff that I’d shot onto the seat? Maybe this was how humans really did mate, but I was a male. Male humans could not get pregnant, right?
I turned my head as best as I could to stare at him, watch the way his body trembled. His eyes were screwed shut and his mouth was open as he gave a few last shallow thrusts inside me. I waited until his shoulders had relaxed, and he finally looked at me.
“That’s better than with any woman,” he said with a smirk.
I nodded because I didn’t know what else to do.
A whistle sliced through the air, and we both glanced up at the deck where Joey had disappeared. Now he stood leaning on the rails around it, grinning. “I don’t think you’re as straight as you think you are, Boss.”
Ethan growled. “Fuck off, Joey. Go do some work.”
“When do I get a chance at that ass?” He laughed.
My human yanked at my hair again, and I hissed. “Never. The boy is mine.”
Joey shook his head. “You’re no fun. Fine. I came to get you to tell you we’ve got something on the radar. Never seen anything like it. Want to come check it out after you’ve got your cock back in your pants?”
“I’m coming,” Ethan said.
Joey threw his head back and laughed harder. “Looks like you already came, Boss.”
“I’m going to kill him,” my human muttered, pulling his cock from my hole, and then he grabbed his pants and yanked them up over his hips.
I stared at him in wonder. His phallus was a lot thicker and longer than mine, more about the size of the treasure I’d found. He stopped and smirked at me.
“We’ll do this again, but I have to do some work.” He patted me on the bottom and bent down to grab a white bottle like one I had in my treasure chest. Throwing it on the seat next to me, he pointed at it. “Good thing I bought lube when I got your clothes, huh?”
I hummed in answer, and then he was gone, going to see whatever his friend had found. I frowned after him before turning back to stare at the water. The boat rocked with the gentle waves and I found it soothing. I pulled my pants up and tucked myself back into them like Ethan had.
Out in the distance a head popped up in the water, and I froze. I couldn’t see who it was from here, but they raised their hand toward me before swimming closer. Peeking up at the second level, I noticed Ethan and Joey were too busy talking about whatever they’d found to notice a merfolk heading our way. Not just any merfolk.
Ribbins.
I winced. Ribbins was one of those jerk friends of Zolo’s. He smirked when he was close enough to talk.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Lyric. Where have you been? Your father sent search parties looking for you. He’s offered rewards to whoever finds you.” Ribbins’ voice sounded no different above surface than it did below, melodic and taunting with a touch of snide. I hated it.
I cocked my head toward him and opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I’d forgotten about my lack of voice for a second.
His brows scrunched together in confusion. Ribbins’ hair was golden short spikes, and unlike his other friends, he had wide shoulders. He was thick with muscles from his work dragging rocks around to build our homes in Atlantia. Even though he was a lord’s son, he did charity work to give his family a good name. There was nothing generous about Ribbins though.
“Don’t you have something to say?” He growled, and I shook my head with pursed lips. “Get in the water. You’re coming with me.”
I smiled at him and shook my head again.
“Lyric—”
There was noise from where my human and his friend were and Ribbins’ eyes widened. He ducked into the water, and I watched him go, a small longing deep in my belly. I missed home, but what I was homesick for was mostly my father and grandfather and brothers. Nevertheless, I preferred to stay here with Ethan.
There was arguing, my human and his friend raising their voices, and I turned to them. Ethan shoved Joey before they both laughed.
I liked my human and nothing would make me go home. Maybe… maybe I could even help Ethan get the merfolk he was searching for.
I grinned at the thought.
Chapter Six
Ethan
I glared at Joey and shoved him again for good measure. “That’s a fucking shark, dipshit.”
“How do you know?” Joey laughed and ran a hand through his hair, leaning back against the edge of the boat. If I was in a worse mood, I might have thought about pushing him overboard and driving away.
“How do I know?” I shook my head and tapped the screen of the sonar. “Because that’s a fucking shark. I’ve been out here long enough to know what they look like. Have you? You wouldn’t think so, with the way you thought that could have been anything but.”
Joey laughed harder and the temptation to push him grew stronger. I cursed him in my head and glanced toward the boy. He sat where I’d left him with his clothes intact, which was a pity because I liked looking at his pale ass.
“What’s happening there?” Joey asked, stepping closer and nudging me in the arm. “Since when do you like dudes?”
I shrugged and smiled when Boy looked at me with those big, innocent eyes of his. Fucking him had felt amazing, better than any chick I’d been with. “You said it yourself. He’s pretty.”
“Pretty with a cock,” Joey said, smirking. He crossed his arms. “And you won’t share him.”
“Since when have you been into dudes?” I raised my eyebrows.
“Always.”
“What?” I opened my mou
th in surprise and he gave me a one shoulder shrug.
“You never asked, I never told.”
Fuck. That was a new development. “Well, you can’t have Boy. He’s mine.”
I turned to look at the sonar again and sighed. It felt like every time we were close, it ended up being bust. Sometimes I thought about giving up and moving somewhere people didn’t know me as insane like my father, but I’d always pushed the thoughts aside. Now they were in my head again, and I hated how I’d gotten nowhere with this venture. I often wondered what had gotten my father so obsessed with it. Maybe I was suffering the same fate as him, disconnected from the world and lonely. At least he had a son. I didn’t even have that.
“You all right?” Joey touched my shoulder and squeezed.
“Yeah.”
The sound of footsteps on the metal had me glancing at the stairs that led up onto the navigation floor. Boy appeared, face flushed pink and a whimsical smile on his face. He raised his palm toward us when he got up the ladder and waved his hands in a way I didn’t understand. He sighed and then gestured for us to follow him back down.
I frowned at Joey, but we trailed after him, descending the stairs and over toward the bench seat that he’d been sitting on moments before. He flapped his hands more, and finally, he let out a quiet sigh. He shifted away from us and toward the container we kept fishing nets in. Opening it, he dragged one out, and while my instincts were to stop him from whatever he was doing, I watched him work.
He dropped it on the floor of the boat before he came to us and pushed at our chests, guiding us to the other side.
“What’s happening?” Joey asked, confusion crumpling his face.
“No idea. Just do what he says.” I didn’t know why I trusted him, but my gut told me to follow his orders, even if they seemed ridiculous.
When he had us on the opposite side of the boat, he raised his hands as if telling us to stay there, before he grabbed the net off the floor again. He leaned over his side and tapped his hand on the fiberglass. Even though the whole thing was ludicrous, I couldn’t look away from his bubbly ass and the way he presented it to me, almost begging me to fuck him again. But Boy wasn’t paying attention to us. It was almost as if he was trying to catch something’s attention in the water.
A Merman's Tail: A dark gay retelling of The Little Mermaid (Grim and Sinister Delights Book 14) Page 5