Soul Breather (21st Century Sirens Book 1)

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Soul Breather (21st Century Sirens Book 1) Page 14

by T Stedman


  “Okay?” Jay asked again, at her ear.

  “Yeah … I feel nothing for them though. Is that normal?”

  Jay shrugged, keeping an eye on the show playing out in front of them.

  “Your Royal Highness. Please may I introduce my sisters?”

  First to come forward was a girl introduced as Genevieve. She had loads of blond hair glacier blue eyes and a good figure poured into pale blue, long, hugging gown.

  The next was Cocoa. What kind of a name was that? She had straight red hair with a fringe, brown eyes, and was wearing a masculine black suit – expensive though. Lastly, there was Tamsin, classy looking with a severe black bob and wearing a short black cocktail dress. All three were good looking, but nothing like each other and most of all, nothing like her. Was that likely?

  Dante kissed each girl’s hand, and each one bobbed a perfect curtsy. Give me strength. The girls were almost stepping on each other to get to him.

  He then called each brother over in turn and introduced them. All the while he looked at each of their rings. Turquoise everyone; none went purple. Yes!

  Then the moment she’d been dreading, Dante called her over. She felt Jay come with her. Relieved, she stood into his body heat as Dante introduced her as their eldest sister. Each one looked her up and down, not even hiding their obvious shock and disdain.

  Jay squeezed her arm to steady her. Situations such as these always made her want to play up to the label given her. To Dante’s credit he pulled her to him and introduced her as his new wife and kissed her on the cheek. She felt like shouting, ‘In your face,’ and giving them the finger, but restrained herself just in time. Besides, she wasn’t sure whether he was reinforcing her position so the sisters could see or staking his claim for Jay’s benefit.

  “Hello,” was all she managed to squeeze out. “Can I go and set up now?” She said, looking up at Dante like a small child.

  “Go,” he said, like a parent worn down. “I’ll stay here and get them paired off with my brothers.”

  She heard him call Sean and Cash over so she rushed to them first. She kissed and hugged them quickly, then heard Dante say to them, “No-one leaves.”

  They both nodded.

  Grateful to get away, she sloped back through the partygoers with Jay.

  ***

  She introduced herself to the resident DJ who was playing just before she went on.

  He was a tall, wirey, guy with a ponytail. “Hi, I think I heard you play at The Ministry?” he said.

  “Yeah? It would have been a while back now.”

  He kissed her on the cheek and said he looked forward to hearing her set.

  She sorted through her records to get an idea of a rough order she would play. It all depended on the crowd though, what her final set would be. “I need the ladies room before I go on,” she said, to Jay.

  “Come on. I’ll show you where they are… The Ministry? Me and Dante could have been there,” he said, while they walked.

  “I doubt it. I would have felt it if Dante was there,” she said. Fuck! She glanced at him and could have kicked herself when he looked away.

  Cursing herself, she followed him out to the cloakroom and down a staircase into the basement where the toilets were. When they got to the bottom she pulled him aside, under the stairwell. “How are you?”

  “I’m good thanks,” he said, smiling down at her, giving nothing away.

  “You’re working for my father, Dante said?”

  “Yeah … I’m your new adopted brother,” he said, looking awkward down at his feet.

  She reached up to touch his face with her hand and lifted her glasses to see him more clearly.

  His brow creased in concern. “Your eyes Tia. Are they okay?”

  “They’re fine. It’s when I go under water. The more I do it, the less they go back to normal, that’s all.”

  He stepped back out of reach from her touch, as if coming to his senses. “I can’t afford to have any feelings for you, Tia. It’s not what I do,” he said, quietly.

  “I have feelings for you still.” Her voice was small.

  He just stood there silently, not saying anything further, a long gaping silence.

  “Do you want me to release you?” she said, eventually. Her eyes were glassing up, to her annoyance. She shook her head to get a grip on herself, then braced herself for his answer.

  “I said I’d always be here for you and so I will.” His gaze was intense.

  She nodded, relieved. “Come on then, I’d better go on before I punch one of those stuck-up cows.”

  He just smiled and held out his arm for her to go first, relieved to be off the hook.

  Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! She felt like she’d been kicked in the guts. Through all Dante’s tantrums, the punched walls, kicked furniture, shouts and demands; he couldn’t hide how he felt. And that she found strangely comforting. But Jay, she had no clue. She had no rights to him she knew, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. He wouldn’t leave me though, she thought, and clung on to that like a life raft.

  Chapter 19

  Dante watched her do her thing from the back of the room. He hadn’t had much opportunity before and was too curious to miss the chance. How cute she looked with the big earphones on over one ear; the way she rode the music and picked her tunes totally absorbed. Flipping and picking records quickly, playing short samples, knowing when to play the record through. She was amazing.

  He glanced over at Jay. It was the first time Jay had seen her in action and he could tell he wasn’t unaffected, as cool as he was.

  The crowd was buzzing. You could tell the Humans straight off. They were the ones who’d been whipped up in Tia’s music and threw themselves around and couldn’t sit until she let them. The only ones who resisted the pull of the music were those royals present, and Jay, who, having drunk Elixir, was immune.

  Each time she lost herself in the rhythm and the music dropped, she would pulse her power, which rippled invisibly over the clubbers’ heads. But he could see it like a ghostly cloud. After watching her a while, he concluded that she couldn’t help doing it. The biggest revelation to him was that he could feel her do it deep inside him and filed the knowledge away.

  He looked over at her sisters all dancing gracefully in the crowd. Each one had latched on to one of his brothers according to plan. Stephan and Joselle were smooching in the corner.

  Yes, tonight had been a success. He couldn’t afford to let the grass grow though. He needed to get them to his home tonight, test them and get them married off tomorrow. Then he could announce it to Tia’s father and uncle so his full recognition as king could be proclaimed worldwide. He was already king in name, but until all the Sirens were accounted for he didn’t feel secure. Now he was in this world, he was realising it was an uncertain, dangerous place.

  ***

  Dante and Jay were in the viewing room back at Dante’s family home. Each girl had been tested and all seemed to have passed with flying colours.

  Dante had hoped that after witnessing it that Tia would have warmed towards her sisters, but she hadn’t.

  “They have no markings,” was all she could say. “They are nothing like me.”

  “Except they breathe under water,” Dante reminded her, and she flounced off and left him and Jay alone.

  “Tia is not very enamoured of her sisters,” Jay commented after she’d gone.

  “Ah, she’ll get used to them over time.”

  They were quiet for a while, both looking into the blue of the tank.

  “I’m sorry Jay.”

  Jay turned to face him with his hands in his pockets. “Why? You belong together.”

  “Still, I am sorry.”

  Jay nodded and turned back to the tank.

  “If it’s any consolation, I’m jealous of you,” Dante said.

  Jay choked down a laugh. “Why would you be jealous of me, you’re king, for fuck sake? You’ve managed to find your destined mate and marry her.”

&nb
sp; “But that’s just it Jay, I’ll never know if she’s attracted to me or whether it’s just some hocus pocus, destiny shit. You, on the other hand, she loves, even though the odds are stacked against you.”

  He scoffed. “What about if the ring just picks out your most compatible mate for reproduction or something like that? And it is nothing to do with love. You must have something she wants?” and Jay laughed, making Dante laugh.

  “I’m a sex god; and you know that,” Dante said, indignant, and they both laughed like old times.

  “Should your brother be in there with her?” Jay said, pointing at the tank.

  “What?” Dante said, walking over to see what Jay was looking at. “What the fuck? That’s Stephan and Joselle. He’s trying to get himself hitched. Little fucker. I’m going to kill him when he gets out.”

  “What’s he trying to do?”

  “Watch … when his air supply runs out, she’ll breathe into his mouth and bang! They’re married,” Dante explained.

  Jay shrugged. “No hassle I suppose.”

  They watched shoulder to shoulder. It was obvious when Stephan had run out of air and he began to struggle.

  “Come on?” Dante urged. He banged on the window. “Breathe for him you stupid bitch! I’m going to have to go in if he doesn’t breathe in a minute. The stupid cow is killing him … Fuck! I’m going up. Call everyone!”

  Dante shot up the stairs to the pool house.

  ***

  Jay ran up the stairs to the main house and called for anyone to come. He followed them back down as everyone rushed past him up to the pool. He watched the tank in morbid curiosity, only dragging his eyes away when Tia came into the room and stood next to him.

  They watched Dante swim down and push Stephan up through the hatch and saw legs and arms grapple and pull Stephan out of the water. Then they couldn’t believe their eyes, as amongst the bodies swimming above the hatch there appeared to be females. They then swam through the opening, shutting it as they went through. It was clear then that the four females were Joselle and her sisters now locked in the tank with Dante.

  “Can he breathe?” Jay asked. Panic was rising in his voice as he looked from her to the tank.

  “He can do it on his own now,” she said, stony-faced.

  Jay didn’t understand the look on her face. Distracted he turned back to the scene playing out in front of them.

  First Joselle came up to Dante and took hold of each side of his face and looked as though she was leaning in for a kiss. Then Cocoa did the same. She then swam backwards to allow Genevieve and Tamsin to repeat the process. Each time Dante’s arms went around them in an embrace as they approached him.

  “Son of a bitch!” Tia said, low, like a growl.

  “What? Should we get him out?” Jay said, in complete confusion.

  “He can fucking drown for all I care.”

  It was obvious to Jay when Dante realised that Tia was watching him, as he looked straight at her. Tia turned and walked away holding her temples. “Get out of my head,” she spat.

  “You okay?” Jay said, coming over to her.

  “He’s trying to speak to me in my head.” Tia looked up at Jay, “Take me away from here Jay. I never want to come back.”

  After checking her face to make sure she was deadly serious, he said, “Come on then, let’s go now.” Then when they got to the hallway upstairs he asked, “Do you need anything?”

  “No! Just go.” She continued to hold her head.

  They could hear echoes of voices, bangs and crashes of what sounded like a fight coming from the pool.

  Jay took out his phone and dialled a number as he led Tia out of the house to his car. “Sean? Yeah, I’m okay… look, meet me with Cash at the airport … now … yes, I have her with me … yes, the Bonaci jet.” He put his phone back in his pocket and put her in the passenger side of his car. He watched her continually holding her head as if in pain, “Tia?” he checked again.

  “I’m trying to block him out.”

  The further away they got the more she let go of her head. “It’s better the more we get away,” she said.

  “Are you sure about this Tia? It’s not too late to think about it.”

  “No I’m sure, Jay … take me away.”

  Chapter 20

  As Tia wanted to get as far away as possible, their course was set for America and Cash’s ranch in Montana. There, Tia could take a break and recalibrate her future.

  Once they had got up in the air Jay picked up his phone ready to dial.

  “Who are you ringing?” Tia asked in panic.

  “Your uncle.”

  “I won’t go back.”

  “I’ve got to tell someone, Tia.”

  She shrank back in her chair.

  “Alfonzo? Yes, it’s Jay. Sorry to ring you so late but something has come up which couldn’t wait … Tia asked me to remove her from the Dubonnetti house tonight … We are all on the plane to Montana … Dante has four women he believes are Tia’s sisters … He tested them tonight.”

  The others on the plane were all quiet, earwigging on the conversation.

  Jay took the phone away from his ear. “Your uncle asked if you still pledge your allegiance to Dante?”

  Tia pulled a face while she thought. “Yes, but I don’t want to live with him.”

  “I see … yes, I’ll tell her … Okay, you’re welcome.” And he clicked off his phone.

  “What did he say?” Tia asked.

  “Surprisingly, he said you did the right thing by going, I did the right thing by taking you, and you’ll never believe this?”

  “What?” everyone said.

  “They can’t be Sirens; at least one of them can’t”

  “Bloody hell!” Tia said. “How does he know that?”

  Everyone sat forward to listen.

  “He knows exactly where one of them is, and who she is meant to be with.”

  They all looked at each other amazed at the revelation. “What’s he gonna do?” Tia asked.

  “Your uncle said he’s going to leave Dante in his own mess for a while to teach him a lesson, and then when he is ready he will take over and teach him to be a proper king and get him away from his family.”

  “Blimey!” Was all Tia could say.

  ***

  After the excitement had died down, Tia sunk down into her chair and wallowed in the latest mess that was her life. God, I’ve been in this Atlantean world for five bloody minutes and it’s already turned to shit.

  Dante was still in her head but he was bearable now, as she put some distance between them. She looked over at Jay on his phone and laptop simultaneously. It struck her how poles apart her two men were. Dante demanded her attention twenty-four hours a day, and yet could do something like this. And Jay was always out of reach – perhaps that was his appeal; the unobtainable. But she didn’t really believe that. Her thoughts continued to meander as she looked out the black screen of her window.

  Eventually she looked around and realised that Sarah, Sean’s fiancé, sat in a chair across the way, was saying something to her.

  “Oh I’m sorry Sarah, I was lost in thought. Yes, I’ll live. How are you feeling? Sean told me your happy news, congratulations.”

  Sarah looked pregnant even though she could only be a couple of months along. She hadn’t been noticed in all the kafuffle but Tia assumed that the poor girl had been dragged along purely because she happened to be there and Sean couldn’t very well leave her behind.

  “Yes I’m okay, a bit tired. I’ve got a while to go yet.”

  It was good for Tia to talk chitchat and take her mind off her problems.

  Sean came over and rested a loving hand on Sarah’s bump and kissed her on the cheek. Sean got called away to look at something so Sarah came over and sat closer to Tia. “You know I hated you when I first knew Sean.”

  Tia was a little taken aback at her candour. “I can bet, always calling him at odd hours.”

  “I thought he ha
d a relationship with you,” Sarah continued, accusation in her eyes.

  Tia sensed this was something Sarah needed to get off her chest. “Sean is a friend. Cash is a friend. There has never been anything other than that.” She hoped that satisfied her. Then tiredness so strong began to sweep over her. She wasn’t sure how much more she could handle – not today anyway.

  “I suppose I just resented that he would drop anything to go to you.”

  Tia looked at Sarah’s eyes and guessed the unsaid words were that, she still does.

  “Sarah, I’m really grateful and so is my family, for the sacrifice you and Sean make. And we’ll make sure you are all really looked after; especially your new addition.” She laughed as she said it trying to lighten the mood, but she made a mental note to have a chat with Sean about his circumstances. She hated the thought of him being unhappy in his service to her. She needed all her friends now.

  ***

  Tia was exhausted by the time Cash showed her to her old room at his ranch.

  “Come here girl,” Cash said, in his lovely accent. He pulled her to him in a bear hug only he could give her.

  She let him envelop her and breathed in his scent, all lovely, manly and safe. He felt like the father figure she’d never had. He just swayed and held her.

  “Where’s Jay?” she asked, eventually.

  He sighed. “I put him next door.” He pulled back to look at her face. “You still feel the same about him?”

  She nodded and looked down ashamed. “I know I have no right, but I can’t help it.” Tears began to stream down her face. It was like a dam breaking and she began to sob. She didn’t know if it was the hurt from Dante’s betrayal, or Dante being so hurt, or that Jay was so distant, or the lack of sleep, or the whole bloody lot.

  Cash just continued to sway with her as he said, “Shh,” every so often.

  ***

  Jay closed his eyes as he heard Tia’s sobbing through the wall. He’d acted on impulse when she’d asked to go, but now he’d got her away he wasn’t sure what he was meant to do with her. He was sure she’d be fine here with Cash. He could go back to London and carry on his corporate work for the Bonaci Corps, but the thought of walking away from her now she was free was going to be difficult for him, which simply wasn’t logical.

 

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