by Sara Summers
“Great.” Sam gave her an awkward almost-smile.
“Is it okay if we sleep on the couch tonight? We’ll be headed to the summit tomorrow, so we just need somewhere to stay tonight.” I changed the subject, and Marie scowled.
“No queen or king will sleep on my couch. You’ll take the bed, I can sleep on the couch.” She said. Sam and I spoke at the same time.
“I’m not the king.” He said, while I said,
“I’m not taking your bed.”
We looked at each other, then looked away.
“I have to stop at a friend’s place and grab my stuff.” Sam said, “Don’t worry about it, ma’am. Our bodies will handle the couch much better than yours.”
“I won’t have it.” Marie insisted.
“Then we’ll take the floor.” I smiled. “You need your bed, Marie. We don’t.”
“Fine.” Marie shook her head at me. “You always were stubborn.” She muttered, heading toward her room.
“I love you too.” I smiled, my eyes brimming with tears. I’d missed that crotchety old woman more than I could say. She had raised me, after all.
“And Alena, you need sleep. Don’t go with them.” Marie turned back to chide my newfound sister.
“Marie.” Alena complained. “We just found out about each other. We need all the bonding time we can get.”
“You’ll have plenty of time together during the summit.” Marie said. “Stay here now, or you won’t go to the summit.”
“Fine.” Alena grimaced.
“And get your homework done.” Marie told her before disappearing into her bedroom.
“Sorry I can’t go with you.” Alena turned to me, her expression glum.
“Don’t worry about it.” I smiled. “We’ll see you in the morning.”
“Alright.” My sister nodded, then went to her room and closed the door.
Sam and I didn’t say anything to each other as we headed out the door. I handed him his keys, then slid into his passenger seat.
He pulled out of the parking lot and turned on some rap music, to which I had to grimace.
“Can we listen to something else?”
“What, is the mermaid queen too good for rap?” he shot me a dirty glare from the driver’s seat, and I folded my arms.
“No, the girl next to you is tired of hearing music that objectifies women.” I glared back at him, then reached forward and changed the station. This one was angry rock music, and I changed it again.
The next one that came on was calm piano music. I raised my eyebrows, but didn’t say anything.
When we reached his friend’s house twenty minutes later, Sam was angrier than the music he’d been playing. The house was in a bad part of the city, and the outside was a wreck.
Still, I followed Sam inside. Though I half expected to see burnt out cigarettes and bags of drugs everywhere, I was surprised when I walked inside.
The house was old but well taken-care-of. There were candles burning throughout the room, and the whole place smelled like apples and cleaning supplies.
“Sam?” a woman peeked her head around the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. She saw me and stepped out, folding her arms.
It dawned on me that I was still wearing the swimsuit-like coverings that mermaids always had whenever we shifted into human form, and my face reddened.
“What are you doing?” She folded her arms, her own face reddening as she looked me up and down.
I suddenly felt like the biggest jerk on the planet. Here he was with a girlfriend, and she was carrying a spatula—cooking for him?
I noticed a ring on her hand and my heart sank deeper into my stomach.
He was married? My soulmate, married?
I suddenly felt nauseous. What do you do with a married soulmate? Not be with them, that’s for sure.
“You’ve never resorted to this before, and now is not the time to start.” She stepped forward and grabbed my arm. “Come on, honey. I’ll give you some money, and I know a place we can get you a real job. There are better things out there for you.” She assured me.
“Oh, I’m not a prostitute.” I hurried to say.
“I’m going to get you help. Don’t worry.” She smiled at me. I glared at Sam as the woman dragged me toward the door.
“She’s not here for that, Cindy.” Sam called out. The woman turned, pulling me with her.
“The woman is wearing a bra and underwear. What else is she here for?” she put a hand on her hip.
“Look at the marks on her side. She’s a mermaid.” Sam dragged a hand over his face and plopped down on the couch.
“She’s a what?” Cindy lifted eyebrows, and I gently pulled my arm out of her grip.
“A mermaid.” I pointed to the hot pink cotie. “Tattoos don’t sparkle, this is a mate mark.” I reminded her.
“I’ve seen plenty of tattoos, I know that.” She looked down at my side. “Why aren’t you wearing clothes?”
“I didn’t think about it.” I admitted. “I’ve been under the water for a long time, and mermaids don’t think about clothing the way humans do.”
“Uh huh.” She didn’t look like she bought my story, looking over at Sam again. “Why do you have a mermaid here?” She asked, critical. Sam sighed.
“Apparently I’m a merman.” He leaned his head back against the couch.
“Yeah, right. I don’t live under a rock. Humans can’t become shifters, or else every four year old girl would be a mermaid.” Cindy frowned at him. “What are you taking?” She demanded.
“I’m not on drugs.” Sam didn’t pick his head up off the couch. “I’m telling the truth.” He lifted his shirt to show her the cotie on his side, the one that matched mine perfectly.
Cindy’s jaw tightened, and guilt flooded through me. Humans knew our coties as “mate marks”, meaning one thing and one thing only:
He had a soulmate. And since they were married, that was the worst thing that woman could’ve possibly learned.
I felt like a hoe, as awful as it is to say so.
Like all shifters, I had never dated. I never went to prom or any school dances, never tried to look hot or to win over any boys. I’d waited for my mate like any good little shifter would do, and what did I get?
A soulmate who already had a soulmate, one that he knew and loved and had chosen.
I was the most despicable woman on the planet.
I should’ve let the council change my cotie months ago.
I thought.
Maybe this is my payback for fighting against what they wanted.
“How did you get these marks? Humans don’t become shifters.” She repeated the words.
“Actually, they can.” I said, weakly. Even if I was a despicable hoe, I had to keep my race’s secrets. Sam wouldn’t remember to. “We’re not allowed to tell anyone about it unless it happens to them.” I tried to explain in a way that wouldn’t give away the secret I wasn’t allowed to tell.
“It’s true.” Sam sighed. His head was still leaned back against the couch.
“Why did you bring her with you, even if you did become a shifter?” Cindy gestured to me like I was something evil and horrible and wrong.
I am something evil and horrible and wrong.
I realized, feeling my heart speed up.
Oh eff, this can’t be happening to me. I can’t take this. This is not the change I was expecting, and it’s not a change I can handle.
Me, a tramp? After everything I’d done to be a good little queen, doing what the council wanted? Oh, h… hotdog, no.
There were a lot of things I wanted to say about that, a lot of words coming to mind that the council wouldn’t have approved of. I bit my tongue, though I wasn’t quite sure why.
“Look, you can have Sam back in a week. I’ll do everything I can to make him a human again.” I promised.
They both ignored me.
“So you have a soulmate now?” Cindy looked over her shoulder at me. “Maybe she
can help you get over what happened.” She said.
I frowned. Get over what happened? What wife would want her husband to get over something with another woman? What husband would cheat on his wife while she knew full and well that he was with another woman? Would that even be cheating?
I shoved the idea away; I would not be anyone’s second woman. Not his rebound, or his mistress, or his therapist. If he was married, he would stay good and married while I fell in love with…
Well, my job, I guess. I didn’t have much else.
“Shut up, Cin. I have to go with her to some summit so she’ll change me back.” He stood up and grabbed a duffel bag from somewhere behind the couch.
I looked at his left hand.
Well, no wonder I was confused. He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring; what kind of young, attractive married man doesn’t wear a wedding ring? The kind looking for “help” to get over things, I guess.
Ugh, the idea sickened me.
There wasn’t cheating in the shifter world, and if there ever was, someone would die because of it. You don’t just go and cheat on the other half of your soul.
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m not going to be the one who breaks up your marriage or whatever else you have going on here.” I stepped closer to the door. “I’m just going to call my sister to come pick me up, don’t worry about it.” I grabbed the door with my right hand.
Sam grimaced, but Cindy grinned.
“Oh honey, we’re not married. My husband is Sam’s best friend, they served in the army together.” Cindy hurried to say.
I didn’t know what to say to that. Here I was, thinking they had some sort of messed up relationship going on. But they were just…
Friends?
My soulmate being just friends with other women… that, I could handle.
Except I wasn’t supposed to handle anything. Not when it came to Sam. We weren’t going to be together. Soulmates who aren’t allowed to fall in love…
That sounded like a mess waiting to happen in my ears.
Plus, Sam was a military man? That would explain the buzz cut, I guess. I hadn’t seen the military in him, but it did make sense.
Now that he had changed, he was a military merman. That sounded kind of funny, until I imagined a group of thick-armed mermen ganging up to take down a battleship.
That wasn’t so humorous. The mermen could do it in minutes, if not seconds.
I refocused my mind, forcing myself to stay calm. Luckily, I was well-practiced at that. Forced calmness was easy after all the times I’d stood in front of the council.
Not that the hotdog situation proved that.
“Stay a merman, Sam.” Cindy suddenly argued the side I’d wanted her on. That was nice, I supposed.
“You’re not my mom.” Sam pulled his bag over his shoulder, his expression hardening at the words.
“Well she’s not here to say it, so I’m taking her place. This girl could be good for you. Really, really good for you. She’s supposed to be the other half of your soul. Right?” She looked to me for confirmation.
“Right.” I nodded.
“Give the shifter thing a chance. There are a lot of people who would give up an arm or two to have what you do.” She gave him a pointed stare, and he shook his head.
“I didn’t ask for this.” He told her, walking toward me.
“But you got it.” She called out as he grabbed my arm. “It was nice meeting you.” She yelled to me. “What’s your name?”
“Ava.” I called back.
“Good luck, Ava. Sam needs all the love he can get.”
Sam slammed the door behind us, yanking me over to his truck.
“Don’t yank me around.” I glared at the man.
“Sorry.” He muttered, angrily turning the key. As the car roared to life, he glared at the road behind us, backing up way faster than I was comfortable with.
“Calm down!” I glared at him. “You might be okay with dying in a car crash, but I’m not.
“Shut up.” Sam glared at me, instead of the road. “I don’t want you, Ava. I don’t want you at all. Just leave me alone until this effing summit is over with and I can go back to normal. Mind your own effing business.”
“That’s all I’ve been trying to do.” I folded my arms. “You’re an effing—pig.” I forced myself to calm down and breathe. If I didn’t watch my language on land, I’d be done for when I went back to the ocean.
I could handle a week with a loser, couldn’t I? Seven days wasn’t too bad. I could handle it, then we would get back and I’d never see him again. That, I could deal with.
Sam drove us back to Marie’s apartment, not saying one word to me the entire way.
Chapter 6
When we made it back inside the apartment, I went straight for the couch.
I tossed a throw pillow to the ground for Sam to use, and though it was a little cold, I didn’t think about a blanket.
Being a mermaid, I was used to the cold. Our cities were built so deep in the ocean that our bodies had to adjust to whatever temperature we needed them to.
I turned to lay with my nose pressed up against the couch, closing my eyes and wishing that the day hadn’t gone the way it went.
I tried to imagine how much different it would be. If I had just ignored the ocean, if I had tugged that mermaid deeper into the water and helped her myself. If I had gone back to face the council just a few minutes earlier….
Then I’d have a soulmate who wanted me, if only for my crown.
The longing for that hit me hard. I hadn’t realized how desperately I wanted to be loved until Sam had said those words to me in the car.
I don’t want you, Ava.
I closed my eyes, trying to go back to my fantasy world where Sam had never become a merman in the first place.
I don’t want you.
The words I could deal with. I faced the same words every day with the mermaid council. They didn’t want me, they wanted the queen I’d never met. They didn’t want me, they wanted someone older and wiser, someone smarter and more adept at understanding mermaids and mermen.
Though they didn’t phrase it that way, the idea was the same.
I don’t want you, Ava.
I winced, surprised by the pain that those words caused me. The one man that was supposed to love me, the one person who I was supposed to have on my side.
He didn’t want me either.
Tears burned my eyes, though I tried to convince them to stop watering. I wasn’t allowed to show emotions; I was the mermaid queen, and I was meant to keep everything bottled up inside the way a true royal would.
No anger, no cussing, no showing emotions.
I reminded myself, though some part of me knew that the mantra wouldn’t get me anywhere other than the council’s good side.
I wiped at the tears, trying to regain control of my emotions. I wasn’t allowed to be upset about this. It was Sam’s choice, after all, not mine. If I was to suffer because of him then so be it. At least I gave love a try.
“Ava?” Alena whispered. I saw her door crack open, a tiny sliver of light escaping the room.
Sam snored away on the ground, and I rolled over to look at my sister.
“Want to talk?” She asked.
“Sure.” I whispered back, dropping my feet to the floor. I had to step over Sam to get to my sister, but that was easy.
After I slipped into her room, she closed the door quietly and then gave me a hug.
“I’m so glad we have each other.” She smiled, big and bright. Her smile was infectious, and I felt the corners of my mouth tilt upward. “Now, I want to hear everything about today. What happened with Sam? And when you went to his place?” she said. Her voice started as a whisper, but quickly went back to normal volume.
My smile was grim, but I nodded. I used to tell my friends everything before I became the mermaid queen. We had been there for each other no matter what. It was nice to have Alena, because I f
elt like our relationship could be the same way.
So, I told her everything. The way the ocean had set me down on a rock and the way I’d thought Sam was married and just about gave up on the whole “soulmates” thing.
Alena listened through the whole thing, commenting only when she needed to. It was a little weird to confide in someone after so long, but I was tired of holding everything in. Pushing emotions away can take a lot out of a person.
“Oh, Ava.” Alena pulled me in for yet another hug. I wasn’t used to so much hugging, but then again, that’s a little what it was like when I was with the shifty girls. So, I really shouldn’t have been surprised. After the year I’d had, though, hugging had become a foreign concept. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I shrugged. “At least I have the ocean.” My smile was small, but it was a real and genuine smile.
“You can’t cuddle with the ocean.” Alena pointed out.
“I can survive without cuddling.” I assured her.
“But you shouldn’t have to,” Alena folded her arms over her stomach. “that’s the whole point of having a soulmate. You’re never supposed to be alone.”
“It’s alright, really. I’ll be fine.” I repeated. After I said the words, my stomach growled, and we both giggled.
It must’ve been getting late if I was giggling. I hadn’t giggled since I had become the queen, so I must’ve gone even more than a year without giggling.
“Want to get some food?” Alena whispered. I don’t know why she bothered whispering; we’d been talking normally for over an hour.
“We’ll get caught.” I reminded her.
“Who cares? What are Marie and Sam going to do? You’re the queen, and I’m a princess.” She grinned devilishly.
“They’ll think we’re stupid.” I bit my lip to hold back the smile I felt pushing its way out.
“So what? Marie is a crotchety old woman, and Sam is an idiotic human. What does it matter what they think of us?” she asked.
I tried to come up with an argument, but couldn’t find anything.
“Don’t bag on Marie, she does the best she can.” I sighed, admitting defeat. “Let’s go.”
“Yes.” Ava stood up, ushering me toward the door. She pulled her phone off the floor, turning on its flashlight. “Be quiet.” She warned, leading me out toward the kitchen.