I swallow, I may be able to make it sound light-hearted, but deep down it isn’t. The whirlpool was real. The dolphins singing to me was real. All of it was.
And if my legs are changing, what else is going to change?
Tears suddenly flood my eyes.
“I’m scared.” I wrap my arms around myself, wondering what might happen to me next. The guys called me a mermaid. Their siren. My voice was hoarse last night from a call I don’t really remember making.
What am I becoming?
“Oh, Harlow,” Chloe says, wrapping her arms around me. But it doesn’t work that well with her nine-months-pregnant belly. “It’s gonna be okay. I mean, maybe...,” She takes a shaky breath. “Maybe you are made for something a lot bigger than you know.”
“I’m just scared of losing the life I have ... my family and friends...what if ...” I start crying again and can’t finish my thoughts.
“Hey,” Chloe says softly, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear and fixing her eyes on mine. “No matter what happens--if you become some fish or mermaid or whatever--you’ll still be my best friend. Always.”
“Promise?”
She smiles. “Yeah, but it also means you can’t shift into some sea creature before I have this baby. I need you at the hospital.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Okay. Then go get cleaned up. I want to buy you a birthday drink, even if it’s a day late.”
13
Harlow
In the shower, I revel in the water. Like, full on giddy, as I dip my head under the showerhead, letting the water cover me.
I don’t know what’s happening, but it turns out water is becoming some sort of aphrodisiac.
My fingers run along my skin, as the memories of the night before flood my senses. My nipples get tight as I think about Kai licking them, my core turns to jelly as I picture Crew spreading my thighs, the way Eric filled me with himself, the way West pushed me against the wall.
My leg lifts to the wall of the tub, and my finger moves along my opening, then a second. I circle my clit, eyes closed, as warm water runs in rivulets between my breasts. I imagine Crew’s mouth pressed against my pussy, breathing hot air against me, as I came.
My breath catches as an orgasm rushes through me, my legs shaking as the walls of my pussy tighten, as my core heats up. I whimper under my own touch.
It feels so good, my finger grinding against myself, harder and harder at the memories.
I need them again.
I call out, the cry filling the bathroom with a melody I know from someplace deep inside. I call out, to them, my sailors, as I climax.
But then my thigh burns, the tattoo brightening--drawing my attention to it. I press my hand against it and bite my bottom lip to avoid calling out in pain.
Any heated thought I just had about my sailors is gone in a flash as I remember the words of warning from the selkie: “You belong to me.”
I turn off the water, catching my breath.
I don’t know where I belong, but in this moment, I know where I want to be.
On my back with my four men surrounding me.
-----
“Cheers!” Noah shouts, raising a pint. “To Harlow!”
“To Harlow,” shout the rest of Chloe’s guys, Mason, Enzo, and Ethan. As I watch them together, laughing and looking at Chloe like she’s the greatest woman alive, I realize maybe that’s why the idea of being with so many men didn’t totally overwhelm me last night.
“Thank you, guys, for coming out,” I say. And when a waitress delivers the pizzas a few minutes later and asks if I’d like another, I shake my head. “Only half a beer for me,” I say, knowing in a few hours I’ll be driving the boat for the sunset cruise.
Just as I am pulling a slice of cheesy pizza to my mouth, Chloe elbows me. “Oh my god,” she says under her breath.
My eyes widen. “What? Are you going into labor?”
“No,” she says, laughing. “Look at those guys. You should go talk to them.”
I roll my eyes. “Right, because hitting on guys at a bar is totally my thing.”
“It could be. You’re a new woman now. Oh, shit, they’re walking over here.”
I turn to look, and as I do, I spill my entire beer. Because it’s them.
“Oh, shoot,” Chloe says, as Mason jumps up and begins tossing napkins on the spill, not realizing my eyes are popping out of my head.
They see me and are drawn in as if there’s a magnetic pull. They begin to walk over, all four of them, eyes on me.
“Do you know those guys?” Enzo asks.
“Um. It’s them,” I whisper. Only Chloe hears me.
“Holy crap,” she says. Then she turns to her partners and mutters something along the lines of, “You know, the guys she met last night.”