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The Devil’s Tail was every bit as rowdy as she expected it to be when she was a child, but not nearly as alluring. Rosa used to drink herself into oblivion. Pat often found her in a pool of her own vomit, muttering ridiculous accusations. Cal and Augie would be waiting in the truck, not saying a word but silently praying that Rosa would be too inebriated to start another fight about Cal.She always wanted to know what was so great about the shithole. Now, she sees that it served as the perfect distraction. The music was loud and there were plenty of warm bodies to press against on the dance floor. Cal was abusing her mother’s free-drink policy—she wanted to try it all. The fact that she had spent all her formative teen years in prison left her without any real experiences when it came to being an adult. The closest intimacy she had while she was behind bars was the contact her fist made with other inmates’ faces.Cal wanted to get drunk.She wanted to dance.She wanted to kiss someone.She wanted to fuck someone.She wanted to catch up on all the things that she’d been missing for the last ten years.Cal made her way to the bar again, ordering another rum and coke. It was something that rolled off the tongue naturally after her fourth drink order. It made her feel like she was blending in with the atmosphere. Cal desperately wanted to adapt back into society, she desperately wanted to be normal.Prison had a way of making a young kid grow up quickly, and she was always a fighter. The last ten years were filled with a street-like education for how to survive containment. There was no room for the basics that a young girl learns from her mother. Not that she ever had a mother, for that matter. But she liked to think that someone would have taught her how to use makeup, or how to style her hair—or all that girly shit that the people she grew up learned from their mothers. Instead, she picked up bits and pieces from the women she met, the ones that dared to be friends with the unpredictable angry girl.Cal takes a wobbly step back from the bar, completely running into a rock-solid body. The person grabs her hips and she really wants to tell him to fuck off but she bites her tongue. The stranger feels nice. She doesn’t turn around. Instead, she moves against him to the beat of the slow pop music coming from the speakers near the deserted stage. She wonders if her movements are natural, if she’s doing it right. Is she seductive? Will this ease the loneliness?She can feel his breath against her ear as he says, “You are new.”Cal likes the way his voice makes her shiver. She likes his accent, it’s so different from the locals. Cal takes comfort in the fact that he probably doesn’t fit in Orphelin Bay just like her. She likes the way he makes her warmer than the alcohol, too. She doesn’t respond to his observation, just rolls her hips against him in response. He makes a sound in the back of his throat in appreciation. His grip tightens on her hips and she almost feels ashamed with how close their bodies are right now.After two songs end, he brings his lips back to her ear and says, “Let’s go somewhere…private.” His words sound like a perfect purr. It’s glorious.Cal finally turns around to face him. He’s gorgeous, entirely different from Corey. Corey, who she spotted across the bar earlier, has always been cute in a squeaky-clean way. He fit her golden girl attitude, the girl she used to be before her life changed completely. The man that she had been dancing with happened to be sexy, not cute. He’s not clean-shaven, and his eyes tell the story of something hot and sinister. She can tell that she’s found another dark and twisted soul and that excites her. He’s the type of guy that doesn’t call after a hookup. He smirks at her, like he’s reading her mind. “Well?”“Okay.” She agrees, a soft smile playing on her lips. Cal walks back to the bar to get her jacket, nervousness bubbling in her chest. It’s clear what he wants from her, and before this very moment, it was clear that she wanted the same. But she’s just not sure if it’s the right thing to do. He’s bewilderingly sexy, but he’s obviously bad news.But, so am I, she thinks to herself as she folds her jacket over her arm and faces him again, And God, isn’t he a sight? There’s just the problem that she’s never been intimate with someone before. Her ability to think straight was being clouded by all the drinks. He smiles at her and she instantly decides that she’s going to follow the stranger. She’s convinced that he’s some type of mind reader when he holds out his hand to her.Cal doesn’t notice the way that the people are watching him instead of her with wary eyes. She just sees the handsome stranger in front of her. She extends her own hand to take his and he leads her through the throng of people towards the exit. He takes her down the stairs, into the parking lot. Cal wants to ask where they are going, but she suddenly can’t find her voice. They stop walking when they’re near a closed pharmacy.“I have been wanting to do this since I first saw you across the bar.” He tells her in a deep, heated voice before he backs her against the brick wall of the pharmacy. The fact that he had been watching her is encouraging. Cal drops her jacket against the ground when he moves closer to her, shoving a knee between her legs. She moans at the contact, but he swallows her appreciative sounds with his warm lips. The kiss is rough and quick, but he kisses her again quickly. The second kiss is more urgent.It’s rougher. Hotter. Deeper.Cal feels so vulnerable because of her breathy moans and her total lack of self-control. It’s a feeling that she’s grown to hate over the years. The vulnerability is overshadowed by her pure desire, though. Not that she’s had much to compare it to, but he’s a damn good kisser. He also smells like saltwater—a scent that she missed when she was so far away from the ocean. The stranger’s hand trails down her body to the hemline of her shirt. His thumb presses against her bare skin, holding her in place. His other hand is resting against her neck. He’s surrounding her in the most delicious of ways. Cal finds herself moving against his knee, seeking the friction she desperately needs. She’s never done this, but his reaction to her gives her the confidence that she needs. She moves one of her hands to the nape of his neck.The little movement sends him over the edge. He quickly breaks the kiss. Before she knows it, he’s grabbing her by the back of her legs and picking her up so his whole body is between her thighs. When she wraps her legs around his hips, he softly groans, “Fuck.” The stranger bites her lip before kissing her again. His tongue dominates her mouth and it causes her to moan again.Yes, she thinks but she doesn’t have a clue why she’s thinking it.Cal’s half-certain that she’s about to fuck this random guy against the pharmacy her father used to pick up her medication from. Actually, she’s damn certain. Without a doubt, she wants him, and he wants her, too.His phone starts to ring in his pocket. It buzzes against the inside of her thigh. He lets it ring as he breaks the kiss, moving to her neck. He bites at her skin and the mere act drives her crazy. His phone starts to ring again, and he cusses against her skin. “It might be…work.” He swallows thickly when he backs away from her, taking his phone from his jeans. He turns away from her when he accepts the call. He speaks in only one-word responses, but she knows that their night has been cut short.He ends his call, but the look on her face must tell him that he doesn’t need to explain himself. He’s just a stranger from a bar. He really doesn’t owe her anything. “I am sorry.” He insists, a look of disappointment on his features.“Me too.” She responds, allowing herself to smirk through her own disappointment.He takes a step closer to her, kissing her one last time.It’s a breath-taking goodbye. XXXCal completely forgets the handsome stranger that she was practically dry-humping after she finds out that her entire life has been a lie. She had wandered to her father’s boat in search of something. Well, she more so stumbled to the boat but that’s a matter of logistics. Her lips were still swollen by the time she made it to the Calliope. Cal was grateful for the distraction the stranger had given her from her fucked up life. But, that’s all it was, just a temporary distraction from reality.The reality where her mother hated her, and showed no remorse for blatantly feeling that way about her only daughter. Her brother was, well, he was completely grown up and doing what her father always wanted him to do. And her father…the loss of her father hadn’t lessened since he died. It never eased up or went away. It was always a gaping wound inside of her chest and it leaked anger, and hatred, and resentment for everyone. All she wanted was to get what he left her—to feel fucking loved again, and to take back what he wanted her to have, but Rosa squandered it away.She took what belonged to Cal.Cal came to the trawler to clear her head, but everything shattered when she found the cash behind the wheel. And Augie, the bearer of the truth that she never wanted to know, the truth that she never expected to hear. It all seemed like a sick fucking joke and she was the punchline of it all. She was leaning against the red leather of the booth-style seat in the trawler, trying to sort through the haze of her mind. The more she thought about all the bullshit, the soberer that she became.Augie’s half-ass smoking a cigarette, reminding her of Pat McTeer. She wonders if he was ever going to tell her or would she have ended up going to college on drug money? If he hadn’t of died, would she have ever found out who he really was? Augie was deep in thought, maybe thinking of Pat too, or maybe he was trying to prepare himself for what was going to happen next. Cal told him that she wanted to be part of the business.It was an impulse decision. Augie didn’t even ask her if she was sure, he just took her out to sea in the trawler. He blindly accepted her offer based off of their history, based off of their bond. He was so trusting of her after all the years apart, as if she never went away in the first place. He reminded her so much of her dad that it simultaneously made her happy and made her hurt.After minutes of silence, Augie quickly stood up. His quick motion made her head spin, but she tried to keep up as he went to stand out on the deck. Cal grabbed the money off the table, trying not to think about how dangerous the situation happened to be. Of course she was hesitant. She certainly did not want to end up in prison again. And she never wanted that life for Augie.“How is anyone gonna find us out here in the middle of fucking nowhere?” Cal stares out in the darkness of the sea. It’s an unkind and merciless place. Her father taught her that. The black waves were only visible because of the moonlight. It could swallow someone whole, never giving them back to their love ones. Her father taught her that, too. Cal feared the vastness of it all. The coldness of it. That wasn’t a lesson from her father, though. That was a lesson from the loneliness. As she ponders the qualities of the ocean, a bright light turns on in the distance. It practically blinds her, so she quickly looks away.The light gets closer and closer, and soon Cal can make out too figures on a little boat. Their brave for traveling so far in such dangerous waters. Cal is completely shocked when she recognizes the stranger from earlier. He stands when he sees her. Cal has to fight a blush at the sight of him in an unzipped windbreaker and a pair of tight black boxers.He’s even better without clothes on but Cal’s appreciation of him quickly fades. There is an attractive girl sitting beside him. She’s only wearing a windbreaker. Their state of undress gives her the impression that they have some type of relationship. A bit of jealousy bubbles in her chest, as well as rejection and anger.The anger swells when he asks, “Who the hell are you?” He’s clearly angry, too, but not for the same reasons that she is…unless he thinks that Augie is her boyfriend or something. She doubts it, though.Her brother is quick to speak, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. “What do you care?”“You brought a stranger without asking?” So, he’s definitely not jealous of Augie. “You killed one of my men without asking.” Fuck me, he’s a killer. Before Augie and the stranger start an argument, Cal intervenes. “I’m Cal McTeer. Augie’s sister, Pat’s daughter.” Cal definitely envisioned telling the stranger her name under different circumstances…definitely not mid-drug deal. Cal curses the vulnerability that she experienced earlier and tries to stitch up her pride on the spot. She throws the money to the beautiful woman, maybe too aggressively, but she catches it without any injury.As they exchange barrels, she tries not to make eye contact with the stranger. It was a fucking mistake trusting anyone in this godforsaken town and getting hung up on the details of it all would only complicate her father’s business. It was best to put it all behind her and act like it never happened. She’s almost successful until all the barrels are unloaded and there’s nothing left to do. He’s staring at her when she looks up. He’s observing her, sizing her up with a look that’s not lustful this time.It’s too much for her to handle. Cal looks away from him and turns towards the barrels. The boat engines roars as they drive away with their money and Cal is relieved. Augie joins her so they can start storing the barrels. After a few moments, her curiosity gets the best of her. “Who are they?” Who is he?“Tidelanders.”“Those hippie weirdos from the commune?” Oh, fucking great. “L’Attente, yeah.” Augie pauses before he looks her straight in the eyes, “and I know they look good, but that is meat you don’t eat.” Cal doesn’t say anything, because it clear that if she admits that she’s already tasted the forbidden fruit (and how damn good it tasted), it might ruin things with Augie. Cal just nods and goes back to helping Augie.
I don’t even know his name.
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By the time Augie left the fishery, Cal was ready to call it quits. Exhaustion was a gross understatement for how she felt. Not only was she physically spent, she was also emotionally drained. Everything she knew was a lie, and even the hot stranger was in on it. A part of her wanted to meet the buyer, wanted to see what the whole operation was about, but the other part of her was grateful that Augie told her no. Cal couldn’t take anymore surprises, or lies, or deception. At least, not today. The last time she slept was on a lumpy prison mattress, and even that wasn’t a full night of sleep. Her head was pounding with all the new information she had gathered, and she was probably a little hungover, too. All she wanted was to take a shower and sleep in her old bed. She decided to take the easy way home, walking away from the coastline and into town. It was better than trudging through the hot sand of the beach.Her walk home was uneventful, but way longer than she remembered. It didn’t matter though because Cal was honestly trapped in a daze, thinking how totally fucked up everything turned out to be. Quite honestly, she was in shock. Her father was a drug smuggler. Her brother was a drug smuggler. Her mother had stolen her inheritance, which consisted of drug money. Her father was a criminal. The stranger at the bar was hot gypsy and a drug smuggler and a criminal and fucking sexy. It was overwhelmingly complicated on so many levels and she needed a goddamn minute to get her head around it. If she didn’t feel so disgusting, she would go straight to bed.Cal wanted nothing more than to scrub off all the emotions she was carrying inside of her head and a hot shower was probably the only solution.Cal was just about to walk into her house when she heard the crunching of gravel. A part of her expected to see the stranger when she turned around. Cal hoped he would show up and finish what they started at the bar, even though she knew that ship had sailed the second he saw her on the trawler, and she met his mostly naked girlfriend. When she turned around, she saw Corey Welch getting out of his police truck. Everything about him screamed polished and it killed her how squeaky clean he seemed. She found herself crossing her arms, much like Augie did when he was confronted by the suppliers.Corey slips off his badge, making it clear that this isn’t a business trip. He even raises his perfectly non-calloused hands to indicate that this is a peaceful visit. Cal tries to block out the memory of the last time a police officer showed up at her house looking for her. Her brain is so tired that it permits her request, allowing her a moment without feeling completely anxious in a cop’s presence.
It’s Corey Welch, for crying out loud. He’s practically harmless.
Still, a part of her still feels uneasy, she did just commit to becoming a criminal again mere hours ago.“Are you stalking me, now?” Cal asks, folding her arms closer to her body. He’s appraising her, taking note of her appearance and her clothes. It’s nerve-racking. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He says after she makes it clear that she’s about to lash out if he doesn’t hurry up and speak. He loops his fingers in his belt when he speaks, a nervous tick. He’s not looking her in the eyes, which is mostly a relief because Cal has no idea what he would find in them. She’s sure that she looks every bit as fucked up as she feels. Her bright red lipstick has faded, and her hair is piled on top of her head in a top knot bun. She’s wearing the jacket that she had discarded on the grown when she was busy making out with the stranger, and it’s probably got some debris on it somewhere. Regardless, Corey Welch just showing up out of the blue was a red flag in her mind.“Why?” Cal asks, trying to figure out his angle before she gives too much away. Cal isn’t sure if he wants her personal information, or if he’s after Auggie’s business. He’s a cop. His mentor is a dirty cop. His mentor’s mentor was an even worse cop, and thanks to her, a dead dirty cop, too.Corey swallows hard, “I saw you leave the bar with Dylan last night…I was concerned.”
His name is Dylan.
Dylan.
“Dylan.” She says out loud, deciding she likes the way it feels against her tongue. Corey is visibly displeased with her reaction to his name, or her reaction in general to the mention of the guy. It’s not her fault that the mention of him sent chills up her spine, or the memory of his lips against hers made her want to combust. “Um, yeah. I left with him.” Cal tries to be as nonchalant as possible, but it’s hard when she’s working with minimal brain functionality.“Where did you go?” Corey asks, still not looking her in the eyes. It’s like speaking to a child—a jealous little boy. Cal remembers the time that her father bought her and Augie ice cream, and Augie asked whose ice cream cone was bigger. Her father didn’t even look because he was busy with work papers, and just randomly said Cal. Augie cried because he didn’t have the bigger cone, which was probably metaphorical or some shit about how men were about their dicks. It’s all just a pissing contest. Corey Welch wasn’t above whipping his out to see who was working with the bigger rod.The only problem was, Cal’s pretty sure it’s Dylan.Cal sighs, “Not that it’s any of your business, but we only hung out for a short while before I decided to spend time with Augie. We went fishing, talked about our dad.” Committed a felony in his memory. Cal really didn’t have to explain herself to the likes of Corey Welch. It’s not like he was some ex-lover of hers from when she was in high school. He never even asked her out, even though old Cal wanted him to so desperately. He was a good boy, and she was a good girl, and it made sense.But that girl died when her father did.“Oh, well, it’s nice that you and Augie have reconnected.” Corey finally relaxes, relieved that Cal hadn’t recounted the steamy details of her time with Dylan. She’s pleased that he bought her blasé ruse. There’s no reason anyone has to know that she was about to give it all up to some dark, mysterious stranger against a brick wall. There’s no reason Augie and Corey have to know what a dent Dylan made on her core. It was a one-time thing, even though she really wished it was not. Corey interrupts her thoughts, taking a step closer to her. Cal takes a step back, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. He sighs, “Look, Cal, Dylan is bad news. That entire—”“So am I.” Cal says defensively, even though she doesn’t know why she’s even defending him. He has a girlfriend and he most definitely is bad news. He’s wrecking her completely, turning her into someone she isn’t after fifteen minutes outside of a bar. It’s uncharacteristically unnerving and Cal doesn’t know how to make it stop. The only thing that she can do is be honest. “It doesn’t matter anyway, nothing’s going to happen between me and Dylan.”She saw his face when he saw her on the trawler. She recognized the distaste in his features when she told him who she was. It doesn’t take a genius to know that as bad as she wants to experience him, that it’s best to leave it be. It’s over before it even had a chance to start.“You’re different than him, Cal. He’s…the Tidelanders are dangerous. They’re killers—” Corey stops speaking and Cal knows that he’s arrived at the same point that she has. Cal’s a killer, too. She killed a cop. Cal spent the last precious years of her childhood behind bars, coming to terms with the death of a man she thought she knew. Cal knew forms of darkness most people would never experience. Her best friend was anger, only seconded by constant rejection. She was perversely dark. God, at times she could feel it in her blood. “You’re different.” He amends halfheartedly, but she knows that he’s thinking about her record now. Corey Welch is withdrawing himself from her because she is a cop killer. She is a criminal.And he’s just perfect little Corey Welch.“I’m really tired, Corey. I’ve had a long night.” Cal says in an attempt to say goodbye. Her voice is weaker than it was when they first started the conversation. Cal can practically feel the stress migraine forming from all the emotionally abusive thoughts swimming in her mind.Corey cusses under his breath and says, “I’m sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”“I’m fine.”“Auggie doesn’t trust him, either, you know. If you don’t want to listen to me, I get it…but you should listen to Augie. He knows them better than anyone.” Corey says with a frown. Maybe he’s seen through her wall of bullshit. Maybe he knows damn well that Dylan has already cast his spell on her. “I’ll keep that in mind. Like I said, I have no intentions of doing anything with Dylan.” It’s not a lie. She really doesn’t plan on doing anything with him. That doesn’t mean he won’t be on her mind late at night, or that the blossoming feelings in her chest will easily die.Corey sighs, “Well, okay, I’ll see you around, Cal.”“Okay, Corey.”The sound of Corey getting back into his police truck is enough motivation for her to finally walk inside. Cal thinks about his warning, and Augie’s warning, as she walks towards the bathroom. Her plan is to take a shower—the first shower that’s not timed—and then go straight to sleep. Maybe she would wake up with a new take on Dylan.And Corey.And Augie.And her dad.Her head is filled with memories of her life before she was arrested. There were all the times that she found her mother passed out in the very bathroom floor she was standing on now. Rosa would be holding a bottle of Grey Goose like her life depended on it. Her father was always gentle with her, despite how fucked up she happened to be. It was probably an embarrassment to have a wife that was never sober enough to pick up her kids from practice, or drive them to school in the morning, but he never showed it.Not unless Rosa was being a complete bitch to Cal. It’s true that her father coddled her, protected her from her mother’s drunkenness and the dark sides of his business. He did such a great job, too. Cal would have never found out about the drug business if he was still alive.Cal turns on the shower water, still trapped in her thoughts.She doesn’t even hear the floor creak behind her, or the heavy breathing of two men in her house.Just like the neighbors don’t hear her scream.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I’m supposed to be dead.
The sun is blaring down on her as she stumbles down an old dirt road designed for the tractors hauling crops between parcels of land. It’s made of white dirt that sticks to her feet, all the way to her ankles. Her feet also have an uncomfortable layer of sand on them. It’s practically biting at her skin. Her legs are sore from all the walking she’s done. It’s sure different from the half-ass track that the prison supplies during yard time. Cal’s wearing a pair of uniform black underwear and a soaking wet gray tank top, and her wet bra. There’s sand everywhere, which is unfortunate for her. More than anything, she wants to take a shower but how could she ever…Her hair is dripping down her back and her eyes are burning from the seawater. It’s the first time in her life that she’s ever been the deep in the ocean and only by sheer instinct was she able to get back to the shore.Her father never taught her how to swim.Cal is still not sure what happened.Corey Welch came by her house to warn her about the stranger from the bar after she walked back from the fishery. Cal went to take a shower, but she was so caught up in her own thoughts that she never saw it coming. Two men grabbed her from her house and tied her up in her own shower curtain. She never even saw their faces. She tried to scream for help, but there wasn’t anyone to help her. The men used a small boat, or a jetty, or something and tied a weight around her ankles.And without pause, they threw her into the ocean.
I’m supposed to be dead.
Statistically, everything in the situation was against her. Cal didn’t know how to swim, and her body was anchored down. She completely panicked when they tossed her overboard, so she wasn’t working with much oxygen in the first place. And even if she was, she took too long. She ran out of air. Cal knows that she ran out of air. But then, she started breathing again. Her lungs burned like hell, but she was breathing. Cal was breathing water, and somehow she was able to unhook the weight around her ankles and swim to shore.Then, she assaulted two locals—but come on, someone just tried to kill her.
Where do I go?
Cal considers going to the police station, mostly because that is the place the average person would go after someone just tried to kill them. Typically, though, the average person hasn’t been convicted of killing a police officer. The average person also isn’t a drug smuggler or avoiding a cop with a crush. Not that the last part really even matters, someone did try to drown her.The first thing she needs to do is find some clothes before that dirty cop arrests her for indecent exposure. Cal’s pretty sure he’s gay, so even her beauty could persuade him otherwise. Her father’s reputation also wasn’t going to help her.“Fuck,” Cal breathes as she steps on a few particularly sharp pieces of gravel in the road. “I need some fucking shoes.”Her house is a few miles away, but she’s wholly exhausted and entirely uncomfortable. Cal knows that she is minutes away from passing out on the road. Her vision is starting to blur at the edges and it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to walk in a straight line. In the distance, she can hear the hum of some type of vehicle approaching. Cal silently prays that it isn’t that bastard who arrested her. A part of her desperately wants to hide, but she’s not sure that it will be successful.And what if the person could offer help?
Fuck that.
The vehicle gets closer and closer, the engine sound becoming more distinct. Cal thinks it might be a motorcycle, or maybe even an expensive dirt bike. Cal hears the engine cut from behind her in a defining way. Her entire body tenses and she prepares herself to run. Cal definitely doesn’t trust anyone in Orphelin Bay, except Augie and even he lied to her for years.“Cal?”
Dylan.
Out of all the people that could have found her in this state of undress, it had to be Dylan. Cal hears him take a heavy step towards her and it causes her legs to completely lock. The idea that he is so close to her is engulfing her senses, making her warmer than the sun shining down on them. “What are you doing here?” His voice lowers when he asks the questioning, highlighting his mesmerizing accent.Cal turns around to face him, not really sure what secrets her facial expressions are telling him. He looked good in his tight jeans and button up shirt. The top three buttons on Dylan’s shirt were undone and she cold see how muscular he happened to be. It was a damn joke that he was involved with her father’s business and that fucking commune. It made him entirely too complicated to mess with.But still…“Cal?” Dylan says her name again, forehead crinkling in apprehension. Cal catches him staring at her bare legs but she does not smirk like she so desperately wants to do. Really, the situation isn’t funny. Cal’s walking away from an attempted murder in barely anything and now she’s facing someone that was definitely unhappy to see her last night on the trawler. Dylan could definitely be a threat at this point.Cal doesn’t believe that he is dangerous. He can’t be a danger to her. Her hands are shaking by the time that she feels ready to answer him. Cal looks towards the path that she has walked from the beach. “I was thrown in the water…someone tried to kill me.” Her words sound slightly broken, but she believes that she’s handled the deliverance of the news fairly well.“And you lived?”“I-I’m not really sure what happened.”“What do you mean?” Dylan takes another step towards her, and it makes her head spin.“I should be dead right now.” Cal feels the dizziness resuming as all the details of her attempted drowning come to surface. The kidnapping, the water, the drowning, the breathing, the escaping—it’s all too much. Prison was less complicated than life in Orphelin Bay. Cal tries to shift her weight to prevent herself from showing too much weakness in front of Dylan. The last thing that she wanted to be was pathetic.He sighs, “What happened?”“I-I-“ Cal stammers before her entire world turns to darkness.The last thing she sees is Dylan lunging forward and the last thing she hears is him saying, “Fuck!”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Dylan Seager is aware that he is risking everything for the benefit of a stranger, and even as he makes the realization, he knows that he will not regret it. He also knows that he will be caught. Adrielle returned the afternoon before after being away for weeks at a previously undisclosed location. When he first saw Lamar driving the sedan, he was pleased. Actually, he was over the moon because he missed her. He was getting bored with the variety of women in L’Attente and he always missed her when she was away for long periods. Adrielle was the only person in the world that he genuinely trusted. The woman was everything to him—a mentor, a friend, a ruler, and a lover.He thought that her return would mark the end of all of the secrets, that she would finally share what was keeping her away from L’Attente and from him. Instead, she ordered the shipment to be delivered to the smugglers and then to make matters worse, she rejected him. It was enough to drive him to The Devil’s Tail for a little fun. It was the type of fun that Adrielle never approved of but could not openly punish considering her own affairs outside of L’Attente.He was whispering in the ear of a bimbo, that he planned to bed, when he caught sight of a striking brunette. Dylan had never seen her before at any of the bars in Orphelin Bay. The woman was dancing by herself, completely at peace in her own space. Her hips were singing an incantation that every man in the bar could hear. The fact that she was unequivocally beautiful gave him pause. He wanted to go to her, but something held him back. In that moment, he was entirely aware of his defect—he’s poison. He looks so easily consumable, looks like he could be adored and loved, but it’s all fraudulent. He’s beautiful because he is a monster. And monsters should not corrupt beautiful women.Dylan tried to go back to the conversation he was having beforehand, but it was useless. He watched as the woman made her way back to the bar and ordered another drink. Yvette frowned at her in a way that made Dylan smirk because he loves anyone that pisses off the employees in this bar. He was about to leave so he could avoid the temptation, but he saw some douche walking her way. “Hell no,” Dylan growled before he crossed the bar towards her.He made a devil’s deal with himself: just one dance.Dylan was powerless, completely trapped in her enigmatic aura. The smell of her skin filled his nose and it affected him more than the three shots of whiskey he had the second he walked through the door. The magnetic pull that he felt went beyond arousal, beyond something as petty as lust. It was a pure connection—and not one built on fear, or history, or required respect.Still, it was a complete lapse in judgement when he asked her to leave with him. He couldn’t even control himself when they walked out of the bar. Dylan had to have her right then or he was going to struggle to breathe for the first time in his life. The moment their lips touched, he knew that he was screwed. He knew that he was committing the highest of sins against his Queen. He was already falling for this perfect stranger.He was about to give himself to her in a tightly wrapped package after just a few minutes of meeting her. It was both fascinating and terrifying. Dylan’s phone started to ring and he knew that it was Adrielle but he let it ring. For the first time, Adrielle had to listen to his prerecorded voicemail. Dylan answered the second time that Adrielle called, mostly out of a sense of duty. The second that she mentioned that shipment, Dylan knew that he had to walk away from the captivating woman that was panting with desire in front of him.Dylan didn’t know her, but he did know that his lifestyle was too complicated and too dangerous.The entire ride to meet Augie McTeer was sobering to say the least. Leandra has never been great conversation, but her quiet observations of him were unnerving to say the least. Although they were both raised to be enforcers for their Queen and their people, Leandra was always different from him. He did what he had to do out of a sense of duty and responsibility, but Leandra found pleasure in it. The fact that she was observing him for weakness, or possibly observing him for Adrielle, made him uncomfortable.It didn’t help that his carefully built armor shattered when he saw her on the boat with Augie McTeer. At first, he thought that she was his girlfriend but then she introduced herself in that brazen voice. Out of all the people in the world, it had to be Cal McTeer. Of course, he knew of her, but he never expected that she would end up in Orphelin Bay. He never expected that she would end up under his skin.And he never expected that he would be carrying her to his boat after that disastrous revelation. He swore her off the second he learned her real identity. Dylan would not cross that line. He could not cross that line. But then he saw her stumbling down the road and he had to stop, he had to stop and help her. It was the most compelling feeling in the world. He didn’t get much information out of her before she fainted.Dylan couldn’t leave her in the middle of the road and taking her back to L’Attente wasn’t an option. Augie would probably try to kick his ass if he brought his sister home in her underwear, and Dylan really didn’t feel like breaking Augie’s nose. He had to know what happened to Cal, though. He had to know who hurt her. In his head, he only had one solid option and that was to take her somewhere no one would come looking for them.There’s a small island about thirty miles from the coast that Dylan found on a diving exhibition. He often escapes there when L’Attente becomes overwhelming. Dylan realizes that he hasn’t been paying much attention to his surroundings after he reaches his white boat that he parked on the beach. He had gone out after he dropped Leandra off to clear his head and didn’t feel like taking the obvious way back into L’Attente. He was thanking whatever higher power that existed for his sneaky habits.He laid Cal in the floor of his boat, covering her with the windbreaker that he keeps in a locked supplies bin. Dylan would probably have to kill someone if he was robbed by some miscreants. He was surprised that she hadn’t woken up from all the unnecessary jostling that he had subjected her to during the walk to the beach. He hid his bike in the overgrown grass, knowing that no one would dare encroach on territory so close to L’Attente.Dylan’s navigation system on his phone beeps when he passes the halfway point, finally causing Cal to shift awake.“W-what the fuck?” Cal stammers as she lurches upwards. Dylan takes note of her impressive fight or flight instincts. lurching upwards as her fight or flight instinct kicks in. He remains silent as he watches her grip his windbreaker around her body. A wide eye Cal turns and faces him, and visibly relaxes. “Fuck, it’s you. What the fuck are we doing on a boat, Dylan?” He catches his breath at the sound of his name coming from her lips and he may have even smiled at her excessive cussing.“You fainted.” Dylan huffs and focuses on the water instead of her inquisitive face. It is almost 4 pm and the waves were being quite gentle compared to the usual weather. The wind isn’t terrible but it’s enough to blow his shirt around. He chances a look at Cal just as shiver runs through her. He clears his throat and looks back at the water to avoid eye contact, “Put on the windbreaker.”Dylan is pleasantly surprised when Cal slips on his windbreaker without a strong argument. “Why are we on a damn boat?” Cal breathes and moves onto the bench rather than the floor of the boat. He watches as her hair starts to blow in the wind at the front of his boat, relieved that he no longer has to stop staring at her. The sight of her in his clothes makes his ears buzz.He almost doesn’t recognize his voice because of how strangled it sounds, “I was worried you were not safe.”“Why do you care so much?” Cal asks in a low voice, concentrating on the water instead of him. He watches as her head dips when she asks the question. He doesn’t know how to answer her in a way that doesn’t make him sound pathetic. His entire life has been defined by his inability to care for anyone other than Adrielle, and it’s been a long life. He just met Cal two days ago, but she has already changed his entire life just by breathing but she’s a human. He can’t feel for her. It’s against the rules. Dylan disguises his true intentions with a lie, “Someone tried to kill you…it’s bad for business.” The moment he says it, he regrets it. He can see the way her shoulders fall when he says it. “I thought it would be best to take you somewhere that people will not find you…until we figure out what happened today.” He wants to find out who tried to hurt her. He wants to figure out if it’s because Augie’s recklessness, or because of Tidelander involvement. Most importantly, he wants to hurt whoever tried to hurt her.He needs to get her side of the story so he can launch his own investigation before her dimwit brother, or the useless police department gets involved. He also doesn’t want to get his people involved in her life. It’s a slippery slope. Cal sighs, “That’s really not your call, is it? Take me back.”I don’t want you to go, he thinks but instead, he says, “We’re over halfway there, Cal. It will be dark by the time we get back and the ocean is dangerous at night for your kind.”“Augie needs me.” Cal does not miss a beat. He watches as her hands ball into fists.He rolls his eyes, “Augie is a big boy that is perfectly capable of taking care of himself.”“Dylan, take me back.”“I can’t do that.”“Why the hell not?”Dylan snaps, “Because I don’t want anything to happen to you, Cal!” Cal finally turns to face him, a million emotions in her eyes. He can see the anger and he can see the confusion, but most of all he can see how badly she wants him to say what she needs to hear. Dylan swallows thickly, “I will take you back to Orphelin Bay in the morning. The waters aren’t safe at night.”“How do I know it wasn’t you that threw me into the water?”His head shoots up as he meets her eyes, “Because I would never let anything happen to you, Cal.”