Dying Dreams (Book 1 of Dying Dreams Trilogy) (15 page)

Sloane affected a shocked expression, but he knew he didn’t have the upper hand. “I thought you said you’re with the Coast Guard?”

Gold tooth laughed and steadied his aim on Sloane, but his friend put a hand on his shoulder. “Not with the gun.”

Sloane sighed. Whoever had hired those pirates had ordered them to make any deaths look like accidental drowning. They wouldn’t want someone looking into pirate activity in that area and stumble across their drilling operation. He had no doubt he could take the guy in a fair fight, but pirates never fought fair and Sloane had no obvious weapons at hand. A click behind him made him start to turn back toward Liza, but gold tooth’s howling spun him back toward the other boat. Gold tooth no longer had the gun in his hand and was clutching his wrist, which was now spurting blood.

“Don’t just stand there,” Liza shouted at Sloane. “Let’s go.” She was already steering the boat into the wind. Sloane looked back at the other boat to make sure Gold tooth’s partner hadn’t pulled a weapon and then he set about angling sails and helping to get them out of there. They had to go in the direction the wind took them, it was the only way to outrun the hybrid boat whose engine he could hear roaring to life behind them.

“We won’t outrun them with this,” he said.

Liza shrugged like she faced down pirates every day. “So shoot ‘em.”

He grabbed the gun she’d left on the deck by her feet and ran to the stern, ready to shoot if the pirates got too close. There was no doubt they’d give chase. Pirates believed in revenging their own and Sloane would probably have to lose the boat, too. If the pirates could track it, they could track him and his grandmother, and they’d never leave him alone again.

The pirates were catching up, so Sloane steadied his arm, holding the gun and aiming it at… nothing. Neither of them was visible on the deck. He knew they had to be somewhere with a window, otherwise they couldn’t steer or follow, but he couldn’t see them and he didn’t know enough about how pirates operated to guess their strategy or their hidey hole.

He let them get closer and, just as they made a move to pass, Liza steered across their path and caught a pocket of wind flowing to the North West. Sloane wondered if maybe she had some elemental or siren blood in her, because she was just as in tune with the wind and the sea as he was. As the pirates maneuvered their larger boat around to give chase, he saw one of them step out onto the deck. He had something that looked like a freaking missile launcher. He raised it to his shoulder and took aim, probably not wanting to chase Sloane and Liza all over the ocean when they had a drill to guard.

There wasn’t time to lower the sails and slow down. Sloane had to take the shot while they were close enough and he had to be damn lucky. He wasn’t. Just as he aimed and pressed down on the trigger, a wave caught them, making him wobble and miss his shot. He ran to the bow, and grabbed Liza’s arm. “We’ve got to jump, now.”

She didn’t question him or hesitate. She jumped into the water with him. The boat exploded behind them and he pulled her under and kicked them as hard and fast away from the boat as he could. It helped that the water rocked and pushed them out with the explosion, but he still felt wood splinters hitting and pricking his skin. Somehow, they avoided being hit by any huge chunks of wood. He pulled Liza deeper and kicked harder, swimming down and away from the boat.

When they were deep enough, he saw the wide-eyed panic on Liza’s face and knew she needed to breathe soon. He felt himself start to freak out, and he took a moment to still himself and consider his options. He wasn’t able to breathe under water, so he couldn’t give Liza his air without threatening his own air supply. He sent out a mental call to Mellita, hoping the mermaid was close enough to hear his weak call, and turned to Liza. She motioned to the surface, but he shook his head. If they went up there with the pirates, they’d be killed for sure. At least below the surface they stood a tiny chance.

He motioned between them to suggest she take some air from him. She shook her head, but he could see how badly she needed to breathe. Her eyes were beginning to go soft and sleepy, and he had to hold her down to keep her from floating up to the surface. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, pushing her mouth open with his tongue and forcing in as much air as he could. She breathed it in and, even though they were probably both going to drown, he couldn’t help noticing how good her lips felt and how badly he hoped they both lived so that he could do that… never again, he reminded himself.

Liza’s eyes regained some of their normal spark, but she didn’t look comfortable. They were going to be in serious trouble if Mellita didn’t hear his call. They weren’t too far from mermaid territory, but Sloane had no way of knowing where in that wide-ranging territory Mellita might be. Just when Liza’s face was starting to go a bit blue, Mellita appeared out of the dark depths. She immediately saw the problem and used her magic to create an air bubble around Liza and Sloane. Liza gasped and tried to draw in a lot of air, but the bubble didn’t hold enough for that. Sloane had experienced Mel’s air bubble once before and he took quick, short breaths.

He could see the panic returning to Liza’s face, she couldn’t get as much air as she thought she needed. He reached for her and touched her hand. He just touched her and she stilled and looked at him. He didn’t have to speak or explain. She saw the way he was breathing and she realized her mistake. She matched her breathing to his and gave him a small smile of relief.

Outside the bubble, Mellita gestured for an explanation. Because of Sloane’s Siren blood, Mel could hear him when he called for her telepathically, but his blood wasn’t strong enough for them to have an entire conversation. He just motioned to her to let her know they needed to stay down there until the other boat was gone.

Mellita accepted his answer and her eyes went cloudy, the way they did when she was talking to her sisters. As Liza and Sloane watched, mermaids swarmed the pirate ship above them. Probably only half an hour passed before Mellitta nodded and pointed up. The mermaids were gone, but the pirate boat sat unmoved. Sloane grabbed Liza’s hand and pulled her up to the surface behind him.

She breathed the air in deep as tears streamed down her face. He wanted to hug her, but he was tired and keeping himself afloat was about all he could handle. “Thank you,” she said. “I thought we were going to be killed.”

“So did I. You handled yourself really well back there.”

“Not my first dance with pirates. Although, the ones I met were less persistent.”

He didn’t see any sign of pirates and he didn’t expect to. He could only imagine the death those pirates had, lured over the side by beautiful women to be drowned. Not a bad way to go, he supposed, since the mermaids usually had some fun with the men before they drowned them. At least, that’s what the stories said, he’d never asked Mel what they did with the men they drowned, and she’d never admitted to drowning anyone. “You are a good friend,” he said when Mellita popped up next to them. That’s the closest he could come to thanking a fae without putting himself into a debt he might not be able to re-pay.

She nodded. “Their boat is yours.”

“Thank—” Liza started, but Sloane managed to slap a hand over her mouth before she completed the phrase.

“Let’s go,” he said, smiling. Her eyes narrowed and she looked annoyed, but she swam to the boat without another word.

Once on board, he found out why he hadn’t been able to see the pirates. They steered from below-decks and used a video camera to see what was above them. The area below decks smelled of sweat and sex and vomit and was littered with garbage, so he sent Liza up top to relax and drove them back to the marina. They docked the boat in an empty spot, retrieved his underwater camera, and left the boat there like they’d never seen it before. The authorities would recover the boat and get anything they found back to the appropriate people.

Liza was still in her bikini and she was shivering so hard she couldn’t speak around her chattering teeth. The night was sticky hot, but up on deck the wind from the movement of the boat must have chilled her. There hadn’t been a usable towel or jacket onboard. Or she was shivering from exhaustion and fear, he couldn’t tell and he wouldn’t ask her.

“My place is really close,” he said. “I can get you something to wear and we can talk.”

She nodded, her teeth chattering too hard for her to speak, and she didn’t protest when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close to his side. He rubbed her arms as they walked up the beach and then inland for several blocks to the small, brackish White Hollow Lake that was circled by about forty houseboats. He heard her intake of breath when she saw it and looked down to see her smile. “You live here?” she managed, her teeth not chattering as hard as they had been.

“Yeah, that’s me, ten boats in.” He walked with her around the boardwalk that circled the cove and they stopped together at his home. It wasn’t new or particularly large, but it was home to him.

*LIZA*

He led her onto the boat and she was pretty sure she fell in true like with him in that moment. She’d already been heading that way when he’d offered her the option of becoming an agent, and when he’d continued to help the mermaids, after he’d been told to drop the case. Now the cherry on the cake was that he lived on the water and felt the lake rock him to sleep every night. She looked around as they stepped inside and wasn’t surprised to see that his home was neat and tidy, without any clutter to be seen. There were no knick-knacks or personal items, not even any framed pictures. It looked bare and lonely to her, but she heard the sigh that escaped him and knew he’d relaxed when they walked in.

He let go of her, took a ratty, but clean, crocheted throw from the couch and put it around her shoulders. “Have a seat. I’ll go get you some warm clothes to wear.” He walked out and she sat, feeling more tired than she could ever remember being. She heard muted voices from the back of the boat and wondered if he had a girlfriend. He hadn’t mentioned a girlfriend, but they hadn’t exactly shared their personal stories. A tall, blonde woman with an hourglass figure, legs for miles, and a little red dress that showed off both, walked out of the back room, Rice trailing her. Her frown deepened when she saw Liza.

She recovered quickly and pasted a smile on her face. “Hi, I’m Frankie. You must be Sloane’s new girl.”

“No, I’m not. I’m… a friend. I was helping—” Rice stood behind Frankie, looking a bit shell-shocked, and Liza raised her eyebrows at him to ask him to help her out. He didn’t seem to see her at all.

“Sure, you were honey. You want my advice? Walk away now. Sloane has a serious commitment phobia and he’s not around enough to make anything less than commitment worth the trouble.” She walked to the door and glared at Rice until he figured out what she wanted and opened it for her. She disappeared into the night without another word.

Finally, Rice’s dazed expression moved to Liza, and she actually felt a little bit bad for him. A gorgeous woman like that leaving him in the middle of the night after what they’d just been through? She’d be a little out of it, too, if she were him. “I forgot the clothes,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

When he returned with a pile of clothes, he looked more like himself. “Sorry about that,” he said. “She took me by surprise.”

“It’s okay. That’s a pretty harsh way to dump someone.”

His eyes widened. “What? Oh, no, we broke up a couple of days ago. She was just here to pick up the rest of her stuff. I need to get the locks changed.”

Liza’s pity moved from Rice to Frankie. “You think she’s going to keep coming over and surprising you?”

He ran a hand through his hair, which was a mess from the wind and the saltwater, and his hand stuck in it a bit. He sighed, looking completely unsure of himself. “No, no, but… here.” He thrust the clothes at her. “You can take a shower if you want. It’ll even be warm.” They had another two hours of electricity that night.

Liza suddenly just wanted to go home, curl up in her own bed and go to sleep… And dream about the death of a girl at the hands of a serial killer. Shit, there’d be no peace for her that night. Still, she couldn’t stay at Rice’s all night and he was acting so strange. “It’s okay. I’ll just put these on and head home.”

“No,” he said so loudly that Liza startled. “I’m sorry. I’m not myself right now. Frankie, she… things had been bad between us a long time, but I never wanted to hurt her, and… Somehow I did. I’m just… But by the time you’re out of the shower, I’ll have my head on right again and we can talk.”

“I think you probably just want to be alone tonight. It’s okay, we can talk about all of this tomorrow.”

“No.” He looked like he’d surprised himself. “I don’t want to be alone tonight. Usually, that’s all I want, but… No, there are things I need to tell you before you go to sleep, and it will take a little while. I don’t want you to be shivering and uncomfortable while I talk to you.”

He might have commitment issues and a difficult time with women, but she wanted to hear what he had to say. “Okay. Yeah, a shower sounds really good.” She stood, dropped the throw on the couch, and headed to the bathroom he pointed out. “If I’m not out in fifteen minutes, come get me, because I’ve fallen asleep in there.” She threw a glance back over her shoulder and caught Rice staring at her with a heat and a desire in his eyes that she hadn’t seen from a man in a very long time. She couldn’t tear her eyes away for several moments. He broke first, clearing his throat and dropping his gaze, and she turned and headed for the shower, wondering what the hell was going on in his head.

She closed the door behind her, stripped out of her bathing suit, and turned the shower on, her thoughts flitting back to Rice. She’d liked his arm around her shoulders, and the warmth that radiated into her from his body. If she was honest with herself, she couldn’t think of anything about the man she didn’t like, and that worried her, for reasons she didn’t want to consider.