Authors: Denise Townsend
River cleared her throat, knowing she was blushing like crazy.
“Okay, yeah, I’m not talking about this anymore with you. And definitely not Mrs. Fontanelli,” she added, just imagining Jason’s very sweet, very Christian and very conservative day care teacher, being told that River was dating two men at the same time.
“’Kay. But I’m right, and you know it,” Jason said. River nodded. He was right.
She needed to start living her own life, and leave her brother free to live his.
Chapter Twenty
For the first time in a really long time, River felt safe. Walking into the bar, she’d known Rick wouldn’t be there. Then taking a seat with Leo and Fen at a high corner table with three stools, one that had waitress service, she knew she didn’t have to worry about Rick walking in. She also knew she could eat her whole meal without worrying about someone vandalizing her property, or making her life difficult.
And she knew that pretty soon, all of Eastport would know what Rick had done. The people who still wondered what had really happened that night Trevor died would know the truth.
But would they know all of the truth?
“Penny for your thoughts, lass?” Fen asked, handing River a menu.
“I’m thinking about Rick.”
Leo groaned. “No more Rick! You don’t have worry about him anymore.”
River shook her head. “I’m not worried about him, I’m worried for him. We have to help him.”
Leo looked at her like she might be smoking the rock, but Fen appeared unsurprised.
“When you guys left the room, one of the things that Jason told me was he saw or felt some of Rick’s memories, just like Rick was seeing his. And he felt what Trevor and Rick’s dad did to them. Well, what their dad did to Trevor, and would have done to Rick if Trevor hadn’t kept him distracted.”
“Fuck. Are you serious?” Leo was obviously as disturbed as River at this news.
“Yes. So Trevor was a monster.” River pronounced these words carefully, as if she’d just learned to pronounce them. “But he was made into one, and by the same person who nearly did the same thing to Rick. Their dad nearly ruined both those boys. It’s not fair that Rick suffers, that Trevor died, when their dad’s going to go free.”
“You’re right,” Leo said. “Sorry I reacted that way.”
“Don’t be. I’ve only been sensible about any of this for about the last twenty minutes.”
Leo couldn’t help but laugh, admiring both River’s sense of humor and the level way she admitted to having been wrong. Not that Leo blamed her. In fact, Leo had seen enough trauma to understand how well River was recovering from the type of event that might have ruined someone else.
Casting a look toward the selkie quietly pretending to read his menu in order to give Leo and River a sense of privacy, the paramedic wondered how much of this mental and emotional wellness was because of Fen.
Leo began to realize how much he owed his magical new friend, although he had no idea how he’d ever repay any of it.
What do selkies like?
he wondered.
Sardines? A ball to balance on his nose?
Fen glanced up at Leo, cocking his eyebrow at the other man. Leo found himself blushing, and he hurriedly turned back to River.
“Well what’s the plan for Rick?” Leo asked. River shrugged.
“I’ll talk to him,” Fen said. “Encourage him to talk to the police. The fact is, Sheriff White has to be wondering what went wrong with those two.”
“But their dad is so rich, so powerful.”
“And he’s also lost one son, and nearly lost another. As did their mother. She has to know something, whether or not she was ever willing to admit it to herself. But I think you’ll discover that even the most abusive parent doesn’t want to think he’s actually, irrevocably hurt his child. They do what they do by convincing themselves it’s not that bad, or it’s a form of love or that it’s not hurting anyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if the father admits to what happened, upon being confronted. Or that the mother tells what she knows.”
“But what if they don’t? They didn’t fess up after Trevor.”
This time it was Leo who spoke. “Yeah, but look how they went after Jason. It was crazy. But it makes sense that they did so, if what Fen is saying is true. They went after Jason so they could blame him, blame you, rather than blame themselves.”
River shivered, wondering how people could blame everything else but themselves, knowing they’d done such wrong.
“And have no fear,” Fen said. “I can be sure I’m around, to have my own talk with Rick’s father if need be.”
For a second Fen’s eyes flashed his real, immortal dark gaze, before flashing back to a benign blue.
“But I don’t think it’ll come to that. Your Sheriff White seems a very capable woman.”
“That she is,” Leo said, laughing. “And she’s got an incredible right hook. I know, ’cuz I’ve patched up more than a few perps who mistakenly thought she was ‘just a girl’…”
Leo continued with his stories, making them all laugh. They ordered food, and beer and they had a great time. River had forgotten what it felt like not to feel hunted, or haunted, and it felt good.
It also felt good to be with Leo, and with Fen. The selkie had become incredibly important to her, and she cherished his presence in her life. Paradoxically, however, her affection for and closeness to Fen somehow only exacerbated her feelings of closeness to Leo.
For while she knew Fen would leave, she knew her life would continue without him. She’d miss him yes, and she hoped he’d visit.
I’ll look forward to his visits, on a number of levels
, she thought, heat rising in her cheeks.
But at the thought of living without Leo, her heart swam in her chest, as if cast adrift.
Without really thinking what she was doing, she reached out her fingers and touched his tattooed forearm where it lay on the table.
He broke off what he was saying mid-sentence, looking down at her hand in shock. When he looked back up at her face, his expression was as concerned, as gentle, and as loving as it always was.
“River?” he asked, clearly holding back from saying anything more. She’d held him at arm’s length for so long, she realized he must have no idea where he stood with her.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For everything.”
Then she leaned forward and did what she’d wanted to do for so very long, placing a small hand on Leo’s jaw in open invitation. It’s all the encouragement the man needed–he leaned forward too, and met her lips with his own.
The kiss was a tiny thing really, especially considering that the first time their lips had met, Leo had given River back her life.
And yet River felt this kiss was no less potent, no less life-affirming. It told her Leo desired her as much as she did him, and whispered a sensual promise that she felt in the points of her nipples, in the pit of her stomach and deep in her cunt.
Her legs trembled as she pushed away and hopped down from her stool.
“Um, bathroom,” she murmured, running away with very little dignity.
Fen watched her go, shaking his head with a combination of pride in her first, baby step towards Leo, and acknowledgement that he still had a lot of work to do.
Leo meanwhile was staring like he’d just been poleaxed.
“You okay?” Fen eventually asked him.
“Um, yeah. I think. What just happened?”
“Our River was just trying to tell you she likes you. She’s not had a lot of practice.”
“Um, er…”
“Listen. I have a proposition. How open-minded are you, exactly?”
It was Leo’s turn to arch an eyebrow at Fen, while he tried to think how to answer that question. Finally, Leo gave up and just thought his answer. Upon the waves of Leo’s desire and love for River, Fen got the barest taste of just how open Leo really was.
Fen smiled.
River didn’t stand a chance.
Dinner had been fabulous, and River was feeling a pleasant two-beer buzz as she walked into the house with Fen and Leo. She decided to ignore the signs of today’s drama that still littered the front room and moved into the kitchen.
“Beer? Soda? Water?” she asked her guests. Both men cadged one last beer, but River only poured herself a small glass of water, which she promptly drained.
“I know this doesn’t make me a very good hostess, but do you guys mind if I go take a shower?”
Fen carefully kept his emotions dampened, so she couldn’t sense his excitement. A shower was the perfect distraction; the perfect way to get River out of the way so he and Leo could put their plan into effect.
“Not at all,” Leo said, his voice carefully neutral.
“Thanks. Hospitals squick me out still.”
“No problem. Take your time.”
River went upstairs to her attic bedroom with its en suite. She could have sworn the two men were planning something, but what? Involuntarily she shivered, but it was a shiver of anticipation. Various fantasies skittered through her head, some her own and some created by Fen’s whispers in her ears while they made love. But she reminded herself that while Fen might not have any human hang ups regarding sex, Fen wasn’t Leo. It was one thing to fantasize about someone, another thing entirely for that person to indulge, or even accept, those fantasies.
Leo had never seemed very conservative to her, but the scenes she’d played out with Fen had been pretty extreme. She also figured that the fact Leo really did care for her might be a bad thing, where her fantasies were concerned. So many men compartmentalized their sex lives into stuff they expected to do with beloved partners, and stuff they could only do with strangers they didn’t have to respect. River had never understood that need to compartmentalize, and she actually thought it was pretty dangerous to try to live one’s life one way, while fantasizing about other lives. But still, River knew it happened all the time.
“And you don’t even know what you’d do with him if you had him,” River said to herself, as she stripped off her dirty clothes in front of her mirror.
She didn’t mean sexually, of course. Leo was a banquet upon which she’d feast, if she ever got him in the sack. But she knew she’d want so much more from him, especially once she’d tasted him. And after so many years alone, so many years telling herself that letting anyone in was dangerous to her and Jason’s fragile independence, knowing she wanted someone was a lot different than knowing how to keep someone.
River sighed heavily as she made her way into her attached bathroom. She brushed her teeth as she let the shower warm up, stepping in with a grateful little groan once it was the perfect temperature. Aware her guests were downstairs waiting for her, River had meant to hurry. But the hot water felt too good on her body, which had gone through quite a bit of stress that day. So instead of grabbing her shampoo as she’d intended, she paused for a few moments to let the hot water run down her back and soothe her.
Then the bathroom door opened.
“Fen!” she gasped, peering at him through her glass shower door. The selkie was naked, although he held something in his hand that he hung from the hook on the back of her bathroom door as he closed it.
“River,” Fen said, smiling at her sensually. Then he was sliding open her shower door and stepping in.
“Where’s Leo?” she asked, hoping he hadn’t gone home but also praying he wasn’t downstairs, having to endure her naked in the shower with Fen while he twiddled his thumbs. Surely Fen wouldn’t be so insensitive?
“He’s fine,” Fen said. “I just thought you might need some help…”
Fen grinned wickedly as he reached for River’s shampoo, pouring a little into his hand.
“But he can’t just sit there…”
“Don’t worry about Leo,” Fen commanded, a smug little smile on his face. “Now turn around.”
River did as Fen asked, figuring the sooner they got back downstairs the better. But Fen took his time shampooing her hair, massaging her scalp in a way that relaxed River utterly even as she wanted to hurry.
So she cut the massage short by leaning forward under the water as Fen tutted.
“Why the rush?” he asked, reaching for her conditioner.
“Leo’s waiting, Fen. This is…it’s rude.”
“Don’t worry about Leo, lass. He’s not going anywhere, believe me. He’d wait for you till the end of days if he had to.”
River frowned. “That’s not true.”
“You know it is,” Fen replied. He twirled his finger to indicate he wanted her to turn around, which she did. Then she felt his hands again in her hair, smoothing through the conditioner.
“Leo loves you. And you love him.” Fen’s voice was sure, brooking no argument.
“I don’t…er, I can’t…I mean…”
Fen chuckled, tugging gently at her hair in approbation.
“Don’t deny it, lass. I’m an empath, you can’t lie to me about what you feel.”
River went silent, sifting through her own emotions as Fen finished conditioning her hair. Then he reached for the bar of soap in its stand, to run it over her shoulders, then down her arms. River stayed quiet as Fen washed her back, her ripe bottom, then down the backs of her legs. Hands on her shoulders turned her around, and then he did the same thing to her front. Her nipples pearled at the touch of the soap, her eyes watching his slow movements with sensual detachment.