The Bad Boy And The Mermaid novel Chapter 12

Hunter

When we arrived back at the apartment, the faint aroma of food was still lingering in the room. It smelled of grilled chicken and cake. One glance at the kitchen counter told me why.

I turned to Blue. “Did you do that, Blue?”

The mermaid pressed her lips together and tried to avoid eye-contact. “I...I cooked for you.” She strutted.

My eyes widened. “You did?”

She nodded. “I packed everything and brought it to your cafe and forgot all the food there.”

“I can’t tell you how much that gesture means to me, sweetheart. Thank you.” Then I added. “The cooking for me part of the gesture I mean, not the leaving part.”

Her eyes lit up with the small compliment. “I think there still might be some left overs if you’d like to try.”

“I would love to.” I said as I followed her into the tiny kitchen and raised the lid to find only two pieces of remaining cake and one grilled sandwich. “Where did got loose the packed lunch then?”

“I guess it’s still at the cafe. Your brother Ryan probably ate it.” She shrugged.

The cake was still raised towards my mouth when I frowned, imagining Ryan taking all the food home and stuffing his face with it. That food was meant for me. And only me. It was prepared by Blue’s delicate mermaid hands.

Finally I took a bite of the cake, the chocolate melted in my mouth, it was so soft and gooey, I didn’t remember eating anything like this before. I stared at her in awe. She smiled. “What?”

“I’m finding it quite hard to believe this is your first time cooking human food.”

She grinned. “But I did it. I watched a lot of YouTube videos for it.”

“You’re incredible, Blue.” I said, feeling proud and a twinge of envy mixed with it.

I felt proud because it just proved how smart she could be with a little guidance and envious because, it was a dead give-away that I didn’t deserve a girl like her.

She was a burning light in my ever growing darkness, she brought brightness into my life with each passing day. The least I could do for her was mentor her, teach her the human ways until she was capable.

But she was never mine to keep.

And that reminded me of the hardest decision I had to make.

That night, she came to snuggle against me in bed as usual, wearing a cute panda nightie. But as soon as she lied down in bed, she took off the top and the bra went with it. The activity in my car with me ravishing her topless had probably given her the idea that it was okay to sleep bare.

It was funny and cute how she made her own logic with certain incidents. She pressed her soft breasts against my bare chest. I’d kiss her and then I wouldn’t be able to control my hands and that probably would lead to other things and I didn’t plan to do any of that if she was in fact leaving soon.

I felt her fingers trace my gruff jaw, “what’s wrong, Hunter?” She whispered.

“When I’m not with you, please keep the t-shirt on your body. Okay?” I asked.

She nodded.

I practiced self-control that night, and in the morning I started packing Blue’s clothes in her bag. She eyed me curiously, excitement glimmering in her ocean blue eyes.

“Are we going somewhere?”

I hated to break her heart.

“Not me. Just you.”

She continued to stare. “Where am I going?”

“Hannah’s.” I said and then added. “My family home, the place where I used to live before.”

“I get to meet Hannah?”

I gave her a nod.

We settled in my car, and I drove with excruciating slowness, prolonging the time I was spending with her. She fiddled with the radio stations, looked outside the window, asked me over a dozen questions and then finally sat back.

“And then when can I come back?” She asked.

I stared straight ahead.

I couldn’t just lie to her. I had to tell her the truth.

I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. “From here on, until we figure out how you can go back to your world, Blue, you will stay with Hannah. I already spoke with her and she’s as much capable of caring for you as I am.”

“But can’t I stay with you again?” She repeated.

“You can’t.”

“Why not?” She asked.

Out of everything that I’d said, that’s all she’d picked. I shouldn’t be surprised, this was Blue we were talking about.

“Never mind.” I said. “I meant I can’t be used as a whore to satisfy a mermaid’s carnal desires while she lived here and get tossed away again when she decided to leave. I can’t make it any more clear to you then I already have.”

“I just want to stay with you. Please, Hunter.” She pleaded.

I didn’t reply, and pushed the car into drive. I wasn’t going to change my decision. I’d spoken to Hannah and she’d been cool with letting Blue stay with her. In fact she’d been glad. Mom and dad were hardly in town, what with their constant trips so the house was mostly all hers.

Blue stared at the house with wide eyes as we stepped out of the car. An elderly housemaid, Mrs. Timble welcomed us at the grand entrance of the mansion.

“How are you, Nana?”

She enveloped me in a warm hug, her hazel eyes glimmered, a radiant smile playing on her lips. I felt a wave of nostalgia when the scent of her strawberry perfume hit my nostrils. My mother had left when I was quite young and I never had a motherly figure in my life until my father remarried. Mrs. Timble had been the grandmother I never had and I called her Nana.

Nana placed her warm hand on my cheek. “You haven’t been eating well, Hunter, what’s wrong? Are you unwell?”

I shook my head. “Nana, this is Blue. She’s going to stay here for a while.” I squeezed her hand. “Please take good care of her.”

Nana smiled at me and then at Blue. “Of course. She’s so gorgeous. How are you, my dear?”

Blue took a step back. She was always a little wary of strangers. “I’m..I’m fine.”

Nana seemed amused for some reason. “Forgive me for being forward, dear, but you look like one of those exotic Princesses in Disney movies.”

“I’m actually a mer...”

I caught Blue’s hand and dragged her towards the marble staircase. “See you, Nana.”

“Stay for lunch today, Hunter. It’s your favorite.” Nana called our behind me.

“Are you some kind of a Prince, Hunter?” Blue asked as she followed me upstairs.

A three story red bricked Victorian mansion. I’d lived all my life in the house and yet, I couldn’t remember a single good memory that was worth recalling. It had been a house merely, where people came and left at their convenience and no one bothered to actually sit at the table as a family. If we did that, my father usually found ways to taunt me or rub salt on my open wounds so I’d usually avoided the dinner table like a plague.

I guess opened the door of my old bedroom on the first floor. Blue could live here for as long as she was here and I had to find a way to divert my mind from the mermaid.

I realized that was going to be very difficult.