The Bad Boy And The Mermaid novel Chapter 17

Blue

When I touched Tyler’s hand, I could see snippets of his life. His tragic past, bits of his childhood, so much pain and the face of a beautiful woman. I pulled away abruptly and he stared at me in confusion. I took a step back, then another. He had his hand raised towards me. “Are you alright?”

I was panting. If I had kept the connection much longer, it probably would have taken a toll on me. That is one reason why I tried to block away people’s memories when they touched me.

“Blue?” Hannah asked, she was clearly anxious. “What happened?”

I plastered a fake smile and turned to him. “Can...Can I start with my work?”

“Of course. I’m sure Max briefed you about what you’re supposed to do. I’ll be out of your way.”

I just smiled, not sure how else to respond.

“Great.” Tyler said and then turned his attention to Hannah, “You and I need to have a serious talk.”

Hannah rolled her eyes. Tyler kept the door open for the both of us. I walked out followed by Hannah right behind me. She took my hand in hers, a reassuring smile on her lips. “I’ll be in the lounge if you need me. If in case you didn’t enjoy working, you can let me know, okay? No pressure. You’re doing it for fun.”

I smiled back at her. “Kay.”

“One more thing. Max knows you’re my friend but the others don’t, if anyone else asks, I’m going to tell them you’re my cousin okay? You gotta tell them the same, and no talking about being in Hunter’s bed.”

“Got it.” I said.

I had a warm fuzzy feeling inside, Hannah was so nice I could feel her energy. I knew if I was a man, I would have asked Hannah to marry me.

But I was a girl...a woman as Hunter put it and I was so completely attracted to him, it was hard to ignore this feeling. I had never felt this way towards mer-men and I wondered why.

I tried to concentrate towards the work at hand. I had a job now even if it meant just for one day and I needed to be really good at it, good enough for Maximus to hire me for a long time, at least as long as I stayed on the land.

I straightened up my appearance and walked towards the bar where the bartender was preparing drinks.

“Hi!” I said.

He was an angry looking man with a facial expression that said ‘be gone’ but I kept the smile on my face plastered. He was tall too, and silky black hair, and his nose was too pointed. Both his arms were covered in tattoos, from his biceps, all down to his fingers. Overall he was nice looking. Kind of reminded me of my mermaid best friend Adrian, the only difference was Adrian had silver hair and no tattoos.

“Can I get you any drinks?” He asked me politely but his face was still the same. No smile. Stoic.

“I would have loved too, but I’m not allowed.” I said cheerfully. “You see, I’m working as the waitress here tonight.”

“Oh, I see.” He said, pouring drinks in a tall glass and then shaking it.

I leaned against the counter. “I’m Blue.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I guess we all are feeling a little blue today, what with I had to cancel my weekly off just to cover that jackass.” He also had a round silver metal in his tongue. Didn’t that hurt?

I laughed. “No silly, I mean my name is Blue. What’s yours?”

That’s when his lips cracked into a smile. A real smile. “God, I’m so stupid. Sorry. I’m Alec.” He raised his hand towards me for a handshake.

I didn’t want to shake his hand and look into his past, I’ve had enough of that for today but not shaking his hand would also be rude right?

I slid my hand in his and before I could have any visions, I pulled my hand away.

He stared at me in surprise. “Uh-okay.”

“They said Max’s friends are here and I need to be their host.” I informed Alec.

“Yeah, well, that’s the whole point of you covering for Holly.” He muttered. “Just give me a minute, I’ll make a few drinks for you to serve them.”

“Uh..hmm. Say Alec, did it hurt when you got that metal in your tongue?”

“A little, but nothing I can’t handle.”

I thought for a moment. I had another question in my mind and it was bad that I couldn’t get rid of it until I asked the person. I decided to ask him.

“What does it feel like when you put that tongue in a girl’s mouth? Does she feel the metal?” I asked.

And there was a crash of a few glasses. The glasses had slipped from his hand. Heads turned to look in my direction. Alec’s face was red, as red as a tomato in Hunter’s refrigerator. He produced a broom and began cleaning the pieces of glass.

“Let me help you.” I offered.

Alec put his hand up, dismissing me. Then he ducked down near the bar and his body was shaking. I wondered if it was shaking because I had made him cry but a moment later I saw he was laughing. Laughing until there were tears in his eyes.

“Where...where did you come from?”

Should I mention him about what Hunter said about the Askanda part? Maybe not.

“Not from around here.” I said, laughing with him. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Give me one sec.” He called out.

Later, he made another round of drinks and handed them to me in a tray to carry. His expressions were clearly amused, he leaned in close. “How could you say something with a straight face? Actually, I never asked the women I kissed about how they felt about the metal in my tongue. But the noises they made at the back of their throat, it proves they enjoyed it a lot.”

“I see. That answers my question.” I said. “Thank you.”

“What do you say, you want me to kiss you so you could check for yourself?”

I mean I was curious about that round metal, but would kissing this man be appropriate? Considering the fact that I liked kissing Hunter. For instance, if I were to see Hunter kissing other women like the way he used to kiss me, would I like it?

The answer was clear. It was a big NO. Just the fact that the Stella girl touching him had disturbed me so much that he had promised me he wouldn’t let any other woman touch him.

So surely that meant me kissing other boys would be inappropriate.

I shook my head. “No. I don’t think my boyfriend would like it.”

He chuckled. “Loosen up girl, I was just kidding. Who is your boyfriend?”

I shook my head again. “Sorry Alec. I’m not allowed to say.”

He grinned. “Are you sure you have a boyfriend or you’re just saying that because that’s what girls say nowadays to ward off flirty men.”

I thought about that for a moment. “I don’t know what you mean. Ward off flirty men? What’s a flirty man? Is that like a new species?”

He roared with laughter just like others do when I talk to them. I was afraid he would break the new set of glasses and the drinks he had prepared that I pushed them a little father away from him.

“You, lady, just turned my gloomy day into a bright sunny one. I needed a good laugh.” He flashed me a set of straight white teeth. “I hope Max keeps you around.”

“I hope he does too. It would be fun.” I said.

Alec handed me the drinks in a tray and I slowly walked towards the table filled with...I did a mental headcount, say five boys including the brother, Phoenix who was found kissing the Holly girl.

I passed the drinks around to each one of them. One of the boys smiled and one of his eye fluttered at me. I stared at him.

“I’m sorry, I can’t flutter my eye like yours.” I said to him.

“What?” He looked dumbfounded.

“What you just did. I don’t know how to do it with my eyes.” I confessed. “Is it like this...” I proceeded squinting one of my eye but decided I looked foolish doing it because the Lockhart boy was laughing.