The Bad Boy And The Mermaid novel Chapter 42

Hunter

I’d been painting for hours now and it seemed to me like time had suddenly come to a standstill. A few more strokes and I’ll go to bed, I promised myself. The thing is I didn’t want to go to bed. When I tried to sleep, I felt restless. I couldn’t sleep and I either ended up painting until dawn or trying to read a book.

I had a car accident three weeks ago, and according to my step-mom, I’d been in a coma for five days straight until I finally woke up in the hospital. My memories were still hazy; in fact, I couldn’t even remember the past four months in my life.

Four goddamn months with no fucking memory! How’s that for a start?

It seemed like I’d won a lottery, and bought a home. What I didn’t understand is why I would bother wasting money in a big ass house when I knew I was going to live here all alone. A maid visited the house thrice a week for the cleaning and occasionally prepared meals.

Leslie barked looking at different corners of the house, howled so loud at night, you’d think he’d turned into a werewolf.

I was missing something vital in my life. A very important part that I still couldn’t remember. The doctors told me that the memories could come back eventually, some bullshit reason that it took time. Dr. Eugene specifically said something or someone could trigger those memories. I’d seen the way Elaine and Hannah looked at me with some emotion between pity and sympathy, I wasn’t even sure.

Heck, I’d seen the car that I’d driven during the accident. It resembled a crunched up soda can, and I still couldn’t believe that I survived it. A miracle had to get me out of that alive. My memories were blank and no one was telling me what happened.

It really sucked.

I gave one look towards the painting that I’d almost finished and let out a grunt. Since the accident, I’d been especially inspired to paint the ocean. I picked up the bottle of Jack Daniels sitting idle on the table and took a swig. The liquor burned its way down my throat and that was a good feeling. It was surely better than feeling confused and shit.

I felt a tug. I looked down to see the annoying brown dog pulling the end of my shirt with his teeth.

“Les, I already took you out for a walk, I’m not doing it again.”

Leslie bared his teeth and pulled more aggressively.

“No more treats either,” I warned him.

Suddenly he let go and ran out of the room, came back and threw something on the floor in front of me. At first, I thought he wanted to play but when I looked down, I noticed he’d brought me a pair of keys.

I picked them up and Leslie barked running out of the room. He wanted me to follow him, so I did. He ran across the hallway and went downstairs. I followed him down and came to the first landing. He stood right next to the locked room beside the master bedroom. His large chocolate brown eyes watched me, trying so hard to give me some message.

I’d wondered why the room was locked, but Hannah had brushed off the issue saying that it was just a guest room and I’d suspected that it wasn’t. I picked up the keys, unlocked the door and walked inside.

I wouldn’t have been more surprised if the room was filled with whips, chains or other sex toys instead the room was decorated with stars, planets, stuffed toys sat in every corner, a child’s bookshelf. I was further taken aback to see the crib near the wall. If it had been old, I’d have thought it was from Hannah’s childhood, but this one was all new.

As if someone had expected a baby.

So what happened? What was it that my family was not telling me?

By evening I was sitting alone in Lucifer’s Den waiting for Fred. He was my best friend, surely if my sister was acting suspiciously; I knew Fred would help me out.

Surprisingly, the club was packed even on a weekday like tonight. The club owner, Max Lockhart was nowhere in view, and neither was his younger brother Phoenix which was a good thing. Not that I was particularly fond of the brothers, but the Lockharts moved around with the kind of superiority that you were bound to despise them no matter what.

“Hey there.” A voice that seemed to be dripping in honey cooed.

I turned to see a brunette dressed in tight black spandex dress seated on the high stool beside me. Her short dress rode up so high, I didn’t know why she bothered wearing it. I didn’t normally ogle women openly, but you couldn’t look away when a woman was practically shoving her melon sized breasts in your face. It was literally spilling out and she was making no attempt at being modest. “Are you alone?”

I downed the remaining drink and signaled Alec for a refill.

“My friend will be here soon,” I told her dismissively.

“I’m Ivy. What’s your name?”

“Hunter,” I answered.

“You know...Hunter...” she said in a sexy voice, eye-fucking me and seeming completely unapologetic. She leaned closer and I got a strong whiff of her perfume. “I don’t own a bed, but I definitely wouldn’t mind using yours tonight.” She giggled.

I laughed because I couldn’t remember the last time any woman had blatantly asked me to fuck her. She took that as a yes and inched even closer, she could practically be in my lap. Normally I wouldn’t have any issues taking her up on the offer, but it just didn’t feel right. I didn’t even have a girlfriend and yet I had a bad feeling about this. I didn’t want to sleep with this woman.

There was also the continuous stinging of the tattoo on my arm.

Alec looked at us and glared as he poured me a glass.

What on earth was this guy’s problem?

“You ever been fucked by a cactus?” I asked her in a low.

She frowned, so I continued, “Because my junk looks and feels like one.”

That did it. She climbed off the stool and scrambled off so fast you couldn’t count from zero to one. I heard her mutter ‘what an asshole’

“That was rude, man.” Fred slapped a hand on my back.

“Have any better ideas to ward off unwanted female attention?” I asked him sarcastically.

He grinned, “I’m sure you’re acquainted more in that department. You told me it was urgent. What’s the matter?”

“Let’s go outside,” I said. “I’ll go deaf if you keep screaming in my ear like that.”

“Fucking shameless!” Alec muttered under his breath, wiping a highball glass with a towel.