Chapter 3
Nyx
Kekoa was grace personified, except on the back of a surfboard.
Then they were all windmilling arms and legs as the waves pitched them off.
Each time they popped up, they looked so perplexed, like they couldn’t understand what had gone wrong with their ride, but they never got frustrated; instead, it became a running joke.
I loved that they could laugh at themselves instead of getting competitive, even with Lani and I shredding it up out there.
Shifted, with those green and purple tentacles spread wide, it was like every move was a dance I could watch all day. Low tide was the perfect time for us to be in the shallows, with plenty of soft, squishy sand for us to lie in if we got tired of swimming.
Soft, Kekoa’s tentacles brushing over my flipper was almost ghostly, but I wasn’t sure what he was trying to do because we were unable to speak mind to mind due to the vast differences in our species.
Even Lani and I had struggled at first, since we weren’t the same species of turtle, but we could speak fluidly now, even over long distances.
I think they want on your back.
Lani’s suggestion made sense, after Kekoa’s comment in the bar the other night. You’re right, they did mention something about riding us.
Guess they weren’t joking.
Dipping a little lower to make it easier for them to use my wake to help them position themselves, I waited to feel the caress of their tentacles as they climbed up my body and wasn’t disappointed when they clung to me as they inched their way along my flipper to reach my shell.
Everything tingled where they touched me, but unlike what happened with Nuno, I could not only endure the contact without experiencing any of the negative effects of the toxins, but it also had a rather interesting side effect for me.
The tingly sensation sweeping through me was not only a pleasant one, but it ushered in a surge of desire so strong I projected it straight to Lani.
Ohh, whoa, now I’m horny as hell too, thanks for that.
I don’t know what it is about them, I thought back to Lani as Kekoa settled in against my shell, tentacles spread and sending shockwaves of rippling, electric pulses of lust and need coursing through me.
I think I do, but I won’t be sure until we’re dry and back in skin-mode.
Oh, no way, seriously, do you think they’re our mate?
There was a shimmer of color on my arm, but it was wet, like my flipper right now, only I’m certain that band of green wasn’t there before.
Oh shit, this is awesome! Merry early Christmas to us! Do you think they’ve recognized it yet? Do you think that’s why they wanted to ride me?
I think they’d have ridden you regardless.
Bloop.
With a plop they rolled off me and bobbed to the surface, floating towards Lani until they brushed against the side of his face.
I think they’ve recognized something, Lani thought to me as Kekoa slid along his body, using their tentacles to help propel themselves onto Lani’s back.
Swimming beside him, I extended a flipper under him as we moved away from the shallows, using our outer flippers to swim together in a turtle version of a three-legged race.
Kekoa didn’t seem to mind the slower pace or the way we circled instead of heading too far into deeper waters.
I wished I could speak to them and find out what they were thinking, because I was happily swimming in tranquil waters, hyper aware of my body's pulsing need to feel them against me again.
The vibe between us was intense, but in the best possible way.
One that left me hopeful that Lani was right about Kekoa being our mate.
You’re right, the sensation is like no other. Lani conveyed as we turned and swam overtop of a crab scuttling along the sand, its movements increasing as it made a beeline for a rock like it feared we were about to make a snack out of it.
A tentacle slid over the base of my flipper as Kekoa straddled the place where Lani and I were joined. I swore I felt Lani quiver as Kekoa lingered there, touching us both at the same time.
It wasn’t easy swimming this way, and we could not maintain it for long stretches of time, so I guided Lani back to the shallows and our sandy spot along our little slice of ocean and settled into the sand beside him, all without displacing Kekoa.
We shifted not long after, water lapping along our bodies as we lay naked in the sand.
“This might sound weird, and I don’t intend for it to be,” Kekoa began, “but I feel like I’ve known you guys forever.”
I waited for them to add more, then settled deeper into the sand, disappointed when they left it at that.
“Nobody flies drones over here, do they?” Kekoa asked.
“None that I’ve ever seen,” I said.
“Good, I’d hate to think about what people do with naked-ass footage these days,” Kekoa quipped. “I’d hate to have mine wind up in some weirdly cobbled-together video.”
Lani rolled towards him and stretched his arm out over Kekoa, giving me the perfect view of his wrist and the new block of colors blooming there, the ultimate confirmation that he was meant to be ours.
“Probably put it up on one of those subscription sites,” I quipped.
“In that case I might be down for a few videos if they cut me in on the action,” Kekoa said. “I’m not in the mood to wind up homeless if the job on the renovation crew doesn’t work out, which it probably won’t if Nuno has anything to do with it.”
“Just remember, you can’t bail yourself out,” Lani said. “So before we leave the beach today, make sure we have a chance to put our numbers into your phone so we can retrieve you if you wind up tying Nuno in knots and using him for a tetherball.”
Kekoa perked up and actually looked to be contemplating how to pull that off.
“I mean, there are always plenty of pipes lying around; we could easily set up a makeshift pole. Rope is easy to find too, and our lunch hour gets long and boring sometimes. I’m sure the guys wouldn’t mind if Nuno provided them with a bit of entertainment.
If we get bored with tetherball, we can always use him for a pinata. ”
“That’s funny,” Lani said. “Completely wrong too, but utterly hilarious and way better than he deserves. At that point, when the officers showed up, they’d just jump in because that sounds like a good time.”
“See, now that’s wrong,” Kekoa replied, giggling.
“Naa, it’s just island living,” I said. “Disturbing the peace is a big no-no, especially on the weekends when emergency responders are double swamped because more people are home getting into shit instead of at work, where they are relatively safe from bad decision-making and picking fights with their neighbors.”
“I’m willing to play nice on the jobsite as long as Nuno keeps his hands to himself.”
“And people call jellyfish deadly,” I tsked. “They should hear you sitting there promising not to cave Nuno’s skull in with one of those pipes.”
“That’s just because they don’t have to,” Lani pointed out.
“All they have to do is stand there, taunt Nuno with that smirk, and wait for him to be the instrument of his own demise. Besides, it’s really more the string that’s supposed to be deadly, not the actual jellyfish. All I felt was a little tickling.”
“Only a little?” Kekoa quipped. “Next time I’ll have to up the vibration cycle on my tentacles.”
Every time I came close to mustering up the nerve for a serious conversation, they said something that made me laugh. Okay, to be fair, we were all cracking wise, but I was rapidly discovering that Kekoa was proficient in snark.
“Would you consider it lazy if I just sat here and ate my lunch in the water?” Kekoa asked.
“What happens in the cove stays in the cove,” Lani quipped.
“Oh really?” Kekoa said as they rubbed their chin. “Is that a warning or an invitation?”
“A bit of both,” Lani said, winking at him.
“If I were to touch you right now, how far would I be allowed to go before you slammed on the brakes?”
Kekoa’s question caught us both off guard. My eyes locked with Lani’s until Kekoa sat up fully and blocked my gaze.
“Sorry if that was too forward,” they muttered as they stood up in the knee-deep water like they were about to get out.
“No, it was honest,” Lani said. “It’s only fair that we give you a bit of honesty in return.
We’ve never, uh, just picked up a random guy to pin to the sand, never even felt the urge to until today.
You’re different. The problem is, we can be a bit territorial, so if we take things in the direction we all seem to want this to go, you might find yourself stuck with us. ”
“The kind of stuck that requires medical intervention, or the kind that means U-Hauls in driveways and long, drawn-out debates on whose artwork goes where,” Kekoa shot back.
“Not that I have any artwork or enough stuff to fit in a U-Haul, since I’ve made an art form out of traveling light, but you get my meaning.
Hope it’s not a disappointment that I don’t really have anything that will require you to rearrange half your house. ”
“Doesn’t bother me any,” I said. “The part that truly snagged my attention the other night was when you said you’d relocated to the island for good.”
“Do jellyfish get bondmarks?” Lani blurted, thank fuck for that, and his impatience because it was past time to stop tap dancing around the elephant in the sand.
“We do not, at least not the way you guys do,” they explained. “When we bond with our mates, our colors change in our jellyfish forms, lightening so we’re not as vivid and thus attractive to potential mates. Our hair changes to match, though it never changes enough to match human tones.”
“Yeah, um, about that?” I said, gesturing towards his long, wavy brown locks. “Why doesn’t your hair match your jellyfish form?”
“Because having purple and green hair attracts too much attention.”
“So…the color change is how you know,” Lani asked. “But you can’t know in this form because your hair is dyed.”