Chapter 25
Caspian hits the pavement before I can catch him.
“Fuck!” I fall to my knees next to him, checking him over. He hit his head, and he’s gonna have one hell of a bruise, but he’s not bleeding, so that’s something.
“Wake up, squishy. Please wake up.” I lightly slap his face, cradling his head in my lap.
His eyes flutter, then immediately close.
“Shit! Fuck!” I’ve got to get him in salt water. I know that’s what he needs, but I don’t think I can get him up four flights of stairs to Hunter’s place if he’s completely unconscious. I have to try though.
Scooping him into my arms, I try to juggle him and open the door to the housing building at the same time.
But it proves more challenging than I thought.
I get the handle to turn, but then lose my grip before I can get it open.
The next time, I manage to pull it far enough to wedge my foot in and use my leg to push the door open while keeping my grip on Caspian.
This is so not how I saw this all going. I wanted to buy him a drink and get him to open up to me. I’ve always been curious, but I’ve never been as curious as I am about Caspian. My merman.
Please be okay. I never wanted to hurt him. Somehow hurting him feels like hurting myself.
When I finally manage to get through the door, I let out a loud whoop, and kiss Caspian’s cheek. His very dry, peeling cheek. Shit. Okay, here we go. I take two steps toward the stairs, and the door to Madi’s apartment opens.
Thank the fucking stars. Finally a bit of luck.
“Hey, can we get in there?” I ask the woman stepping out of the apartment.
“Um…” She looks at me like I’m crazy until she sees Caspian. “What happened to him?!”
“Can’t hold his liquor.” I force a laugh.
She squints at me, like she’s not buying it, but then her phone rings. She glances at it and curses under her breath. “Okay, I’m letting you in, but I’m calling Madi on my way to class. And I’ll call 911 on you in a heartbeat if she doesn’t confirm your story.”
She holds the door open, and I carry Caspian into the apartment. The layout seems to be roughly the same as Hunter’s place, but a lot smaller, and less pretentious. Instead of dark moody vibes, the walls are a light color and there are plants everywhere.
I immediately head for the bathroom, glad that the roommate didn’t stick around.
After setting Caspian in the tub, fully clothed, I turn on the water, and go on the hunt for salt.
I find a box of table salt, a little container of some kind of fancy flake salt, and in the very back of their pantry a bag of rock salt—the kind used for old-fashioned ice cream makers. Perfect.
I dump all of it in the tub with Caspian. As soon as the salt is absorbed, his legs start to change. Watching his transformation from the cliffs was incredible, but seeing it up close is breathtaking.
I admit, I may have gotten the idea to use the tub from that one movie, but the film holds nothing to the magic that’s happening right in front of me.
The skin on his legs puckers before scales seem to rise like goosebumps.
They gain color as they become more prominent, an iridescent ombre of turquoise and blue that knits together like chainmail.
Instead of the classic drawing of mermaids with a whale tail, his is more like that of a beta fish, the fins unfurling and floating ethereally in the water. He’s fucking beautiful.
After a few minutes of me wringing my hands and silently begging him to be okay while staring at him in wonder, Caspian blinks his eyes open. The color is already returning to his cheeks.
“What happened?” he croaks, voice gravelly in a way that shouldn’t turn me on, but does.
“You dried out.” I smile and sit on my hands to hide the shaking. The relief I feel at seeing him revive is unparalleled.
“Do you feel better?” I ask.
He nods, then looks down at his fully formed tail sticking out of the water. “Oh. Um… are you going to experiment on me?”
“What? No!” I balk at the suggestion, but then pause.
I have colleagues who would do just that.
And didn’t I want to take him to coffee to question him?
“You’re a living person, with rights. Do I want to know everything about you and how this is possible?
Absolutely. But I won’t encroach upon your freedom or experiment on you. ”
Caspian tilts his head, gaze sliding around my face before he looks away and nods. He pulls his shredded shorts out of the water, and sets them on the edge of the tub. “Madi said people will want to study me.”
I stare at the glistening scales on his tail. “There are some people who would. She’s right to keep this a secret, but I’m good with secrets.”
“Really? Tell me one.” He gives me a cheeky smile, twisting to rest both arms on the side of the tub and his chin on his crossed wrists. The ashen quality his skin had before is gone now, and there’s just a touch of color in his pale cheeks. He looks so sweet and boyish, I can’t help but smile.
“I wouldn’t be good at secrets if I did that.” I flick a bit of water at him. “But I’ll tell you one of mine. That way if I share your secret, you can share mine. Deal?”
“Deal.” His returning smile is as bright as a rainbow.
I reposition so I’m sitting cross legged on the floor instead of kneeling. “Now, I’ve never told anyone this, but I once entered an art contest, and the drawing was so bad they sent it back with a brochure for one of their classes.”
“That doesn’t count.” Caspian shakes his head disapprovingly. “It needs to be on the same level as mine.”
“Okay.” I lean back on my hands. The tile is cold beneath my palms, which have turned clammy as I think of the biggest secret I have.
One I haven’t shared with anyone. Not even Seb, though I think he’s guessed it, especially after our last call.
I drop my head against the wall and look up at the ceiling. “I’m in love with my best friend.”
Caspian sits up straighter. “Hunter?”
A door slams down the hall before I can answer.
“Caspian!” Madi calls, sounding panicked.
“Phoenix?” Hunter’s loud footsteps sound just behind Madi’s lighter ones, getting closer and closer.
“In here,” I holler back.
Caspian gives me a wide-eyed look and shakes his head, water splashing over the tub as he struggles to get out before they get here.
I place a hand on his shoulder to still him.
He can’t keep this from Hunter. It’s clear the three of them are going to be pack, and if that’s the case, Hunter needs to know the truth.
“It’s not telling the secret if he finds out for himself,” I say, feeling a little bad for my manipulation, but I know it’s for the best.
Caspian glares daggers at me, making it clear he’s going to spill my secret to Hunter because of this. It’s a risk I’m willing to take. Maybe it’s time. I wipe my dry hands on my pants, and hold my breath.
The bathroom door swings open. “Where have you been? We’ve been looking—” Hunter freezes in the doorway. “What the hell?!”