The Marked Ones (23 page)

‘I knew you weren’t asleep.’ Pintang grumbled. ‘Faker.’

‘Do you have anything to add?’ Ilsa joked. ‘Clear up the mystery for us?’

‘My lips are sealed, girls.’ Tristan said, with a lopsided smile. ‘But I appreciate the votes.’ He kicked Pintang’s foot. ‘You, on the other hand-are on my list now.’

Pintang wiggled her glasses at him, unabashed. ‘You were already on
mine. I’m not about to stick a bow on her head and push her into your arms, am I?’

Tristan snickered. At least she was honest. Meanwhile, the human girls were gaping at Pintang in shock as she made a play for a guy who was supposed to be out of all of their leagues. He hoped they weren’t getting ideas.

Pintang turned to Ilsa. ‘Where is Adele, anyway?’

‘At a hotel in River City,’ Ilsa said, very quietly. ‘She’s going to stay a few days to see if he changes his mind, but if not, she’ll head home. I’m going to go see her tomorrow-Hey look Tristan!’ Ilsa exclaimed, interrupting herself. ‘Ivyanne’s coming up the beach now. Bout time she made an appearance-she’s been MIA all day.’

Tristan sat up, and peered down the sand. Sure enough, Ivyanne was making her way towards the flagged area, surfboard in tow. She looked completely spent.

‘Huh,’ he said, like he wasn’t really concerned, though his heart was racing. The sight of her bathed in sunshine was like a balm for his overwrought soul. He knew he was crazy for wishing she’d come over, and certifiable for still wanting to pursue her at
all-but she was in his system now, and he couldn’t give up on her for one lapse in judgement. To be married for centuries meant generating tolerance, even if it bruised his ego some.

Besides, she filled her bikini so well that his tolerance,
and his manhood, began to rise to the occasion instantly.

‘You know if Ivyanne prefers surfing alone Tristan, I could take you out some time.’ Livia’s voice was practically a purr. And he barely heard her.

At that moment, Ivyanne seemed to spot him. She halted in her tracks, doing a double take at seeing him sitting with a bevy of pretty girls. She dropped her chin, appearing to stare at him down the tip of her nose, before scowling.

Tristan reclined back on his elbows, returning Ivyanne’s haughty stare with an equal amount of intensity until she began to walk towards him.
Come on sexy, he thought silently, willing her over. Let’s kiss and make up... a lot.

But to Tristan’s dismay, Ivyanne halted at the lifeguard stand, squinting up at it as though she’d spied something riveting. She returned the yellow and white surfboard to the rack and then moved back to the lifeguard station, peering first beneath it, as though examining the sand, then up at whoever was in there, shielding her eyes from the sun.

‘Is she talking to Marcus?’ Pintang asked.

‘Maybe she wants a surf report,’ Ilsa said.

‘I don’t know....’ Tristan said. To him, Ivyanne looked pissed.

Proving his intuition, Ivyanne lunged forward, grasping the rear and front left hand legs of the stand with each hand. They were at least three feet apart so her arms were quite stretched. Suddenly, Ivyanne appeared to thrust all of her weight forward. The lifeguard stand, and the guy in it, both began to tilt to the right, first slowly, then fast, until the bolts which fastened it to the concrete slab beneath shrieked and gave way. The whole lot thumped onto it’s side, landing almost soundlessly on the sand. Most of the noise generated by this attack was coming from the people crying out nearby. Marcus scrambled out on all fours and gaped at Ivyanne as he rubbed his tousled brown hair as though soothing a bump, but she had already turned and was coming
their way. Tristan’s first instinct was to run.

‘Oh my god!’ Pintang got to her feet, kicking up sand as she rushed to the lifeguards aid. ‘Marcus-are you okay?!’

‘Guess she didn’t like the surf report!’ Liv giggled.

‘What’s going on?’ demanded Caleb, awakened by all the noise.

Tristan’s mouth was still open when Ivyanne reached him, a small smile on her face, her brilliant green eyes shining wickedly. ‘What?’ she asked, glancing quickly at the shocked faces.

‘You do know you just tossed Marcus out of the lifeguard stand right?’ Tristan asked.

Ivyanne looked back and Tristan followed her gaze to Marcus, who was red-faced and attempting to heft the stand back up to it’s original position. ‘Oh that?’ she asked quickly. ‘Don’t worry... he knows what he did.’ She looked to Tristan, eyebrow arched. ‘Can we talk later?’

Tristan swallowed. ‘Will this be a violent conversation like the one you just had with Marcus?’

‘Not if you’re on time.’ She said quickly, her face giving nothing away. She was fiddling with a whelk shell draped artfully around her graceful neck. ‘Four? Here?’

‘Um...okay...’ Tristan didn’t know what to think. But by the look of things, she’d lost her anger towards him as rapidly as he’d gotten over his own hostility. Either way-talking was a good start.

‘Great! Later guys!’ With that cheerful farewell, she side-stepped Tristan and made her way up the sand dune without a backwards glance.

‘I think you can stick to surfing alone...’ Liv drawled. ‘I don’t think I want to mess with her.’

Tristan was inclined to agree.

23.

Ardhi awoke in response to a sharp kick in his left ribs. ‘Hey!’ He exclaimed, scrambling to his feet. He wasn’t alarmed-he’d sensed Ivyanne’s presence in his dreams. But the kick had hurt. ‘I thought I was the one with the bad temper?’ But he wasn’t mad. In fact, he felt triumphant. He’d known the scene with the human and Tristan the night before would have shocked some sense into her, and lead her back. He’d only had to wait.

‘You shouldn’t be staying in here.’

Ardhi squinted up into Ivyanne’s face. She was little more than a silhouette against the sun streaming through the salt-sprayed glass doors behind her, but her eyes were glowing as though lit from within. He got to his feet, nursing his bruised side, and gestured around the empty function room.

‘Yeah well, I haven’t got a credit card so I can’t book a room. This is the most I can swing.’

‘You could be staying with your sister.’ Ivyanne pointed out. ‘It beats sleeping in a box of…’ she frowned. ‘What is that you’re sleeping on?’

‘Napkins. They’re soft-but they rustle when I move.’ He smiled knowingly. ‘Besides, I figure your mother’s after me to deliver a royal-talking to for the ages, and I don’t feel like being banished to Indonesia before you and I have had a chance to talk things out-so I hid.’

‘Not at all cowardly.’ Ivyanne cocked her head. ‘You’re in a better mood today. Dare I ask why?’

Ardhi recounted the sight of seeing Tristan turf her out of his bungalow while Lincoln stalked off, pouting up a storm. ‘Call it hope. The force is strong in this one.’

Ivyanne placed her hand on her hip, smiling gently. ‘You and your movies. I actually caught myself quoting one before.’

‘Which movie?’

‘The Godfather.’

‘Nice.’ Their playful banter was music to his ears. Suddenly, they felt like
them again. ‘So...can we talk?’

Ivyanne leaned back against the wall. ‘Yes, we can. But not now. First, I have to go see my boss and resign. Then, I have to meet up with Tristan-and tell him something I know he’s not going to take well.’

Ardhi’s hope took flight. ‘And then…?’

‘Then, if you want, you can swim me home. To Bracken.’ She smiled at him. ‘We can talk all night once we’re there. But I need to leave the mainland as quick as I can, before it does my head in.’

Ardhi swallowed, not able to believe his change in fortune. ‘What time?’

Ivyanne paused. ‘Nine sound okay?’

‘Perfect.’

‘Good. See you then.’ Ivyanne turned to leave.

‘Hey...Ivyanne?’ He smiled. ‘You’re wearing my whelk. Is that a good omen?’

Ivyanne’s hand fluttered to her neck. She’d never been more beautiful. ‘Let’s hope so.’

Ardhi grinned. His Ivyanne was back. His time had come to prove himself the fairest of all, and he wasn’t going to rest his case until she understood what lengths he would go to, to keep that smile on her flawless face.

⁓

Five minutes after Lincoln was informed about the incident at the beach, he was knocking on Ivyanne’s door. He was over-tired and emotionally spent, his clothes rumpled from doing nothing but napping all morning and trying to solve the mystery that was Ivyanne Court.

Meanwhile Adele sent him message after message, begging for the chance to talk things out. He’d ignored them all, waiting for the opportunity to go see Ivyanne again in private. Now, he had one, and he wasn’t going to waste a second.

Ivyanne answered, wet-haired and sand-covered, wearing only a towel with her bikini dangling between her fingers.

‘Sup Link?’ she asked breezily. ‘I was just about to get into the shower. I’ve been surfing since seven and I’m covered in sand!’

‘Surfing... knocking over lifeguard towers....’ It was surreal for him to be talking to her so casually, following the drama of the night before. With Adele gone, he was allowed to approach her as a single man who didn’t have to look over his shoulder. Ironic, that the first chance he got to talk to her alone, had to be under the jurisdiction of employer/employee, but he’d take what he could get. ‘You’re a busy girl.’

Ivyanne leaned her hip against the peeling paint door frame, barring his entrance. ‘Well I have the day off.’

Lincoln was taken aback by her lack of apology. ‘Ivyanne... it’s not cool. You could have hurt someone!’

‘No I couldn’t have,’ she responded, matter-of-factly, reaching around the door frame to drape the wet green bikini over the arm of a cane patio chair. ‘I checked that no one was in the way first.’

‘What about poor Marcus?’ Lincoln said. ‘He could have been hurt. Luckily for you, he just seems to be embarrassed. And he’s not explaining what happened either.’

Ivyanne shrugged. ‘So what’s the problem?’

His problems were numerous-and her blaze attitude about her violent and very public outburst was yet another. He’d had his father in his ear all morning, lecturing Lincoln about letting the night staff run amuck. Chase had come to the conclusion that his son was more obsessed with his diet and girlfriend then doing his job. And he was right.

But if Ivyanne was determined to skirt around the consequences of her actions, then there was little he could do about it. He’d learnt the impossibility of getting the truth out of this woman’s gene pool. ‘How did you even knock the tower
over? It was bolted down!’

‘Oh!’ Ivyanne’s eyes danced with merriment. ‘I don’t know-perhaps they needed to be tightened. I could have just saved
you and your dad a lawsuit, hmm? Thanks to that and my crab-napping, you won’t have the Greenies or OHS on your back.’

Lincoln realized he’d hit yet another conversational loop-de-loop, and he was not in the state of mind to navigate it. The incidents of the previous evening had all but shattered him and he felt off-balance in her company-especially since she was clearly naked under her towel while acting vague and slightly flirtatious.

Besides, he was there in an official capacity. She was supposed to be in trouble. ‘Is it completely redundant if I ask you to never do that again?’He asked wearily.

Ivyanne nodded. ‘Completely. It’ll
never happen again.’

‘Good.’

‘And if anyone asks-you read me the riot act then fired me.’

Lincoln’s mouth and heart dropped simultaneously.
‘What?!’ he demanded. ‘Ivyanne I’m not here to fire you-’

‘I know.’ Ivyanne looked up at him from under her lashes, the twinkle extinguished from her eyes. ‘But I was going to resign anyway. At least
this way, the other staff will know not to mess with you.’

Lincoln felt like any optimism he’d had left was disappearing down a plug hole. ‘But
why are you leaving?!’ His day was quickly sliding the scale from bad to apocalyptically dismal. Already, his throat felt tight. ‘There’s something between you and I-you must see it!’

‘I do.’ Ivyanne smiled sadly. ‘But I see the pointlessness of it too. I spoke to my mother this morning and we’ve agreed that being here is no good for me. It’s making me question things I have
no right to question.’ A lock of her wet sandy hair fell in front of her eyes and she plucked out a small piece of brown seaweed. ‘Before I came here I was confused-but now I’m lost.’

‘So stay and let
me find you.’ Lincoln stepped forward, his muscles twitching with the need to reach out and pull her against him, to trap her there. ‘You can’t go.’

‘Lincoln I
have to.’ She gestured to the air between them. ‘This can’t happen. The reasons why it never would have worked out for you and my sister apply to me too-I’ve already explained this! And so did she! Why can’t you just accept it?’

‘Because you won’t give me a concrete explanation as to why two consenting adults in this day and age who feel what
we feel can’t be together.’ He wanted to tell her about the tattoos he’d noticed, but knew that if he started raving on about the investigating he’d been doing, she’d only run faster.

Ivyanne rested her head against his chest. ‘There’s a reason Lincoln but I can’t tell you. And if you knew-you’d run
screaming in the opposite direction.’

‘
Then tell me.’ He insisted. ‘If it’s enough to freak me out then terrific-I’d like nothing more than to be free of these feelings!’

‘It’s not my secret to give away.’ She lifted her large green eyes to his. ‘I care about you, Lincoln-you
know that. But it’s not enough.’

‘You
care about me?’ he repeated, finding it hard to catch a breath. She kept saying no no no and yet he was drawn to her as though captured in a magnetic forcefield. ‘That’s all I get? You’ve changed my life! You have to know that I love-’

‘Ssh!’ she whispered, placing a finger to his lips. ‘You’re
not in love with me-you love who you were back then with her, and I remind you of it all. But the past is the past. You’re still that awesome guy, and I know you see that now.’ Tears sprang to her eyes. ‘You’re sexy and powerful and wonderful-and yes, I want you so badly that sometimes.....’ Ivyanne closed her eyes briefly, as though summoning strength from within. When they opened, her gaze was serious.‘But the things you think you love about me are special effects, okay? I’m a lie.’

‘Bullshit! You’re
everything!’ With one quick moment he batted her hand away from his mouth and clasped it in his own, using it to pull her into him, and against him. Then, before the moment could be lost, he pressed his mouth against hers hungrily, using the other hand to press her face into his, trapping her there.

The kiss sent a shockwave through him, and when she shivered delicately in his arms and moaned into the back of his throat, he felt the magnitude of the shock triple. Her lips, so sweet, so full and searching, ignited a fire in his heart, eradicating his nervous system.

‘I love you.’ He whispered against her mouth, twisting his hand in her hair before pushing her up against the wall. Ivyanne moaned and slapped him on the shoulder in protest at the declaration but he deepened the kiss until she went slack with surrender and clung to him like she was the one drowning.

‘God...Link!’ She turned her head to the side, and he saw the tears streaming down her profile. ‘I love you too!’ Her voice hitched on the words and Lincoln felt his soul levitate. He kissed away her tears before forcing his mouth back on hers. She tasted like salt and ecstasy. Their lips moved in synchronization, and Lincoln felt like he was going to float away in a dream. Suddenly, he was a youth again-the smell of leaf litter on the rainforest floor was sharp in his nostrils, the feeling of waves crashing over his ankles as Ivanna laughingly taunted him to follow her back into the sea as cool and refreshing as it had ever been. Ivyanne’s hands felt like sunlight on his skin as he sat in the lifeguard tower, counting the hours until he could be with his mermaid once more...

Shocked by the similarity of the kiss, thrown by the tricks his mind was playing on him, Lincoln actually broke his hold and stumbled back, mind reeling. ‘Iv-’ he began, but couldn’t finish. His hand went to his mouth, as though a memory were pressed there. ‘That-’

Ivyanne’s eyes were wide and glistening with tears. Her own fingers went to her lips, and she stepped backwards into her room. ‘
That was a kiss good-bye-and nothing else.’ She whispered, tears spilling over. ‘I’ll be gone by morning.’ With that, she slammed the glass door shut between them. Seconds later, the curtains behind it were pulled across, blocking him out.

Lincoln exhaled, leaning heavily against the glass door. ‘I’m going to work your secret out you know!’ He called, knowing she could hear him. ‘I’m going to crack the code and then, you
will let me into your life!’

There was no answer. He turned and slumped over the porch railing, just as he had done every after fights with Adele. But this wasn’t a fight-it was akin to a nervous breakdown. And now he had a ticking clock in his heart. How was he going to convince her to stay when she’d barricaded herself in her room? How many hours did he have left until she walked out of his life forever?

What just happened? He thought, his mind racing. Why couldn’t I say her name? Whatever distinction there was between his long lost love and the girl in his employ had vanished the moment she kissed him back. His mind as so jumbled with thoughts and accusations and voices that he couldn’t even tug on one to examine it and distinguish it from the others.

He stared down at the ground for a full minute, only snapping out if his daze when he heard the shower being turned on inside. He blinked, and realized that he was staring down at Ivyanne’s bikini. Only something wasn’t right about it. He squatted, tentatively lifting it, conscious that anyone who saw him would think he was a pervert.

‘What the...?’ he whispered, lifting it closer to his face. His attention was drawn by something shiny on one of the larger flaps of wet, sandy fabric. ‘Scales?’ he said, in disbelief. And it was. At least fifteen scales, shimmering in pale lilacs and pastel green, glimmered up at him from the inside of the lining. He dropped the bikini onto as though it had burnt him, stumbling backwards off her porch.

My Mermaid,
he thought again. Head spinning, Lincoln took off, as though he could out-run the insanity boxing him in.

⁓