Page 46 of Bewitched By the Siren
“No, I won’t,” he says firmly. “I wouldn’t.”
“Okay. I was walking down the beach. Thinking, you know?” When he nods, I take a deep breath and blurt the rest out. “There was a man up there taking picture of me with a long lens. He was wearing a ski mask.”
“A ski mask?” he asks, his head rearing back a couple of inches before leaning to the side to survey the stretch of beach behind me.
“Yeah. Weird, right?”
“Yeah,” he says as he looks at me again, his mouth falling into a tight frown as his eyebrows draw down low over her eyes.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing,” he says, wiping his expression clean. “I just don’t like to think of people stalking you like that, is all.”
“You think he’s a stalker?” I ask, looking back over my shoulder with a shiver.
“I don’t know,” he says, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “Let’s get you back home, and it’s probably best not to come out here to the beach by yourself for a few days.”
I nod even though I hate the idea of some stranger keeping me from enjoying my happy place. Of course, if Brendan is right, it’s probably best not to tempt fate when someone is obviously taking pictures of me. What if I accidentally got wet, and my tail popped out? I mean, it’s highly unlikely with how careful I am, but it’s not impossible.
“How about I order some pizza for us and your mom for dinner?” he asks, and I find myself nodding eagerly.
Even though I wanted space to figure things out regarding Brendan and the truth about my nature, I can’t resist his offer. If someone is, in fact, stalking me, I’ll feel much safer with Brendan around. Plus, Mom might disown me if I turned him down. She freaking loves spending time with him.
We head inside, and I go to check on Mom while Brendan orders the pizzas. She’s awake and when I tell her about our dinner plans, she smiles brightly––just like I knew she would. I call out to Brendan, and he appears, helping me get Mom situated in her chair before wheeling her out to the living room.
“What did you guys do today?” she asks as I walk in behind them, and Brendan looks at me with raised eyebrows.
He’s leaving it up to me to decide if I want Mom to know about the thumb drive in my pocket. He’s obviously beingconsiderate, but it’s unnecessary. I’ve never lied to Mom, and I don’t plan on starting now.
“Brendan surprised me with a visit to Natasha Monk’s house in Savannah.”
“Natasha Monk?TheNatasha Monk?” she asks, looking at Brendan with wide eyes.
“The one and only,” he says with a grin. “My boss represents her, and we’ve met a few times. She’s really nice. Down to earth. And she offered to let Hali record a few songs in her private recording studio.”
Mom flashes a surprised look at me. “And did you?”
I pull the thumb drive from my pocket to show her, and the look on her face makes all my worries fade away. She’s heard me sing before, of course, but never without my necklace on and, obviously, never with professional equipment recording me.
Walking over to the stereo, I plug in the thumb drive and turn the volume up. Mom’s eyes widen as she lifts a hand and presses it to her chest. Her eyes start to water, and I feel my own start to sting. Brendan moves in beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, and I lean into him as I watch my mother reallyhearme sing for the first time.
When the song ends, I turn off the stereo as I sniff back my tears. “We’ll listen to the rest later.”
“There’s more?” she asks, her throat clogged with emotion.
“I recorded three songs,” I say, and a smile stretches her lips as she moves her gaze to Brendan.
“What an amazing gift,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Brendan says, and I can hear an unexpected catch in his voice.
I look at him, and he chuckles as he rubs a knuckle beneath his right eye. Warmth blooms in my chest at his show of emotion. His awareness of how monumental this is for my mom,and the fact that he took that into consideration when planning today andknewhow much it would mean to her…
I’m in awe of him. I honestly thought men like Brendan didn’t exist.
The doorbell rings, startling me, and Brendan holds up a palm to stop me when I move to answer the door. The warning in his eyes tells me his insistence is more than simple chivalry. He’s thinking about the guy taking pictures of me on the beach earlier, and he’s trying to keep me safe.
I nod, and he goes to answer the door. When I look at Mom, she’s studying me with a critical eye.
