Page 51 of Bewitched By the Siren
“Yeah,” I breathe, doing my best to hide what I’m really feeling.
And what I’m really feeling is that I’mfreaking the fuck out.
Whoever that man is, heknows. I don’t know how he knows, but he does, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he won’t stop until he proves it. Until he exposes me to the entire world.
Jesus.
What am I going to do?
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Brendan
So…Ididn’t get a recording last night.
I know I was supposed to. I know it was the whole reason I was there. The whole reason I was sent to Circe Key in the first place.
But when Hali walked out onto that stage and smiled at me, I couldn’t even bring myself to try. She trusts me. And I have a visceralneedto be worthy of that trust.
But knowing I did the right thing doesn’t ease the turmoil in my gut this morning. Julius is going to be pissed. I’ve been dodging his calls and ignoring his text messages since midnight. I swear, the man stayed up all night waiting for his footage.
Footage I willneverdeliver.
I’m so fucked. At best, Julius will demote me and give me only the crappiest of crap assignments from now on. At worst? He’ll fire me on the spot when I admit to failure. And I have no doubt he’ll send someone else down here. Someone who won’t give a shit about Hali and her desire to remain unknown.
For some reason, I have an innate desire to keep her safe. To protect her from my boss and his machinations. To protecther anonymity. To protect her from the whole God damn world, if necessary. And that desire is the most powerful emotion I’ve ever felt.
The thought of protecting her reminds me of what happened last night at the bar. Rage nearly consumed me when Hali stopped singing, and I tracked her horror-filled gaze to the man in the back. He was pointing a camera at her and refused to stop recording when she asked. So, of course, I took the initiative to stop him, myself. That protective urge swelled inside me, giving me no choice but to do something.
Then the man started screaming about mythical creatures, and though I realized he was probably off his meds, my anger didn’t lessen. The thought of him trying again when I’m not around, of him approaching Hali foranyreason…
It makes my blood boilandfreeze at the same time.
What would happen if he were to corner Hali when I’m not there? When she was alone and vulnerable?
My phone starts to ring, so I pull it from my pocket. My thumb hovers over the icon to accept the call, but it’s Julius, and I’m not ready to talk to him yet, so I tap the icon to send him to voicemail, instead. I can’t deal with that––with him––right now.
Slipping the device back into my pocket, I walk to the door and pull it open. I need to think, and the beach is the perfect place to do that. I breathe in the briny air as I walk across the sand toward the water. The sound of waves curling against the shore relaxes the tight muscles in my neck and back, and I roll my head from side to side to stretch them out.
I can’t ignore Julius forever. He’s going to keep calling and texting. If I want to have any hope of keeping my job, I’m going to have to get that recording of Hali at tonight’s performance. I’m going to have to break her trust and send it to Julius. And Idon’t think I’ll be any more capable of doing that tonight than I was last night.
Hell, it would all be for nothing, anyway.
Hali doesn’t want to sign with me as it is, and she definitely won’t be changing her mind if I were to do that. If I were to go behind her back to get the footage. If I were to betray her.
Hell, I don’t even knowwhyshe doesn’t want to be recorded. I mean, at first, I assumed it was a bar policy, and that’s what I gave Julius as an excuse for not recording her last week. But getting to know Hali this week has given me a deeper perspective. The choice is hers.
Shedoesn’t want to be recorded.
I thought it’s because she has no desire to be “discovered,” but after last night, seeing the terror on her face when that jerk was filming her? I’m not so sure that’s it. It feels like there’s something far deeper going on here. She’s never even recorded her voice for herself. That was obvious when we listened to the thumb drive Natasha made for her.
This whole thing just feels…bigger, and I can’t figure out why.
Lifting my gaze from my feet to the expanse of beach before me, I pause when I see a familiar figure walking about fifty yards in front of me. Her strawberry blonde hair is loose and flying in the breeze, and the skirt of her long dress tickles the sand beneath her.
“Hali,” I shout as I pick up the pace, but my voice get carried away by the wind and smothered beneath the crash of a large wave, so she doesn’t hear me.
I walk faster, then stutter to a stop when a dark-clad figure darts out from between two houses and rushes right for her. I shout her name again as I start to run, but the sand is thick and dry here, making my steps wobbly as I try to gain purchase.
