Page 37 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
“I won’teatyou,” he said. His mouth didn’t move, though. “What were youdoing?” he asked. Still no mouth movement.
My skin prickled.
The Loch Ness Monster cocked his head slightly, his nostrils fanning.
The waves pummeled the side of his body in quick succession, each one getting a little bigger. A little angrier. He didn’t flinch.
“What were you doing?” he asked again, softly.
I stared up into his big, orange eyes, trying to ignore how impossibly and pathetically small I felt.
And how very, very, very exposed I was.
I glanced down at myself. At the bruising already splashed over my ribs and breasts, the blood seeping from the jagged gash in my thigh, the tangled mass of hair knotted over my shoulder, and the slick length of my bare skin.
Another uncomfortable prickle danced over me.Go skinny-dipping, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. Stupid.
And it was stupid to be so worriedabout this. Considering the situation I was in, my bare-naked bottom was the least of my problems. But it bothered me all the same. Being naked before an enormous sea monster made me feelmorevulnerable. Like I was a doe-eyed maiden set upon a sacrificial altar for the beast to ravage.
I crossed my arms over my chest and hunched my back when a cooling breeze tickled places that shouldneverbe exposed to a chilly sea breeze. But then another wave splashed over the monster’s back and tried to ensnare my feet, and I had to abandon modesty for security as I clung to his dorsal. The wave receded, but not before it barfed up a steaming vat of seaweed over my feet.
And gosh…I was going full stupid tonight.
Because I snatched the seaweed up and slathered it over my front, trying to use it to cover my breasts and crotch in a makeshift bikini.
Which…didn’t work. At all.
“Did you just…attempt to…clotheyourself w-with…weed?” the monster asked.
“No.”I sniffed as the seaweed oozed down my boobs. “Okay, yes. But in my defense, I’m trying to work with what I have. And I don’t have much.”
A vibrating laugh rolled through the monster’s body.
I made a panic-snatch for his dorsal, and the seaweed bikini gave up the ghost and slid off my body completely, fleeing into the next wave. Probably scarred for life now that I’d debauched its innocence.
The monster chuffed.
“That bikini worked way better in my head.” I watched the last treacle of seaweed sidle down my thigh. “But then again, mostthings work better in my head.”
“Why clothes…Why don’t you have clothes?” He cocked his head again. Which helped a little, to soften the harsh shape of his face.
“Uh…” I blew out a breath. “It’s really dumb, but I was skinny-dipping…”
“Skinny…dipping.”
“Yeah. Y’know. Dipping into the water in your skinnies.” I waved an arm down my naked front, wincing when the movement jiggled my breasts.
The monster saw it too. His eyes might’ve been bigger than my torso, but it was easy to tell when they hyper focused on something. They went still, and the black slits narrowed.Lovely.
Maybegetting eatenwas off the table, butgetting ravagedwas still a card in play.
The monster’s eyes shifted up, focusing on my face. “Why would you…?” He let the question hang.
“Because my boyfriend thought it would be fun…”
“B-boyfriend?”
“…and romantic. Like in the movies, y’know?”
