Page 93 of Oceansong
“Yeah. I know about Kaden. And Adrielle and Cyrus. That you and my family had a nice little meetup with them recently.” Nick moved closer so he was inches away, his mouth upturned into a snarl. A blast of overpowering peppermint struck her nose from the gum he was chewing.
“W-what are you talking about?” Angie’s mind raced, racking her brain as to how he knew. She hadn’t seen anyone else around, made sure of it.
Rosie could have slipped.
Or Mia.
No. She loathed to think of that possibility.
“Don’t you know my wife tells me everything?” He jerked toward her, his posture threatening, and backed away, leaving Angie shaking in her boots. “I suggest that if you don’t want your father knowing what you’ve been doing, or for us to hunt down your lover and his family, you’ll do what I say.”
He spun on his heel and stormed away.
Angie stared after him, holding her head. “Why, Mia?”
She grew hot as her temperature climbed. Nick knew because Mia told him. Begging the question of what else he knew and wasn’t telling her. She replayed his words over and over in her head, and she never felt so exposed and vulnerable.
8:15 AM
Mia: Hey Angie, you okay? Call me back when you get this, okay?
*Beep*
1:05 PM
Mia: Uh hey, it’s me again. Angie, seriously, you good? Everything okay? Call me.
*Beep*
4:27 PM
Missed call from Mia.
Angie listened to their landline’s voice messages, for the third day in a row since her confrontation with Nick. She picked up the phone, finger hovering over the numbers, starting to dial Mia’s number. At seven in themorning, she would be home getting ready for work like Angie.
She stopped dialing and hung up the phone before completing the number.
When evening came around, Angie stood with six other workers at the main gangway. The sun still beat down on her head, and she took her sunscreen stick out of her pocket and applied another layer over her face.
The dead mer lay in a pile, and a male worker tapped his foot on the ground. “What should we do with them? Nick said we can do whatever we want.”
Angie looked to the mer-king’s corpse. A pain in her chest flickered. She hadn’t wanted to throw him away with the others. At the very least, she could give him a decent burial on the beach.
“We could bury them,” she said, looking at the other workers.
“Gross. Why?” A female worker wrinkled her nose. “You know how much time that’s going to take? I’m exhausted. I want to get away from the water and go home.”
“I’m not even getting overtime pay for this,” the male worker grumbled.
“Yeah, like we’re going to stand even closer to the water and dig their graves. Great idea.” Another female rolled her eyes at Angie, and then walked closer to the mer. “Let’s just throw them back in.”
“I agree,” another male worker chimed in.
Angie didn’t think she would get any help from them, so their answer didn’t surprise her. Maybe that was for the best. The mer could find his body and bring him home to their proper cemetery.
She stepped forward and helped push the mer into the water.
“Angela!” Nick’s voice boomed in her direction not a minute after she stepped foot onto the docks.
