Page 17 of A Merman's Tail
A fucking merman.
It wriggled on the floor, as though attempting to head for the side, but Joey grabbed a safety oar we brought with us in case we broke down and smacked it over the merman’s head. It collapsed, eyes slipping closed and limbs crumpling at its side.
“Fuck,” Joey muttered, his chest heaving in short breaths. He turned wide eyes on Boy. “What the hell was that?”
Boy smiled in triumph and glanced up at me from where he rested against my chest. I got the impression that he was searching for approval, so I kissed him hard on the lips, and he moaned against my mouth.
“Ethan… it’s a fucking mermaid,” Joey whispered, staring at the unconscious creature.
I shook my head. “Not mermaid. Merman.” My voice sounded weird to my own ears, and I gently moved Boy away from me so I could venture closer to the anomaly that I’d believed for so long existed, but neverreallybelieved until now. I was right, and I finally had the proof I needed.
I crouched beside it and loosened the net, throwing it off the merman so I could get a good look at it. My heart thumped so loudly I was surprised no one else heard it. My gut clamped as I reached down to touch the scaly tail with my fingertips. It felt just like a fish’s body.
“What do we do?” Joey asked, scampering forward to squat on the other side. He touched the merman’s face and winced. “Thought it would feel like human skin.”
“It doesn’t?” I touched the stomach, and sure enough, the skin on this creature had a slimy feel and I didn’t like it. “All we need is proof and we have it,” I murmured.
“Should we take the whole thing back? What if he wakes up?” Joey mumbled, and I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or himself. Maybe both of us. “We can’t control him.”
He had a point. I didn’t know anything about mermen or their strength. Could they survive for long periods out of the water? I slid my fingers down his stomach and over his scaled tail again. “The only proof I need is the tail.”
“You want to….” Joey stared at me with wide eyes. His face went a strange, sickly greenish-white, and he shook his head. “I’m not cutting off his tail.”
“Why? They’re no more human that the fish you catch and gut.”
“That’s not true,” he argued, glancing at Boy over my shoulder as though he’d agree with him.
Boy kneeled beside me and cocked his head. He patted my arm and smiled, and I knew he would agree to anything I said. That compliance made my blood heat with a strange sense of desire. Boy was mine completely, willing to listen to whatever order I gave him, and that did something to me.
“You’re both crazy. That’s murder,” Joey nearly shouted, eyes bugging out of his head. “Ethan, think rationally. Mermen. They’re human.”
I ignored him and turned to Boy, kissing him gently on the lips. “Downstairs there’s a small cleaning closet. Inside that is a toolbox. Can you bring it for me?”
Boy nodded and stood, scurrying off to the door that led downstairs. I watched him go, unable to look away from how his pert ass bounced in those pants, and my cock plumped up slightly at the show.
“Ethan, please. Don’t be stupid. We can’t kill him. We can keep him contained, tie him up.”
“That won’t achieve anything,” I said, tearing my gaze away from where Boy disappeared. “We don’t know anything about them. His strength, if he has any telepathy powers. Nothing.”
Joey snorted but still looked distraught. “Telepathy? That’s crazy. Of course he doesn’t have telepathy.”
“How do you know that? Have you met one?” I raised my eyebrows at him.
“We won’t discover what he can and can’t do if we don’t keep him alive.” Joey’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “I won’t have any part of this. It’s murder. You and yourboycan do it on your own.”
He walked away, his boots thumping on the fiberglass of the boat floor as he ascended the stairs to get away from me. I’d never expected Joey to be a coward, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. The only reason he came on these trips was to piss his parents off. They didn’t want him hanging around a guy that everyone around town called nuts.
The door that led downstairs opened again and Boy stepped out with the red toolbox. He struggled because it was heavy with steel tools and equipment, so I got to my feet and grabbed it from him, earning a smile in thanks. We both strode back to the merman, and I dropped the box beside him—it.
Opening the toolbox, I pulled out a saw I kept stashed in there and tugged off the blade covering. Boy’s mouth parted in surprise, and he glanced from the saw to the merman.
“We need proof,” I said, smirking. “The tail will do.”
He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and nodded, kneeling at me side.
“If you can’t handle it, look away, okay?”
The heavy footsteps of Joey’s boots made me look up again, and he was taking the stairs two steps at a time. He held a pistol in his hand, the same one we kept on the navigation deck in case something went wrong. You never knew what might happen when you were in an ocean full of sharks and deadly animals.
