“You need to stop!” Audrey screeched at the monster, who obviously didn’t listen at all. It became more hostile and aggressive the more her seaweed wrapped around it. It thrashed and thrashed, dislodging the sword in its snout, sending it clattering on the deck.
Audrey picked it up, anger pinching her fingers as she pointed Liam’s massive blade toward the beast. It screeched and groaned as a clutch of her fist brought the beast’s head down toward her level.
“Enough!” Audrey even stomped her foot with her command, which made the creature more upset. Even though seaweed was securely tightened around its jaw, with a threatening growl, it snapped its mouth open, tearing the seaweed off its face as it lunged toward Audrey.
Right as I reached my hand out—with no idea how I would actually help in this situation—Audrey cried and leaped in the air, aiming the sword right between the beast’s eyes.
As soon as Liam’s sword was buried to the hilt, the head of the monster immediately fell onto the deck of my boat, mere feet away from me and Liam, who was recovering well enoughto grab the collar of my shirt so I wouldn’t slide off the boat and into the ocean. The beast had no life left in its eyes, and when Audrey removed Liam’s sword with a grunt and jumped back on the deck, the massive head the size of a car, unceremoniously slid off my boat, back into the dark depths of the ocean.
The boat rocked back and forth dramatically, and the only reason I was able to stay on board was due to Liam’s hold on me until it stabilized.
The only sound was the Pacific waves crashing against the boat, the heavy breaths the three of us were desperately inhaling, and the ringing in my ears. I couldn’t tell how long we all sat on the deck, reveling in the silence after that disaster. Maybe it was five minutes. Maybe it was an hour.
Liam seemed to be fine now, thanks to Audrey’s healing touch, and Audrey was soaking wet, but not injured or shivering. I also had no injuries I could identify in the moment, so I shook my head and got to my feet before marching toward the cabin.
“What are you doing?” Audrey asked me.
“I’m getting another fucking drink.”
Chapter 7
Liam automatically took the captain’s chair again. When I asked him if he was good to drive, he waved me off. Apparently, getting his entire chest cavity ripped open and healed within minutes wasn’t that traumatizing. He steered us back to the harbor, perfectly docking the boat. We walked back to our little condo in silence, noting that Audrey was starting to shiver. Perhaps the adrenaline of what just went down was finally starting to recede.
Liam automatically wrapped her in one of his massive arms, and her shivering started to die down as we finally made it into the condo.
“Are you okay?” I asked her as we set our things down. “Do you need to warm up in the shower?” Audrey nodded at my question as she wordlessly sauntered down the hall. Liam sighed and scraped both hands down his face.
“You’re staying, right?” I asked him as the door shut to Audrey’s suite.
He lifted his head at me with a curious look. “You want me to?”
I gave him a look of disbelief. “I think she would feel better if you did.”
Liam raised a blond eyebrow at me as he pressed, “Wouldyou?”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t push it.”
Liam chuckled as I stomped down the hall to my room.
Audrey and Liam were still asleep when I left the next morning. I wasn’t too surprised to see them in bed together. It wasn’t like our thrifted couch was large enough for him, and our carpet was worn down enough that it probably needed to be replaced soon, so Liam sleeping in bed with Audrey made the most sense. But even though she slept on a California King-sized mattress, his feet still hung off the edge from under her covers. They weren’t cuddling or anything, which surprised me. Audrey was a cuddler.
When I arrived at work, I found myself stuck at the front door. Was I really about to just casually go to work after getting attacked by a monster the night before? Was that really how I was choosing to cope with that?
I started to mentally go down a rabbit hole on how Capitalism affected the American psyche when my employee waved his hand in front of my face.
“You good, Van?” Shane asked. He looked like he had just rolled out of bed, too. He hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, and his dark hair looked a bit shaggier than normal. His cocoa-colored eyes also had dark circles under them.
“So good, Shane.” I grinned brightly at him, meeting him at eye level, and unlocked the door to let us in.
A couple of hours later, I noticed surfers strolling along the sidewalk outside the shop, their hair damp from the ocean. I was suddenly petrified.They had no idea how close they were to?—
“Van,” Shane called, making me snap my head up and grin at him. His ever-present frown was on his face. “Did we get that shipment in?”
“Oh.” I lifted the divider in the countertop to let me out. “Yes. It’s in my office. I’ll go grab it.” I strode past him to walk down the hallway that led to both the restrooms and my office, a smaller room that barely fit a desk, storage shelves, and a thrifted loveseat. I pulled my keys out to unlock it, only to find that the door was already unlocked.
I figured Shane must have used his keys already to go in there for something else, but when I opened the door and saw a woman standing in the far corner, gazing at all the random trinkets I had collected over the years, I froze.
“Um,” was all I managed to get out before she turned her head, revealing that the majority of her face was covered up. She wore a scarf covering the bottom half of her head, exposing only the gold shimmer of her eyes. The rest of her outfit had dark leather chest and leg pieces—much like the ones on the men who attacked me that horrifying night.
