“I love more than just your dick,” Casey says as he drops to his knees.
I pull him back up. “And I love you more than just your ass. Or your mouth. Let me take care of you.”
He blinks at me. “You do. You’re averysatisfying lover.”
I snort, and he doesn’t fight me when I tug for him to follow me back to the bed. I lay him down gently, his eyes never leaving mine. Maybe we blow off the first couple of events this morning so I can show him how much I want to take him apart piece bypiece. Show him how much he means to me. I cup him through his leggings and he moans into the next kiss.
I’m so glad Hayden said he’d sleep in the RV so Kay and I could have the hotel room. We were too exhausted to do anything after the show last night, but now?—
Three sharp knocks echo through the room.
Casey grins up at me. “Guess we’re not getting a quickie in.”
Another two knocks. “Come out, come out,” Kendra and Hayden singsong together.
“They’ve teamed up,” I say.
“Sounds like,” Casey says as he leans up to kiss me.
“We have shit to do,” Hayden yells through the door.
Casey moans. “Ohhhh, I’m coming. I’m coming so fucking hard. Ohhhhhh!” The fake performance has me cackling. But he looks so sexy and sweet with his legs spread, ready for me. I wish we could get a quickie in. “Come on.” He holds out his hand and I help him back to his feet. He kisses me again, just a quick peck. “I love you too, in case you can’t tell.” He’s so red.
My heart soars at his confession. I want to kidnap him and keep him all to myself, but we can’t just run away. We have an audience to show up for.
Kendra’s texting someone when we open the door. Hayden just gives me a shit-eating grin. Of course he is.
“See the new itinerary?” Kendra asks, holding up her phone. “They don’t evenmentionMatt Brooks anymore.”
“We were trying to get busy when you interrupted,” Casey says as he takes her phone. “Interesting. It’s as if he never existed.”
Kendra’s email must have made it to the right people in time. I wonder if they’ll have a statement. Or better yet, a news team shows up to ask questions. We’ll see what happens with the information Kendra leaked. Hopefully Matt Brooks getssmeared across social media and people come forward with their stories against him.
People down the hall murmur comments. Matt’s name is on everyone’s lips.
“Let’s not dwell on that fucker,” Casey says. He threads his arm through mine. “We have cute pics and collabs to do.”
For hours we run around meeting people and gathering LGBTQ+ influencers to help make my big coming out post in a few days. We have like four merfolk pods joining us for photoshoots.
Leading up to my big confession, I interview everyone and Hayden schedules each post for after Influencer Con. Hayden is a mastermind, doing everything in the background from getting pictures to capturing the interviews and everything else he does that I have no idea about.
Every step of the way, Casey’s by my side. He helps guide me. We don’t shy away when people ask aboutus. I don’t even panic when people ask for our pictures.
Together.
So many people comment that they thought I was straight. I have to correct them every time and I fill with pride speaking my truth. Casey gives me strength each step of the way.
Aside from Matt being missing,we’rethe talk of the con and I don’t hate it. Funny that both are related in more ways than one. Casey eats up the attention as if he was born for it.
Below the surface of this man lies a deadly killer with a code. To everyone on the outside, he’s the sweet Merrick, The Merman. To me, he’s perfect and I’ll do anything to keep the smile on his face.
36
CASEY
Today is the big day. Dallas insisted on live posting his coming out instead of scheduling and running away from social media for the rest of the day. I don’t know if it’s possible to be prouder of this man. He sometimes has nightmares after killing Charles, but I’m always next to him, helping him come to terms with it. Helping soothe him through the panic. I remember what it was like in the beginning. Remember the blood on my hands, but the cause is just and I won’t stop as long as there are monsters on the streets.
After Influencer Con, the four of us discussed living arrangements. I never want to leave Dallas’s side. Like, I’ll sew him into my skin if I have to. And he said something similar.
