our father ordered it all taken away. They wouldn’tlisten.”
Adrian angrily punched the wall. He flung himself onto his bed and looked up,thinking.
“What are you going to do, Adrian?” Moona asked him. She floated above him, looking down while Adrian waspondering.
An idea came to him. It was a wicked idea— sinful. Wrong. He wasn’t just betraying himself by thinking about it, he was betraying the entirekingdom.
But he was desperate. And desperation required the worst ofactions.
“I’m going to seeStavros.”
ChapterEight
Isamaria
Isamaria was beatingherself up the day after she’d hung out withAdrian.
She couldn’t believe what a coward she was. She’d ran away from Adrian like a scared little girl, and she hated herself for it. He was going to kiss her, and she’d totally blown it. He probably thought she wasn’t intohimnow.
She’d hooked up with guys she’d known for a shorter time, but that hadn’t been anything but messing around. Adrian was different. She could tell he cared, feel it by looking intohiseyes.
A morning class, a full day on the tour boat and a half-shift at the aquarium should’ve meant she was too busy to think about Adrian, but that wasn’t how it went. She found she was daydreaming most of the day about him, about his eyes, what color they were and how his voice had sounded against the crash of the waves. Isa wanted to record it and replay it overandover.
She’d probably seemed so pathetic to him yesterday. She told him she was busy because she didn’t want to make it seem like she was desperate, but what Adrian didn’t know is that she had two jobs and a full semester schedule because she was desperately trying to fill the hole created by her father’sabsence.
She got a text from Harbor around 9 o’clock. Brently Shores was throwing a beach party, a kegger to celebrate that his rowing team had made it to the semifinals. Brently wasn’t Isa’s favorite person. He acted like he was a big deal, only talked about rowing, and had made it his personal mission in life to creeponher.
Ugh. Parties. They so weren’t her thing. But she owed Harbor and Shelly for what she’d put them through the other night, so shesaidyes.
Isa slipped on a clean black and white swimsuit with an orange cover-up, grabbed her flip flops, and headed out. She’d stay for an hour, have a few beers, and bug out. She was tired. All she wanted to do was go to sleep and dream aboutAdrian.
Last night she’d had the weirdest dream about him. She dreamed they were swimming through the sea, and as she got closer, she saw he had a long tail… that there were fins on his arms, and gills in his neck. She’d dreamed that Adrian was amerman.
It was totally dumb. But the more Isa thought about it, the more she came back to what she’d seen on the boat— the green fin that had dipped underwater, and the face of the boy she thought had resembledAdrian’s.
She pulled up to Brently’s beach house and sighed. She was getting more delusional by the day. Hanging with Adrian made her realize how lonely she was. Maybe this party would be goodforher.
The rap music was already pounding, blocking out the crash of the ocean, and a glow from a bonfire outside was illuminating the starry sky. There were already so many people here, girls Isa hadn’t seen since her high school graduation, most of which Isa noticed had already gotten implants… presents from their rich daddies. Isa knew they’d be staring at her cup size and asking Isa why she hadn’t gotten any workdoneyet.
There were more guys at the party than girls. They wore cut-off shirts with sandals and shorts, hats worn backwards and long hair wrapped into man buns. They crushed beer cans, made dirty jokes, and bragged loudly about how much theycouldlift.
Bros.Doubleugh.
“Hey, baby. Glad you could make it!” one of them cried out as Isa passed them by. She cringed. She was on the way to the stairs to find Harbor, but now she was forced to stop and turnaround.
“What’s up, Ken?” Isa forced a smile. “How’veyoubeen?”
“Not bad. Crossfit has been working out great. Want to touch?” He flexed a muscle. Isa thought shemightgag.
“No thanks. I’m actually seeing a guy,” Isa blurted out before she could stopherself.
“You have someone?” Ken’s eyes widened. Isa had never dated in high school, more or less just messed around. Ken was one of those guys she’d messed with, and Isa wholly regretted it. Ken wasn’t a bad guy… but he wasn’t good in bed,either.
“Yeah, I do. You don’t know him. He’s from out of town.” She hadn’t realized she’d thought of Adrian as her own. Boyfriend didn’t seem like an accurate word. It was much morethanthat.
But that was crazy. She’d only known him for so shortatime.
Everyone was clustered around, interested in who Isa’s new man was. But thankfully, Luanne came to interrupt before anyone could questionfurther.
