Page 51

They were red and swollen, and even if the wounds didn’t look freshly opened, they didn’t look like injuries that had been cared for properly anymore either. Luke glared down at them. “I knew you’d been overdoing it.”

Syrus gave Luke a sideways glance, some of the distraction leaving his expression. “But did I not look lovely out in the water?”

“What if an orca wanted to take a bite out of you? Could you swim away fast enough?”

Not that Luke had any idea if mermen were natural prey for orcas, but it seemed a reasonable enough concern to voice out loud.

Syrus shrugged as he trudged ahead up the final stretch of path on feet that definitely should not have been walked on. “I still wouldn’t do well in open water, perhaps.” He gave Luke another sideways look over his shoulder. “How fortunate I have a human bed to return to for rest and recuperation.”

Luke refused to blush. Or be charmed, for that matter. Trust Syrus to keep flirting even while hurting and preoccupied. “We’ll go straight home after dropping Colby off. You need to lie down.”

“No,” Syrus said. “I wish to stop at the bloodsucker’s bakery. I want to see if they have the address.”

Luke frowned as he unlocked the car and began to maneuver Colby into his car seat. “You can ask about the marine biologist tomorrow.”

What was one more day going to hurt?

“It will be today,” Syrus said firmly, for once not coy or teasing in the least. He glared into the distance, seemingly at nothing. “I didn’t like that man lurking around you.”

Luke stared at Syrus over the top of the car. “He was totally harmless.”

He sounded ridiculously confident given his own nerves during the stranger’s visit, but the statement still had a ring of truth to it. The guy had to have been harmless, to have been scared off by the mere possibility of a dick sighting like that. Luke had gotten himself worked up over nothing.

And now Luke had a new direction for his worry. Namely, Syrus’s mangled feet and the fact that he needed to get off them.

But apparently a stubborn Syrus was a force to be reckoned with—something Luke should have already known at this point—because Luke found himself driving straight from Colby’s day care to Coastal Crumbs.

He was relieved to find the place empty except for Seth behind his counter and Violet at one of the tables (and really, shouldn’t she have been in school by now?). Luke didn’t have to feel self-conscious about rushing Syrus to a chair.

“Sit,” Luke ordered. “You don’t need to be standing to ask your questions.”

Seth’s warm grin of greeting—apparently merman-versus-vampire rivalries were moot after the proper introductions had been made—turned into a puzzled half smile as he watched them. They were probably an odd sight. Syrus was damp and barely dressed for the weather, his sore feet stuffed into boots with the laces still undone. And he was gazing at Luke with patient amusement, like Luke’s fussing was silly or something.

Luke turned to Seth. “Do you have any raw meat back there?”

Maybe Syrus wasn’t eating enough. That would slow his healing, wouldn’t it? Had he even eaten any fish this morning before they’d left? Luke couldn’t remember.

Seth blinked at Luke, his puzzled smile dropping. “Um. I use bacon in some of my pastries,” he answered eventually. “I have some uncooked packages.”

Luke gave Syrus a questioning look, and Syrus shrugged.

“If you insist.”

To his credit, Seth only hesitated for a moment under Luke’s entreating stare. “Be right back.”

He disappeared behind the door that led to his kitchen, returning shortly after with a half package of uncooked bacon. He handed it over the counter to Luke, who brought it over to Syrus.

Syrus sniffed at the package. He raised his brows at Luke, then peeled off a strip, folded it into a small accordion, and shoved the whole piece in his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully.

“Fatty,” he mused after he swallowed. “And…salty. I like it.”

He ate the rest of the pieces in quick succession.

Violet, who’d witnessed their arrival and subsequent raw meat negotiation without a word, now eyed Syrus with an expression somewhere between impressed and delightfully horrified. Seth, however, was watching Luke, a strange look on his normally cheery face.

“What?” Luke asked him.

Seth shook his head quickly, fiddling with his free sample tray like he’d been caught out. “Oh, nothing.”