How to be a Mermaid (The Cotton Candy Quintet #1)(13)

It felt good.

I groaned in pleasure, and it wasn’t the normal, “Oh that feels good”. This groan was something different, like something was aroused deep within me. My cheeks burning, I turned off the water and quickly toweled myself dry, not caring if I was too coarse with my scrubbing. I was glad there was no one there to see me.

I self-consciously put my bikini on, ready for the performance later on today, and then put my robe on over it. Jordyn was going to be handling the meet and greet with the kids, which was a relief. I probably needed all the time up until the two o’clock performance to get myself together.

I headed back out into the changing rooms, pausing when I heard voices out there.

“...think she’s okay?” a voice asked. Alaina.

“I hope so,” another voice said. Christine. She sounded so worried. “The cops won’t take a statement until she’s been missing until twenty-four hours. I’m so worried about her.”

I closed my eyes and if it wasn’t for my sore head, I would have given myself a facepalm. They called the cops? I really was in some deep shit. I also cursed myself that I hadn’t texted them as soon as I got back to the changing rooms. I’d been too absorbed in what had happened that I completely forgot. My mother was probably freaking out as well. I usually texted her a few times a day to let her know that I was all right.

“You don’t reckon that she was kidnapped?” Jordyn spoke up. “Maybe she just ran away?”

Before their conversation could get any more morbid about all the possibilities of what happened to me, I steeled myself and walked into the changing room. All three of them were there, setting their bags on their make-up stations. At my appearance, they all froze, looking at me like deer in headlights. Christine’s jaw dropped and the other two stared at me with wide eyes.

“Tara?” Alaina asked.

“Hey guys.” I self-consciously placed a strand of wet hair behind my ear. “Sorry about going AWOL on you guys last night. I, uh...” I couldn’t very well tell them that I’d spent all night by Kai’s pool. Just because I vividly remembered being saved by Finn and Nereia doesn’t mean it actually happened.

“You idiot!” Christine’s voice snapped me back to the present situation. She stood in front of me, her hands on her hips as she stared me down, an angry frown on her face. “You nearly gave me a heart attack, Tara! Where the hell were you?!”

“I, uh...” My mind reeled, and Finn’s handsome face floated across my mind, taking my breath away. I came up with something that was somewhere in between what I believed was the truth and what was more likely to have happened. “I...met someone.”

She stepped back with a bewildered look on her face that was reflected on both Alaina and Jordyn. “You met someone?”

“Like a guy?” Jordyn ventured in a scandalous stage whisper.

I closed my eyes, not believing the next words that came out of my mouth. “Yeah. We went back to his place?” The pitch of my voice raised on the last word, making it sound like a question. I hoped it didn’t sound like I was making it up.

“Did you...?” Christine asked as Jordyn exclaimed, “Oh my god, you didn’t!” She hooted like she was seeing a kiss on an old TV show.

My cheeks burned. I should have said something else.

Christine shook her head. “Where did you meet this guy?” Before I could answer, she shook her head as if she were erasing her thoughts. “Never mind. You’re eighteen years old, you’re an adult. Just please, please, please promise me that you’re being safe. And if you are...going over to a guy’s place, please let one of us know. And that’s all I’m saying about that.”

I let out a breath. So now everyone thought that I was a bit easy. I guess that’s better than thinking I was crazy, at least for now. And I wasn’t going to be kept from the performance this afternoon. Something deep in the pit of my stomach told me that I had to be there.

Christine continued, all business. “Jordyn, you need to get ready for the meet and greet, you only have half an hour to get ready.”

The pressure was off me. I still felt terrible, but at least I wasn’t going to be fired, or worse.

I exhaled.

Yet, there was still the question that remained. What really did happen last night?

***

Even Neptune noticed that I was a bit off-kilter.

“You look a lil’ different today,” he told me gruffly. We were by the dolphin pool and I had barely gotten into the water to put my mermaid tail on for the two o’clock performance. I held onto the ledge with one hand, submerged up to my shoulders as I maneuvered into my tail with my other hand. Even though getting in the water felt amazing, I was able to keep the groan of pleasure from escaping my throat this time. They didn’t need to know that it felt like the water completed me.

“Did you get some extra beauty sleep or somethin’?” Neptune asked, frowning.

I glanced at Christine, who was putting her tail on by the side of the pool. She downcast her eyes, and I got the message. While she wasn’t going to tell our boss about me going missing last night, she wasn’t going to help me either. I was on my own.

“Extra beauty sleep,” I said vaguely, hoping that he wouldn’t push the issue. By now, I’d decided that it had all been some sort of weird dream and I had passed out by the pool. That was it. No merman. No sea witch. Just a bad circumstance.