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  He laughs. “Ah. God knows how much I love you, Arianna, but your concept of a fairy tale prince is very disturbing.”

  Both of our eyes widen at the realization of what he just said.

  He stops laughing and turns serious. He slowly sits up and leans over me. “I mean it, Arianna. I love you and this is driving me insane, but I need to know why you stayed this entire time.”

  I feel like my heart stops beating. “Because I love you, too.”

  He leans down, closing the distance between us and his lips are on mine.

  We can hear the change in the sound of the heart monitors, and as hard as it is, we pull away before a nurse comes running, especially since I’m not supposed to be here.

  He lies back down next to me.

  “What is going to happen now?” I ask.

  He sighs. “I’m not leaving you, ever… That is for sure. But I still need to figure some things out. If you are okay with it, I could ask Owen if you can stay at his apartment until I do.”

  I nod.

  “I wonder where he is anyway. I figured he would stop by or something.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about it,” I say. “He seems distracted, like he has something going on. I’m sure he’ll come by soon.”

  “Hmm. I’ll give him a call tomorrow.”

  He stops and watches me curiously.

  I stare back at his eyes. “What are you thinking about?”

  “You,” he says. “You are all I ever think about.”

  I smile and look away.

  “I wish I knew more about you,” he says.

  “There’s not much to know.”

  “Where are you from? I don’t even know your last name…”

  Uncomfortable with the questions, I sit up.

  “I don’t like to talk about my life, at least not my life before I met you.”

  He sits up and puts his arms around me, pulling me back down on the bed with him. “I’m sorry. It’s just that, sometimes I feel like if you were to walk out of that door right now, I would never be able to find you. I would have nothing to go by.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I say and I mean every word.

  “I hope not. But I wouldn’t know what to do if your father or… his choice for you, found you and managed to take you away.”

  A shiver goes through my body.

  “Not that they will be able to,” he quickly says once he notices how uneasy I’ve become. “I’ll make sure they never find you.”

  I sigh. “I can’t talk about it right now. Just please trust me when I say that I would never willingly leave you.”

  After that, we fall into silence. Blake slowly lowers his hand to the small of my back, moving it under my shirt, and brushes his fingers against my bare skin as I lay my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat. This is so relaxing that I end up falling back asleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  BLAKE

  Making promises to Arianna is so different than promises that I’ve made to others in the past. I used to just say whatever people wanted to hear to make them happy, but with her, I mean it and I can feel the weight of my every word on my shoulders.

  “Promise me that no matter what happens you won’t drink again.”

  I consider this, and at this point, I know there is no way I’m going back to how things were before. I need to find a way for her to stay in my life and as long as I can do that, I won’t need another drink to escape from reality.

  I pull away enough to where we can look at each other.

  “I promise. And I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I’m for putting you through this.”

  I know why she stayed over the months. I can see it in her eyes, but I need to hear it from her, so I ask her.

  I can see that she blushes and tries to hide it, but she takes a deep breath and tells me about the music, reading, and her fairy tale nonsense, which makes me feel even more guilty for not being able to be that person for her.

  I laugh. “Ah. God knows how much I love you, Arianna, but your concept of a fairy tale prince is very disturbing.”

  This catches us both by surprise. I can’t believe I just told her that I love her like this. It just came out.

  I stop laughing, sit up and lean over her. “I mean it, Arianna. I love you and this is driving me insane, but I need to know why you stayed this entire time.”

  I know her answer before she says the words, but the way she says it… everything that she has done for me… I know she’s the one person I can’t hurt again.

  I lean down and kiss her. I still feel weak and that, along with the heart monitors are the only things keeping me from taking her right here. I pull away because if I don’t stop kissing her now, I won’t be able to stop myself.

  I lay back down and when she asks me what’s going to happen now, I don’t know how to answer it at first. “I’m not leaving you, ever… that’s for sure.” And I offer to ask if she can stay at Owen’s apartment while I work some things out.

  She nods and I don’t get it how she can be so damn understanding about everything.

  We talk about Owen and it worries me that she‘s so concerned about him. If she only knew… Owen always has some dramatic issue going on. What bothers me the most is thinking that I know nothing about her and she is not willing to talk. Mostly, I have a bad feeling about her dad and so-called husband, and I don’t like the idea of not being able to find her if they manage to find and take her away. The fact that she’s not willing to talk about her past, takes my mind to the worst possible situations in relation to whatever happened to her and I can feel myself get angrier. But she’s not ready to talk and I let it go for now.

  After that, we fall into silence. I lower my hand to the small of her back, moving it under her shirt and brush my fingers against her bare skin. Her skin is so soft and warm. I want her and I start to regret stopping myself earlier.

  “Arianna?”

  She doesn’t answer and I can tell by her breathing that she is asleep.

  I reach for my phone and call Owen.

  He answers after a few rings and he sounds out of breath.

  “Hey. Sorry, man. I was planning on coming to see you in the morning.”

  “What are you doing—” I start to ask, but then I hear the girl in the background.

  “Never mind.”

  “Look, don’t judge okay? I don’t get many nights without Arianna around.”

  “Who the hell is Arianna?” I hear the girl snap.

  “Relax, sweetheart. I just met you tonight and I don’t do well with jealousy. Arianna is my brother’s girl.”

  I shake my head.

  “Do you have time to talk?” I ask.

  “Sure. By the way, Dad is pissed. They won’t let him anywhere near your room.”

  “Good.”

  He laughs. “Yeah, good only while you are in there. You can’t hide forever.”

  I sigh. “I know, which is why I need your help.”

  He takes a deep breath. “Go on.”

  “I need a safe place for Arianna to stay while I work some things out.”

  “I can’t. He came by earlier and my hands are tied… no pun intended.” He laughs. “Sweetheart, can you untie my other hand?” he asks the girl. “Sorry about that. Anyway… he said if she ends up here, the apartment is gone. I can get away with her here every once in a while, but on a permanent basis, that is pushing it. By the way, you should know that Dad told Brooke that you are awake.”

  “Fine. Thanks.” I hang up and throw the phone across the room. I have no idea what I’m going to do. He controls every single bank account I have, and the best I can do is wait until I’m recovered to find a job outside of his company and get money to get us a place, but in the mean time, I’m trapped.

  Arianna wakes up abruptly. “What happened?”

  I grab her hand and pull her down on top of me. Her lips close to mine.

  I move my hand to the back of her neck, pull her down and
kiss her.

  “Blake,” she whispers as she pulls away.

  The last thing I want to do is talk. I go back to kissing her. I move my hand to her thigh and under her skirt, moving my hands up until I reach her waist, where I stop, pick her up, and move her where she straddles me.

  When she feels how turned on I am, she looks over to the monitors. I’m not sure what she is looking for, but she stops, looks at me again, and I can feel her hands moving my pants down and next thing I know, I’m inside her and nothing else matters, at least not during that moment.

  At some point, I think I heard a soft knock on the door, but whoever it was... a nurse probably… went way.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Rise and shine!” Arianna and I both jump awake at the sound of Owen’s voice. He stands by the door of my hospital room, holding a bag of food and orange juice.

  “What time is it?” I ask.

  “Early,” says Owen. “I came to get Arianna before Brooke gets here.”

  I can feel her tense at the sound of Brooke’s name and Owen can see it too.

  “I’ll wait outside while she gets ready,” says Owen. He puts the food down on the desk and leaves the room.

  “Look at me,” I tell her.

  When she turns, I can see the fear in her eyes.

  “Things are not going to go back to the way they were,” I say. “I will never forget you were the one by my side throughout this whole thing.”

  “I don’t want you to feel obligated to anything because of it. I was here by choice. You don’t owe me anything.”

  I shake my head. Does she not get it?

  “Arianna, you know there’s more to it then that. I told you, I love you.”

  She looks away. “But I’ve also heard you say that to Brooke.”

  Ouch. That really hurts. I nod and take a deep breath. “You’ll have to trust me when I tell you that I meant it when I said it to you. That is the only time I ever said it to anyone and really meant it.”

  She smiles. “I believe you. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t get you stressed over this.”

  I smile back and kiss her before she gets up.

  I watch her as she fixes her hair. I hate how sad she looks and I also hate the thought that Brooke will be the one standing here shortly.

  “Arianna?”

  She turns around to look at me.

  “I want you to stay.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I want you to be here when Brooke gets here.”

  She gives me a puzzled look.

  “Trust me,” I say. I actually feel good about this.

  The nurse comes in followed by Owen. She checks my vitals and says that the doctor will be coming to see me today and that I’ll have my first physical therapy session as well.

  Owen keeps looking at his watch and as soon as the nurse is gone, he asks Arianna if she’s ready.

  She looks at me.

  “She’s staying,” I say.

  I know he’s about to say that I lost my mind, but it’s too late. Brooke is standing by the door and it’s not me who she’s looking at.

  “WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING HERE?”

  To my surprise, Owen walks over toward Arianna and stands in between the two of them.

  “Close the door,” I say.

  Just then, Brooke looks at me and it’s almost as if she doesn’t know how to react. She closes the door and stands there with her arms crossed and waiting on an explanation.

  “Well…” she says.

  “If you had bothered to come see me, you would probably have caught her here sooner being that she was the one by my side throughout these last few months.”

  Her eyes widen and her mouth hangs open.

  “Shit,” says Owen. “Man, don’t say anything you’ll regret later.”

  Brooke laughs. “When did your brother become the wise one?”

  I start to wonder the same thing.

  “Look,” says Brooke. “You know hospitals creep me out, honey.”

  I shake my head. “Don’t you get tired of pretending?” I ask.

  She gives me a puzzled look and starts to get nervous. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t see or hear any of this. I’m sure you are not acting like yourself because you are still recovering anyway. Your dad is already arranging for your physical therapy to be done at the house, so we’ll be able to spend more time together and get back to normal. And everything is practically ready for the wedding anyway.”

  “Normal?” I laugh and they all just stare at me. “Brooke, there will be no wedding.”

  “Your dad—”

  “For now, please just go back to your house and act like everything is ‘normal’, for your dad and mine. At least until we figure out what to do. But you so much as tell either of them something different than that, and your dad will be the first to know about you and the manager of that Italian restaurant.”

  Her eyes widen even more. She turns around and leaves, slamming the door on her way out. I can only hope that she’ll follow through with what I asked of her.

  I face Owen.

  “Holy shit, dude. Who are you and what did you do to my brother?” he asks.

  I shrug. I look at Arianna and she’s smiling at me as if for the first time she believes we’re not going back to how things used to be.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  ARIANNA

  I have to keep reminding myself that I need to breathe. I’m shocked about what he told Brooke and I’m afraid of what will happen now. Owen looks like he’s just seen a ghost, but he doesn’t say much.

  One of the nurses comes in to get Blake to his physical therapy and says that his doctor will meet us there. She asks if I’m going to go with Blake and he says that I am before I even get a chance to respond.

  Blake has a little trouble getting out of the bed, but he declines the wheelchair and they give him a walker instead. The nurse smiles, “he won’t need one of these for much longer, especially if he keeps getting his nighttime physical therapy,” the nurse grins and winks at me. It takes me a while to get it, and I blush. Owen is grinning too and Blake doesn’t look happy at the nurse’s indiscretion, but he lets it go.

  After about thirty minutes of physical therapy, the doctor says that he wants to keep Blake at the hospital for a few extra days, but that he will be okay to have someone go to his home for the physical therapy, as long as he keeps his follow up visits. He also needs to have someone with him all the time in case of any setbacks. Even though the charges were dropped, the doctor says no driving, even if Blake is able to get his license back right away.

  When we get back to Blake’s room, Blake opens the door and almost loses his balance. He stumbles back and manages to back up the walker and close the door, but not before I see Owen behind a nurse who is bent over Blake’s bed.

  Blake looks at me and shakes his head. “That’s my brother…”

  Seconds later, the nurse opens the door and blushing, runs out of there. We walk in the room and Owen is grinning.

  Blake shakes his head once again.

  “What?” says Owen. “I have to pay my dues if you want Arianna to be able to stay past visiting hours. Did you think the nurses were just being nice for the hell of it?” he laughs.

  I start to feel dizzy and sit down on the couch. I look over at the uneaten breakfast and realize that I haven’t eaten anything yet.

  Blake looks concerned. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

  I shrug. “Nothing. I’m just hungry and tired.”

  He looks at Owen. “Can you take her to your apartment and make sure she gets something to eat and rest? I’ll talk to mom and make sure dad doesn’t find out.”

  Blake sits next to me and pulls me close to him. “Don’t worry about me, okay? Just rest. Owen will bring you back tomorrow.”

  I nod and get up. Owen hands me the cup with orange juice and says I should at least drink that. On the way out, Blake says, “Oh, Owen, please send a nurse in to change the bed sh
eets.”

  We all laugh.

  On the way to the apartment, Owen doesn’t say anything. As soon as we walk in, he makes me something to eat and then he sits next to me while I eat, and I can tell that whatever he has to say, it’s not good.

  “You know this is going to get bad, right?” he asks and I nod.

  “Good. I just want you to be prepared because if he really goes against our dad, I’m not sure what will be left of him.”

  I know that he’s right and it terrifies me.

  “Feeling better?” he asks.

  “No.”

  “Does it feel anything like when you got sick before?” he asks.

  I shake my head.

  “That’s good. I wonder if you’d be able to turn into a mermaid again now that he is well.”

  I nod. “I think I would be able to. I can feel it. Ever since he woke up, I felt this crave for being… me.” I pause. “Can I ask you something?”

  He nods.

  “What did you have to pay for letting me go? What did you even owe before to begin with?”

  He sighs. “That’s my problem. It’s best if you don’t know. Trust me.”

  The doorbell rings and he opens the door to Cindy and Molly.

  Molly comes running toward me, but Owen stops her saying that I don’t feel well.

  Cindy looks concerned. She asks if I’m okay and Owen tells her I just need to rest and eat something… that I over-exhausted myself, and he grins as he says that.

  I roll my eyes at him and finish eating.

  Cindy sits down and hands him a folder full of papers. “I want you to sign this,” she says.

  He gives her a puzzled look and takes the folder from her shaky hands.

  “What is this?” he asks

  “This is the deed for the island.”

  “But it has mine and Blake’s name on it.”

  She nods.

  “Your grandfather left the island for you and Blake and there are trust funds set out on each of our names.”

  “There are?”