Chapter 4
I spun around clumsily and encountered Finn’s stormy blue eyes watching me curiously.
Wearing a gray shirt and black swim trunks he looked sexier than ever. The corner of his perfectly shaped mouth lifted ever so slightly into a crooked grin, while I did everything I could to calm my racing heart and stop my feet from running back down the stairs.
“You…your father is…dead?” I knew the look on my face screamed of shock and horror, but I had no control over it at this point.
“Technically, yes,” he clarified for me, breezily. He stepped over to the skull and crossbones and rested his hand on top of the skull, as I tried not to shiver visibly. Apparently keeping your father’s bones in your bedroom wasn’t disturbing to him at all. I was hoping any other skeletons in his closet weren’t actual skeletons.
“Technically?” I shivered again.
“His body is dead, but his soul is very much alive.” He smiled lovingly at the skull, and then took a step toward me.
“So he’s a…ghost?” I guessed, knowing full well I didn’t believe in ghosts. His slight leer turned into a full blown smile as he started laughing.
“Don’t let him hear you say that,” he chuckled again and I did a quick survey of the room for fear his dad was hanging around listening to us. Finn looked at me apologetically and took my hands in his. “Ghosts are fickle souls who will forever be lost and broken. They were awarded no true resting place in the Underworld, so they walk the realm of the living. My father is anything but lost or broken.”
Glancing back at the double axe, the skull and crossbones, and then around his penthouse bedroom on a million dollar yacht, I searched his eyes. Still stormy, they swirled with hues of deep blue and gray, but the tenderness in them was unmistakable. He rubbed my cheek and pulled my rigid body close. All I could do was stare up at him, still in shock.
“Who are you?” I whispered in awe.
“Here ya’ll are!” We both jumped at Cage’s voice bursting with excitement. He stood at the top of the stairs, a little out of breath, and his brown eyes were dancing with mischief.
“Don’t you think it’s about time we headed out into the deep blue yonder?” he asked as he shielded his eyes with his hand, peering out the window and into the distance. We snickered at him and descended down to the third level. As Finn and Cage maneuvered the yacht out of the marina with expert precision, I went back down to the second level to find my roommates. As I might have guessed, Phoebe and Carmen were locked in a battle at the air hockey table, while Willow played referee. At the moment, she was trying to convince Carmen that Phoebe’s last move was indeed legal.
“Hey Stasia!” Phoebe’s eyes darted up for only a second, but long enough for Carmen to strategically send the puck flying in to her goal.
“Hey! No fair!” Phoebe pouted.
“Okay, I disqualify you both for being so annoying,” Willow said as she threw up her hands in defeat and walked over to me.
“Liam told me it should only take about six hours to make it to Cape Lookout from here.” I noticed her face redden as she said his name.
“I think somebody has a crush on Liam,” I teased her.
“Maybe,” she said sheepishly and then leaned closer, “I think he’s kinda cute…”
“I think he thinks you’re kinda cute too,” I whispered back and her bright green eyes got wider.
“You really think so?”
“What are ya’ll talking about?” Phoebe called out from across the room. She and Carmen had continued their game minus the referee.
“How Willow likes Liam,” Carmen answered for us a little too loudly.
“Carmen!” Both Willow and I scolded her.
“Who likes Liam?” Ricker asked as he bounded down the steps with none other than Liam.
Willow gasped and her face turned bright red. She immediately shot a warning look at Carmen who just grinned and shrugged her shoulders. I caught Liam glance hesitantly in Willow’s direction with hope evident in his eyes.
“We were talking about Liam Hemsworth,” Phoebe tried, but Ricker just sneered at her and then Willow, knowing she was making it up.
“Uh huh,” Ricker smirked.
Willow grabbed my hand and yanked me onto the couch, away from Liam and Carmen’s big mouth which was still in full swing.
“Why don’t you find somebody else to annoy, Ricker?” she snarled at him.
“Why don’t you do us a favor and stop talking, Carmen?” he snapped back at her.
For the next five hours we tried to keep the two of them from ripping each other’s eyes out as we exhausted the pool table, Pac-man, foosball, and two mobster movies along with a case of Orange Crush and a couple bags of soft pretzels. Thankfully we had good weather and calm seas, so we were making excellent time. As everyone moved outside to the stern for some fresh air, Finn held me back.
“I want to show you something,” he uttered in a low voice with a dark smile.
“As long as it doesn’t involve more bones,” I shook my head vehemently.
“You have my word. It’s back upstairs in my room.” My stomach clenched at the thought of his empty bed as well as his father’s skull and crossbones. I wasn’t sure which one I was more afraid of.
“So why do you have your own bedroom on a yacht that’s used by all of the Sons?” I questioned him as we climbed the stairs. He ran his hand through his hair before answering.
“Well, I guess you could say I use it more often,” he responded vaguely.
“Why’s that?” I prodded further. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye before speaking again.
“Because it’s my yacht.”
I almost tripped up the stairs. “You’re telling me that you have your own yacht,” I blurted out, not believing him for a second.
“That’s right.”
“Are you going to tell me the beach house is yours, too?” I challenged.
“No,” he crowed at me, as if owning a beach house at the age of seventeen was ludicrous but owning a yacht wasn’t. “My family’s been around for a very, very long time. Over the years, money just tends to…collect. Your family’s no different, Pasha.”
He grinned, clearly amused. I hadn’t thought about that. Technically, I had a huge mansion on the Fortunate Isle. What else did I have that I didn’t know about?
“Touche,” I snickered. Doing my best to ignore his father’s skull staring us, I followed Finn out onto the deck adjacent to his room. The view was magnificent. Sparkling blue water stretched out in every direction, soothing every cell in my body. The deck beneath our feet also held several comfortable looking lounge chairs and one massive Jacuzzi. I couldn’t imagine how incredible it must be up here at night under the stars.
“I haven’t had a chance to tell you how beautiful your hair is.” Finn gently played with an aqua highlight and I was hopelessly caught in his intense gaze. “It brings out your eyes. It’s incredible.”
“I don’t know how it happened, I went to sleep last night and they just appeared.”
“It’s all a part of the transition. Your body’s slowly transforming as you get closer and closer to your eighteenth birthday. You’ll become stronger as well.” I remembered how easy it had been to push Noah down on to the sand a couple months ago.
“Why now? Why last night?” I wondered, absently fiddling with the hem of my navy shorts.
