Chapter 42

Hunter

I’d been painting for hours now and it seemed to me like time had suddenly come to a standstill. A few
more strokes and I’ll go to bed, I promised myself. The thing is I didn’t want to go to bed. When I tried
to sleep, I felt restless. I couldn’t sleep and I either ended up painting until dawn or trying to read a
book.

I had a car accident three weeks ago, and according to my step-mom, I’d been in a coma for five days
straight until I finally woke up in the hospital. My memories were still hazy; in fact, I couldn’t even
remember the past four months in my life.

Four goddamn months with no fucking memory! How’s that for a start?

It seemed like I’d won a lottery, and bought a home. What I didn’t understand is why I would bother
wasting money in a big ass house when I knew I was going to live here all alone. A maid visited the
house thrice a week for the cleaning and occasionally prepared meals.

Leslie barked looking at different corners of the house, howled so loud at night, you’d think he’d turned
into a werewolf.

I was missing something vital in my life. A very important part that I still couldn’t remember. The doctors
told me that the memories could come back eventually, some bullshit reason that it took time. Dr.
Eugene specifically said something or someone could trigger those memories. I’d seen the way Elaine
and Hannah looked at me with some emotion between pity and sympathy, I wasn’t even sure.

Heck, I’d seen the car that I’d driven during the accident. It resembled a crunched up soda can, and I
still couldn’t believe that I survived it. A miracle had to get me out of that alive. My memories were
blank and no one was telling me what happened.



It really sucked.

I gave one look towards the painting that I’d almost finished and let out a grunt. Since the accident, I’d
been especially inspired to paint the ocean. I picked up the bottle of Jack Daniels sitting idle on the
table and took a swig. The liquor burned its way down my throat and that was a good feeling. It was
surely better than feeling confused and shit.

I felt a tug. I looked down to see the annoying brown dog pulling the end of my shirt with his teeth.

“Les, I already took you out for a walk, I’m not doing it again.”

Leslie bared his teeth and pulled more aggressively.

“No more treats either,” I warned him.

Suddenly he let go and ran out of the room, came back and threw something on the floor in front of me.
At first, I thought he wanted to play but when I looked down, I noticed he’d brought me a pair of keys.

I picked them up and Leslie barked running out of the room. He wanted me to follow him, so I did. He
ran across the hallway and went downstairs. I followed him down and came to the first landing. He
stood right next to the locked room beside the master bedroom. His large chocolate brown eyes
watched me, trying so hard to give me some message.

I’d wondered why the room was locked, but Hannah had brushed off the issue saying that it was just a
guest room and I’d suspected that it wasn’t. I picked up the keys, unlocked the door and walked inside.

I wouldn’t have been more surprised if the room was filled with whips, chains or other sex toys instead
the room was decorated with stars, planets, stuffed toys sat in every corner, a child’s bookshelf. I was
further taken aback to see the crib near the wall. If it had been old, I’d have thought it was from
Hannah’s childhood, but this one was all new.



As if someone had expected a baby.

So what happened? What was it that my family was not telling me?

By evening I was sitting alone in Lucifer’s Den waiting for Fred. He was my best friend, surely if my
sister was acting suspiciously; I knew Fred would help me out.

Surprisingly, the club was packed even on a weekday like tonight. The club owner, Max Lockhart was
nowhere in view, and neither was his younger brother Phoenix which was a good thing. Not that I was
particularly fond of the brothers, but the Lockharts moved around with the kind of superiority that you
were bound to despise them no matter what.

“Hey there.” A voice that seemed to be dripping in honey cooed.

I turned to see a brunette dressed in tight black spandex dress seated on the high stool beside me. Her
short dress rode up so high, I didn’t know why she bothered wearing it. I didn’t normally ogle women
openly, but you couldn’t look away when a woman was practically shoving her melon sized breasts in
your face. It was literally spilling out and she was making no attempt at being modest. “Are you alone?”

I downed the remaining drink and signaled Alec for a refill.

“My friend will be here soon,” I told her dismissively.

“I’m Ivy. What’s your name?”

“Hunter,” I answered.

“You know...Hunter...” she said in a sexy voice, eye-fucking me and seeming completely unapologetic.
She leaned closer and I got a strong whiff of her perfume. “I don’t own a bed, but I definitely wouldn’t
mind using yours tonight.” She giggled.



I laughed because I couldn’t remember the last time any woman had blatantly asked me to fuck her.
She took that as a yes and inched even closer, she could practically be in my lap. Normally I wouldn’t
have any issues taking her up on the offer, but it just didn’t feel right. I didn’t even have a girlfriend and
yet I had a bad feeling about this. I didn’t want to sleep with this woman.

There was also the continuous stinging of the tattoo on my arm.

Alec looked at us and glared as he poured me a glass.

What on earth was this guy’s problem?

“You ever been fucked by a cactus?” I asked her in a low.

She frowned, so I continued, “Because my junk looks and feels like one.”

That did it. She climbed off the stool and scrambled off so fast you couldn’t count from zero to one. I
heard her mutter ‘what an asshole’

“That was rude, man.” Fred slapped a hand on my back.

“Have any better ideas to ward off unwanted female attention?” I asked him sarcastically.

He grinned, “I’m sure you’re acquainted more in that department. You told me it was urgent. What’s the
matter?”

“Let’s go outside,” I said. “I’ll go deaf if you keep screaming in my ear like that.”

“Fucking shameless!” Alec muttered under his breath, wiping a highball glass with a towel.

I stared at him for a long time, wondering what had warranted him to say that.

“Did I unknowingly ran over your dog?”



“I did warn Blue that you weren’t the type to remain loyal in a relationship, let alone a marriage,” Alec
said. “There’s a limit, you know. You promised her you wouldn’t look at someone else. If she was my...”

I couldn’t hear the rest of his yelling because of the loud music. But I did hear the word “marriage.”

I turned in time to see Fred who kept mouthing “cut it out” to Alec with a slashing movement of his hand
to the neck. When he noticed that I saw him he stopped and gave me a nervous smile.

Something wasn’t right.

“Who is Blue?” I asked Alec.

Blue. That name sounded familiar. Funny thing that I couldn’t remember. By the looks of Alec’s outrage,
she had to be someone important.

“Dude, are you fucking kidding me?” Alec spat angrily, “How does a man forget his wife?”

“Whoa! Slow down. I have a wife?” I laughed because this was fucking hilarious. I never got into a
steady relationship, marriage was off the charts. I didn’t know if there was even a woman who would
want to marry someone like me.

I looked at Fred asked, “Is this guy crazy?”

Fred didn’t respond which was a clear indication that something was definitely wrong.

I downed the last drink. “Come outside in the parking lot. We need to talk.”

Once outside, I bombarded my friend with the question. “What was Alec talking about?”

Fred shrugged, “You know how Alec can get. He was probably just messing with you.”



“Fredricko, you’re like a brother to me, man...” I said looking straight into his eyes and noticed how he
was avoiding eye-contact. “If you were in my situation, and you would have forgotten important things
from your life, I would do my best to tell you the truth. I wouldn’t hide anything from you. If I have
forgotten my wife...if she’s left me for whatever reason, you have to tell me, man. Please. I’m begging
you. I’m a dickhead, I probably hurt her....right? And then I had an accident. Whatever this is, it’s killing
me.”

Fred looked guilty. “I promised Hannah I wouldn’t say anything.”

I showed him the underside of my hand, “I have this weird tattoo that I don’t remember getting. It stings
sometimes. I wake up during odd hours at night and I get glimpses of the ocean. Just waves and I feel
this weight on my chest like everything’s wrong.” My eyes were stinging now, I didn’t even know why I
was crying but here I was acting like a damn pussy for no apparent reason. The tears trailed down my
cheeks. I swiped at it with the back of my hand, “is she dead? Is that why you guys are hiding it from
me? Did she commit suicide? I have to know, man. If I married a woman and if she died because of
me...”

“Hunt...” he began.

“I deserve to know goddamnit!” I yelled punching the nearest wall with my fist.

“Hannah said that if I break my promise, I’d have to swallow needles.”

I stared at him.

“Guess I’ll just have to swallow needles then.” He smiled. “Let’s sit in the car and talk.”

I couldn’t even wrap my head around it.

“You’re saying my wife is a mermaid?” I asked.



Fred nodded. “That’s God’s truth.”

“Do you know how crazy you sound? You’re saying I married a half-fish woman and you want me to
believe it.”

“As far as what I’ve known, you two were pretty taken to each other. Literally in love, it was disgusting
to see you become a lovesick puppy but I can’t say I hated it. It changed you, she changed you.”

I remained silent because it was all so hard to process. Now I kinda wished I’d never pushed Fred to
tell me the truth.

“Your wife is really a mermaid, and when you woke up from the accident in the hospital, she was gone.
Hannah thinks that Blue probably got really scared of the accident and decided she was better off living
as a mermaid in the ocean.”

“I won’t believe this unless I have proof because you literally sound like you’ve fallen off your rocker.”

“You can think what you want to.” He said, “But if you don’t remember it, I think it’s best you try to look
into your house, she must have left her things, probably hidden them somewhere. If you manage to find
her belongings, you might remember.”

I nodded. “Guess that’s what I’ll have to do.”

“I’ll help you.” He said.

“Why is there a crib in one of the rooms?”

Did I have a child? She did take the baby away from me? Suddenly the thought of a wife that I didn’t
remember and a child that I didn’t even remember putting inside of her was becoming very important to
me.



“There was no baby. I heard that you guys were trying really hard for it.”

I sighed. I just couldn’t see myself devoted to someone to want to marry them, much less buy a house.
I was probably dreaming, and when I woke up I’d realize that there was no accident and no wife.

“This sounds insane man,” I said rubbing my head. “What if she files for a divorce and demands
money? Do you realize how much money I’m going to lose? She would most likely ask for the house in
the settlements. I fucking hate this.”

Fred shook his head. “You sound like the same selfish asshole that I used to know before she came
along. I just told you your wife left and you’re worried about the money you’re going to lose if the
mermaid files for a separation.”

“Well, one thing is for sure. If she doesn’t file for the divorce, I sure as hell will.”


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