Chapter 6

A strong breeze ruffled his bed sheet, and Shawn rolled to his side, inhaling the salty ocean air. After driving Jenny back to town so she could fly back out, he'd spent some time unpacking, reorganizing the kitchen, and playing on the internet watching the speculations fly as to where he'd disappeared off to. That was two days ago. Now that the adrenaline rush of his whirlwind relocation was wearing off, he felt strangely...calm this morning.

The last couple days had been rather dismal and rainy so he'd spent the time indoors finishing organizing his new home. But the weather had cleared up yesterday afternoon, and he'd been able to sit on the deck and take in the peacefulness of the full moon blanketing the expansive dark waters. The rhythmic crash of the waves upon the shore had nearly lulled him to sleep in the lounge chair.

As the breeze washed over him again, he was briefly glad that the window faced out to the west, so that he wasn't bombarded bright and early with the morning sun. It was still bright enough as it was without it streaming straight in the window. He had the fleeting thought that maybe he should get some black out curtains or something but dismissed that thought as he sat up and caught sight of the sun glinting off the clear turquoise waters for the first time since he'd arrived.

Okay, so maybe that was worth an early morning wake up call.

He pushed himself up out of bed, rubbing his hand over his tousled chocolate hair. It was so dark brown it was almost black in dim lighting. Although, he had noticed it often lightened a bit in the summer, and he briefly wondered if the sun and surf here would highlight it even more. He rubbed his bare flat stomach as he stood for a moment staring out the window in only his favorite blue plaid boxers.

After relieving himself in the bathroom, he made his way to the kitchen and flipped on the brand-new coffee maker. He poured a bowl of his high protein-high fiber cereal while the scent of java filled the air. He started to sit down at the kitchen table since he was still in just his boxers.

"What the hell," he grinned as he picked up his bowl and strutted out onto his new back deck. He set his breakfast bowl down, reveling in the risqué feeling of the breeze causing the light layer of fabric to buffet against his groin. He almost felt like he wasn't wearing anything at all, and that sent shivers down his spine.

Feeling freer and lighter than he had in days, he stepped back inside long enough to grab his coffee before coming back out to settle at the small table. He propped his feet up on one of the rails of the deck as he enjoyed the breeze and ate his breakfast.

As he finished, he shifted in the chair. A few minutes later, he squirmed again. Damn, he thought, am I already getting bored? The quiet was nice, but he wondered if the solitude would become trite really quickly. He wasn't used to sitting around unless he was writing.

He rose and dragged his laptop outside with him. Maybe after he checked emails and such he'd be able to let go more. Maybe he'd even write a scene for a new book, even if it never made it into print. Just something to focus on other than how his life had blown up in his face.

He had barely sat back down when a splash in the waters off to his left caught his attention. Through the deck rails, he would have sworn he saw the tail of some large fish splash the surface before disappearing under the surf. The sunlight reflecting off the waters caused him to have to squint to see if he could catch sight of it again.

Maybe it was a dolphin... or hell, even a shark, he wondered excitedly. It certainly seemed bigger than just some fish jumping out of the water. He rose to stand at the rail, scanning the water intently. For a moment, he could see a large dark shape gliding under the water, but then the sun blinded him and he lost track of it, and he began to wonder if it had disappeared into the open ocean.

He almost turned to sit back down, but something popped up out of the water near the far end of the island. It took him a few seconds to realize that it was a person. Instinctively, he scanned for the large creature he'd seen earlier, worried that maybe the person could be in danger. But he didn't see any large shapes in the water, so his eyes cast back to see the person rising out of the waters.

"Damn," Shawn murmured as he took in the lean bare chest of the young man. The man shook his head, sending a spray of water from his toffee colored hair before smoothing it back with his hands.

As the man trudged through the surf, slowly revealing more of his body, Shawn openly admired the expanse of the man's flat stomach, the strong V-cut of his hipbone, lean thighs and ...

"Oh, fuck," Shawn breathed.

The guy was naked. And not just naked but gloriously, beautifully naked. And wet.

Shawn didn't realize just how long he'd stood there gawking like a fucking teenage girl, until he realized that the guy had slipped on some khaki shorts and sandals and was heading up a path along the side of the cliff behind the larger house.

"Oh, please God, let him be my new neighbor," Shawn breathed, grinning to himself. "Maybe this little exile from the rest of the world won't be so bad after all."

@@@@

Casey stepped onto the back deck after climbing the rocky path from the beach, feeling relaxed and energized from his early morning swim. Martin had opened the gate just before dawn before traipsing back up to the house. He always let Casey swim for a while around the edges of the island after having been cooped up in the cave overnight to burn of his excess energy.

He slid open the sliding glass door and stepped toward the kitchen. He'd barely rounded the kitchen island before his cheek exploded in pain and he felt himself falling backward, scraping his side against the counter before his hip hit the floor.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Martin roared, and Casey managed to shake off the shock of realizing that his uncle had just hit him to stare up at the man in alarm.

His hand slowly touched his cheek, still not comprehending that his uncle had actually hit him. He'd only done that a few times, years ago after Uncle Thomas had died. Casey had learned to avoid setting him off, being around him when he was thinking too much about Thomas. But this... this came out of nowhere.

His frown obviously betrayed his confusion to Martin, who continued to glare at him, even though he was holding his hand gingerly now. Casey wondered if he was as surprised by what he'd done as Casey was.

"I told you to stay around to the south side of the island," Martin ground out.

Fuck, that was all? Casey slowly rose to his feet, facing his uncle's wrath as calmly as he could but he could feel his body trembling already. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Telling the man that he was playing with a sea turtle probably wouldn't make a difference.

"We have those damn neighbors now," Martin said. "You can't be so fucking careless. If they'd seen you..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'd be a media freak, locked up in some lab," Casey murmured, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice as he repeated his uncle's constant tirade, using it to mask his fear. He'd heard it for years. He tried to step past his uncle to the kitchen, but Martin grabbed his bicep.

"You're my responsibility, and I don't want anything to happen to you," Martin said firmly.

Casey's anger and fear flared as he yanked his arm from his larger uncle's grasp. "Then don't fucking hit me again."

Martin's eyes widened at the show of defiance, and Casey secretly reveled in it, even as he could feel his body shaking. Maybe the man was realizing that Casey wasn't a little kid anymore, he thought as he noticed Martin cradling his stinging hand. He wasn't the sixteen year old kid whose heart had been broken by a callous closet case. He wasn't the little kid Thomas had comforted during his nightmares. And he wasn't the smaller boy that he'd been able to knock around so easily.

It wasn't often that he felt strong enough to stand up to his uncle at all, but he was at the height of his energy, of his spirit, having just spent the evening in the moon's lunar embrace. Even knowing that Martin could basically incapacitate him with just the push of a button, he had still pushed his uncle.

"You're still in my care," Martin stated, drawing himself up to his full height to tower over Casey's more diminutive form, but Casey forced himself not to flinch this time.

"Yeah, well, if you're so tired of me, just take off this damn collar, and I'll take off. You won't have to fucking worry about me anymore," Casey snapped back, not exactly sure where this bravado was coming from. As terrified as he would be out on his own, he wouldn't beg for his uncle's help. If the man truly wanted to get rid of him, being on his own would be preferable to staying here where he was a burden.

There was a glitter of worry in the man's eyes, and Casey had the brief hope that maybe it was for him--that Martin did care about what happened to him. Then the man seemed to deflate, and he managed to look rather contrite and maybe even a bit sorry.

"Look, I'm sorry I hit you," Martin said softly. "I--I was just so worried when I saw you come out of the water behind the house...I worried one of them might see you."

"So what if they do?" he shrugged.

"Because they could see you in your mer form before you come out of the water. You're not used to having to be careful because there's never been anyone but me to see you before."

Casey nodded his understanding. That was true. It would be easy to be careless.

"You have to promise me you'll keep to the house. No wandering or swimming when I'm not here to keep an eye on you."

Casey turned to the kitchen, grabbing a coffee mug. "Fine."

He would have sworn he saw a flash of annoyance in his uncle's face before the man grabbed his tablet and stormed off to his office/laboratory. Casey took a deep breath as he poured his coffee. He suddenly felt drained and tired, the rush of adrenaline from the confrontation with his uncle fading.

Shit, had he really done that? Yelled at his uncle? What the hell was he thinking?

But then he smiled. Whatever the hell he was thinking, it felt good.

@@@@

The fucking little brat.

He slammed down his tablet on the corner of his desk.

But that was the problem, wasn't it? He wasn't little anymore. Martin sank into his leather desk chair, tilting back as he rubbed his face. Then he flexed his hand, feeling the tenderness from where he'd backhanded the boy. He'd expected Casey to cower like he usually did, but now he was beginning to notice little changes in the boy. Ones he didn't like. Like a sense of independence.

He mused how it was ironic so long ago that he had worried about bringing Casey with him to the clinic because he thought the boy might get to feeling too free. But it had actually ended up working in his favor when that asshole Roshan had used Casey to feel out his own sexual identity. After one of the nurses had asked about Roshan's interest in the boy, Roshan had run so far back into the closet he might as well have been in Narnia. While Martin didn't agree with his bigoted, homophobic tirade against his nephew of course, he had found it extremely helpful in keeping Casey from wanting to ever ask about going back into the village.

Because, damn, if Roshan had actually cared for the boy... He tried not to think about how much he could have lost if it had gone the other way.

Fuck, if Casey somehow managed to leave him, he'd lose everything that he'd been working on for the last fifteen years. Without Casey, his data, his research, would mean nothing. No one would believe any of it without the actual body of the scientific marvel.

He was getting close too. With Dr. Harris having passed away two years ago and the facility's backers having withdrawn their funding due to the lack of progress, Dr. Martin Jorss could eventually present Casey to the scientific community as his own discovery.

But first he needed to keep control of him.