Chapter 26

Casey didn't remember much of what happened after he'd set off his collar--only the agony of his heart breaking outweighing the burning searing his neck. He knew he must have finally given in to exhaustion and floated on the turbulent ocean currents that slowly pushed him back towards the shore. When he finally focused enough from staring at the clearing night sky, he could tell dawn would be approaching soon, probably in another couple hours. He had actually drifted past their island, a little farther south and had to swim back to their dock.

Shifting, he hoisted his exhausted body up onto the dock. He'd never felt so drained, not even when Thomas passed away. Dragging himself up the path, his mind slowly focused from the fog of fear and loss enough to realize that his uncle still had not come looking for him. It was easier to dredge up anger right now than dwell on the loss of Shawn and how much that hurt.

Dripping wet and shivering slightly from the cool early morning breeze, he tried the front door, only to find it locked. Martin had never locked it until Shawn had shown up on the island.

"Uncle Martin!" He banged on the door. It was quiet inside, which only fueled Casey's rage even more.

He stomped around to the back deck, figuring the deck doors were probably open, since he never locked them himself and Martin probably wouldn't think about them. Yanking the back door open, he stormed through the house, impervious to the swamp of water, sand, and dirt he was tracking over the pristine floors.

"Uncle!" he yelled as he started up the stairs to his uncle's bedroom. A thump from his uncle's study stopped him, and he stormed over to the heavy wooden door. He stopped only long enough to grab a towel from the small bathroom nearby and wrap it around his waist. Not that his uncle hadn't seen him naked many times before, but facing him naked right now would make him feel vulnerable, and he was in no mood to let his uncle make him feel that way.

He whipped it open, shocked to see his uncle still in his clothes from last night sprawled out on his small couch in the corner, an empty bottle of bourbon--apparently having fallen from his hand--lay on its side on the small area rug next to him. A small wet stain pooled under the bottle. The man looked like hell--his beard scraggly, his clothes wrinkled, his hair stood up on end like he'd continually run his hand through it, his eyes (at least what Casey could see of them) looked red and bleary with dark smudges under them.

His uncle had sat up here drinking? While he was locked in the cave?

"What the fuck?!" he heard himself yelling, causing his uncle to startle and fall from his precarious position on the edge of the couch to the floor.

"W-what? Casey..." His uncle muttered incoherently as he blinked several times, trying to focus.

Casey stalked over and grabbed the empty liquor bottle. "You sat up here getting drunk?" he raged, glaring down at his uncle. "You son-of-a-bitch!" He slung the bottle at the wall, causing it to shatter. His uncle jumped, shocked by Casey's rage and stared at him wide-eyed. "I was fucking drowning in the cave!"

"Drown--? What? I don't under--" Martin staggered to his feet apparently unable to comprehend what was going on. He grabbed his head, and Casey was glad the man's head was probably pounding with a hangover.

"Of course you don't understand. Because you fucking slept through the storm that came through last night!" Casey intentionally pitched his voice louder, relishing the wince in his uncle's face.

"Storm? But it wasn't supposed to come until..."

"Well, it rolled in early," Casey said snidely. "You're supposed to be monitoring me when I'm in there. You should have been down there letting me out already. What the fuck were you thinking?"

His uncle apparently regained enough of his senses to finally face Casey with his usual dominance and distain. "Don't you dare talk to me like that, boy," he growled. "This is still my house, and you will show me some respect. And, not that it's any of your business, but last night was our anniversary."

That brought Casey up short. Thomas and Martin's anniversary was yesterday? Crap. That explained the drinking, but still...

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Martin raked his eyes over the boy, lingering on the series of bruises and cuts that indicated what the lean body had been through last night. Fuck. If a storm had come through, it would have thrown the boy around the cave like a battering ram. If he'd hit his head and passed out, or if the waters had risen too high... Damn it, he could have lost his live specimen. And with the boy as angry as he was now, there was every possibility that he'd take off if Martin didn't appease him somehow.

He dropped the annoyance and anger from his own voice. "But you're right. I put you in danger. I should never have done that."

Casey's shock that his uncle had actually admitted his mistake shone on his face; it wasn't like him to admit fault. But then Casey had rarely stood up to him before, and Martin hadn't placed so much on needing Casey alive and placated before either.

"Damn it, I even set off the collar and you didn't even notice," Casey sighed.

Martin's eyes shot to the reddened area around the boy's neck, then glanced down at the controller on the floor next to him. It was blinking red indicating it had indeed been set off but wasn't alarming since Casey was back within the perimeter confines.

"You--? How did you--?" he stammered, realizing abruptly that Casey had been locked in the cave.

For a second, he thought he saw fear and hurt flit over the boy's features, but then he turned his blond head to the side, hiding his face in the damp strands. "How did I get out?"

"Yeah, it was locked."

"With a crappy lock, thank god," Casey finally murmured. "I...I was able to break it with a rock."

"And you... you swam out too far apparently." Martin waved at the marks left on his neck by the jolts from the collar.

Casey rubbed his sore neck tenderly. "Yeah."

"But you came back after... you set off the alarm," Martin surmised.

"No, actually, I didn't. I fought like hell to get the damn thing off and just keep going," Casey snapped back at him. "I finally blacked out, and the tides pushed me back toward shore."

Martin's eyes widened. Oh, shit. He'd almost lost the boy to the open sea. Thank God the collar reigned him back in. Fuck, maybe he was going to have to move up his plans even sooner than he thought.

"Look, Casey, I'm sorry..."

"Save it." Casey held up a hand, looking suddenly exhausted and resigned. "I'm done. I'm going up to get showered and sleep for a bit."

The boy slipped out of the room, leaving behind a puddle of seawater and a pile of broken glass. Martin stared at the door after him.

"Fuck!" he cursed his own stupidity. His error in judgment had forced Casey to rail against him instead of run to him for reassurance and safety. He flopped down on the couch, rubbing his hands over his face, scratching at his beard. He waited until he heard the shower running upstairs before dragging himself to the kitchen for coffee. His stomach roiled at the thought of much else, but he managed a bit of toast before downing some aspirin as well.

He needed to clear his head, stop letting his emotions get to him. Thomas was gone. All he had left was to restore his credentials as the renowned marine scientist that he'd once been. And hopefully make some money while doing so, since his savings were nearly gone now.

And Casey, CAS-134, was the key to doing it.

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Casey just grabbed a bagel and a juice and stepped out on the back deck, ignoring his uncle. He'd managed a couple hours of sleep before nightmares of Shawn dissecting him like some scientific anomaly plagued him, waking him in a feverish sweat.

A warm breeze washed over him and he breathed in the tang of the salty air. Even though there were a few fluffy white clouds looming on the horizon, the sun made the water sparkle like glitter. As Casey chewed his bland breakfast--well, brunch--he wondered if Shawn was on his deck as well watching the swelling currents and tides of the ocean and his heart ached at what Shawn must think of him.

"I think you might be right," Martin stated from close behind Casey, scaring the crap out of him.

"What?" Casey jumped, nearly spilling the juice bottle that he'd rested on the deck railing, trying to make sense of his uncle's words.

Martin pointed out to a spot off shore, and Casey noticed the reef shark milling around in the shallows again. "I'll bet it's a female, looking to give birth soon. Probably any day now."

"Maybe," Casey murmured, not in the mood to talk to his uncle after last night. The man had ruined everything. Not only had Casey almost drowned, but now Shawn knew exactly what he was. And he'd never forget the look in his lover's eyes at the sight of his tail as he'd tumbled out of the cave.

He squeezed his eyes shut, unwilling to let his uncle see his hurt.

"Well, I'm going to go to the clinic now," Martin mumbled, obviously still chagrinned at his mistake.

Good, he ought to be, Casey thought snidely, squeezing his eyes closed to force back the tears threatening to spill out. Hopefully, the man would leave him alone, and he could wallow in his misery without an audience.

"I'll be back in a few hours. I'll bring something back with me for dinner."

Casey hid a resigned smile at the thought that his uncle was trying so hard now to placate him. "Fine."

He waited until he heard his uncle move back into the house and the front door slam and lock before he went in himself. He found himself locking the door to the deck behind him, locking himself away from the world, from Shawn.

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"Oh, crap," Shawn groaned as his neck protested moving. He moaned when he tried to sit up from the deck chair and all of his muscles objected to the movement. He collapsed back into the chair for a moment, rubbing the sleep from his face as he tried to focus.

Casey.

He sat up with a jolt, ignoring the stiff muscles from sleeping in the deck chair. His clothes were still damp from the night's excursion and his body felt gritty with the dried saltwater.

His eyes instinctively darted over the ocean, searching again as he had last night for his... well, for Casey... or whatever he was. He struggled to wrap his mind around what he'd seen.

Fuck, that wasn't possible, was it? Casey was a... merman? That just wasn't real. No fucking way.

But damn... he could swim like a fucking fish. And hold his breath underwater like he lived in it. But that didn't mean.... Could it?

The image of the sleek gray-blue tail trailing after his lover's lean torso as he'd darted out to sea was burned into his mind. There was no way he'd imagined that.

It was beautiful. Graceful, even in the turbulent waters. But, hell... a merman? How the hell did that even happen?

Did it matter? He loved Casey. Knowing Casey was... different, did it change anything?

Was he in love with a merman?

Casey's chiseled features swam in his mind--laughing, smiling, moaning under him...

Hell, yeah, he grinned to himself. He was in love with a merman.