Beneath The Lies (bxb)

No Rest For The Wicked

-Parker-

"Parker, come please. You need to get some rest."

I knew Callem was right and that I had been pacing by the surf for hours, but Oliver never came back up. He couldn't swim without his leg, and when Callem had let us surface, I'd seen a ton of splashing over where he'd jumped in. Shaking my head, I ground my teeth together and kicked a big pile of sand that had likely been a child's sandcastle at one point, then whirled around and punched the air... except, my fist landed in Callem's palm. My eyes jerked wide in surprise before his gentle fingers softly wrapped around my shaking hand.

After a quiet moment of feeling the wash run over my feet, I slowly calmed down enough to relax a little. Callem sensed the change and smiled gently, pulling me into his arms for a much needed hug. I was just snuggling into it when I felt him nuzzle against my neck, then nip a few times.

He's going to mark me at such a time?

I knew the mark was pretty faded by now, but I didn't really think it was the time to do such a thing. Callem, on the other hand, seemed perfectly okay with it since his jaws clamped down on my neck not a moment later.

"Ouch," I whispered against his warm shoulder, trying to keep myself from tensing up until he released me. He did so after a few seconds, and I pulled back as much as I could without stepping out of his arms, since he wouldn't let me.

"Callem, that really wasn't appropriate right now."

I knew he probably didn't understand what I meant, but now I was feeling even worse. I had my lover and Oliver was missing, likely shot somewhere out to sea.

And that is the best possible outcome I can think of.

"Parker?"

Hearing Callem's worried voice pulled me out of my thoughts to look up at him. His right hand softly rubbed along my cheek, thumb tracing my lips.

"I understand, Parker... but that's why I had to does it," he said, messing up one of his words, telling me that he was getting stressed. "It could have been you."

Normally, when someone says something like that, being glad that something bad happened to someone else, I'd get mad, but with Callem? I just couldn't be upset with him because I knew he meant it out of love. Shaking my head with a sad smile, I wrapped my arms around his bare waist and sighed.

"Thank you so much for looking for so long, Callem. You're right. We need to get home."

He pressed a light kiss against my forehead before lowering one hand to my back and leading me toward the parking lot. Cal-Waves had thankfully left after Oliver fell into the water, but Jayson had driven off and didn't return for about twenty minutes. He had also called the cops, but since Callem and I had stayed at the beach to search for Oliver and Jay took a cab home, we were out of the loop.

"We'll come back and try again after some food," Callem said, squeezing my waist gently.

"Yeah," I replied, nodding with a fake smile.

-Oliver-

"Hey! You better not be leaving me, you dorks!"

Parker stumbled, then whirled around with the biggest grin I think I've ever seen on the guy. Callem was looking as well, but his eyes were more focused on Ocar, who was helping me stay upright in the saturated sand. Parker didn't seem to really care about the mer beside me since he sprinted over the sand seconds before slamming right into my body!

We both flew backward into the surf, but I just couldn't be upset. He was such a sweet guy and hell, landing on sand didn't really bother me. The water was only a few inches deep since it was mainly just the ending foam of each wave, so I let him straddle my lap and hug me like the dork that he was. Patting his back reassuringly, I watched as Callem walked over, stopping right in front of Ocar.