Page 94 of The Mentor
Big Choices
Archer
I felt the contrast between the hot blood pulsing through my veins and the cool water of the ocean. My arms and legs moved mechanically in a steady rhythm while my mouth alternated between opening for gulps of air and closing when I slid gracefully through the water.
It was late in the evening, and only a few people were still at the beach. I should’ve been with my group, but my head was spinning out of control and I needed time to think, so I’d come down here to swim.
Last night, I’d made love to Kya again. It had been amazing and we had lasted for almost two hours, trying out different positions, showering together, laughing together, and enjoying each other’s company.
She wasn’t nearly as upset about my fight with Finn as I would’ve expected. Of course, she had made me promise that I would never do something like that again. But today when Pearl and Khan arrived, Kya had defended me to Pearl and taken the blame.
Maybe it was because she felt bad about how our night ended yesterday. Intensifying the pace of my swimming, I shot through the water as if I could move my arms and legs fast enough to escape my thoughts.
She had been upset that I had come inside her again, and this time her words had been particularly hurtful.
“Don’t forget that if we have a child, that child will go with me to the Motherlands when I return back home in a few years.”
My response to her words had been a long string of curse words that she mostly missed because she was going into the bathroom. When she got out, I was ready for her, dressed, and firmly planted in front of the bathroom door. With my arms crossed, I had confronted her – demanded that she stopped threatening me like that.
She threw at me that there was no child and that I was overreacting, but I had reached my limit and demanded a promise that she would never separate me from my child,ever.
Now I felt bad about shouting at her. Taking a few more strokes I tried pushing it away, but I couldn’t run from my feelings. I wanted everything with Kya but I was sick and tired of being rejected. It was like having my heart sliced into a thousand pieces every time she reminded me that there was nothing but sex between us. In the beginning I had thought she would change her mind once we had bonded. But she was as stubborn as ever, and now I was running out of time.
When I finally got out of the water, my arms felt heavy and I took a seat on the beach, letting the cool night air caress my tired body.
I’d only been sitting there for five minutes when I heard footsteps behind me.
“I thought I would find you here.”
I didn’t have to look to know it was Finn.
“You do know that you have goose bumps all over, right?” he said and sat back to know it was down next to me. “You must be freezing.”
“It’s not too bad.”
Finn threw a dry towel at me. “Here – I’m not really in the mood for swimming anyway.”
Placing his towel around my shoulders, I nodded a small thanks at him.
“Did you make a decision?” he asked and threw a rock into the water.
With a deep sigh I looked at him. “Khan told you?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I don’t know yet; what would you do?”
To my relief, Finn took my question seriously and thought about it. This wasn’t the time to crack jokes, and he knew it. “Did you ask Kya to marry you?”
“About a dozen times.” My voice was low and carried a hint of bitterness.
“Do you think you can change her mind?”
“I don’t know.” I pulled my knees up in front of me and wrapped my arms around them. “When we make love, it’s more than just fucking, I know it is.”
Finn stayed quiet.
“I don’t know how to convince her or if it’s even possible. She’s so determined that she wants to go back to the Motherlands.”
