Page 35 of Blood of the Sirens
“Oh my god! Jesse!” Javi sprinted to get to me, but a few of the guys from the party were quicker, beating him to the punch. Two of them grabbed me, one under each elbow, and yanked me upright. The wind blew once more from behind me, fanning my hair out in front of my face.
“Are you—” The first guy froze. It was like he caught sight of my face and saw some kind of hideous birthmark.
The second one dropped me in shock, physically taking a step back. I grunted as I fell back onto the deck, cutting my hands and legs on glass.
“Jesse! Oh my god. Here.” Javi elbowed the men aside as he untied his apron and threw it down on the ground to shield me from the shards.
“You … you …” The men were all standing as a unit now, staring at me with a mixture of shock and amazement. I felt like a mouse caught by a herd of cats. Had they never seen a fat girl fall before? Hardy har! Everyone yuck it up!
“Gentlemen, it’s fine. Just give us a moment to clean this up.” Javi tried to break the odd tension, moving between me and the guys.
Cuts stung all over my body, and I swallowed heavily at the amount of blood trailing down my arms and legs. I had lacerations everywhere.
“I think … I think I need the hospital,” I whispered to no one.
The group of men all took a collective step forward. Javi puffed out his chest and put himself between us, trying toherd me down the stairs. A man with hair so dark it reflected blue highlights grabbed Javi by his shirt collar and threw him to the side, away from me. Javi’s head bounced off the deck and he groaned, trying to get back up and failing.
What the FUCK?
“JAVI!” I screamed, taking a stepx back toward the stairs. My foot exploded with pain and I panted, realizing I must have gotten glass stuck somewhere in my sole.
I didn’t know what was wrong with these men. How drunk were they? Why were they looking at me like that? My stomach twisted with nausea. It was Archie all over again.
No.No.
I did the only thing I could think of.Merrick.I screamed.
The men flinched like I’d physically struck all of them. The sound echoed oddly around the small interior of the boat, sounding louder and more shrill than I’d ever heard myself.
I gripped the railing behind me, trying to take the weight off my feet. Heavy, running footsteps pounded in time with my heart, and then Merrick leaped from the outside of the lower deck up onto the upper one, climbing the rails like it was a child’s set of monkey bars. He froze at the top, staring in disbelief at the group of men.
“Merrick?” sputtered one man with brown hair, his jaw dropping slightly.
Merrick didn’t answer, merely kept his gaze between me, and the men. Me, then the men. His eyes narrowed in on the blood running down my body in rivulets, and his body spasmed.
“Do you—do you know them?” I asked.
The man closest to me with the dark, blue-highlighted hair actually growled.
“She is mine!” snarled Mr. Blue-hair, and then all hell broke loose.
The man leaped for me, I shrank back against the railing. Merrick jumped from the railing and hit him midair, taking him to the ground.
The other men were shouting now, and all of them were rushing toward me.
I screamed again, but it only jolted them for a second. They came at me like wild animals. From below deck, Mike was yelling, asking what the fuck was going on up there. I screamed for him, hoping he could at least help Javi, who was still struggling to get on his feet.
He took his head roughly, winked at me, and jumped back into the fray.
Men!
One man was quicker than the others, his red hair a beacon as he grabbed me by the throat and hair, yanking me into his chest. Hands and fingers tried to pry me from him, and I was too horrified to scream. Merrick was buried under three of them, hair wild and eyes crazy.
Someone grabbed the neckline of my dress, ripping it like tissue paper. That broke the spell for me, turning me from a shocked victim into a pissed off woman.
I kneed the red-head in the crotch and viciously struck out blindly with my elbows. Hands dropped me. Others pushed them aside and reached. I ignored the pain from the cuts and fought like a feral barn cat, scratching and clawing as I was kicked in the back and sent sprawling to the deck.
Mike burst from the stairs with Miguel on his heels, immediately jumping into the fray with no questions asked. Javi waved cheekily at them, spinning and landing an expert high quick to the dark-haired guy, grinning as the man slumped unconscious. Mike laughed as if Christmas had come early, cracking his knuckles as he started knocking heads together.Miguel had an ugly look on his face but also looked strangely pleased with this turn of events.
