Page 39 of Shifting Tides
“Please, don’t cry,” his voice said from beside me, both his gesture and his proximity catching me off guard. “I’m not usually this rude. I just had an unpleasant talk with my father. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
I lifted my face and looked at his through a layer of tears. The rigidness that had previously etched his face had smoothed, leaving behind an almost apologetic expression. Almost.
“At least you have a father,” I sniffed. “What I wouldn’t give to hear my mom lecture me one more time.”
I didn’t care that I was being overly vulnerable and honest. I had no more fucks left to give. I was done fighting everything and everyone, most of all myself.
Curiosity pinched Tobias’s smooth brow. “What happened to your mom?”
I gave a defeated laugh. “What? You don’t know? It’s not broadcasted all over the school? My mom was killed by vampires last night, and yet everyone in this school treats me like some pariah they can’t wait to get rid of.”
The pain of that truth stabbed at my belly, and a deep wail of despair clawed its way out of my throat.
“Wow, I had no idea,” Tobias said, sincerity in his voice for the first time. “I really am sorry. I don’t know what I would do if my mom died. My father, well, he’s another issue entirely.”
He laughed nervously, maybe an attempt to lighten the mood, but my mood was too heavy to be budged.
A long moment passed where the only sound in the kitchen was my pathetic sobbing and occasional sniffle. I expected Tobias to leave. Even a normal guy would be uncomfortable around a strange girl crying.
But he stayed. He offered no more words of support and made no gestures. He just stood by my side like a statue, and somehow, his presence was comforting. Maybe he did care. What other reason would he have to stay?
When my tear wells had dried up, and my body was too exhausted to cry anymore, I looked up, and Tobias was ready with a napkin.
I accepted it and wiped the sticky tears off my face and fingers.
“Thank you,” I hiccupped. “Thank you for staying with me. You could have left at any time, but you didn’t.”
Tobias shrugged. “Yeah, well, no one should have to go through that kind of loss alone. And…if it means that much to you…I guess we can be friends.”
His tone sounded so robotic, so uninterested, but the corner of his mouth rose in a joking smile, and he winked at me. “As for your earlier question, I’m a dragon.”
This guy was a mystery, but I kind of liked that. He played it off like he was above emotion, but he’d proven that a kindhearted, empathetic individual was hiding underneath those thick scales.
“Nice to meet you, Dragon Tobias,” I said in as light a tone as I could manage.
He nodded his head toward our still-full plates. “You should finish your food. As a mermaid, you really need more omega threes than the rest of us. I think there’s a box of seaweed chips in the cupboard. You should take those back to your room for snacking while you study.”
He went back around the counter to attend to his plate.
“For a dragon, you sure seem to know a lot about mermaids,” I teased, relishing the opportunity to get away from my sorrow and pretend my outburst never happened.
“I know a lot about everything,” he said, stabbing his fork into a piece of pork. “I’m a well of useless knowledge. If we’re going to hang out, you might as well get used to my encyclopedic recitations.”
I laughed, and we finished our food in a much more pleasant manner than we’d started. It had been a long and tumultuous first day, but at least I came out of it with one new friend, however reluctant he was for the company. And it didn’t hurt at all that he was one of the hottest guys I’d ever met.
I just hoped that didn’t mean I was about to get burned.
Chapter 11
Tobias
I shoveled in my last bite, both eager and reluctant to leave. I was grateful for the silence that had settled between us. It gave me a chance to process the earth-shattering paralysis I’d experienced at first seeing Arya.
What the hell had that been? It was like a lightning bolt had shot straight through me, seizing every nerve in my body. I wanted to brush it off as mere surprise at finding the kitchen occupied, but nothing—shy of my father’s disapproval—ever shook me so deeply.
Maybe it was just her beauty. She was, indeed, beautiful. That rebellious lock of blue hair amongst her black waves amplifying the cerulean of her eyes and complementing the creamy perfection of her skin. And her figure… Well, I tried very hard not to look too long at the delicate slope of her neck, at the mound of perky breasts hiding under her polo…
But I wasn’t the type to be so bewitched by a pretty face, even if my stiffening cock had other ideas.
