Page 33 of Amber: Deja Brew

“How can you tell them apart?” Violet asks. I glance at her just in time to watch her raise her purse again and block the stream of water sailing directly at her. The old librarian sounds shocked, or maybe just very surprised, and I don’t blame her. I still don’t quite understand how my guys always recognize me, either.

“We just can,” Julian says, getting to his feet, and water slams into his hard chest.

“I could always tell,” Chase adds, obviously trying to one-up him, and gets doused in the face as a reward.

“But how?” Violet presses, making sure to keep her purse up in self-defense. “They look exactly identical!”

“Not to us,” Chase tells her proudly. This time, he holds up his hand to block the oncoming water.

“We’re mates,” Wes adds, like that’s all the explanation we need. Water sails towards him, and he turns around and lets it hit him in the back.

“Huh.” Violet grunts. Her purse gets doused again.

Then Chase starts to peel his shirt off, too, and I can’t help it. I lick my lips. Because two of my guys shirtless next to each other is more than I can resist.

“Here,” Chase says, tossing the shirt to the mermaid. With his hands occupied, the water hits him square in the nose, making him sputter.

“Thank you.” The mermaid drapes his shirt over her torso. When water rains down on her, she sighs happily. Then she asks, “Do you think you could shut off the water, too? I can’t shift back until I’m dry.”

“We would if we could,” Julian says, raising his hand to block the water. “I can’t figure out what’s wrong with the sink.”

“I can take a look,” Wes suggests, once again turning his back to the sink. “But everyone, you need to leave. You can come back for a free drink for you and a friend when we reopen, but right now, the cafe is closed.”

The customers take their cue to leave, ducking when the door chimes summon more water. They’re all drenched as they step outside, and I grimace as I watch them go. More negative reviews waiting to happen.

Violet’s the only one left, and it takes an eternity for her to stand up and slowly make it to the door. Wes helps her, while Julian and Chase go examine the sink. Once she’s gone, Wes joins them.

I listen to the three of them grumble over the sink and finally turn to the mermaid. “Guess we’re stuck like this for a while?”

The water targets me, but I don’t really mind. And when the mermaid answers and gets doused, she smiles, so I guess she doesn’t mind either.

“This sort of thing happens all the time,” she says, and I can’t really tell if she’s just being nice, or this really has happened to her more than once. “I’m Karma, by the way. Ironic, huh?”

“Maybe your luck’s going to turn around?” I ask hopefully. “And I’m Amber.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Amber.” Karma smiles. “Do you own this place?”

“I do.” I nod. “And I’m so, so sorry. I don’t understand what happened to the sink.”

“I happened.” Karma groans. “Bad luck seems to follow me. It’s my parents’ fault, giving me a name like Karma. They were playing with fate, and I got screwed.”

“That seems a little...”

“Dramatic? Crazy? Paranoid?” Karma suggests. “Would you believe if I told you this is the third time this week I’ve shifted in the middle of town?”

“Third time?”

“It’s a long story.” Karma sighs.

“We’ve got time...” I point out. “It’s not like we’re going anywhere.”

“You’ve got a point.” Karma grins. “Well, the first time was up in Scarborough. I was taking my car in—”

“You drive?” I ask in surprise.

“What’d you think mermaids do for transportation? Swim?”

“Well...” I grimace.