Away in a Tentacle Lair

6. Kai

Chapter six

Kai

U ncle Nicholas will be on the warpath after Jonas tells him what happened. Each year, the bay fills with wannabes and hopefuls eager to destroy our home to get a job in the research centre. If my chat with Leo has done anything to plant a seed of doubt in his mind, then it will all be worth it.

He gave me the same look as everyone else when I compared my job to my cousins. There is no comparison between us. Peter loved to study, whereas I was always in the sea. Spending hours perfecting my breathing so I could spend longer caring for the ocean was as taxing and time-consuming as Peter’s degree. I don't remember a single day when anyone would pick my life as easier than their own.

I slide my arse across the saddle of my bike and kick the engine into life. The motor purrs through my body.

Why is it that the first man to get any attention from me in a sexual way is also the one who saves my life? The two aren't connected; I felt the sparks when I first saw him—the panic of running late and the stare of Mr Neoprene and I wanted to get naked.

I want to get naked now. I want to take out my rock-hard cock and stroke it. I want him to tell me how fast, how hard, and order me not to cum.

Damn it.

I lied to him about my cousin.

It's not that I couldn't have been a lawyer because of the studying; it's because I can't argue my way out of a paper bag. My family complains that I'm too nice and I'm a people-pleaser. We have a reputation to uphold, and my yes, sir attitude doesn't fit. I want someone else to take charge of me, but that is not the Braireus way.

It's not because I grew up hurrying through my chores to escape to the water; I want someone to scoop me up and hold me tight. I want someone who takes my breath away and leaves the bruises to prove it.

I want it to be him. He's technically the enemy, and my family would never accept him, but to me, that is half the appeal.

I'm a bad boy by genes, the criminal family of the area, and I need someone to punish me.

I'm home before I've managed to get my feelings in order, and thanks to my bike, my cock is sitting like a log in my pants. I need something strong from the booze cabinet. Something to ease my mind while I'm upstairs easing my dick.

I enter the drawing room without checking; I'm almost a metre into the room before the eyes watching me register.

I've just walked in on an emergency family meeting.

No cousins, just my aunts, uncles and dad.

“Sorry. I didn't realise you were all in here. Do you mind if I grab a quick scotch before I leave you-”

“Come, sit,” Nicholas orders.

“After-” I point to the bar set up in the corner.

“Kai.”

“Yes, sir.” I head to the table and sit where Mum would have sat when I was a child.”

“Jonus tells us you were attacked.”

“Well…”

“You were held under the water by two divers.”

“It's not that big a deal. Jonus wasn't under there with me.”

“To see that a third diver rescued you.”

“Okay, look, I'm not trying to play down what happened, just that it wasn't all the divers' fault.”

“It wasn't the divers’ fault they held you under the water?”

“They just wanted to know what I was doing. But I saw their suits, and part of my brain just decided it was too dangerous to surface.”

“So you had a flashback to when you lost your mum?” Dad turns to me, sympathy and regret in his eyes. “You nearly drowned because your oxygen-starved brain had a flashback to the last time you had to deal with these monsters.” Dad pulls me close like one of us is going to start crying, and it's not me. Coffee with Mr Neoprene has helped blanket all my fears, and the overall experience was more positive than not. “They aren't all monsters.”

“I think we need to bring forward our plans,” Frank declares.

“No,” I protest. “We have to wait until the interviewees have gone.”

“There are fewer civilians here over Christmas. We'll do it at night when the interviewees are in their hotels.”

“There has to be another way,” I mutter. I've been following this plan for the past six months, but now I have someone there who deserves to live.

They all deserve to live, but I need Mr Neoprene to be left out of this.

“Picking up bottle caps and such from the sea isn't enough, Kai; we've tried that for decades,” Dad snaps.

“I do more than-”

“Kai!” Nicholas interrupts. “No one is saying you don't do a great job. We're saying that we need to do more, or we will curse another generation to live like this. If we don't do something drastic, nothing will change.”

“Why don't you take this man of yours out for dinner and keep him away from the research centre for the evening?” Alice slides the family credit card across the table towards me.

“He isn't my man.”

“No, but you want to protect him after he protected you, and we all respect that.”

I smile at my aunt. She isn't my favourite; being born into this family has a way of hardening us more than those who marry in, but she is a solid advocate for my sexuality.