All Chapters of Fun of a Lifetime : Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

SHE HAD TO KISS HIM. There were a million reasons for Logan to back away from that stipulation, chief among them that she was a mermaid. As much as he hated that fact, he couldn’t deny that he’d wanted to kiss her last night. Before he’d known. And could, if he allowed himself, want to again. But she was a mermaid. What would be the point? There was no future for them. And even if there could be, he had Michael to think of. His son would have to lie to everyone he met because he couldn’t tell anyone that his stepmother was a mer¬maid. Back-to-school night? “Oh, sorry, my wife couldn’t make it. She’s having her tail washed.” Homeroom mom? “Sure, but the lemonade is made with saltwater.” Never going to happen. No and hell no. He wanted Normal. A mermaid was not normal. To bring that thought home, her tail brushed his legs. “Logan?” And what the hell was he doing even thinking the word wife in relation to her? “Are you ready?” She floated a little closer. The kiss. Right. “Yeah

THE CORRIDOR OPENED INTO A CAVERNOUS ROOM, TIERS OF seating descending to a stage carved from stone and marble. Massive columns held up a scallop-edged roof, sea grass or kelp or something draped from it like cur-tains. One side was tied back—with an octopus? The other side flowed away from the stage in the current, and stone statues lined the concave back of the stage— But they weren’t just any statues. No, those looked like… Logan blinked. Easter Island faces? A cloud of jellyfish circled above the statues with synchronized pulsations, their tentacles swaying from side to side as a swarm of different-colored morays dodged in and out in an other-worldly allemande left. A large dais made of glass sat at the center of the stage, and on it… On it was the most amazingly horrific creature Logan had ever seen. The sea monster. Only… she didn’t look like a monster. She didn’t look like anything he would have thought a sea monster looked like. Like a giant squid or some-thing. Not th

“And, Ceto, I wouldn’t get rid of all your guards if I were you.” Ceto smirked. “But you aren’t me, are you, Angel?” “No, thank the gods. I’m Angel Tritone, daughter of the previous High Councilman and sister of the current one. I know exactly who I am. The question is, do you?” Not that Rod would want her using his position to fix her screw-up, especially since she’d disobeyed di¬rect orders, but one sure thing about her brother was his loyalty. As far as Ceto knew, a High Council contingent could arrive at any moment, which would put a kink in whatever she thought she was going to do. Thank the gods, The Council, and everyone else who’d so put the fear of the gods into Ceto, the sea monster called back three of the sharks, leaving Brutus, the biggest, to guard Logan and Michael. Still not ideal, but it did give Logan a fighting chance. And she meant that literally. “I know who you are, too, Angel! You’re my bestest friend and you’re a mermaid!” Michael laughed be¬fore turning

“HOSTAGE?” CETO TAPPED HER FINGERNAILS AGAINST HER lip, her tails now alternating between red and orange. Well, at least Angel had brought the threat level down. A red tail wasn’t much of an improvement, but it beat black. A black sea-monster tail was never good. “You know, that could work.” Ceto started circling her. “Although I did try that with your brother, but he and his Human managed to get away.” Angel had heard the story enough times that she knew it by heart. She also knew she was signing her own death warrant by saying what she was about to, but she had to do this to save the men she loved. “You put Erica in a regular room, Ceto, not a cell. She was able to get out and free Reel.” “Yeah, who knew a Human had that many smarts?” Ceto’s tails flared, then went back to being black. “I’ll never make that mistake again. I had a new bedchamber specially made when The Council and I hammered out the deal about Joey. He hasn’t gone anywhere.” According to Erica, Joey’s ex-girl

Life was funny that way. You were born, you lived, and you died, with only the memories held by those you left behind living on. Water murmured against the pylons below as he raised his beer in the moonlight, toasting Christine and thanking her for finding him. For giving him his son. Promising her that Michael wouldn’t forget her. Michael needed those memories just as… Well… just as Logan needed his. He rested his arm on his knee again, the bottle brush-ing his calf. He hadn’t thought about his parents in a long time. Made a point of not thinking about them, ac-tually, but that wasn’t fair to anyone, himself included. Who was he but the sum of his experiences? No matter how much he’d like to claim otherwise, he wouldn’t be who he was today if not for where he’d been. Logan took a long swallow of the beer, remembering his family and how he’d wanted a normal life back then. How he still wanted one, but what, really, was normal? Take Angel, for instance. A part of him wanted to ta