Chapter Twelve
Discovery Clause
Colt sat on the sand with his knees drawn up. He stared sourly out at the ocean that rhythmically crashed upon the beach.
He was a stupid fool!
He glanced at the scroll laying on the sand and had to fight against the sudden urge to chuck it out into the sea. The stupid thing had almost caused him to lose something of real value.
He glanced over to his other side where Kim was still sprawled out asleep on the sand. He’d almost lost her. In fact for a few terrified moments he’d thought he had and it would have been all his fault!
He’d never felt like this about any woman before!
Colt wiped a hand over his face. How was he going to keep her safe?
He kept looking at her and his thoughts changed. She was so beautiful and she’d kissed him like….like wow!
Before he could stop himself he slid over to straddle her and was rewarded by her eyes opening to stare up at him. He didn’t miss the nervousness that he saw rise to life within her eyes as she came to the realization that she was alone with him on this beach.
He wanted to take her hands and press them into the sand above her head and kiss her like she’d kissed him in the cave, but the look in her eyes held him back.
Slowly he settled down onto her and reflexively her hands came up to press against his chest. He stopped.
“What are you afraid of?” He asked slowly.
Her breathing was rapid and her eyes reflected confusion and she seemed to be bound by some unseen force from giving voice to her emotions.
“Afraid you might like it?” Colt asked knowingly.
Still she didn’t answer him, but the answer was there in her eyes.
“Want to find out?” He asked feeling a little desperate due to the intense longing that he felt for this woman.
Slowly she shook her head no.
*****
I couldn’t get my heart to calm down even a beat as I watched him watch me. He hadn’t said anything since I’d said no.
His lips moved reluctantly, “Okay. I’ll let you escape this time, but one day honey. One day you’ll be mine and despite whatever you may be thinking I know that you’re going to like it.” He rolled off of me then and got up and went into the jungle that lay just beyond the beach.
I just lay there in the sand in a relieved state of shock that he’d left and strangely enough remorse. Remorse that I’d said no.
Shakily I got up and brushed the sand off my clothes that had dried. Colt reappeared and I couldn’t meet his gaze. A finger brought my chin up and it was a surprise to see him smiling.
“You’re beautiful Kim.”
His eyes were alive with repressed passion that I felt seared by, but his next words were my undoing.
“You’re worth waiting for Kim.”
He turned from me to pick up the scroll and his pack and then surprisingly he pulled me close in to his side and we started off walking down the beach. His hand slipped slightly down from my waist to lay on my rear. His hand squeezed and my eyes shut.
I should pull away.
His arm half around me wasn’t constricting me in any way other than the weight of his hand on my rear. I really should pull away.
I tried to work myself up into a passionate outburst of protest against such a domineering handling of my person, but it wasn’t to be found.
His touch was such that it said he owned what he touched. I really should be mad about this, but I wasn’t. There was a simple truth I just couldn’t get past. I liked his touch and I didn’t want it to go away.
His touch was domineering, lustful, and a complete invasion of personal space but I, for lack of a better way of putting it, was his. He was my protector and provider. I had tried it on my own and that hadn’t gone well and thus by choice I was staying within the reach of his arm.
I was still shocked that he’d pulled back as he had earlier. What was he trying to prove to me?
I glanced upward to see that he was already looking down at me.
“If I asked you to let go, would you?”
He nodded and I looked forward again.
“Was that a request?” He asked softly and for emphasis he squeezed again.
I didn’t answer him and we both continued walking on. It was enough for now that I could trust him.
*****
“Do you like me?”
His sudden question was a surprise. I glanced down at where we were holding hands. I’m not sure when that had occurred in our walk along the beach, but his hand had at some point slipped down to capture mine.
I looked ahead and said, “Maybe.”
His next question was yet another surprise.
“If fate hadn’t intervened and landed us here together like this would you have ever had anything to do with a guy like me?”
There was such a hopeful, even mournful quality to his voice that I found myself not wanting to hurt him, but there was no other way about it.
“Colt, I was a lesbian in another life and I’ve never liked men with the exception of my brother and men who didn’t show any interest in me physically.”
“And me?” Colt asked.
I nodded my head.
“So you would’ve looked at me as the enemy?”
“Yes.”
A little time went by and I found myself wanting to make up for the obvious disappointment that I had caused him with my answer.
“I’ve never held a man’s hand like this before though. I’ve never kissed a man before you either.”
My cheeks felt hot and I experienced a little regret in supplying such telling information about how I was falling for this man.
“So I’ll be your first then? As a man I mean.”
My cheeks burning I nodded yes, before framing my admission with, “In some ways.”
“What do you mean by that?” He asked inquisitively.
“I don’t want to talk about it!” I said with heated passion.
My face felt like it was on fire and I turned away so that I wasn’t looking at him.
“Do you think I’ll mistreat you or abuse you?”
I turned back to him and further exclaimed, “I don’t want to talk about this kind of stuff!”
“Answer the question Kim.” Colt said steadily.
In exasperation I said, “I don’t know……maybe.”
I turned away and surprisingly he was silent, which oddly made me feel bad. I knew he had restraint but I’d just said that he didn’t. Once again I felt overwhelmed with the emotion of not wanting to hurt him. Why did I even care about what he thought?
I turned back to him, but I kept my eyes down as I bared my soul to this stranger that I’d fallen through the world with, “Do you want to hear about who I am? What makes me tick?”
“I’d love to!” Colt affirmed.
I looked up to see that his gaze on me reflected truthful honesty. I nodded and began, “Okay then I’ll give it to you straight. My mother was a whore that left me and my brother one day with our uncle. That was the last we saw of her. We were with our uncle for a couple of years. It was bad. Really bad! Keko and I ran away one day. We were caught and put in an orphanage and several months later a missionary couple adopted us. Things got really good after that. Keko and I grew up and we left for the big city and the opportunity that it afforded us in the States. Keko was a hard worker, but I’m not, at least I wasn’t then. I took an easy way out to pay for college and selfish comforts that I thought I couldn’t do without. I made videos. Sex videos with other women and I was involved in a relationship outside of the videos to. The wrongness of it got to me and I got out of that life style and I tried to bury it and put it behind me, but my boss dug it up and held it over my head in order to coerce me into doing illegal things. Illegal actions that cost the jobs of thousands of decent hard-working people.”
“How did she hold it over your head?” Colt asked softly.
Tears slipped down my face as the enormity of what was even now happening on the surface came back to me in full vivid relief, “She had evidence of my relationship and the videos that I made while in college and she threatened to send it to my adoptive parents. It got bad though and I turned evidence on her. I gave enough evidence to put us both in jail for a very long time. I planned on going through prosecution, but……”
“But the woman had already sent the package and you were trying to beat it there to explain yourself personally to your adoptive missionary parents.” Colt said interjecting softly.
I nodded miserably.
I looked upward at the orange clouds and on an emotional outcry I said, “They’re up there and I’m down here! They think I’m dead and all they have to remember me by is a box full of trash that I wish to God had never happened! I’ve broken their hearts and my brother might be dead all because of what I did!”
Strong arms folded around me and I relaxed into their security and unloaded all my emotions against his chest. He didn’t say anything as he held me and I was grateful beyond words for the comfort that he afforded me by just being there.
“I’m sorry.” He said deeply.
Drawing back a little I looked up and asked, “You’re sorry?”
He nodded, “I wish you’d gotten there to intercept the package.”
I cocked my head to the side and said, “If I’d gotten there I wouldn’t be here with you now. You’d be okay with that?”
He shrugged, “Disappointment has been the story of my life. A missed life with you, while bad, wouldn’t have been the worst that I’ve suffered through. If you weren’t here at least you wouldn’t be suffering like you are in helpless anguish over what has transpired above.”
I blinked and then blinked again. He cared that much for me?
My gaze fell back to his chest, “When I turned the evidence over I’d reached a point in my life. A desperate point. I called out to God and I did what I knew to do from my childhood. I begged for forgiveness as the plane was going down. Up until that point it was made very clear to me that God was changing my life in ways that I didn’t like. Ways that I’ve done nothing but resist. I’ve known ever since the plane that it was going to be you and me. I’ve done everything I can to resist the change and yet I am changing. I do like some aspects of you as a man and I do desire you, which is a miracle. If you still want me then go ahead. I won’t resist you.”
I kept looking down as I waited to be pushed down onto the sand. Instead of apprehension of that occurring all I felt was a sort of giddy excitement. I had changed so much!
He was doing nothing and saying even less. I glanced up to see that he was studying me thoughtfully.
“That was gutsy of you turning in evidence on yourself like that. I’ve known since the plane that it would be me and you. Your brother came to me. Don’t ask me how he knew, but he knew that we would crash. He made me promise to look out for you. He even gave me his blessing to have you as my woman. I thought he was crazy, but now I don’t think so. Kim, I’m not a barbarian even though I admit I have acted as such. Whatever it is that’s going on between us goes deeper than just skin deep on my part. I want you yes, but I’d like to continue being with you just as we are now, until you’re ready to willingly be excited to be mine.”
I stared at him in shock, “You’re letting me pick the time and place?”
He nodded and said, “Please don’t keep me waiting forever.”
I quickly shook my head in denial as I voiced out, “I won’t!”
He nodded and said, “Shall we continue our walk into the unknown?”
I smiled and nodded and of my own volition I took his hand with mine.
I felt very humbled by what had just transpired and I said, “Thank you for being a gentleman.”
“Thank you for being willing to be my lady.”
I found myself very much wanting to be his lady and yet in this moment I felt that I didn’t even deserve this man. I’d gone from looking upon him as inferior as to now being my superior in terms of character.
We started out again and I asked the question that had been plaguing me, “So you haven’t said why we’re walking along the beach fully exposed to anybody or anything that might be watching from the jungle. I thought you said that was a bad idea?”
“Tell me what a better idea would be. Everywhere you look on this little hidden world of wonders there seems to be a threat of some kind.”
I nodded conceding that he had a point there.
“By the way I just wanted to let you know that back on the plane when I flashed nine fingers at you……..”
I felt my face grow warm with the remembrance of how angry he’d made me.
“That was just to make you mad. In reality you’re as perfect as perfect can be!”
Blushing hotly now I glanced up despite everything and said, “I’m glad you think so.” I even smiled and perhaps I drew little bit closer to him.
*****
Koke blinked and then gasped. His mouth gaped open on a scream of fright as he realized he was submerged in water.
Wait a minute!
Why wasn’t he drowning?
Koke’s wild motions stilled as he calmed at the knowledge that he was somehow breathing water and not dead. What was going on in this place?
He lifted his head and surveyed his surroundings. He was laying on something soft and looking down once more it was to see that it was a spongy type of substance. It actually appeared to be alive!
His hands were tied to carved pillars to either side of the spongy mass that he lay on. Glancing to the side and behind his shoulder he saw two more columns. He was laying on an underwater bed!
A bed like no other to be sure!
He was in a cavelike room that was illuminated by all manner of items. The rock of the cave walls were seamed with glowing blue lines of color, while green wavy Moss that grew upon the walls let off a phosphorescent green glow. There were other more vivid colors here and there and then there were the fish. The fish were every color of the rainbow!
Koke closed his eyes and shook his head. It was time to wake up from this fantasy of a dream.
Something changed in the atmosphere of the room. Koke knew that he was no longer alone, even as words softly fell into his consciousness, “Your back does it still hurt you?”
Slowly Koke raised his head back up and his eyes opened to see the blonde vision of beauty that had kissed him moments before he had died. She was real?
She was a vision of stunning allure the likes of which he had never seen before in the world above. Her long blonde hair moved about in the water in a rhythm that echoed fantasy, even as her cobalt blue eyes stared at him out of a face that was gentled kindness itself.
Her skin was so white that the vivid color of the sash of cloth that swept around her chest and encased her hips was so bright that it glowed off of her as if it had the properties of a jewel set against a backdrop of pearl.
Either he was still dreaming or she was a real-life mermaid. A mermaid with legs. Beautiful legs.
Koke glanced up as the vision came closer. Her lips parted in a smile and he stared mesmerized by her as she drew closer and knelt down beside the odd spongy bed that he lay upon.
“You’re not dreaming.”
Again he felt the words, but her lips never moved. He tried to talk, but the words were garbled and lost in the action of the water that filled him.
Her fingers touched his lips as her head shook slightly, “We talk in our heads, but our lips are still good for other things.”
Her words had but dispersed across his consciousness before her lips were on his in a deep kiss. Her eyes watched him as she kissed him and he knew that she sensed his desire for her. She drew back with a quick smile seemingly satisfied with something that she had seen.
She reached over and pulled a cord that released his hand from the carved pillar.
Her eyes never left his as again words came to him, “You’re not a prisoner. I just didn’t want you to roll onto your back too soon.”
She tugged on the other cord and his other hand came free.
She was wrong about something. Never in his life had he experienced anything like this place or her and her eyes very much held him captive as did the rest of her.
She smiled as if she knew his high-level of fascination with her. Koke started to push up from off the bed when he realized something. He was naked!
He glanced up again only to behold her blue eyes laughing at him in merriment. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking and she wasn’t thought projecting anything. Unsure as of what to do Koke stayed the way he was.
She reached out to the side and pulled the broad leafed frawn of a nearby plant off. Holding her arm up she held the frawn out and the leaf curled around her arm snugly. He got the idea, but there was just one problem. The plant leaf that she had picked reflected an effervescent color that was decidedly pink in nature!
He didn’t know if he could or not, but he attempted to thought project his objections to the color choice that she was offering.
She cocked her head to the side with an inquisitive expression. She apparently hadn’t understood him. Koke sighed and glanced down at the pink leaf wrapped around her arm.
He heard laughter in his head.
Glancing up Koke saw the laughter in his head reflected in her face. It was impossible to be mad at her and reluctantly Koke felt a smile crack across his face.
Her laughter abruptly stopped and she reached out to touch the smile on his lips. She turned away quickly then and he watched her gracefully glide toward a corner of the room. A shoal of tiny blue fish parted gracefully around her.
Koke gazed at her in open attraction. He swallowed as he realized that what he had mistaken for brightly colored fabric was just the same leaves of the plant that she had offered to him.
She came back holding a good many of the colored leaves that thankfully glowed blue. She let them go and with a suggestive wink she turned her back to him.
Stiffly Koke got up off the sponge bed. He didn’t even have to reach out for the colored leaves as they had already found him. They wrapped about his hips and in between his legs in a surprisingly firm clasp. What kept them from simply falling off though?
He had so many questions. He looked up to see her peeking back over one bare shoulder at him. Koke flushed and her smile deepened.
“I’ve already seen everything man from above. You have no cause for shame man from the land.”
Koke’s flushed condition only deepened and again he felt her laughter, but her face was full of passion. She turned her head back and started to walk forward.
“Come land man and see the realm of Undersea.”
“Undersea?” Koke asked.
“Yes. It is time that you met my father.”
“Your father?”
“Yes he is the King of our colony here.”
Koke groaned at the realization that he was living within the confines of a fairytale. She was a Princess!
She turned back to him with a speculative look that took all of him in before she definitively said, “And you are a Prince of men.”
Her meaning was clear, but Koke’s reaction instead of continued embarrassment was one of anger. He gestured around the cave room, “I don’t understand any of this! How is this possible?”
She nodded consolingly, “All your questions will be answered.”
Koke reached around and felt at his back at the scars there, which felt almost completely healed.
“You saved me. Why?”
She stopped and regarded him in-depthly for a moment before saying, “I saw something of value in your eyes and so I decided to claim you.”
Koke blinked and uncertainly asked, “Claim me?”
She nodded her head confidently, “I am a princess and I have chosen you to be my mate. Now come.”
Koke stood where he was slowly shaking his head no.
“I don’t understand.”
She came back and Koke watched with trepidation as she came alluringly closer. She looped her arms around his neck as she pressed close. Her lips closed over his and he lost the fight to remain consciously apart from the fire to his senses that she was.
“I desire you. You desire me. What more could there be needed between mates?”
“A lot more!” Koke returned as he fought to keep alert and un-drugged from the touch of her against him.
Her sensual way of allurement abruptly faded to a look of utter sincerity as she grasped his face with her hands and said, “I know and because you know that is why I want you above all others as my mate. I have the right to choose who I will, but you are not powerless in this. Once I am yours you will be master and I will follow where you lead.”
Koke stared at her in consternation. He’d never wanted any woman to the degree that he did her, but he had no time for something like this!
In frustration he said, “I have a sister! She’s up there on the surface. I don’t know what has become of her. She could be in danger. I……”
Her hands cradled the sides of his face, “I know. Many people have fallen from the clouds above through the years. Many do not survive as the surface is rife with danger, but here in the water we are safe. Safer anyway at least. If your sister is alive I will help you find her.”
Koke stared at her in surprise, “You’ll help me?”
“Certainly, there’s not anything I wouldn’t do for my mate.”
Her face reflected utter sincerity of statement and Koke felt himself scrambling for words, “I…… I’m not sure about all this. Things are moving too fast. I can’t think straight around you! You’re so beautiful and this place is so different. I’m all upside down!”
Her hand touched his forehead, “You think too much. Now this is the way of it. I and my people will help you look for your sister. You and your sister can never return to the surface of the world you knew before. As for the surface of this inner world, well, you especially, have learned how cruel and heartless it can be.” She said as her hand drifted down his back over the healed roughened edges of the scars there.
He remembered every whip strike as if it had just happened. She must’ve seen the heavy emotion in his eyes because she said, “I will help you end the reign of Captain Sally as well. She is overdue to receive judgment for her crimes.”
Koke looked at her in consternation at her ability to read him so easily.
“You would do all that for me?”
She nodded quickly.
“What is it that you really want?” Koke asked out of a need to know what her angle in all this was.
She shrugged expressively, “My people want to see me happy. I think I could be very happy with you. I sensed it the first time that I saw you. You’re going to be a source of change in this inner world of mine that has now become yours. You are a man of faith and my people will be stronger to have you among us.”
“How do you know that I am a man of faith?”
She smiled, “Easy, it radiates out of you. You have a beautiful aura about you. My people could learn much from you.”
“Just what faith are we speaking of? Who do you serve?”
Her words were confidence itself, “There is only one God and He is the Great Creator of all both above and below and beyond.”
Koke pulled back from her disorienting touch and turned to stare off into the wonders of this underwater world. He believed everything she’d told him. Call him a fool, but he trusted her and she had saved his life.
It was so tempting to give in to her hedonistic request of him to be her mate.
What am I to do God?
All he felt was an open door before him, but he didn’t have the courage to take it.
He glanced back to her, “Your people, do they go to the surface?”
Her eyes fell from his and her thought out words had a mournful tone to them, “My people cannot go to the surface and survive in the open-air as we have been below water for far too many generations, but you may yet leave if you wish.”
It had cost her a lot to admit that, but she’d been honest with him. She’d given him the knowledge that he could leave. Leave her.
Looking around Koke shook his head. Who would ever want to leave a paradise like this much less a fantasy such as her?
How was he to help Kim though?
Kim wasn’t his responsibility anymore. He relaxed slightly at the remembrance of the man named Colt. Kim was making her own way in this new world and so should he.
There were injustices in this hidden world that needed to be taken care of.
“You seem a peaceful person and yet you offer to help me kill a cruel pirate Queen?” Koke asked in a doubtful manner.
A piece of coral exploded beside of Koke and he glanced from the shattered remains of the coral reef to the crystalline structure of an odd looking ring on the girl’s finger.
His eyes rose to hers as she said, “We are a peaceful people, but we can defend ourselves and fight our own battles. I did not lie in what I offered to you.”
“What’s your name?” Koke asked.
“Loranni. What’s yours?”
“Koke.”
She smiled for a moment before her smile turned bittersweet and she said, “You are leaving then?”
Koke shook his head no, “No, I’m staying. I look forward to meeting your father.”
An impish grin came to her face, “There is no need as he has already approved of my decision. Come let us be one.”
She began to approach once again and Koke stared at her in shock. Surely she couldn’t be serious?
Hurriedly throwing his hands up as if to ward her off Koke said, “Don’t you think we should get to know each other a bit first?”
“You think too much.” Was all she said as she drew perilously close.
Something firmed within Koke and he held his ground as she came up to him, “I wish to speak to your father first. After that’s accomplished then there can be time for other things Loranni.”
Her face was unreadable for a moment and then he sensed her sigh of defeat.
“Okay man of faith we will do it your way, but before much time passes we will be back and you shall make me whole.”
She took his hand and led him from the cave room into an even more wondrous terrain of the undersea world that stretched out all around them. As mesmerizing as the surroundings were all he could think about instead was how anxious he was to return to this room with her.
Life was never going to be the same again or nearly as tame as it had been on the world above. This whole journey from the plane to now had been terrifyingly extreme, but now perhaps it was all worth it.