CARLA

The Vision

  Carla's pounding head woke her up. Her ears were ringing and her head felt like it was about to explode. It almost did when she looked beside her and saw a naked, sleeping Nate.

  "NATE!" She exclaimed in horror, looking down at herself. She realised she was naked apart from wearing one of his shirts.

  "What? Who?" The sleeping merman jumped out of bed and spun around the room looking for the danger.

  "What are you doing in my room?" Carla yelled. "And why are we naked?" Nate took a seat on the bed, clutching his rapidly beating heart.

  "Firstly, you're in my room," he began, "secondly you're the one who insisted on staying here last night. And then proceeded to strip naked, before climbing into my bed. It was me who put that shirt on you. I'll take that apology now."

  Flashes of memory began to flood back to her while she stared at the now laughing nude merman.

  "Can you put some clothes on, please?" She pleaded.

  "Clothes are unnatural to my kind." He lay back, stretching out on the bed beside her in all his naked glory.

  Carla's eyes involuntarily dropped down his body, then quickly back up to his face. Nate smiled suggestively.

  "Like what you see?" He asked with a wicked grin. "It's all yours if you want it." Motioning up down his rigid body.

  Carla covered her eyes with her hands, insisting she would stay like that until he covered up. Nate rolled his eyes and slid under the sheets, turning to face her.

  "You better not have fondled me last night, or I'll rip your penis off." She warned, meaning every word.

  "Of course not. I prefer my lovers conscious." He laughed when she playfully punched his arm. He rubbed it because even a playful punch from Carla was painful.

  Carla laughed too, she realised she was being silly. She trusted Nate. He may be the horniest man she'd ever met, but she knew he would never take advantage of her. The memory of him singing his song to her came rushing back.

  "You and your sister have voices of angels."

  "Yes, we do." He agreed, immodestly.

  "But Slade. Wow. Voice of a God!" Carla exclaimed, still shocked at Slade's velvety smooth crooning voice. "Everyone has amazing singing voices. It must be because of your super powers." She smiled, reflecting on the whole team's karaoke prowess with envy.

  "Not everyone." Nate replied, eyeing her up and down.

  "Me? No, I don't sing," she declared, looking at his amused face. "Oh no, I didn't sing did I?" She buried her face in her shirt as the dreadful memory of singing.

  "Not only did you sing, if you can call that shrieking singing." Nate blocked his ears and made a tortured face, she punched him again. "But once you got hold of that microphone, you didn't let anyone else anywhere near it all night."

  "I can't believe you convinced me to sing!" She glared at him.

  "How was I supposed to know a Goddess, as perfect as you, would have the voice of a Banshee?" Nate regretted his words the instant he saw the humiliated look on her beautiful face. He began to laugh, profusely apologizing while planting hundreds of little kisses all over Carla's beet red face and neck.

  Carla's head was pounding, exacerbated by the thought that Luke may have heard her singing. But Nate's laugh was so infectious, she couldn't help but giggle as his facial hair tickled her face and neck while he kissed her.