Siren's Fall [Siren's Mark: Book 2]

Chapter 1

"Ow, okay," he says, rubbing his head. "My bad, just trying to lighten the mood. Have you talked to her?"

Kami looks at me knowingly and raises an eyebrow.

"Not really," I say. "What am I supposed to say?"

"Just about anything would be better than standing silently in the corner and grumbling every time she mentions a man," she says.

She may have a point there.

I look back to her door and sigh.

She's right. I have to talk to her.

𝔸𝕧𝕒

The nurse steps out just as Mr. Grumpy walks back in. Despite his roughed-up, ragged appearance, he's still remarkably handsome. His dark, curly hair is swept back and, for the first time since we left for the hospital, his deep brown eyes meet mine.

"Hi," he mumbles, brushing a hand through his hair as he shifts back and forth on his feet.

"Hi," I reply.

What do you even say in a situation like this?

Hi, I have no idea who you are. Care to tell me why I ended up in your wrecked house looking like a Walking Dead reject?

"You er, asked my name earlier..." he says with a sigh. "It's Zane."

"Ava." I realize as I say it that I'm meeting him for the first time, but he has already met me. "Oh, I mean... I guess you know who I am already, huh?"

He gives me a small nod and chews anxiously on his bottom lip.

"So, any chance you're going to explain what all that was about?" I ask.

"Which part?"

"What the heck happened? I mean, I know what you told them, that somebody broke in and attacked me and you fought with him, but we both know that's a lie."

"Is it, now?" he asks with a brow raised.

"You're telling me that some random dude off the street broke into a penthouse apartment on top of a building and in the process broke through brick walls, bled all over the house, smashed the furniture, and beat the shit out of us and your two friends?"

He smirks slightly and brings his eyes up to my own.

"I guess you are still you," he says.

"That's hardly an answer," I say. "Were we doing drugs or something? Did you kidnap me? Are we part of some kind of fight club?"

He opens his mouth to speak but I stop him.

"Don't. If you're about to tell me not to talk about fight club I am so not in the mood."

He pinches his mouth shut and I watch as the corners curl into a subtle smirk.

"This isn't funny," I say, crossing my arms.

"You're right," he says with a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry. Er... This is complicated. Can we start with an easier question?"

"Okay. How do we know each other?"

He sits down beside the bed on a nearby chair and closes his eyes for a moment. As he reopens them again, he takes a deep breath in.

"We're together," he says. "You're... you and I are together."

Oh.

This super-hot guy is my boyfriend?

I guess that means Mike and I didn't work out, not that I'm exactly surprised. We're a lot better at fighting than we are at getting along. I can't say it doesn't sting a bit, but I'm also not entirely bothered by the fact that I'm apparently getting it on with this chiseled god of a man.

Damn.

"Okay," I say, slowly processing the information. "What happened to my leg?"

"You were attacked," he says, his eyes catching the light in a strange way, making them look almost green. "I wasn't lying about that. He, erm... caught us off guard."

"Who was it?"

"Fuck, Ava, these are your easy questions?" he asks, tugging a bit at his hair.

"Okay, fine. For now. So your friends that were with us—Kami and the other guy that kept cracking jokes—who were they?"

"Kami and Kieran, yeah—they're old friends of mine. Well, they're your friends now too."

"Were we doing something illegal?"

"No, love," he says with a chuckle.

"How did I hit my head?"

"Your head?" He grimaces and drops his head into his hands. "Did the nurse say something about the scans? Are you alright?"

"No, she said they're fine," I say, which seems to calm him slightly. "I mean how did I get the memory loss?"

"Oh," he says. His eyes dart around as if he's trying to carefully craft his answer. "I... I... I'm not sure, actually..."

He's interrupted by a nurse tapping at the door.

"Could you confirm your address for me?" she asks me.

"Sure," I say. "It's 1822 S Wollstone-"

"Uh, no," Zane says. "Sorry to interrupt, love, you don't live there anymore. It's 2800 17th Street, PH1. Still in Port Charlotte, though, same postcode."

"Oh um, thank you," the nurse says, stepping out into the hall.

"I moved?" I ask.

"Yeah you er," he says, pausing to bite his lip a moment. "That was our place that we just came from."

Our place?

Before I can even process the idea, a commotion breaks out just outside the door. Several voices seem to be arguing and I only catch bits of what they're saying.

"Mam, I'm sorry, but it's our policy to call..."

"...hell freezes over."

"...if she wants to talk to me..."

I recognize the last voice slightly.

"What's going on?" I ask, my voice loud enough to reach the hallway. "Hello?"

Zane's eyes go wide and this time they're unmistakably green as a figure steps through the doorway.

"You've got to be bloody kidding me," he hisses as he jumps straight up.

What is Mike doing here?