TWELVE
Compulsion
“Today is the first day of the rest of my life,” Gemma told her reflection. It was her attempt at a pep talk, but it wasn’t that effective.
What Penn had said to her the other day had finally gotten through to her. Gemma had made a choice to be with the sirens, and since they were immortal, it was a very long commitment. She couldn’t spend the rest of eternity moping because this wasn’t what she’d wanted. She’d been living with them for nearly a week, and that was enough sulking.
Admittedly, she’d had to leave behind everything she cared about, her friends, family, boyfriend, and the swimming career she’d worked so hard for. Those were plenty of reasons to be heartbroken, but she’d given herself time to grieve. Now it was time to make the best of things.
Since she’d started swimming every day, she felt much better. Not great, but better. She was no longer nauseated, which made the hunger more intense, but she was managing it so far.
Thea had told her that Aggie had been kind, and Thea herself didn’t seem so bad. That meant that while being a siren might not be a choice, being evil was. So Gemma would simply choose not to be evil, and try to make the best of everything else this life had to offer.
She woke up determined to have a new attitude about the whole thing. She got up, showered, got dressed, and went downstairs to see what the sirens were up to for the day.
Gemma found all three of them and Sawyer in the living room watching Splash on the giant flat-screen. Thea was sprawled out on her belly with her chin propped up on her hands, while Lexi and Penn were sitting on the white sofa with Sawyer between them.
Lexi kept laughing at what was happening on-screen, but Gemma couldn’t tell if it was because she thought the movie was funny or because of the way mermaids were portrayed.
“Hey, guys,” Gemma said.
Penn turned to her. Her eyes were as dark and sinister as ever, but a seductive smile played on her lips. “Look, girls, it’s alive!”
Sawyer looked confused for a minute, but when Lexi laughed, he joined in.
“Since you slept all morning, Penn thought you might be dead,” Lexi explained with a giggle.
“Well … I’m not.”
“What do you need?” Penn propped her elbow on the back of the couch so she could face her.
“Nothing.” Gemma tried to smile widely. “I just wanted to see what you were up to today.”
Penn narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
“I wanted to see if maybe I could join you,” Gemma said.
Thea turned to look at her for the first time, and for a few moments all three of the sirens just stared at her. Sawyer was too busy watching the movie to notice.
“We’re just watching a movie,” Lexi said finally, breaking the staring contest. “That’s probably what we’re going to do all day, if you want to hang out with us.”
“Sure, that sounds fun.”
Gemma planned on sitting on the other couch in the room, but Lexi scooted over, sliding up right next to Sawyer. He’d been sitting closer to Penn with his hand on her thigh, but when Lexi moved over, he smiled and slid his arm around her.
“Here you go.” Lexi tapped the empty spot on the couch. “You can sit by me, Gemma.”
“There’s not enough room,” Penn said, and glared at Lexi.
“Penn, there’s plenty of room.” Lexi gestured to the spot next to her, and really there was more than enough room for Gemma. In fact, Lexi hadn’t even needed to slide over, and there would’ve been room for her.
“No, there’s not,” Penn growled.
“Fine.” Lexi sighed and turned back to Gemma. “Sorry, I guess—”
“No, Lexi, there’s no room for you,” Penn corrected her.
Lexi’s head snapped back around so she could look at Penn. “What?”
“You know, I’m fine sitting over here,” Gemma interjected as she edged back to the empty couch on the other side of the room. “I can see the TV great from here.”
“Sit on the floor, Lexi,” Penn commanded, ignoring Gemma.
“Penn,” Lexi tried to protest, but Penn just kept glaring at her. “Whatever.” Lexi rolled her eyes, then got up and flopped down on the floor next to Thea.
With Lexi banished to the floor, Penn smiled sweetly up at Gemma. “Why don’t you sit with us on the couch?”
“Uh, sure?” Gemma sat down tentatively on the couch, careful to put as much room between her and Sawyer as she could manage.
Truthfully, she didn’t care where she sat. But this was obviously some sort of power play on Penn’s part, and she didn’t want to get caught in the middle of it. Especially not when she’d just decided to make the best of the situation. She didn’t want to start by pissing off Penn or Lexi.
“Oh, my god.” Sawyer laughed and pointed to the TV. “She thinks the video cameras are trapping her in the box. That’s so funny.”
Eventually, in large part to Sawyer’s oblivious commentary on the movie, the tension in the room seemed to ease. Gemma settled into the couch, and she ended up kind of enjoying the movie. She’d never seen it before, and it had its moments.
The funniest parts probably were Sawyer’s reactions. Most of the time, when Thea, Lexi, and Gemma were laughing, it was at something he’d said. Penn never laughed once, though.
Every now and then Gemma would glance over to see Penn’s eyes fixed blankly on the screen. Despite that, Gemma couldn’t shake the feeling that Penn was watching her out of the corner of her eye, making sure that Gemma was behaving herself.
After the movie ended, the girls argued about what movie to watch next, and finally Lexi put in Mannequin.
Gemma started to relax then. So what if Penn was watching her? It wasn’t like she was doing anything wrong. She was watching a movie, same as everybody else.
Seemingly out of the blue, Gemma’s hunger flared up. The ravenous one that seemed to radiate from her belly all the way through her. She bit her lip and struggled to swallow the feeling down.
Then Sawyer laughed, and Gemma turned to look at him. But it was almost as if she’d never seen him before. He had to be the most attractive person she’d ever seen. His smooth tanned skin, the hard contours of his chest, the strong line of his jaw, even the way his blond hair just touched the nape of his neck.
Her whole body tingled as intense heat spread through her. A kind of primal lust that started in her belly traveled down her thighs.
Gemma wanted nothing more in the world than to touch him and kiss him and taste him. Her hands trembled at the thought of it, and she licked her lips.
“You okay, Gemma?” Penn asked, barely breaking the trance that Gemma was under.
“What?” Gemma asked.
She blinked, trying to clear her head, but all her thoughts still involved kissing Sawyer and ripping off his shirt. He was so close to her that she could nearly do it, and that was when Gemma realized she’d somehow moved closer to him. She was nearly touching him, the smooth, warm skin of his arm.
“Gemma,” Penn repeated, her tone harder this time. “Are you enjoying the movie?”
“Uh, yeah.” Using all her willpower, Gemma forced herself to scoot away from Sawyer. To be on the safe side, she tucked both her hands underneath her so she was sitting on them. “It’s a good movie.”
The next few minutes seemed to stretch on for hours. All Gemma could think about was Sawyer. He was so gorgeous and so close, and she was certain that she’d never wanted anyone more. She tried to think of Alex, but just then she could barely even remember his face, let alone how she felt about him.
Without warning, Penn leaned over and started kissing Sawyer. And not just a gentle peck on the lips. Penn climbed over, straddling him between her legs, as she kissed him deeply. She pushed her body against him, and he moaned.
“Holy crap,” Gemma muttered to herself, and then stood up.
Watching Penn make out with Sawyer was messing with her head. It somehow managed to both increase her lust and repulse her at the same time.
Fortunately, the logical part of her won out, and she backed away from the couch.
“I think I’m going to go for a swim,” Gemma said, and for some reason she was nearly shouting.
“I’ll join you,” Thea said, jumping to her feet.
Lexi was still on the floor, but she’d turned around to watch Penn and Sawyer make out, which Gemma thought was rather creepy.
Thea walked with Gemma through the house and out the back door. As soon as Gemma felt the ocean breeze, she felt like she could think again. The bizarre lust had retreated, leaving behind confusion and shame as she tried to make sense of her feelings.
She’d never felt like that before, or had such extreme thoughts before. It had to have something to do with being a siren. It definitely wasn’t Gemma. She loved Alex and thought he was a super fox, and yet she’d never wanted to attack him the way she had wanted Sawyer.
“I’m so glad you’re swimming now,” Thea said as they walked down the beach toward the water. “I was getting sick of watching you sulk.”
“How come Lexi didn’t join us?” Gemma asked when they reached the water. “What is she doing in there with Penn and Sawyer?”
“Honestly?” Thea turned to face her so she walked backward into the waves. “I don’t even want to know what Lexi and Penn do when I’m not around.”
“Gross,” Gemma said, and Thea laughed in agreement.