Isaak
The ocean waves slapped against the sides of the small motorboat as it made its way toward the mainland.
Sitting in the back seat, Isaak did his best to ignore the sidelong glances the pilot kept shooting in his direction – as if he was trying to see whether the monster of Calauria was really as monstrous as the rumors claimed.
Isaak had his own boat, of course – but after four years of disuse, he would have needed to clean it up significantly before it was ready to go anywhere. As reluctant as he was to make this trip, he couldn’t stand the idea of making Josie wait. Who even knew if he’d have the parts he needed to make the boat seaworthy once more? The simplest thing had been to arrange for a boat from the mainland to come and pick them up.
Catching the pilot staring at him once again, Isaak swallowed. “Keep your eyes on where you’re going, please,” he said to him in Greek. The man’s face immediately snapped back to face forward, though he did not answer.
Isaak’s growing sense of unease was suddenly pierced by the sound of Josie’s laughter as the boat bumped over a particularly rough wave. Immediately, a sense of glowing warmth began to fill his belly as he turned to look at her.
She was wearing a beautiful floral summer dress that hugged her breasts and flowed down from the gorgeous curve of her hips, dropping almost to her shapely ankles. She was trying desperately to hold her wild auburn tresses in the loose bun she had pulled them into when they’d returned to the villa after finding the white speckled kingfisher, but it was a losing battle. Josie grinned at him as she shoved a handful of hair out of her face, though a moment later the rushing wind had obscured it again.
She’s beautiful.
It seemed unbelievable to him that someone so beautiful, so intelligent, so... so full of life and joy could want to be with him. He had been prepared for her to run far, far away from him when he had told her about the darkness inside him – but instead she had met his fear with kindness – with love.
Doubt rose inside him as he watched her, however. Did she really understand the danger of being with him? Could anyone but he really comprehend the beast within him?
Wouldn’t she be better off with another man? Someone who could truly take care of her?
She is ours.
As if on cue, the monster roiled up inside him.
Ours to protect. No one else’s.
Isaak swallowed, closing his eyes.
You... you want to protect her?
The monster’s green eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, flaring as if he had offended it.
Of course! Of course we would only protect her! She is our m–
“We’re here, sir, madam.”
Isaak’s eyes snapped open again at the sound of the pilot’s voice, and the green eyes retreated, whatever the beast had been about to say lost. The boat slowed as it carved an arc through the water to the docks, the wind that had been whipping past them becoming little more than a gentle breeze.
“That was fun,” Josie laughed as the boat pulled into its berth. “Good Lord, I must look like a complete mess, though.”
Isaak couldn’t help but smile as he stood, before helping Josie up. Her hand was warm in his. “You look beautiful,” he said, and meant it. If anything, with her hair in such disarray, Josie looked even more fetching than she had when they left. The wildness of her hair, the flush of her cheeks and the brightness of her eyes reminded him of how she had looked just after they had made love.
Heat immediately flooded him at the memory, and, from the way Josie’s eyes darted to his, it was almost as if she had read his thoughts. She bit her lip her long lashes sweeping down coyly. It was a look that was both shy and flirtatious – and which held a world of promise.
Tonight.
It took every ounce of self-control Isaak had not to sweep her back into the boat and order the pilot to take them back to Calauria right this instant.
He controlled himself with difficulty. Josie had wanted to come to the mainland. Surely he could control his desire for her for a few hours? And if not...
... Well, that was what hotels were for.
He held her hand as she stepped up onto the dock. On her finger was the enormous sapphire, sparkling in the late afternoon sun. He felt the same strange, tingling sensation as earlier as it came into contact with his skin.
Apparently seeing him looking, Josie wiggled her finger playfully. “I don’t usually wear it like this,” she said, as they walked along the dock toward the cobbled streets of the town. “But... well, ever since you told me what it was worth, I feel like I don’t want to take my eyes off it, even for a moment.” She glanced up at him. “I suppose it would have been safer back on the island, though...”
Isaak felt sudden possessiveness rise up within him. “I won’t let anyone take it from you. Not now, and not ever.”
Josie blinked, clearly surprised at how fervent he sounded. To tell the truth, Isaak had surprised himself. He hadn’t meant to sound so harsh.
He forced himself to swallow down the strange feeling within himself.
“I’ll keep you safe,” he said. “You have nothing to be frightened of.”
Josie nodded, her eyes drifting admiringly over his shoulders. “It must be nice – I can’t imagine anyone would be willing to pick a fight with you.”
Shaking his head, he shrugged. “You’d be surprised. When I was young, I got into many fights.”
Josie looked up at him, eyes wide. “Really? What about?”
“Nothing important.” Isaak frowned as he thought back to his childhood. “When I first came here after Nikos and Adriana adopted me, I didn’t speak Greek very well. I had a private tutor, but they felt it was important for me to go to school, to spend time with other children. They were right, of course – but I was too nervous to talk much, since I didn’t know the language. I suppose some of the other children saw my silence as a weakness. So they didn’t hesitate to pick at it.”
What has made me think of these memories now? Isaak wondered. He hadn’t thought about such things in years. That had been long before his monster had even reared its head – but it had still been something that had made him feel different, somehow apart from everyone else.
“Oh,” Josie said quietly. “I’m sorry to hear that. Sometimes children don’t realize how hurtful they’re being.”
Isaak nodded. “That’s true. They were only children, though.”
“I didn’t realize you weren’t actually Greek,” Josie said. “Where did your parents adopt you from, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Not at all,” Isaak responded, and was mildly surprised to find that it was true. Usually he didn’t enjoy people asking questions about his past. But with Josie, things were different – that had already been made more than clear to him. She was different. “They adopted me from Romania. There’re a lot of children in orphanages there, as there are all over eastern Europe. I don’t know if that’s where I was born, though, or what country my parents might have been from.” He paused, glancing down at her. “Sometimes I think perhaps I’ll go back there, or try to re-learn the language. But other times I can’t see the point. I don’t feel connected to it anymore.”
Josie nodded, before smiling sadly at him. “I think I understand what you mean. My mother is annoyed with herself for not forcing me to speak more Spanish when I was a kid. These days I hardly speak any at all, though I understand a lot more. After my grandma died, it almost felt like my last link to my roots had been broken. I mean, I had a quinceañera of course, but aside from that...” She shrugged. “It’s never too late, though. I don’t want to let that part of me go.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Isaak said – and again, to his surprise, he found himself believing it. When he was with Josie, possibilities that he had once thought closed now seemed to be open once more.
She gave him a sense of peace, somehow. The thought that perhaps things were not as bleak as he had once thought.
She gave him... hope.
“Again, feel free to tell me to mind my own business, but... did you always call your adoptive parents by their names?” Josie asked.
“Yes,” Isaak responded. “I was already old enough when they adopted me to know that they weren’t my biological parents. So they never had to explain any of that to me. They gave me a choice, but said they didn’t mind if I wanted to call them by name. They said they loved me, and what I called them wasn’t important. That in the ways that mattered, I was their son.”
His heart tightened as he spoke.
Had it really been six years since they had died? At some times it seemed like it had been an eternity ago – at others, only yesterday.
He could still remember the way Adriana had smiled as they had left the house that day, telling him to take it easy on his morning run, and to make sure he was in the office by nine. He had been working in the Vallas Shipping accounts office that summer, to prepare him for taking over the company some day.
Little had Isaak realized that, by that afternoon, the company would be his.
Pain sliced through him, and, though he made no sound, Josie looked up at him, her expression alarmed.
“Is everything okay?”
Isaak looked down at her in surprise. “I... yes. I’m fine. Some of these memories... they’re not what you would call pleasant.”
“I’m sorry,” she said at once. “I’ve been asking too many questions.”
Isaak shook his head. “No. It’s not that. I don’t mind.”
There was silence as they walked for a short time. They had left the docks, and came out onto the streets of the small coastal town of Chora. Isaak could see Josie’s head darting this way and that as she took in the beauty of their surroundings, from the whitewashed buildings that extended from the street to far up the mountainside, to the perfect blue of the ocean.
It was just coming into tourist season, and Chora was only just now beginning to be ‘discovered’ – the streets were busier than Isaak remembered them, with more restaurants and shopfronts than before. The cobbled streets were bustling with life and beauty, with families shopping and green trees swaying in the gentle wind.
Lattices draped with flowering vines provided shade to diners enjoying wine, olives and bread, along with the plentiful seafood dishes that made up the traditional food of this area.
“Wow,” Josie murmured as they passed by one such restaurant. “That food sure does look good.”
“Would you like to stop here?” Isaak asked.
“I want to stop everywhere,” Josie said. “Everywhere looks amazing!”
Isaak laughed – he couldn’t help it. Her enthusiasm was completely infectious.
“Then we can stop everywhere, asteri mou.”
Josie glanced up at him. “What does that mean?”
Sucking in a breath, Isaak drew his lips into a tight line. He hadn’t meant the term of endearment to slip out – it had almost seemed to happen of its own accord. “It’s Greek. It means ‘my star’.”
“I like it,” Josie said at once, her eyes twinkling like the stars he had just named her after. “And yes, to answer your suggestion – I would like to stop everywhere.”
***
“Oh. Oh my goodness.” Josie licked her lips, sighing in contentment as she sat back in her chair. They had just finished scraping out the last creamy flesh from the lobster’s bright red shell – and this was after a sumptuous feast of saganaki fried cheese, marinated olives, fresh octopus, spit-roasted lamb, and light, crunchy zucchini fritters.
Isaak had told Josie the Greek name for each dish as it had come out, and she had gobbled them all up in turn with relish, making delicious sounds of pleasure as she tasted each one, closing her eyes to savor them.
The sight of her enjoying herself so sensually, so unselfconsciously was... slightly more of a turn-on than Isaak had expected. He shifted a little in his seat, hoping the tablecloth would conceal the obvious bulge in his pants.
“That was amazing,” Josie said as she ran her fork over the plate, chasing down the last of the garlic and wine sauce the lobster had come served in. “I haven’t had food like that in years.”
Isaak smiled. “We’re very fortunate here. We have the sea on one side and the mountain on the other. Everything here is as fresh as it can be – and when you have such good ingredients, complicated recipes aren’t always necessary. Simple, wholesome food is what’s best.”
Josie laughed, shaking her head. “You sound like my grandma. She was always worrying about me, trying to make sure I ate enough. I think that’s the only reason I didn’t starve to death in graduate school – she always seemed to know when I was down to my last packet of ramen, and insist I drop what I was doing and come over.”
Isaak found himself laughing along with her. Slowly, as the day had gone on and they had moved from tavern to tavern, shopfront to shopfront, he had found his anxiety about being away from Calauria dropping away from his heart.
Being with Josie made being back on the mainland an adventure – something pleasurable, instead of something fraught and dangerous. The crowds didn’t oppress him like they had the last time he was here. The beast within him seemed to have curled up and gone to sleep. It was no danger to anyone right now. Josie, somehow, had tamed it.
For the first time in six years he felt... free.
“Do you want any dessert?” he asked playfully as Josie sighed in contentment, patting her belly. “Or are you satisfied?”
Josie sat up straight, her eyes shining. “Dessert? What kind of question is that?”
Grinning, he nodded. “All right, yes, I acknowledge my foolishness. Let me just –”
Isaak’s words were cut off as two giggling children raced past him, cavorting through the restaurant without taking the slightest notice of where they were going. A waiter carrying a plate of calamari had to quickly sidestep in order to avoid being barreled into.
“They should watch where they’re going,” Isaak said, shaking his head, as a waiter came to take their dessert order. “What would you like to try?”
Josie’s eyes flashed mischievously. “Oh, you know me – I like a little of everything.”
Isaak tried to hold back his groan as the waiter arrived at their table. How was it that she could drive him so crazy with only a look? If things went on like this, he really would have to suggest they find a hotel...
But first, dessert.
He took her at her word, ordering her a little of everything – Greek yoghurt with honey and walnuts, sweet, syrupy samali with pine nuts, flaky baklava, and bougatsa – delicate parcels of pastry filled with creamy custard and dusted with sugar. He was starting to remember his own sweet tooth – something he had indulged, perhaps, a little too much before he had gone into his voluntary exile on Calauria.
Surely it couldn’t hurt, he thought, as he watched the slightly surprised waiter making his way back to the kitchens with their order. Surely it couldn’t hurt to want something again...
“Oooh, look!” Josie said, pointing excitedly to where a waiter was carrying a large wooden board, containing two pans with flames leaping up from within them. “What’s that?”
Isaak grimaced a little. “Fried cheese, doused in ouzo and set alight,” he said. “Very nice showmanship, but a little dangerou–”
Just as he spoke, the two children from earlier reappeared, laughing and chattering. The older one seemed to be playing a game of keep-away from the younger one, holding a stuffed bear above his head and leaping up whenever his smaller brother came near.
“My bear!” the younger boy called out, laughing. “I want him! Give him back!”
“No!” his brother shouted, leaping higher. “If you want him, you’ll have to –”
In the moments that followed, Isaak felt that he was seeing things in slow motion.
He saw the waiter with the hot, flaming pans, the children laughing and jumping, and saw what would happen in only a moment’s time if –
Standing, Isaak moved forward without the need for conscious thought. Behind him, he heard his chair clatter to the ground, and saw the heads of the other diners turning in his direction.
He felt as if he were moving on pure instinct, and faster than he realized was possible.
Even then, he was an instant too late.
The older child jumped up, flinging his hands back... and hit the waiter carrying the flaming pans squarely in the back.
The pans jumped up from the board as the waiter stumbled, the flames wavering wildly as he struggled to regain his balance.
By now, Isaak could hear the other diners gasping in shock as they realized what had happened... and what was about to happen.
Despite the waiter’s best efforts, one of the pans slid from the board. The pan itself – heavy cast iron and burning hot from the stove – spun in the air, before beginning to fall towards the table, and the people sitting at it.
No. No!
Isaak flung out a hand, catching it before it could complete its descent.
He expected to feel his hand burning with pain, but instead, he felt nothing.
It’s the adrenaline, he thought, as he curled his fingers around the handle, making sure he held it securely – only a few inches more and it would have fallen directly onto the head of a grandmother sitting with her family.
But after a moment, there was still no pain.
Isaak stared at his own hand as chaos erupted around him – the two playing children beginning to cry as they realized what they had done, waiters rushing to and fro with frantic apologies, diners standing and demanding their checks.
“Oh my God, Isaak!”
Josie’s voice cut through the confusion of sound in an instant, her hand on his arm. When he turned to look at her, he found her eyes wide and frightened.
“Quick – put it down, put it down!”
Isaak heard Josie’s voice, but he didn’t react immediately. Instead, he simply stared at his hand where it still clutched the pan, not trusting himself not to drop it.
“How can you – can’t you feel how hot it is?” Josie asked, sounding breathless. “If – if you can’t feel it there might be nerve damage, you have to put it down, now!”
Swallowing, Isaak allowed Josie to lower his arm until the pan lay on the table, her fingers pressing against his. He realized that when he opened his hand, there was likely to be a severe burn on his palm and the inside of his fingers – Josie was right, after all, and numbness likely indicated that his nerve endings had been damaged.
“Josie,” he said, gritting his teeth, “don’t look.”
“I have a strong stomach,” she said, but he saw her swallow heavily.
He opened his hand.