Chasing Tide (A Merman's Tale And The Human Who Desired Him)

BAD JOKE.

Chapter: 133.
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Dressed nicely in a dress she bought only minutes ago, Maria sat in her car in front of the familiar hotel, the driver's door open, a warm smile spread across her glossed lips. Her plans had worked out even better than she thought they would and by this time tomorrow they would be leaving the city richer than ever, with the love of her life beside her. She couldn't be happier and with Lina out of the picture, nothing could stand in her way. It was her fault she meddled in her business, she should have kept her smart mouth shut and none of this would have happened to her. She was old, her death was inevitable. Getting out of the car, she adjusted her gown and checked her makeup before shutting and sauntering down the parking lot and toward the entrance doors. The door opened with a soft click and the old man at the front desk greeted her with his usual warm smile.

"Good evening, Ms." He says with a slight bow of his head.

"Thank you," Maria answers back politely, "How are you?"

The older man takes the time to look her over as well as he can. She is dressed as seductively as always and he couldn't help but feel pity for the woman who thinks Lorenzo is nothing but a saint. Although Lorenzo had not instructed that he shouldn't be bothered, the old man worried whether he should permit her to go on ahead or tell her he wasn't around but when he opened his mouth to speak, he said a completely different thing from what he was thinking.

"Quite fine actually, and yourself?"

"I'm good, thank you." Maria returned and leaned into the counter, her face closer to the elderly man's now. "I want to surprise my Lorenzo, is he in?" She asked sweetly with a playful glint in her eyes.

The old man felt uncomfortable but kept his face straight. "Yes, he is currently in his room," He paused for a moment before continuing. "He may be a little occupied at the moment but I'm sure he will be glad you came, Ms." He added quickly.

"That's great, I will see you later tonight." She winked, grabbed her purse, and started heading for the stairs. Excitement bubbled in her veins as she went up to the top floor and headed toward where the room number was. When she arrived, she knocked gently on the wooden door. When there was no answer, she knocked again, louder this time, and called out his name but she received no response. She frowned slightly before calling his name once more but again, still no response. She knocked one more time then, with a sigh she tried the knob, it was unlocked so she pushed the door open.

Cautiously she stepped into the room looking around, the first thing that caught her sight was the messy bed, a frown tugging on her thin lips. Always so messy, her Lorenzo. She dropped her purse on the bed, puffed out a breath, and walked over to the other side of the bed and there she saw pants and shoes the likes she hadn't seen Lorenzo wore before. What's more, there was a shirt too, it looked like some kind of black suit and there were also two ties lying beside it. With furrowed eyebrows, she picked the shirt up and brought it to her nose for a quick sniff and after deeming it as not being his, she let the shirt fall back onto the bed and proceeded to pick up the rest of the clothes but her movements came to an abrupt stop when she heard the shower running and then a soft giggle followed.

Lorenzo was in the bathroom but...

Maria stood frozen in place, her thoughts clouding over with confusion and something else she was trying very hard not to let her mind think about. What if, just maybe... Lorenzo wasn't alone? What if he was cheating on her? She knew how much she liked him, Heck he knew how much she had fallen for him and she hoped beyond hope that he didn't have someone else in that bathroom with him. With an internal groan, she stepped over the bed to go into the bathroom and see for herself just what exactly was going on but she had only taken a step when the bathroom door burst open, and standing before her was Lorenzo and the man she had seen almost every time she walked into this old hotel both were naked with water cascading down to the carpet. Both of them jumped in shock upon seeing Maria.

"Shit!" Lorenzo exclaimed, "Maria! What did I say about showing up unannounced?!" He said with a hateful tone to his voice, he glared at her as if he was going to murder her, then as if ignoring her existence altogether, he walked over her to the closest to grab a pair of pants. "You shouldn't be here, Maria!" He growled, still angry at the woman who dared interrupt his precious bath, he threw the pants in her direction and they flew past her and landed into the arms of the other man who grabbed and began to dress up in them and Maria watched Lorenzo turn his attention to finding his own clothes.

"Who is he?" Maria asked, still confused by this whole situation. "Why were you taking baths together?!" She questioned once more and Lorenzo looked at her and rolled his eyes. "I fucking asked a question!" She snapped and Lorenzo sighed heavily.

"Geez, Maria, not so loud... pipe down will ya." Lorenzo huffed.

"Are you cheating on me?!" She asked and Lorenzo scoffed.

"No, no no, my darling, I'm not cheating on you if anything I was cheating on him... with you!" He replied and Maria's brows raised in surprise.

"Wh-What do you mean by that?" She stuttered, eyes starting to cloud with unshed tears.

"Each time I sleep with you, I cheat on him." He said voice dripping with sarcasm.

"But... But... we've been dating for months..." She muttered more to herself than to him.

Lorenzo let out another laugh before walking over to Maria, stopping right in front of her as he crossed his arms. "Just a few months and you're a mess, I have known him for years, you can't compete with that." He said with a smile.

"So, he is my competition?" She asked, beyond shocked.

"No, sweetheart, he has no competition, you're not that worthy."

Maria blinked multiple times. "What about us, our plans, we agreed to run away together, we... we..." She trailed off as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

Lorenzo shook his head. "Tsk tsk tsk... sweet Maria, we had fun you and I, we both used each other, this was all part of the plan, babe, I have no more use for you, it's never going to happen, I planned to leave this city, yes, but with him, never with you," He said with a smile and Maria shook her head, not accepting what he was saying. He was joking, he can't mean any of these things.