Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (24 page)

When I woke the next morning, Oliver was gone, but Levi wasn’t.

I don’t think I ever moved so fast. I all but fell off the edge of the bed when I opened my eyes to find myself in bed with a sleeping Levi. A shirtless sleeping Levi who was way too close to me
! I know it was probably a dream for many girls, but it wasn’t mine!

I bolted out of the bedroom and
found Oliver in the front room. He was on the couch with his laptop on the coffee table. He was leaning forward, peering at the screen when I just about flew out of the bedroom.

He slowly turned his head and looked at me with wide eyes. “You okay?” he asked as he straightened.

“No!” I hissed. “What the hell is the deal with leaving me in there with him?”

“What’s the big deal?” he asked, his brow pinching together in confusion.

“I—” I stopped. Then I opened my mouth and closed it a couple of times as I tried to find the right words. “I don’t know!” I finally snapped. “I’m gonna shower!” I stormed back into the bedroom. I gathered my clothes, then I locked myself in the bathroom.

After I showered and calmed down, Oliver and I left a sleeping Levi in our bed, and we headed out to take a walk down by the river.

Our walk was nice, as was the weather. Then, before heading back to our room, we picked up a few things at a farmer’s market that was going on downtown.

Levi was gone by the time we got back, but he came knocking later that evening while Oliver and I were making an early dinner.

“Have you heard from her?” he asked when Oliver answered the door.

“No, she’s not responding to me,” Oliver told him.

“Try her again, please,” Levi pleaded, his accent a little stronger when he was emotional.

Oliver took a deep breath and exhaled loudly as he grabbed his phone from the counter and sent Nikki a message. I could see that he was beginning to get frustrated being the middle man.

Thankfully Nikki responded a few minutes later.

“What did she say?” Levi asked as he fiddled with Nikki’s engagement ring on his finger.

“She wants to be left alone.”

Levi stared at the ring on his hand for a moment, then he grinned wide as he looked at us. “She will be needing this back soon,” he said, holding up his hand and wiggling his pinky finger. Nikki’s engagement ring sparkled against the kitchen lights. “She will have to come back for it. When does she work next?” he questioned.

“She is off the rest of the week, for Thanksgiving,” Oliver told him as he joined me in the kitchen again.

This is when Levi’s grin spread even wider.
We’re talking creepy wide.

In the end, Levi decided we were all going to Nikki’s for Thanksgiving—a holiday
which Levi informed us was not celebrated where he was from.

Oliver and I both protested Levi’s plan, but somehow we were roped into it anyhow.

Then Levi invited himself to join us for dinner. And a movie. And the next day, when it rained and we stayed in and watched movies, he joined us then, too.

Levi was putting a serious kink in our alone time. So much in fact, at one point I considered sneaking Oliver off to the bathroom for a quick few minutes together.

But I didn’t. Mostly because Levi probably would have tried to follow us in there, too.

Turkey Day with Strangers

Once we were on the freeway, it took around thirty minutes to get to Nikki’s house. I must admit, I was super curious as to how our visit was going to go. I was also very nervous. I imagined Nikki would not be all that thrilled to see us. Especially Levi.

Nikki had told Oliver that she was hosting Thanksgiving at her house, and that most of her fiancé’s family would be there. It had not been an invitation, just an explanation why she was busy. An excuse, as Oliver told me.

So yeah, to say the least, this was bound to be an interesting adventure.

Levi claimed that we were only dropping the ring by, but in private, Oliver informed me to be prepared for anything, and to be prepared to stay.

We arrived in the mid-afternoon. Several cars were parked in front of Nikki’s one-story home, so we parked several houses down.

Levi kept to the shadows, trying to keep out of direct sunlight, as the three of us approached the tall front door. We could hear voices coming from inside. A lot of voices.

Levi stood a few feet behind us, shaded by the overhang of the house, while Oliver knocked on the door. He kept his fingers intertwined with mine while we waited.

After a couple of minutes, Oliver knocked again. A moment later, Nikki, dressed in a gray and black patterned skirt that hung past her knees, black knee-high boots, and a black, fitted, long-sleeved sweater, opened the door with a smile on her face. Her smile was quick to disappear when she saw us.

With a hasty glance behind her, she stepped out the front door and closed it behind her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked through gritted teeth.

Oliver
gave a nod toward Levi standing behind us.

Nikki’s eyes shifted and settled on Levi.

“You forgot this,” Levi said to her, holding up her engagement ring pinched between his thumb and index finger.

“Give me that,” she growled as she took a few steps toward Levi.

She reached for the ring, but he pulled his hand away and out of her reach.

“Give her the ring, Levi,” Oliver said as we watched Nikki and Levi staring each other down, neither of them willing to budge.

There was a slight smile on Levi’s face, but Nikki was full on glaring.

She held out her hand for the ring.
“Give it to me.”

Levi’s grin widened. He shook his head.

“You’re an ass,” she told him.

“So you’ve said,” he lovingly responded.

The door opened behind us. Nikki froze.

“What are ya doin’ out here, babe? Sissy said the potatoes are boiling—Oh, hey, you didn’t tell me your cousin was comin’.”

We all turned to find a man standing just inside the open door. He was in jeans and a football jersey. He was a little pudgy in the middle. He had dark hair that looked like it needed a comb run through it, and he had a round face.

“Hey, Oliver,” the man said. He reached his hand out in greeting. Oliver did the same. “Nik didn’t tell me you were comin’. I see you brought guests.” The man smiled at me.

Nikki was suddenly by his side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her curly hair as he did so. She struggled for a second or two to get her hair free of his arm. He didn’t seem to notice.

I think it was safe to assume this guy was her fiancé. And believe me, he did not
even
compare to Levi in the looks department. And if what Oliver said about his personality was true, this guy was nothing compared to the gorgeous vampire standing just behind me. The one that was glowering and growling very quietly. I was impressed he hadn’t jumped his mate’s fiancé… Yeah, that just sounds weird and wrong.

“I didn’t invite them,” Nikki said in a rush. “They were, uh, just stopping by on their way through town.”

“Nah,” Nikki’s fiancé said, “you gotta stay. Nik’s made plenty of food, and we can make room. Come on in, the game’s on.”

“Uh, they’ve already got plans,” Nikki said, her eyes darting to Oliver’s, desperation in them.

“Actually, we do not,” Levi piped in before Oliver could help her out.

Nikki’s eyes grew huge, and then they narrowed on Levi.

I glanced back to catch him grinning at her.

“Great!” the fiancé said. “Come on in!” He grinned, his full, round cheeks giving him the appearance of a chipmunk.

We followed the fiancé inside as Nikki stayed put on the porch for a moment. As I passed her, she closed her eyes and dropped her head. I heard her mutter something, but I couldn’t make out exactly what it was. I think it may have been the f-word.

As Levi passed by her, he said, in a low voice, “You can have this back after dinner.” He flashed the ring in front of her face, then he shoved it deep in the front pocket of his jeans—jeans that fit perfectly, as always, along with the thin, dark blue, V-neck sweater that looked amazing on him.

As we stepped inside, the house full of people fell silent and turned toward us. I hugged myself to Oliver’s arm.

“Everyone, this here’s Nikki’s cousin Oliver and—” The fiancé stopped himself then turned to us. “I didn’t get your names,” he said.

“This is my girlfriend, Laney, and my friend, Levi,” Oliver told the fiancé.

“Good to meet you,” he said to Levi and me. “I’m Jace, and this here is everybody.” He turned back to the others and introduced Levi and me by name.

All I could think was,
this guy has no freaking idea his fiancée is sleeping with the tall hunk of man standing behind me
. I also thought about how these people had no idea two vampires had just walked into their home.

“Make yourselves at home,” Jace said. “We’ve got the game on in the other room if you’re interested.”

Levi made like he was interested, and he followed Jace into the next room, and the rest of the house’s eyes followed the tall, blond man’s movements.

Nikki walked back inside, and she smacked herself in the forehead as Levi and her fiancé walked away.

Oliver and I turned around to where Nikki was standing, her back against the front door.

“What the hell, Oliver?” she said in a low hiss.

“I’m sorry, Nikki. You know I have no control over him.”

She glared at Oliver. “I will never forgive you for this.”

“I know,” he quietly replied as she pushed past us.

Oliver
didn’t appear as if he felt bad, but rather, this was just another day in the life of dealing with Nikki and Levi.

Oliver had told me about some of their “troubles.”
Turns out, Nikki did seem to have a bit of her sister’s dramatic abilities. Yet, where Julz thought she deserved more, Nikki was just the opposite. She believed she didn’t deserve more than she had.

Oliver and I stood in the entryway for a few minutes. We talked quietly while pretending to be looking at the photos on the wall and on the entryway table.

I questioned why Nikki’s fiancé had called him her cousin. Oliver explained that this was what Nikki told people so they wouldn’t question her relationship with him. He also told me Nikki had an actual cousin that she was close to, so it made her lie that much more believable.

Next, I asked what the hell he was going to eat. “I’m good at pretending at the dinner table,” he said, flashing me a
half-smile.

I grinned back as I hung onto his arm. Then we wandered past the front room full of adults and kids to the kitchen in the next room.

Walking into someone’s house for the first time is always interesting. Nikki’s house was no exception. Her entryway wall was painted a deep blue color and had the silhouette of a tree on the wall behind the entryway table that was covered in picture frames. Picture frames also covered the wall, placed to look like they were hanging from and sitting on the tree branches.

Across from the entryway, there was a large room
with a computer desk under the front window and a large dining table at the other end of the room. A big, comfy-looking couch sat between the two as if it were a divider for the room. A matching loveseat was against the wall next to the couch.

We passed a hallway that was to the left, and we continued forward into another room. There was another hall, a smaller one, that looked like it led to a bedroom. This hall was also on the left.

As we entered the back of the house, I found that it opened to one big room that held the main living room, kitchen, and small dining area near the back door.

Nikki was in the kitchen. There was another woman with her who was cradling a small infant in her arms. The woman was talking, just babbling it seemed, to Nikki, but Nikki was too distracted to pay attention to what the woman was saying.

Nikki kept glancing over at Levi and her fiancé, who were both watching the football game with several other men. Levi was sitting on the arm of the couch, right beside Nikki’s fiancé. I knew Levi could take that man’s life in a heartbeat, but I think he found the situation more of a game, as if he was waiting to see who the winner might be. Of course he wanted it to be himself.

Oliver and I joined Nikki in the kitchen. We offered her our help, and she took it. She was so flustered. I actually felt bad for her even though a part of me felt she had brought this on herself. I mean, if
you’re engaged or even just in a relationship and you have sex with someone else, you’ve got to realize there are always consequences. Right?

As Oliver pulled the turkey from the oven for Nikki, I took a moment from gathering eating utensils to
observe the group of men watching a rather large TV. I could only see the backs of the their heads because the couch backed to the kitchen, but it was obvious Levi had picked the opposing team from Jace and the other men. This seemed to have started some sort of playfully heated banter. I knew Levi did this on purpose. The man was sitting in the home of his mate’s fiancé, watching a football game with the guy. He wasn’t here to make friends.