Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (29 page)

I dumped her naked body on the bed and gazed down at her for a second, images of what I was about to do to her played through my mind. Then I was on top of her, my mouth on hers.

She wasn’t quite ready as I forced myself inside her, but I couldn’t wait. She cried out, and it only made me pound harder and faster.

The night became a blur.

When I woke early the next morning, all of my urges had been satisfied, and flashes of what I had done to my fiancée played through my mind.

I sat up, terrified I’d hurt Kiera. I found her beside me. She was naked, wrapped in the sheet, and asleep, hugging a pillow.

Relieved, I gently kissed her shoulder. She moaned happily.

I was sore and starving, and I felt bad for what I’d done to her—how I’d used her body to cure my raging Were…hormones? Is that what they are now?

I kinda laughed to myself when I thought about it. It was definitely my time of the month, and Kiera had taken it in stride.

But now it was time for food. Then all happiness faded and I mentally freaked as I realized I hadn’t used a rubber.

Oh, shit… No…

How the hell could I let this happen? I felt like I was going to throw up. How could Kiera let this happen? She was always so adamant about birth control.

No, we’d be fine. Right?

Shit!

What the fuck would we do? We don’t even own a goddamn car! I can’t even afford to buy myself a new pair of shoes, let alone feed, cloth
e, and house a child!

Shit! Shit! Shit!

I couldn’t believe this had happened. I couldn’t believe either of us could let this happen.

I slipped out of the bed
, used the bathroom, and then put back on the clothes I’d borrowed from Oliver.

Isn’t there some sort of “day after” thing she can take? Would she take it?

Kiera stirred as I opened the bedroom door.

“Where are you going?” she asked sleepily, rolling over and facing me. One of her
tits popped out from behind the sheet. Had I not been terrified out of my mind, I would’ve taken it as an invitation, especially since she was doing nothing to put the sucker away.

But, as it was, I was freaking out! And I didn’t have an answer for her. I honestly didn’t know where the hell I was going. Maybe I was going to run away. Maybe I was going to find Felix and freak out, hoping he’d have answers. I really didn’t know
!

I turned back and moved closer. I sat on the edge of the bed. I looked down at my possibly impregnated fiancée. She smiled at me. She looked happy, happier than I’d seen her look in a long while.

“You okay?” I asked.

She nodded as she stretched, the other
tit popping out from behind the sheet.

“Last night was amazing,” she said as she reached for me and pulled me down for a kiss.

“You’re not freaked that we didn’t use anything?” I asked when my lips left hers. I watched her expression quickly change.

Right then is when Kiera freaked out. Apparently, she
was also unaware of our lack of birth control.

She was up, sheet wrapped tightly around her, and she was screaming at me for being so irresponsible.

She got dressed, angrily, and demanded I take her home. She threw the bedroom door open and stormed out of the room and down the hall.

Felix came out of his office at the other end of the hallway and watched us as I followed Kiera to the front door.

“You okay?” he asked in my mind.

I told him I’d call him later.

Kiera was silent in the car as we started out of the neighborhood gates. She had her arms crossed over her chest and her face straight forward.

“I’m so sorry, Kiera. I wasn’t myself last night.”

She turned and glared at me. “How dare you,” she sort of growled. “This could ruin my entire plan, and you try to play it off that you weren’t yourself! You knew exactly what you were doing last night!”

“
Your
plan?” I questioned, throwing her a quick glance.

“You know what I mean.” She gave an irritated wave of her hand. She faced forward again, her arms crossed once more.

“Yeah, I think I do,” I grumbled.

“You’ll be the one quitting school to take care of
it
,” she said angrily.

I pulled to the side of the road and slammed on the brakes. “Fuck you, Kiera.”

“Excuse me?” She turned to me.

“You heard me,” I seethed. “You say you want to be supportive and more understanding, but you’re just acting selfish. Everything is about
you! You don’t care what happens to anyone as long as it doesn’t interfere with
your
plan.” I was so angry, I was growling, and my chest was heaving. “I wasn’t even thinking last night, Kiera! I would never do that on purpose, and you know it!”

“I—I…” she stuttered.

I pulled back onto the road and sped up. I was pissed. This didn’t affect just her.

“You wouldn’t have to have it, you know,” I said, a lump forming in my throat. “I’ve heard there’s some sort of pill you can take that prevents it from actually happening,” I said, trying not to choke on my words. “I can stop at the drugstore and see if I can find it.” I swallowed hard. “Otherwise we wait, and if we need to, we make an appointment…to end it.”

I felt like I was going to be sick. My knuckles turned white as I gripped the steering wheel. I stared forward and gritted my teeth as I fought back stupid, angry, and terrified tears.

She started crying. Buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

I pulled over again and pulled her to me. She sobbed against my shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she blubbered. I rubbed her back until she calmed down.

She apologized again, then we talked, calmly, about our choices. Kiera was very sensitive to any sort of medication; even an ibuprofen would make her sick, so we figured this pill thing would probably kill her, or at least hospitalize her. It wasn’t worth the risk.

“We have time to figure out what to do,” she said, explaining that she wasn’t due to start her nasty lady-thing for a few weeks still.

She kissed me and apologized again before I took her back to her parents
’ house.

This was gonna be a long three weeks.

Home Dreaded Home

Levi had been certain that Nikki would show up at the hotel on Friday. She never did. It was sad to watch his hope and conviction fall. Very sad.

He moped around our room all day. It was fine,
because had he not, Oliver and I might have continued our previous baby argument. We just needed time and the frustration would fade. Plus, I was only nineteen, it wasn’t like starting a family was at the top of my To-Do list just yet.

On Saturday afternoon, we checked out of the hotel, and on that very dreary day, we took a very melancholy Levi to the airport.

He hugged us as one, wrapping his arms around both of us as he was getting ready to head through that single door to the private hangar and board his plane.

“Do not let each other go,” he said with sorrow dripping from his words. He turned and walked away.

Oliver held on tight to my hand as we watched Amber’s brother leave the waiting area.

As we walked back out to the car, Oliver kissed the backs of my fingers. “Promise me that you will never leave me,” he said as he pulled me closer.

“You know I can’t,” I said, a playful smile on my lips. Repeating words he had told me so many times, I said, “Promises are for those who can’t keep them.”

A crooked grin formed on his lips as he looked down at me. “That’s my girl.” He kissed my forehead
, then opened the passenger door for me.

After leaving the airport, we hit the freeway and headed for home.

It was overcast, which put a damper on my mood. I was already dreading going home, and the gloomy weather was doing nothing for my spirits.

I was dreading dealing with school, reality, and especially Ashton and Avery. I was certain they weren’t done with…whatever it was they were trying to do.

Plus, Oscar was free and out there somewhere, and I was sure he would pay us a visit at some point.

Then there was all the other crap that came with going home.

“Why are we going back?” I asked after a long stretch of silence.

“We can’t stay away forever, Laney.” With his eyes on the road ahead, he pulled my hand to his lips and kissed the backs of my fingers. He bumped the Demon’s Kiss on the back of my hand with his chin and immediately apologized when I cringed. He gently kissed the back of my bandage.

As long as I ignored it and didn’t touch it, the gift Zane had given me was tolerable.

“We could at least stay away the next two weeks, until you go back to work,” I said, a bit hopeful.

He sighed. “I want to stay away as much as you do.”

“But?” I said, knowing there was a but coming. There was always a but.

“But,” he said, flashing me an irresistible half-smile, “we both have stuff to do. Like I said before, let’s get through this school year. Okay?”

“Then what?” I was tired of hearing
the “Let’s get through the next semester” crap. I wanted something to look forward to. I
needed
something to look forward to, rather than just trying to stay alive that long.

“Let’s just wait and see, Laney. Please?”

It was my turn to sigh, but mine was more like a big huff. “I am sorry to keep bugging you, but I hate it there. I feel like I’m just waiting for the next terrible thing to happen. I want something good to look forward to, to keep me going.”

“I don’t keep you going?” he questioned, the hint of a smile appearing.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head in disbelief. “You know what I mean.”

This conversation continued, but it went nowhere, as usual. Eventually, I gave up and just stared out the window.

It sprinkled most of the way, which made the thought of going home even drearier.

As we rode along in silence, I wondered how Oliver was going to be with Carter now that we were bonded. They seemed
like they had worked out their issues a bit before we left, but I wondered if the fact we’re bonded was going to make Oliver a grump-ass when Carter and I hung out.

Oliver seemed fine, so far. I hadn’t noticed any differences in his behavior. At least nothing too extreme. He didn’t go around ripping other guys’ heads off when they glanced my way. This was a good sign, but Carter and I were really close, and that worried me a little.

As more thoughts filled my head, I came to the realization that I was kind of hoping to encounter Ashton, just to see if Oliver would rip off his head without hesitation. I pictured it, and I giggled to myself. I know, disturbing, right?

To fill the silence, and hopefully ease my mind of its countless worries, I turned on the radio. Oliver had his stations set
, and I scrolled through them, finding that my boyfriend seemed to favor alternative rock. This made him even sexier. I was a big alternative rock fan myself.

I also realized this was something I should
have known about my mate. However, Oliver never turned on the radio when we were in the car.

I sat back in my seat and tried to relax. Good music always helped relieve stress, and it was a great distraction for the moment.

Once back home, I trudged up the steps at the apartment complex. I lagged behind as I followed Oliver to our apartment. Carter wasn’t home and my car wasn’t there, so it was safe to assume he was out or working.

Oliver and I got busy sorting laundry—we had a lot of it—and doing other mundane crap that I was not thrilled about.

While sorting laundry, we discovered that we had brought home a large amount of the beach with us—there was sand everywhere! Not only was it in our clothes and in the car (which did not make Oliver happy), there was sand on the bristles of our toothbrushes, stuck to the toothpaste tube, and in other odd places.

I sighed as I hung up the black dress that Oliver had bought for me. I stood in front of the closet for a moment, admiring the dress and replaying the good parts of the night that
went with it.

Oliver was behind me a moment later. He pressed his lips to the top of my head and rubbed both of my arms. “We’ll do it again sometime,” he said softly.

I turned to face him. I slipped my arms around him and pulled him closer to me. “Now works for me,” I responded, with my cheek pressed against his chest.

He laughed then went back to sorting our dirty clothes, some of which held more sand than others.

It made me sad that our trip was over—that the memories were just that, memories. Now it was back to reality.

Reality kind of sucked.

We spent the next couple of hours dealing with laundry while we sat in the apartment complex’s laundry room. Oliver brought his laptop and was getting caught up on some emails. He informed me Felix wanted the results to his next blood test so he could compare them. This concerned me, but Oliver reassured me that Felix wasn’t worried about the elevated whatevers, he was just curious at this point.