Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (34 page)

“Can I help you, sir?” Carter called as he
leaned against the open passenger door.

“No, no.” He waved his hand to get his point across. I noticed some tattoos on the backs of his hand and fingers. “I was just going to see if the young lady needed some assistance.”

“Yeah, we’ve got it,” Carter called back.

The guy turned and headed back toward his Paul-like buddy who was still lingering near the bushes.

Carter moved around the car to stand right beside me as we watched the two men disappear behind the shrubs.

As
they disappeared, another memory popped into my head.

However, it was Carter who voiced what I was thinking.
“That other guy…” he hesitated, “…he kinda reminds me of Ashton’s dad.”

Yeah, exactly what I was thinking…

Carter finished pumping the gas and put the nozzle away for me. I was a little shaken, but I tried not to let it show. I had been expecting something terrible to happen at any minute, and maybe that guy had been being genuinely nice, but my instincts told me otherwise.

And if that
was Ashton’s dad… What the hell did that mean?

He
’d had the book with all the vampire names listed in it, the one Oliver had taken from his office…

Too
many crazy and possibly horrifying scenarios were flying through my mind as I drove back to the apartment.

Oliver was back from getting his blood drawn by the time we got home. Carter and I replayed what happened, all but the rocking-out part.

Oliver was concerned. “Maybe I shouldn’t go tomorrow,” he said. Oliver was planning to go to Brookehaven to document our bonding.

“You can’t put it off any longer, Oliver,” I said, wishing he didn’t have to go.

He had only two days left to get to Brookehaven and document the fact he had made me his. My stomach dropped at the thought of that moment—the moment he had become mine.

He gave me a funny look
, and I shook my head to tell him it was nothing. But it wasn’t nothing, it was everything, and he needed to go to Brookehaven and get the documenting over with before he got penalized. I didn’t ask what kind of trouble he would get into, and he didn’t offer to tell me. I would just rather not find out.

Carter offered to stay with me at every moment that he could. Surprisingly, this seemed to ease Oliver. This was especially surprising considering it was still hard for Oliver to control his emotions when it came to Carter, but he was trying, really hard, to accept the fact Carter was a permanent part of our lives. He was doing a pretty damn good job.

Oliver called Felix and asked him to stay with Carter and me the following night.

You see, Oliver had to stay overnight at Brookehaven. Apparently, when you arrive, you have to stay for a full twenty-four hours before you can leave again. Something to do with security.

So, very early the next morning, Oliver left for Brookehaven. I couldn’t fall back to sleep after he left because I could feel him getting too far away from me. It was like a tug in my chest and a strain on my heart. It was hard to focus on anything but him and the ache his distance was causing. If it was this bad for me, I imagined it must have been nearly unbearable for Oliver.

I couldn’t
even
imagine what it was like for Levi to be separated from Nikki like he was. No wonder he was desperate to take her home with him.

Instead of lying there focusing on the discomfort I felt without my man, I got up and busied myself around the apartment. I cleaned, took a shower, got ready for the day, and even made pancakes.

Carter was up as soon as he smelled food. He was a happy guy with pancakes first thing in the morning.

“Don’t get used to it,” I told him.

He grinned at me with pancakes between his teeth. Nasty.

Later that day, I met with my counselor. I had already taken an incomplete when I dropped my bio class,
and now I was getting two more because I was dropping my English and math classes.

Because I had missed midterms, my grades had slipped, badly. I
didn’t want to beg for a make-up exam from either of those professors, especially since running away from my problems and bonding with my vampire boyfriend probably wasn’t grounds for a make-up.

Needless to say, my transcript was looking
far from fantastic.

My counselor, Mr. Niemus, was rather judgmental over my choices, which I found
very unprofessional of him. He annoyed me. I’m sure it didn’t help that I was getting kind of sick of seeing his pompous (as Amber would say) ass.

As I was leaving, h
e informed me that if it wasn’t for my “connections,” I would have been kicked out of the university altogether. Probably long ago.

I was pretty sure that by “connections,”
he was referring to Felix.

And
Yeah, I got it. I wasn’t the ideal student.

Happy with my choices, I headed for our tree to eat
the lunch I had brought along while I waited for astronomy to begin. I didn’t drop astronomy because I figured Amber would let me make up my midterm. I didn’t have a problem begging her if she refused. I knew she would understand. Plus, I still wanted to talk to her about paranormal studies and my future in that field.

When I reached our tree, I found that at some point, Oliver had carved our names into the trunk with a heart surrounding them. I took a picture and texted it to him and told him that I loved him. A few seconds later he returned the message with a winky face.

With an uncontrolled smile on my face, I took a seat under our tree and stared out across the grass for a few minutes.

Along with a numerous amount of fallen leaves, students littered the lawn on the cool, sunny day. I too enjoyed the warmth of the sun.

The sky was a clear blue without a cloud to be found. I took a deep breath, feeling relieved over giving up the classes I had dropped.

It wasn’t like I was giving up on my education altogether, I was
only putting parts of it on hold. Possibly permanently. Depending on what my future held.

I ate my lunch while skimming my astronomy text. It had been a long time since I had spent any time studying. Unless studying every inch of Oliver counted. If I was tested on him, I would no doubt ace the exam.

A pristine pair of men’s Vans came into view while I pored over my astronomy book and munched on apple slices.

“Hey, Laney,” a familiar and unwelcomed voice said.

“Keep walking,” I responded, not even looking up.

Ashton laughed me off, arrogantly of course.

He took a seat under
our
tree. How dare he!

“I know you think you hate me, but—”

I cut him off. Looking directly into his blue eyes, I said, “I don’t
think
I hate you, I
know
I do.”

He laughed me off again, while at the same time I slyly called Oliver, turning the volume way down on my phone and putting it on speaker.

“I had to gain your trust, Laney,” Ashton said in a tone that clearly tried to convey he was being serious.

“Well, you failed. I have never trusted you. I never will.” I had my phone sitting on the open astronomy book in my lap. I glanced down to make sure it was still connected to Oliver. It was.

“Sure you do,” Ashton said, smugly. Then he added, “There was a time when you really trusted me. I know we can get that back.” He flashed me what I was sure he thought was an attractive smile.

I had to take a moment before responding so I could try to control the convulsive shudder his words had caused. “If you believe that, then you are obviously insane.”

Once again, he laughed, blowing off my comment.

I’m sure Oliver was freaking out, and if he
wasn’t already at Brookehaven, I’m positive he would’ve been speeding toward the school at that very moment.

Ashton’s laughter died away. His smug smile vanished. “It’s Avery,” he said, lowering his voice and leaning a little closer to me.

I leaned away.

“They’re going to kill her.”

Not that I cared, but I asked anyway, “Who’s ‘they’?”

He didn’t answer me, because right then, Avery, her hair back to being bleached-blond—if that’s what you could call the color—happened to walk by.

I was pretty sure they had planned this.

Ashton chased her down, tugging on her arm to stop her. She spun on him. She still looked like shit. She was thinner than usual, her hair seemed somewhat unkept, and she wasn’t wearing her usual slutty attire. Instead, she was in jeans, a sweater, and running shoes… Pretty sure I had never seen Avery in running shoes in public since we’d had PE together in high school.

I watched them argue. They were just out of earshot so I couldn’t make out their words. I picked up my phone and put my ear to it, letting Oliver know I was there. I kept my eyes on the arguing Weslins and an ear to Oliver, who was extremely unhappy.

“What’s going on? Where are you? Why is he there?” Oliver asked in one breath.

I explained where I was and how Ashton had come to be near me.

“Get away from him now, Laney,” Oliver growled. “Either find Carter in his class or call Felix to come get you. Do not go anywhere alone, stay where there are lots of people.”

I agreed to do what he said. I glanced around. I could see Carter heading my way as I shoved my book into my bag, and I told Oliver this as he was grumbling about not being there to protect me.

“Good. Stay with him, even if you have to go to his classes with him.”

I thought he was going a little overboard. Yeah, sure, it was wise I kept my distance from Ashton, but not to the extreme of being glued to Carter.

While I zipped my backpack, I glanced back to where Avery and Ashton were. Avery was crying, her arms folded across her overinflated chest. Ashton was being his normal domineering self.

I was about to stand when I noticed something. Ashton had left his backpack there beside me. I told Oliver, and he surprisingly encouraged me to peek.

I set my phone on my knee and began to snoop. I didn’t have to dig far. The middle zipper pocket, the first one that I opened, contained a book, worn and leather-bound. It
looked like some sort of journal. I flipped it open. Across one of the first pages was hand written: A Guide to Killing Unnatural Creatures. The “unnatural” was underlined several times.

With a shaky hand, I lifted my phone to my ear and whispered what I had found.

Very clearly and calmly, Oliver said, “Take it and run.”

I shoved the book into my backpack and jumped to my feet.

“Get out of there, now, Laney,” Oliver hissed.

I did. I hurried toward Carter who looked at me with concern as I reached him.

I glanced back. Ashton and his sister were still arguing. Well, Ashton was lecturing and his sister was crying. I wasn’t surprised; it was her go-to move.

Grabbing Carter’s hand, I hurried us out of view of the Weslins. I told him what I found while still holding the phone to my ear. It was making Oliver crazy that he
couldn’t get to me at the moment.

We already had our suspicions that Ashton was in cahoots with the slayers
and possibly even the werewolves, but as we flipped through the journal, we were thrown for a loop. It wasn’t specific to the vampire slayers or the werewolves—it seemed to cover every supernatural creature, and even those who hunted them.

A Yucky Confession

Carter and I rushed home and hid the book in Oliver’s secret fridge before returning to the college. We did our best to act
like nothing had happened—like we hadn’t just stolen something from Ashton.

Somewhat nervously, we parted ways and headed for our separate classes.

When I had gotten off the phone with Oliver, he told me he was going to request an early release from Brookehaven. He was also making sure Felix would be hovering about very soon.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t take care of myself in the event Ashton or something worse came along
, it was more of an added precaution, just in case whoever came along wasn’t alone. Plus, being merely human, it wasn’t like I had a lot of mad skills to use to protect myself. My elbow, perhaps?

When my astronomy class was over, and I was
heading to the front of the room so I could ask Professor Amber if she had time to talk, I got a text from Felix letting me know he was waiting for me outside of my class.

With a sigh, I waved to Amber as I turned and headed for the exit. From behind her desk, she lifted her delicate hand in return. I was disappointed that I
didn’t get to speak with Amber. I decided I would make sure to talk to her later, after paranormal studies.

Felix was right outside the door. I didn’t understand why he
hadn’t just come inside. But I sure as hell didn’t miss the fact that he made sure to catch a glimpse of Amber before the door closed behind me.
Men.