Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (38 page)

“Ah,” I said as I put on my seatbelt. I assumed Oliver had planned to sneak up on Ashton. I wished he had snuck up on the bastard, you know, so maybe he could have hit him, just once.

Carter climbed into the front passenger seat. He glared out the windshield, watching Ashton and Felix who were next to Ashton’s car. Carter continued to glare as he watched Felix, his little black doctor’s bag sitting on the top of Ashton’s car, take a vial of Ashton’s blood.

“Do you think he was really telling the truth?” I asked.

“I don’t think he ever tells the truth,” Carter grumbled.

Carter seemed to be having a harder time with this whole…whatever it was, than Oliver and me. Maybe that was because Oliver and I were just relieved whatever happened did not go on any longer. And maybe the fact Carter and Ashton had once been close was having something to do with why Carter was taking things so personally.
Maybe.

When Felix finished with Ashton, he opened one of the back doors and told me that he wanted a sample of my blood as soon as possible. So he took it right then. We were heading back to town a moment later.

Oliver kept one arm around me and with the other, he held onto my hand like he was afraid I would vanish.

It
was quiet for a long while by the time Oliver leaned closer to me and, very quietly, said, “That was the worst feeling I have ever experienced.”

I looked over at him. His pained green eyes held mine.

“You didn’t know me…I could feel it,” he said, his fingers tightening on mine. “I frightened you, but I could feel that you were also…torn.” He paused, looking down at our fingers laced together. His eyes met mine once again. “The worst part was that you trusted Ashton.”

I had no clue what to say. It terrified me, too, that somehow something had made me forget Oliver, and so easily. It also scared the hell out of me that whatever had caused me to forget Oliver somehow made me put all of my trust into the one person I should have no trust in at all.

“I was dreaming about you,” I told him. “I didn’t know you, but I wanted to.” This was the only thing I could think of to reassure him.

“That’s good news,” he whispered. The hint of a smile appeared.

“I told you we would always find each other,” I said quietly, then I gently pressed my lips to his.

Oliver kept his arm around me the rest of the way home. He also kept my hand in his, possibly to prevent me from scratching at it. For some reason, my hand had really started bugging me while we were at my aunt’s, but it was fading back to its usual dull irritation as we got closer to home.

Felix dropped the three of us off at the apartment complex. He informed us that he would be in touch if he found anything unusual in the blood he had taken from Ashton and me.

I draped my arms around Oliver’s neck and rested my head on his chest while he carried me up the stairs to our apartment.

Carter left for a run as soon as we got home, and Oliver and I sat on the couch, just holding each other for a very long and silent time.

“Did anything happen between the two of you while you thought you were…his?” I could hear the tension in Oliver’s voice as he asked me this question. This whole ordeal had put a bigger strain on him than it had on me.

I sighed. “One quick peck,” I confessed. His grip tightened around me. “Oh, and he kissed me on the cheek.”

Oliver groaned very quietly.

I trailed my fingers along his forearm. “He asked me if I wanted to make out and I told him no.” He didn’t respond. “I just kept thinking about how it wouldn’t be fair to him because I would be thinking of you.”

One small laugh escaped him.

I put my head back and looked up at him. His beautiful pools of emerald settled on my eyes. Noticing he had gotten it cut while he’d been away from me, I ran my fingers through his shorter-than-usual hair. His eyes closed as he enjoyed my touch. His curls were gone, leaving only the light, golden-brown waves.

“It will always be you, Oliver. Even when I don’t have a clue who you are, it will always be you.”

His eyes opened, and they held so much love for me. A faint smirk appeared on his lips just before they met mine.

This was the craziest shit, ever! I’d just woken up, to screaming no less. And I still wasn’t sure I was actually awake, or if I was having some sick, twisted nightmare.

I bolted out of my room as soon as I heard Laney scream, but when I realized Felix was still there and that Oliver was with her, I headed straight back to my room and threw on some clothes, and then I headed for the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Then shit got all sorts of crazy.

Laney didn’t know who the hell Oliver was, and Ashton showed up to save the day or some shit! All kinds of craziness happened, and then Oliver launched himself at Ashton.

I was all for Oliver ripping Ashton apart, but Felix hollered at me to help separate them. Reluctantly, I grabbed Ashton by the arms and held them behind him to hold him back. I’m sure it was merely a coincidence that Felix took a couple seconds longer before detaining Oliver.

I’m sure of it. (Insert wicked grins on both our faces.)

Laney bolted, and a squirming Ashton escaped my grasp while Felix was trying to calm Oliver. I was distracted because Oliver was grabbing his chest like there was a problem…like with his heart. I was trying to listen to what Felix was saying when my grip slipped. I was after Ash in a heartbeat, and the guys were right on my heels.

Unfortunately, Ashton was fast enough to get Laney into his car before we could take him down again.

On foot, the three of us chased after Ashton’s car until he hit the street and sped off. With Laney with him. I was pissed. And seriously confused. But Oliver, he just dropped to his knees right there on the asphalt. He let out an earth-shattering scream—I guess it was actually more like a roar…a scream would seem like a sissy thing to do in his situation. His chest was heaving and his body slacked.

While Oliver took a few minutes to pull himself together, I asked Felix two things. First, “What the hell is going on?” And second, “What the hell are we going to do?”

I wanted to ask about what I’d overheard upstairs, but Oliver appeared fine, physically anyway, so I dropped it.

Before Felix could respond to me, Oliver spoke. “What’s happening?” he said, not moving or looking up from the asphalt. His voice was strained.

“Carter, where’s the journal,” Felix abruptly asked.

“Laney took it to her room last night,” I told him.

Without hesitation, he took off up the stairs, taking like three of them at a time.

I grabbed Oliver’s arm and heaved him off the asphalt of the parking lot so a car could pass.

Felix was already heading back our way as we cleared the top step. He gestured for us to head back down, and the three of us hurried to Felix’s SUV.

Once we were in the truck and on our way to Lilly’s, assuming that’s where Laney and Ashton had gone since she’d screamed that she was going home, Felix made a call to somebody named Melody.
I listened while he explained the details of what had happened and told her about the journal plus some photos he’d apparently found in it.

The journal was sitting in the console tray between us. I reached for it to see what pictures he was talking about, but he smacked my hand away. I glared at him, and under my breath, I called him a choice name.

“It is no doubt witchcraft,” Felix said as he ended his call. “Possibly some sort of spell for selective amnesia.”

“That doesn’t explain her sudden trust in Ashton,” I stated.

Oliver groaned from where he was sprawled across the backseat.

“No, it does not…” Felix agreed.

“Why did she call you papa?” I asked, after figuring neither of them was going to elaborate on the situation.

“How should I know? Why can’t she remember Oliver?” Felix responded. He was just about shouting at me. He apologized a minute later. It was fine. We were all totally freaked.

As we got closer to Lilly’s place, Felix spoke, “Oliver, we cannot do this if you are not with us. You need to focus on the task at hand, not where your mind is taking you right now.”

I turned to look back at Oliver. He pushed himself up, looking seriously miserable.

“Here’s the plan…” Felix began.

Felix dropped
Oliver and me off just out of sight of Laney’s aunt’s house. We hightailed it through the trees, and I had no problem keeping up with Oliver’s vampire speed. We headed around to the back of the house where we waited for Felix to occupy Laney and Ashton’s attention. Then we would come in the back, undetected. Unfortunately, when Oliver saw Ashton’s arm around Laney while Felix confronted Ashton about the journal, Oliver busted through the back door. We were far from stealthy.

Again, there was a whole shitload of craziness that took place before we were able to break the curse, or whatever the hell it was that was causing Laney to forget Ashton was a dumbass weasel.

Oliver took off after Laney, and I hurried to block her path from the living room to the back door. The look she gave me when she saw me standing in her way was almost heartbreaking. I was tempted to let her pass. Almost.

So, when Oliver was finally able to grab Laney, Felix tossed me the journal. I was supposed to catch that sucker on fire, but that damn book wouldn’t light!

I tried over and over, and when I was finally able to get that sucker to catch a flame, I dropped it—because no one had thought that part through, the me holding a burning book part.

The journal ended up leaving a scorch mark on the wood floor. Thankfully, Laney was too preoccupied to notice I’d just left a burn mark pretty much right where we’d found her aunt’s body. She’d obviously gotten her memory of Oliver back, considering her lips were glued to his. I had to look away.

Ashton started spewing a bunch of nonsense, and I didn’t believe any of the bullshit that came out of his mouth, no matter what Felix said. It pissed me off that the others were willing to take him for his word. He was a gifted liar. I mentally expressed this to Felix on the way home.

Laney and Oliver were taking the shit really well, and that just pissed me off even more. That bastard would stop at nothing to get her, I just knew it! They needed to be pissed, or worried, or something! But no, they just held each other and shit!

When we got back to the apartment, I was still too angry to function. I went for a run, but I took a different route than usual. This time I headed toward Ashton’s frat house.

A line of tall hedges separated the frat house and the house next door. I made my way up into the neighbor’s yard, creeping along the bush, hoping the neighbors wouldn’t rat me out.

Once I was just across from the porch of the frat house, I pushed my way through the hedge. I popped out on the other side and ducked behind some bushes next to the frat’s porch. I lingered there, peering out of my hiding spot like a creepy pervert, waiting to see or hear anything.

For a long while, all
was quiet, maybe a few voices inside, but nothing I could use.

When Ashton’s car finally pulled up and parked
in front of the house, my legs were beginning to cramp.

I ducked lower, moving forward through the bush, trying not to make it move too much. I could see that he was alone inside his car. It looked like he was making a call or checking his messages. Either way, he had his phone in his hand.

As stealthily as possible, I crept out of the porch bushes, the branches scratching the exposed skin of my legs and my arms as I protected my face with my hands. I didn’t need another scar to make me any uglier, that was for sure. I pushed back through the hedge to the other side, scanned for nosey neighbors, then, ducking low, I hurried toward the street.

When I reached the sidewalk,
I crouched as low as I could and scanned the area before making my way to the side of Ashton’s car.

Once I made it to the passenger side, I was crouched lower than the damn window, which was pretty freakin’ low. I pretended to be tying my shoe in case anyone noticed me, and I was sure to be noticed considering the amount of roid monkeys living in the frat house. At any moment, one of those idiots was gonna look out the window or come outside, and I’d be caught. But, as long as I acted like I was only tying my shoes, maybe they wouldn’t be bright enough to catch on to my real goal, which was catching Ashton.

As I continued to play like my shoe needed some sort of special knot I couldn’t master, I found luck smiling down on me. Ashton’s windows were opened a few inches.

“What kind of bullshit was that? You didn’t tell me I was going to be a part of this shit, and I told you to leave her out of it!” He paused for a second, I assume
d to listen to whoever he was yelling at. “Bullshit! You’re not calling the shots on this!” Another pause. “We had an agreement!” Another pause. “I don’t care what you do with him, but she’s mine!”

He didn’t say anything for a minute. I thought maybe I’d been found out, but then he spoke, his voice had lowered,
but he was still angry. “It’s none of your business what I want with her.” He said nothing more and he was suddenly getting out of his car.