Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (49 page)

We were in the car, the doors were closed, and the engine was running. The tension was insane!

“I’m sorry,” I said, for starters. I turned so I could see them both. Laney didn’t look at me, but the Carter/Oliver in the backseat glanced at me for a split second. “I’m sorry for being an idiot and shoving that stupid bag in your face, and I’m sorry about this morning. I thought I was dreaming. I wouldn’t have done that had I known it was real.”

Laney looked out the window,
saying absolutely nothing to me. She just sat there, being upset and feeling mortified.

However, Oliver had something to say. “So, you’re telling me that, in a dream, you would sleep with my girlfriend?”

It was weird to hear my voice say those words and to be looking right at myself sitting in the backseat, angry and hurting.

Without acknowledging his comment, I said, “I don’t care if you’re both mad at me. I mean, I do care, but I don’t want you guys to be upset with each other.”

“I’m not upset with her. I just don’t want any part of your body anywhere near her.” This is what I watched my own mouth say to me.

Laney was still staring out her window. “Laney?” I questioned.

She quickly brushed away a tear and said, “Can we just go and get this over with?”

“Yeah,” I said sadly. I felt horrible, and so did everyone else.

We headed to Shakes, and I drove the Challenger with much less enthusiasm this time.

Poor Laney, she’d been through so much, and now this. I hated myself for whatever this was,
and for causing her more pain. I wanted to reach out and touch her, hold her hand, or hug her. But I was afraid she’d reject me. I was also afraid the version of me in the backseat might bash my head (his own head) against the steering wheel if I tried.

When we got to Shakes, Kiera wasn’t at the diner yet. Silently, the three of us took a booth and waited. Laney slid in beside the window and the other me slid into the seat across from her. He watched her while she gazed out the window. I sat beside her, but I
didn’t dare touch her.

The waitress came over, I knew her, and she happily greeted the other me. She was one of the nicer servers that worked at Shakes. It took Oliver a second to realize she was talking to him, then he smiled and responded, even caught her name off her nametag and personalized his greeting.

He was good.

He even told her that we needed a couple minutes before we ordered because we were waiting on
his
fiancée. Laney glanced over at him for a second. He didn’t see it though.

When our waitress left, Oliver grinned wide at me. It was creepy to look at myself like that. He had something wicked in mind, and he was about to share it with me.

He leaned forward, leaning over the table so he could speak quietly to me. Laney’s attention shifted to him. “I can eat,” he said, excitement in his quiet voice and in his emotions. “I can eat anything I want. And you can’t.” He sat back, pleased with himself.

Laney and I just stared at him
for a couple minutes.

Crap.
I hadn’t thought of this. Thankfully, I, as Oliver, wasn’t hungry. Oliver, on the other hand, or me, I should say, was.

I was a little nervous
over how excited he was. The boy hadn’t eaten anything but probably fruits and vegetables and blood for years. I was actually really afraid of what he might do to my body if this nightmare lasted very long.

When Kiera finally arrived, I was about to stand to hug her, but Laney grabbed my hand and held me in place. I looked to her and she shook her head slightly to remind me I wasn’t me.

“Hey, guys,” Kiera chipperly greeted the three of us. She scooted in beside my body and gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

Laney and I squeezed each other’s hand.

Well this is a new one…
Seeing Kiera sitting with and kissing the other me stirred up some feelings of jealousy. But I was torn because Oliver’s body felt like it was naturally drawn to Laney’s, like there was some force pulling me to her. It made me think about the weird thing she’d done that night we all found out about her angel. She’d pushed us away, maybe she could pull someone close. I also wondered if it had really even been her, and if so, did she know about it? Did either of them know? I’d never asked Felix anything about it because I’d been too pissed to talk to him. And then I just kinda forgot about it all together with everything else that was going on.

Our waitress returned and took our orders while I pondered these thoughts. Well, I wasn't eating, so she took everyone else’s orders. The other me (Oliver) ordered with a very unsettling twinkle in his stupid eyes. I was beginning to get irritated looking at myself.

After everyone ordered and the waitress headed off to the kitchen, Kiera turned to the Oliver in my body.

“What happened to classes this morning? I thought you were going. You know you need to stay on top of your grades. I would hate for you to get an incomplete or have to retake your classes.” She didn’t even give the Oliver/me a chance to respond before she turned to Laney. “What about you, Laney? Did you drop everything? You really should make up all of those credits next semester, otherwise you’ll be behind.” She paused a moment. “Well, I guess you have like an extra year, right? Since you started a year early. I guess you have time to screw off.”

Oh, shit.
The emotion I got from Laney right then made me scoot a few inches away from her. I felt the eyes I was seeing through widen while I saw the eyes in my own head across the table grow wide at that same moment.

“Yeah, well, I guess that puts me ahead of you then, doesn’t it?” Laney said in a tone that made Kiera zip her lips and sit back in her seat.

I shared a look with myself across the table. We needed to get ourselves back to our bodies before Laney lost it. She’d had enough. She was strong, but without either of us—me or Oliver—to be there for her to support her, she might just break.

Laney and Kiera weren’t really close anymore. I knew it bugged both of them, but I also wasn’t sure they’d ever get back to where they used to be. Laney’s aunt was gone, and she didn’t really have anyone else that she was close to other than Oliver and me. And right then, she didn’t really have that. I’d talk to Felix about it, they’d grown close over the past month or so, except for
the angel thing, but maybe they’d moved past it. She could probably benefit from talking to him. At least she knew he was him.

The food was delivered, and I watched the eyes in my former head widen in excited anticipation. My (Oliver’s) stomach dropped with nervousness.

Laney picked at her food and sucked on the straw of her chocolate shake, but she didn’t really eat. Oliver, on the other hand, he was pretty damn happy about his food. He moaned happily and devoured every bit of his burger. He dipped each and every fry into his ketchup, and he ordered a second soda, and he even ordered a chocolate shake because he said Laney’s looked good. She raised an eyebrow at him.

Kiera didn’t seem to notice any of this. It made me wonder if I always enjoyed my food in such a way and if Kiera was always oblivious.

“So, did you look at my ideas yet?” Kiera asked, turning to the me next to her.

We all focused on her, wondering what she was talking about. She was talking to me, the person she thought was me.

His eyes shifted to mine for a second. “I, uh, I’ll look at them tonight.”

“Okay, but I want you to tell me tomorrow which ideas you like best because we’re running out of time. The wedding is only two months from now, you know?”

Even though my insides were turning because the wedding was only two months away, the other me nodded and smiled at her. Once again, I was impressed with his skills. Even without his emotion detector, he knew how to respond.

Kiera then
told the other me that they needed to get going so they could get to the church and talk to the dude there. Of course she’d worded it differently. Then she excused herself to use the restroom.

The Carter across the table watched her go, then he looked right at me and said, “Your girlfriend is a pain in the ass.”

“Don’t I know it,” I responded, but the words came out of Oliver’s mouth.

With the straw
bitten between her teeth, a giggle escaped Laney, and she finally made eye contact with the me across the table from her. He smiled back. She quickly looked away, but I caught the hint of a smile before I couldn’t see her face any longer.

Kiera was a terrible driver. She was unsure of herself and rather spastic. However, we survived the drive to the church. I wasn’t looking forward to the ride back, and I didn’t think she would let me drive her parents’ car.

Kiera held my hand as we walked up the steps of a church. An older woman greeted us at the entrance.

“Mr. Thomas. Miss Blake. Right this way.”

She led us to an office, gestured for us to step inside, and then she left.

We took our seats in a couple of wooden chairs that sat facing a large, ornate desk. The office was very quiet.

I looked around the room, scanning my surroundings, taking in every item.
This was a habit of all Brookehaven Vampires—an exercise that had been ingrained in us as part of our training. It was now natural to take in every detail, every crooked frame, every layer of dust, the positions of every pen on the desk, and even the way our shoes sounded on the floor. Everything. We made mental notes. I was very good at mental notes.

“Gum?” Kiera asked.

I turned my attention to her. My first reaction was to politely decline, but then I remembered that I wasn’t me. I could eat anything, including gum.

“Sure,” I said. It startled me to hear Carter’s voice, but I did not show it.

Kiera riffled through her purse. She was pretty small, and her purse was pretty big in comparison to her size. When she retrieved the packet of gum, she held it out to me, her dainty fingers holding it loosely.

Hesitantly, I slid the silver-wrapped piece of gum from the packet. I
hadn’t had a piece of gum in over seventeen years. Hell, I really hadn’t had much of anything except fruits, vegetables, and blood for the past seventeen years.

T
he only bright side to this nightmare was food. That was it.

Thanking Kiera, I unwrapped the piece of gum. Placing it in my mouth, I chewed
it, happily. I forgot the enjoyment, the satisfaction a single piece of gum could bring.

Slouching down in the chair, as I assumed Carter would do, I enjoyed my little piece of happiness. I even attempted a bubble, though I knew it
wasn’t the bubble-blowing type.

Olivia always had gum on he
r. The one she liked was blue…I couldn’t recall the brand. The package was dark blue, and the gum itself was a lighter blue. That was all I could remember about it…

Thinking of my sister, and not being able to recall this little detail, shifted my mood.

I chewed my gum less vigorously. I glanced over at Kiera. She was looking around the room, eyeing the pictures hanging from the dark wood walls. She was paying no attention to me. That was fine.

The sudden image of how sad Laney looked as we had parted ways at Shakes flashed to mind. There had been many trying moments in my life; this
situation was one of the hardest.

Not being able to comfort her when she needed it, that was hard. It pissed me off that Carter was driving my car,
it actually made me physically ill, but the fact he had my girlfriend, my mate…that was killing me. But this was what someone wanted. I refused to give them the satisfaction. I would not let my pain and aggravation show. If anyone found out Carter and I weren’t ourselves, who knew what would happen. Whoever had a hand in this cruel joke was powerful. I feared what their ultimate goal might be.

A short
, older man entered the room. I recognized him. I straightened in my seat.

“Miss Blake. Mr. Thomas. How nice to finally see the two of you together,” he said. He gave Kiera some sort of look, as if he had meant something by his comment.

I never thought I would say this, but I missed my ability to feel people’s emotions.

I stood and extended my arm to shake the man’s hand as he reached his desk. He seemed slightly…surprised by my gesture.

Had I just made some sort of mistake? Had I just clued this man in on the fact I was not actually Carter Thomas. Or had I just insulted one of the leaders of the fae. Because that’s who he was. He was one of the fae elders, which meant this was a fae church, or rather, a fae sanctuary.

This information also meant Kiera’s grandmother had to be fae if she was insistent upon her granddaughter marrying in the fae sanctuary. It also meant Kiera was fae, too. At least part. She was probably half fae.

I glanced over at her as I returned to my seat. I wondered if she knew. I wondered how I had never noticed…

The fae elder (his name
was not important) took a seat behind his enormous desk which made him appear even smaller. He rested his forearms in front of him, near a mess of pens atop the desk. He steepled his fingers. His eyes shifted between Kiera and me until they finally settled on Kiera.