Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (64 page)

“Because I’ve seen the proof, Laney! And I keep seeing it!”

“No you haven’t!” I shouted back, and she hauled off and slapped me across the face.

I stood there, totally stunned and holding my cheek as she ran away.
What the…

“Laney,” I heard someone call. Ashton was jogging toward me from across the street, weaving between cars as they honked at him. “I thought I might find you here,” he said as he jogged closer. He stopped and stood before me. He glanced in the direction of where Kiera had disappeared. “What was that about?”

Zoey and Rudy were suddenly, and thankfully, next to me.

“Nothing,” I lied, dropping my hand to my side. My cheek stung and the cold night was not helping the rest of me. “What do you want, Ashton?”

He had an awful black eye, a nasty split lip that appeared to be healing, and a bandage on his wrist that very much resembled the one I was currently sporting.

I recalled Felix telling us something about finding Ashton beaten in the park,
and that they suspected it had been Oliver’s brother. Oscar was a wrist biter, which I knew all too well. If it were true, that Oscar had beat Ashton up and left him in the park, I didn’t think Ashton would be well enough to be out running through the streets of “Treeville” just yet.

Other than his physical appearance, he seemed just fine… Something seemed fishy.

The Demon’s Kiss on the back of my hand started itching worse than usual. I tried not to scratch it, but it was distracting me. I rubbed the back of my hand on my jeans while I stared at Ashton, waiting to see what crazy story he would have for me this time.

“I saw Avery with Oliver’s brother again,” he said.

“Okay…? Is that when he did that?” I said, pointing to his eye.

He looked at me funny for a moment, and then he said, “Oh, uh, yeah. But it wasn’t just him. I followed her when she was with him. They went to some weird little shack. If you come with me, I’ll show you.”

Wow! Serious red flag!

Even Zoey’s boyfriend caught that something was amiss
and moved a little closer to me.

“You know, I think I’ll pass,” I said, rubbing the back of my hand against my jeans once again.

Ashton’s attention shifted to my hand for a split second.

Rudy took a protective step forward, pulling Zoey closer to him and putting himself closer to me.

Ashton glanced over to Rudy and then his eyes were back on mine. “Um, uh, okay, Laney. I’m sorry I bothered you. I just thought you might help me with my sister.”

I had so many mean comebacks, but I chose to take the high
road. I guess maybe because my best friend had just caught me kissing her fiancé and then slapped me. So I said, “I’m really sorry, Ashton, I just can’t help you right now.”

I think Ashton thought I was mocking him
, because his face went dark. It was a sinister-looking expression—one I’d not seen on him before.

A chill ran down my spine
, and I took a step back, closer to Rudy and Zoey.

“You’ll be sorry,”
Ashton said under his breath, but it was just loud enough for the three of us to hear.

Rudy stepped in front of Zoey and me. “Did you just threaten my friend?” he questioned.

Ashton’s angry eyes flashed to Rudy’s. “You better step off, vamper, or you’re next.”

“What did you say?” Rudy questioned, taking another step forward, his lean body tensing, ready to fight.

Zoey grabbed my arm, and we began inching our way back toward the entrance of the bar and toward the bouncer that manned the front door—a bouncer who was calling upstairs to inform the bar he had a possible situation out front.

Ashton’s eyes flicked from Rudy’s to mine. “You can’t hide from me, Laney.”

Another chill ran through me. I said nothing. However, a thought did occur to me…I didn’t realize I needed to hide from Ashton. Did he think I was trying?

Rudy took a challenging step toward Ashton. Ashton backed away. He then turned and walked
off, disappearing against the darkness down the street.

“Thanks,” I said to Rudy. He nodded in return and then told Zoey and me to go back
inside the bar and find Oliver and Carter. He was going after Kiera to make sure she was safe.

Back in the bar, Zoey and I couldn’t find Carter or Oliver
anywhere. We even peeked in the men’s room… Won’t be doing that again.

I tried calling them, but there was no answer on either of their phones. We headed back down to the street
, where we found Rudy and Kiera waiting out front.

“Come on, Laney. We’ll give you a ride,” Zoey said.

I looked over at Kiera. She was silently crying and avoiding looking directly at me.

“Actually, I think I’ll call Felix.”

They waited while I made my call. Felix answered quickly.

“Will you come get me?”

“Of course,” he said, his voice booming in my ear. “Where are you?”

“Downtown. I’m in front of the Lunatic Stallion.”

“Everything okay?”

“No.”

“I will be right there.”

I refused to show it, but I still hurt. Oliver’s body had healed on the outside, but I was still getting twinges of stabbing pain where that slayer bastard had cut me.

Ambrose told me it was normal for the skin to appear healed but still be healing on the inside.

The pain was a reminder that I could’ve died, or gotten Oliver killed. Either way, a reminder that I had no business out there with the other Brookehaven Vampires.

Being near Laney made it easier. Her presence seemed to ease Oliver’s body. Seeing her boyfriend in my body, pretending to be me with my fiancée, not so much. But Laney, she eased the pain
s and the aches. Even in a public place with a ton of people around, I could feel her—that tethered-like feeling Oliver’s body had toward her. It was hard to resist its need to be close to her, to touch her, but it also made dealing with all of the emotions a little easier. It was easy to focus on just her emotions, because the body I was occupying was very connected to her.

Although it had been Oliver who had gotten us into the current situation, you know, going out with
our friends and shit, he was the one who seemed the most irritated. It was odd and interesting at the same time to see my own ugly mug glaring at me. I knew he didn’t like that I was so close to her, or that she held my hand. He especially didn’t like that he couldn’t do those things. And he was drinking, too much.

At the bar, Laney was over it. All of it. She was slouched in her seat beside me when I finally decided to cut Oliver off, well, when I asked the bartender to cut him off so I could avoid the confrontation I was afraid it would bring. I imagined that
would’ve ended badly for everyone.

While pretending to be me,
Oliver was enjoying his time with Kiera, or at least acting like he was. That being said, I knew he’d had enough too. So had I.

Watching someone else, even if they were using my own lips
to kiss my fiancée, wasn’t cool. And Kiera was looking a little too happy with this new, more attentive, smoother version of me.

When I returned from my conversation with the bartender, I told Laney what I’d done. I moved closer to her so she could hear me better, but also because I needed to. The constant tug, it was like a magnet being drawn to a refrigerator. Being that close to her wasn’t close enough, but it was as close as I dared to get, especially since Oliver was keeping a close watch.

Laney and I had a quick conversation about getting the other version of myself out of the bar, but in the end, we had no idea how to go about doing so.

Giving up, we just sat there. While we sat there, I realized it wasn’t just me who needed to be close. I could feel a shift in Laney’s emotions when I scooted closer
. It calmed her to have me that close, not totally, but enough to get her to relax and drop her arms from hugging herself all night like she was cold or pissed. Or both.

“Why aren’t you dancing?” I asked her.

She looked over at me, her dark eyes locking with mine. I have to admit, it was hard not to kiss her, especially with the memory of it still fresh in my mind…the memory of
her
fresh in my mind.

“Why aren’t you?” she questioned back, a little smirk
forming on her lips. That only made it harder to resist her.

I gave myself a mental shake. It was Oliver’s body that needed and craved her, not me,
and not my mind. I repeated this to myself several times as I struggled against what Oliver’s body wanted.

I didn’t answer her, only smiled at her and returned my eyes to the dance floor,
and to Oliver acting like a smoother idiot than I ever did.

When the others finally left the dance floor, I sat back, pulling my arm away from the table where I had it resting in front of Laney. But I left my other arm behind her, and I received a glare from
Oliver for it.

He didn’t take a seat like Zoey’s boyfriend
did while the girls headed to the bathroom. Instead, he asked Laney if he could talk to her, and the way he worded it was not how I would’ve asked.

Rudy looked at me, obviously questioning why I was allowing my “mate” to leave the bar, out the
back door, with our roommate. I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to do, so I headed for the bar where I ordered myself a beer and sipped it slowly, hoping since it was my second beer of the night, that it wouldn’t make me sick. I also took my time to drink it
at
the bar so I could avoid, well, everyone.

With my back resting against the bar, I watched Kiera and Zoey head back to our table from the bathroom. I watched as they took their seats
, and then I turned away for a moment, scanning the rest of the bar to see if anyone else we knew was there. You know, like the Weslins. I didn’t see anyone.

When I turned my attention back to our table, I saw Kiera hurrying to the
back door and flinging it open. She was partially blocking my view, but I was pretty sure I saw Laney and my body falling to the floor inside the bar, together.

Then I heard Kiera shout something that I didn’t quite catch
, and I watched as she rushed out of the bar. Laney was right behind her. I figured the other me was probably in trouble. Again. So I abandoned my beer, and headed to the back door where I pulled my drunken body up off the floor. Even when I wasn’t myself, I was getting into trouble.

“What did you do
now?” I asked as I pulled him to his feet.

“Kissed my girlfriend,” my own voice replied, kinda slurred.

Shit! Now Kiera thinks I kissed Laney. Again. No wonder she hauled ass out of here.

I shoved the other me out the
back door to get some air. He bent over for a minute. Maybe trying to catch his breath, maybe trying not to puke. I didn’t know, and I didn’t ask.

“What were you thinking?” I asked, when he finally straightened.

He shook his head while we stood just outside the back door. “She’s my girlfriend.”

“Yeah, I know
!” I snapped.

Oliver’s cell rang. As I pulled it from my pocket, he grabbed it from me and slammed it to the ground. Then he stomped on it.

I shoved him and he smacked against the door. “What the hell?”

“You don’t deserve to talk to her, she’s mine!” I’m assuming
this is what he said, his words weren’t all that clear.

“I know that!” I shouted as I picked up Oliver’s broken phone from the top back step
of the bar.

“You can’t have my life!” he
shouted as he started down the back steps, holding one side of the railing with both hands. “I’ve worked too hard to get to where I am.” He turned and looked up at me. I was a couple steps behind him. “Where you are,” he said, pointing at me (himself). He slurred a curse word and then continued working his way down the steps. He made it to the second to last one before he fell. I think he thought he was at the bottom, because it looked like he just walked right off the step.

“I don’t want your life, dude,” I told him as I pulled him up from a very ungraceful faceplant.

“I’m not gonna marry your girlfriend,” he slurred as he jerked out of my grip. He then attempted to brush himself off. It was kinda pointless. He was a mess.

“I appreciate that,” I told him.

“Stay the hell away from mine,” he slur-growled while glaring at me.

“Dude, it’s not like I asked for this.”

“Yeah, but you don’t seem to mind it, either. You’re enjoying living my life. You said so yourself, in a dream, you’d…” he stopped, his mouth and his feet.

I hadn’t realized we’d walked away from the alley behind the bar. “Hey, if it makes you feel better, next time I dream about your girlfriend, I’ll make sure it’s an actual dream before I have sex with her,” I said as I scanned the area, trying to figure out where we were.

He hit me—well, he actually hit himself, with my own fist, if you wanna get technical. Punched himself right in the mouth.