Lauren (Keegan's Chronicles Spin Off) (13 page)

Lauren smiled to herself as she made her way down the hall to the bathroom. Keegan had always been a mess, the last one ready no matter how much advance notice she had. Anyone else would be annoying, but somehow, Keegan made it charming.

Keegan’s citrusy perfume drifted from the open bathroom doorway, reminding Lauren of their high school days. Life was simpler back then, when they only worried about what accessories to wear with their school uniforms and where they could go on Saturday. Now she had to worry about a jealous boyfriend, black magick, and alien creatures.

Keegan stood forlornly in front of the mirror, the straightener in one hand and a lock of auburn hair in the other. She hadn’t been lying—half of her hair was literally stick-straight and the other half a curly mass.

“What am I going to do with you?” Lauren joked, taking the straightener from her best friend’s hand. As she slid the ceramic tiles over Keegan’s hair, Lauren glanced at her friend in the mirror.

She hadn’t changed much, even though she was a married woman. Lauren would have thought it was insane to get married at such a young age, but it was just the way the elves did things, and it definitely seemed to work out for them. Elven families were awesome—unlike Lauren’s own family, who were constantly at each other’s throats. Growing up, Lauren had always longed for a more stable home. Her parents fought all the time and she had four brothers and sisters, plus two cousins her parents raised. Never a dull moment in her household, that was for sure. She occasionally missed the chaos of home, but not very often.

“Where’s Anna?” Keegan asked.

“She’s talking to Tommy online. You know it doesn’t take her long to get ready.”

“Must be nice,” Keegan said with a harried sigh.

“She seems to be crazy about Tommy. I’m happy for her.” She sprayed heat protector on Keegan’s curly hair, then positioned the straightener again. “He’s not going to hurt her, is he? She’s so sensitive.”

“I don’t think so,” Keegan replied, applying shimmery pink lip gloss to her full lips as she spoke. “They’re cute together. Tommy thinks she walks on water, and Anna seems more relaxed and confident since she met him.”

Lauren wondered what it would be like to date someone who thought so highly of her. Tristen definitely didn’t think she walked on water. Most of the time, he seemed to consider her more a possession than a person.

She pushed the negative thought aside. Of course Tristen loved her.
Calvron must be getting to me.

“I wish Rourk was here. It feels wrong that I’m going to a party, and he’s overseas doing who knows what.” Keegan leaned forward to swipe mascara on her eyelashes.

“You know he’s loving it. That’s what he does. He’s a warrior.” Lauren waited until Keegan leaned back before she continued. With the way her luck had been lately, she would have probably burned her.

As Lauren tugged the last of her hair through the hot ceramic, Keegan’s shoulders slumped. “I know. You’re right. Why couldn’t my chosen have been a healer or something?”

Lauren’s laugh filled the small room. “Sure, like
you’d
be happy with that. You love that your man is all sexy and dangerous.”

Keegan’s face twisted into a mischievous look, then dropped to a frown. “He is sexy. I just miss him so much.”

“Well, he would want you to have a good time,” Lauren told her, unplugging the straightener. “So just enjoy yourself tonight.”

Music greeted them as they climbed the steps to Tristen’s place. Lauren didn’t bother to ring the bell; no one would hear it. She pushed through the front door and stopped short, flabbergasted. Tristen had turned his home into a night club. In the corner of the large family room, a cooler of dry ice filled the room with a smoky haze. Strobe lights threw a rainbow of colors over the mass of half-naked bodies dancing across the living room floor. Beautiful girls swayed to the thumping of the music, sweat glistening off their skin as a slurry of attractive males stood by, lust in their eyes. Energy pulsed throughout the room as beautiful creatures of the light and dark partied together.

Scanning the room, Lauren searched for Tristen, but the place was too crowded. She tugged her phone from her pocket and texted him to let him know they were there. Moments later, he sauntered up to them, oozing confidence and bravado. She found that so attractive in him.

Tristen grabbed Lauren’s hand and led her through the pulsing crowd in the living room, up the stairs and into the kitchen, then out the back door into the brisk night. Keegan and Anna stayed close behind.

A full moon hung low in the sky, bright white and pocked with craters. The palm trees in Tristen’s backyard swayed in the breeze; it smelled of tropical flowers and the sea.

“It’s too loud in there to make a proper introduction,” Tristen explained. He held out his hand to Anna. “Lauren talks about you two all the time. It’s wonderful to finally put faces to the names.”

Lauren watched as Anna shook his hand, and he moved on to Keegan. The girls gave him a once-over, their eyes approving. Tonight, Tristen wore a white oxford shirt with the sleeves rolled up and opened at the chest, along with a pair of loose jeans. He looked confident and relaxed.

“We’ve heard a lot about you, too,” Keegan said, and Anna nodded in agreement.

“That’s quite the party you have going on,” Anna said, glancing over her shoulder into the house.

Tristen shrugged. “Just a few friends.”

“I can count my friends on two hands.” Keegan laughed. “You must be pretty popular.”

“They just like the free food.” Tristen winked. “Alright, let’s get back inside so you guys can enjoy the evening. Hopefully, we’ll get to spend more time together before you go back home.”

He turned to Lauren. “I need to speak to Galen for a moment. I’ll find you guys in a bit. I booked your favorite DJ.” He kissed her softly on the lips, and then made his way back inside.

“So…” Lauren said nervously. She realized just how important their opinions were to her. “What’d you think?”

Anna fanned herself playfully. “He’s even hotter in person.”

“He seems nice,” Keegan offered.

Lauren let out a breath and smiled. “I’m so glad you guys like him.”

“Calvron didn’t seem to be a fan.” Keegan looked at Lauren with a question in her eyes. “I’ve never seen Calvron openly dislike someone so much. What did Tristen do to him?”

Lauren crossed her arms firmly across her chest. “He didn’t do anything to him. They barely know each other. I really don’t know what his problem is, but I wish he’d knock it off.” Anger had risen into her throat, and she focused on taking a couple of quick breaths to level herself. “Let’s just get back inside.”

Lauren could tell they were thinking,
Yeah, right
, but they just looked at each other and shrugged, following her into the house.

The music vibrated through Lauren’s chest. They couldn’t fight the energy surrounding them once they stepped inside. They joined the rest of the party on the dance floor and smiled goofily at each other. It had been a long time since they had let loose like they used to. Lauren was glad they came to visit.

After a solid half hour of dancing and sweating, Keegan leaned over and yelled in Lauren’s ear, “I’ll be right back.” She took off into the crowd.

Knowing Keegan, she was looking for something to eat. Lauren shook her head at Anna, who just shrugged.

Turn around
. The extremely loud thought was not her own. Lauren whipped around, startled to find herself face to face with Galen. His ruggedly handsome face was enough to make her knees weak, and she hated herself for it. Ignoring her wildly beating heart, she forced a laugh. “You were in my head?”

“Afraid so. That’s a scary place,” he said loudly over the noise, one side of his mouth turning up. He was usually quiet, so it was a nice change to get a glimpse of his sense of humor.

“Funny.” She gestured to Anna. “Galen, I’d like you to meet one of my best friends, Anna.”

Anna reached out her long slender hand, and Galen took it, placing a kiss on the top of it. “A pleasure,” he said, his voice low.

Lauren felt a pang of jealousy, but squished it. She had Tristen. If he liked Anna, that was great!

Anna looked a little flustered, turning to raise an eyebrow at Lauren.

“Where’s your other half?” Galen directed the question to Lauren as he looked around, searching out Tristen.

“I’m not sure,” she responded with a shrug. “He said he was going to look for you.”

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to hunt him down. I need to talk to him about something important.”

“See ya.” Lauren gave him a wave, but not without a niggle of curiosity. What on earth could be so important between the two of them that they had to talk about it during a party? Surely it could have waited until the fun was over.

She watched Galen’s departing back, worried. What were they up to?

“Umm, who was that fine piece of eye candy?” Anna yelled in Lauren’s ear, jerking Lauren from her thoughts.

Surprised, she gave Anna a wink. “One of Tristen’s buddies. He
is
appealing, isn’t he? Too bad you’re madly in love, or I could fix you up.”

“Hey, I’m just admiring,” Anna argued, a little guiltily. “My heart is Tommy’s.”

And mine is Tristen’s
, Lauren reminded herself, thinking of her own guilty little crush on Galen. But girls had secret crushes all the time. Seriously—Lauren had a huge crush on Channing Tatum, but it didn’t
mean
anything. Right?

She took a sip of her drink and pushed the thoughts away, wondering what was taking Keegan so long.

Chapter 15

K
eegan pushed her way through the crowd. She’d caught a glimpse of Tristen walking off with some chick stuck to his side. It was probably nothing, but after Calvron’s attitude towards the guy, Keegan didn’t trust him. Not to mention the phone call where he hung up on Lauren. His actions so far hadn’t shown him in a positive light. She just wanted to confirm that his conversation with this girl was innocent, just to put her mind at ease.

After a quick glance around, she realized she could get away with going invisible in the darkness. The familiar tingling spread through her body as she used her gift. It didn’t get to use it often, so she felt excited to be a fly on the wall. Her mother would so not approve. She was totally invading Tristen’s privacy, but if it would save Lauren heartache, she was all for it.

Where did they go?
Keegan closed her eyes and thought of Tristen. There he was in her mind’s eye. She could only use that gift if the person was in the same area. And he was—outside, in the back of the house near a pool, leaning in as he whispered to the girl. She was beautiful—tall, slim with straight black hair and large, luminous eyes.

Keegan’s heart rate accelerated. It took her a few moments to figure out how to get out to the patio, since she wasn’t familiar with Tristen’s place. She found the gate in a far corner and crept through, guiding it gently back into place before she moved swiftly through the black night.

The closer she drew to the sparkling diamond of a pool, a small oasis in a backyard landscaped to look like a jungle, the clearer their voices became. She still couldn’t make out what they were saying, so she moved in closer.

“She’s not ready yet,” Tristen said sharply.

“Well, you better
get
her ready,” the girl responded, her voice icy. “This thing is going down next week. We need her ability or it’s not going to work. I’m sure you don’t want to disappoint your father.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be ready. I’ve seen her gift at work—she can make it happen. I just have to figure out a way to convince her. You know how self-righteous those light faeries are.”

Keegan inhaled sharply. He was talking about Lauren. He had to be. What plans did they have for her? Whatever it was, she wasn’t getting a good vibe from them.

“You really need to learn to control your women,” the dark haired beauty said with disgust.

“She’ll do it! Stop pestering me. I want you out of my house. Now,” Tristen growled.

“Gladly. Your parties were always such a bore.”

Tristen grabbed the girl by the wrist and pulled her in close to his body. In a voice so low that Keegan had to strain to hear, he said, “If I see you again before next week, I will make sure that your pretty little face is no longer quite as appealing. I don’t care if you are sleeping with my father.”

The girl yanked her hand away and stalked through the yard. There was the distant banging of a gate, and then silence.

What in the hell did I just witness?
Keegan had a sinking feeling this could not end well for Lauren. She had to warn her. Damn it, she should have known Calvron’s dislike for Tristen meant something.

As Tristen strode back into the house, Keegan followed, her mind racing. She watched as he went straight to Lauren and pulled her into his arms in a passionate kiss. The strobe lights danced off of them and Anna swayed to the music nearby, pretending to ignore them. It wasn’t going to be easy to convince Lauren; she was obviously head over heels for the jerk.