Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (45 page)

For myself, I was still set on outside, flip-flops, and maybe those cupcakes. Yet, I didn’t have any family who would feel they needed to put in their two cents. This made me wonder if my father would show if Oliver and I ever got married. Or would Felix or Carter give me away? Not that I was either of theirs to give away…

Suddenly, I
really
didn’t want anything to do with the wedding stuff anymore, and I think I unexpectedly understood why…

Kiera had family
. She had a father to walk her down the aisle and give her away. A mother to give her motherly advice and help her make that final dress decision and whatever else mothers do. She even had a bossy grandmother to tell her where she had to get married. And parents to pay the whole thing…

No wonder I wanted to avoid all of it, my subconscious had been protecting me. I
didn’t need reminded that all I had was estranged grandparents that my even more estranged father didn’t want me to have anything to do with.

After
I parked my car on the street in front of the corner church downtown, I literally dragged my feet as we headed up the steps and inside.

My heart was heavy with loneliness
—heavy with the longing for family.

With a sigh, I followed Kiera and Zoey inside the church.

I was pretty positive I had never been inside a church before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but this one was just as I’d imagined. It had an aisle down the center that led to a small stage at the front, and row after row of benches were on either side of the aisle. Or were they called pews? Whatever. Tall and colorful stained glass windows lined both sides of the large room, and there were a couple of larger ones behind the stage. Or was it called an altar…? Either way, it was super quiet, and slightly eerie, and I found it odd that there was no one else around.

Suddenly, a short old man came out of a door to the left of the entry area where the three of us were waiting. It startled us. Probably more than it should have.

“Well, Miss Blake, I have been expecting you.” He had a squeaky voice, it reminded me of a mouse. Yet, it wasn’t just his voice that caused me to have this thought. He was not a big man by any means, and he had several other mouse-like qualities. A small, elongated nose, round cheeks, and longer than average front teeth. “Sadly, today is not a good day to meet. Come back tomorrow,
with
Mr. Thomas,” he said as he approached.

Zoey and I took a hesitant step back and he stopped. The man folded his arms behind his back and rocked on his heels while he waited for Kiera’s response. He wiggled his nose like it itched. This only added to his mousiness.

Kiera quickly apologized for coming by without an appointment, and then we left, hurrying out the church doors and down the front walkway.

“What the hell was that about?” I asked as we got into my car. “Why wouldn’t he just talk to you?”

Kiera was flustered. “I don’t know,” she said while she watched the church disappearing as we drove away. “What if he tells us we can’t get married there?” she questioned. “I’ve seen it before, in movies.”

“Yeah, in movies, Kiera,” Zoey told her from the backseat. “And if that scrawny little dude doesn’t allow you guys to get married there, then we’ll find somewhere else.”

“But, my grandmother—”

“Kiera,” Zoey said, leaning forward from the center of the backseat, “it’s you marrying that boy, not your grandmother.” Major attitude dripped from her words.

I choked back a laugh. Mostly because I actually pictured Kiera’s grandma marrying Carter.

After a bit more reassurance, and a reminder that she had found the perfect wedding dress, Kiera calmed down enough for us to hit the mall.

I was tired, and I was still slightly gloomy due to my realization of having no family to speak of. My mood certainly did not improve as Kiera dragged us from store to store, making us try on dress after dress until all of my skin itched just as badly as the wonderful Demon’s Kiss on the back of my hand.

I don’t know how long
we’d been at the mall, or how many dress and pairs of shoes I had tried on, but I was done. Even the usually upbeat Zoey was winding down, and this was saying a lot since Zoey loved to shop. Unfortunately for us, Kiera was still perky and excited. And determined. And a determined Kiera, was an unstoppable Kiera.

Two
more shoe stores later, I claimed to need some air.

While my friends continued on to the next store, I took a little break from shopping. Kiera gave me a partial
ly dirty look and Zoey stared after me longingly.

I called Oliver as I made my way to an exit.

“What are you doing right now?” I asked when he answered.

“I’ve got to pick up Carter from work in a few, why?” he questioned.

This surprised me. I knew Oliver had been better, friendlier even, with Carter since I’d almost died, and since Carter had become our third wheel, but picking him up from work seemed…out there.

“Why?”
I questioned.

“Felix has something that he needs to deal with, so he asked if I would pick Carter up tonight. I can ditch him, if you want,” he said very matter-of-factly.

I started laughing. I heard him chuckle.

I pushed open one of the entrance doors and headed out to sit on a
cold, metal bench near the foliage at the front of the mall. The sun was low and it cast a pink and orange strip across the sky. There was a chill in the air, and I hugged myself for warmth, wishing I had my sweatshirt.

I told Oliver that
I’d skipped out for a few minutes, and that I just needed some air. We talked for a little longer. Well, I talked, and he listened. I told him about Kiera’s attitude toward me and how she get over it the moment I found her dress. I also told him about us running into the whore—it made me physically ill to say her name to him, especially knowing anything at all had happened between them. It still hurt.

Then, while I was telling him about the whore being kicked out of the wedding expo, his car pulled up in front of the mall, right in front of where I was sitting.

I smiled so big when I saw his car.

He rolled down the passenger window and motioned me over with his index finger, a half-smile in place on his perfect mouth. My stomach did a little excited flip.

I stood, and with my phone still to my ear, I said, “Hey, I’ve gotta go, my boyfriend’s here.”

He put his head back against the headrest and laughed. It was the best sound I had heard all day.

I slipped into the passenger seat and leaned over the console to give my still laughing boyfriend a very big kiss. That quieted him. Not that quieting him was my goal, I loved Oliver’s laugh, but I needed the kiss more.

We sat there, parked in front of the mall, talking for a few minutes. I felt myself relaxing. I
didn’t realize how pent-up shopping with Kiera had made me. Not to mention the other crap that had stressed me out. You know, Avery, the fact I have no family. Yeah, crap.

While we sat there, and I enjoyed the comfort and closeness of my boyfriend, Oliver told me that
he’d just been sitting at home, admiring our Christmas tree while working on community plans and watching a stupid movie that had been recorded. Quite the multitasker, this one.

“You okay?” he asked after a moment of silence.

I shrugged. “Tired, I guess.”

“You expect me to believe that’s all? If you will remember, I am quite familiar with your emotions, and this doesn’t feel like
you’re just tired.”

I smirked a little
in response to his comment while I looked down at the incoming message on my phone. I looked up and said, rather reluctantly, “She’s after me. I’ve gotta go.”

He leaned over the console. I met him halfway, kissing him for a good long moment while my phone chimed with another message.

His eyes met mine. “We’ll talk later,” he said, informing me I had not gotten out of telling him what was wrong.

“‘K,” I responded as I scooted out of his car. I
wasn’t looking forward to spilling my lack-of-family and wedding issues. Maybe he would be all for my idea of flip-flops and cupcakes. That is, if he even ever planned to actually ask me…

“Have fun,” he called after me.

I looked back to see a crooked smile on his face. “You know it,” I said, sarcastically, as I headed for the entrance.

Kiera texted again, letting me know where to meet her and Zoey

I hurried through the mall hoping to get to them before Kiera got angry and started being snotty with me again.

When I got to the shoe section of the department store where we had started our mission, I found two very happy girls.

“We found shoes!” Kiera exclaimed.

She shoved a box at me with a pair in my size. I sat on the bench beside Zoey and lifted the lid. They were strappy, and satin, and…red. Red, not pink
! I looked up from the box to find Zoey smiling, really big.

“Aren’t they pretty?” Kiera asked as I tried on the shoes.

“They are, Kiera. Now we just need to find the dress to go with them,” I told her, relieved Zoey and I wouldn’t be looking like giant sticks of bubblegum.

Kiera
nodded, a wild look in her eyes. Maybe it was a crazed look…

As we left the mall, Zoey and I each carried our shoe bags, happy with our purchases. There was talk of going to the bridal store, but it was too late, and we decided we would have to go another day. Thankfully.

It was dark when I dropped Kiera and Zoey off at Zoey’s and then proceeded to head home. I let Oliver know I was on my way, and he met me downstairs in the parking lot. He was standing there, all sexy, his hands shoved in his front pockets, and leaning against his car. Major irresistible factor.

I scooted out of my car
, and as he pushed away from his car to pull me into his arms, I crashed into him and pushed him back against it, my lips crushing against his and my body holding him against the Challenger.

He’d let out a quiet sound of surprise, but that was
soon gone, and his arms were around me, holding me against him.

When I broke our connection, I
gazed up into his eyes, my breathing somewhat ragged as I whispered, “Hi.”

A crooked smiled formed. He gently brushed the backs of his fingers against my cheek. “Hi to you, too,” he said quietly, then he pressed his kissable lips to mine for just one more quick kiss before letting go of me.

While I was getting my shoe purchase from my trunk, Oliver yawned, covering his mouth with his hand balled into a loose fist.

“What’s up with you?” I asked as he took my bag and then my hand and
walked beside me up the steps.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve felt tired since I left the mall. Maybe I picked up some of your exhaustion.”

“Can that happen?”

He shrugged again. “I guess your emotions could trick my brain into thinking I’m tired,” he said as he opened our apartment door for me.

“Hey, Laney,” Carter called from the couch as soon as we walked in. “How was shopping?”

“Exhausting,” I said. I plopped down beside him and kicked off my
Converse, shoving them under the coffee table with my socked feet.

Oliver set my shopping bag on the coffee table and then sat on my other side, stretching his arm out behind me.

After giving Carter a quick rundown of the day, of
my
version of the day, I showed them both my pretty, red, wedding shoes. They were guys, they really didn’t care. Although, when Carter got up to throw away his dinner trash, Oliver elicited some chills as he whispered something about how he couldn’t wait to see me in the dress that would go with the shoes, and how he
really
couldn’t wait to take them off of me.

I
was looking forward to that too.

That night, when Oliver and I crawled into bed, he was out before me. I found this odd, but he was also up before me the next morning.

When I opened my eyes and saw that he was awake, I wished him a good morning by kissing him—
really
kissing him. He responded in a way that showed me he was obviously feeling refreshed, and that he was just as happy to wake up beside me as I was to wake beside him.

I was game, but I was also surprised. Carter was still home, and Oliver didn’t like the idea of us being “together” if anyone was around.

As Oliver’s lips began working their way from my mouth, I figured maybe Carter wasn’t home. Maybe he’d gone out for a run. But I was pretty sure I heard talking and the front door opening and closing as Oliver stripped us free of our pajamas.

Something wasn’t right.

Maybe it was because Carter was home and Oliver knew it. Maybe it was because it was morning and we were in a different place than the last time we’d had morning lovin’s, but it was different, and I actually wondered if I was dreaming.

If so, the dream kind of sucked.

It was like he didn’t know my body. He moved differently, and his hands were all over my chest, which was unusual during the actual act.