Cursed (Book 1, The Watchers; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (28 page)

“You don’t seem
like the type of person who would keep that sort of information to yourself.  I
think if you knew you would have told me by now, if for no other reason than to
brag about it.  You know it was someone powerful but you have no idea who it
is.  But, I’m a little confused.  You had to have gotten the order from
someone.  Who was that?”

“The leader of my
faction of Watchers came to me personally and asked that I get rid of you for
someone he owed a favor to.”

“Why you in
particular?”

“I have a 100%
success rate where these matters are concerned.  Plus, ladies tend to find me
irresistible.”  He said with a smile that told me he had known a lot of ladies
in his time.

“What’s your
leader going to say when he finds out you didn’t do what he told you to?”

“He didn’t say
anything. Just thought it was curious I should pass up an easy target.   He
knows better than to mess with me.  His request was more of a favor than an
order.”

“Do you think
he’ll send someone else after me?  To complete his favor to who really wants me
killed?”

“No.  I made it
clear you’re under my protection now, to all of them.”

“And if we stop being
friends, would he send someone then?”

“Perhaps, but I
doubt it.  He doesn’t linger on matters like that very long.  He’s probably
already forgotten about you.”

“Is there any way
you could help me find out who wants to kill me?”  I didn’t want to plead for
Malcolm’s help but he was the best chance I had in discovering who was behind
everything.

“I’ll try,
dearest, but I’m not sure how much help I’ll be.  Justin isn’t all that pleased
with me at the moment.  I don’t think he’ll willingly give me the information. 
But I can tell you he was a little frightened when I told him to leave you
alone and it wasn’t because of me.  I think he was scared what the
repercussions of leaving you alive would be.”

“Well, anything
you could find out would be more than Will and Brand have been able to do
yet.”  I took the napkin off my lap and put it on the table.  “Where are we
going next?”

“Well, since you
don’t like water, the next spot I wanted to show you is out,” he said thinking
hard.  “Would you like to see a pyramid?”

“I’ve always
wanted to see one of those,” I said excited.

“I’ll take you to
one I helped build.”

He stood up and
held his hand out to me.  I placed my hand in his and the next thing I knew we
were standing near the top of a pyramid.  It was dark but there were some spot
lights around that helped me see where we were.

“You helped build
this?” I said, holding onto his hand.  The height was a bit disorienting to me
in the dark.  The warm breeze coming off the desert sand was pleasant and had a
strange exotic smell to it.

“Yes, a long time
ago.  I helped design it.  I’ve always liked architecture.”

He sat down on one
of the big stones and sat me down on his lap.  I marveled at the small grouping
of three pyramids we were sitting amongst.  I never thought I would ever be
this close to one.

“What’s it like? 
Living as long as you have?” I asked.

“It gets harder
and harder to find distractions,” he said absently playing with one of my hands
in his looking out into the desert.

“Am I a
distraction?”

My question seemed
to break his ruminations because he looked at me then and smiled.  “The best
kind.  In all my time here, I’ve never met anyone like you.  I’m not sure you
understand how special you are, dearest.”

That was basically
what Brand had said.  I was an anomaly.  Maybe I wasn’t supposed to exist.

“Have you built
anything recently?” I asked after we’d been sitting there for a while in
comfortable silence.

“I just built a
house in Hawaii.  Would you like to see it?”

“Sure.”

We stood up.  He
still had hold of my hand and we were instantly standing on a beach made of
black sand.  The sun was high in the sky forcing me to shield my eyes quickly
from its brightness.  Malcolm looked behind us and pointed.

“That’s it.”

I turned to look
behind me and saw Malcolm’s home or at least one of them, I guessed.   It was a
modern house two stories tall made of glass, steel and concrete.  It reminded
me of a book of homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright I’d seen as a child.

“It’s gorgeous,” I
breathed.  It really was the most interesting, geometrically designed house I’d
ever seen in person.

“Come on, I’ll
show you the inside.”

It took almost an
hour for Malcolm to show me everything he wanted to show off about his home.  I
could tell he really loved his design.  He was so proud of every little angle
and how things complemented each other.  I didn’t understand everything he was
talking about but I did enjoy the difference in him.  He was like a kid showing
off his favorite new toy to his best friend.

“So what do you
think?” he asked as we ended the tour going into the last room on the second
floor.

“It’s gorgeous. 
You should be proud of what you did here.”

A pleased, almost
shy smile graced his face.  “Thanks.”

The last room
ended up being his personal bedroom.  It took up a large portion of the top
floor and had one large circular bed in the middle covered in white satin
sheets.  Malcolm hit a button on the wall as we walked in which opened a large
section of glass on the all glass ceiling and opened a pair of sliding glass doors
leading out onto a balcony overlooking the ocean letting in the sound of the
waves crashing against the beach echo against the walls of the room.

I didn’t go far
into the bedroom.  Something just didn’t feel right.

Malcolm took both
of my hands into his and brought them up to his lips.

“Would you like to
try out the bed?” he murmured before kissing the tops of my hands and looking
at me in a way which told me exactly what he wanted.

I took my hands
out of his and crossed my arms in front of my chest.  “I think I should go back
home now.”

“Don’t you find me
the least bit irresistible, dearest Lilly?  Let me help you erase Brand from
your mind,” he stepped closer to me.

“Listen, I thought
we were just going to be friends.  If you’re wanting me to be your lover, I’m
sorry but I can’t do that.  I would have to be in love with you in order for
that to happen.  And I barely know you.”  I turned to leave but Malcolm put a
gentle hand on my arm to stop me.

“Wait.  I’m
sorry.”  He looked at me like I was a curiosity.  “You’re not a virgin are
you?”  He said it as if the idea of me being a virgin were completely preposterous.

“I’m not sure what
business that is of yours,” I replied defensively.

He started to
laugh like I had said something funny.

“I don’t
understand what’s so funny.”

He tried to
compose himself but his laughter still leaked through.

“I’m so sorry,” he
said chuckling.  “It’s just that I haven’t met a virgin over the age of sixteen
in a long time.”

“So just because
I’ve decided to wait, I deserve to be laughed at?”

“No, no, I’m
laughing at myself, not you.  I can’t believe I just tried to seduce a virgin
is all.  If you made it out of high school with your innocence intact, you’re
to be commended.  Not a lot of people do.  Please, accept my apology.  I had no
idea. 

But still,” he
looked at me like he was trying to figure something out about me.  “You’ve
spent a lot of time with me today yet you’re completely ambivalent to my desire
for you.  Most women would be trying to seduce
me
by this point.”

“Brand mentioned
the pheromone you produce.  Is that what you’re talking about?”

“Yes.  I’ve had
women fall into my arms within minutes of meeting me yet you seem to be
completely immune to it.”

Was I immune to
it?  Did that mean my feelings for Brand were real?  Not just a by product of
being around him too much, breathing in the chemical which was part of his
curse?  This realization made me happy and sad all at once.  I was happy my
feelings were true and sad that I would have to get over them naturally.  If they
had been a side affect of being around him too much, I could have recovered
like an addict does when they stop using drugs.  Now, I would just have to wait
for my heart to heal itself.

“Well, since my
powers of seduction are useless on you,” he took my hand and led me out of the
room.  “Come on, I have something in the backyard you might like to see.”

Malcolm’s backyard
was beautiful.  It looked like a miniature Japanese garden with a modern twist.

“It’s lovely.  Did
you do this yourself?”

“I designed it,
but I don’t do the heavy lifting if I can pay someone else to do it for me.”

There was a large
koi pond with a red and black oriental bridge across it.  Malcolm gave me some
fish food to throw in.  We stood out there for a while feeding the fish and talking
about the different plants around the garden.  It was then I noticed the red
and white rose bushes.

“Were the flowers
you brought me this morning from here?” I asked.

“Yes, they were. 
I thought you might enjoy them.”  He took one of my hands.  “Come with me.  Do
you know how to play chess?  I’ve been dying to play chess with someone here.”

“I know the basics
but I’m no expert.”

“That’s all right. 
I like to win anyway.”

I don’t know how
long we sat there playing chess but eventually Malcolm said it was time to get
me back home.

“I promised to
have you home by ten and I intend to keep that promise.  Otherwise Tara might not let you come out and play with me again.”

We were standing
in front of my door before I knew it, but we weren’t alone.

Both Will and
Brand instantly materialized beside us.

“Where have you
been?” They both said harshly and in unison.

They both looked
at me with scowls so ominous I instinctively took a closer step toward Malcolm
who put a protective arm around my waist.

“Ok you two need
to not do that to me again,” I said putting a hand to my racing heart. “And
exactly what business is it of yours where I’ve been?  I’m a grown woman.  I
can take care of myself.”

“You know,”
Malcolm said looking at Will and Brand completely amused by the situation.  “As
I see it, you two have had your chances with Lilly and failed her miserably I
might add.  You shouldn’t make her feel like she did something wrong by
spending the day with me.  She doesn’t
belong
to either of you.  She can
stand up for herself you know.  Why even today she proved it by refusing to let
me seduce her in my own bedroom.  And I can assure you both I was trying my
hardest.”

Both Will and
Brand moved forward like they were about to pounce on Malcolm’s head.  Luckily,
the door behind me opened and Tara stepped out before the situation exploded
out of my control.

“All right, I’ve
heard just about enough from all of y’all.  You boys need to just leave Lilly
alone.”  She pulled me by the arm into the apartment standing between me and
the three outside.  “Now get and no fighting outside our apartment.  If y’all
want to act like idiots, do it somewhere else.”  And she shut the door on all
three of their stunned faces.

“I swear, girl.  I
don’t know if I can take any more of your suitors.”

“I wouldn’t call
Brand and Will suitors.  They’re just over protective morons.”

“Men don’t act
that stupid over a girl unless they’re in love with her.”

I hated to admit I
hoped that was the truth in Brand’s case.  I wanted him to fight for me.  I
wanted to know he still loved me even though he kept pushing me away.  If there
was even a glimmer of a chance he still loved me, I wanted to hold onto it.

Chapter 15

The next morning I
ended up taking another cold shower when I woke up.  I had no idea why I kept
dreaming about Malcolm in compromising situations.  But at least this time we
stopped in between love making sessions and took walks along the beach and
played chess.  It wasn’t all sex all the time like the previous night’s dream
but what sex there was had my hormones raging.

It took me longer
than usual to get ready for school that morning because of my long shower.  I
ended up making it into biology class just before the bell rang.  I faltered a
bit when I saw Brand sitting in his usual seat.  I sat down across from him and
avoided making eye contact.  I could feel him staring at me.  I’m not even sure
what Dr. Floyd was saying in class but I kept my eyes on him anyway.  It didn’t
keep me from seeing Brand out of my periphery vision though.  I saw him
scribble something down in his notebook and angle it towards me in an agitated
manner.

I had to make a
decision.  I could either pretend I didn’t see it or look to see what he had to
say.  My curiosity won out.

What the hell were you thinking spending
the day with that thing? 

I’m not sure what
made me madder: him questioning my decision making skills or calling Malcolm a
thing.

I wrote a response
in my own notebook which initiated a short, silent conversation.

    
What I do with my time is none of your business. 
And Malcolm isn’t a
thing
!

    
Do you know how worried I was
about you?  When Will told me he stopped by your place and Tara told him where
you were and who with, I thought I would go crazy!  We both searched for you
but the trail was cold by the time we found out you were with him.

    
Why do you keep acting like you
care about me Brand? You said you wanted me to leave you alone and I am. So why
can’t you leave me alone?