Cursed In Love (The Adams' Witch Book 2) (11 page)

“Your mom isn’t here. She must be in her own room.”

I closed my eyes. “Thank God.”

Travis bent over and peeled up the area rug under Andrew’s body. “No wonder. Son of a bitch.”

I quickened around to the side of Travis. “What is it?”

Underneath Aunt Rose’s burgundy area rug was a huge pentagram. Travis threw the corner of the rug back down. “No wonder why he got the jump on me at first. Fucker must’ve known there was a pentagram there.”

Courtney’s cousin struggled on the floor, but to no avail. Travis must’ve also taken care of his vocal chords at the moment because his throat worked, but no sounds came out.

“I had no idea…actually. I think I did read that in my dad’s journal, but damn, there’s an actual pentagram in this house?”

He ran his hands down his face. “Yep.”

“My mom is going to hate that,” I said, staring at the area rug with the huge Wiccan symbol underneath. “She’s going to flip.”

“I suggest you don’t tell her.”

I plopped down on the sofa and stared down at Andrew. “Was he in my house?”

Travis nodded as he nudged the guy with his foot. “Yes. He was snooping around in here.”

The guy’s eyes narrowed and his throat worked again. Travis laughed. “How does it feel?”

A sudden sprout of goosebumps coursed over my arms. I rubbed my hand up and down my skin to get them to clear. “What the hell was he doing here?”

Travis finally looked at me again. His face pulled tight. I must’ve looked a mess. He came over and squeezed my shoulder. “It’s okay now. He’s not getting out of that until I let him out. And then I’m going to ban him from ever coming in your house again.”

I nodded, but his words did little to comfort me. Someone came in my house. It was violating. And frightening.

Travis sat next to me and put his arm around my back and rubbed in small circles. “Hey, Sarah. It’s okay. I’m here.”

I curled my hair around my ears and propped my elbows on my knees. I needed to calm the hell down. After taking a few steadying breaths, I finally thought I would be able to talk again without freaking out. “Thank you,” I said.

He curled one side of my hair back. “Any time, princess.”

I smiled back at him. His eyes were a steely green. An impenetrable steel that melted when I looked at him. He threaded his fingers through my hair and stroked it down to my shoulders a few times. It was calming.

After a few moments, Travis stood. “I’m going to let him talk now. Okay?”

I nodded in agreement. It took a half-second for Courtney’s cousin’s voice to be heard. He groaned long and loud. Travis sat him up with his back against the coffee table. “You want to tell me what the hell you’re doing in this house?”

Andrew slid his stare toward me and scowled. “Looking for clues.”

“Clues of what?” Travis asked, his voice was a thin line between pissed and professional.

“I know she knows where Courtney is.”

“The hell I do,” I said, rising to my feet. “If I knew where your cousin was I’d be talking to her right now instead of your dumb ass.”

Travis grinned. “See, she doesn’t know where Courtney is.”

The guy pushed and pulled against his imaginary restraints and then sighed. “Well, someone does.”

“You won’t get any arguments from us on that topic.”

Andrew locked gazes with Travis. “We need to find her sooner rather than later. Another Natural has gone missing.”

Travis froze. The muscles in his body tightened all in one instant and then his phone was out in his hand and he pushed buttons frantically.

“It’s not your sister,” the guy said. “A male Natural from another town close by.”

Travis eyed Andrew, his phone to his ear now. On the other end, Jennie’s voice came through. “What the hell do you want now?”

Travis closed his eyes and let out a big sigh. His entire body relaxed, and he sat back on the couch as if he had no energy left inside him. He reached his free hand up to rub the bit of stubble along his jaw.

“Travis?” I asked.

“N-nothing,” he said into the speaker. “Just making sure you’re all right.”

Her voice was so loud I could hear it coming from the speaker. “Not dead yet as you can tell by the way I’m talking to you.”

“Good to know. See you later.”

Jennie didn’t bother with good-byes. She hung up the phone and Travis slipped his cell back into his pocket. He was silent for a couple beats, then locked eyes with the guy he’d put in magickal restraints. “Tell me what you know.”

“Absolutely nothing. We know nothing and that’s why we’re so damn scared. None of it makes sense. The evil witch is gone. She…” —he cocked his head toward me— “…supposedly killed her. So, there’s no reason for them all to be missing unless we’re talking about another evil witch who likes to steal Naturals. And if that’s the case, we need to find out who’s doing this. And why.”

Travis stood and walked the perimeter of the room. “What were you doing here?”

“Courtney’s mom is convinced her and your sister know something.”

Travis came around and bent down low to meet the Natural’s gaze. “They don’t know anything. We’re in the same boat as you are.”

The cousin shrugged.

Travis sneered. His hand twitched, and I wondered for a second if he might hit Andrew.

“If I catch you around Sarah or my sister at all, I’ll strip you.”

Andrew’s eyes widened. “You can’t do that.”

“Maybe not legally, but I’ll do it anyway. My only priority is them right now. You mess with that, you’re done for.”

The Natural swallowed hard. I knew he was thinking what I was thinking. He better believe what Travis was saying because he wasn’t messing around.

Courtney’s cousin nodded. “If you hear anything?”

“I’ll do the same I expect of you. You hear something, you come find
me
.”

The invisible restraints fell off and Andrew stood and rubbed his wrists. Without a backward glance, he walked out of the library, through the house, and out the front door. Travis didn’t relax until the door slammed shut.

He sat on the couch, turned toward me, and placed his palm on my cheek. “Are you okay?”

I nodded.

For a second, his face was serene, then it turned hard. “Now tell me why the fuck you’d ask Jennie to bind you to that pansy.”

“W-what?”

“Don’t play dumb. Jennie told me you asked her to bind you to that little boy who doesn’t know his own mind from a whole in the ground. Why?”

He pulled his hand from my face and my skin grew cold there. “I don’t know. I guess I thought if it worked and he had the option of both of us then maybe he would come to his senses.”

A vein popped out of Travis’s neck. “The option? You want to be an option?”

“No,” I said, my voice high. “I just thought—”

“Let me tell you something. You deserve better. I know you’re just going by what you think you know in your own head, but I’m telling you. I know how magick works. He must have still liked the other girl in order for the binding to take hold that quickly and that well.”

“That doesn’t mean he didn’t like me either.” Or love, I wanted to say. He’d said he loved me.

“It doesn’t, but I don’t know why in the hell you’d want someone like that.”

Indignation churned my stomach. How dare he tell me what I wanted? “You don’t know him.”

Travis shrugged. “And I don’t want to know him. I’d stop this right now if we were only trying to help you unbind the dumbass. Instead, there are other, more important things to do and they just happen to be tied to each other. Listen to me loud and clear, I’m not here to help you get back with him.”

I blinked. For some odd reason, my throat was scratchy and my eyes were tired and hot. Tears bubbled to the surface, but I squelched them. “Loud and clear. I got you.”

He stood and started to walk away, but I grabbed his pant leg. “Where are you going?”

He peered down at me and his face softened. A deep breath later, he sat back on the couch on the other side of me. “I’m sorry. When Jennie told me that, I kind of lost my shit. It was a good thing I ran back over here, though. That fucker was sneaking around and I saw him come in.”

My heart beat against my chest. The thought of a strange person in this house scared the crap out of me. I rubbed my hands together to chase the cold away. “I’m glad you were here.”

He leaned back against the couch. “Me too. Who knows what he would’ve done.”

He was Courtney’s cousin. He cared for her and he’d probably do a lot for her. I’d done a lot for my family. “I can see why he did it.”

The creases along Travis’s eyes deepened. It was clear he didn’t understand.

“He’s trying to help out his family,” I explained. “I mean, if anybody can understand that, it’s me. A few months ago, I drove all the way from Miami because I found out I had an aunt. And I’m still here even though this shit happened. If it was because of anything else besides family, I would’ve been long gone by now.”

Travis nodded in understanding. “I agree. Family’s everything. But when his quest for family fucks with mine that means I get to break him.” I smirked and Travis frowned. “What?”

“Nothing,” I said.

He arched an eyebrow. “You don’t believe me.”

“Oh, I believe you.”

I’d seen Travis’s protectiveness in action today and he was definitely a force to be reckoned with. I didn’t doubt him for a second.

CHAPTER TEN

I’d thought about it all night. It wasn’t enough that Travis said Drake didn’t love me. I needed to hear how binding spells worked and why he thought that meant Drake was lying.

Last night, I heard almost every single one of the chimes go off on the grandfather clock in the main hall below. My mind reeled with possibilities. There was too much on my mind to sleep. Drake not liking me like I thought he did. Travis, maybe liking me? I needed to know exactly how Drake couldn’t have liked me. I’d still help him because it wasn’t right he’d been forced to do something against his will, but I just needed to know for my sake. Who was I to him?

It was the same when it came to my mother. I planned on asking Travis to help spell me a mind read. Who was I in her head? A loving daughter or a nuisance?

Deep down inside, this was my issue, always had been.

Eyes bleary and tired, I stayed in bed until about nine am. Mom never came to check on me like a normal parent would’ve. Maybe I was lucky to have a mom like that. Maybe other girls wanted the mom who could care less if they went to school or not, but all my life, I’d just wanted something normal. I wanted a mom and a dad. Together. At the same time. I didn’t want those guys my mom tried to push into our lives. I wanted someone that came in naturally. But Mom never did natural.

I got up and took a shower. On my way back out, my phone vibrated on the nightstand. There were a couple texts from Travis and one from Jennie. Travis’s were first.

How come you aren’t in school?

Do I need to come over?

Jennie’s was much less freaked and more sarcastic.
You betch. If you were going to skip, you could’ve at least told me. Now I’m stuck here.

Was I skipping? Was that what this was? I didn’t feel right, that was for sure.

To Jennie, I texted back,
Sorry. Overslept.
Though I should’ve written, Over-thought. I’m a nutso.

To Travis, I texted,
Pick me up on your bike and take us to the park?

His reply was almost immediate.
I knew you liked my bike.

I smiled to myself. I guess I really did. The feeling in it was amazing. It was as close to flying as I could think of. Hair whipping around the helmet. Nothing around to block you in case something went wrong. No force field. No armor. Just you, the wind, and the road.

That was exactly what I needed on my mental health day.

Oh God. That was one of my mom’s sayings. I needed to strike that from the record.

I readied myself, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and sat down on the front steps. Mom was nowhere to be found. I wondered what she’d been doing with her time. It seemed like she was never around, but there was nothing for her to do, was there? In Miami, I wouldn’t have wondered where she was. I knew all her hangouts, but Mom didn’t have hangouts yet in Adams, did she?

I shook my head, trying to get the blasted thoughts out. I didn’t want to think today.

I heard Travis’s motorcycle before I even saw him pulling into the circular driveway. Dust kicked up from the dirt drive leaving a trail of tan smoke behind him. He truly looked like a badass with an entrance like that.

When he took his helmet off, there were dark circles under his eyes and I immediately felt bad for bothering him. Of course Travis would be busy. He was probably annoyed I’d asked him to come.

I stood, my shoulders sagging. “I’m sorry.”

His forehead creased. “Why are you apologizing?”

“You’re tired.”

“So are you.”

I shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Me either. But probably for different reasons.”

Most definitely. He wasn’t up tossing and turning all night thinking about why his family wasn’t a real family. Or how Drake said he’d loved me, the same as Mom, but I never saw any evidence of that. No true evidence. Why?

I took in a shuddering breath and Travis got off the bike and was by my side in an instant. “Hey,” he said, pulling me to his chest. “You okay?”

I nodded into his leather jacket. It smelled like fresh air and Travis. It smelled perfect. “I’m just…out of it today.”

He smoothed my hair down my back and squeezed me once before pulling away. “All this is catching up to you, isn’t it?”

“You could say that.”

He eyed me closely. He didn’t believe me that was for sure. I’d never been a very good liar. It wasn’t the witches or the Wiccans or the Naturals or anything like that getting to me. Now that I’d said that, what did that make me? A weirdo? That I wouldn’t get upset about a little paranormal scenario going on? I had problems.