Cursed In Love (The Adams' Witch Book 2) (12 page)

He slid his finger down the center of my forehead. “You’re thinking too much today.”

I let a small smile slip onto my face. “Now
that
we’re on the exact same page with.”

He grinned, and it was refreshing and scary at the same time. My stomach twisted a little just seeing how good looking he was. He cocked his head back toward the bike. “I hear there’s a princess that needs to go to the park today.”

I took the helmet Travis offered and got on the back of the bike. Beneath me, the motorcycle roared to life, and I wasn’t as scared as I was the first time or the second time. When Travis pulled away, I held onto him because I wanted to hold onto him and not because I was scared I was going to die. He patted my joined hands on his stomach as if he realized there was a difference this time, too.

We cruised through town. He wound through the side streets taking it slow and easy as if we were Mom and Pop Smith on a Sunday drive. It was exactly how I would’ve wanted it. Eventually, he pulled into a parking spot in the center of town and steadied the bike as I hopped down. I whipped my helmet off and smoothed my hair all before he had both feet on the pavement.

I took his hand and walked him to that area of the park that stung me to look at. The one that had been just in front of the makeshift stage those few weeks ago. There was nothing there now, just plain grass. There was no evidence that someone died there. No evidence that my Mom had gotten hurt, that I, or that Jennie had either. And definitely no evidence that Mother Shipton had taken Drake away from me right here. She really was an evil witch bitch.

I sat in the grass and Travis sat next to me, his knee touching mine. “You okay?” he asked again. Concern all over his features and in his soft voice.

I took a deep breath. “Can you explain to me why you think Drake couldn’t have really liked me?” Travis’s face hardened. I grabbed his knee. “Just please. I know it sounds stupid to you, but I just really need to know.”

His throat worked, his green eyes holding mine the entire time. “Wicca cannot mess with your free will that much. If Drake loved you—”

“He said he did, you know.” Travis’s eyebrows drew in. I brought my knees to my chest and hugged them. “That’s why I need to know. He said he did.”

Travis nodded, his face losing some of the hard lines. “The thing is, Sarah. Wicca can’t do that when we’re talking mind and feelings. It’s free will.”

“But I saw you stop somebody with just a spell. Wasn’t it his free will to move?”

“The difference is between the mind and the body. I did that using the body. If I had spelled his mind to tell him to want to stop moving, it wouldn’t have worked because in his head, I’m sure he wanted to.” I shook my head, so he sighed and tried explaining it again. “Think of it this way. She could’ve spelled Drake to have sex with Marlene because it’s a physical act. She couldn’t have spelled him to fall in love with her if he was in love with you.”

I closed my eyes and willed the picture that popped into my head down. Way down. Travis touched my hand, and I looked up at him. His face was soft and encouraging. “I think I get it now.”

“Did you love him?”

I hadn’t thought about Drake in that way. I’d asked myself that question a bunch of times since his binding with Marlene and…in truth, I couldn’t have loved him. I barely knew him. I cared for him. I liked him a lot. Love was so, so precious and not something that I’d been used to dealing with, so it was possible I did love him, but I didn’t know what it felt like. I was pretty sure I loved my mom because she was my mom. And because of the way it felt to see her up on that cross a few weeks ago defenseless. But loving anybody, especially since I had only one family member to speak of, wasn’t in my routine.

Travis’s lip quirked up. “You’re taking a long time to answer.”

A short laugh rose from my throat. “It’s because I’m not sure, I guess. I don’t know if I really know what love is, so I’m not sure if I was or not.”

“You’d know it if you were.”

I laid my head on my arms and watched Travis’s silhouette. He stretched his feet out in front of him and leaned back on his hands. “Are you sure?” I asked.

“Listen, I’m not trying to tell you Drake didn’t love you for some mischievous plan of mine. I just think you should know all the facts before you get yourself involved. I agree. It’s not right that he’s bound with that chick. All I’m saying is that he probably had feelings left over for her since they broke up. That does tend to happen. I just don’t want you thinking that when he wakes up off the binding spell, if he ever does, that he’s going to be completely smitten with you again because the likelihood of that happening is slim.”

“But he seems to remember things that happened between us. Why is that?”

“He can remember everything. He can remember how you made him feel. But he feels this overwhelming pull toward another girl. Think of someone who obsesses over somebody. That’s what he feels like right now. It probably does feel a lot like what love actually feels like. You can’t stop thinking about the person. You don’t want to be around anybody else but them.” He dug the heels of his shoes into the ground. “I just thought you should know everything before you make a decision that affects the rest of your life.”

“I still want to help him.”

“I agree. If we can, we help him. But don’t get your hopes up that it’s going to be exactly the way you left off. And if it makes you feel any better. He probably thought he loved you. It would be easy to do.”

I looked away from Travis’s hard stare. I was pretty sure he just gave me a major compliment. “Have you ever loved anyone?” I asked.

“Beyond family? Not in a hell of a long time. I was young. But who knows, like you said, I don’t know if I really did love her or not.”

“So the binding spell would be a good test then, huh? Try and bind someone to an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend, if it takes, you know they didn’t really love you.”

He chuckled. “I never thought of it that way. It could work.”

The breeze picked up and all around us, Fall leaves swirled in the wind and floated down across the park. Adams was particularly pretty in the fall. Way prettier than Miami. It was nice to have a different season other than warm or hot. “Do you miss Salem?” I asked.

“A little. But when I’m in Salem, I miss my family. I just can’t have it both ways at the moment.”

“How come your family moved here?”

Travis sat cross-legged and picked some grass blades from in front of him and tore them into tiny pieces. After a moment, he locked gazes with me. “Jennie.”

The way he said it, I knew this was the reason why they didn’t get along very well. “Oh. Her story, right? Don’t worry about telling me then. It’s none of my business.”

“Maybe she’ll tell you one day. I’m glad she has you. She needed a break from some things and I’m glad it was with you. Someone normal. Someone to take her out of the witch politics.”

“Witch politics? Is there such a thing?”

“You have no idea.”

“Being the witch police, I imagine you’re right in the thick of things.”

“You have no idea.”

I shoved him in the arm. “I tried the protection spell again yesterday. When you found Courtney’s cousin in my house…I kind of wish I’d taken the chance to see if it worked.”

Travis reached a hand out and touched the necklace I always kept on now. He smiled. “You wouldn’t have needed it.”

“Jennie told me this was a really powerful necklace.”

Still eyeing the stone at my throat, he nodded. “Very.”

“Why—Why are you so intent on keeping me safe, too? Jennie is understandable, obviously, but, why me?”

He blinked, his stare finally moving up to meet my eyes. “I haven’t felt the need to protect someone besides family in a long time. I figure there’s a reason for that.”

My heart beat wildly inside my chest. With each pound, the draw to move closer to Travis thumped in my head. It was as if my heart was trying to tell me something. I licked my lips. “Thank you.”

He reached for my hand and peeled it away from my knees. “I know why the idea of Drake is so enticing to you. I know—I mean it sounds as if you didn’t have the best childhood with your father dead and your mom…grieving, but Sarah, don’t settle for love that isn’t right, that isn’t pure, and impenetrable. You deserve it.”

I squeezed his hand and smiled. “That was probably the best advice I’ve ever heard.”

He grinned from ear-to-ear. “And they said I’d never amount to anything.”

“Well, they were obviously wrong, Mr. Witch Police.”

We held gazes for a moment and then he dropped my hand. This was nice. This talk with someone who sounded as if they got me. I never would’ve told someone I felt like I wasn’t loved growing up, but Travis seemed to instinctively know.

“You’re a good guy, Travis.”

A cloud crossed over his face, He looked down at the little pile of grass shavings he made. “I’m not sure if everyone would agree with you on that.”

Then they obviously didn’t know what they were talking about. Everything I’d seen Travis do since he got here was to protect his sister…and me. He was even willing to help Drake because I asked. He was good, whether he wanted to admit it to himself or not. Whether that was the persona he liked to put out there or not, he was good.

A shadow fell across the grass in front of me and I looked up. Well, first I saw Travis scowling and then I looked up. It was Drake.

He came up behind us, walked around, and plopped himself in the grass in front of Travis and I. Right where I tackled my aunt’s body into the pyre and she shriveled up and burned.

“Hey, Sarah.”

“Hey.”

I glanced toward Travis. His face was all hard lines and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Drake barely glanced at him. He’d never been that big of a Jennie fan either so it wasn’t as if I expected them to hug it out.

“Courtney’s mother came to see me.” His gaze seared into mine. A few weeks ago that would’ve made me want to kiss him. Or made my heart race. Now, it had a completely different effect.

“And?”

“She thinks you know where Courtney is.”

“And?”

He rolled his eyes and leaned back on his hands. “I don’t remember you being this difficult.”

Travis chuckled. “Trust me, Farmer Joe. She is.”

I smirked at Travis’s comment, but then looked back at Drake. “I just want to know where you’re going with this. So, Cortney’s mom came to talk to you. Okay. She came to talk to me, too. So, she thinks I know where her daughter is. Okay. She also told me the same thing. Why are you telling me this?”

He looked toward Travis and then inched closer to me as if we were co-conspirators. “She thought maybe I could get you to tell me where she is.”

My hands balled into fists. “You think I know where she is? You think I’d keep something like that a secret?”

“Courtney’s mom is pretty convinced and I know you were brought into the police station for questioning.”

“That doesn’t mean I know where she is. Come on, Drake. You know me. If I knew where Courtney was, I’d tell someone. Especially since others have gone missing.”

His eyes narrowed. “Others?”

“So I guess he doesn’t know everything?” Travis asked.

“Is this who you’re hanging out with now?” Drake asked, motioning toward Travis.

“Yes, actually. It is.” Anger rose up inside me even though it wasn’t his fault. I couldn’t help myself for feeling like he’d abandoned me. “Ever since you dropped me to get back together with your ex. Yes, I’ve been hanging around with this guy. And apparently hiding a girl away from her family.”

“Is that what this is about? You’re upset I’m back together with Marlene? I’m sorry, Sarah. I realized she was the one for me all along. What else do you want me to say?” He shrugged and opened his palms as if there wasn’t a single thing in the world he could do about it. And there probably wasn’t.

Travis sat up straight beside me. “Just back off. You dumped her right after her aunt died so maybe she’s a little sore. Not sore enough to know where Courtney is and not say anything though.”

Drake had the decency to look hurt. I hadn’t ever thought of it like that. Drake had left me right after Aunt Rose died. That was a pretty shitty thing to do. He could’ve at least still been my friend. Did the binding go that deep that he couldn’t even be there for me?

Drake stood and took a step toward downtown when Travis’s voice stopped him in his tracks. “And tell Mrs. James that if she, or any other of her family members want to have a conversation with Sarah, I’m going to be there. And they won’t like it.”

I looked down at the grass. After a few seconds, Travis slid toward me and put his arm around my shoulders. “I know that probably sucked.”

I shrugged. “Par for the course around here, I guess.”

He maneuvered a strand of hair around my ear and kissed my temple. “You deserve more than this little town with these little people.”

I half-smiled. It was a nice thing to say even if it wasn’t entirely true. These were my dad’s people. And if they were my dad’s people, then they were my people, too.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Traipsing around in the woods on a Friday night was so not my idea of fun. Jennie texted an hour ago with the news that the town had organized a search party for Courtney and if we didn’t show up, it wouldn’t look good.

We’d all met at the park where they split us into parties. Lucky for Travis, Jennie and I, we were walking through the woods near the clearing the Wiccans held their meetings at during Settler’s Days. Actually, I was the only one walking the woods. Travis had been the first to drop out and then Jennie, too. She’d said, “We all know she’s either hiding, or a Natural took her. There’s no freaking way we’re going to find some dumb clue in these woods.”

Part of me agreed with her, but what if we did find a clue? What if the Natural who took her had left something behind for us to go on? The Wiccan meeting place was a good place to check. Maybe they’d been here. Maybe they’d met here and then the Natural stole her. Then again, maybe I was crazy for thinking that this could be a good possibility.