Tainted Blood (65 page)

The hint of a crooked smile picked at the corner of his mouth. “I love you and that’s why I won’t, but good try.”

I gave him my own crooked smile and settled back against his chest.

“Laney,” he said softly as I drifted off once again. “You are my reason for surviving, you always have been, and you always will be.”

I must admit, those were the best words to fall asleep to. Ever.

Chapter
33 - My Divine Plan

The next afternoon, when I finally felt strong enough, I took a bath. The water felt…exhilarating! My nerves were on fire! Every touch, every taste, every smell was amplified.

After my well-needed bath, I told Oliver about how super sensitive I was to everything. “It changed things, woke up your senses, when I gave you my blood,” Oliver told me as we stood facing each other in
our
bedroom. “Your senses have been triggered, putting them on high alert.” He gazed down at me and took a step closer. He then slipped his fingers into mine and the sensation that that simple touch gave me was electrifying!

I took a step closer to him so that I was right against him, my chest pressed to him. “Is this how you feel all the time?” I asked seductively. I stretched up on my toes and gently bit his bottom lip. He growled and his eyes burned with the need that I felt.

He slipped his free hand into my hair, right behind my ear, and pulled me to him, pressing his cool lips to mine. “Please,” I breathed. He growled at me again, pressing his body to mine. I wanted him and it was obvious the feeling was mutual, but it was also obvious Oliver was exercising great self-control.

We weren’t alone but that wasn’t going to stop me. Our bedroom had a door and I knew how to use it. I could hear our friends in the other room. They were getting ready for dinner. Kiera and Zoey were making tacos, in the hopes that I would finally eat something solid. I didn’t want tacos, I wanted Oliver. Every part of him. I slipped both of my hands up the front of his shirt, my fingers tracing his tight muscles, and I tried encouraging him to remove his shirt. Our lips still locked, he growled, low and sexy, and it only intensified how I felt. Suddenly, both of his hands were grasping my wrists. His lips broke our connection and I pouted.

His fangs were out, and even though I’d recently almost lost my life after being bitten too many times, I wanted him to bite me. I squirmed in his grip as his tantalizing emerald eyes held mine. “Please,” I breathed again.

He held me against his body and rested his forehead to mine. “Soon, Laney, soon,” he whispered.

“Now,” I replied in a whisper.

A smirk picked at his lips, and he pressed them to mine for a moment. He took a deep breath and wrapped his arms around me, just holding me close. I breathed deeply hoping his scent would calm me as it usually did, but it didn’t. He smelled so good, he felt so amazing, and he tasted incredible.

“Your senses will dull, eventually. They won’t always be this intense,” he told me quietly while still holding me. I wasn’t sure this was good news. I kind of liked the super sensitivity of my nerves. Especially when I was close to Oliver.

Eventually we parted ways and I had dinner with my friends while Oliver stayed in our bedroom—I loved that it was now
our
bedroom—so that he could work on community plans. He needed something to keep him busy while he was on leave and what better than something he truly loved to work on?

When I took my seat at the table, Felix and Carter were quietly arguing about something. I heard Ashton’s name and asked what was going on. They shared a steady look and I imagined that they were sharing private words, as well.

“What’s going on, guys?” I asked again.

Felix nodded to Carter who sighed and told me what they had been arguing about. “Do you remember anything I told you about Ashton in the last few days?” Carter asked me.

“I don’t think so,” I said slowly.

Felix cut in before Carter could continue. “We arrested Ashton the day Oliver returned. The day we almost lost you.”

“Why?” I felt a lump form in my throat. I didn’t like to think about the fact that I’d almost lost my life, but I wanted to hear what they had to say. I was now curious if Ashton had been involved in my almost-demise.

Carter responded next. “We think he’s involved in what happened to Oliver.” He paused for a moment then looked to Felix for encouragement. Felix nodded for him to proceed and he did. “We also think he was involved in what happened to you, with Oliver’s brother.” I wasn’t sure I believed this. Don’t get me wrong, I was fully behind the first theory. I really had no doubts there, but the second allegation was a little harder for me to believe. Although, I was sure I could be easily swayed.

But before I could ask how they thought Ashton was involved, Carter continued, “His dad bailed him in a heartbeat. Probably because he knows Ashton’s a puss.”

“Well,” Felix interjected. “We would have had to let him go anyway, we can only hold him on suspicion for so long.”

Carter continued. It was almost like the two of them had begun sharing a brain while I was loopy and out of my own. “When we still couldn’t get solid proof, the charges were dropped.”

“What made you arrest him in the first place, if you didn’t have proof?” I asked.

They exchanged another glance. “He showed up here. He knew something had happened to you and when he saw that you were knocking on Death’s door he said something,” Carter told me.

“What did he say?” I asked, as Zoey set a plate of tacos in front of me. She smiled and I returned it. Then I quickly turned my attention back to Carter and Felix.

“I didn’t hear him because I was too focused on wanting to beat his ass, but the others heard him. He said something like, ‘No, this wasn’t supposed to happen,’” Carter told me, his bright blue eyes meeting mine.

I knew this knowledge hurt Carter, I could see it on his face, in his eyes. Ashton had been his friend, granted, he hadn’t been a great friend, but still. It had to hurt, I knew because it hurt me to know Ashton was capable of putting my life on the line. “Sounds like grounds to me,” I said, then took a bite of the best taco I’d ever tasted. I wondered, as I chewed blissfully, when my senses mellowed would I be disappointed in everything for the rest of my life?

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Carter hollered.

“We’re just lucky he didn’t press charges against you,” Felix said to Carter.

“Why would he? What did you do?” I narrowed my eyes on Carter.

“Ashton took off, when he saw that Oliver was there with you, Carter chased him down and, well, beat his ass, as Carter would say,” Felix flashed me a dimpled grin.

Carter tried to hide his smile. “Surprised the hell out of him when I caught up to him so quickly and even more so when I took him down like I did.”

“Well, you should not have done so. Again, you are lucky you’re not in a holding cell right now,” Felix said. Yet, I was pretty sure he was proud of his distant nephew and certain that he’d have bailed Carter out in a heartbeat too.

Kiera had just set plates loaded with tacos and their fixings in front of Carter and Felix. “It was worth it,” Carter said as he lifted his taco off of his plate. “I don’t think anything had ever felt so good.” Then Carter went about devouring his dinner, as did the rest of us.

“We need that book” Felix said once we’d all finished eating.

We discussed how we were going to get Professor Morgan’s book from Ashton’s dad. It was clear that Kiera and I wouldn’t be going into the Weslin house again. After our last adventure, Avery had confronted Kiera at the college with a group of her followers in tow. Thankfully, Carter had been with Kiera when it happened because Avery tried to get physical with Kiera, so Carter stepped in. Apparently, it was like some schoolyard bullying scene unfolding, which seemed a bit juvenile, even for Avery. I’d never seen Avery do any such thing before and I wondered if the same magic that had affected Oliver was still in affect with her. And if she was still on whatever it was that had tainted his food source.

Normally, I wouldn’t be too worried about Kiera. She could have easily defended herself against pretty much anyone, in most situations. Well, anyone that was a regular human. Kiera had extensive self-defense skills. But Avery was probably still on something, and we didn’t know how it would affect her—if it would make her stronger or crazier. I’m sure Carter just really wanted to put Avery in her place, which he did, from what I was told. I have no idea how much he embellished, but Carter said he reamed Avery to the point it brought tears to her eyes. He was pretty sure that when Avery retaliated, which he was sure she would do, it would be bad. Really bad.

Anyway, back to the plan. Short and simple, we didn’t have one. I listened while my friends exchanged ideas and came up with nothing that would work. I tried to piece some things together, and came up with a theory on Ashton and a plan that I was not happy about. I knew Oliver would hate it.

“I have an idea,” I said fairly quietly, but it got everyone’s attention. Even Oliver, who had still been in the bedroom on his laptop, came out to listen. He leaned against the doorframe of our bedroom with his arms crossed while I told the others my theory and then my plan. “I don’t think Oscar and Ashton are working together,” I told them.

“What makes you think that?” Carter asked.

“Well, let me rephrase that. I think there are two groups working against us and I think Ashton is involved with both, separately. I think he might be a middle man. He’s trying to appease both sides.” I caught Oliver and Felix exchanging a quick glance and I wondered what was said between them that the rest of us did not hear. “I think Ashton will turn them against each other at some point.”

“It’s a good theory but what makes you so sure?” Felix asked. I wasn’t completely positive that my theory was right but there were things I knew that the others did not.

My eyes met Oliver’s for a brief moment then I looked away. “It was something Ashton said to me. He told me that when he wants something, he won’t give up until he gets it.” I looked to Carter. “I know it doesn’t sound like much but it was more of the way he said it. It made me recall some other things he told me.” Thankfully, before I could dredge up that night Ashton and I’d “hooked-up,” my boyfriend had a question.

“When did he tell you this?” Oliver asked from our doorway.

I wasn’t sure how to respond without causing emotional harm. I took a breath, and after I exhaled, I looked at him and said, “That night you left me in the parking lot at the Lunatic Stallion.”

He gave a small nod in response, but I saw that hurt cross his face. I knew that had he been in his right mind, he would never have left me. I knew there were a lot of things he would never have done, had he not been drugged and bewitched. I also knew that he felt he needed to make it up to me. He needed to prove to me that this would never happen again and prove how sorry he was. I knew how to make sure it would never happen again, but I also knew there was nothing I could do about it as long our friends planned on never leaving us alone together.

As we sat around the table, my friends began to chatter on about Ashton but I interrupted and said, “There’s more.” It silenced them. “Ashton and his dad rarely see eye to eye. If his dad is involved, which we believe he is, Ashton will take him down. Or at least make sure he falls.” Carter muttered something but I kept going. I wanted Ashton out of my head. “Ashton has everything to gain with his dad out of the picture.”

“How do you know this stuff, Laney?” Carter asked. It made sense for Carter to wonder, but Ashton had many secrets, this I knew. He’d shared a few with me. I knew the things he told me that night, a couple of years ago, were things he had not told anyone else, especially his friends. Ashton trusted me, I’m not quite sure why, but he trusted me even though I no longer trusted him.

I stared down at my hands resting in my lap and said, “He told me a couple years ago. He said that he was looking forward to taking over for his dad. I assumed he’d meant his dad’s regular job (he was a banker) but now that Mr. Weslin was involved, I realize that Ashton had meant something entirely different. He said something about if he could, he’d get his dad out of the picture sooner. He worded it differently, and back then, I didn’t think he’d meant anything bad by it.” I glanced up. They were all eyeing me. Probably wondering if I was out of my mind again.

“So what’s your plan, Laney?” Zoey asked.

Okay, maybe they didn’t think I’d lost it again. I looked right at Oliver and said, “You’re not going to like this.”

It was the only plan that was going to work and it was the only plan that made sense. It was the only plan that would fool Avery and her dad. Being that the following day was a Monday, and Mr. Weslin
always
worked from home on Mondays, it was our only chance.

Oliver was instantly against it. The rest of the “team” agreed that they could see how it would work. Felix and Oliver ended up getting into a disagreement over the plan. At first, it was just their normal bickering, but when Felix stood, it got a little heated.

The others watched, but I got between the two of them, and placing my hand on Oliver’s chest, I said, “I know you don’t want to do this but you are our only hope to get that book. You’re going to have to take one for the team.” Facing him, his deep green eyes glared down at me and I said, “I love you and I trust you. And, I believe in you. I know you can do this.” I stretched up on my toes and lightly kissed his lips. In a quiet voice, I said, “I’ll be right there with you.” His brow furrowed. “I will wait in the car. I’ll be just outside.”