The Memory Witch (10 page)

“I didn’t know I had any,” I muttered. If Tanner wanted to end things, I needed him to man up and admit it to me. The situation was difficult—there was no denying it. However, I gave him every opportunity to break things off. Each time he sounded distant on the phone, I begged him to open up to me. I urged him to be honest and give me the chance to grieve the end of our relationship if that’s what he wanted. Tanner assured me I was imagining a conflict between us that simply didn’t exist. We were together a year and avoiding me was not the proper way to breakup.

Mason had headed over to the fridge and was scourging through the contents. “I’m starving. What are you in the mood to eat?”

“Can I borrow your truck?”

Mason turned to face me. His expression was resigned and I imagined that I was throwing a wrench into his plans for the night. “Why?” His down-turned mouth told me he really didn’t want to know the answer, but suspected I would harass him until he gave in. I was bull-nosed when I wanted something.

“I want to go see Tanner. He’s obviously avoiding me and I need to know why.”

He crossed his arms in front of him. His biceps strained against the fabric of his t-shirt. “How do I know you won’t just take off?”

“I guess you don’t. But I know Stella will go after my mother if I left, and I would never put her at risk. She’s the only family I got.” I walked over to him and pleaded, “Listen, I’ll just go to Harveys Lake and talk to Tanner. Once I see him, I’ll turn around and come right back. I swear.”

His eyes bore down on me and I could see his mind whirring as he assessed the situation. I tried to avoid focusing on the feelings Mason was stirring inside of me. I wondered if the tension with Tanner was what made this man in front of me more alluring by the second.

He studied me and I tried not to flush under his penetrating stare. “I’ll take you,” he stated flatly. “At least if I drive you, I guarantee you’ll come back. Not to mention, I don’t know you well enough to trust you with my truck.”

“Thank you,” I said. Mason looked perturbed by my proclamation of gratitude and I felt the wall come up once again between us.

“Lock up the main house and I’ll meet you at the truck in ten minutes,” he told me.

He walked away from me without another word and I concealed my exasperation with his shifting moods. If he wanted to be rude, I would tolerate it for the time being. At least long enough until we arrived in Harveys Lake.

The thought of home had filled me with longing over the past few weeks. Yet, as I pictured my confrontation with Tanner, a dark and dreadful feeling crept over me. My gut told me that whatever Tanner had to say to me would most likely leave me heartbroken and single by night’s end.

“So, have any good road trip music?” I asked Mason as we drove away from the Chadwick House. He didn’t answer me, which forced me to question him, “What’s your deal? Do you not like me or something?”

“I am driving you almost four hours to see your boyfriend,” he reminded me. I swallowed hard and before I could apologize, he admitted, “Aunt Stella told me to stay away from you.”

“She did?” I couldn’t hide my surprise over this revelation. It enraged me how Stella insisted on controlling every aspect of my life. Why couldn’t she allow me to at least have a friend in her nephew?

Mason sighed, “She didn’t explain the reasons why, but when Aunt Stella tells me something, I listen.”

“Why do you put up with her crap? You’re not being forced to stay with her like me, are you?”

Mason shook his head emphatically. “No, but I’m her sole heir. The estate and all of her assets go to me.”

“I don’t know if all of the money in the world could make me stay with her indefinitely,” I replied and leaned back into the truck’s upholstery.

“She’s not as bad as you think…”

I cut him off. “How can you say that? Didn’t you just tell me she put a hunger curse on you? And dictates who you’re allowed to talk to?”

“I’ll admit she’s a huge pain in the ass and she uses her magic to bully people. But she took me in and gave me a purpose when I had no one else looking out for me. I owe her a lot for that.”

The tension in his jaw detailed how hard this was to admit to me. I was eager to learn more about him, but didn’t interrupt him. The best tactic with him seemed to be to let him share things with me when he felt ready. He glanced over at me. The twilight cast shadows over his chiseled features and I marveled over how much I wanted to unlock the mysteries of this captivating man. Mason added, “I think you should also consider the fact that your predicament isn’t her fault. Your mom made the deal.”

I flinched at the harshness of his words. The truth about my mom stung, but I had to hold onto the belief that she was really trying to protect me. A terrible thought froze my body in place. “Do you know what happened to me when I was a kid?”

I hated the pitiful look he gave me. I never wanted him to feel sorry for me. For once, I wanted someone in my life to show me respect and treat me like an equal. I wasn’t this fragile and pathetic thing that couldn’t handle whatever trauma had happened to me ten years ago. I could never move on with this huge secret, always in the sidelines, threatening to obliterate my world.

“I don’t,” he responded. He must have noticed my disappointed expression because he added, “I’m sorry.”

“Would you tell me if you did?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Maybe your mom had a good reason for doing what she did.”

I was disappointed by his sentiment. As horrible as the past may be, I was still entitled to know the truth. Not telling me anything was only prolonging my pain and postponing my healing.

His mouth was in a tight line as he said, “I didn’t even know about you until the week before we picked you up. Aunt Stella said you would be staying with her for a year to learn her spells. She asked me to stay away from you so that you could focus completely on her teachings. It wasn’t until we came to your house that I found out you weren’t living with her voluntarily.”

I believed him and decided to drop the subject. Pestering Mason wouldn’t increase my chances of uncovering the lies I had been fed by my overprotective mother through the years. We made small talk as we headed south, but Mason was certainly cagey about divulging too much about himself. He seemed more interested in hearing about me and I squirmed at his questions about Tanner. He didn’t say anything outright, but I sensed his disapproval over my boyfriend. By the time, we pulled passed the welcome sign to Harveys Lake, I was a bundle of nerves.

Mason let out a low whistle as we pulled through the curved driveway leading up to Tanner’s massive house. I had tried to call him a couple of times on our way, but his phone went to voicemail each time. My anger threatened to boil over when I noticed Amber’s car parked in his driveway. He must have been partying with Mark and Amber and decided he didn’t have time to talk to his long-distance girlfriend.

“Do you want to come in with me?” I asked Mason.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Won’t your boyfriend be put off if you’re showing up to his house with another guy?”

I nodded although he probably couldn’t see me in the dark interior of the cab. It was almost eleven o’clock and Mason had gamely driven the whole time with only a brief stop for gas and food. “I’ll try not to take too long,” I promised as I opened the door. He said nothing and I slipped out of the truck with a short wave in his direction.

As I rang the doorbell, I was relieved that the Blacks weren’t at home. I didn’t know how they would feel about me showing up on their doorstep at this time of night. Tanner had mentioned a few days ago when I last spoke to them that they were taking an end of the summer jaunt to Europe for two weeks. His parents’ lackadaisical parental skills seemed to always get under my skin. My mother was more of a parent than the two that Tanner still had.

I was annoyed when Tanner didn’t answer the door after several buzzes at the doorbell. Although the night was quiet, I figured the trio must have been hanging out on his back deck. The evening was warm and the patio was our typical spot to entertain. I hoofed it around the perimeter of his house and arrived at the rear. The flooding of lights indicated I was correct in my assumption that my friends were partying outdoors. I took a few more steps forward before coming to an abrupt standstill.

My brain couldn’t register what my eyes were seeing. I had to be in a nightmare and not actually witnessing my boyfriend and best friend alone in the hot tub together. Unless he was performing mouth to mouth on her, there couldn’t be another logical reason why he had his tongue lodged down her throat. He was shirtless with the water glistening from his chest. The water reached their neckline, but if I wasn’t mistaken, Amber didn’t have a bathing suit top on. Tanner was groping Amber in a way that illustrated the heat between the two of them. This wasn’t their first kiss. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that they were familiar in the biblical sense.

I let out a strangled cry, but the two of them were too engrossed in each other to notice me standing at the edge of his deck. My eyes registered a six-pack of beer resting on the floor near my feet. I grabbed a can and flung it as hard as possible in their direction. This betrayal unleashed a fury inside of me that had been building up since the start of the summer.

My aim was off and the can burst open as it hit the edge of the hot tub. Beer foam squirted in every direction before the can fell with a crash onto the deck. I had to physically stop myself from picking up another can and launching it at them. They pulled apart with a startled jerk. Tanner’s eyes found me first. “Quinn?” His voice was uncertain as if I was an apparition standing in front of him and not the girlfriend he avoided all night in order to hook up with my best friend.

“Yes, it’s me, you low-life,” I sneered. His mouth hung open dumbly as words escaped him. I fumed, “You both can go straight to hell.” I ran from the scene and wished I could scratch my eyes out of my skull to erase what I had just seen. Or at the very least, down one of Stella’s potions and forget Tanner ever even existed.

I heard Tanner’s voice call to me from behind. I sprinted away as if my life depended on it, but the darkness and the tears blurring my eyes made me stumble. Tanner grabbed me by the waist as my foot touched the concrete of his paved driveway. “Quinn, listen to me…”

“No!” I tried to get out of his tight hold. “I hate you!”

“Quinn, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just…”

“If you say its just sex, I swear to god I will knee you in the crotch,” I threatened. I squirmed out of his grip and fell to the ground hard. Gravel scratched at my bare legs and left my knees raw and tender. I winced and bestowed Tanner with my deadliest stare. He was clad in only a pair of green swim trunks and the water from the hot tub streamed down his legs and formed a puddle around him. Amber must have been smart enough to stay in the back. Best friend or not, she would end up with a chunk of her red hair pulled out if she dared to face me. I had asked her to keep an eye out for Tanner, not offer up her lady parts while I was away.

Muscular arms wrapped under my arms and lifted me off of the ground. I had been so busy envisioning smashing in Tanner’s face with my fist that I hadn’t heard Mason get out of the truck. I spun around to face him.

Mason wouldn’t even look at Tanner. It was as if Tanner was so insignificant that he couldn’t even bother addressing him. His blue eyes were intense as he ordered, “We’re leaving.”

“Who the hell is this, Quinn?” Tanner took a step towards me. In a flash, Mason had me pressed behind him.

“Stay away from her,” Mason warned. His voice was low and dangerous. It made me almost concerned for my pathetic ex-boyfriend’s well being. I got over that feeling quickly and instead flashed him a disgusted look.

I allowed Mason to lead me over to his truck. When I looked back, I could see Tanner struggling over what to do. His expression told me he was torn and wanted to make me understand that he wasn’t a complete douchebag. Not that his meaningless words would have any difference, there would be nothing that he could say that would make me forgive him for practically having sex with my best friend in his hot tub.

He called out, “We were together for a year Quinn! How long was I supposed to wait for you to put out?”

Mason practically wrestled me into the truck as I made a break to go after Tanner. I wanted to inflict pain and I was grateful that Stella had yet to fully teach me how to cast. Otherwise, Tanner would be dead on the spot.

Mason threw the truck in gear and my body catapulted forward as the car moved forward. His arm reached forward to prevent me from hitting the dashboard. He slowed down once we reached the street. His body intersected over mine as he slid the seatbelt across my body.

I pressed my forehead against the cool glass of the truck window. It was humiliating to relive the past ten minutes in my mind. It made me wonder if I ever really knew Tanner. What kind of person sleeps with not only his girl friend’s best friend, but also the girlfriend of his best friend? Maybe I shouldn’t have spent so much time keeping Tanner in check. Then, I would’ve seen his true nature earlier. My controlling nature micromanaged my boyfriend until he became unrecognizable. I had been his crusader while he obviously only biding his time until I slept with him. I succumbed to the tears as I mourned the loss of someone I had thought I loved.

Mason sent a few glances my way and I was grateful for his silence. I barely knew him and it got under my skin that he saw such a personal and mortifying moment between Tanner and me. We drove away from Harveys Lake with only the sound of my hiccups filling the truck. I had wanted to see my mother while I was in town, but couldn’t ambush her while I was in this state. She was worried enough as it is with me being away, I didn’t need to give her another reason for concern.

“I’m sorry you’re upset…” Mason said softly, “but just for the record, you’re too good for him.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“And although my aunt told me to stay away from you,” he continued, “I’m here if you need a friend. Come by the cottage anytime you want.”

I almost smiled at his offer. I was touched and it eased the ache in my heart slightly. Mason was willing to risk the wrath of his aunt in order to be my friend. Maybe this year wouldn’t be as appalling as I expected.