Wrong Bed Baby: Crescent Cove Book 10

by Quinn, Taryn

  Between Caleb’s intense research each night and my own spiral of near hysteria, my Notes app looked like I was writing a new and improved version of What to Expect When You’re Expecting.

  After dusting on a bit of powder and some blush, I looked less like a corpse. I pulled on one of the kaftans Bess had bought me when she’d graduated from level one of my impromptu tarot class. The psychedelic rainbows and drunk sunflowers would distract the eye from the morning sickness chic thing I had going on.

  I headed into the living room. Another wave of nausea had me bracing myself on the arm of the couch. Lucky me. I just needed some electrolytes. And since Pedialyte was my new best friend, we had a little date while I reviewed my notes for my client.

  A love reading.

  Just great. Exactly what I needed to be doing right now. I couldn’t even get my own brain in order on the subject, and I was supposed to give advice?

  “Not about you, Lu,” I muttered to myself as I went over to my tarot deck wall and took out a few decks that called to me. And because Madeline, my client, was about as grounded as a hot air balloon, I snagged my Truth Bomb deck to help her check herself before she wrecked herself over whatever new guy she was contacting me to discuss.

  Setting up my camera and backdrop took a few more minutes than it usually did because the room kept tilting. Finally, I gave up on making everything pretty and sat down, put my headphones on, then logged into Zoom.

  Forty minutes wasn’t too bad. I could do anything for an hour.

  Madeline’s sweet face came up on the screen. So earnest and full of that rosy glow of love. Her aura glowed hot pink. She didn’t need me to tell her she was in love today, that was for sure.

  “Oh, Luna. Are you okay?”

  So much for the makeup helping.

  “Just feeling a little under the weather.”

  “Oh.” Her wide smile dimmed. “I’m so sorry. Do you want to reschedule?”

  Yes. So much yes. “No, that’s okay.”

  She frowned. “If you’re sure.”

  My hand trembled as I reached for my favorite gentle tarot deck. Shuffling required a bit more dexterity than I was currently capable of, so I went with a messy spread across my table. “So, tell me what we’re talking about today.”

  That was all she needed to hear. Her aura went bright and fluttery like Monarch butterflies in the spring. His name was Patrick and he was too perfect to live on this earth. The way she described him, the dude was going to sprout angel wings.

  I surreptitiously floated my hands over the cards and flipped one. I’d been doing this long enough not to let my face betray the card. Seven of Swords wasn’t the best one to pull when thinking about a guy. Nor was the next card, Knight of Wands. Both hinted that Patrick might’ve been a player.

  “So, how long have you been seeing one another?”

  “Four months. We have spent every Thursday together. That’s his night off. He works on the road a lot.”

  I bet he did.

  I pulled out my favorite oracle deck and groaned at the Spy card.

  Okay, cards, I get it.

  “I’m really glad you’ve found a guy who makes you so happy, Madeline.”

  “Do you think we have a future together?”

  “Do you think you do?” Most of the time, when people came to me it was because they already had a bad feeling.

  She looked down at her hands. She was gripping a startlingly large hunk of rose quartz. “I really like him, Luna.”

  I curled my fingers into my palm before stretching my fingers out again. My hand heated over a card. I flipped over the Four of Cups followed by the Star and Ace of Cups. Her hopeful nature and giving heart always got her into trouble, but she really shouldn’t settle for half measures.

  “I’d be careful. Keep things slow and steady.”

  She leaned forward. “Is it something bad?”

  I left the cards that I’d pulled and gathered up the rest. I set them down and took a quick drink against the flood of moisture in my mouth.

  Come on. Hold on just a few minutes longer.

  With unsteady fingers, I reached for the rollerball of lemon oil and ginger I’d mixed last night.

  I slid it over my wrist and waved it near my nose.

  Slowly, the nausea settled. I drew in a deep breath. My hand was much steadier as I overhand shuffled and pushed away my own maladies. I didn’t want to put my fucked-up energy into the cards.

  When I turned over Three of Swords and a reversed Knight of Cups, I looked up.

  “That’s not a good face.”

  I was usually better at schooling my expression and giving a positive spin to even the worst cards. “Tell you what. I think some of my energy is messing up this reading. I’m really sorry. Would you mind if we rescheduled? I’ll throw in an extra ten minutes for free.”

  “Oh, that’s okay. Are you sure it’s just not really bad cards for me?” Her lower lip quivered.

  “I think you should search your heart. If you’re worried, there’s a reason.”

  A huge tear dripped down her cheek. “Why do I always end up with these kinds of men?”

  I leaned forward and gave her a soft smile. “Because you have an amazing, gentle, and open heart. And you’re beyond beautiful.” I watched her aura fluctuate between the pink of hopeful love and a more muted green.

  Ever since the hill at the picnic with Caleb, I’d had more and more trouble with auras. They were stronger and harder to control. I had a feeling it was a lovely part of being pregnant.

  I’d heard of witches with augmented gifts because of their pregnancies. Whether it was taking on the gifts of the child for a while, or just the chaos of hormones, there would be some fun times to come.

  “I feel like this guy may not be giving you the whole story. I don’t know what that means yet, but I think you need to have a heart to heart with Patrick to see if you’re on the same page.”

  I shuffled all the cards again, then cut the deck into three and flipped the middle. The Star came up again. I flipped it around to show her. “There’s always hope. If that means there is hope for you and Patrick, or that you’ll find the right guy soon, I just don’t know.”

  She dashed away another tear. “You always know what to say. Even when you’re so sick. Is it the flu?”

  I gave her a wry smile. “Baby flu.”

  “Oh, Luna!” Her eyes flooded again. “Congratulations. That’s amazing.”

  It felt weird to tell someone. Well, other than Caleb and his sister. But for the first time, it seemed like something wondrous and not just fear-inducing. “Thanks. I’m one of the lucky women with an enduring relationship with my bathroom, unfortunately.”

  “Oh.” Her huge dark eyes flooded with tears and empathy. “How awful. Get yourself some mints. It always helped my sister-in-law.”

  “I will.” I had a large order to fill at Moonstone and Obsidian. And I’d ask Georgia for a little help as well. She was used to tending to women with all sorts of ailments. I couldn’t be the first pregnant woman who needed assistance in this area.

  “I’m really sorry I had to cut this short.”

  She held up a hand. “It’s all right. I just hope you start feeling better.”

  Relief made my shoulders loosen. I hadn’t even known the muscles were bunched up with tension. “Patrick doesn’t deserve you, Mads.”

  She gave me a watery smile. “He probably doesn’t. Just send me a note when you’re feeling more yourself.”

  “I will.”

  I ended the video chat and slumped back in my chair.

  Then the nausea returned. No amount of lemon oil was going to stop it. I bolted from my chair, but tripped over the cord for my microphone and landed hard on my hip.

  A string of inventive words for what I was going to do to Caleb’s man parts ended in a dry heave.

  Someone knocked. “Luna?”

  “Go away,” I yelled at the door.

  It was a male voice, but I was t
oo busy trying to get off the floor before I had an extra mess to clean up. I gave up and started crawling to the bathroom.

  My foot hooked on the cord to the speaker on the end table beside the couch as the room swam. Everything came down with bang. The lampshade bounced off my butt, and my lamp rolled under my desk.

  Another bang sounded from the front of my apartment. Something slammed into my door. Then the doorjamb splintered before the door bounced off the wall.

  Great. Someone was breaking in as I was crawling to the bathroom to puke up my Pedialyte. Or knowing my luck it was Caleb. Right now, I wanted to turn him into a eunuch for doing this to me.

  I’d thought his cock was beautiful. Well, the fruits of that beautiful cock were going to kill me dead.

  “Jesus.”

  I knew that voice. Caleb would have been a better choice. “Oh, no. How did you find me?” I asked the floor as I pressed my forehead into the hardwood.

  “Lu.” Xavier knelt beside me and placed his warm hand on my back. “Do I need to call an ambulance? 911?”

  “No. Goddess, no. I just need to go into the bathroom.” I hated asking for help more than anything on this earth.

  My brother’s strong arms slid around my waist. Gently, he turned me until I was cradled against his chest. Since when did my brother have this kind of muscle power?

  “Which way?”

  I pointed limply.

  His eyebrows snapped together. “Are you sure we shouldn’t go to the hospital?”

  “No. It’s just…”

  The baby flu. I really couldn’t keep calling it that.

  He set me down carefully. “Do you want me to, uh, go in there with you?”

  I pushed him back and slammed the door in his face just in time to lose the rest of my Pedialyte and whatever acid was trying to shoot hellfire up my esophagus.

  “Can I do anything? Crackers? Ginger ale? Hazmat suit?” he asked through the door.

  “Go away.”

  I heard him pace down the hallway before returning. His voice was a low murmur. I didn’t really care since my cheek was currently pressed to the tiles of my floor. It was so lovely and cool.

  “No, I don’t know when I’ll be back in the office. Just cancel the rest of my meetings.”

  Meetings? My brother? Was I moving into the hallucination portion of my symptoms?

  “Go back to work,” I tried to shout through the door. “Work, ha. Since when,” I mumbled.

  “I heard that.”

  I flipped off the closed door.

  “Is it safe to come in?”

  “No.” I moved my cheek to another tile. Ahhh. Coolness. I could just sleep here.

  “I’m coming in.”

  “Haven’t you witnessed enough puke?”

  “It was far worse after Jackson’s Memorial Day bash. You drank enough purple punch to fill the lake.”

  “Ugh. Don’t remind me.” That was the first and last day I drank grain alcohol in my life. “You’re the one who made the punch.”

  “I didn’t tell you to drink all of it.” He opened the door and hauled me off the floor, then stood me in front of the pedestal sink. “You look like shit, Lu.”

  “Thank you. I match how I feel.” And then I had to grab the sink for a whole new reason. My brother had a faint blue glow around him. It was dark and a little murky, but it was new. In all the years I’d had my abilities, I’d never once been able to read my brother.

  I reached back and held his hand for a second. “I’m fine, X. I promise. This will pass.”

  He met my gaze in the mirror. Eyes so much like mine stared right back at me. “Is this a nine-month affliction?”

  I looked away and turned on the sink.

  “I take it that’s a yes. Do I need to kill the teacher?”

  “Takes two to tango. You should know. You get around quite a bit.”

  “Yes, but I’m safe.”

  “So were we.” Ish. Sometimes we got a little careless in the heat of the moment, but we always came to our senses. And I was on birth control. “Evidently, the universe had other plans.”

  “Oh, don’t start with that shit again.” He backed out of my small bathroom and headed down the hall.

  “Some things never change,” I said to my very scary reflection. My scarf was twisted and I looked like I’d been on a three-day bender. But I’d also learned that sometimes I didn’t have all the answers in this life.

  I slid my hand over my still-flat stomach. This demon spawn was a gift.

  Even if it came with an unnatural love for kicking all the food and drink out of my body. And this extra sparkly version of reading auras.

  I brushed my teeth again and rummaged around in my basket of samples. Makeup wasn’t worth the effort, but I wiped down my sweaty face with some toner and used a mint-scented moisturizer.

  That seemed to steady me a bit.

  I followed my brother’s voice into the living room. He was back on the phone. And now that I wasn’t yakking up my toes, I noticed he was wearing a three-piece suit. His wild blond curls were tamed back from his face. His navy suit had the lightest tone on tone pinstripe to it. He’d opened the jacket, showing off a brown belt that matched his shoes exactly.

  It might not be a rich boy casual outfit like I was used to, but this was definitely a blast from the past. He still knew how to put himself together. I was sure he would’ve gone into fashion if he wasn’t a Hastings.

  Apparently, he’d been roped into the family business. Wheeling and dealing in the financial sector seemed to have finally rubbed off on him.

  He turned and saw me, then quickly told whomever was on the other end of the line that he’d be busy for the next few hours.

  “No you won’t.”

  “Thanks, Devon.” He slid his phone into his pocket.

  “What are you doing here, Xavier?”

  “I came to talk.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re my sister.”

  I eased back on my couch. And when everything seemed to stay where it was supposed to, I relaxed. “Since when?”

  “You’re the one who walked, Lu.”

  I stared down at my chipped purple polish. “Mom wanted me gone, so I got gone.”

  He tipped his head back. “She never said that.”

  “She wanted me to be a different person.” I blew out an annoyed breath. “You know I was dying in that house.”

  “Do you always have to be so dramatic?”

  I stiffened. “Look, I appreciate you helping me, but you can go.”

  He crossed his arms over his surprisingly expansive chest. When the hell had that happened? “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Haven’t you done enough?” I gestured to my doorway. “Speaking of dramatic.”

  “I heard you in here, and things falling over.” He raked a hand through his hair and a few curls dared to spring out of his neat hairstyle. And that little thing actually made me feel much better. That was more like the X I knew and used to love.

  I looked down at my nails again. “Yeah. I just need to rest.”

  “I don’t think you shouldn’t be alone. Where’s your…whatever the teacher is.”

  “The teacher’s name is Caleb.”

  “Yeah, well, where is he?”

  I crossed my arms. “None of your business.”

  “You told him, right?”

  My hands fell to my sides. “Of course I told him.”

  “Good, because he deserves to know.”

  I frowned. That sounded oddly specific.

  He raked both hands through his hair and his curls started popping everywhere. It took about five years off of him, reminding me of the big brother I’d always loved and looked up to. “What about that girl you used to hang with? The Amazon with the killer legs.”

  I laughed. “Ryan?”

  “Yeah.” He tugged at his collar as he stopped pacing. “She was insanely hot.”

  “Still is. And you still couldn’t handle her
. Though she does seem to go for the suit types these days.”

  One eyebrow rose. “Oh, yeah?”

  “Taken.”

  “Figures.”

  I laughed. Goddess, it was easy to fall back into rhythm with him. But he was still Xavier Hastings, golden boy. And I was still Luna, the outcast weirdo. He hadn’t backed me up when I needed him. My mother had made the ultimatum based on our father’s directive.

  I was to go to college and stop with the occult nonsense.

  Occult.

  As if they understood any part of me.

  When I declined, I was cut off. No pretty credit cards or bank accounts with the Hastings money. If I wanted to be so frighteningly ‘unusual’, as they’d put it, then I’d do it without any help from them.

  Xavier had just stood there. He hadn’t even looked at me.

  I’d left and that was that.

  He sat down next to me. “I came to talk.”

  “I’m not really in any condition to do the chitchat thing.”

  “No, I don’t suppose you are. But I’m not leaving you like this.”

  “Since when? You’ve been really good at letting me deal with my own problems for years.”

  “I tried to contact you. Over and over again.”

  I fussed with my sleeve. “Would it have changed anything?”

  “It might have.”

  “You had your chance to stop me.”

  He gripped my hand. “Look, I know I fucked up. But you weren’t the only who received an ultimatum.”

  I wanted to rail against him. Ultimatum or not, he should have taken my side. I would’ve taken his. Instead, he’d left me swinging in the wind alone.

  Early on, I’d learned not to count on anyone. Was I just supposed to forget all of that now?

  My eyes burned as I stared at the tie-dye swirl on my kaftan. “It was always me and you against them.”

  “No. You only saw it that way. They’re not perfect, but they just wanted what was best for you.”

  “Best for me?” My head jerked up to meet his gaze. “A closet full of twin sets like our mother?”

  “Come on.” He squeezed my hand. “She didn’t wear twin sets. It was more like Chanel suits in pink. Lots of pink.”

  I shuddered. “So much pink. But not the good kind.” I pointed at the hot pink in the kaftan. “That’s the good kind of pink.”