I let out a deep breath. “Why are you helping me with this?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Not really. Doesn’t this go against helping your son?”
“On the contrary, it’s the only way we can fix things. We have to figure out a way to make your mating with Levi permanent—to make it impossible for you to choose another.”
“Toby was at the New Year’s party.”
“Does Levi know?” Her eyes were locked on mine.
“Toby said he’d hurt Jess if I told…”
“That’s the friend of yours who the Blackwell’s have?”
“Yes. It’s all my fault.” I hung my head.
“No, it’s not. This isn’t the time to feel sorry for yourself. What happened when he saw you?”
“He told me how much he wanted me. I asked him when he’d planned to tell me about what he was.” I looked down at my hand and touched my ring. “He said he would have done it on our wedding night when I accepted his ring.”
“Toby knew. Damn it. Robert messed it all up by not telling Levi—by not trusting his own son.”
“If Levi knew I had to agree, he would have made sure I knew what I was doing. He would have moved slower—been careful.” Robert really did cause this whole mess. “So how do we fix it? They’re not going to leave my friends or me alone until this is over, are they?”
“I don’t know. I think you’re the only one who can figure it out.”
“Why?”
“Because the mistake was not giving you the choice. This is all about you.”
“So what now?”
“We drink more brandy.”
I let out a surprised noise. “But what about Jess?”
“Did Toby give you any idea of when you’d see him again?”
“No.”
“This goes against every grain in my body as a Laurent—but I only see one option.”
“What is it?”
“Call him. Tell him what he wants to hear. Maybe he knows more than we do. You attract more bees with honey, so to speak.”
My jaw dropped. “Are you suggesting I flirt with him to get him to open up to me about it?”
“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting.”
“But—”
“That’s just my advice. I don’t like it, but I don’t have any other brilliant ideas.”
A thought suddenly occurred to me. “Why did you ask about where my grandmother’s family was from?”
“Everything about enchantresses I can find seems to lead back to Russia…for whatever that’s worth.”
“Oh. That’s strange.” Then something else occurred to me. “This might be a silly question, but what are we going to tell everyone about my appointment with the seamstress?”
“What are your measurements?”
“Wait, are you going to order clothes for me?”
“Sure, it’s easy enough.”
“You’re definitely not what I expected.”
“You’re exactly what I expected.” She finished off her glass and set it down next to her.
“Is that good or bad?”
“Good. You’re as perfect for Levi as I thought.”
“So was that all an act? Being mean?”
“Of course. If I acted like I approved, they never would have agreed to let us spend today together. Levi was convinced all I needed was time with you to realize how amazing you are.”
“He said that?”
“Don’t act surprised, you know as well as I do how in love with you he is.”
“As in love as I am…” I hoped it was true, and he did really love me. With everything else, I couldn’t handle a broken heart.
***
“Finally.” Levi met us at the door of the limo. His father was right next to him. He helped me out, and I needed it. By the third glass, I decided the brandy didn’t taste so bad. Georgina said getting drunk was essential. That way they couldn’t grill us with questions.
“Hey, Levi!” I put my arms around his neck.
“Hi, Allie. Are you drunk?”
“Very.”
He glanced over my head. “How much brandy did you give her?”
“The same amount I had.” Somehow Georgina didn’t seem drunk.
“I liked it. I should get that more often.”
“All right, time to get ready for bed, love. Let’s head upstairs.”
“But I’m hungry.”
“Didn’t you guys eat?” He brushed some hair away from my face.
“Nope. Not a thing.”
“What do you want?”
“Whipped cream.” I laughed.
“On second thought, are you up for a flight?”
“Why?”
“I wouldn’t mind another night in the cave.”
“Ohhh, yes! Let’s do that.”
He laughed. “Let’s grab you something from the kitchen and then we’ll go.”
“Perfect.”
“You’re perfect.” He kissed me gently.
“You really love me, don’t you?” There was only one answer to that question I could handle hearing. I hated that I even had to doubt it now. It had been the one secure thing I had in all the craziness of my life.
“Of course. Why would you even ask that?”
“I couldn’t stand it if you didn’t.”
He leaned in to whisper in my ear. “New goal of the night—spend all of it making sure you never question my feelings for you again.”
“And food. I need food.”
“I got that the first time.” He led me into the kitchen. Instead of giving me whipped cream, Levi made me a grilled cheese sandwich. I’m not sure how he guessed—but it completely hit the spot. I finished my sandwich and a couple glasses of water before we walked out onto the back porch. I settled down on a couch, and I must have fallen asleep. The next thing I knew, I was curled up in Levi’s arms in the little bed in the cave.
I snuggled in closer to him. I was wearing just my tank top and underwear. He’d taken off my sweater and skirt. Levi was wearing nothing but his boxers. No surprise there. “Sorry I fell asleep.”
“No sorry. It’s nice having you here with me. ”
“I can’t think of a single place I’d rather be.” I closed my eyes again and let sleep take me back under.
Chapter Twelve
“Tell me everything.” Hailey yanked open the door before I could turn the lock.
“Hello to you, too.”
“Did Georgina know anything?”
“Yes, but you need to sit down for this, and so do I.” I hung up my coat and put my boots up in my closet. I hated leaving things out.
“You have to be the slowest person in the universe.”
“Or you’re incredibly impatient.” Really I was just trying to build up the nerve to spill out the story. I wasn’t exactly proud of being an enchantress. Essentially, it meant I was a Pteron sex magnet.
“Come on, spill.” Hailey took a seat on my bed.
I let out a deep breath and sat down next to her. “I need to tell you something I don’t want getting back to Levi.”
She grinned. “I’m good at keeping things from Levi.”
I took a few more seconds to ready myself and then spilled it out. “We think I’m something called an enchantress. Long story short—I attract all the possible heirs and theoretically have the power to choose the next king.”
“How is that even possible? The line continues unless there’s no heir.”
“Supposedly, some women can change things, and evidently I’m one of them.”
“So what happens?”
“Theoretically, it should be over. I have Levi’s ring, but I think he messed it all up by tricking me into it. He didn’t give me a choice so I didn’t officially pick him.”
Hailey gasped. “That idiot.”
“We have to figure out a way to redo it, or make it more permanent. Until then, the Blackwells, and technically any other royal line family, could keep try
ing to mess with me.” I’d just put two and two together and realized there were probably other heirs I needed to stay away from.
“So what’s next? What do we do?”
“Georgina told me to look inside myself or flirt information out of Toby.”
“What? That’s an interesting set of choices.”
I laughed. “I know. I’m looking inside without luck, but flirting with Toby sounds harder.”
“Are you going to call him?”
“I want to, but I don’t know what to say. He’s going to know I’m faking.”
“Text him.”
“How do you flirt through text?” I pulled my knees up to my chest.
“I’m not sure, but I know someone who would.” Hailey got up and disappeared into the hallway. I wasn’t shocked at all when she returned with Anne.
“What’s up?” Anne was as bubbly as usual. “How was your weekend?”
I thought about my response for a moment. “Interesting.”
Anne put a hand in the pocket of her pink sweats. She was the kind of girl who could pull off bright colored pants. “Good interesting? Bad interesting?”
Hailey didn’t give me a chance to respond. “We need your help.”
Anne perked up even more. “What kind of help?”
“Can I help too?” Tiffany walked in with an English poetry book in her hand. Hailey must have interrupted her reading when she came in for Anne.
“Sure, but close the door,” Hailey said quickly.
Tiffany closed and locked it.
“We need you to text dirty with Allie’s ex.” Hailey just blurted it out to Anne.
Anne laughed. “First of all, why? And second of all, why me?”
Hailey removed her hair clip and shook out her hair. “The second part is obvious. The first doesn’t matter. We need information.”
Anne seemed less excited. “I’m guessing Levi doesn’t know about this?”
“Since when are you concerned about Levi?” Hailey asked.
“I’m not, but I just wanted to make sure…” Anne looked at me as she answered.
“Do you mind helping? I know it’s weird.” I pulled a sleeve of my sweater over my hand.
Anne grinned. “This is going to be fun, but you’re going to still have to help.”
I opened my contact list and clicked on Toby. Our breakup hadn’t been the type where we deleted each other’s number, at least not on my end. I handed Anne my phone, and everyone huddled around to watch.
Hey.
This is a surprise.
I was just thinking about you.
Oh?
Thinking about what it used to be like.
I thought you were over me.
How could I ever be over you—or your body?
“Anne!” I shrieked.
“What? I thought I was supposed to be making this dirty?”
“I can’t handle this.” I buried my head in my hands.
“She can stop…is this really necessary?” Tiffany put a hand on my back. I made myself continue to watch Anne type.
Are you messing with me? I warn you that would be one hell of a mistake.
I’m not messing with you. I just wanted to tell you I missed you—us.
You know I miss you. I want you so bad it hurts. You don’t want to know what I’d do to have you here with me.
Does that mean you’re alone?
Yes it does. Are you?
Yes. If I wasn’t I couldn’t be doing what I’m doing.
“Anne! Stop! Stop!” I clenched my comforter to stop myself from grabbing the phone.
What are you doing? I wonder if it’s what I’m about to do.
Anne looked at me. “What answers do you need?”
I scrunched my eyes closed. “I need to know how it would work. How I could choose him. I think he knows.”
“Choose him?” Tiffany asked.
“It’s complicated.”
“I have to act now. I think I know how to do this.” Anne got all serious like she was about to work through some massive equation or something.
Let’s play a game.
A game? I’m beginning to wonder if it’s really you.
“Damn it. Tell me something only you guys would know. Make it personal,” Anne said impatiently.
“Do I have to?”
“Yes!” Anne snapped.
“We used to hook up in his old tree house when his dad was home.”
“Perfect.”
Who else would it be? You know what I dreamed about last night?
What?
Your tree house.
Yeah? What about it?
Can we play the game?
Will I like this game?
I proved it was me. Prove it’s you.
You like having sex when you know you might get caught.
All three of my friends turned to stare at me.
I’m sure I was beet red. I wasn’t sure if it was possible to feel more embarrassed. “It’s him… obviously.”
Ready for my game?
Yes.
Let’s preview what our next time together is going to be like.
So you’ve made up your mind? You want to come back to me?
There was something so hopeless about that text, it ate at me.
If you make it enticing enough.
I will, but this is boring.
Boring? I grabbed my phone from Anne. I’m boring?
I don’t want to see your words. I need to hear your voice…or even better see you. Can you skype?
Anne took the phone. No skype. I don’t want to get off my bed.
Call me. I need to hear you.
“I can’t call him! It’s okay when you are doing it, but I can’t do this. It feels like I’m cheating on Levi.”
“I can’t fake your voice…” Anne looked at me.
“What should I do?” I glanced at Hailey.
“Either we find another way or you talk to him.”
“I’d be a pretty selfish friend if I didn’t try. Jess needs me to do this.” My stomach was in knots, but I was out of options. Until I fixed the bond with Levi, the Blackwells weren’t going to give up.
I took the phone from Anne and pressed call.
“Hey, baby.” Did he have to call me that?
“Hi.”
“So where’d this all come from? Last time I saw you, you were still trying to get rid of me.”
“I told you. I was just reminiscing.”
“I do that constantly. I can’t get you out of my head. I replay our time together on repeat. I remember what every inch of you feels like, tastes like. And that kiss in the hot tub. It was hot. If you’d only let it go where it wanted to go…”
Hailey gave me a funny look. She could hear every word. I hadn’t told her about the kiss.
“I wasn’t ready.”
“You’re ready now?” His voice was so hopeful. It didn’t sound evil like the kidnapper he was.
“How would it even work?” Maybe I could get it out of him without any sex talk.
“Weren’t we supposed to be playing a game?”
“You’re the one who wanted to hear my voice.”
“And we can’t play that kind of game talking? It wouldn’t be the first time…”
I cringed. Hailey could hear, and the look on her face was not one I wanted to see.
“I’m scared.” That was somewhat honest.
“You’re never scared.”
“I am right now.”
“Why’d you text me?”
“I wanted to talk.”
“I want to believe you, but not with the way you’re acting.” He paused. “Is he with you?”
“You think I’d be talking to you with Levi here?”
“Don’t say his name!” Toby grumbled.
“Okay…”
“You’re not his. You’re mine.”
“If it helps, he wasn’t very happy to discover he wasn’t my first Pteron.”
“No, he
wasn’t your first. I was. I was your first everything… I was first, and I’ll be your last. We’ll just have to forget about the little blip in-between.”
“How is it possible? Please tell me.”
“Not yet. I’d rather show you when the time comes”
“But—if you tell me now, I’ll be more likely to come.”
“Save it, Allie. You suck at this. Trying to bargain kind of kills the seduction angle. It doesn’t matter. I’ll take care of everything.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“You’re going to come with me when I tell you it’s time. You’re going to choose me, and we’ll leave all this bullshit behind us. I should be so damn mad at you right now, but I still just want you. Do you know how hard this is?”
“But none of it’s real. It’s just Pteron lust or whatever. You don’t love me. Just block it out.”
He laughed dryly. “So you know what you are?”
“Yes.”
“You’re like a drug, and I’ve been in a constant state of withdrawal since I last had you. I shouldn’t have waited. I should have just given you my ring. I wanted to give you time, do it right.”
“Are you really the Blackwell heir? How didn’t Le- he know?”
“My grandfather tried to keep it a secret, but yes, I’m the heir.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you’re hurting, but you need to let Jess go.”
“You’re sorry? If you were sorry, you’d have come back to me sooner. If you were sorry, you would have given me what I needed when I saw you. You’re not sorry, but it’s okay. I know you love me, and I want us enough for both of us. I’ll remind you of how good we are together. It’s only going to take one night. One night of being with me as I really am and you’ll forget all about him. I’m stronger than him, I have more to give. I’ll make you feel ten times better than he ever could. You won’t be able to walk after a night with me transformed.”
“Is that supposed to be a good thing?”
“What part?”
“The not being able to walk after a night with you?”
Anne started cracking up.
“Is someone with you?”
“No…”
“Wait a second. It wasn’t even you texting me, was it? Damn it, Allie.”
“Toby—”
“And for the record, it is a good thing. If you can’t imagine that then clearly you haven’t had the right Pteron experience yet.”
“Ugh.” I hung up and threw my phone.
“I don’t even know where to start.” Hailey got up and started pacing around the room.
Found (The Crescent Chronicles #3) Page 9