Rod stilled, his shoulders slouching before stiffening. “I’m sorry. That name isn’t familiar.”
That was a lie. “His father is a state senator,” I said. “Aric was a big deal here five years or so ago.”
“I don’t recall the name.” Rod shifted uncomfortably. “I should probably check on the other guests. Make yourselves comfortable.”
“Sure,” I said, narrowing my eyes as Rod shuffled away.
“What do you think?” Rafael asked.
“I think he was lying.”
“He’s not very good at it. He should work at his craft,” Rafael said. “This place is crawling with … new recruits, by the way.” He cast a derisive look in the first boy’s direction. “What’s your name?”
The boy smiled, happily lost in his own little world. “Oscar.”
“Look at me, Oscar,” Rafael instructed.
Oscar did as Rafael asked, his mouth going slack as Rafael began to whisper instructions. I realized what he was doing when it was too late to stop him. “Oh, really? You can’t glamour him in front of people.”
“Keep your voice down,” Rafael ordered. “Make sure no one approaches us.”
“Fine. I think this is a bad idea, though.” I turned my back to Rafael and watched the partygoers. Most of them ignored us, but Rod stood on the side porch of the second house, his head bent toward another fraternity brother. He kept glancing in our direction.
“What do you know about this fraternity, Oscar?” Rafael asked, his voice eerily smooth.
“It has the best parties every Friday and a great group of honeys to choose from when I want to get laid,” Oscar replied.
“Are you a fraternity brother?”
“Not yet. I’m going to pledge in the fall.”
I risked a glance over my shoulder and found Oscar looked as if he was in a trance. I guess that made sense because he was under Rafael’s control.
“What do you know about the fraternity brothers?” Rafael asked. “Do you know what they truly are?”
“Do you mean players?” Oscar was confused.
“I mean … do you know that they’re really werewolves?”
“You can’t ask him that,” I snapped. “You’ll fry his brain if he doesn’t know that stuff is real.”
Rafael ignored me. “Do you know they’re werewolves?”
“They’re powerful,” Oscar replied. “They’re going to build an army. They tried it a few years ago, but something went wrong.”
“Do you know what went wrong?” Rafael asked, lifting a finger to silence me before I could invade his questioning.
“Some magical girl stopped them and killed a bunch of people,” Oscar replied. “They’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen a second time. This time things are going to end the right way.”
“Tell me what you know about the Academy,” Rafael ordered.
“I don’t know anything about an academy. Is that like ROTC?”
Rafael scowled. “I hate young people.”
“Then you should probably stop hanging around college campuses,” I suggested.
“Have any professors stopped by the frat house to your knowledge, Oscar?” Rafael asked.
That was a good question.
“No,” Oscar snorted. “No one wants to hang around with old people. But I would hang around with the hot blonde you came here with. I love cougars. They’re supposed to be great in bed. They teach you things.”
“Cougar?” I was affronted.
Rafael shook his head to quiet me. “Oscar, in ten seconds you’re going to spill your drink on your pants,” he said. “When that happens, you’re not going to remember anything about this conversation. Do you understand?”
“Does that mean the cougar will sleep with me?”
“Not if you were the last moron on the planet,” I shot back.
I watched impassively as Oscar jolted a moment later, his beer spilling over the crotch of his pants. I had to laugh.
“Oh, man, this sucks!” Oscar said, hurrying in the direction of the frat house.
“Where have you two been?” Aric asked, appearing at my side. “Those two chicks tried to feel me up. They offered me a threesome. I’m engaged. You’re supposed to protect me from stuff like that.”
“It’s not my fault you flirted with them,” I said. “This place is crawling with new or soon-to-be new werewolves, by the way. They’re bringing in regular pledges. Rafael just glamoured one, but he didn’t know anything about the Academy and said no professors were hanging around. I guess it’s lucky that bitten wolves don’t have the keen sense of smell born ones do or we would’ve probably gotten ourselves into big trouble.”
“Well, that’s something at least,” Aric said. “What do you want to do now?”
“I want to get out of here,” I said. “That kid called me a cougar. He wanted me to teach him things.”
Normally Aric feels the need to growl and flare his nostrils when he thinks someone is hitting on me. This time he was amused. “Come on, cougar,” he said, slinging an arm over my shoulders. “If you’re good, I’ll let you teach me things when we get back to the apartment.”
“I’m definitely too old for this,” Rafael said.
22
Twenty-Two
“Cougar? Me! Can you believe that?”
I was still complaining about our party adventure when we joined Paris and Kelsey for breakfast the next morning.
“Do I look like a cougar?”
“You whine like a nag,” Paris said, making a face. “How could you do all of that without us?”
“We didn’t plan to go to the frat party,” Aric answered, reaching for the pitcher of orange juice, but pausing before he filled my glass. “How are you feeling? Can you drink juice?”
“I don’t want orange juice,” I replied. “My stomach will be fine once I get some real food in me. I don’t want the juice, though.”
“You shouldn’t have eaten so many boobs last night,” Kelsey said, smiling brightly when the returning waitress shot her an odd look. “It’s candy.”
“Whatever floats your boat,” the waitress said. “Do you want to wait for the rest of your party or order now?”
“We’ll wait,” Paris said. After the waitress left, Paris turned her congenial smile to a nasty frown. “You still should’ve included us. We’re supposed to be doing this as a group. You’ve left us out twice now.”
“You didn’t miss much,” I said. “I can give you a play-by-play if that will make you happy.”
“It’s better than nothing,” Paris said.
“Well, my stomach was upset and Aric rubbed it while we sat on a bench and watched the rear entrance of the athletics building for what seemed like forever,” I said, gleefully launching into a tale I knew would annoy Paris. “Rafael complained we were sickly sweet. Then we fought a little bit before going into the basement.
“We found a lot of old magic books, and I shredded them to send a message to Mark,” I continued. “Then we went to a frat party, and Aric flirted with underage girls and made me angry. I took Rafael to a bonfire, where a kid hit on me and called me a cougar.
“Another frat guy came up and lied to us about knowing who Aric is,” I said. “Then Rafael glamoured the first dope, who admitted to knowing about werewolves but denied any knowledge of Mark or the Academy. That pretty much sums it up.”
“Did we really need to know about Aric rubbing your stomach?” Paris challenged.
“I think it’s cute,” Kelsey said. “What time is Brittany supposed to be here, by the way? I’m starving.”
“She should be here any second,” Paris answered.
“Why are we having breakfast with her?” I asked. “I thought you had your fill yesterday.”
“She called me,” Paris said. “She wanted to get together before we left. I couldn’t tell her no. I don’t like being mean to her.”
“Do you think she told Mark about having lunch with us?” Kelsey asked.
“Like?”
“We need to pay close attention to the questions she asks,” Aric said. “She might be leading us to answers for Mark. She could be aware of what she’s doing or simply a pawn. Keep alert.”
“Did you really flirt with young girls in front of Zoe?” Kelsey asked. “I’ll be really disappointed if you did.”
“I did not flirt with young girls,” Aric growled. “They flirted with me. Your precious Zoe abandoned me to fend them off on my own.”
“You probably hurt her feelings,” Kelsey said, refusing to turn on me. “I know my feelings would be hurt if I thought the man I was marrying was considering trading me in for a younger model.”
“I did nothing of the sort,” Aric barked. “She knows darned well I wouldn’t trade her in for anything. You know it, too.”
“You’re so easy,” I said, patting his arm. “She’s just messing with you.”
“I know she’s messing with me,” Aric said. “I just … you should know that you’re all I want. It bugs me when you act as if you don’t know it.”
It took me a moment to realize he was serious. “I do know it,” I said. “I was just messing around. Do you really think I would leave you with hot-to-trot girls if I thought there was a chance you would cheat on me?”
“I don’t know.” Aric’s lower lip poked out into an adorable pout.
“I know you would never cheat on me,” I said. “I did have my nose out of joint because … well … I’m me. Sometimes I can’t stop myself from being an idiot. I know you would never cheat on me, though, so there’s no reason to get worked up.”
“I think he’s worked up because you left him with flirty girls and took off with Rafael,” Kelsey said. “It’s not about the girls. It’s about Rafael.”
“You can’t still be jealous of Rafael,” I said.
“I’m not jealous of anybody.” Aric crossed his arms over his chest.
“If I wanted Rafael, I could’ve had him back then,” I reminded him. “Who did I want? Who do I still want?”
“The answer had better be me,” Aric said, marginally relaxing and reaching for his juice. “I’m sorry I’m being a pain. There’s something about this place that rubs me the wrong way.”
“I think it’s doing that to all of us,” I said. “I mean … there’s no way I look like a cougar, right?”
Aric burst out laughing. “I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling out of sorts,” he said. “I cannot explain what’s wrong with me. Seeing you walk off with Rafael completely rattled me, though. It was like we were back in college. I didn’t like it.”
“I can guarantee nothing happened with Rafael,” I said. “Trust me. The one time I kissed him it was like kissing a fish, his lips were so cold.”
“Don’t mention that again,” Aric warned. “As far as I’m concerned, he looks like a Ken doll from the waist down and has absolutely no sexual urges. That’s how I convinced myself you’d be safe with him while we were apart.”
I laughed at the visual. “A Ken doll! That’s priceless.”
“That’s how I got through our time apart,” Aric said. “Well, that and a lot of liquor.”
“You’re cute,” I said, pinching his cheek.
“You, too,” Aric said, lowering his nose so he could rub it against mine.
“And we’re back to being gross again,” Kelsey said, rolling her eyes. “Not to rain on your flirting parade, but what happens next?”
“We find out what Brittany is after and then … keep doing what we’re doing,” Aric replied. “We haven’t been back to unnerve Mark since that first time. I think he’s due for some shaking up.”
“Do you think he knows what I did to the books yet?” I asked.
“If he doesn’t, he’ll find out pretty quickly,” Aric said. “It’s Saturday, so there won’t be any classes. If we have to wait until Monday, I guess we’ll just hang out and see a movie or something. We can’t force things. We’re not there yet.”
As if on cue, Brittany picked that moment to wander into the dining room. She hurried in our direction when she caught sight of us, a wide grin on her face. “I’m sorry I’m late,” she said, breathless. “I got a late start.”
“It’s fine,” Paris said. “We were just chatting.”
Brittany took the open seat between Paris and Aric, and grabbed a menu from the center of the table. “I’ve never eaten here. What’s good?”
“It’s normal breakfast stuff,” I said, taking a moment to study her as she scanned the menu. Dark circles rimmed her eyes. She’d attempted to cover them with makeup, but it was obvious she had endured a rough evening. “How was your night?”
“Oh, it was good,” Brittany answered, her face unreadable. “We didn’t really do anything. We watched television and talked. You know, the usual. What did you guys do?”
“We hung around in our hotel rooms,” Aric replied. It was an interesting lie, but I couldn’t initially figure out why he told it. Why would Brittany care whether we stayed in the hotel with Paris and Kelsey?
“Are your rooms close?” Brittany asked.
“They’re on different floors,” Aric said. “Kelsey and Paris were worried we would be too loud and didn’t want to share a wall with us.”
“Aric,” I hissed, mortified.
“Not that,” Aric said, realization dawning. “I meant because we argue so often.”
“Just like old times, right?” Brittany said, her eyes trained on the menu. “All you guys did was fight and make up, fight and make up. It was so annoying. I don’t see how you put up with her.”
Aric licked his lips as he exchanged a look with me. Did she remember after all? Had she been putting on an act? “What do you mean?” Aric asked.
Brittany lifted her eyes. “About what?”
“About Zoe and I fighting?” Aric prodded. “You said we spent all our time fighting and making up. You didn’t know us in college.”
Brittany looked confused. “I didn’t say that, did I?”
“You did,” Aric confirmed.
“I don’t remember saying that,” Brittany said. “Are you sure I said that? Maybe I said something else and you misheard me.”
“I’m pretty sure we didn’t mishear you,” Aric pressed. “Do you remember us?”
“Am I supposed to remember you?” Brittany’s wrinkled her nose. “Is something going on?”
“Nothing is going on,” I interjected smoothly. “This restaurant is noisy. We probably didn’t hear you correctly.”
“Probably,” Brittany said, shrugging as if she was unbothered by the conversational shift. “I’m going to get an omelet. I’ve been watching my figure so I’ll fit into my wedding dress, but one little splurge won’t hurt. How about you, Zoe? Are you watching your figure?”
“The only thing I watch is the food as it’s moving between the fork and my mouth,” I replied dryly.
“She doesn’t need to watch her figure,” Aric supplied. “She’s perfect the way she is.”
“All men say that, but they don’t really mean it,” Brittany said. “Mark says I don’t need to diet, but I know he thinks I’m fat.”
“Then Mark is an ass.” I said the words before I gave proper thought to how she would take them.
“Mark is the sweetest man in the world,” Brittany shot back. “You don’t even know him.”
“Don’t worry about Zoe,” Paris said, smoothing Brittany’s ruffled feathers. “She has a weird sense of humor. That was a joke.”
“Oh, it went right over my head,” Brittany said. “I never found her funny, though. Quite frankly, I never understood how anyone can stand to be around her.”
I widened my eyes and stared at Paris. She merely shrugged. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked.
“I didn�
�t say anything,” Brittany said. “Why? Did you think I said something?”
Things were getting weirder by the second. By all outward appearances Brittany seemed to have no idea who I was other than Paris’ friend she’d never met. That was the second time she lapsed into conversation that suggested otherwise and forgot about it seconds later.
“I guess I’m just out of it this morning,” I said finally.
“I have to run to the ladies’ room,” Brittany said. “Can you order a farmer’s omelet with whole wheat toast for me?”
“Sure,” Paris said, nodding as she watched Brittany excuse herself from the table. Once she was gone, we all started talking at once.
“What was that?”
“I think she’s phasing,” Paris said.
“Did you just explain something?” I was agitated. Brittany’s changing demeanor was akin to having brunch with a person with multiple personalities.
“I think the spell is weakening or has been altered in some way,” Paris replied. “I’m guessing Mark tried to break it or use it to his advantage.”
“How would he do that?” Aric asked.
Paris shrugged. “I need to call my mother after breakfast,” she said. “She’s more familiar with this stuff than I am.”
“I’m worried we’re making her crazy,” I said. “What if the spell was working fine until she saw us and it jarred something loose? She could go bonkers and try to stab me with a fork in one of her little fugue states.”
“I’ll protect you from the fork,” Aric said. “I think Paris is right. We need to talk to her mother before we do anything. I would rather not collapse Brittany’s mind if we don’t have to do it.”
“I think she’s always been crazy,” I supplied. “I think the spell helped her hide it, and now that it’s failing all of the crazy is rushing back to throw a party.”
“That was ridiculously sweet,” Paris said, making a face. “I cast the spell. I’m responsible if she really is losing it. I think we should remove the spell and see what happens.”
“Then she’s definitely going to stab me with a fork,” I said. “I vote against that plan. I don’t want to be stabbed with a fork … or gutted with a spoon if she runs out of other utensils.”
Dark Covenant (Living Covenant Trilogy Book 2) Page 17