Bound, An Arelia LaRue Novel #1 YA Paranormal Romance (11 page)

“
No, I’m not, I’m right
here,” chirped Sabrina walking into the garden. It wasn’t even
nine, and the girl had on four layers of makeup complete with fake
eyelashes and cherry red lipstick. She had cut our uniform skirt so
it was at least four inches shorter and accessorized it with her
favorite cheetah print booties even though it was already
oppressively hot and humid.

“
Child, where are you off
to?” Ms. Mae was not aware of Sabrina’s quest to conquer
Lucus.

“
Oh, you know just trying to
look my best for the guests,” Sabrina replied as she grabbed a
cinnamon roll from the table.

“
Are you sure, you’re going
to be comfortable walking around in those all day on these
grounds?” Ms. Mae was skeptical because she didn’t know the
distance Sabrina would go to get what she wanted.

“
Please, I do it all the
time. In fact, these were the booties that accompanied me to Japan,
when I went up Mount Fuji.” What she meant was when she took a
helicopter tour around part of Mount Fuji.

“
You girls have ten minutes
before you need to greet the guests for breakfast. Henri will meet
you on the front lawn. Since it’s such a hot day, we decided to
host breakfast outside.” Ms. Mae left us and went back into the
kitchen.

“
Last night was amazing,”
Sabrina’s voice was muffled as she gobbled down her
roll.

“
What happened?” I asked
even though I knew the answer.

“
We just talked all night,
and then,” she giggled, “let’s just say that my plan worked, and I
know he feels the same way about me.”

“
Really?” It was clear that
she was lying. I had been there, and when I left she had been
passed out. “What did you talk about?”

“
You know the places we’ve
traveled to, our favorite brands. Things you find
boring.”

“
Must have been an intense
conversation,” I ignored her comment. I didn’t think traveling was
boring; I just never had the money to go anywhere.

“
Oh my God, where did these
come from,” she noticed the boxes of chocolates on the table. “I
love Chocopologie.”

“
I don’t know, they were
there this morning,” I lied.

“
Lucus must have sent them
for me. Was there a letter?” Her eyes frantically searched the
table.

“
No letter.”

“
Awww, he wanted to surprise
me,” she opened a box and ate a handful of my chocolates. “You can
have some too Arelia.”

“
Thanks.” Why was I keeping
the fact that I had been there last night a secret? I guess I
didn’t want to embarrass Sabrina and call her out on passing out in
Lucus’s bed. That was all I rationalized. Besides, Sabrina deserved
happiness, and if Lucus was the one to bring it to her why should I
interfere. “We have to go,” I advised as I gulped down the rest of
my orange juice and coffee, a strange but satisfying
combination.

“
But I’m not done eating,”
she whined. I gave her an annoyed glance. “Fine.” She gobbled down
the rest of the pain perdu, and we made our way to the front
lawn.

Chapter 8

Brandy Milk Punch

The early morning sun shone down on the
sprawling green lawn making it look impeccable along with the rows
of white tables that sat on it. The guests were busy sampling the
wide array of breakfast treats that had been laid out for
them.

“
Good morning ladies.” Henri
tipped his white hat, as he came up to greet us. “I trust that you
are well-rested and ready to enjoy another beautiful day at
Darkwood.”

“
We don’t have to do a lot
of work, do we?” Sabrina ignored his polite question.

“
Well, that depends what you
think is a lot of work,” responded Henri laughing at Sabrina’s
obvious lack of interest.

“
I heard you had quite an
adventure last night,” Henri turned towards me. The look on his
wrinkled, old face screamed that he knew everything that had
happened in the swamp. Given the size of this place you would think
it would be easy to hide things, but it was turning out to be just
the opposite.

“
I’m a bit sore,” I admitted
suddenly much more aware of how much pain I was in.

“
You’ll just have to take it
easy then,” Henri patted me on the back. “Go on now, let’s greet
those guests,” he ordered as he walked towards the
Gopals.

“
This is absolutely sinful,”
Mrs. Scott’s euphoric voice boomed as she tried the corn
fritters.

“
Hey, Mrs. Scott,” I
approached her. “Have you tried the calas? They are just as
sinful.”

She placed her hand on her tiny waist
and said, “I couldn’t. I’ve already gained five pounds since
yesterday.”

“
Don’t be silly, you look
fantastic.”

“
Such a sweet girl and a
pretty one at that.” She was clearly flattered by my
compliment.

“
Here, try this.” I grabbed
a pitcher and a glass from the table and filled it up with brandy
milk punch. At Lola’s, it was a weekend breakfast
favorite.

“
What is it?” Asked Mrs.
Scott eying the glass in suspicion before taking a sip. “I’m
drinking before noon, and it feels glorious,” she took another sip.
“I taste brandy and vanilla in this, am I right?”

“
Yes, great sense of
taste.”

“
Lucus!” Sabrina annoyingly
screeched as she limped across the lawn to where Lucus was
standing. He was dressed in a plain, white t-shirt which
highlighted his toned torso and contrasted rather nicely against
his glossy, dark hair. “You’re here!” Sabrina gave him a big hug
not embarrassed at all by the guests who were staring at
her.

“
Good day Sabrina, how are
you this morning?” He asked.

“
I’m awesome,” she
shamelessly squeezed his bicep.

Lucus caught me staring, our eyes
locked and my heart beat just a tad bit faster. He gave me a small
smile indicating that he was unaware whether I was still angry or
not. I nodded, hoping that he would take it as a sign that I had
gotten over what had happened. He brushed his hand against his brow
in exaggerated relief which despite my best attempt not to, made me
smile. Sabrina, oblivious to our little exchange continued to
ramble on moving closer to Lucus.

“
Arelia!” Ben ran over to
me. “I had a weird dream, and you were in it.” His chubby cheeks
were flushed, and his eyes shone.

“
Really?” I cautiously asked
hoping he would remember last night’s events as only a
dream.

“
Yeah, you saved me. You
were a superhero with magical powers and you pulled me out of
quicksand and then healed my snakebite.”

“
I did all that?” I feigned
surprise.

“
You did. There weren’t any
alligators or ghosts in the dream though. Maybe we can see them for
real today.”

“
I hope so.” I gave him big
smile. I was relieved, that for him, it had only been a dream.
“Where are your parents?” I slowly asked bring up what was probably
a sore subject.

“
They’re with Mary,” he
replied.

“
Who’s Mary?”

“
Their friend Mary,” he
pointed to a table where the Dumptys sat indulging in breakfast
Bloody Marys. “I see.” I smiled in order to hide my concern. “Will
you be coming on the tour today?” I asked changing the
subject.

“
Yeah! Are we going to the
swamp?”

“
I’m not sure, but I’ll find
out for you.” I skimmed the yard for Henri who was nowhere in
sight. He hadn’t told us where we were going or who was going with
us. “I’ll be right back,” I said to Ben. I decided to interrupt
Sabrina’s little love fest with Lucus, so she could help me find
Henri and figure out our schedule.

“
You’re so funny Lucus. Oh
my God, that’s hilarious!” I heard Sabrina brazenly gush as I
approached them.

“
Don’t they make a cute
couple?” Ivan quietly came up behind me. “Doesn’t it make your
blood burn knowing that Sabrina is moving in on your man?” Ivan was
obviously taking an unnatural and ghastly delight watching the
scene that was unfolding before us.

“
What’s with
you?”

“
Don’t fret queen, you know
as well as I do that Prince Charming always ends up with Barbie.
Why are you wasting your time lusting over him, when you could be
wasting your time lusting over me?”

I groaned. “You really think so highly
of yourself, don’t you?”

“
What’s wrong with me?” He
asked. “Don’t girls love muscles and blond hair or are you all
obsessed with dark, brooding ego-maniacs?”

“
Whatever.” I walked and
over to Sabrina and Lucus. “Hey, guys.” I felt a bit awkward in
front of Lucus suddenly recalling all the embarrassing moments that
had occurred between the two of us since I’d gotten
here.

“
Good morning Arelia.” Lucus
grinned shooting me one of his sharp glances. I bet he spent hours
practicing them in front of the mirror like Zoolander.

“
Hi,” I nervously responded
while trying to avoid eye contact. “Do you know what’s going on
this morning?” I asked hoping he would know since it was his
family’s property and all.

“
We get to spend the whole
day together!” Sabrina interrupted not allowing Lucus a chance to
respond.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Lucus is going to be our
tour guide, and we’re his assistants.” She filled me in on what was
going on. “We’re going to slave cabins and then having a picnic
isn’t that like totally creepy.” Her blue eyes sparkled with sheer
joy at the thought of being able to spend time with Lucus even if
it meant staying outside in the horrible heat all day and getting
bitten by misquotes.

“
The slave cabins, why
there?”

“
The guests requested it, I
guess they’re hoping to catch a ghost or two,” Lucus responded.
“Sabrina, will you please excuse us, there is a personal matter
that I would like to discuss with Arelia.”

“
A personal matter?” Sabrina
shot me an evil glance to which I responded to with a
shrug.

“
It will just be a minute,”
assured Lucus.

“
Fine.” Sabrina reluctantly
agreed. “I’ll wait over by the table, that brandy milk punch sure
looks delightful.” Her inner Scarlett O’Hara came out
again.

“
Arelia, I really want to
apologize to you again in person,” he began once Sabrina had made
her exit.

I rolled my eyes. “We’re good, I get
it. You’re sorry.”

He looked anxious as our eyes
unwillingly found one another. “Underdog is the last thing I think
when I look at you.”

“
Really, then what do you
think?” I openly challenged him.

“
From what I’ve seen, I know
you’re powerful, smart, loyal and…”

“
You didn’t win me over with
the chocolates, but I appreciate your apology,” I cut him off
rather abruptly.

He looked dumbfounded. “I thought you
adored chocolate.”

“
I do, but I enjoy hearing
guys like you beg much more.”

“
There you go again with the
guys like me thing. I should be the one who is offended,” he teased
taking a step closer to me.

I let out a nervous giggle. When had I
started giggling like a tragic, little school girl? “I know you
aren’t.”

“
Now how is that?” He
lightly placed his hand on my shoulder. I felt my mouth get dry and
neck muscles tighten as my heart fluttered for a minuscule
second.

“
You’re a gentleman or at
least pretend to be one because let’s be honest that whole Southern
gentlemen thing is an epic myth. If they ever existed, they sure
don’t anymore.”

“
You must have a lot of
experience with Southern gentlemen, I take it,” he inquired taking
an interest in my theory.

“
No not really. I’m just
calling it like I see it.” It was true. I’d never had a real
boyfriend like everyone told me I was supposed to have. The type
that brought me flowers and chocolates while professing his undying
love in poetry. To me, that kind of love was a sham created by some
delusional person who lived in the forest or on the top of a hill.
In reality, it didn’t exist. Life was difficult. Shit happened, and
guys usually didn’t stick around. My dad never did. I doubt he even
knew that I existed. We stood in silence for a few seconds, both of
us unaware what to say next until I realized that his hand was
still on my shoulder. “Is there a reason why your hand is on my
shoulder?”

“
I didn’t realize.” He
pulled away. “So all is forgiven?”

“
Why do you talk like that?”
I blurted suddenly keen to know why he spoke like a hundred year
old man.

“
Like what? Please do
enlighten me,” he tilted his head to the right trying to make sense
of what I had asked him.

“
All polite and formal, you
sound older than Henri, and he’s ancient. You don’t have to put on
an act, you know.” I didn’t mean to be rude, I really didn’t, but
people who pretended to be something they weren’t drove me
crazy.