Cursed (Book 1, The Watchers; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (8 page)

 “Ya’ll just need
to get outta my way,” Nick jumped into his car and cranked the engine.  “I can
drive my own car just fine.  Just watch me.”

 Before we could
try to stop him, Nick spun out of the parking lot leaving me standing alone
with Will. 

 “Come on, Lilly. 
I’ll take you home.”

 There wasn’t
anything else I could do really.  It was almost midnight and I knew my mom
would be asleep by now.  Tara had gone to spend a couple of days with some of her
cousins in Shreveport so calling her was out of the question.  So, without
saying anything or looking at him, I followed Will to the new Honda Civic his
parents just bought him as a senior year present.

 The drive home
was in silence for the most part. After a few minutes, I finally broke the
quiet.

 “So where’s
Jessi?  I thought she would be with you.”  Did I dare to hope they had broken
up?

 “She left a
couple of hours ago with some of her friends.”

 “Oh.”  That was
odd.  Why wouldn’t she have waited and left with Will?  It seemed like a
logical question so I asked it.  “Why didn’t she leave with you?”

“Because she was
getting aggravated with me watching after you all night.”  I hated his tone
just then, so condescending, like I was some child who needed to be looked
after.

“Well I certainly
don’t remember asking you to watch over me like some protective mother hen,
Will Allen.  I didn’t even know you were around.  Even if I did, I wouldn’t
have expected you to try and protect me from what ever it is you think was
going to happen.”

“What else was I
going to do, Lilly?  You didn’t hear that boy bragging to his friends about
what you guys were going to be doing after the fair!”

That really got me
riled up.  “You’ve known me all my life!  Do you really think I would just roll
around with the first boy who came along and showed some interest?”

“I know you
wouldn’t, but that boy was drunk and a lot bigger than you.  Do you think I
could have lived with myself if I just left you with him?  What if he had tried
to force himself on you?  Would you have been able to fight him off?”

I didn’t know what
to say.  No, I couldn’t have fought Nick off.  He was a good foot and a half
taller than me and at least sixty pounds heavier.  He’d also been wasted out of
his mind.  I knew I should have thanked Will for watching after me, but my
pride just wouldn’t allow it.          

“I’m sorry,
Lilly.”

I looked over at
Will then and noticed the pain etched across his face.

“Sorry for what?” 
I whispered, hoping not to hear what I knew his next words would be.

“I’m sorry for
kissing you.  If I hadn’t, everything would be normal again.”

He couldn’t have
said anything worse to me in that moment.  It felt like his words tore my heart
into a million little pieces within my chest.  How could he sully the most
beautiful of my memories?  A moment so perfect it was almost like a dream.  I
wanted to cry and shout and beat him to within an inch of his life for what
he’d just done.  But, I ended up just sitting there, crying silently until he stopped
in front of my mom’s trailer.  I jumped out of the car and ran inside as fast
as I could.  I curled up on my bed and ended up crying myself to sleep.

The next morning Cora
barged into my room with a wild eyed look of worry I’d never seen before.

   “Oh thank
God!”  She lunged at me and hugged me so hard I was sure I’d have bruises the
next day.

   “Geesh, Mom. 
You’re hurting me,” I groaned trying to pry her off.  She finally let me sit up
in the bed.  “What’s wrong?”

“I just caught the
end of a news report on TV.  That boy you went out with last night died in a
wreck.  They found his car in the lake but haven’t found his body yet.  I swear
to God I’ve never been so scared in my life.  I didn’t hear you come in last
night and you just can’t imagine what went through my head.”

And so, Fate had
struck again.  Only this time it had taken another life that wasn’t mine.  Had
Nick died because of me?  I wasn’t sure.  And why did it seem like Will was
always one step ahead of Fate?  Was he my own personal guardian angel or bad
luck talisman?

The next year of
high school was torture for me.  Almost everyday I had to watch Will and Jessi
act like the perfect couple at school.  I was so happy when that year ended and
they both went off to college.  Jessi ended up going to Cornell and Will
decided to stay close to home and go to Southeastern.  I always found that
odd.  I figured Will would go to Harvard or something.  He was super smart.  He
could have gone anywhere he wanted.  Why did he settle for a state college so
close to home?

After I blurted
out my life story to Brand, I told him my suspicion about Will’s inexplicable
connection with all the close calls I’d had in my life.  I’d never told that
part to anyone, not even Tara.

“Even tonight,” I said,
“if he hadn’t forced you to speed up, we would be underneath that plane right
now.  It’s almost like he knows what’s going to happen.”

Brand was silent
during my possibly incoherent tirade, but I could feel the tension in his body
and sense the somber mood my diatribe had instilled in him.

“I think we need
to get you home,” he finally said cupping my tear stained face between his
hands.  He kissed me on the forehead as though his lips could erase my bad
memories and helped me get back into his car.

The ride back to
my apartment was in mutual silence.  I just didn’t have the energy to make
polite casual conversation and apparently Brand was in the same state of mind.

When we pulled up
in front of my apartment, Tara dashed out the door and flew into my arms as I
got out of the car.

“Oh my God, I was
so worried you’d been on the highway.  Did you hear about that plane crashing? 
It’s all their talking about on TV.”

Brand explained we
had seen it crash and told Tara I was still pretty shaken up about it.

“Come on, girl,
I’ll make us some hot chocolate and cookies,” Tara put her arm around my waist
and turned to Brand.  “Would you like to come in, hon?”

“No, I should get
back home.  Lilly should rest.”  Brand looked at me and tried to smile, but I
could see the worry on his face.  “I’ll see you tomorrow at lunch.”

I just nodded my
head and followed Tara’s lead back into the apartment.

Tara pretty much
ordered me to go take a hot shower and put on my flannel pajamas.  When I got
back into the living room, I could smell freshly baked chocolate chip cookies
and hot chocolate waiting for me.

“What do you think
Brand wants to talk to Will about?” Tara asked placing a plate of cookies in
front of me on the counter which acted as a natural divider separating the
kitchen from the living room.

“What makes you
think he wants to talk to Will?” I asked perplexed.

“When you were in
the shower he came back and asked me where Will lived, but all he said when I
asked why he wanted to know was that he just needed to talk about somethin’
with him.”

I told Tara about the scene outside the restaurant and the wild ride on the highway.

“Well I hope he
gives Will a good tongue lashin’” Tara threw the pan she had cooked the cookies
on into the sink.  “Next time I see him that’s exactly what he’s gonna be
gettin’ from me!”

I didn’t feel like
telling Tara that Will’s insane behavior had probably saved my life. 

Again.

I knew eventually
I would need to talk to Will myself and find out why he was always saving me,
or at least that’s what it seemed like.

C
hapter 4

At lunch the next
day, I went to the Commons terrace and waited for Brand.  I sat there alone for
about fifteen minutes before one of the campus security guards found me.

“Are you Lilly
Nightingale?” he asked brusquely.

“Yes.”

“Here.”  He handed
me a piece of paper and stalked off.

I opened the
note.  It wasn’t in Brand’s hand writing but it was from him.

 Sorry. Won’t
be able to make it to lunch today.  Remind me to get your cell phone number the
next time I see you.  Love Brand.

I was disappointed
I wouldn’t be seeing him that afternoon and wondered how long I would have to
wait before I saw him again.  The only saving grace to the note was the way it
was signed.

After I threw away
my trash from lunch, I started walking to the science building to work on a
PowerPoint presentation Dr. Barry needed for a meeting in New Orleans the
following week.  As I turned at the corner of the Commons building, I saw Tara standing in front of a man I had never seen before.  He had a Rastafarian look about
him with a head full of dread locks, beanie hat and colorful hippie styled
clothing.  I saw him hand her a small Ziploc bag with some type of white powder
in it.  She quickly put the bag in her purse and handed him some money.  They
parted ways without saying a word to each other.

I don’t think I
moved for at least five minutes.  Had I seen what I thought I’d seen?  Had Tara just bought a bag of cocaine?  What else could it be?  What else do you buy from a
hippie that comes in the form of white powder and requires a silent money
exchange?  I knew Tara’s mother had been a drug addict, and I knew such
addictions could be handed down hereditarily.  But, just the thought of Tara following the same path as her mother terrified me.

The rest of the
afternoon all I could think about was seeing Tara buy drugs.  What should I
do?  I had to do something.  Should I call Utha Mae and get her advice?  What
about my mother?  Would she be any help in a situation like this? 

By the time I got
back to the apartment, I had decided on a course of action.

Tara was in the
apartment when I got home cooking some eggs and sausage for dinner.  There was
a vase of what looked like two dozen red roses sitting on the kitchen counter.

“Hey,” Tara smiled at me and pointed to the flowers.  “I think Brand sent these.  They just
delivered them so I ain’t looked at the card yet.”

I put my books
down and reached for the card.  They weren’t from Brand. 

 I’m sorry
about scaring you last night.  I hope you can forgive me.

Yours always,
Will

“They from Mister
Wonderful?” Tara asked dishing out some scrambled eggs onto two plates.

“No,” I said
putting the card back into the envelope and putting it in my back pocket.

“Who they from
then?”  Tara asked.  “You don’t have another boyfriend I need to know about do
you?”

“It really doesn’t
matter who they’re from,” I said exasperated.  “Right now, you and I need to
talk about something a lot more important.”

Tara’s forehead
creased in worry.  “What’s wrong?  Somethin’ happen today?”

“Yeah, something
happened today,” I knew my voice was almost yelling but I couldn’t help it.  “I
saw you buying drugs at lunch.  That’s what happened today!”

Tara’s face
paled.  I’d never seen her look so uncomfortable in her life.

“You need to
forget what you saw, Lilly Rayne Nightingale.  I don’t want to talk about it.” 
She handed me a plate with eggs and sausage on it thinking that would mark the
end of our conversation.

“Have you lost
your mind?” I asked hysterically.  “You want me to forget that my best friend
is using drugs?  Well, that’s not going to happen!”  I slammed the plate down
on the kitchen bar almost spilling its contents onto the floor.

“Lilly, you need
to calm down, girl.  I wasn’t buying drugs.”

“Give me a break, Tara.  What else do you buy from some guy off the street that comes in the form of white
powder?”

“
Let… it…go
.” 

“I’m calling Utha
Mae,” I headed to the phone we had in the kitchen.

Tara beat me to
it.  “You ain’t doin’ no such thing!”

“Then talk to me,
Tara.  Why shouldn’t I try to get you some help?  You’d do the same thing for
me if the tables were turned.”

Tara sighed in
resignation and walked to the living room to retrieve her purse.  She pulled
out the zip-lock bag and handed it to me.

“Look for
yourself, it ain’t cocaine.  Taste it if you want.”

I looked at the
contents of the bag and noticed it wasn’t exactly white powder like I had
thought at a distance.  It was more like chunks of some sort of white material which
resembled chalk.  Not having a clue what cocaine would taste like but wanting
to know what she had bought, I broke off a small piece between my fingers and
placed it on my tongue.  Well, it was earthy, with a chalky smooth texture that
immediately caused me to start gagging.  I went to the sink and spat it out.

“What in the hell
is that stuff?”  I asked her after washing my mouth and scraping every last bit
off my tongue.  “It tastes like dirt!”

“It is dirt.”

“Dirt?  Like dirt
from the ground?”

“Yeah,” she
stuffed the bag back in her purse.  “That guy goes to this place in Alabama once a month and brings back the dirt to sell.”

“Why would you
want to eat dirt?”

Tara shrugged.  “I
dunno.  It taste good to me.”

“When did you
start eating dirt?”  I had never in my whole life seen Tara eat dirt.  Never.

“I saw a girl
eating it in the Commons the other day and she let me try it.  I think I’m
addicted to it now,” Tara said totally chagrined, an expression I had rarely
seen on Tara’s face.  I could tell she was embarrassed by her new found passion
of dirt eating.  So, I didn’t push it. I let it go like she had asked me to
earlier, but filed the information away for later teasing.

While we were
cleaning the kitchen up, the phone rang.  Tara answered it.