The Curse of Betrayal (15 page)

“Are you still at RHS or did you drop out?” I nudge his shoulder since he’s dropped out of schools over and over when I die and live. I think it’s actually kind of funny to be honest. Forever a high school dropout. Except he once told me that he finished high school, went to college, and got a degree just to prove that he could do it.
 

“I’m still there, smarty pants.” He sneers over at me, but I know he’s just being funny. “I like it, actually.”
 

“Are you going to graduate?”
 

“Maybe. I haven’t decided. I guess we’ll just wait and see. I’d like to do it again just to stay current on my knowledge.”
 

“I wish you’d come hang out here more.” I mean every single word of it.

“I think you’re good with the old Professor.” He makes a joke out of Ari, but I let it slide. This isn’t about Ari, and I need to separate the two.
 

“So you’re giving up on us?”
 

“No, I’m just waiting for you to realize that you love me, not him.” He smiles over at me, but I can tell it bothers him deeply.

“I do love you, Ollie. You know that,” I say as I reach over and clasp my hand with his. I intertwine our fingers and make sure that we’re tightly knit. I want to feel our heartbeats together, as one. I want to show him that I do love him and never question it.

“This is the place?” I ask him as we pull into a seedy parking lot in a sketchy area of town. I’ve never been off campus, and this area looks nothing like inside of the school gates. We’re only five minutes or so away from the dorms, but it’s like a whole new world. The air is musty and frigid, and the streets are lined with litter piled on the snowbanks. It’s kind of gross.
 

“Trust me?” Ollie raises his eye brows like a dare.

“Of course,” I say back, jumping out of the passenger seat after he parks. Surprisingly enough, the place is packed with cars in the lot. Ollie sprints in front of the car and glues himself to my side protectively. I roll my eyes, but he ignores me, planting his arm around my shoulder.

We get into the diner and a bubbly blonde welcomes us. “Just two?” she asks, and Ollie nods appreciatively to her.

“Candace will be your server tonight,” the blonde says, leaning across the table while laying our menus out for us. She shoves her breasts right in Ollie’s line of sight as they practically spill out of her shirt—they’re definitely not real. I’ve never seen breasts so damn perky in my life.
 

“Thanks,” I bite out at her, but she ignores me, only having eyes for my Ollie. “He’s taken, blondie.” I grab her shoulder and push her back off of our table. She stumbles back, astounded at my aggressiveness, but then glares daggers at me. I give it right back, not wanting anyone to take advantage of me.

“I said he’s taken, so back off,” I say, with the bitchiest voice I can muster.

“Didn’t seem like it a second ago.” Blondie’s voice is high and whiney like a fake preppy bitch. Ollie laughs from his seat at the entire exchange. I frown at him, and he has to cover his mouth with his hand to keep the laughter in. I return my ogle to blondie who’s still freaking staring at Ollie like a piece of damn meat.
 

“Seriously?!” I exclaim at Ollie, who’s doing nothing to rectify the situation. I glare at him to get him to defend me. He thinks it’s hilarious when in reality it’s driving me mad.

So I take matters into my own hands. I stand up and use my strength. I shove her backwards so she falls onto a table across the restaurant. Everyone’s eyes dart to me, but I ignore them—my rage taking control of my body.

I sprint to her, making it in under a second, and am about to punch her in the face with all my might when my arm is grabbed from behind. “Let me go,” I tell him.

“You don’t want to do this.”

“Yes, I do,” I answer. “I have these powers. Might as well use them.” I wriggle out of his grasp and sprint to the other side of the room and glare at Ollie.

“These are humans and you’re scaring them. Look at what we have to clean up.” Ollie’s arms open as he shows me the wreckage I’ve made.
 

I take a deep breath and realize my mistakes. My jealously created this. I could’ve killed that dumb girl. “I’m sorry.”
 

“Go back to the table, and I’ll fix it.” Ollie sprints to my side and brushes a piece of hair off my face. He kisses my forehead, and as slow as humanly possible, I walk to the table and sit.

Ollie works magic as he goes around the room, hypnotizing the humans to forget everything they saw and heard. He gets to Candace last.
 

“Candace, right?” he asks, looking down at her. He reaches for her hand and covers it with his, so she’s right in front of him, facing him. “Go back to your post up front and don’t look at me or my girl again,” he commands with his singing voice. “You didn’t see anything happen; today was a normal, boring day.”

I stare at the exchange, and although Ollie is telling her to go away, the way he’s staring right into her eyes, unnerves me. “I think that’s good,” I tell him, not wanting him to look anymore.

“Nod, if you understand.” He continues to stare at her, their eyes locked. She nods and then when Ollie looks away, she’s released. Robotically, she walks back to her post and stares out the front door.

Ollie reaches over to me and places his hand on mine on the table, trying to get me to relax. It’s a reassuring gesture, but I lost control because of my jealously, and it’s frustrating.
 

I sit back in the seat and focus on the menu in front of me. I read each word, letter-by-letter trying to get my adrenaline to dissipate and my pulse to slow. “Why didn’t you do anything?” my minuscule voice asks as I peek over the menu.

“You were handling it yourself.”
 

“You were blatantly flirting with her in front of me.” I’m unable to hide the annoyance in my voice.

“Hardly, Ryder. She was flirting with me, and I was staring at you. Were you jealous?” His eyes meet mine and hold them in a stare, different from when he was staring at blondie. When he looks at me, he really sees me, loves me. I think about the question, trying to gauge what I was feeling, but it’s pretty damn clear that I was jealous.

“Yes.” In that admission, I realize what a hypocrite I am.
 

“I’m sorry you felt that way.” He purposely shields his face with his menu so I can’t see him, but I stare at his plastic menu like I could burn a hole in it to get to Ollie. A new woman comes to our table; she’s probably in her mid-thirties and has a little more class than Blondie Boobs.
 

“What can I get for you two?” she asks, a tad of southern-ness in her accent. It’s compassionate and bubbly and immediately, I like her a hundred times more than her coworker slut.

“I’ll take an orange juice,” I tell her, and Ollie orders water. After she leaves, telling us that she’ll be right back with our drinks and to take our order, we return to our silent state.

I’m annoyed with my emotions. I don’t know why I was feeling so jealous because he’s right—he barely looked at her. I feel like shit and guilty knowing that’s how Ollie feels when I’m with Ari—only a hundred times more because I actually do flirt with Ari. I can’t help that we’re stuck in this situation, but it’s not like I’m doing it on purpose. I don’t flaunt my relationship with Ari in his face; I try my damnedest to keep the two separate.
 

But if that’s how Ollie feels, then I feel awful.
 

“I’m sorry.” I cut the stillness with a knife.

“For what?” he asks back, interested. He meets my face for the first time in a long few minutes.

“Making you feel jealous. It’s not my intentions at all, and I’m sorry for hurting you. I don’t know what to do about all of this. Clearly, it’s driving me insane.” I let it all out, getting my frustrations off my chest. Ollie doesn’t say anything else, so I settle into my seat, expecting the rest of the meal to remain quiet.

“Want to start the day over?” He raises his eyebrows, waiting for my answer.
 

“Deal.” I reach my hand over the table to seal it. He looks at my hand, smiles, and then takes it in his, giving it a tender squeeze. Butterflies flutter in the pit of my stomach at the contact, and I quickly drop our hands, pretending to scratch my back. The heat is just too much to handle.
 

“So clearly you’ve learned a lot about powers at your school.” Ollie wiggles his eyebrows as he starts up a comfortable round of small talk.

“Entirely. Let’s see, I learned to climb a rope. I learned how to fly. Oh! And I can be invisible with this little spell, you wanna hear it?” I ask him with a sarcastic smile on my face.
 

“Very funny, Miss Ryder.” Ollie rolls his eyes at me.

“Have you seen my dad yet?” I ask him, wondering how he is doing at home alone.

“I did actually. I had dinner at your house last night,” he reveals.

“What?” I ask back, curious.

“Yup. I was at Junior’s, and your dad invited them to dinner, so I just happened to tag along. It was nice. I have to admit, I took a little field trip up to your bedroom, smelled some pillows. You know,” he jokes. I lean across the table to punch him, but he dodges me swiftly, sitting back in the seat.

“You’re hilarious, Ollie,” I drawl back, narrowing my eyes at him.

“You know you miss me,” he says, making my heart stop beating.

“I do miss you,” I tell him honestly.
 

“You do?” He doesn’t look convinced.

“Of course I do. I miss talking to you and hanging out. I miss hanging out at my locker and the pond by RHS. I miss you; I really do. Thus why you need to come visit me at least once a week.” I ramble on about my sadness. He stares into my eyes with such intensity that it burns me from the inside out. I can’t break our contact even if I tried.
 

“I’ve been bitter and stubborn. I’ll try to be here for you more, okay?” He reaches across the table for my hand again. Gladly, I take it and lace our fingers together. I smile inside, loving that we’re repairing our relationship.

The rest of our meal is perfect and exactly what I’ve been craving from Ollie. I thought I had lost him forever, but seeing him happy and loving gives me hope that I can figure out who I love in the end and get my own happily ever after.
 

We get back to my dorm, fully sated and fatter than before. I look to Kara’s side once I get in the room but it’s vacant. I sigh as I kick off my sneakers and pull my sweatshirt over my head. Ollie stalks behind me, entering the room and jumping up on my bed before I can even get there.
 

“Stealing my bed, are you?” I ask Ollie when I’m ready to get in bed. Dinner lasted longer than I expected, and it’s already nine-thirty. Between blondie and our heart-to-heart, we ate super slowly. I’m hesitant to get in bed with Ollie, but I assure myself that I do have self-control—I do.
 

“I promise I don’t bite,” he mutters, burrowing under the covers and laying on his side. He has his head propped up on his elbow, and he looks so young and adorable. I walk to the side of the bed and pause, weighing my options.
 

“Keep your hands to yourself,” I warn him, tucking myself into bed. I face him, mostly to bat off his advances on me, but I love staring into his beautiful blue eyes. He has a light smile on his face, and it breaks my heart. “Night, Ollie,” I whisper as I shut my eyes.

“Night, Ryder.” It’s quiet save for our deep breaths and hearts beating. I’m having trouble falling asleep—mostly because of Ollie’s heavy presence. I know he’s right there, and I feel so nervous being close to him. I turn to face outside, thinking that maybe it’s because I can see him, but his arms catch me, pulling me into him.
 

“I want to just hold you.” Ollie’s voice is husky and sleepy. It sends flutters up my stomach and anticipation reeling through me. I don’t know how, but I fall asleep instantly, his hands giving me the safety I need.
 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

dream come true

I wake up in a puddle of my own sweat. Remembering falling asleep with Ollie, I turn over in the bed and reach my arm out for him, but the bed is empty. I search for him around the room crazily. His spot is still warm, so he must be nearby. I’m about to stand when the door to my room creaks open, revealing a thin stream of yellow light, but it vanishes as fast as it appeared.

“Hello?” I ask into the unlit room, but only secrecy greets me. I sit up straight in my bed, willing my eyes to focus already so I can see what the hell is going on. I shut my eyes and rub my palms on them, hoping to hurry the process.

As my eyes adjust, a cloaked figure emerges from the shadows, walking towards me with fervor. The person wears a black robe with a peak at the top that covers their face. At first, I don’t understand what’s going on, but then I remember.

My mother.
 

My dream is coming true from so long ago.
 

My relief in seeing my mom instantly turns to anger when I know what’s coming next. She’s just going to tell me to stop looking for her and break my heart. “Stop, I know who you are,” I tell her, pushing my shoulders back, acting bold. I sit up higher on the bed, wanting show her that I know what’s going on and it’s not okay.
 

“I know you do. Listen, you have to stop looking for me. There will be a time for us, but it’s certainly not now.” She takes me off guard with her words. Her voice is so feminine and nurturing; it makes my heart skip a beat. Immediately, I feel connected, knowing I have to listen to what she says.
 

I thought these visions were concrete. She didn’t say any of that in the dream. What the hell is going on? Nothing is like it was before. Something in these dreams is changing, and I don’t understand why.

“I’m tired of people telling me, it isn’t the time. I just want to understand.” I tell her. My voice is on the edge of desperation, but I don’t care. I need her to want me for once in my life.