Twisted Magic (33 page)

Karsen raised an eyebrow confused. “But she’s still here.”

Kidd came to stand next to me. “Isn’t it
obvious?
She’s still here because Slade loves her. When is everyone going to quit pretending that this isn’t the
issue?
Slade loves Hope and Hope loves Slade.
But,
Slade is
too
much of an idiot to deal with it.”

I looked at Slade.

Audrey stood up angry. “
Slade’s biggest mistake was making the decision to turn her into one of us.”

Karsen
gasped finally understanding.
“You’re a witch.”

I nodded, tears escaping my eyes. “All because I was stupid enough to believe what
him
and I had was true.”

Karsen hugged me. “Maybe it is.”

“It’s not.” I broke away from her. “And I’m not mad anymore. If you want to pick Audrey over me
that’s
fine.” I looked at Slade. He didn’t speak. He didn’t even look at me.

I turned to Hutch. “I’m ready to go home.”

Audrey caught me by the arm. “Nobody is going anywhere.”

I pulled away. “
It’s
very clear I don’t need to be here. You wanted
him. You
can have him.”

Audrey shook her head. “Do you think I am going to sit back and let those people destroy us?”

I shrugged. I didn’t know what she would do.

“We are going to finish what we started.” She took me by the wrist.
“You and
I."

Slade shook his head. “Leave her out of this. She doesn’t know the first thing about fighting off a whole town.”

“That didn’t stop yo
u from using her the first time,
” Audrey said to Slade.

“Nobody is using me for anything,” I spoke up. I was a human being I had a right to voice my opinion when it came to my own life.

“Audrey, I didn’t use her.
Leave her alone and I will take care of the mess myself.
It’s
my mess to take care of.” Slade bit his lip in angst.

Audrey was silent for a few seconds.
“Fine.
But under my rules, you finish the spell I created.”

Everyone looked at Audrey stunned. But not me, I knew just what she was talking
about, t
he
café. The day they all came in when I was singing. She had done something just like I expected.

“This will take care of both our problems.” Audrey
nodded. She
gave Slade a long stare before he willingly shook his head.

Hutch stepped forward. “I know other ways to take care of this church. Hope doesn’t have to be a part of it.”

Audrey laughed. “Oh, nature boy, as lovely as that sounds. What we have in mind is going to be so much better. It seems
you’re
just going to have to find a new girl to admire and wish was yours.”

Hutch flexed his jaw in anger but didn’t say anything else.

“If only Hope wasn’t stupid enough
to hold onto h
ope all summer that she ever had a chance with Slade.” Audrey laughed.

Karsen was stopped before she lunged at Audrey. Kidd wasn’t about to let Karsen stand up to Audrey.

“So it’s settled. Slade, Hope and I will head on over to the church to take care of this little problem.”

I swallowed. I wasn’t sure I had much choice in getting out of it.

“Let me freshen up,” Audrey told us taking off into the
rv
.

Slade and Kidd were
off,
in
the distance,
talking to each other while I chewed my nail nervously trying to think of something to do. Karsen paced back and forth.

“You never told me anything about this. I don’t know what to do.” She kept her eyes on the
rv
as she paced.

Hutch stood beside me silent.

“Do you have any ideas?” I asked him. He was my last hope.

“I promised I’d help you.” He leaned in and pretended to kiss the top of my head but secretly whispered
into
my ear. “I’ll
figure something out, I promise.”

I was sandwiched between Slade and Audrey. Not particularly the place I wanted to be in. Even with the circumstances I couldn’t help but wonder about their relationship, I knew Audrey’s feelings toward Slade, she made them very clear all the time.

But the idea that Slade enjoyed being around Audrey was hard to believe. Audrey was everything Slade seemed to hate. She was obnoxious, territorial and demanding—not to mention a psycho.

Audrey and Slade came to a stop in the sand. The dimly lit beach couple
d
with the
music,
and candles placed an
eerie
presence on everything. Soft chatter and laughter flowed toward us as we watched the large crowd. It didn’t seem like the party was dying down anytime soon.

Slade kicked at the sand with the toe of his
boot,
“so
what’s your idea?”

Audrey ignored his inquiry and kept taking it all in. I stared at the large sign introducing the church to the citizens of Cherry. A family posed with bright and smiling faces smiled upon everything below. And the saying in
a shiny
gold scrawl read:
We take the bad out of everything and make it good again.

I wasn’t sure what that even meant, but I knew enough about churches to know that this wasn’t one of them. It was a ploy to gain compassion. It was a way to get the entire town on their side.

“I’m going to go get a feel of things. You hang back with Hope.”
Audrey instructed not wasting any time. She hurried across the sand, fluffing her hair and smoothing down her white dress as she walked.

I secretly glanced in Slade’s direction. We were alone for once.
However,
I wasn’t sure I had anything I wanted to say. It was strange.

He let out an audible sigh as he watched Audrey. “Not the way I saw my night going down.”

I scoffed. That’s what kind of conversation he had in mind when my life was possibly on the line?

“I’m sorry to have ruined your rendezvous with Audrey.” I crossed my arms looking
at
the water.

“Ouch,
harsh words.
Why don’t you tell me how you really
feel?"
He laughed, amused with my sarcasm.

“I believe I already did. It seems you’re the one that has the problem doing that.” I snapped.

“We communicated just fine last summer.” Slade turned, l
ocking his eyes on me. I kept my eyes glued to the water.

“If sex is considered
communication,
then sure, we communicated just fine.” I sighed. The whole back and forth wasn’t getting us anywhere. I had the perfect opportunity to get some answers.

“Sex was great,” he said.

I could feel his eyes, almost as if they were boring right through my skin. I looked up fighting the smirk that was trying so hard to escape my lips. It sent a shiver down my spine to look at him.

“Do you really like her?” I
asked. My
voice came out a whisper. I just wanted him to be honest with me for once. It wasn’t that I thought Slade was lying to
me. It
was more he was hiding a lot from me. And I didn’t understand why.

Slade looked toward the sands for any sign of Audrey. And then he looked back at me. “I would think that was fucking obvious.”

I raised an eyebrow in irritation. “You don’t have to be so—

“No, I don’t like her. I don’t want anything to do with her.” He grabbed me by the wrist. My eyes fell on his grip. My heart plunked about in my chest.

“Those weren’t the words I expected to hear.” I
pursed
my lips, closing my eyes trying to fight the overwhelming emotions ready to pour out of them. Slade touched my face.

“The last thing I wanted to do was lie to you all summer. But once again, another part of this coven comes along and screws everything up.” Slade released his hold on me and concentrated on the party. Audrey still was nowhere in sight.

“We made it through Ezra.” I
shrugged,
maybe there was a way to make it through Audrey too. I reached out and touched his shoulder. “Wouldn’t it be better to try?”

Slade pulled
away, "if
only everything was as simple as you seem to think it is in your world. If Audrey wants something
gone,
she will get her way. I’ve been playing nice all summer to keep you safe. Maybe one day you will thank me and stop being so resentful.”

I swallowed. “Don’t you see how amazing you are?”

Slade shot me a confused look. “Did you hear anything I
just
said?”

I ignored his comment. “Nobody wants to let you go because they
see
your
worth; they see how
amazing you are. The only
problem
, all the people who want you are evil.” I moved closer. “But I’m not. And you’re not either.”

“You don’t know the first thing about me. You know what I let you see. What I was willing to tell you.” Slade turned away from me as Audrey approached. He crossed his arms. “You’re better off finding a way out of this
mess. Nature
boy seems to be more your style.”

I bit my lip in anger. He knew nothing about my style. Or who was right for me. And it wasn’t his job to tell me what to do next. “I saw everything. I know who the real Slade is. He’s the guy who puts everyone else first before himself.” I hurried to push the last word out before Audrey was close enough to
overhear.

“Just like the night the coven changed all of you. I don’t need to be saved. All I need is for you to be honest and tell me what you want.”

Slade whirled around in an instant. He grabbed me by the
shoulders;
his
finger's
digging into my flesh. His lips close to mine, but his eyes were frantic almost. “I’ll always want
you,” he said.
He shoved me
, sending me backwards into the sand.

Audrey giggled in pleasure at Slade’s behavior. She brought her hand to her hip. “We need to get our hands on the mayor’s kid.”

My mouth dropped. “There’s no way.”

She stared down at me, giving me a pathetic grin. “There’s always a way.”

Slade grabbed me by the arm lifting me back up off the ground. He shoved me toward the party. I was confused.

“What are you doing?” I asked, begging Slade to stop tugging me toward the mess that was about to take place.

“You’re going to lure him away from the party, let him know you are ready to come clean.” Slade explained. “He’s dying to hear it. They are all dying to hear someone say so.”

Audrey nodded. “And we will do the rest.”

There was no way I would convince Tucker to go anywhere remotely close to being alone with me.
However,
nobody else
understood
that but me.

I kept my arms hugged tight to my body as I made my way
through
the crowd. I never felt so uninvited in my life. But knowing Slade and Audrey were right there watching me I knew not to try anything funny.

I
bumped into a strange man and quickly apologized. Out of the corner of my
eye,
I saw someone I never expected to be there.
Nona.
She was dressed in a silk white gown and sipping on the fancy champagne.

Before I could get past
her,
she had hold of my arm.

“I thought you went out for pizza after your party?” She eyed me closely clearly bothered that I wasn’t in white like everyone else.

“We…we were…I
need
to talk to Tucker. Do you know where he is?”

Nona took another sip. She wasn’t buying it. “You hate Tucker. What is really going on? And why are those two hanging out down there?”

I racked my brain. “I’m being honest.”

“And I’m sober seven days a week. Remember,
sweet pea,
Nona hears and sees everything that goes on in Cherry. And trust me this party is not where you want to be.” She covered her mouth and whispered. “These
nut jobs
think we have a witch
on our hands.”

I made a face. “So I heard. That’s just crazy.”

Nona nodded in agreement. “I think I saw Tucker by the boardwalk with his buddies. Promise me you won’t cause any trouble.”