Cursed (27 page)

“This one means there’s hope,” she said. “You, the man trapped by his past, will make a hasty decision that backfires on you, possibly about the women in your life. But that there’s a chance for you to redeem yourself, if you’re brave enough to make a choice that takes you out of your comfort zone.”

Jayden was quiet.

“Did you ask about um, romance?” she asked him.

“No,” he said then laughed. “I asked what was going to happen next week.” He shrugged. “I didn’t know what to ask. This really means I’m trapped by my past?” He touched the two cards.

“It means you might feel that way, yes. Do you?”

“Actually, yeah. I don’t know about the rest of it, but that part is true.”

“Why?”

“Long story. Not a good one.” He studied her then fingered the dog tags at his neck. “Tara said you want to drop out of school.”

Adrienne ducked her head. “I can’t go back.”

“You have to. Emma needs a friend.”

“I messed that up, too. I make a mess of everything.” She saddened to think of Emma eating lunch alone.

“That’s totally not true.”

“I stood her up Friday to eat with y’all.” Adrienne’s face flushed, this time in anger. “I knew I should’ve sat with her but I didn’t. I thought … I thought Kimmie and you and everyone else were my friends.”

“I am. Or, I want to be,” he said. “Kimmie is a lost cause. You can’t let one stupid person run you out of school.”

“One stupid person. Hmm. How about the half a dozen people who knew what she was fixin’ to do and didn’t tell me?”

“You have every right to be mad. It’s cool. I get it.” Jayden cleared his throat. “Don’t let her … or I guess, us, be the reason you don’t come back. I’ve heard you sing, Adrienne. You deserve that chance to break into the industry. I know you can do it.”

“I can’t keep up with the classes and I have no singing voice. They’ll kick me out soon anyway,” she said miserably.

“Then I’ll help you with class.”

Just thinking of her embarrassment in front of the whole school made her want to run away to New Orleans.

“Think about it?” he prodded. “What do your cards say?”

She said nothing for a long moment. “They say I need to be here, but that there’s danger here, too.”

“Worse than Kimmie?”

“A lot worse.”

“Take these.” Jayden pulled off the dog tags he wore around his neck. “My grandmama put a protective spell on them to keep me safe.”

Her eyes flew up to his. “I thought you didn’t believe in that stuff.”

“I don’t. Not really,” he said with a shrug. “But Tara said you do, and your card trick kinda has me wondering. If these help you stay, then I’ll believe they’re magical.”

Adrienne’s determination to keep her distance began to crumble. She took the dog tags carefully. They were faded and warm from time, but she was able to read the name stamped on them.

“Jayden, I can’t take them.”

“They’re yours. If you decide to go back to Georgia, then maybe you can remember me when you look at them. If you want to remember me,” he rushed on with a sloppy smile.

“You’re serious?” she asked, searching his gaze. “You want me to have them?”

“Yeah.” He took it out of her hands then stood and leaned to drape the ball chain over her neck. “They’re almost a hundred years old. They’ve gotta be good luck to make it that long, right?”

She chewed on her lower lip, not wanting to smile. It tugged free, and she nodded, touched by his thoughtfulness.

“Thank you, Jayden,” she murmured.

“You’re welcome. Adrienne,” he paused, visibly struggling with the words. “I want a second chance with you.”

She gazed at him longingly, wanting to believe him and the idea they had a chance.

“There’s an issue, though. I’m not sure how to deal with it.”

“Issue?” she asked, thoughts on her daddy’s run down apartment and the dog tags.

“Not with you,” he said quickly. “My family. Your cards … they kinda hit home. I need to think about something.”

“They want to cut off my other ear?” she half-joked, blood racing as she tried to interpret what he was saying. Did he want to see her again or not? Were the dog tags a farewell gift or a gift to someone he hoped would become more than friends?

“No, nothing like that.” His gaze was distant. “Can I ask you to be patient with me, until I figure this out?”

“Patient? What do you mean?” Her thoughts went to the cards that said there was someone else in his near future, someone he might love.

“I guess I mean, I want a second chance with you. More than anything else in my life.” He frowned. “I have to figure out something first.”

“Stop being so vague!” she said, sighing. “You either like me or you don’t!”

Jayden laughed. “I do. I know I do.” The intensity of his gaze made her face warm.

“You ain’t embarrassed to be seen with me at school, are you?” she whispered.

“Of course not. I plan on talking to Kimmie about what she did. It was stupid to mess with your scholarship like that. Just … let me think a little this weekend, okay?”

Adrienne wasn’t certain how to feel. He’d spent the whole day waiting for the opportunity to talk to her but wasn’t willing to go out with her for reasons he wouldn’t say.

Not that she would trust him or let him back into her life so easily. But she wanted to know that she hadn’t lost him, either.

“We both need to think,” she said. “I don’t want to risk our feelings if I can’t stay.”

Jayden searched her gaze. “You have to stay, Addy. No matter what happens. You have to follow your dream. Once the right people hear you sing, you’ll be famous. I know it.”

I have no voice!
She wanted to scream the reminder, but didn’t, afraid of crying if she brought up what happened if she failed to recover her singing voice.

“Sometimes, timing is just … not quite right with things,” Jayden continued. “I know I want to be more than your friend. I don’t know how to juggle dating and everything else.”

There was more that he wasn’t saying, and she couldn’t guess what. He said it wasn’t directed at her, but she couldn’t help thinking that her family and humiliation at school were part of it. The troubled look that crossed his face when she told him about being trapped by his past returned.

“It’s okay, Jayden. We both have a lot to think about,” she murmured.

“I promise, I’ll tell you more in a few days.”

She nodded, not really believing him. On Monday, she’d figure out for sure what he was trying to say. If he avoided her at school or helped others to ridicule her, then she’d know he was trying to alleviate his own guilt this weekend without any real interest in dating her.

But maybe, that was for the better. With the Red Man haunting her, did she really want to drag Jayden into her backwards world anyway?

“I can drop you off at home, if you’re ready,” he said.

She was almost relieved at the chance for some time alone to think.

Adrienne rose and wove her way through the tables to the door. Jayden pushed it open for her, and she stepped into the balmy, cloudy afternoon.

He was trying. She’d give him that much. She couldn’t believe he’d given her his great grandfather’s dog tags, and she wasn’t certain what exactly that meant. He’d helped embarrass her yesterday then given her something of great value today.

They were quiet on the short drive home. Adrienne was surprised to see someone waiting for her in front of the apartment building.

“Hmmm,” Jayden said. “You want me to walk you in?”

“No. That’s Rene. He’s nice. Well, he’s always cranky, but he’s a good person,” she said.

Jayden didn’t look impressed at the sight of the thug.

Adrienne smiled. “Thank you, Jayden.”

“You’re welcome. Think things over. Email or call or whatever, if you want.” His narrowed gaze was on Rene.

“Okay.” She got out of the car and closed the door, waving.

Jayden drove off.

Adrienne approached Rene, planting her hands on her hips.

He rolled his eyes at her. “You back with the rich boy?”

“He drove me to work and back. That’s it,” she said. “You have anything for me?”

“Maybe. You got time to see Candace?”

“I don’t feel like it. Had nothing but bad luck the past couple of days.”

“You a diva, girl. She’s got news for you. You don’t want it, that’s on you. I ain’t gonna let anything bad happen to you.”

Ugh.
She kept getting sucked in. Was she foolish for wanting to trust Jayden and Candace?

“Okay,” she said unhappily.

“You got your drawing?”

She nodded.

Rene pushed himself away from the wall and walked with her the ten minutes to Candace’s café. Two customers sat in the corner, drinking coffee and talking. Candace was at the counter. She opened the curtains for them to enter the protected area of her shrine room.

“I’ll join you in a minute,” she said, then closed the curtains.

A stack of paper was in the middle of the table.

Adrienne gazed at it then gasped.

“Rene! You did it!” she exclaimed, recognizing the writing from her sister’s journal. He had copied each page of the journal.

Adrienne flung her arms around Rene. He hugged her back.

“You wanna thank me, hook me up with that piece of ass I saved in the alley last night,” he told her, his breath tickling the hair around her ear in a way that made her shiver.

“Tara?” she asked. “Really?”

“She’s hot and you ain’t interested.”

“I never said …” She stopped, suddenly aware of what he was saying. She was surprised to feel a little jealous. “You never asked me.”

“I ain’t your type. You like rich boys with no spines.”

“You don’t know that,” she returned.

“He wasn’t man enough to stand up for you after you lost your singing voice.”

“At least he was man enough to ask me out, and he came to see me today!” She pushed him away enough to glare up at him. “It doesn’t matter what he did or didn’t do yesterday.” The pain of the memory caught her by surprise, and her eyes watered. “What would you have done?”

“Messed up anyone who hurt you. Not let you run out into the city on your own. You a good girl. You need someone who sees that and treats you right. Obviously, he don’t.”

Adrienne’s anger swirled away. “That’s real sweet, Rene.”

“Yeah, well …” His blue-green gaze was intent enough to send a flutter through her. His hands lingered on her arms. Despite the tattoos and roughened exterior, he had a gentle heart, one she innately knew was good. “You wanna go out?”

She hesitated. Strong and confident, Rene was the one who knew the most about her and the only one who had never let her down or run away. He was frustrating at times, but he never disappointed her.

But Jayden went out of his way today to sit with her and apologize, to try to get to know her world, even if he disliked magic.

“Think about it.” Rene took a step back and cleared his throat, uncomfortable in the awkward silence that fell between them.

“Okay. I will,” she said.

Rene flung himself into his corner chair.

Adrienne sat down and pulled the stack of papers towards her. Someone had started circling the capitalized letters already, and she picked up a pen, flipping pages until she found one without the circles.

“I found out something,” Candace said, watching her. “You want to hear it?”

Adrienne nodded, focused on her task.

“There are three original Houses here in New Orleans, bloodlines with roots in serving the spirits who have been here for four hundred years. Your appearance marks the return of the Fourth House, which started out in New Orleans and then disappeared. Rene and Jax are from House DuBois, my brother and I are from House Igbo. The third is just outside of the city,” Candace started. “I called everyone I could from all three families. I found someone I think can help, a powerful priestess. She’s a little … off.”

Adrienne glanced up. Candace appeared baffled and amused at the same time.

“She knew things I didn’t know were possible, like another verse of the lullaby your grandmama sang you.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s the beginning of the story. The man who bought the spell was in love with the
bokor
who created it. He was from a poor family and she from a wealthy one with secret, superstitious roots. She warned him, but he insisted she make the spell, so he could have the gold he needed to win over her father and marry her. That’s how it starts.”

Adrienne listened. “I’m guessing by the second verse Mama sent me things didn’t go the way they intended.”

“No, they didn’t. The curse of ninety nine fell upon both. Marie Toussaint believes ninety nine refers to the number of people meant to die in each family as a result of what these two did.”

Adrienne’s mouth fell open. How many years and people were caught up in the curse?