Cursed (Book 1, The Watchers; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (13 page)

Once we were
alone, Brand walked toward my bed.  I thought he was just going to sit on the
side of it like he did before but this time he lowered one of the guard rails
and  carefully laid down beside me, taking me in his arms so I could rest my
head on his shoulder.  The warmth of his body against mine was comforting and
electrifying all at the same time. 

He kissed my
forehead a few times and cradled me as close to him as he could.

My pulse raced.

“Why do you do
that?” I asked, looking up at him, unable to keep my frustration hidden.

“Don’t you like my
kisses?” He asked a bit taken aback.

“Of course, I do,
but why don’t you ever kiss me on the lips?”

A tender, almost
melancholy smile touched the corners of his mouth.

“When we kiss for
the first time, you’re going to have to be the one who starts it.”

“Why?” I was at a
complete loss.

“When you and Will
kissed, he was the one who initiated it correct?”

“Yeah, but….”

Brand cut me off
before I could finish.  “I don’t ever want to be second to him in your eyes,
Lilly.  As far as I’m concerned, he was the first boy who kissed you, but I
want to be the first man
you
kiss.”

“That’s just
semantics, Brand,” I protested.

“That may be true,
but it means a lot to me.  I don’t want to be second in your heart, Lilly. 
That won’t do for me,” the earnest way he said this made my heart skip a beat
inside my chest. He was so serious.

“When and if you
decide I’m the one you want to be with is when I want us to share our first
kiss.  I want it to mean something, Lilly.  I want it to mean you no longer
harbor any romantic feelings for him.  I still feel like you two have
unfinished business with one another.  He still cares about you a great deal
though I get the feeling you don’t realize that.  I don’t think I could bear it
if you decided you wanted him later on.  I would have a hard enough time
letting you go as things stand now.”

I didn’t know what
to say and I didn’t feel like he expected me to say anything.  I laid my head
back on his shoulder and let his warmth ease my aching muscles, including my
heart.

Chapter 7

My doctor came in
later that morning and gave me a clean bill of health.  She asked me to call
her if I felt the least bit faint or noticed any other complications.  Relieved
I wouldn’t have to stay in the hospital any longer than I had to, I took a
quick shower and got dressed in the clothes Tara and Will brought for me from
their trip to the apartment. 

Utha Mae insisted
we still come for dinner that evening and invited Will to come too.  Well, ‘invited’
is a nice way of saying what she really did.

“Will Allen
Kilpatrick,” she said to him in her ‘your gonna do what I say whether you want
to or not’ voice.  A tone she had used with us kids quite often growing up.  “I
better see you at my table no later than four-thirty.”

We all watched as
Will shuffled his feet obviously ill at ease with being talked to like he was
four-years-old again and finally agreed to be there, like he had any choice in
the matter.

When I was ready
to leave my room, Brand and Will both reached for my overnight bag at the same
time.

“I’ll get it,”
Brand said tugging roughly on the strap of the bag held equally secure in
Will’s hand.

“I brought it to
her.  I’ll take it back,” Will responded with a strong tug of his own.

“You two need to
just get out of the way,” Tara said snatching the bag out of both their hands. 
“Lilly’s been through enough without the two of you tryin’ to out do one
another.  If y’all can’t behave any better, I won’t let
either
of y’all
near her.” 

Two men fighting
over my bag, interesting.

One wild eyed best
friend snatching it away from them both while putting them in their place,
PRICELESS.

In compliance with
hospital rules, a nurse had to escort me out of the hospital in a wheelchair. 
I was glad to see Tara had already parked her car underneath the awning.  I
could just imagine Brand and Will making a race for their cars trying to be the
first one to me causing chaos in a hospital parking lot.  They both told Tara to make sure she drove safely.  Tara just rolled her eyes and cranked her engine.

“I swear, if those
two fools don’t calm down, the question of which one you want won’t matter. 
They’ll both be dead.”

I couldn’t help
but chuckle at Tara.  Her exasperation had caused her sassiness to go into
overdrive.  I pitied Will and Brand for a brief moment.

Will.  What was up
with his behavior?  Were Tara and Brand right?  Did he harbor romantic feelings
for me?  And if he did, how did I really feel about that?

I had such a long
history with Will and had a crush on him since I was of age to know girls liked
boys.  He’d always been my hero when I needed one.  He was someone I used to
confide things to, a best friend.

But then there was
Brand.  Even after just knowing him a week, I couldn’t help but get goose bumps
just thinking about him.  He was model gorgeous and so considerate of those
around him.  He was giving me time to figure out my feelings for Will, but did
I really want him to?  Sometimes a girl just likes to be swept off her feet. 
My problem was which one of the men in my life did I want to be my Prince
Charming?

Brand and Will
followed us to our apartment.  Tara hopped out of the car and came to my door
to help me out.  The guys were coming up to us when she put her hand out palm
forward like a stop sign.

“You boys need to
give her some room to breathe.  She needs rest more than she needs you two trying
to one up each other on every little thing.  Why don’t y’all come back around
three-thirty, and we’ll all go to Grandma’s together for dinner?”

“But,” Will began
but never finished because Tara held her hand up again.

“No
but’s
Will Allen. 
Ya’ll
…
come
…
back
…
later
,” Tara spoke her words slowly as if she were talking to dim witted children.  “And don’t even
think about trying to come any earlier.  I ain’t openin’ that door until
three-thirty.”

“I’ll be back,”
Brand said daring Tara’s glare as he gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“Me too,” Will
gave me a quick peck on the forehead.

I was thankful for
Tara’s guard dog mentality.  I was still tired even though I had slept most of
the night.  The doctor said the tiredness was mostly due to my system being
shocked by the accident. 

As soon as I lay
down on my bed, I went to sleep.  I didn’t wake up until Tara came in at
two-thirty.  She knew me well enough to know I would want time to take a shower
and get ready before we left for Utha Mae’s.  When I looked at my naked body in
the full length mirror in our bathroom, I winced at the brutalized reflection staring
back at me.  Blue and purple bruises marked me all along my arms, chest,
abdomen, and thighs.  It was no wonder I felt sore. Thankfully the airbag had
saved me from having any bruises on my face.  With a little camouflaging, no
one would be able to tell I had been in an accident.

I chose a loose
fitting sleeveless summer dress and thin white sweater to wear to Utha Mae’s. 
The thinness of the material was enough to not push against my bruises and the
sweater helped hide the ones on my arms.

Will and Brand
arrived outside my door at exactly three-thirty.

Apparently Brand
had felt like doing some cooking of his own that afternoon.  He brought a fresh
chocolate bourbon pecan pie and a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies for
Utha Mae. 

Brand was the
first to start off the car wars.  Everyone wanted to drive.  But, of course, Tara won and we all piled into her little Toyota Camry.  Brand and Will sat in the back and
I sat up front with Tara.

The drive to Utha
Mae’s was mostly in silence until I remembered a question I kept forgetting to
ask.

“Where’s my car?”

“It’s at my
house,” Brand informed me from the backseat.  “After the police got through
with it, I had Carl tow it back there.”

“How does it
look?  Can it be fixed?”

“I don’t think so,
Lilly,” Brand said regretting to have to break the news to me.  “Did you have
insurance on it?”

“Yeah, I have full
coverage.  Hopefully they’ll give me enough to buy a new one.”

If Cora had taught
me nothing else, it was to have full insurance coverage on as many things as
you could afford.  That’s why I wasn’t worried about the hospital bill I was
sure to receive.  No matter what job my mom had, she always made sure we had
health insurance.  Buying the full coverage insurance on a ten year old car
would have probably seemed like a waste to most people, but for me it was just
the natural thing to do.

After an
uncomfortable, almost one hour drive, we finally arrived at Utha Mae’s.

Utha Mae bought a
new double wide trailer just after the tornadoes that completely destroyed my
Mom’s trailer.  Part of Utha Mae’s trailer had been damaged by flying debris so
she qualified for a small, low interest loan FEMA offered people who needed it.

The trailer had
olive green vinyl siding with taupe trim and shutters, a brown shingled roof
and white lattice skirt to hide the space between the bottom of the trailer and
the ground.  Utha Mae and Cora came to the door to welcome us when we arrived.

“Right on time,”
Utha Mae said giving us all a kiss on the cheek as we entered.

The interior of
the trailer had your basic set up.  As you walked into the trailer you were in
between the kitchen and living room area.  The living room had a gas fireplace
in the far corner and was decorated with furniture (sofa, loveseat, recliner,
coffee table and end tables) in differing shades of brown.  The kitchen had a
cheery feel to it with its pine stained wood and stainless steel stove, wall
oven, refrigerator/freezer, microwave and dishwasher.  On the other side of the
kitchen was Utha Mae’s table which had already been set with dishes, glasses
and silverware.  The table was just big enough to sit all six of us; though, I
noticed two chairs that belonged to my mother’s dining room set around the
table. 

My mother’s attire
was a pleasant surprise.  Unlike the wild outfit she had worn to the hospital,
she was now dressed in a plain denim skirt and simple white tank top.  I
wondered what had caused her to tone herself down so much.

Utha Mae was
pleasantly surprised with Brand’s gift of pie and cookies.  I actually think I
saw here blush again.  It amazed me how Brand’s allure transcended the age
barrier so easily.

Everyone helped
bring the food to the table, except for me.  I was told by Utha Mae to sit at
the head of the table and let them do all the heavy lifting.  As usual, Utha
Mae had cooked way too much food, which included some of my favorites:
smothered pork chops, fried cabbage and bacon, chicken and dumplings, butter
beans with ham hocks, deviled eggs and fried okra cornbread.  It also included
one not so favorite dish of mine but one of Tara’s favorite:  beef tongue and
caramelized onions.  I thought Tara was going to go into an epileptic fit when
she saw that.

Brand and Will
ended up sitting on either side of me.  I was thankful Utha Mae had the
foresight to make my plate.  I could just envision the guys inadvertently
starting a food fight trying to be the one who helped me fill my plate.

Utha Mae was the
one who did most of the talking over dinner.  Since she finally had Will at her
table she asked questions about what he’d been up to the last couple of years. 
There was one question I had been dieing to know the answer to that Utha Mae
just naturally asked.

“Whatever happened
with you and that Jessi McCormick girl?”

“She went to
college up in New York State,” Will said picking at his cabbage waiting for
Utha Mae’s follow up question. 

“You two seemed
awfully close.  Why’d you break up?”

“Well, partly the
distance issue.”

“What’s the other
part?”  Tara asked jumping on the chance to ask Will a question of her own.

“I don’t think her
new girlfriend would have appreciated her keeping in touch with me.”

“You mean to tell
me you turned Jessi McCormick gay?”  Tara asked in astonishment.

 “You don’t turn
someone gay, Tara,” Will said exasperated.  “She’s always been that way.”

 “What do you mean
‘always’?  If ya knew she was battin’ for our team, why’d ya go out with her?”

 “That’s enough,
Tara,” Utha Mae looked at her granddaughter with eyes warning her to drop the
subject.

 Tara pressed her
lips together, itching to ask Will more questions.  No one else in the world
could put Tara in her place like Utha Mae.  I wasn’t sure what we would do
without her.

 “Brand,” Utha Mae
turned her attention to him.

 I could visibly
see Will relax.  He knew his questioning session was over.  It was Brand’s
turn.

 “Tell us a little
about yourself, hon.”

 “What would you
like to know, Mrs. Jenkins?”  Brand’s face was completely open.  I was sure he
had been expecting this.  I silently wondered if the pie and cookies hadn’t
been his way of softening Utha Mae up a bit.

 “Have you lived
in Lakewood long?”

 Brand went on to
tell Utha Mae and my mother about living all over the world, that his parent’s
were no longer living, and that he had just bought a place on Lake Serenity in order to go to school at Southeastern.

 “Not a lot else
to tell,” he finished.

 “Have you found a
church yet?” Utha Mae inquired. 

 “I don’t usually
attend church,” Brand admitted.

 “I see,” Utha Mae
said with a smile of acceptance.  “Do you mind if I ask whether or not you
believe in God?”