Breaking Her (Love is War #2) (14 page)

I was in a serious mood, but that made me smile.
 
"Promises, promises."
 

He kissed me lightly.
 
"Seriously, though.
 
It's not right that we can't sleep together.
 
There has to be a way.
 
I'm moving in with Gram.
 
I think you should, too."
 

"You think I wouldn't love that?
 
But my grandma would
never
agree, and I'm not eighteen yet."
 

He kissed me again.
 
"We'll find a way."
 

I didn't share his optimism, but I kept my peace.
   

He was driving me home when I asked, "She's crazy, you know that, right?"

"Who?"
 

"Tiffany."
 
Duh.

He didn't roll his eyes, but it was close.
 
"Yes, I'm aware you don't like her."
 

"She's a clone of your mother," I told him.
 
Maybe that would get through to him.
 

It didn't.
 
He just looked more annoyed.
 
"Please.
 
You're exaggerating.
 
Tiffany is harmless."

Famous last words,
I thought dramatically at the time.35

But I was more right than I knew.
 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Don't allow your wounds to transform you into someone you are not."
 

~Paulo Coelho

PRESENT

SCARLETT

I woke up feeling strange.
 
I was at home, in my own bed, but I didn't know what to do with myself.
 
I checked my phone, saw several missed calls and texts from Bastian, and recalled that I'd promised to call him the day before.
 

Had an entire day passed?
 
It didn't seem possible but it must have been.
 
I'd woken up the day before in Seattle with a raging hangover and an aching heart.
 

What was I supposed to do now?
 

As though answering the question, my phone began to ring.
 

It was Bastian.
 

"Hey," I greeted him.
 

"Are you okay?" he asked, sounding more worried than he should have.
 

Was I okay?
 
No.
 
Was I going to be?
 
Who knew?
 

Not me.
   

"I'm fine," I told him.
 
Girl code for
don't ask a silly question, of course I'm not okay.
 

"I still need to do some digging around, and I have more questions for you, but I just needed to make sure you were all right."
 

"Where's Dante?" I asked.
 

"Here.
 
Somewhere in Seattle, I believe.
 
I'm going to try to find him today."
 

"Find him?
 
You didn't tell me he was missing."
 
It seemed like something that should have come up considering how much we'd talked that night.
 

"I told you he's been having a rough time."
 

I didn't bother to point out that one had nothing to do with the other.
 

"Listen," he told me somberly.
 
"Don't do anything rash.
 
Don't confront anyone.
 
In fact, it would be best if you act as though everything is normal.
 
I still have a lot of digging to do.
 
The less they think we're onto them, the better."
 

I felt a little nauseated.
 
This man was kicking a beehive, and he didn't understand, not fully, what was about to come out to swarm him.
 

But what he was doing—I needed it done.

"I won't confront anyone," I assured him.
 
"Everything will stay normal on my end.
 
Good luck.
 
And . . . thank you."
 

"You don't have to thank me," he said, something hard entering his voice.
 
"I'm doing this for myself as much as anyone.
 
I'll be in contact soon."

I felt strangely better after we hung up, a little lighter.
 

My stomach grumbled and I realized I was hungry.
 

I couldn't remember the last time I'd had an appetite.
   

I was digging through the fridge, scrounging up breakfast, when Demi arrived home with some woman I'd never seen before.
 
Both had armfuls of groceries.
 

Demi beamed when she saw me.
 
"This is my friend, Moonbliss.
 
We met at Om Nom Organics last week and hit it off."
 

To be fair, Demi hits it off with everyone.
 
And if I guessed correctly, she'd just adopted another lonely person.
 
They came from all walks of life.
     

I greeted her friend politely, even though I could tell with one glance that she was one of
those
.

Sallow complexion.
 
Thin to an unhealthy degree.
 
Wide, glassy eyes.
 
Un-dyed, untreated, product-free, brown hair.
 

She was a vegan.
 
No, worse.
 
Much, much worse.

A juicer.
 
A raw, vegan juicer.
 

Also,
Moonbliss?
     

"Oh, you're having breakfast?" Demi noted.
 
"Perfect timing!
 
We're just about to cook something."

I eyed their reusable grocery bags dubiously.
 
"What were you about to cook?"
 

Moonbliss looked horrified at our exchange.
 
"Cook?
 
Oh no.
 
We don't
cook
.
 
Cooked food is valueless food.
 
We
prepare
."
 

I was too tickled with amusement to even think of rolling my eyes.
 
"What were you about to
prepare
?"

"Green shakes."
 

"Sounds delicious," I said dryly.

Moonbliss didn't catch the sarcasm.
 
"Oh, it's simply nirvana.
 
I make it with goodness greens and activated almonds."

I was still mouthing
'activated almonds?'
at a confused looking Demi when Moonbliss spoke again, "Would you like one, Scarlett?
 
You look as though you could use some brain dust."

"Brain dust."
 
I wasn't asking about it so much as trying the words out in my mouth.
 
"Did you just say brain dust?"

"Wait, what?
 
Are you serious?
 
You don't partake of brain dust?"

Was
I
serious?
 
It was getting harder and harder to give her straight answers, but the longer I let her go, the better the payoff.
 
Clearly.
 

"Was it made by a virgin?" I asked, deadpan.
 
"On the third day of a new cycle?"

Demi bit her lips to keep from laughing, looking away from me.

Moonbliss gave me a look that told me I'd just made her moon decidedly less blissful.
 
"Do you want one or not?"
     

"Are you making anything else?" I asked hopefully.
 
"Maybe something with solid food, or even meat?"

"I consider myself a purist," Moonbliss explained haughtily, "and there's nothing pure about meat."

"A good steak tastes purely awesome," I offered.
 

"I don't eat anything with a face.
 
As humans, I think we've evolved past that.
 
Don't you?"
 

I
sure as hell hadn't.
 
"Oh, me?
 
I don't eat anything that points west.
 
That's asking for trouble."

She studied me with narrowed eyes for a moment, then went back to her preparation.
 

I took a seat at one of the barstools lined up against the counter that faced into the kitchen.
 
Amos crowded my legs, and I patted him absently.
 
He licked my knee, and I let him, because he did it with love.
     

I felt a little bad for making fun of Moonbliss, so I said, "I'll take a green shake, thank you."

"Moonbliss has been teaching me to coo—prepare some amazing recipes," Demi told me brightly.
 
"She's about to publish her first cookbook."
 

I was not the least bit surprised.
 
"That's great.
 
Congratulations.
 
What's the name of it?
 
I'll be sure to pick it up."
 

"My Soul Mission is Raw: Healing the Wounds in the Universe One Human Digestive Track at a Time."

I blinked.
 
"That's a mouthful.
 
Oh look, I made a pun."

Even Moonbliss laughed at that.
 
I guess even she liked puns.
   

"This shake is best complemented with an hour of Kundalini yoga," she explained to us.

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I actually did know what that was.
   

"But there's simply no time today.
 
Tomorrow morning, Demi?"

"Sure," Demi said.
 
Damn, she was a good sport.

"Want to join us for yoga tomorrow?" Demi invited me.

Yoga had never worked for me.
 
I was a boot camp fitness kind of girl.
 
Running, pushups, sit-ups, squats.
 
Things that hurt but did the job.
 
I kept it simple.

"Oh, no thanks," I said blandly.
 
"I like to do mind yoga."

"
Mind
yoga?" Moonbliss asked, rightfully suspicious.

"I just think about it really hard until the results manifest themselves."

At least it cracked Demi up.
 
Can't please everybody.
 

It took Moonbliss for-freaking-ever to make the shakes.
 
She talked us through every step, but it was so complicated that I doubted I'd retain one bit of it.
 

There was no sugarcoating it—the shake was horrible—everything from the color, to the taste, to the texture—but I drank it anyway.
 
It was worth the price of admission for this crazy train.
 

Also, I'd been treating my body like hell lately and it couldn't hurt to start remedying that.
 
Baby steps back to being a normal human again.

As we drank, Moonbliss (she opened up and admitted her parents had actually named her that—poor girl had never had a chance) walked us through her day to day eating.
 
It sounded very time-consuming and confusing to me, and I
liked
cooking.
 

Oh, but wait, she didn't cook. I guess I just wasn't that into
preparing
.
 

"When do you find time to manifest your heart's purpose?" I broke in cheekily at one point just to let her catch her breath.
 

She didn't skip a beat.
 
I was kind of impressed.
 
"Oh, that's easy.
 
I never miss my hour of Kundalini meditation first thing in the morning.
 
It's crucial to the progressive cultivation of my soul.
 
Crucial
."

She was a bit of an acquired taste, much like her green shake.
 
One thing I could say about her, though: she loved Amos.
 
A lot.
 
She couldn't keep her hands off him after she finished her shake, rolling around on the ground with him, rubbing his tummy how he loved.
 
Amos, as always, couldn't get enough affection, and I had a soft spot in my heart for anyone that could love our homely, adopted mongrel.
 

"I think your dog is my spirit animal," she said at one point.
 

I just about choked on my shake, but recovered quickly.
 
"Mine is that half-empty, Costco-sized bottle of Patrón on the counter."
 

Moonbliss gave me an odd look, but let me have it.
 
"What about you, Demi?"
 

"Yeah, what about you, Demi?" I repeated.
 

"I never thought about it.
 
Maybe a purple unicorn?
 
A baby one."

I smiled at her.
 
Damn, I liked her.
 
We had grown particularly close lately.
 
I chalked it up to her tender heart, especially when it came to wounded creatures.
 

She had a way with us all.
   

Moonbliss couldn't stay long.
 
She had a lot of world wound healing still to do for her soul mission before the sun set, but she was thoughtful enough to write down some recipes that would energize my chakras before she left.
 
She handed the piece of paper to me with a flourish, as though it were a prescription.
 
"Always, for you, add spirit dust; you need all the help you can get for the path to inner peace."
 

Fair enough.
 
No one had ever accused me of being peaceful.

I studied the list.