The Vampire Diaries: Trust In Betrayal (Kindle Worlds) (In Time We Trust Trilogy Book 3) (22 page)

I don’t sugarcoat it for him, and if I really think about it, it’s been a long time since I’ve had to.

“We could have kept lying to both of you forever and it would have been a lot easier, so think about that before you go getting all angsty.” I narrow my eyes at him so I’m sure I’ve got his attention. “And Jeremy? Don’t do anything stupid. Not right now.”

When he speaks his voice is slow and deliberate and it seems like everything else around us goes quiet.

“I cannot believe earlier today I was actually proud my sister was going to marry you. That you were going to be part of our family.” He blows out a disgusted breath and looks away, shaking his head.

I push to my feet, my back so stiff it almost hurts, and I flare my eyes at him dangerously. “Yeah, well, we all make mistakes. Don’t be too hard on yourself, kid.”

Enough of this. I wanted to be honest, to let him start his little romance with a clean slate. What do I suddenly care if he doesn’t appreciate it?

This time, I’m the one who walks away, and when I do, it feels like the concrete should shatter under my every step.

*
              *              *

JEREMY

I’m balled against
the closed hotel room door, elbows braced against my knees and hands buried in my hair, clenching hard enough it hurts a little. I’m trying to convince myself not to go after Damon and punch him in the face.

He’d wreck me for it, but the only thing really stopping me is I can’t decide who I want to hit more: him for kissing Cali, or Stefan for feeding on her and compelling her. The way she looked at Stefan after she got her memories back...it was intimate, like she
knew
him, but horrified too. Whatever he did to create that combination, it makes me want to break his bones.

I remember what Stefan is like when he’s off the rails, his eyes lit from within like there’s nothing holding him back, nothing he’d be sorry for. He’s a nice enough guy when he’s in control, but once I saw what he was capable of, I’ve never trusted him again.

I knew Damon was taking his brother out to learn to feed on humans, and part of me worried Damon wouldn’t always be able to stop him in time. Even so, I didn’t say a thing about it. I figured it was better than just letting Stefan freak out every few months when he got a taste of human blood, and now I can’t believe I was so casual about it.

I dig my fingers into my scalp, each one pressing hard enough to leave a bruise.

They could have killed her.

The door opens behind me. I shoot to my feet and whirl around, my heart in my throat as I wait to see if Cali’s going to hit me or yell or just throw my duffel bag out the door.

Instead, she grabs me by the waistband of my pajama pants and pulls me back inside.

The door swings heavily shut with a clatter of the metal latch and her eyes drill into mine.

“Tell me you didn’t know.”

“I swear—” I start in a low voice, but her face is already changing before I can finish.

“Okay.” She lets out a long breath, her fingers loosening on my waistband. “Okay.”

“How are you?” I ask, my body feeling battered by the thought of what she must be feeling right now. Her eyes are red and a little swollen, like she was crying hard while I was stuck outside.

“Freaking confused,” she says, turning away from me and shoving both hands through her hair. “Your wouldn’t-hurt-a-squirrel sister…she kidnapped me. And when she came to take me away to that dungeon, I stabbed her in the neck. With a pen, Jeremy.”

She gives me a half-wild look and paces across the room.

“Do you know what that feels like to stab somebody, how it—” she breaks off, throwing her arms out. “And Ric, who I thought was this quiet gentlemanly loner
,
actually is batshit crazy and tried to attack me
twice.
And this whole time I’ve been feeling
sorry
for him because he seems so lonely and—”

She turns in a circle as if she’s looking for somewhere else to pace to in the tiny room. My fists clench helplessly at my sides. It is crazy for her, because she got to know all of them twice, in totally different situations and I can see how torn she is as she tries to sort it all out.

“And Damon—who, holy shit, is about to be your brother-in-law—kissed me like he knew me, like he was saying goodbye. Like he was
sorry,”
she almost whispers, and pain knifes through my chest, followed by anger. “And then he walked away as if he expected Stefan to kill me. He left me to die and he’s saved my life three times since then. What in the heck am I supposed to do with that, Jeremy?”

I just shake my head, because I can absolutely see it. Damon pretends he never feels bad about anything, and I know that’s bullshit. But I also know there’s not much he wouldn’t do if it helped his brother. There’s no way I can explain it to her, the way Damon is, the way he thinks. Why to him, that would make perfect sense.

But of all the girls in the world, why did he have to pick
her
?

Cali sinks onto the bed, her shoulders slumping. “Stefan cried. Did you know that? It took a long time to compel me the first time, because he implanted all these details in my head about what I’d been doing for three days. I
begged
him, Jeremy,” she says, her voice quavering in a way that makes my heart feel like it’s cracking in half. “I begged him not to do it. And he cried the whole time.”

Cali looks down at her hands and suddenly the room feels too small and I wonder if I should put on a shirt. If I have any right to be here at all. She seems so vulnerable right now, like I can see secrets on her she never would have told me and even though I didn’t know what they were doing to her, her kidnappers are my friends, my family and I feel like it’s my fault, somehow.

“I’ve got to get out of here. I know I don’t have a car and there’s all this crazy stuff going on right now but…I can’t stay here with them, Jeremy,” she says, her eyes lifting slowly back to mine like it takes too much effort. “I’m sorry.”

I remember how awful it was when I realized Damon had compelled me to forget Vickie. How off-balance everything felt, like I had no idea what was real and what wasn’t.

I make the decision in an instant. “I’ll go with you. I can’t look at them right now either, knowing what they did to you. And it’s not safe. You shouldn’t be alone.”

I cross to my duffel bag with two long steps and yank on the first tee shirt I find. I shove handfuls of clothes aside, looking for my favorite hoodie, and then remember Elena still has it. I grab my new one instead, which isn’t quite as soft, and toss it on the bed, shucking my pants and searching for jeans.

When I realize Cali isn’t moving behind me, I pause. I glance over and she’s completely still, watching me. I frown, wondering if I should have gone in the bathroom to change. She’s seen me in my boxers tons of times and before Damon knocked on the door tonight, she was sleeping with her head on my bare chest. But she’s upset right now, so I guess all bets are off.

“You… Are you really going to leave with me?” she asks. “Just like that?”

“Of course.” I hesitate. “Unless you don’t want me to.”

She shakes her head. “No, I do. I’m sorry I threw you out earlier. I just…” her voice wobbles a little bit and she hugs her arms around herself. “I have this
thing
about knowing what happens to me, and I kind of needed a minute.”

“Hey…” I forget about the jeans and crossing the room to her to pull her into a hug. “It’s fine. I get it.”

She’s hanging onto me so tightly I can feel her rings pressing into my back and my shoulders curve in around her as I drop my cheek to the top of her head, squeezing my eyes shut. It steadies me to touch her, some of the words that are all tangled up in my throat dissipating like it doesn’t matter quite so much that I don’t know what to say.

“You know, I wasn’t that scared,” she whispers against the soft cotton of my tee shirt. “When he fed on me. But when they stole me from Gram’s I just lost it. I was alone with these two strange men and I knew they could do anything to me they wanted and I wouldn’t even remember it. All I could think was I wished they would kill me instead.”

I flinch and hold her tighter. “Don’t say that. Please don’t say that.”

She sucks in a jagged breath and holds it, and when it breaks free she gulps another one. “Shit,” she whispers, and I can feel the dampness of her tears creeping through my shirt. “Shitshitshit.”

Cali starts to pull away and I clamp her back against me, so desperately relieved she doesn’t hate me that I don’t dare let her go. She lays her forehead against my chest and groans through her teeth.

“God, Jeremy,” she hisses, and breaks away from me, shoving angrily at her eyes. “I’m a mess. I’m a freaking mess. I’ve got to get away from them before I just fall apart.”

“Okay.” I step into my jeans and cram my feet into shoes, zipping my duffel bag with one hand while I wrestle my hoodie on with the other.

I turn back toward Cali just as she strips her tank top off over her head, dropping that and her sweater in the top of her duffel. I turn my back, my heart jumping involuntarily. It’s not the first time I’ve seen her naked. But right now, she deserves her privacy.

I realize I’ve forgotten socks, and I sit down on the end of the bed, facing away from her and toe my shoes back off.

When I’m done, I pull out my phone and find a bus station less than a mile from here. I’ve got three hundred bucks, cash. That ought to get us somewhere, right?

“Damon bought this guitar, didn’t he?” Cali asks, her voice steadier now. I risk a glance and she’s already dressed, looking down at the guitar case lying next to her packed duffel. “I played the whole time I was locked in the basement. He would have known how much I loved it.” She pauses, staring at it, and then her hand wraps firmly around the handle. “Screw it. He owes me.”

I swallow, stuffing my hands in my pockets. I need to stop being on the run all the time so I can get a job. “I’ll buy you another one,” I tell Cali. “With my own money. I promise.”

She pauses, a sweet smile crossing her face beneath the streaks of tears as she looks at me. “How did somebody like you end up in a crazy family like this?”

I stiffen. “Cali, there’s something I should tell you.”

“You’re adopted,” she deadpans, sounding just like her old self for a second.

I’m too worried about what I’m about to tell her to laugh, but an ironic smile twitches over my lips for a second anyway. “Not exactly.” I take a deep breath. “Look, it’s not a big deal but I don’t want you to think I lied to you, too. I’m not a human. That’s why I can’t be compelled.”

Her eyebrows arch in perfect unison. “Um, it’s not a big deal but you’re not a human? Are you kidding me right now?”

I set my shoulders, bracing myself for her reaction. “I’m a vampire hunter.”

She bursts out laughing. “No way.”

I try to ignore the hurt that twists through me at her reaction, and shift my weight. “I’m faster than a human,” I tell her. “Stronger.”

“A vampire hunter. God really does have a sense of humor, doesn’t he?” she says, slinging her duffel bag over her shoulder and picking up the guitar case. “So how are we going to get out of here without them seeing us?”

I hesitate for a second, not sure if she doesn’t mind what I am, or she doesn’t believe me. As if she can read my expression, she shrugs.

“Hey, you’re not a
human
hunter. I figure with the Augustines on our ass, a vampire hunter might not be a bad thing to have around.”

I clear my throat, ducking my head to hide my flush of pleasure as I scoop up my bag and tug hers off her shoulder as I go by. “Follow me,” I tell her, batting her hand away when she tries to take her duffel back.