Pucker Up (A Damsels of Distress Novel) (26 page)

halted the sarcastic retort on the tip of

her tongue. He was no longer the angry

ex-boyfriend staring at her, but the young

man she fell in love with long ago. She

couldn’t be angry with
that
Kyle.
“
I

don’t know what happened that night. I

don’t know how I became a witch. I just

don’t know
.” Could he understand?

Would he even try? “All I do know is

that I can’t see Rousseau. Call it a gut

feeling, but I don’t think I’d walk away

from that meeting.”

“You can’t know that,” he

pleaded. “Maybe Rousseau can fix you.”

He reached out to touch her cheek but

stopped when Garren cleared his throat,

making himself known.

The idea made her cringe. It was

funny. A year ago, being
fixed
sounded

like a blessing. Now it was insulting.

When did that change?

“I don’t need that kind of help.

Now, I think this little reunion is over.”

She crossed her arms over her chest,

ending the conversation.

Garren hadn't moved an inch

since he stood up to Kyle. But as Kyle

moved to walk past her, Garren shifted

to keep her behind him, like a well-

muscled shield.

“I won’t mention seeing you this

time, but next time I’ll have to bring you

in.” As soon as Kyle turned the corner,

they sat back down in their seats.

“Sure, send him away just when

it was getting interesting,” Athena said

as she leaned back in her chair.

Ivy’s stomach ached like she just

got off the Tilt-O-Whirl. Being back in

the city and seeing him again brought

back all those memories and feelings she

ran away from over a year ago. She sat

back and stared at the mug of cold cocoa

in front of her.

“I'll give you one thing, Ivy. He

was hot. Do you think he's still dating

your friend?” Athena smiled with a

mischievous glint in her eye. Did Athena

really want a go at Kyle, or was she just

being a bitch?

Garren quietly shredded a napkin

while staring a hole in the table. He must

have felt the weight of her gaze, because

he turned to see her watching him. “Are

you going to tell us the
real
reason you

left? Because I'm sure it wasn't because

of that asshole.”

“Yeah,” Thane said. “What

attack was he talking about?”

All eyes were on her, waiting

patiently for an explanation. Her leg

bounced rapidly as she thought of what

she wanted to tell them. She’d never

spoken of that night to anyone before.

“A group of us were fighting

some vampires passing through, feeding

off the locals. My m-mom was killed.”

She swallowed to loosen her throat.

“And then… Boom. All this magic just

exploded out of me, flattening everything

around me.” The fear and horror of that

night rushed back. It was like her

nightmare all over again.

Taking a shaky breath, she

continued. “A member of my team died

when my magic blasted her against a

tree. That’s when I learned I was a

witch. Obviously, I couldn't stick

around.” She unsnapped the leather

bracelet to expose the iridescent tattoo

of four hash marks with an arrow

diagonally

across

them—

the

Eradicator’s symbol.

“You’re an Eradicator?” Garren

yelled as he jumped out of his seat.

She knew in her gut that he’d

react badly, but she couldn’t help feel a

twinge of disappointment. She lifted her

chin up a little higher. “No,” she said

calmly. “Not anymore.”

“I can’t freakin’ believe this. I

knew there was something wrong with

you,” he yelled before stomping off

down the street.

“I’ll go get him,” Thane said as

he rose from his seat.

“You seem surprisingly okay

with this.”

“I kind of figured it out already.”

He

shrugged.

“You’re

constantly

watching your surroundings, you fight

like you were trained to kill, and you

never took that bracelet off your wrist. It

wasn’t that hard to put the clues

together.”

She was stunned. She thought she

was hiding her secret a lot better than

that. “And you’re not mad?”

“Not really. I’d do the same in

your situation.” Thane excused himself

and left to find his stepbrother.

Athena glowered at her. “Were

you ever going to tell us?”

Not if I could’ve helped it.

“Eventually. I just didn’t know how.”

She locked eyes with the werewolf and

prayed she believed her.

Athena huffed and turned away.

“Right.”

An uncomfortable silence settled

over the table. After a few moments, she

pulled the box of hair color out to read

the ingredients for a distraction. She was

only half-way through the impossible to

pronounce words when she heard the

muffled voices of Thane and Garren

around the corner.

“She
kills
our kind, or have you

forgotten,” Garren said.

That was a cheap shot.

“She
is
our kind. It’s not like she

hasn’t had ample opportunity to kill us

before. We’re still alive, aren’t we?”

Thane said. Silence stretched out and

she wondered if Garren took off again.

Relief that Thane stood up for

her tugged her lips into a smile. Surely,

her cousin wouldn’t let the others

abandon her.

“Besides,” Thane spoke again.

“We need her to break the curse.”

Her smile fell. They were only

going to tolerate her until they got what

they wanted and then toss her aside.

Maybe she should beat them to the punch

and leave first. The thought of walking

away while telling them all to go to hell

flashed through her mind. She grabbed

the bag at her feet and stood to leave

when the guys came around the corner.

Behind the obvious anger written

all over Garren’s face, his eyes held the

pain of a child learning that Santa Clause

wasn’t real. Or, at least what she thought

she saw in his eyes until he snapped his

gaze away and sat back down in his seat.

His jaw clenched as he crossed his arms

over his chest.

I couldn’t have hurt him. That

would mean that he cared in the first

place.
She didn’t move. Any trust she

may have earned was now shattered. She

should just leave. But she gave her word

to help break the curse and she didn’t

break her promises.

She sat down.

“I just need to know whose side

you're on. Ours or theirs?” Garren

asked, finally looking her way.

She

knew

people

would

automatically fear her as soon as her

secret was out. She just hoped her

friends believed her. “I'm not an

Eradicator anymore. If I could get rid of

this,” she said, waving her marked arm

in the air. “I would. The whole reason I

even came with you guys is to try to

atone for what I used to be. You're either

going to trust me or not.”

Garren sat still, his gaze

penetrating her eyes, as if he could find

the truth if he looked long enough.

She didn't back down, letting him

take his time to find his answers.

Seconds later, the sound of metal

scraping against concrete broke their

staring contest.

Athena stood up and lifted her

purse to her shoulder. “I think we better

go find a place to stay before your

boyfriend comes back with a bunch of

his friends.”

They walked in silence back to

the car.

Sparky had flown off earlier,

most likely to find some fish in the

American River nearby. He startled her

when he jumped on her lap as soon as

she climbed into the backseat. She

scratched behind his ears, making him

emit a gravely purr. He was probably

the only friend she had left, now that the

others knew the truth. She used to be an

Eradicator. Would Prince Sebastian hate

her, too, when he found out? She hoped

not.

At least I have nothing left to

hide. Things can only get better from

here, right?

Chapter 15

“So, you’re not mad at me?” Ivy

asked Athena. They were crammed into

the hotel bathroom with more beauty

products than she knew existed. If the

werewolf wanted to torture her, she

found the most humiliating way: a

makeover.

Athena had made some calls and

found out about a secret night club for

magical beings in the city. There, they

were supposed to ask around and find

information

on

exactly
where

in

Sacramento

Prince

Sebastian

was

located.

Athena shrugged as she pulled

the mascara out of her bag. “I’d have

done the same in your shoes. We all

have secrets. Yours was just a bit more

scandalous than I thought it would be.”

Pulling the wand out of the tube, she

came at Ivy. “Don’t blink.”

Ivy held as still as possible. The

stench of hair dye still lingered in the

small room despite the open window.

She was surprised they hadn’t passed

out already.

“What’s your secret?” she asked.

“If I told you it wouldn’t be a

secret, now would it?” Athena backed

away and smiled. “There, all finished.”

She waved for Ivy to stand and look in

the mirror above the sink.

Ivy’s eyes widened at her

reflection. A much prettier and colorful

version of herself stared back. Her

freckles were muted under layers of

cover up and green eye shadow made

her eyes sparkle. Athena insisted that the

lip ring had to go. She ran her tongue

over her smooth, peach colored mouth.

No one would recognize her now. Hell,

she barely recognized herself. Her gaze

dropped down to the dress Athena

insisted she wear.

“How in the world did I let you

talk me into
this
?” She motioned to the

green sequined nightmare. She tugged

down the hem of the skimpy dress, but

when it reached an almost decent length,

the deep neckline pulled down to show

more cleavage than she wanted, which

was any at all.

“I'm spilling out of this thing.

Can't you fix it?” Yeah, she was

whining,

but

she

was

really

uncomfortable.

Athena sighed as she attempted

to tame Ivy's mass of new bottle-blond

curls. “Honestly, Ivy, you have a nice

body. Show it off a little.”

“There's a fine line between

'showing it off' and 'putting it on

display', and I think if I were any farther

over that line, I'd be naked.” She

carefully adjusted the top.

“You look gorgeous.”

“I look like I charge by the

hour.” Giving up on ever adjusting the

dress to suit her taste, she hung her head.

Athena stopped smoothing out a

lock of Ivy's hair, and stared at her in the

mirror. “You're a woman. Women have

curves. Be proud of them. Who knew

there was a hot babe under those rags

you insist on wearing?”

She met the enticing girl's gaze in

the reflection. “I'm not ashamed of my

body. I'm just not used to exposing it to

the world. I had swim suits that covered

me better than this.”

Athena

chuckled

as

she

continued

de-frizzing

Ivy's

hair.

“Somehow, I believe you. Didn't you

ever wear dresses? Even on a date with

that delicious Eradicator?”

She scrunched up her face,

thinking back to her relationship with

Kyle. “We didn't really go on too many

dates, just hung out. And dresses are a

pain to wear when fighting.” She

assumed at least, since she never wore

one to know for sure.