I sighed. “There has to be something else you want.”
“I’d really like to be able to have a baby with you someday.”
Once again, he shocked me speechless. I was going to stop asking him questions if that was how he was going to answer, because I didn’t know how much more I could handle.
“We can still be parents,” I said. He was the one who’d suggested adoption in the first place.
“I know, but it’s not the same. And it really bothers me that you’re giving this up for me,” he said.
“It’s my choice, though, remember? Isn’t that what you’re always telling me?”
“Using my own words against me isn’t hardly fair.” He smirked. “What about you? What would want right now if you could have anything in the world?”
The list was a mile long, so I chose something that I knew we both wanted. “For this eternal bond to be gone.”
“We’re working on that, remember? Pick something else,” he said.
“I don’t know. For you to meet my mom. She would have loved you.”
Like Aunt Beth, my mom would have found Trent to be charming and cute, too. She’d grin and tell me I’d done well. And then she’d question me about my relationship, about how I felt toward Trent, how he felt about me, how far we’d taken things.
More than ever, I wished she was here to give me advice, to tell me it was okay to give myself to Trent so completely, that our love was real and strong and that he was my one and only. Not that I needed my mom to tell me all that—I already knew it—but having her confirmation and approval would mean the world to me.
“I’m sure I would have loved her, too,” he said.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. He hugged me back, his face buried against my neck—I always loved when he did that. There was something so intimately comfortable and safe about it.
“Okay, enough with the sad stuff,” I mumbled, and Trent eased away. “What’s your favorite holiday?”
“I’ve never really celebrated many holidays. It’s silly when it’s just the three of us. Winter is my favorite season, though. I love the snow. What’s yours?”
“Halloween. I love to see all the little kids in their costumes, and I like to dress up, too. Summer is my favorite season because I like the warm weather.”
“You might change your mind about that once you spend a winter here.” He moved the pillow out of the way, and then abruptly jumped off the bed. “We’re gonna be late. Let’s go.” He grabbed my hand and yanked me to my feet.
I used the sudden spike in adrenaline to fuel my movements as I put my shoes on and grabbed my sweater. Within moments, we were in his truck and speeding back toward the school. Abby would be livid if I was late, but worse, I didn’t need her to find out I’d skipped my last few classes of the day.
We snuck in through one of the side entrances just as the final bell rang. Students spilled into the halls, and we easily blended in.
“Told you we’d be back in time.” He squeezed my hand, and together, we headed straight for Abby’s locker.
She was already there, lips locked on Isach’s. Abby broke away from him when she saw us. Her face was red. “Oh, hey. Um, Whitney and Ellie should be here in a sec.”
“Is anyone going to tell me what we’re doing?” I asked.
“We’re going costume shopping. Whitney is throwing a big Halloween party,” Abby said.
“Of course she is.” Trent shook his head. “She really needs to get her own house.”
I bumped his hip with mine, and he glanced down at me as if to say, what? “Be nice,” I said.
He should be happy she liked to throw parties, because it gave me a reason to spend the night at his house. I wouldn’t be able to spend nearly as much time with him as I did if it weren’t for Whitney.
“Oh, good. You’re here,” Ellie said as she walked up, hand in hand with Nick.
“Ready?” Whitney asked. She was practically bouncing with excitement.
“Yup.” I turned to Trent. “I’ll call you later, okay?” I didn’t know why I always said that to him, because I never called. I always texted.
He nodded and gave me a kiss goodbye. “Have fun.” Reluctantly, he released me, but he didn’t let go of my hand.
I rose up on my tiptoes and gave him a hug, my mouth near his ear. “That’s my favorite thing in the world,” I whispered. “The way you kiss me.”
He smiled against my neck.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Friends with Unwanted Benefits
COSTUME SHOPPING HAD BEEN A BUST. With Halloween only a couple of weeks away, all the good costumes were gone, so Whitney had declared the party was off. That would make Trent happy.
“I should throw a Thanksgiving party instead,” Whitney said. She lay on her stomach on my bed, legs in the air, ankles crossed.
“People don’t have Thanksgiving parties.” I laughed.
After shopping, Whitney had come home with me and Abby because she was tired of hanging out in a house full of guys. Aunt Beth didn’t care that Whitney was here; in fact, I think she liked it because it meant Abby and I were home, too. Abby was in her room talking to Isach, leaving me and Whitney in my room.
With a heavy sigh, Whitney rolled onto her back. “I love you and Abby and everyone else I’ve met, but this town sucks. It’s so boring.”
“Tell me about it.” I spun around in my desk chair, currently suffering from boredom. “So, Jax said he wants to try to be friends with me.”
“What?” Whitney shrieked and sat up. “Seriously?”
I nodded. “I told him I couldn’t be anywhere near him. It’s like being friends with a lot of unwanted benefits.”
Whitney laughed. “What did Trent say about it?”
I chewed on my lip. “I didn’t tell him.” I frowned. “I don’t want to upset him for no reason, y’know? And I have no intentions of being friends with Jax, so it doesn’t really matter.”
“True, but…”
“But what?” I rolled the chair closer to the bed and propped my feet on the mattress.
“Well, you’re going to marry Trent someday, right? Jax is his brother. You can’t completely avoid him forever, Chloe.”
“I know that, but I only have to avoid him until Trent can change me, and then it—”
“Trent is going to change you?” She all but shouted the question, her eyes wide and full of shock. “How? I thought Jax was the only one who could bite you?”
Shushing her, I glanced over my shoulder and stared at my door, fully expecting Abby or Aunt Beth to come barging in to see what was going on. When that didn’t happen, I turned back to Whitney.
“I want Trent to change me,” I said.
“Oh, my God.” She squealed and clapped her hands. “Do you know what this means?” She hopped off the bed, yanked me to my feet, and jumped around. “We’re going to be besties for eternity.”
I laughed but quickly found myself deflating. There was no reason to get so excited when it was still more than likely I’d never be able to change. I returned to the desk chair and flopped down.
“What’s wrong?” Whitney sat back down on my bed.
“Trent can’t change me until I find a way to break the bond with Jax.” I sighed. “And at the rate I’m going with finding a solution… I’m going to be human forever.”
“Aw, Chloe.” Whitney frowned, then tucked her legs in front of her so she was sitting cross-legged. “Is that what you and Trent have been fighting about?”
Nodding, I averted my gaze to my fingernails. “Yeah. It was really bad.”
“Okay, tell me what’s going on. Maybe I can help.”
I took a deep breath and told Whitney everything—how I pushed Trent to go talk to Ivy even though he didn’t want to, Ivy’s deal, the consequences, all the awful things Trent and I said to each other, my refusal to risk his life, my concerns over what will happen if we’re linked and he changes me, and how we made up yesterday but s
till hadn’t come to any agreement on what to do about Ivy.
“So, basically, I’m still right where I started. Bonded to Jax and hopelessly in love with Trent,” I said.
“Wow.” Whitney blinked and was silent for a few moments. Then she said, “You should talk to Isach about this.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Why?”
“Because he speaks witch.” Whitney laughed. “Maybe he knows about whatever spell Ivy is planning to use, or maybe he can suggest a way to alter it so Trent won’t have to almost die when he changes you.”
“Maybe…” I chewed on my bottom lip. “I barely got Isach to agree to ignore me long enough to be able to change. I can’t ask him to help me actually break the curse.”
I’d made a lot of selfish decisions lately, and I was desperately trying to do better. I absolutely would not ask Isach for anymore help. If he offered, that was one thing, but I was not going to put him in anymore danger with his coven. He was already lying to them because of me.
“What are you going to do then?” Whitney asked.
I shrugged. “I have no idea.” I propped my feet on the edge of the mattress and rubbed my hands over my face. “Trent’s convinced we’ll figure something out, but I don’t know how. I suggested letting Jax start to change me and then let Trent feed me his blood, but Trent refused. He doesn’t trust Jax after what happened.”
“I have to agree with Trent on that.” Whitney cringed. “Sorry.”
“To make it worse, Trent’s pretending like me changing is a certainty. He’s making all these plans. Like, the other day, we made a list of all the things I want to do while I’m still human, and Trent said he was going to make sure we crossed all of them off the list.”
Whitney grinned conspiratorially. “Yeah, he may have told me about a couple of those things.”
“He told you?”
She nodded. “He didn’t tell me it was a bucket list. He just said there was something he wanted to do for you and asked me to help.”
“Help with what?”
“Oh, no.” Whitney shook her head. “You are not getting any information from me.” She laughed.
I shouldn’t be surprised Trent had enlisted her help—he was constantly doing things like that. Things to surprise me and make me happy. It seemed like I did nothing for him in comparison.
Although, there was one thing I could for him… I could take Ivy’s deal and let her transfer the bond. I’d have to be extra careful with my life, not that I was reckless or anything, but knowing whatever happened to me would also happen to Trent meant I’d have to be a lot more aware of what I was doing.
Taking her deal meant solving the issue of being bonded to Jax, but it created an even bigger problem—the possibility of Trent dying when he tried to change me. Just thinking about that had my chest constricting and my stomach revolting. For me, the risk was too high.
“Hey.” Whitney nudged my foot with hers. “Did you hear me?”
“No. Sorry. What did you say?”
“I know you’re worried about what Ivy’s deal means for Trent, but… it’s his life, Chloe. Doesn’t he get to decide if he’s willing to risk it? I mean, he has always let you decide what you want. Shouldn’t you do the same for him?”
I’d had that same thought. I dropped my feet to the floor, stood, and wandered toward the window. Pulling the curtain aside, I stared outside. The sun had already begun to set, and the forest beyond was shrouded in near darkness.
Whitney was right. Trent had always let me decide what I wanted. He’d never really pressured me or forced me to do anything I didn’t want to do. How could I not allow him to do the same? It was his life—he could do whatever he wanted with it.
“The whole point of changing is so I can spend an eternity with Trent,” I said, letting the curtain fall back over the window. I turned to face Whitney, arms crossed. “If he dies trying to change me…” I shook my head.
“If he dies trying, then chances are you’re going to die, too.” She gave me an apologetic smile. “Sorry, but it’s true.”
I groaned. “Great, so I’m living in some twisted version of Romeo and Juliet.”
“That’s a tad dramatic, don’t you think?” She climbed off the bed with all the grace and poise of a classically trained dancer. “Look, I think you need to stop trying to do this all on your own. You have a lot of people who care about you and want to help. Tell Sean about Ivy’s offer, see what he has to say. And I know you don’t want to ask Isach for help, but at least tell him what’s going on.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I said.
What was the point of having vampires and witches for friends if I couldn’t rely on them for help when I needed it the most?
“I’m always right.” Whitney giggled, then flopped back down onto my bed.
“Hey, sorry,” Abby said, barging into my room.
“How’s lover boy?” Whitney asked, making kissing noises.
I laughed.
Abby walked toward my bed, shoved Whitney over, and then plopped down next to her. “Did you guys know Isach does magic?”
I froze, body tense, and eyes wide. Whitney’s gaze locked on mine. “He does?” I asked cautiously.
I hadn’t realized Isach was planning to tell Abby that he was a witch. Granted, that was something she needed to know if she was going to be with him, but as far as I knew, things weren’t that serious between them. They’d only been dating a little over a week.
Abby nodded. “He showed me the other night. All sorts of card tricks and illusions. I know none of it’s real, but I can’t figure out how he does it, and he won’t tell me. It’s driving me crazy.”
Tension eased from my shoulders. So, he hadn’t told her the truth. He was messing with her. Anger sparked in my chest. He’d promised not to do that again.
“Well, you know what they say. A magician never reveals their secrets, right?” I said, hoping to ease her fears.
“Who cares how he does it anyway?” Whitney waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, unless he can magically make costumes appear so I can have a Halloween party.”
Abby grabbed my pillow and smacked Whitney with it. “You’re both jerks,” Abby said, but she was laughing, too.
“Hey, wait a minute,” I said suddenly. Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner? “We can still have a party. We can make our own costumes!”
“You mean like sew them?” Abby scrunched up her face. “I don’t know how to do that, and Mom won’t. There’s not enough time.”
“No,” I said, my excitement building. “We can go to thrift stores and come up with our own costumes. We can get creative. You know, like a corpse bride. Buy a white dress, get some fake blood from the store…”
“That could work,” Whitney said.
“My mom and I used to do this all the time. It’s fun. And cheap,” I said.
Which I was sure Aunt Beth and Uncle Dean would like, especially after they’d recently spent so much money on Abby’s dress and shoes for the Fall Ball. And cheap was good for me, too. I’d spent almost all the money Dad had sent me on a new wardrobe. He said to let him know if I needed more, but I was reluctant to ask.
“Let’s do it.” Whitney jumped out of bed and snatched her purse from where she’d set it on my nightstand.
“Uh, Whit, it’s too late to go right now,” Abby said.
“Then we’ll go tomorrow after school. I’ll ask your mom on my way out.” Whitney gave me a hug, blew a kiss to Abby, and then left my room. “See ya,” she called.
I shook my head. “She’s too much.”
“No kidding.” Abby laughed. “But I like her.”
“Me too.” I settled next to Abby on the bed, and we both stared up at the ceiling. “So, what do you think about Isach doing magic?”
She shrugged. “It’s kind of neat, I guess.”
I was silent, wondering if I should say something to Isach about all of this. He’d promised not to hurt her or mess with her again, and it seemed li
ke that was exactly what he was doing.
“We should wear couples costumes,” Abby said.
“That would be fun.”
What would Trent and I dress up as? Would he even be willing to get dressed up with me? He’d seemed rather upset that Whitney was throwing another party.
“Isach can dress up as a magician, and I’ll be his assistant.” Abby giggled.
“Oh, my God. That’s so perfect. You have to do that,” I said.
“What about you and Trent?” she asked. “Any ideas?”
“None. I’ll talk to him later, though.” I yawned.
Silence stretched between us, my eyelids getting heavier with each passing second. I glanced over at Abby to see if she’d fallen asleep, but she was wide awake.
“I’m really glad you’re back home,” Abby said, a hint of sadness in her tone. “It was awful when you were gone.” She wrapped her hand around mine and squeezed.
“I’m really glad I’m back home, too,” I whispered, squeezing her hand as well.
CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Sweeten the Deal
AUNT BETH HAD CAUGHT WHATEVER STOMACH bug Uncle Dean had a few days ago. Abby was at the library with Isach, and Uncle Dean was working late, so I was now waiting at the Noon Mark Diner for a takeout order of soup with extra crackers. Once I delivered it to Aunt Beth and made sure she was okay, I was headed to Trent’s house. Though, my aunt thought I was going to Whitney’s—technically I was.
Usually, I wasn’t allowed to sleepover at a friend’s house on a school night, but Aunt Beth didn’t want anyone else to get sick, so she was kicking us out of the house for a few days. I didn’t really understand her logic, but I wasn’t going to argue with her, especially when she was letting me use her car.
“Order for Chloe,” someone shouted.
I gathered the bag and headed outside, a shiver shaking my body. I glanced around nervously. I didn’t see anyone who looked suspicious, but I wasn’t going to linger and find out.
Opening the passenger door, I set the bag on the seat. My phone buzzed. I closed the door and pulled my phone from my pocket.
Eternal Love: (The Cursed Series, Book 4) Page 14
