Cursed by Chemistry

by Kacey Mark

  ****

  The man’s words sped together with panic. “I don’t know. She already went under.”

  Adrian’s gaze raced across the pond as he threw off his coat. Fingers of icy slush stretched across the surface of the water, making ripples of movement difficult to track. He had to get in there, but he wouldn’t last more than a few minutes. He couldn’t search the entire fucking pond.

  “She’s already under,” the man insisted.

  “Where!” Adrian mounted the arched bridge with a desperate pace that rivaled the alarm pounding his ears. That’s where the man’s attention had been focused. Near the center. Just under the bridge. He’d just been talking to her. Why wasn’t he helping? It couldn’t be too late.

  “Told you, man. She’s a suicide. Let her go.” A hand clawed onto Adrian’s shoulder with a grip of desperation.

  Adrian spun. The man’s voice seemed familiar somehow, but not for long. Adrian slammed his fist into the man’s nose. A nose that had recently been broken. The force rippled his features like flesh-toned Jell-O. An audible crack sounded against Adrian’s knuckles.

  The man’s body sagged backward from the blow. He stumbled, and then crashed to the wooden bridge like a low-life sack of rocks.

  Adrian ignored the flash of pain that jolted across his hand as he slammed both palms down on the railing and vaulted himself over. The next instant, a crash of water and the shock of cold swallowed him whole.

  His feet touched down in slow motion, at the bottom of the uneven pond, and Adrian stretched his arms wide. His muscles tensed with shock. He fought his eyes open in the inky abyss, as he pushed his way through the stringy tangles of duckweed and moss.

  He kicked to the right and spiraled outward from where he’d landed, pushing his lungs to the burning point, before he popped to the surface. In a single gasp, he took mental note of his bearings and plunged down again.

  One second. Two. Three.

  How much longer could Shauna last?

  Every stroke went slower than before with his energy siphoned from every angle.

  His mind roared with anger as he forced his muscles to keep stroking. Keep searching. She was here. Somewhere close. He had to find her.

  Five seconds. Six.

  Before Adrian could fully extend his next stroke, the backside of his arm brushed something solid.

  He wanted cloth, hair, skin…anything discernible, but his frozen touch no longer registered with his brain. He clutched the weighted mass, drawing it closer to him.

  There was no fight in it.

  Adrian’s stomach clenched. He yanked to the surface and a bellow of dismay escaped on his first breath.

  Shauna, dear god!

  What have you done?

  Baby…What have you done?

  Adrian side stroked to the nearest shore. A narrow sandbar piled under the edge of the bridge.

  He rolled Shauna to her back and straddled her hips. Her milky blue completion and half-mast eyelids reminded him of an abandoned doll.

  Don’t think about it.

  He laced his fingers together and shoved upward with the heel of his hand toward her diaphragm.

  Water rolled from the narrow crevice of her waxy-grey lips with each blow.

  Again. Again. The water kept coming.

  Christ, it had to hurt. But Shauna didn’t flinch. She didn’t blink. Her glassy gaze stared down at him. The copper shine…gone.

  No. She isn’t. She can’t.

  When the water stopped flowing, Adrian adjusted the upward tilt of her jaw, and pushed a steady breath of air into her lungs. Her chest lifted and fell with ease.

  Come on, baby. Breathe.

  He pushed another lungful of air past her flaccid lips.

  Breathe!

  He felt for a pulse below the crevice of her jawline, but his damn fingers were so numb.

  Fuck he couldn’t tell!

  He pressed an ear to the center of her chest and prayed.

  The faint echo of a beat seemed too distant to be real.

  Was it only in his mind?

  If he could just reach in and pull it to the surface…but he couldn’t.

  Adrian held his breath. If he could quiet the urgent drum of his own heart, he’d know for sure. The pound, pound, pound eclipsed everything else!

  Precious seconds ticked away.

  Adrian gritted his teeth together and turned his frustration inward. With a mighty exhale, he compressed the chemical balance within his own body. The inner filter of his mind sought out the life-sustaining potassium floating through his blood and shoved it down deep.

  The pounding scuttled. Paused.

  Precious seconds passed.

  In an instant, the faint thud of Shauna’s heart echoed in his ear.

  Adrian relinquished the punishing grip on his insides and pulled in a shaky breath.

  Her chest rose with a timid breath and flinched. Her features contorted in pain. Then her body erupted with a fit of watery coughs.

  Adrian turned her to one side.

  The coughing gave way to a series of heaves. She stole a quiet gasp before she vomited again.

  The sound dampened from a sudden thunder of hurried footsteps that pounded on the wooden planks overhead. Adrian looked to shadows chasing along the wooden gaps in the bridge. Three men. At least. Maybe more.

  How could they get here so quick?

  They must be linked to that flat-faced douche bag on the bridge. The one who’d refused to help Shauna.

  The one who…

  And then it hit him. The broken nose. The voice. The one who probably gave the order to assault her at the dungeon. Adrian’s teeth scraped together. That son of a bitch!

  The crowd got to the bastard still laid-out on the planks above, and stopped. “Is this the one?” The first man asked.

  “No, it’s a woman. She went into the water,” another shouted.

  “Did you see her come up?”

  The shouting man paused, as if pushing a hand through his hair, his voice uncertain. “She was up when I left, hanging on one of the pilings.”

  “Any possibility she might’ve got out? I guess it’s possible, given the condition of your friend here?”

  The man’s voice lowered with a bitter undertone. “I don’t know what the hell happened to him, but she couldn’t have done that.”

  “Well…let’s get him to come to.” A scuffle over the boards told Adrian they were trying to move the douche. Maybe get him to an upright position.

  “That woman’s a suspect in the Grigori fire from last night,” the man insisted.

  “Well…if she’s gone under for this long, I’d say your case is closed, buddy.”

  A pause stretched overhead, as though the words from the first responder had blanketed the entire rescue team with a new perspective.

  A loud crack split through the silence. The bridge’s railing shuttered and a fine dusting of paint sprinkled from above. As though the man had punched it.

  “Hang on, your guy is coming to,” the responder said.

  With any luck, they’d be focused in tight enough, Adrian could probably slip away with Shauna unnoticed. He reached through the folds of his soggy denim pocket and pulled out a small plastic baggie of powder.

  Or what used to be powder. He cringed. He’d used the shielding powder for years on Shauna. Even on himself when he needed to disappear from the public eye. Its potency could block out most everything: showers, perfume, hair dye—the harshest of girly chemicals. Hell, even Shauna’s fire couldn’t dull its power. But now it looked to have a power of its own. A funk—if you will.

  The bag had been contaminated with microbial-infested pond water. Adrian pulled the baggie open and pinched out a slimy portion of goo. Tiny flagella flipped and jumped along the surface. The concoction’s sulfurous fumes burned his sinuses and put his stomach on high alert—its contents ready to abandon ship.

  He closed his eyes, willing himself to block out the new chemical puzzle that was busily
piecing together in his mind. He pushed the gob to the inside of his cheek.

  Adrian’s gag reflux lurched in protest of the amoebic hoedown that ensued on his taste buds.

  Forget holding it there to spit out later. Adrian forced down a swallow.

  The cold lump slugged down his throat. Taking its time. He pulled in slow, steady breaths, willing himself to keep it down as he took another pinch and pushed it past Shauna’s teeth.

  He pulled back just in time for her teeth to snap shut. The corners of her mouth turned down. Distaste registered in the wrinkle of her brow, but she took it like a champ.

  The shielding potion should still work. They wouldn’t be invisible, but they’d be overlooked, and that was good enough for now.

  Adrian shifted Shauna’s limp frame into his arms and crept from under the bridge.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  A slow caress traced the curve of Shauna’s nose, followed by a playful tap on the very tip. Adrian’s voice rumbled soft near her temple. “Feisty little…”

  Without opening her eyes, Shauna pulled in a deep breath that stretched her aching lungs. “Mmm?”

  He planted a soft kiss on her forehead. “You didn’t take your pills.”

  “Mmmhmm,” she protested, stretching her arms out butterfly-style.

  His soft lower lip continued to play over her brow, and the warmth of his breath fanned her hair. “They’re sitting. Right there. On the night stand.”

  Only two. She could skip two. He’d been feeding her antibiotics every few hours like clockwork, for daaaays! Surely her stomach could use a break from the constant bombardment.

  At least he hadn’t found them in a mass under her pillow. Like last time.

  Shauna rolled to where Adrian stood next to the bed. His abs contracted to a series of hard planes and angles as she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his shirt. Perhaps she could appeal to his generous bedside manner.

  Or distract him by other means.

  Shauna grinned at his reluctant drop in posture.

  “I’m not letting you get pneumonia.”

  Her words came out muffled, pressed to a thin layer of rapidly steaming cotton. “Lying here all day would give me pneumonia. What I need is exercise.”

  Adrian’s tone lifted with faint amusement. “Exercise, huh…”

  “Yep.”

  “Think you’re ready for that? I don’t want you to overdo it.”

  “No problem. I won’t even get out of bed. If I get tired, we’ll switch. Then you can be on top.”

  His abdomen bounced with a quiet snort. “Did Kimmy sneak you in more chocolate?” he paused. “Wait, you’re trying to get out of taking your pills, aren’t you?”

  “A little.”

  Adrian’s chest lifted and fell with a heavy sigh. “This. This is your downfall, shortcake.” His tone eased to a somber note. “We try hard to break the curse. But you women try even harder. So damn stubborn.” Tingles chased across her skull as a large, soothing hand sifted through the back of her hair. “The last thing I’d ever want is for you to kill yourself trying.”

  “She already did.”

  At the sound of Kimmy’s voice, Shauna pulled far enough away to view the woman’s heart-shaped face propped at the end of the bed. She hadn’t even noticed her friend enter the room, or felt her plop, belly-down, at the end of the bed. She just appeared there, as if she was buried there hours ago, when Shauna had kicked all the blankets free.

  Someone needed to put a bell on that girl.

  Kimmy’s cheeks were bunched and rosy from her hands propped on either side of her chin. Her head bobbed up and down with each word. “Until the paired hearts of young love cease to beat…your hearts stopped. The curse is lifted.” She offered a hand in consideration. “Perhaps you’re not both dead, but the rest of the world doesn’t know that.”

  “They don’t need to,” Adrian emphasized.

  Kimmy seemed to disregard his warning look as she crossed and uncrossed her ankles. “As self-appointed house hermit, and heir to your estates, the authorities have been keeping me informed. Pond’s too frozen to keep searching for you guys. They’ll be giving up the recovery mission tonight. Shauna’s creepy agent will be forced to close his case.”

  “Your funerals are next Wednesday, by the way. Hope you like purple velvet cheetah print.” She nodded to each of them. “Based on what you left at the scene, your sweater and your coat will be staring at that fabric for eternity.”

  “But what about O?” Adrian countered.

  “He’s got problems of his own.” Kimmy looked pointedly to Shauna. “Seems your ex-fiancé had some major plans for our old house. It really is the perfect picture of domestic life on the outside. So plain, you’ll look right past it, really. In fact, I’d wager that it’s even a bit…what’s that you call it? Over-lookable?”

  “Shielded,” Adrian offered. His tone fell pretty flat, but the mischievous glint in his eye told Shauna that he’d had—whether intentional or not—something to do with it and that he liked where it was going.

  Any chance Shauna could get a good look at that figurative compass too? Perhaps an explanation for why the O was still along for the ride? “Can we back up a little—”

  Kimmy closed her eyes. “Just a sec, this is where it gets good. You didn’t know it, but your little Richard is a bit of a creepy, voyeuristic, masochist—oh, you know what I mean, a weird-o side to him.”

  Shauna’s brow lifted in agreement. She sat back. “Actually that explains a lot.”

  “You. Have. No. Idea the extent of it. Seriously! He did it with O.” Kimmy cringed. “Seriously. Who would tap that? He’s like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Troll.”

  Shauna swallowed in distaste. “So that’s where O comes in?”

  Kimmy’s face lit with enjoyment, and she flapped a coming along gesture with her hand. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, by the time the construction team left, the house had been fitted with bars, sound proofing, the works. Richard’s got quite a knack for decorating too. Who knew?”

  Shauna frowned. “Wow…oh-kay, but I still don’t see—”

  “Well, with O being the lone,” she made air quotes, “survivor who knew about Richard’s flaming fascination for other men, and his appearance at the dungeon, apparently, Richard decided it would be best to keep his dirty little secret under lock and key.”

  “Meaning O?”

  “You got it. It didn’t take much to lure him there. Just a little chocolate.” She nodded to Adrian. “You’re out by the way. Now O’s under house arrest for the remainder of his life.” She looked skyward. “I’d tell you how long that is, but I really don’t want to jinx myself. Just know that he’ll be kept busy, on a steady diet of bread, water, and really, really bad sex. And not bad as in good. It’s bad—bad.”

  Shauna shook her head. “You’re getting entirely too much pleasure out of this, you know that, right?”

  Kimmy’s eyes widened with innocence. She let her hands fall to the large mound of blankets. “Why shouldn’t I? O’s fate only improved when you two were at odds. It’s my fate that gets better if you two lovebirds succeed. I happen to be the flip side of my brother’s coin. That’s all.” She wrinkled her nose. “By the way, ain’t karma a bitch?”

  Shauna’s brows synched in disbelief. “Your brother. You’re really siblings? You and O?”

  “Twins. Kind of a yin and yang,” Adrian offered.

  Kimmy tipped her head. Her lips stretched to a wicked grin. “Well, I think we were actually triplets, but judging by the size of O, he probably ate the other one.” She pushed to her feet. “Long story short, you get a fresh start. With babies and everything.”

  Shauna’s heart skipped a beat. “But what about the vasectomy?” She looked to Adrian.

  “Hey, those things aren’t fool proof,” Kimmy exclaimed. “And you two will have a helluva good time shooting for the one-percent chance to spawn some little apotha-singies.”

  “Good. Now get out,�
�� Adrian said.

  “Going,” Kimmy called over her shoulder.

  Adrian followed close behind until he came to the door and flipped the lock behind Kimmy with an audible click.

  Shauna gave her best attempt at a stern look with both fists planted on her hips. “Adrian Sands, where’d all those manners go?” Not that she really wanted Kimmy to stay.

  “I only use good manners with my own lady. Now, about that exercise…” His expression turned thoughtful.

  His lady?

  His? Shauna couldn’t suppress her smile if she wanted to.

  The mattress dipped under Adrian’s weight as he crawled onto the bed fully clothed. He hovered over her, his knees firmly anchored to either side of her hips and his forearms framing her upper half. The warmth of his body pressing into her built an erratic flutter in her chest.

  The touch of Adrian’s lips came slow and content, teasing the perimeter of her mouth, until he puzzled their lips together and urged her mouth to open. She found herself straining closer, inviting his tongue’s exploration with a coaxing brush of her palm along his stubbled jaw.

  The press of his mouth grew firm with an urgency Shauna answered. Every dive and retreat she met and welcomed, as she pushed her fingers through the back of his hair. She closed her fist around the thick, close-cropped strands at the base of his neck. Just long enough to catch between her fingers. She tugged.

  The deep rumble from Adrian’s chest kicked off a blizzard of excitement in Shauna’s belly. Desperate to hear that sound again, Shauna let her hand wander to the button of his jeans.

  He closed a hand around her wrist and urged her hand away. “You first.” The heated words tickled in the shell of her ear moments before his mouth descended to the crook of her neck. Tingles of delight chased down her body.

  A tug at the band of her pajama bottoms, and Shauna’s stomach clenched.

  “If…you don’t mind,” he countered.

  Did she? Shauna paused. It was no problem removing his pants, but hers? Now that’s a different story. Not quite sure why, it just was. The flames-o-nuisance were a thing of the past, thanks to Adrian, but it left her feeling…unguarded.