Eternal Choice: (The Cursed Series, Book 2)

by Kara Leigh Miller

  I sighed, my shoulders dropping. “Okay, I guess.”

  Really, what else could I do? I couldn’t exactly go wandering around in the woods, or else I’d end up just like the woman they’d found. I shuddered at the thought. As if an entire coven of witches wasn’t bad enough, now we had to deal with a vampire, too.

  “We’ll have fun. Promise,” she said.

  Whitney clapped her hands like an excited child, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her over the top enthusiasm, no matter how misplaced it was right now.

  “So, what’s going on with you and Jax?” she said.

  “Uh, what?” I said, trying to wrap my mind around her question.

  “Look, I know you love Trent. I can see it in your eyes, hear it in your thoughts, and—”

  “Okay, stop right there.” I held up my hand to silence her. “Stay out of my head. Got it?”

  “Don’t worry. I haven’t been poking around since Trent told me to stop. I’d heard everything before I was given a gag order.” She smirked. “My point is, if you love Trent, and I know you do, you need to quit whatever’s going on with Jax.”

  “There’s nothing going on with Jax,” I said, curling my hands into fist.

  My fingernails bit into my palms, the pain keeping me focused on my rising anger as opposed to whatever warm fuzzy feelings I was having toward Jax.

  Whitney raised a brow. “No? Then why is he so jealous that you and Trent have been spending so much time alone?” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

  I gave her a dirty look. “Stop it. Nothing like that is happening between me and Trent, okay? As far as Jax is concerned… He’s Jax. Who knows why he acts the way he does?”

  I flopped down on the couch. My head ached, and exhaustion hung heavy on my limbs. Whitney had heard Jax’s thoughts, but if she now knew how Jax felt, what would stop Trent from figuring it out, too? He’d already noticed that Jax and I were getting closer and sharing inside jokes.

  Not that there was anything going with Jax, but he had been acting differently toward me. Surely, others were going to notice. How would I explain it? I didn’t even understand it myself. No matter how Jax felt, though, it didn’t change my feelings. I loved Trent.

  Whitney moved so she was in my line of sight, and she continued to stare at me.

  “I don’t know.” I threw my hands in the air with frustration. “Maybe Jax is just lonely.”

  “Keep telling yourself that.” She turned and sauntered into the kitchen. “Look, I’m just giving you a head’s up about what’s going on with them.”

  All the fight left my body in a rush. Arguing with her was pointless. I’d noticed the change in Jax’s demeanor when I was around. He was being nicer—flirty, even—and… Oh, my God. I’d been encouraging him!

  I joined Whitney in the combined kitchen dining room area. Yanking out a chair, I sank down into it.

  “I’m sorry.” Whitney sat in the chair across from me and patted my hand. “I didn’t mean to upset you.” She frowned. “I really do want to be your friend, Chloe, but I’m not very good at this sort of thing. Being a vampire, I really don’t have a lot of friends.”

  “It’s okay. To be honest, I have no idea what’s going on with Jax. One day, he hates me. And the next, he’s nice to me. Really nice. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “His feelings toward you changed while you were in Malibu. He’d go check in on you, make sure you were okay so he could let Trent know. Trent was miserable while you were gone.” Whitney laughed. “But watching you and then becoming friends with you… Jax finally realized how strong you were. How resilient and caring and vibrant. Believe me, he tried to stop how he felt, tried to stop seeing you. Trent was insistent, though. He needed to know you were okay, that you had someone to turn to when your memories started coming back.”

  My breath caught. I had no idea how long Jax had been watching over me before he answered my ad, but Trent had already told me all of this. I just didn’t realize how much it had impacted Jax.

  Whitney gazed off into the distance, smiling wistfully. “You have no idea how much Trent loves you, though. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I mean, I’ve seen vampires find their soulmates before, but I’ve never seen it like this. It’s so strong.”

  My heart swelled, and I smiled despite the seriousness of our conversation. “I love him more than anything.”

  “I know, which is why you have to tell him.” Her expression turned hard, and I pulled my hand from under hers.

  “Tell him what?” My voice cracked.

  “Whatever it is you’re hiding. He deserves to know.”

  “I know he does.” I stood. “But it’s complicated, okay? What I know…” I shook my head. “It’s going to change everything, and I’m not ready for that. Not yet.”

  “Yeah, but if it changes things for the better, that’s a good thing, right?” She cocked her head as if genuinely curious about my answer.

  “Not this time.” I gripped the back of the chair and hung my head. “Trust me, I wish it were that simple.”

  “This coven is coming for you, and there’s nothing any of us can do to stop them.” Sadness twisted her expression. “So, if you know something that can help, you have to tell him. He’s driving himself crazy with worry.”

  “I know.” I sighed and once again sank into the chair, slouching. “This is the worst girls’ night ever.”

  Whitney laughed. “Is it? I’ve never really had a girls’ night before. What should we be doing?”

  The only other girls’ night I’d had was with Ellie, Tonya, and Gina. We’d gone to a party at Bushnell Falls, then went back to Ellie’s for a sleepover.

  “I don’t know. Pig out on junk food. Share secrets. Talk about boys,” I said.

  “Well, we’ve talked about boys.” Whitney’s demeanor brightened. “So, let’s go pig out.” She stood and held her hand out to me. “And no secrets until you’re ready to spill. Promise.”

  I smiled. “Thanks.”

  Maybe Whitney wasn’t so bad after all. I took her proffered hand, and she all but dragged me into the kitchen. She zipped around, gathering all the snacks she could find and depositing them onto the coffee table. Just watching her made me dizzy.

  We both sat on the couch and dug into the mountain of food she’d assembled.

  “So, how long have you known Trent?” I asked around a mouthful of cupcake.

  “A couple of decades. I first met him in a local community college. He was taking classes, and I was pretending to be a TA.” She giggled. “He knew almost instantly that I was a fraud, but he played along.”

  Trent never mentioned that he’d met Whitney while in college. Why hadn’t he told me that part? A sudden—and very unwanted thought—crashed into my head. Had Trent and Whitney hooked up? Was that why he hadn’t told me?

  “What class?” I asked.

  “Human anatomy.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yep.” She nodded vigorously. “He sat in the front row, too. Answered every single question.”

  “Oh, my God.” I laughed so hard tears formed in my eyes.

  My stomach and sides hurt from how hard I laughed, and I winced against the pain. The studious version of Trent she described was nothing at all like the Trent I’d been around in high school. But it was easy to picture him as an overachiever, a teacher’s pet.

  “One day after class, he cornered me and threatened to rat me out to the administration unless I admitted I was a vampire. Not like he needed me to confirm it, but I was always putting him on the spot in class. I kinda deserved it.” Whitney reached for a bag of pretzels and tore it open. She shoved a handful into her mouth and wiped her fingers on her jeans. “We became friends, and he introduced me to his dad and brother.”

  “The first time I met Trent, I punched him in the face.”

  Whitney spit out her food, her eyes wide. “Shut up!”

  “No, I’m serious.” I recounted the story of how I’d punched him, how
my hand throbbed all day, and how people twisted it into some crazy story about him grabbing me inappropriately.

  By the time I was finished, Whitney was leaning back against the arm of the couch, laughing so hard I was afraid she might stop breathing.

  “That’s the best story ever,” she said, gasping. “I wish I could have seen the look on his face when you hit him.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it was nowhere near as horrified as mine.” I took a deep breath in an effort to calm my own laughter, and a sharp pain stabbed my right side. I shifted on the couch to ease the aching. “And I’ll never forget meeting Jax that day, either. He strutted up to us and he said, ‘Quit messing with the locals.’” I did a bad impression of his deep voice. “So, of course, I said, ‘Oh, I’m not a local.’ God, I’m so lame.”

  I didn’t think it was possible for Whitney to laugh any harder, but she did. She clutched her stomach, her face beet red. “Oh, my God. I can totally see Jax saying something like that. He’s such an idiot.”

  I giggled uncontrollably, and soon, neither of us could speak a word. After all the stress I’d been under and the burden of the secret I carried, I needed a girls’ night more than I realized. It would have been even better if Abby and Ellie were here, but Whitney was cool, too.

  Maybe someday, I could introduce her to my friends. I was sure she’d like that, and truth be told, when all this was over, I kind of wanted to still hang out with her.

  “I’m glad we did this tonight, Chloe.”

  “Me too.” I took a deep, cleansing breath and picked up what was left of my cupcake, which wasn’t much but crumbs and melted frosting. I licked the chocolatey goodness from my fingers. “And thanks for all your insight into everything. It really does help.”

  She gave me a knowing smile and a small nod, and with that tiny gesture, I knew I’d found a real friend in Whitney. I had a sudden desire to know everything about her. Could I ask her more personal questions? Would she answer them? There was only one way to find out.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE:

  The Twins

  “SO, HOW DID YOU BECOME A vampire?” I asked, reaching for a bag of chips.

  Whitney stared at me, eyes wide. Her expression screamed terrified.

  I froze. “I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “Is that rude to ask a vampire?”

  I cringed as soon as the words left my mouth. For all I knew, asking how a vampire became a vampire was like asking a woman how old she was or how much she weighed—it was something you just didn’t do. In my defense, though, there wasn’t exactly an etiquette handbook for conversing with vampires.

  “No, it’s okay,” she said after a moment. “I was just surprised by the question.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said again. “Really. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

  She smiled, her demeanor back to her normal happy, carefree self. “His name was David, and I thought he was the love of my life.” She adjusted so she was facing me, her legs tucked beneath her and one arm propped on the back of the couch. “He was a drifter, and one day, he wandered onto my father’s farm.”

  I decided against crunching on chips while listening to her story, and instead, I grabbed another package of cupcakes.

  “David was the most gorgeous boy I had ever seen.” She sighed wistfully. “Curly blond hair, brown eyes, pale skin. He was polite, too. The perfect gentleman. He had no trouble winning my father’s favor. Or Wyatt’s. Those two became fast friends.”

  I took a bite of the cupcake and nodded for her to continue. The last thing I wanted to do was interrupt her story or cause her to stop telling it.

  “In exchange for room and board, David worked on the farm, which meant he was always around. I spent my days watching him whenever I could get away with it, and I’d listen to him speak during supper…” Her eyes took on a faraway look, and she fell silent for a moment. “He seemed so… sophisticated for a boy his age. He told everyone he was seventeen, that his parents had died in a fire, and he was now trying to find his place in the world.”

  “And all of that was a lie?” I asked.

  “Most of it,” Whitney said. “Eventually, David began to notice me. He’d speak to me when in the presence of company, usually my mother or Wyatt. I mean, that was what a proper gentleman did back then when he was interested in a young woman. But then he started to seek me out when I was alone.”

  I snatched my bottle of water from the coffee table and took a long drink.

  “At first, I was horrified. I knew better than to be alone with a boy like that, but he had this way of calming me, and soon, I was finding ways to sneak off to see him,” she said and shifted her body so she was now facing the TV, her feet propped on the coffee table.

  “My actions only emboldened him,” she continued, “because he began to hold my hand, and then he stole a kiss.”

  I had no idea when all of this happened—and I wasn’t about to ask what year this was or how hold Whitney was—but based on the way she spoke, I knew that something as simple as holding a boy’s hand or kissing him was scandalous back then.

  “For days after, I refused to be alone with him, despite his pleas.” She laughed, but it lacked any real humor. “But I just couldn’t stay away from him. And it didn’t help that Wyatt encouraged me. He thought David was the greatest, and Wyatt knew I was having feelings for David. Wyatt kept saying I deserved to be happy, that David was an upstanding boy who would make our father proud should I date him.”

  “Neither of you knew he was a vampire?” I asked.

  “No,” she said.

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better, when I first met Trent, before I knew what he was, I couldn’t seem to stay away from him, either. It must be a vampire thing.” I laughed.

  Whitney smiled. “Yeah, we do have that effect on humans, don’t we?”

  “It’s really unfair,” I said.

  “Anyway, I kept thinking about everything Wyatt said.” She kept her gaze downcast. “In that day and age, at seventeen and unmarried—not even courting a boy—I was basically an old spinster. My father was very traditional, and I knew he wanted me to marry well, which is why he wouldn’t just marry me off to any boy who came asking. But I also knew he was starting to worry that I might never marry.”

  I couldn’t imagine living back then, having to get approval from your father to date. And worse, to have your parents arrange a marriage, to have so much control over who you loved.

  “So, when did you find out about David?” I asked.

  She sighed. “When I couldn’t stand to be apart from him any longer, I sought him out. Of course, he was thrilled to see me, and we began to meet in secret almost nightly. I fell in love with him, and he said he loved me, too. He promised he’d ask my father’s permission to court me and then, someday, marry me.”

  I adjusted to sit cross-legged, and the pain that had been ever-present in my stomach lessened a little. I blew out a breath.

  “But then, one night, he just bit me. He didn’t give me any warning. He never told me what he was,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

  My eyes widened, and I forced back a gasp of horror and disgust.

  “Naturally, I was scared and confused. But when I saw his face… his fangs… my blood dripping from his lips…” She closed her eyes as if reliving the memory was too painful. “Of course, I tried to run and scream for my father, but David was much faster. He captured me, and I was too terrified to run again, so I let him explain.”

  My heart ached for what Whitney went through, how scared she must have been.

  “He made it all sound so glamorous.” She laughed bitterly. “He promised me an eternity by his side, and like the naïve girl I was, I believed him. I didn’t even try to stop him when he changed me.”

  I momentarily closed my eyes.

  “When the transformation was complete, David was gone. He left no word of where he went. I was scared. Confused. Thirsty. Heartbroken.” She shook her head, her body tensing.r />
  Gently, I set my hand on her arm. “I’m sorry he did that to you,” I said.

  “Thanks.” She gave me a grateful smile. “I had no idea how to be a vampire, but everything inside of me just instinctively knew that I needed blood. I drank the first thing I could find—the neighbor’s pet chicken.”

  I scrunched up my face at that mental image.

  “My father caught me. He said some truly awful things to me, and then he said I was no longer his daughter. He made me leave.” She hung her head.

  “Oh, Whitney. I’m so sorry,” I said. I was starting to sound like I didn’t know any other words, but what else could I say?

  “Wyatt refused to let me be on my own, though, and he left with me. I told him everything that happened with David, that I was now a vampire,” she said. “I fully expected him to run back home, horrified. But he didn’t.”

  “Wyatt seems like a really great guy,” I said with an encouraging smile.

  “He’s the best.” Whitney stood and stretched. “He begged me to change him, but I had no idea how, and I was terrified of killing him. So, we spent a year looking for David, or for any other vampire, really. Turns out, vampires are very good at hiding.”

  I laughed.

  “Eventually, we found a vampire named Macaih. He took us in, changed Wyatt, and taught us how to be vampires.” She wandered into the kitchen. “Want another drink?” she asked.

  “No, thanks,” I said. “So, you’ve never seen David again?”

  “Nope, and I don’t want to.” She shook her head vigorously. “Because if I ever see his face again, I’m going to kill him.”

  Her tone was venomous, and I swore I heard her growl, a low menacing sound that had a small tremor of fear slithering up my spine. I made a mental note to never get on Whitney’s bad side.

  “Do you like being a vampire?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Back then, no. But now it’s not so bad. You learn to adapt, and soon, it’s just who you are. You really don’t dwell on your human life. At least, I don’t.” She snagged a can of soda from the fridge, then returned to sit on the couch.