by Laurèn Lee
Charlotte’s Pact
Demons in New York #1
Laurèn Lee
Copyright © 2017 by Laurèn Lee
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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For the dreamers — you can do it, you just need to start.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Acknowledgments
When Houses Burn
When Houses Burn
Cranberry Lane
Cranberry Lane
About the Author
Also by Laurèn Lee
1
Present
The radio pumped and Charlotte tapped her freshly painted toes upon the dashboard to the addicting beat of Kings of Leon.
She gazed over to Liam and couldn’t help but smile as he attempted to sing the lyrics. Despite his confidence, Charlotte could tell by reading his lips, he wasn’t even close to lip-syncing the right words.
Moving her eyes down to her hand, she noticed the illustrious cushion diamond on her finger glittered even in the darkness of the moving car. The freshness of their engagement continued to electrify the air. Charlotte felt pure joy and looked forward to a bright future.
Charlotte wondered what it would be like to walk down the aisle and see Liam waiting for her at the altar. She imagined buying their first house together, getting a dog and even trying to start a family. She hoped their children would be smart and independent, but kind and loyal.
The window was down and she felt a rush of crisp air weaving in and out of her shiny, waist-length blonde hair. The sky, decorated with millions of stars ignited the night.
Charlotte turned to her fiancé and covered his hand with hers, “This will be our first road trip as an engaged couple, you know?”
Liam smiled, chiming in above the music, “You’re right! Do you think Tori and Adam will be excited to see us?”
In an instant, Liam’s question was cut off as a rotund vehicle swerved out of nowhere, heading straight towards them. The semi-truck charged them with increasing speed as Charlotte shrieked and the tires screeched, both sounds piercing the air.
Liam spun the wheel trying to avoid the imminent danger ahead to no avail. The tires continued to squeal until their Land Rover flipped and tumbled down the steep, grassy hill alongside the highway.
During the SUV’s plunge, Charlotte and Liam were violently ejected from the vehicle. They were bloodied and covered in shattered glass as they lay sprawled out in the grass like rag dolls tossed aside by a careless child.
Silence had finally filled the night and a figure, dressed in all black, peered over the cliff and smiled menacingly at the wreckage.
2
Past
“Tori, how many times have I told you? I do not want to be your guinea pig when you’re in the mood to play match-maker!”
“Stop whining, Charlotte! This one’s a keeper! He’s one of Adam’s best friends! Plus, you’re like a life-size Barbie doll. He will fall for you as soon as he lays eyes on you.”
“That’s what you said last time and the time before that, and the time before that,” Charlotte moaned.
“Okay, so I may have had some bad judgment calls in the past,” Tori admitted.
“Some?” Charlotte asked incredulously, with hands in the air. “One guy was out on parole for robbery and grand theft auto!”
Charlotte thought back to when the ex-con took her to dinner and a movie. Her date had a snake tattoo wrapping around his neck along with a few gold teeth. She thought it couldn’t get any worse until he threatened their waiter when he brought Charlotte a Coke instead of Diet Coke.
“So what, Char? He had the prettiest eyes you’d ever seen, and you know it.”
“Yeah, his eyes, they almost made me forget he’d served jail time,” Charlotte chided.
Charlotte wished Viper Neck had been her only misstep in the dating world, but there were so many others she wished she could forget.
She went on a few dates with one guy, James. He seemed nice enough until one night, after their third date, he took her back to his place for a nightcap. It was then, Charlotte learned he still lived with his mother and she had been waiting up to meet her. It didn’t seem so bad at first until his mother vehemently pressed her on when she was going to give her some ‘damn grandkids!’
Another suitor, it turned out, had a foot fetish. He’d savagely taken advantage of Charlotte’s toes one night after dinner. He begged to give her a foot massage and once he started to rub the soles of her feet, he began moaning and rolling his eyes backward. Charlotte snuck out of his apartment as soon as he took a bathroom break and immediately blocked his phone number.
Yes, it seemed Charlotte always managed to hit the jackpot when it came to men, even though she'd only recently celebrated her 21st birthday.
Charlotte shook herself out of her painfully embarrassing revelry and turned to Tori.
“Please, Tori. I’m begging you. I’m not interested in meeting anyone right now. I just want to focus on school, finishing this semester and graduating.”
“Honestly, Char, what’s the point of going to college if you don’t meet your soul mate?”
“Sweetie, 1955 called and it wants its standards back,” Charlotte said sarcastically.
“Listen, just one date okay? Maybe even a double date, with me and Adam! Please, please, please with sugar and a shot of tequila on top?”
“You’re pathetic, Tori,” Charlotte said.
Charlotte knew it was much easier for Tori to be optimistic about love and relationships because she had presumably already found her soul mate. Charlotte had actually set them up a year previously when she met Adam in her Business 101 class.
“Does that mean you’ll say yes?” Tori asked.
Charlotte nodded reluctantly.
Tori ran over and squeezed her tightly, “It will be different this time, I promise!”
“If you say so.”
3
Past
“Hey, wanna go to dinner?”
“I can’t, I haven’t gotten paid yet,” Charlotte said.
Charlotte had a work-study position at the library on campus. However, it didn’t pay as well as Charlotte had hoped. Unfortunately, she become accustomed to canned soup and spaghetti while at college. She wanted to be independent, so she never asked for help.
“My parents just deposited more money into my account, so it’s on me,” Tori offered.
Charlotte looked at her suspiciously.
“We can go to Third Base,” Tori suggested brightly.
“Okay, I guess
we could go,” Charlotte agreed dramatically.
Charlotte and Tori threw on their matching North Face jackets, grabbed their Coach wristlets and headed out of their dorm room. They took the elevator down to the foyer and had to push through the freshmen loitering around the entrance.
“Are we taking your car?” Charlotte asked.
“Um, yeah. How did you think we were going to get there?”
“Thought we might take the bus downtown,” Charlotte said shrugging.
“Char, please. I wouldn’t ride the bus if Leonardo DiCaprio was the driver.”
“Whatever you say,” Charlotte said.
The girls walked down the main road through campus until they reached the far lot where Tori had parked her car. Charlotte, relieved she’d worn her Chuck Taylor’s, didn’t envy Tori for having to walk so far every day to reach her vehicle.
“Tori, your car is disgusting,” Charlotte said as she attempted to clear away the fast-food wrappers on the seat.
“I know, I know. Maybe I’ll make Adam clean it for me,” she winked.
“You are such a princess,” Charlotte said shaking her head.
“Tell me something I don’t know!”
Finally on the road, Charlotte plugged her iPhone into the USB port.
“What do you wanna listen to?”
“Um, how about The Lumineers?”
“Good choice” Charlotte agreed.
It only took about fifteen minutes to reach downtown, so the girls parked on the street and headed into one of their favorite Buffalo restaurants.
“Hi, you can sit anywhere you’d like,” offered the cheerful hostess.
The girls nodded and headed to their usual table toward the back of the hip sports bar. The hockey game was on and the establishment was filled with buzzing electrical vibes.
“Do you think Buffalo will ever go to the playoffs again?” joked Tori.
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Charlotte frowned.
Their waitress popped over and asked for their drink order.
“I’ll have a Southern Tier Pumpking,” Charlotte asked.
“Me too!” Tori agreed.
“Coming right up, girls!”
Charlotte and Tori poured over the menu even though they knew they’d end up getting the same meal they always did when eating dinner here.
“Maybe I’ll get a burger this time,” Tori pondered.
Charlotte smirked and shook her head.
The waitress promptly came back with their drinks, “Are you girls ready to order or do you need a few more minutes?”
“We’re ready,” Tori announced confidently.
“Okay, go ahead.”
“I’ll have the Buffalo Mac-n-Cheese.”
“And, I’ll have the Pulled Pork Mac,” Charlotte said.
“Sounds good, I’ll have that ready for you in no time,” the waitress promised.
“I’m proposing a toast,” Tori announced. “Here’s to our Senior year of college, graduating with fantastic grades, and moving to New York City together next year!”
Charlotte raised her glass and took a hardy sip of her flavorful beer.
“You still want to move to New York?” Charlotte asked curiously.
“I mean, yeah, we’ve been talking about it since we were little, right?”
“What about Adam?”
“I think he would be open to the idea, but it’s not like we’re married or anything.”
“Tori, you can’t go one day without seeing him, how would you ever live apart?”
“I’m sure we can figure it out,” she said optimistically. “Plus, you need to get your big girl job as a bad ass reporter!”
“That would be pretty amazing,” Charlotte agreed.
“And I will ride your coattails all the way to the bank!”
“You do realize journalists don’t make that much money, right?”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. Well, maybe I can get a job as a celebrity interior designer!”
Charlotte almost choked on her beer.
Ignoring her, Tori continued, “I would be an amazing decorator to the stars! Hey, we could start our own Sex and the City!”
“That would require us making more female friends,” Charlotte warned.
“Hmmm, you have a point there. Well, maybe we can just combine characters. I’ll be Carrie and Samantha, and you can be Charlotte and Miranda!”
“Hello? Carrie is the writer. I get her by default.”
Tori pouted, but knew she wouldn’t win this battle.
Just then, the waitress brought over their salads.
“You ladies doing okay?”
“Yes, perfect. Thanks!” Charlotte said.
The girls drank their beers, watched the game and enjoyed each other’s company. Despite Tori’s eccentric and often obnoxious personality, Charlotte knew no one else would ever have her back like her best friend.
Even if Tori was on a date with Adam, even if Charlotte was upset and needed her friend, Tori would come to her, no questions asked.
And that’s all you ever really need in life; a friend to love and cherish you unconditionally.
“Hey, you better slow down or you’re going to get drunk before our food comes,” Charlotte warned.
“I can’t help it! It’s just so good,” she crooned holding her 8.6% beer from the Western New York brewery.
Right on time, the girls’ dinners arrived.
“I’m drooling,” Tori said, her eyes the size of a harvest moon.
Charlotte could only nod in agreement as she had already begun indulging in her dinner.
The girls ate as much as they physically could, however, the portions were always so generous at Third Base, they barely finished half the plate.
“All set girls?”
They nodded vigorously, chewing their last bites.
“I’ll bring over the check and some boxes,” their waitress said, laughing.
Charlotte rubbed her belly, grateful Tori had suggested coming here.
As the girls were walking out of their favorite restaurant bar, with leftovers in tow, Tori looked at her watch and smiled.
“What?” Charlotte asked suspiciously.
“In less than 24 hours, we will be going on a double date!”
“I can hardly wait,” Charlotte said, rolling her eyes.
4
Past
The next evening, Charlotte and Tori prepared for their double date inside their dorm room. They each had a side of the room, but it didn’t stop the friends from sharing everything like clothes, shoes, makeup, and even pillows. In fact, they had no borders and no dividers, unlike most college roommates. The girls truly followed the “what’s mine is yours” way of life. Charlotte and Tori had been friends since elementary school, they were as thick as thieves.
Flat irons were heated, outfits laid out and two largely filled wine glasses stood on the girls’ vanity. Even though alcohol wasn’t allowed in the dorms, the girls always managed to sneak a few bottles in at a time. However, they took caution and hid the stash in their dirty laundry. There’s no way their resident assistant would go through their hampers during an inspection.
Charlotte meticulously applied her makeup, ensuring her foundation was even and her eyes sparkled with the newest shade of shadow from Sephora.
“Hey!” Tori exclaimed, “I thought you were going to wear a skirt with me?”
“Quit your pouting. If I’m going to voluntarily put myself in an uncomfortable situation, I want to at least dress comfortably.”
Instead of wearing the outfit she’d promised, Charlotte wore her favorite pair of Guess jeans which clung to her long, athletic legs, and a sheer black blouse instead. The dark colored top brought out her sun-kissed skin, leftover from summer.
“Prude,” Tori sneered as she hiked up her extremely revealing Amazon-print skirt.
“Slut Barbie,” Charlotte shot back.
“You better lose your attitude or else I’m going put your a
ss in time-out!” Tori cautioned.
“In that case, I’ll keep it up so I don’t have to go,” Charlotte countered.
“Oh, you’re still going! Also, did I mention he’s rich?”
“Only about a hundred times, Tori.”
“Well here’s one more time for good luck! But seriously, if you’re not going to wear a skirt, can you at least show a little boob action? Otherwise, he’s going to think we should have met at Friday Night Bingo instead of a bar.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes, pulled her camisole down to show cleavage as Tori clapped in approval.
“All right ho, let’s go!”
“Hold on, lady! I need to finish my drink!” Charlotte called out.
The girls toasted and hastily swigged the remaining drops of wine in their glasses.
“Ready?” Tori asked.
“As I’ll ever be.”
She waited until Tori had walked out of their dorm room before pulling her shirt back up, hiding her cleavage once again.
Much better.
5
Past
“So, where are we going, Tori?” Charlotte asked as they strode away from campus and toward Elmwood Avenue.
Both sides of Elmwood Ave, Elmwood for short, are lined with boutiques, restaurants, bars, tattoo parlors, and so much more. And considering how easy it is to access the Elmwood Village from campus, many students often chose this area for their weekend extravaganzas with friends. Charlotte and Tori happened to be regulars on Elmwood.
