The Line That Binds Series Box Set

by J. M. Miller

  Dahlia pulled on her jacket and stepped into the darkness. The air nipped at her face and fingers, but she pushed on, knowing this would be the last night she knelt before the well.

  The moon hovered low on the horizon, giving just enough light to guide her across the still property. Winter was close. Color had fallen from the trees and the sun was setting earlier every day. Travel would be harder now, harsher, making the possibility of finding a new home more difficult. Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough to dissuade Dahlia from leaving. The only thing that worried her now was how the Stocktons would treat her servant mother after she had gone. Mr. Stockton had passed last month, which meant Charles, with some guidance from his mother, was now in charge of the estate.

  Dahlia stopped in front of the well and gazed up to the mansion like she had every night for weeks. Noticing a dim light in the farthest of the upstairs windows, she crouched low to hide. It was Charles’ office, not his and Sarah’s bedroom. Unfortunately, Dahlia knew which bedroom was theirs most of all—it could’ve been hers. In the weeks following the wedding, she’d been called upon to help clean their house. Their room. Every time she had to change the blankets on their bed, it made her physically ill. Thoughts of their lovemaking charged her mind. They ripped at her heart every day and haunted her every night. But they also fueled her anger, and kept her coming back to the well.

  Seeing no movement within the lit room, she decided to continue. She stayed low and twisted sideways to keep an eye on the window. Digging into her pocket, she removed a thin iron pick. Its rounded tip had been worn close to its base. Her palm gripped the cool metal and its grooves settled into the cuts already etched in her skin. She located the final area of stone then started to scratch.

  Hours later, after the last letter was done and her hands were raw and bloody once more, Dahlia read the words aloud and rubbed her hands over the stones. She thought of him as she spoke. Thought of him lying in her bed. His lips caressing hers. His promise for forever.

  This was her promise to him and she was certain it would last longer than his had.

  It would surpass their lifetimes.

  Letting the pick fall to the ground, Dahlia turned toward the house again. A silhouette stood at the window, darkened by the dim light at its back.

  It was him.

  Charles.

  She stared at his figure, knowing he was looking at her too. For one weakened moment, she longed to see his green eyes, taste the breath of his kiss, and feel the comfort of his arms again. Warm tears rolled over her icy cheeks, waking her from the spell.

  He’d made his choice.

  It wasn’t her.

  So she walked away from the well, leaving the darkened figure behind and never looking back.

  “LJ, wake up,” Ben’s voice drifted over my ears, a quiet whisper.

  I kept still in my fetal position and breathed his pillow in deeply, loving the way it felt to wake up surrounded entirely by the smell of him. His hand glided from my waist down to my thigh, where his fingers began tracing circles just below the edge of my jean shorts. I smiled and pulled the pillow closer to my face, not wanting to fully wake yet.

  “Hey,” he whispered again and I felt the weight of him as he lay behind me. “I love that you want to be here in my junky room, lying in my cheap-ass bed. You’re making it so hard tonight.”

  “I’m making it hard, am I?” I muttered into the pillow. My body shook with silent giggles.

  His arm snaked around my waist and pulled me back against him. Then he buried his face into my hair and kissed below my ear. “Keep moving like that and it’ll happen.”

  “Mmm. Is that a promise?” I asked, turning over and opening my eyes to the pair of intense browns I was falling hard for. Any time they gazed at me, it was like there was nothing they’d rather see. They made my heart stop. Every time. In the past, I’d gotten plenty of looks: sleazy, indifferent, and looks of bitter envy or hate. But never this. This was something completely different. This was adoration, passion, and devotion combined in one heavenly, soul-penetrating mix. I ached for it daily. And I was certain my eyes told him the same.

  He sighed and touched his nose to mine. “A promise that I can’t keep tonight since your dad gets home soon.” I whined at his words and he chuckled.

  I pulled away from his face and looked at the blackout curtains not needed at this hour. We’d hung them a few days after his birthday, though we never did “test” them. After discovering the well stone, we decided to put sex on hold in order to stay focused on finding more answers about the curse. It was tough. Any time we were together, I couldn’t wait to touch him. With his weighty sighs after our heavy make-out sessions, I knew he felt the same. We filled any spare time with dirt bike rides and normal conversations about our favorite colors and plans for the future, but most of the time we ended the nights longing for more. Tonight would be no different.

  “I can’t believe you let me sleep so long. All I wanted was a quick nap and now I have to leave already.” I turned back to him, taking in the rest of his features. His dark hair was longer now, wavy with enough length for me to grip and pull whenever I demanded a kiss. He never objected, which made me adore the scruffy look even more. I stared at the cleft in his chin and ran my finger over it before feeling the scar on his lip. His lips parted at my touch, like an invitation for more.

  “You have no idea how much I just want to say screw it and stay with you every night.” He smiled, creasing the gorgeous dimples into his cheeks. “If I had any chance at survival, I’d risk it. But with my luck, your dad would find out the moment he got home and I’d be eating gun barrel for a midnight snack.”

  “I don’t even think my dad owns a gun,” I countered.

  “I’m sure he’d borrow Pop’s,” he said with a laugh. “The unfortunate point is I’d rather not find out because I want to keep doing this to you.” His hand traveled up my body and brushed my cheek, smoothing the pad of his thumb over my lips before kissing me. He shifted me onto my back and settled between my legs as his tongue swirled around mine. I wrapped my hands around him and dug my fingertips into his back.

  Oh, we are really pushing it tonight.

  I caught his bottom lip gently between my teeth. He groaned and pressed his body against me. “Ah, LJ. God, this feels amazing.” His mouth traveled to my neck, growling against my skin before taking little nips.

  My body shivered wildly from the sensation. Waiting to be with him again was agonizing. There was no reason. We hadn’t found any new info on the curse and the impulsive decision to be celibate was only adding more frustration for both of us.

  “This isn’t helping,” Ben said. He pulled back hesitantly, got to his feet, and helped me off his bed.

  I frowned as I stood up. “Ben, I’m not sure if there’s anything else to find.”

  It had been a month since Ben’s birthday. We found one of the well stones that night, which confirmed the Stockton curse. With two more missing, and too many unanswered questions, we continued to search. We’d finished organizing and cleaning the basement this weekend. I’d even looked in Dad’s room a few times for anything Janine may have hidden there. We found nothing. There were other places in the house that still need checked, too, but it all was beginning to feel like a huge waste of time.

  He shook his head, and looked at me sternly. “Don’t do that. We’ll find something. If I need to go through every crack in that house, we’ll find something. Your head is okay, right?”

  “Yes, it’s fine. I hardly have headaches on the property, unless I’m around the event house when there’s a party. It’s people. More people, more chances of someone wishing. Tomorrow’s another day of school, though.” I tipped my face down, running through the tactics I implored during the course of a school day: earbuds, Tylenol, and hoping for a miracle.

  He lifted my chin with his fingers and gazed at me with a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry lunch has gotten harder since you’ve been sitting with me, Iz, and Spaz.”<
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  When our suspension ended and we returned to school, sitting with them was a natural transition. I felt safe with Ben and his friends, but my head wasn’t safe from the amount of people in the cafeteria. During class, it wasn’t as bad. Not as many people wished, unless there happened to be a pop quiz, then most people pleaded inside their own minds for the intelligence to remember the material. The cafeteria was always more chaotic. And without music, it was worse.

  “I have no other option, really. Spaz and Izzy don’t know about the voices or the headaches, so it’s not like I can just leave my earbuds in and ignore you guys. They’ll think I’m snubbing them.”

  “I know,” he replied with a sigh. “We’ll figure it out, babe.”

  I smiled coyly and stared up at him as I slid my hand around his bicep. “I like when you call me that.”

  “Better than Bubbles?” he asked, referring to the first time we’d talked—him, pushing words through his wired jaw, and me, naked and thoroughly abashed in a tubful of bubbles.

  “Better,” I replied, standing on my tiptoes so I could reach his mouth. He tilted his head down the rest of the way and met my lips as tenderly as I’d wanted. His hands spread over my back and I leaned into him, needing to be closer, dreading the separation. I pushed my hands through his hair and held tight, to show him I didn’t want to go. His hands squeezed my butt before grabbing my hips again and lifting me from the ground. My legs cinched around his waist. Suddenly I was taller than him, controlling his mouth as he held me in the air.

  He groaned when I bit his tongue and I smiled against his lips. “Ah, you’re killing me,” he mumbled between tiny kisses. His hands squeezed my butt again. Then he kicked his backpack out of the way as he walked toward the bedroom door. “Shh,” he breathed, grabbing the knob and listening for his grandfather.

  Still in his arms, I dropped my head to the side of his neck and giggled. “You don’t think he’s awake, do you?” I whispered before nibbling his ear.

  He gave a low chuckle and spun his body so my legs wouldn’t clip the door. “Never is, but you know I’m cautious.”

  “I do,” I replied as he walked lightly to the basement door and down the stairs. “We made it. Are you going to put me down now?”

  “I don’t want to.” He tightened one arm around my back and pinched the inside of my thigh with his other hand.

  I laughed and thrashed in his arms. “Stop, stop. I can’t take it anymore,” I cried, dropping my legs.

  He lowered me to the floor, keeping an arm around me. “It’s awesome to know your thighs are so ticklish.”

  “You just love to torture me. You have to be ticklish somewhere,” I replied, wiggling my fingers into his sides. He tensed up, but he didn’t flinch away. I bit my lip and stuck my fingers under his T-shirt, skimming them along the skin above his low-slung jeans while staring into his eyes. They sparked at my touch. I quirked an inviting brow and he sighed.

  “Now you’re torturing both of us. Your dad will be walking through your front door in a few minutes.”

  “I know. I guess we should go,” I conceded with a sigh of my own. His arm released me then his hand pressed against my back, guiding me in front of him.

  The walk through the tunnel wasn’t nearly as bad as the first time. My anxiety had diminished considerably since we’d been using it so frequently. Ben always walked with me if I came to his house. I’d told him that I could probably face it alone now, but he refused to let me.

  I stepped around a few roots at the end of the passage and opened the narrow oak door. When we slipped into the basement from behind the bookcase, I took a deep, nerve-settling breath and spoke again. “Thanks for walking me home, good sir.”

  “My pleasure, mademoiselle,” he said with a bow and a wink. He grabbed my hand and kissed my knuckles, playing along with me.

  “How gentlemanly.” I nodded and curtsied, extending the material of my very elegant, make-believe ball gown.

  He smiled wide as his fingers played with mine, spreading them apart to lace his in between. “You’re riding in with me tomorrow, right?”

  “Of course.” I tipped my chin up toward him. “What are we going to do when the weather gets cruddy? I guess I could drive Dad’s car again.”

  “Pop let me use his truck last winter. But,” he paused and smiled mischievously. “I’ve been talking to Randall about an older car he has. I think I might’ve convinced him to let me buy it.”

  “That’s great. Look at you, steady job, amazing bikes, a piece of property, and now a car. You’re such a great catch. Your future’s all set.”

  “And yours isn’t?” he joked.

  “Well, that’s debatable. I should be thinking about college. But since my lovely mother decided the college funds were better suited up her nose, plans have changed a bit.”

  “You’re going to own this place in a few months, so money shouldn’t be your excuse to bail on college. You know that.”

  “True, though that’s another reason to forgo the school route. I should focus on learning the property and the business since I’ll be signing the papers soon.”

  He squeezed my hand and pulled me closer. “Let’s not think about all of that right now.”

  I nodded and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “I guess I have to go anyway. I’ll see you in the morning.” As I turned to walk away, his hand smacked my butt. I glanced back to him, smiling and blushing. He shoved his hands into his jean pockets and smiled back adorably.

  I couldn’t get enough of him. I could almost feel how much he cared anytime we touched. His warmth ran through me, his gentleness consumed me. Even though he’d known about the well rumors before we’d met, I was amazed that he believed it all now and still wanted to be with me. The well had made me a freak, a lunatic who heard voices and granted wishes. Anyone else would’ve ran the other way or tried to take advantage. Not Ben. He was more than I could’ve ever hoped to find after moving here. I was falling for him, harder than I’d ever fallen before.

  While walking the basement’s new, uncluttered path, I glanced at the well paintings that stood in rows along the wall. Their blurry grays were no longer eerie, just puzzling. I thought about the last two missing stones and wondered, for the millionth time, if Janine had hid them or if she’d ever found them at all.

  “Hey,” Ben whispered. I turned back to him with a curious head tilt. “Where are you going?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, do you have to go to the kitchen for something?”

  I scrunched my face at his question. Was he teasing me? “No. I’m going up to my bedroom,” I answered with an unsure smile.

  His eyes narrowed for a second and he took a couple steps over to the divider wall. “You don’t want to use the trapdoor?” he asked and pointed up to the ceiling.

  Oops. How in the world did I forget? I let out a breathy laugh and walked back toward him. “Wow. I spaced out for a second.” I kissed his lips again then grabbed the plank step and started climbing.

  “Do you need me to follow you?” He sounded concerned.

  I pushed up on the ceiling boards and stared up through the wooden tunnel. Soft light filtered down from my closet, allowing me to see the way. “No, I’ll be fine. Besides, if you came up, I wouldn’t let you leave.”

  He smiled, but he still looked worried. “Okay, I’ll see you in the morning.” He ran up the rungs behind me and closed the bottom door when my legs were clear.

  After climbing up and closing the top trapdoor, I crept over to my bedroom door just in time to hear Dad enter the house. I ducked into the bathroom to change then jumped into bed. Dad’s footsteps stopped outside my door a few minutes later. Everything was quiet for a moment as he listened, never knocking or attempting to enter. He was trying harder with his renewed fatherly roll lately, paying closer attention to Gavin and me. Gavin was even opening up to him about school, which was a huge step. We both trusted him now. I just hoped this change was permanent.

>   I lay there for a while, staring at the slivers of moonlight projected on my walls. I wondered briefly how I’d forgotten about the trapdoor. Ben and I had been using it almost every night for the last month. My mind was obviously too cluttered, thinking about the well and the stones, continuing to worry about what it all meant. It was taking a toll.

  I let my eyelids fall and I inhaled deeply into my pillow, wishing I was still surrounded by Ben’s smell.

  Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.

  Sleep fought me last night. I kept thinking about the way LJ looked at me when I asked her about the trapdoor. She’d forgotten it. Her bright green eyes told me a lot now that I’d known her longer. And last night they were confused.

  Last month, we’d found an inscribed well stone, Dahlia’s journal, and a few pictures all hidden inside of Janine’s old trunk. That evidence answered a lot of our questions. Dahlia was at the center of the curse. She loved Charles Stockton. He might have loved her too, but he ultimately chose another wife. And Dahlia cursed his family for it.

  The origin was now clear, though so much was still missing. We had no idea how she created the curse. Maybe she practiced witchcraft or maybe the heartache alone made it happen. Other missing details were the effects of the curse. I knew from Pop that Janine had faulted the curse for her Alzheimer’s. When LJ and I found Dahlia’s journal, it even mentioned giving his family the ability to serve others until their final thought faded. The words implied service until their death, but it could have a double meaning, like granting wishes until they had no memories left. An empty shell, like Janine.

  Even after she discovered that Janine had also heard voices and granted wishes, LJ never expressed any concern about a potential link to Janine’s Alzheimer’s. She’d never brought it up. I had no idea if she even considered other negative aspects aside from suffering headaches and hearing voices for the rest of her life. Those were already bad enough to think about.

  All month I debated telling her. It would be a smart decision, especially since I’d kept my knowledge of the well from her for a while and it blew up in my face. But telling her this also seemed selfish for that reason. I didn’t want to add to her troubles just to ease my own mind. Why hurt her if there was no real evidence? After all, nothing we’d found actually linked it all together. That’s why the other stones were so important. There had to be more information. We’d spent all month organizing the basement with nothing to show except the bond between us. I’d officially turned into a clingy, whipped boyfriend and I didn’t mind one bit. I wanted to be around her all the time because I cared about her. I also needed to make sure she was okay. And despite the headaches, she was. She’d been completely normal.