Cursed (The Devil's Roses 1)

She laughed at me from the bathroom. “Yeah right. Well, if you mess it up, I’m right here.”

I closed her bedroom door, feeling more in love with my family than I ever had. I knew in that moment, we were going to be okay. My dad had muttered the words ‘if your mom were here’ for the first time, and we had all lived. We’d cried together, we’d grieved together, and it seemed we’d finally reached the point where we could heal together.

I closed my door and sat at the chair, looking at myself. I was pretty; this had never happened to me before. Even with the red dress, I had still somehow looked like me, but in this dress I was someone else. I liked it. My gray eyes looked nice against the teal and my light, long blonde hair made me look like a mermaid. My puffy lips weren’t chapped. They looked nice.

I started to repeat the same thing Giselle had told me to do. I made my color choices to match the dress's accessories. I did my eyes with silver and grey. My eyes had flecks of both green and blue in them, so the silver made them sparkle. I did my lips with a soft coral, because I figured aqua and coral were both from the sea, so they must match. I pulled the top of my hair into a high, half ponytail and teased my ponytail waves into soft curls with mousse. I spritzed myself with the honey vanilla my mom had always worn.

I stood up, adding a little gloss, and looked at the final product.

The warm wind blew in my window, and Aleks stood there smiling at me from the far side of my room. My heart leapt, seeing him smile at me, but instantly I knew. The wind was the same. Exactly the same.

“You’re the warm wind.” It was a statement, not a question.

He never opened his mouth to argue, but I could see the truth in his eyes.

"How could you let me believe that?"

He didn’t answer. He stepped toward me to explain, but I put my arms up. “No, you let me pretend you were my mom. How could you do it? I believed she was there with me. I believed all of my mom's love and intention was in that wind, and instead, it was you.”

He shook his head, obviously ashamed. “It’s just what happens when I move. You assumed it was your mom. You still needed her, and she was gone. I should have told you, and I’m sorry, but in my defense, you should never have known about me. When you were better and your family was healed, I would have left. I would have gone, taking that wind with me, and you would have been at peace knowing she was in Heaven.”

I felt betrayed and disgusted. I knew the common sense in what he was saying was there, somewhere, but I didn't want to acknowledge it. Instead, I thought about the millions of private things I had told him, thinking he was my mom. I felt the intrusion into my deepest thoughts.

I put my hands up to my lips, horrified. "Oh my God. Oh my God—I told you everything. I told you private things."

"I just listened. You needed someone to listen."

Tears threatened to ruin my efforts.

He ignored my words and walked to me, pulling me into him. He held me for a moment, talking, “Aimee, I'm so sorry. I wish I had more time to grovel appropriately, but I don’t. I need you to try to not focus on hating me just yet. We need to focus on the thing we’ve both dreaded—I have to leave tonight. I can feel the pull.”

I wanted to cry in frustration; he was like a roller coaster ride for my heart. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I let my head rule in the final verdict over what my response would be.

I shook my head. “You’re going to ruin my makeup, and this is my first time doing it completely on my own, which sounds ridiculous, and I know that. I need you to try to wait till the end of my night before ruining it.”

I hated him for hurting me, but I wanted him to love me, and stay with me forever. It was too much.

He nodded and pulled back to look at me. “You are the most beautiful girl in the world.”

I looked at him and battled my insane urge to smash things over his head and then kiss him afterward.

His eyes grew dangerously intense. “Are you still going with him?”

I nodded, leaving it at that. Shane was my safe harbor. The place my heart was protected.

His eyes narrowed again and he pressed his lips into a tight smile. “You go and have a great night. I will see you after the dance, okay?” He looked dark and serious. “Stay at his side the entire night.”

I frowned. “Why would you ask that?”

“I will explain everything tonight before I leave, but promise me you'll stay by his side.”

I agreed. “Fine. Since we are talking about the drugging rapist of doom, will you tell me one thing? Are the letters from him?”

He frowned. “What letters?”

I picked up the letter I had been reading from my dressing table. “These letters.”

He read it and shook his head. “I don’t know. It sounds pretty creepy.” He tilted his head. “You know I’m not psychic right. I'm not omnipresent like God.”

I laughed. “I just thought you might know.”

He rubbed his hands on my bare arms, warming me from the inside. I had been feeling weak and exhausted until he touched me.

He bent down and kissed my lips. He had meant to brush them lightly, but the goop on my lips trapped him. His hands went down my bare back, sending chills up my spine. They roamed my dress, landing on my butt and pulling me up into his arms. I kissed him back wildly, pulling at his shoulders.

He pulled away, covered in lipstick and gloss. He winced when he saw my makeup. I threw him a look of annoyance, but laughed at the ridiculous amount of lipstick he was wearing.

I turned away to clean my face off, but when I turned back to talk to him, he was gone. A cool wind came in the window, replacing the warm one.

I moaned as I sat back down to fix my face.

When I got downstairs, I got the speech of doom from my dad.

“No drinks you didn’t crack open, and don’t even drink from the water fountain. No boys, except Shane, and he doesn’t touch you except to hold your hand at the most.” Dad paced the kitchen, ranting as my sister and I exchanged looks of bewilderment. He seemed more savage than normal.

Shane knocked on the door, saving us from the chastity belts and curfews. I jumped at the door, feeling a slight head rush. I trembled a tiny amount before I got my hand on the door to steady myself.

Blake stood there in a tux beside Shane. Both were in black tuxes with shiny black shoes and white roses. I laughed. “The Blues Brothers are here.” I opened the door up wide for them to come in.

My dad laughed at the comment, but my sister looked confused. "They're wearing black, dummy." Yeah, I was the dummy.

Both guys looked astonished, as they stood completely still, staring at me.

I looked at my sister, who raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

Blake, finally taking at least one of his eyes off of me, turned to my sister. “You look incredible.”

She really did. Her dress was silver like her eyes and cut perfectly. She had her dark, thick hair flowing around her shoulders, which were bare. Her skin was tanned and glowing. Her dress was a halter style with the thinnest straps imaginable and a cross-stitched pattern in silver beads and gems. It was a corset and skirt. The skirt was pleated and long with a soft flow and a shine to the silk material. She had blue eye makeup with plump pink lips. Her earrings were huge, silver dangling ones and that matched her crystal and silver bracelet. She had strappy, silver sling-backs on. She looked like a supermodel. When she turned around to say goodbye to me, I noticed her entire back was bare. The halter straps crossed thinly in the back and the skirt of the dress hugged the very top of her bum.

My dad gulped looking her sternly. “Same rules apply for you.” He shook as he looked at the guys. “You boys take good care of my girls, are we clear?”

Blake nodded, but Shane had still not come out of his coma.

My dad snapped his fingers in front of Shane’s eyes and smirked as Shane came back, blinking. “You look amazing, Aimee.”

I smiled at him and sipped my glass of water. I set it down and kissed my dad on the cheek. “Night, Dad. Don’t worry; we’ll be fine.”

He looked worried, regardless of what I said.

Alise kissed his cheek and patted his back. “It's okay, Daddy. I think I saw something about a special on Discovery Channel tonight about astro-psychics. Should be fun.”

He nodded weakly and walked us to the door. “It's astrophysics, sweetie. I have it taping.”

I laughed as she shrugged, not fazed, but Blake smirked. “Astro-psychics, is that a space psychic?”

She smacked him in the arm, making me laugh harder.

Shane offered me his arm, his gaze fighting desperately to focus on my eyes. Half my chest was exposed and my breasts were pretty much popping out the top of the dress. Not that much was left from the sickness, but what was there was fully exposed. I would have cursed Giselle under my breath, but she needed prayers more.

Before I took his arm, I hugged Blake.

He hugged me back.

“I feel naked,” I whispered to him.

“You are.” He smiled at me as I pulled away. I knew we were going to be okay.

I looked around me and decided this was the life I wanted. When Aleks left, he would take a very large part of my heart with him. He would also take all of the air I had breathed for nearly a year, but I would survive on the air from the people surrounding me, and Giselle. I had survived heartbreak before, one much more severe than the imminent one would be.

I took Shane’s arm and looked up at him. I felt butterflies as he squeezed my arm. He was warm and inviting. He was flesh and blood, and he didn’t fly through the air or pretend to be something he wasn’t. Shane had never lied to me about anything. In that moment, Shane’s honesty was more attractive than a crooked smile and the bluest eyes ever created.

Shane kissed my cheek and turned us both around to face my dad. He put his hand out. “Goodnight, sir, and don’t worry; I will have her home at a respectable hour.”

My dad tried hard to hide his love for Shane. “You’d better,” he said sternly.