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“What have you not told me?” My voice breaks on that last bit, and I drop down hard onto my bottom, causing another wave that rocks the baggage.
“I was going to tell you,” Taylen insists. “I just…well, I don’t know. It was basically just between me, my cousins, and my siblings. It’s the cursed objects my granny gave us. She gave one to each of us and told us they were cursed. They’re supposed to lead us to our soulmates or something.”
“Soul what?” I yelp.
I’m usually shit at math, but my brain is computing quite quickly all of a sudden, and I can work out the basic details. I know Taylen’s granny is a meddler, just like mine. They’re both spicy pepper grannies. Like five of the hottest peppers, not spice level one. Tay’s granny drove to my house to give me the brooch for the wedding, which I thought was sweet. I was so, so touched. I also felt kind of guilty about it because I knew I wasn’t going to go through with the wedding, but it was such a nice gesture that I couldn’t tell her no. When Tay was talking to her on the phone, though, it sounded like she knew I wouldn’t go through with the wedding. So why then did she give me the brooch? Did she mean for it to lead Taylen to me? To make him believe I’m his soulmate?
I gasp for breath, and Taylen’s shoulders rise and fall. His chest heaves, and his pulse pounds at his neck. His throat also works hard beneath the inky stain of stubble he hasn’t shaved away yet. Is it wrong that I’d like to find out just how bristly that bit of beard is?
What the farge?
Focus. Soulmates. Which we most definitely aren’t.
“But that’s…that’s ridiculous,” I cough. “We’re best friends. We’re already soulmates. Best friend soulmates, but not love soulmates. Why didn’t you tell me about what happened?”
“Because!” Taylen strips his shorts off, stands there in his boxers, and plunges his legs into his jeans. I immediately rip my eyes away. I feel my face heating up even though I’ve seen Tay in his gotch approximately six million times before. “We all took a vow that it wouldn’t affect our lives. We promised we wouldn’t fall in love and give the curse any power. I did want to tell you, I just…I didn’t want you to think my family was any weirder than it already was.”
I can feel my eyes narrowing. “No, that’s not it. You’ve never worried about that before. We both know our families are crazy. That’s why we’re such great friends. We put up with it together. No, that isn’t it. Why then?”
Taylen shakes his head roughly, raking both hands through his hair. The double rake is never a good thing because it means he’s getting agitated.
“Fine. Whatever,” I huff, drawing my legs in and setting my chin on them. Behind Taylen, Jeffers huffs out a disgusted chuff. Part of me wants to stick Tay hard, like that brooch did, just to rub it in since he hurt me by not telling me about this. We don’t not tell each other things. Not things of this magnitude! “Well, I hope the curse isn’t blood activated. The brooch stabbed me, it stabbed you, and we both bled. Our blood is probably mingling together on it right now.”
Taylen scowls fiercely at me, but he can’t hide the fact that he just became ten shades paler. “Don’t even say something like that.”
“I’m sure the curse isn’t a self-fulfilling prophecy.” It’s my turn to screw my face up into a fierce expression. “And even if it were, I’m sure I’d make the worst soulmate. Yeah, me. Your best friend since we were like conceived.”
Tay doesn’t have a comeback for my snarky statement. Instead, he grabs Jeffers’ leash, plugs it onto his collar, and both he and my dog disappear from the room.
I sit in the silence of the room for a few minutes, listening to the hum of the air conditioner, the thoughts bouncing around in my skull, and my heart thrumming in my chest.
“Whatever,” I huff, telling myself it doesn’t matter, I’m not hurt, and that Taylen not telling me about the curse and then basically saying it would be the worst thing in the world to have me as a hypothetically cursed soulmate doesn’t sting.
I have a few minutes of privacy, which I’m going to use to get dressed and get my hair combed out. After yesterday’s hair spray debacle, it’s going to be a nightmare. I’m afraid to wash it without tackling it first. It will probably knot up tightly, and I don’t want a cement hair helmet. Thank you very much.
I’m not worried about some random and probably not true curse. Even if, by deductive reasoning, all five of them were cursed, it means three of them have already succumbed to the curse—more than half, which is pretty good odds in the curse’s favor. It’s Taylen’s problem, not mine.
