Spellbound - Cara Lynn Shultz [100]
I adjusted the baggie of ice on my ankle—fortunately, the swelling was already starting to subside—and let my mind drift to my afternoon with Brendan. Sure, it was cut short, but—wow, talk about making the most of our time together. We hadn’t admitted—in so many words—that we loved each other before. I felt my heart beat a little faster when I thought about how he tucked me into his arms, and how safe I felt there. Even though we’d just had our first fight, the anger disappeared as soon as it had arisen. He was just overwhelmed. He did promise to be stronger….
I sat up like I’d been stabbed with a fork.
“No….” I whispered aloud. I hobbled off the bed, grabbing the dream diary from where I’d stashed it under my bed. I held it next to my laptop, reading it by the dim light of the screen.
There, scrawled in my messy early-morning scribble, were the key things Ethan had warned me about.
Is he strong enough?
“Please, please be strong enough,” I whispered into the darkened room. And suddenly, I was afraid.
Chapter 19
The next morning, my ankle looked like one of Seurat’s leftovers, with splotches of black and blue dotting their way across my egg-shaped ankle. I wrapped an Ace bandage around my foot and felt even guiltier when Christine slipped me some money to take a cab to school.
“I can’t have you walking in that state,” she insisted. “You could fall again, or fracture it.”
But it turned out that I didn’t need to take a cab to school; as soon as I’d polished off my Toaster Strudel Ashley was pounding on the door. Repeatedly.
“Open up!” came the muffled voice on the other side of the door.
“I’m not even running late,” I complained to myself, pulling my jacket on and hobbling into the living room, where Christine held the door open while Ashley and Brendan stood in the doorway. Well, Ashley was standing. Brendan was, of course, leaning. Christine looked like she didn’t know whether to grimace or laugh. Ashley looked so surprised her eyebrows were practically in her hairline. And Brendan looked—well, he looked hot.
“Look who I found in front of the building!” Ashley giggled, widening her eyes at me.
“I figured you might need a hand this morning, but I should have known your cousin had you covered,” Brendan said magnanimously, and Ashley’s eyebrows disappeared into her hairline altogether.
“So you’re walking me to school?” I asked, confused.
“Not really—one of the perks of being Aaron Salinger’s son is access to the company car service. I couldn’t think of a better time to use it than now.” He flashed a winsome smile at me as Ashley mouthed the word “limo.”
“That’s very thoughtful of you, Brendan,” Christine said a little stiffly, handing me my backpack. “Have a good day, dear. Be good to that ankle.”
When the apartment door closed behind me, Brendan grabbed my bag and slung it over his shoulder along with his backpack.
“Not that I don’t appreciate it, but—” I pursed my lips and considered whether Ashley was in earshot, since she had run ahead to press the elevator button “—are you babysitting me because of, well, this?” I gestured to my necklace.
“Your chest? Well, Emma, I won’t lie, your assets have a way of making even the school uniform shirt look good, but mostly I’m worried about your ankle,” Brendan deadpanned, a beatific smile on his face.
“Oh, come on, give me a straight answer.” I tugged on his coat sleeve.
“Nope,” Brendan said, holding the elevator door for me as we stepped inside for the short ride to the lobby—where out front was parked a shiny, sleek black limousine.
“Thank you, but don’t you think the limo is overkill?” I asked as he helped me into the car after Ashley had scrambled in.
“What? I wanted you to be able to stretch out your leg.” Brendan shrugged, sliding in after me once I’d gotten comfortable. “Oh, you’re getting a ride home from school, too.”
“Brendan, really, it’s just a sprain, I didn’t break it,” I protested, but he wouldn’t hear of it.
“The last time I sprained