Betrayal (Blood Haze: Book Three) A Paranormal Romance (14 page)

Damn it!
I thought.

Sure enough, Alexi and Liam turned, with
horrified faces, to see me standing slack-jawed outside the door
listening to the entire conversation. I slowly backed away from the
door, and then I burst into a run and fled down the hallway.

I headed straight to my room and slammed the
door behind me. This was the worst thing that could have happened.
I’d rather have faced a thousand wraiths than what had just
happened. I leaned my back against the door and sighed deeply.

My life was complicated enough, already. I
thought I was deeply in love with Kai, and I had very strong
feelings for Max, too. And then there was Alexi. He had loved me
before we even met – through his father’s visions. We were
betrothed, and I cared for him deeply. All of this was already far
too complicated. It was made even more so by the recent revelation
that I could somehow use an ability to charm people into believing
they had feelings for me.

Why couldn’t I have one uncomplicated
relationship? Why did everyone I meet seem to fall in love with me?
Liam was the one person I thought I could really be friends with,
without having to worry about hurting him or things becoming
awkward. Now that was all over. I was about to lose the only real
friend I had – the only one I could turn to and talk to and laugh
with. The
only
uncomplicated thing in my life.

I hadn’t told anyone about my ability to
charm, because I didn’t want to cause any issues with anyone. Now,
it was looking more and more like I would have no choice.

I jumped as someone rapped at the door behind
my back.

“Alice? Are you okay?” I heard Kai ask
through the door.

I cracked the door and peeked out. Kai was
standing by himself, looking very concerned. I opened the door
wider and stepped back, allowing him to enter my room. Then I
closed the door behind him.

“What happened? Why did you run off like
that?” Kai asked.

“Oh, God,” I groaned. “I don’t want to talk
about it.”

I collapsed face down on the bed in
exasperation. The bed sagged as Kai sat down beside me.

“Come on. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“No,” I mumbled, my face still buried in my
blankets. “I don’t want to.”

“Please?”

I sighed. After a moment, I rolled over onto
my back and stared up at the ceiling.

“I overheard Liam telling Alexi he’s
leaving.”

“Leaving. Like… leaving town?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? For how long?”

“Permanently, from what it sounded like.”

“What? Why would he do that?”

I sighed again.

“He told Alexi he’s in love with me,” I
groaned.

Kai was quiet for a moment, and then he
asked, “Another one?”

“I don’t get it!” I lamented. “Why does this
keep happening to me? It’s like I’m poison. Can’t I just have
one
uncomplicated relationship in my life?”

This time is was Kai who sighed.

“You’re
hardly
poison. There’s just
something about you. You’re irresistible.”

I groaned. He had no idea that his feelings
for me were, quite possibly, the product of some kind of special
ability. Part of me wanted to tell him, but another part of me
definitely wasn’t ready to.

“I don’t
want
to be irresistible. I
want to be
completely
and
totally resistible
.”

“Impossible.”

“It’s not fair! I just want to live a normal
life! I don’t want people to keep falling for me like this!”

“I understand, but we can’t just snap our
fingers and stop loving you, Alice.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, suddenly feeling
regretful for being so forthcoming with my feelings. “I shouldn’t
have…”

“Don’t apologize,” Kai interrupted. “You
can’t help how you feel any more than any of us can.”

“I know. I just hate that all of you keep
getting caught in the crossfire.”

“We’re dealing with it.”

“Yeah, and I appreciate that. I just wish you
didn’t have to.”

A quiet knock sounded at the door, and I
heard Liam call, “Alice?”

“Come in, Liam,” I called back, sitting
up.

The door opened slowly, and Liam peeked
meekly around the corner.

“I’ll leave you two alone to talk,” Kai said,
standing up. “You know where to find me, Alice.”

I nodded at him, and he left, closing the
door behind him.

Liam stood by the door, staring down at the
floor. With one hand, he fiddled with the fingernail of the thumb
on his other hand nervously.

“What is it, Liam?” I asked after a
moment.

“I guess you heard.”

“I did,” I admitted.

“I didn’t want to tell you, Alice. I know you
have enough to deal with, already. I didn’t want to make your life
any more complicated than it already is, and I certainly didn’t
want to hurt Alexi.”

“Don’t worry about it, Liam. I
understand.”

“You always understand. That’s part of what
makes me… why I… it’s part of what makes you special.”

“So you’re leaving?” I asked solemnly.

“I have to, Alice. I can’t stand being around
you and knowing you’re betrothed to my brother. I can’t stand
seeing you with Kai. I can’t stand knowing how you feel about them,
and how you don’t feel about me. I can’t stand any of it. I have to
go.”

“I don’t want you to go,” I implored. “You’re
my best friend.”

He shook his head.

“No, I’m not. Not even close.”

“You are the only person I can talk to
without worrying…” my voice trailed off, because what I was about
to say was no longer true.

“Go ahead and say it,” Liam urged.

“You
were
the only person I could talk
to without worrying about things being weird.”

He scoffed.

“That’s hasn’t been the case for a
while.”

I had to think for a moment to understand
what he’d said.

“Wait… how long have you felt this way?”

“I don’t know. A while.”

“Wow…” I whispered.

Liam still refused to look up from the
floor.

“Liam, please don’t leave,” I begged. “If
you’ve gone this long without even telling me, maybe…”

“I can’t, Alice,” he mourned, shaking his
head. “It’s just not possible. I can’t stay. I’m sorry.”

“Why not? Why can’t it be like it’s always
been?”

Liam finally looked up at me. His eyes were a
storm of emotion, and he suddenly became very animated.

“Do you think I would have told Alexi all of
this if I wasn’t at my wit’s end? I’ve
tried
to keep it all
inside – to just ignore it!” he shouted, throwing his hands into
the air dramatically. “I can’t do it, anymore! Just being around
you is too difficult!”

“Maybe it will get easier as time…”

“No!” Liam yelled. “It’s
not
getting
easier! It’s getting
harder
!”

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s not your fault, Alice. You didn’t do
anything wrong.”

I sighed. That was the problem. It really
was
my fault, but I had no idea how to control my ability to
keep this kind of thing from happening.

“I know, but I’d do anything if I could just
keep from hurting the people I care about. Maybe
I
should
leave. I’m a curse to everyone I come in contact with!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. None of this is your
fault. You’re not doing anything to cause this. It just
happens.”

“Please don’t go,” I begged. “We have so much
fun together. I don’t think I can deal with any of this without
you.”

“I’m going to go, Alice. There’s no way I can
stay. Maybe I’ll be able to come back at some point, but right now
I just can’t handle this. Please try to understand. I would
never
leave you if I thought there was
any
way I
could keep dealing with this.”

“There’s something I have to tell you, Liam,”
I said softly.

Instantly, I regretted saying it. I didn’t
want to tell him. I didn’t want to tell
anyone
. But I
couldn’t let Liam leave. He really was my best friend, and I didn’t
want to lose him. It was time to come clean.

“What is it?”

“Father Jacobs told me something. He
said…”

I gulped. I really didn’t want to say it.

“Go on. What did he say?”

“He said I have an ability I haven’t been
aware of, and that I am probably using it without even knowing
it.”

“What ability? What are you talking
about?”

“He said I have the ability to charm people.
That’s why people keep falling in love with me out of the blue –
for no reason at all.”

Liam looked as though the wind had been
knocked out of him. His face looked pale, and his mouth gaped open
slightly.

“Well, that explains a lot,” he said at
last.

“Yeah, that’s what
I
said,” I
admitted.

“And you think that’s why everyone keeps
falling for you?”

“I can’t think of any other reason why anyone
would fall for me.”

“Right, because it couldn’t possibly be the
fact that you’re witty, and charming, and kind, and beautiful, and
completely selfless. No, it couldn’t be any of that.”

Liam rolled his eyes mockingly.

“I’m serious, Liam. It never made sense. Kai
was madly in love with me within hours of meeting me, and Max
didn’t take much longer. It was always so insane.”

“But didn’t you fall for Kai pretty quickly,
too?”

“Yeah, I thought about that,” I admitted.
“But I think what happened with him was that I developed an
emotional attachment based on two things. First, the fact that he
was the first guy my age I really had much contact with. And
second, because I felt so sorry for him.”

“So you mistook pity for love?”

“I wouldn’t say that, no. I mean… I guess
that was part of it.”

“And what about Max?”

“Physical attraction.”

“That’s it?”

“No, that’s not everything, obviously. I
mean, he’s a really great guy. He’s sweet, and kind, and he loves
to take care of people. You should have seen him protecting my
friend Jamie at school. It was amazing.”

“But physical attraction was the main
thing.”

“Yes, I suppose.”

“Hmm. And how do you feel about me?”

I blinked at him. I couldn’t believe he was
really asking me that.

“You’re my friend, Liam. My
best
friend.”

He looked hurt.

“That’s all?”

“I never thought of you as anything else,” I
admitted.

“Why not? Are you not attracted to me?”

“Oh, gosh, Liam. I never thought about
it!”

That was a lie. There had been plenty of
times when I noticed how attractive Liam was. It was just that I’d
never thought of him that way. He was Alexi’s brother, and my
friend, and it never even occurred to me that he might ever be
anything else.

“I see,” he said quietly.

“Look, Liam. You’re probably just charmed,
right now. I don’t know how to control it. Even Father Jacobs
admitted it was working on him when we were talking. So you
probably don’t even
really
have feelings for me at all.”

“You really think that?” Liam asked, clearly
hurt.

“What else would I think?”

“Alice, this isn’t some crazy spell that had
me blubbering over you in hours. I’ve known you for a while now,
and it’s just been a gradual thing.”

“Maybe it just took longer to work on
you.”

Liam sighed and threw his hands into the
air.

“I guess you’re never going to believe anyone
might actually love you now that you’ve learned about your stupid
ability, huh?” he shouted. “I guess it’s just impossible to think
someone might actually love you for
you
!”

“No, it’s not impossible,” I disagreed.

“Oh. I get it. Alexi, right? Because
he
loved you before he met you,
his
feelings must be
real, right? Great. Just great!”

“Liam, please calm down,” I implored him. “I
understand this is…”

“You clearly don’t understand anything!” he
yelled. “This isn’t some stupid charm spell, Alice! I love
you!”

I groaned. I didn’t mean to. It just slipped
out. Instantly, I regretted it. I could see the look of disdain on
Liam’s face as soon as it happened.

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I didn’t mean
that the way it…”

“Just stop,” he muttered. “I said I was
leaving, and I am.”

He turned to leave, and I grabbed his
arm.

“Liam, wait,” I begged. “Please.”

He stopped, but he did not turn around.

“I don’t want you to leave,” I said.
“Whatever it takes to make you stay, I’ll do it. Just tell me what
you want from me.”

He shook his head and sighed.

“You can’t give me what I want,” he muttered,
and he stormed out of my room, slamming the door behind him.

I knew he had to be charmed. That was the
only explanation. Like Max and Kai, he’d simply fallen victim to
this latent ability I had no control over. I was so angry. If only
I’d known sooner, I could have learned to control it, and I
wouldn’t be losing the only
real
friend I had. He was my
best friend, and now he was leaving.

Dmitri still hadn’t shown up, and I was
getting more and more anxious about it. I decided to go find Alexi.
Perhaps he would have some idea of what we should do. I couldn’t
just sit around and do nothing. I was going crazy. As soon as I
opened the door, I nearly ran into Alexi.

“I was just coming to check on you,” he told
me.

“I’m surprised you left me alone to sleep,
earlier,” I told him.

“You were never alone,” he corrected me.

“You and Liam were arguing, and no one was
outside my door when I came out,” I argued.

“No one was…” Alexi started to say. “What?
Kai was supposed to be standing guard outside your door!”

“Don’t get mad at him,” I said. “I don’t need
to be guarded twenty-four seven!”