Dark Covenant (Living Covenant Trilogy Book 2) (15 page)

“
T
his is
like the fifth bath we’ve taken together since we got here,” I said, studying Aric from the opposite end of the apartment’s small bathroom tub. “I’m starting to think you’re a chick with all the baths you want to take.”

Aric grinned as he grabbed my foot and rubbed it. “Don’t you remember racing home on Fridays so we could take a bath together when we first moved in together?”

We sat at opposite ends of the tub facing each other, my legs over his, and chatted through the steam and bubbles. It was the only way we fit together in the tiny space.

“I remember that the baths constituted foreplay,” I countered. “I’m not sure they were as romantic as you’re making them out to be.”

After breakfast – and two more odd utterances from Brittany – Paris called home and found her mother was garage sale shopping. We had to wait to hear back from her before moving forward. Aric insisted on returning to the apartment so we could take a bath. I was starting to think he was losing it.

“That’s not why we took a bath together every Friday,” Aric argued. “That was our quiet time together. You know, just us. Don’t ruin my memories.”

He was too cute not to smile. “I do remember that,” I conceded. “It’s when I realized we were too old for Friday parties and I was happier just hanging out with you.”

“See, you can be romantic when you want to be,” Aric said, shifting to my other foot. “Being back in this place makes me thankful for the life we’ve built away from here. I will always have fond memories of this place because it gave me you, but I’m ready to leave Covenant College behind for good.”

“Yeah, I’m not thrilled with being considered a cougar. It freaks me out.”

Aric snorted. “You’re in your prime, baby. Don’t worry about that. You just look old to the kids here because they can’t see beyond the myopic scope of this little world they live in. It’s normal for their age. We were the same way.”

“Tell me how you really feel,” I deadpanned.

“I want to go home,” Aric said. “I want to plan our wedding and look forward to the future. I want Mark taken care of, and I want it done soon.”

“Do you ever … ?” I broke off, unsure how to ask the question without shifting Aric’s mood from playful to irritable.

Aric lifted his patient eyes. “Do I ever what?”

“Do you ever wish you could go back in time and avoid meeting me that day at the University Center?”

Aric frowned. “No. Do you?”

“Of course not,” I said. “I got you out of the deal. You got stuck with me. There’s a difference.”

“Don’t ever say that!” Aric snapped, causing me to jolt at the tone of his voice. He held up his hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. You have to stop saying things like that, though. It bothers me.”

“It was just a question.”

“It was a stupid question,” Aric said. “Come here.” He reached for me, tugging my body on top of his and then sinking into the tub to cover us both with bubbles and water. “I wouldn’t trade our life for anything. This is what I’ve always wanted.”

“You want to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder to see who is coming after me next?” I couldn’t help but be dubious.

“Zoe, I wish you would stop being such a defeatist all the time,” Aric said. “I want to come home from work and find that you fell asleep on the couch and lost track of time. I want to watch you drive into the ditch because you’re arguing with a radio host about what an idiot he is.

“I want to listen to you laugh when you’re having a good time – even if it involves you being mean to someone,” he continued. “I want to fall asleep next to you every night, even when you snore.”

“I don’t store.”

“I’m not done,” Aric said, tapping his wet finger against the tip of my nose. “I want to be with you when there’s trouble. I want to be with you when things are going well. No matter what happens, though, I want to be with you. I wouldn’t change one moment of our time together.”

I opened my mouth to say something snarky, hoping to lighten the mood. Instead I snapped my mouth shut and did the unthinkable: burst into tears.

“Oh, geez,” Aric said, his face falling. “Don’t cry. I didn’t say that to make you cry.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, my voice shaking. “I have no idea why I’m crying. That was the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me before.”

“Oh, well, of course that means you should cry,” Aric said, tightening his arms around my back. “Stop that. I don’t like it when you cry.”

“Okay.” I tried to rein in my emotions, and immediately started crying again.

“Oh, good grief,” Aric said, rubbing my back. “I’m never saying anything romantic again if this is the payback I get.”

“
M
Y
mom thinks
we have to take the spell off Brittany,” Paris said later that afternoon, ushering us into her new hotel room. “She can’t be sure, but she thinks Brittany’s brain is overloading.”

“I think Brittany’s brain started overloading years ago,” I said. “That’s what happens when you try shoving things in something too tiny to hold them.”

“You’re so sweet sometimes,” Aric said, pinching my cheek and giving it a good shake.

I wrinkled my nose and rolled up to the balls of my feet to give him a kiss. Once I stopped crying – and pretended I hadn’t done it to begin with – we spent the rest of the morning making up. Because we hadn’t technically fought, I considered it a bonus of sorts.

“Oh, gross,” Kelsey said, walking out of the bathroom and shaking her head. “Are you two constantly in heat?”

“Leave her alone,” Aric chided, wrapping his arms around me. “She’s in her cuddly mode, and I like it. Don’t ruin this for me.”

“What’s going to happen when you two get married?” Kelsey pressed. “Are you going to lock yourselves away for months on end?”

“Just weekends,” Aric said, not missing a beat. “Speaking of that, though, my parents want to give us the honeymoon of our dreams. Where do you want to go?”

That was an interesting question. “Someplace warm with a beach.”

“Hawaii?”

“I could deal with Hawaii,” I said. “Can we get a cabana with a private hot tub and make sure we’re away from everyone else? Or, wait. Let’s go to Scotland so I can ride the Loch Ness Monster.”

Aric frowned. “Excuse me?”

“Either Hawaii or Scotland,” I replied, backtracking quickly. “You make the choice.”

“Consider it done,” Aric said, leading me to the table at the edge of the room and pulling me on his lap as he sat in one of the chairs. We had more imminent concerns right now. “What do we need to break the spell on Brittany?”

“I have to go to a magic store for some ingredients,” Paris replied. “It shouldn’t take me long to put together a spell. Then I just need to kind of … well … toss it on her.”

“Toss it on her?” That didn’t sound good. “You’re going to walk up to her and throw a bag of dust on her, and hope that wipes away the spell we cast five years ago?”

“Do you have a better idea?” Paris challenged.

“I think we should let her go crazy and be done with it.”

“You do not,” Aric said. “You feel guilty because casting the memory spell was your idea. Because of that, Brittany is engaged to a murderous madman and working at a low-level job she can’t possibly enjoy. She also might be going crazy because we’ve been pushing her. You don’t want to deal with your feelings of guilt, so you’ve decided to be mean instead.”

“That was profound,” Kelsey said. “You should get a psychology degree just for diagnosing Zoe’s personality disorders.”

“I do not feel guilty!” What? I don’t. Okay, I do a little. How did that even happen? I can’t stand Brittany. I never could. Now I’m suddenly responsible for the damage done to her life and I’m supposed to fix it? That doesn’t seem fair.

“It’s not a dirty word, Zoe,” Aric chided. “I feel a little guilty, too. We put a spell on her and walked away without ever once wondering whether we were doing her a disservice.”

“We put the spell on her to save her from this stuff,” I said. “We were trying to do right by her.”

“Were we?” Paris arched a challenging eyebrow. “I’m starting to think we did it because it was the easiest thing for us to do. It was the best thing for us. I’m not sure it was right for her.”

“We were trying to save her from knowing what happened to Will and mourning him,” I argued.

“No, we were trying to save her from knowing what happened to Will because we didn’t want her screaming ‘murderer’ at us every chance she got for the rest of our lives,” Paris corrected. “We should have left her to deal with her stuff on her own. She might have surprised us over the long haul.”

“That brings up another potential problem,” Aric said. “When you reverse the spell, will she forget the past five years? I mean, is she going to wake up and go looking for Will, or will she remember her new memories on top of the old ones?”

“She should remember everything,” Paris answered. “We’re taking all remnants of the spell off, so everything should come into focus. She might be slightly confused at first, but she should understand what’s going on as soon as I reverse the spell.”

“That means she’s probably going to try to kill me,” I said. “I’ve got twenty bucks that says she blames all this on me.”

“There’s plenty of blame to go around,” Aric said. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you if she gets out of hand.”

“Just don’t blow her up,” Paris ordered. “We need information from her. Once she realizes what Mark has been doing, she might surprise us and join our side. She can’t do that if you blow her up.”

“I’m not going to blow her up,” I said. “Why do you guys think I’m going to blow everyone up whenever I get antsy?”

“Because you’re terrifying when you want to be,” Paris replied. “You need to save that for Mark.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” I said. “Mark is going to get his. I can promise you that.”

“Brittany is at a spa for the bulk of the afternoon,” Paris said. “I think we should approach her in the parking lot. I looked it up on line. It has an isolated parking lot, so if she freaks out … .”

“We can duck and cover without anyone noticing,” I finished. “Let’s do it. I can’t wait to have a chat with the real Brittany.”

“It’s going to be just like old times,” Kelsey said.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I said.

“
I
S THAT
it
?” I asked, swiveling so I could watch Paris ready her bag of magical mischief in the back seat of Aric’s Explorer.

“This is it,” Paris confirmed.

“How fast will it work?” Aric asked.

“It should be pretty close to instantaneous,” Paris answered. “Now, when she’s first dosed there could be a few seconds of confusion. She might even fall over.”

“I vote for that outcome,” I said, raising my hand.

“Knock it off, Trouble,” Aric chided, although a small smile played at the corner of his mouth. “I’ll catch her if she falls.”

“That sounds like her dream come true,” I grumbled. “She swoons and you come running.”

“I’ll swoon your butt off if you don’t stop that,” Aric warned. “We have to do this, Zoe. Don’t make me lock you in this Explorer. You’ll miss all the fun when Brittany remembers and has a meltdown. Then you’ll spend months listening to Paris and Kelsey tell you how you should’ve been there. You’ll hate yourself if that happens. We both know it.”

I frowned. He knows me too well. “Fine,” I said, reaching for the door handle. “Let’s do this and get it over with. If she hits on you even once, though … .”

“You’ll what? Walk off alone with Rafael and ask him what you should do?” Aric challenged.

“This place is definitely getting to the two of you,” Paris said.

“Fine,” I said, resigned. “I won’t do anything horrible.”

“Good girl,” Aric said, reaching into his pocket and handing me a wrapped lollipop. “It has gum in the center. That should make you happy.”

“Score!” I took the sucker and unwrapped it. “You always know the best way to my heart.”

“I do,” Aric agreed, grabbing my chin and giving me a kiss before I could shove the lollipop into my mouth. “If Brittany decides to throw a punch, make sure that thing isn’t in your mouth. She could choke you.”

“This is easily the weirdest conversation we’ve ever had,” Kelsey mused. “I’m including the time we sat in front of the window at that one house and licked it to mess with the Academy guy making out with Tally on the front porch.”

I snorted. “That was funny.”

“I don’t like that story because I wasn’t around for it,” Aric said, pushing open his door. “The new rule is that you can’t tell stories unless I’m the leading man.”

“That’s really going to cut down on my slut stories,” I deadpanned.

“You’re in trouble when we get home tonight,” Aric muttered.

We stood next to the Explorer for what felt like forever, our eyes trained on the spa, and then the door opened. Brittany was fixated on her purse when she stepped off the curb. I inclined my head in Paris’ direction, urging her to get it over with.

Paris strode forward, the baggie open, and dumped the contents on Brittany without one word of preamble.

Brittany’s eyes widened when she saw the mess and then briefly clouded. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She looked as if a stroke was on her to-do list today.

“Well, she’s definitely broken now,” I said.

Brittany locked her eyes with mine and her expression darkened. “Oh. My. God!”

“
Z
oe made me do it
,” Paris announced, pointing in my direction and taking a step back so she wasn’t in range should Brittany lash out.

“What … who … how … why … ?” Brittany rubbed the side of her face as she attempted to collect herself.

“Those are four wonderful questions,” I said. “I’m going to leave Paris to answer them for you while I … go to that ice cream shop over there.”

Aric snagged the back of my shirt before I could walk away and shook his head. “Don’t even think about it.”

Brittany focused on Paris first, her gaze slowly shifting to Kelsey, Aric and then me in turn. She stepped in front of me, her eyes narrowed, and opened her mouth. I fully expected something ugly to escape. Instead she smacked me across the face with enough force to dislodge my lollipop and send it flying to the ground.

“You bitch!” Brittany reached for my hair but Aric intercepted her, easily grabbing her wrist and pushing her away from me.

“Keep your hands to yourself,” Aric ordered, wagging a finger in Brittany’s face. “She didn’t do this. Well … she didn’t do it on her own.”

“I didn’t even get to the gum yet!” I was furious. “You don’t hit someone when they have a sucker in their mouth! What’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me?” Brittany screeched. “You just dumped something on me. I’m never going to get this smell out of this shirt, and it’s one of my favorites.”

“Paris dumped it on you,” I shot back. “I was standing over here minding my own business and you slapped me. Who slaps someone once they’re out of elementary school?”

“I’ve watched you slap a good twenty people,” Kelsey pointed out.

“Shut up, Kelsey.” I rubbed the side of my cheek and stretched my jaw to make sure there was no permanent damage, refusing to lower my gaze as Brittany stared me down.

“What is going on?” Brittany asked. “Why do I suddenly remember things differently?”

“That’s a really long story,” Paris said, opting for a calm and soothing tone. “And before we start it … um … we want to say how sorry we are.”

“I don’t,” I muttered, earning a stern look from Aric.

“Why are my memories back?” Brittany asked. “Why were they gone in the first place?”

“We took them away,” Paris answered. “After everything that happened … after Will’s death … we thought we were doing you a favor by removing all the bad parts of your time at Covenant College from your memory.”

“So you stole my memories?”

I couldn’t blame Brittany for being upset. In retrospect, we mentally assaulted her and took her choices. I would be ticked off, too. I still didn’t like her. “We gave you a happier life,” I clarified. “We honestly thought we were doing the right thing at the time.”

“And now?” Brittany challenged. “Why come back and undo it now?”

“Because you’re engaged to a murderer and we thought you should know what you’re up against before you marry him,” I replied. “I thought Paris had terrible taste in men, but yours is worse – which is completely ludicrous and dumbfounding, quite frankly.”

“I am going to kill you,” Brittany hissed, lunging at me.

Aric caught her before she could wrap her outstretched fingers around my neck. “This isn’t helping. We have a lot to talk about. We need to find a quiet place to discuss things.”

I pointed at the ice cream parlor. “Chocolate helps everything.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Aric hedged.

“Oh, no,” Brittany spat. “It’s a great idea. Let’s get ice cream. That will make everything perfect.”

“
T
HIS
is really good
,” I said twenty minutes later, dipping my spoon into the hot fudge sundae and smiling broadly. “I told you this was a good idea.”

“You’re wise and cute,” Aric said. “Now shut up and eat your ice cream.”

“This is so unbelievable,” Brittany said, gripping her malt with one hand while she tapped her fingers on the picnic table with the other. “I’ve been living a lie for five years. I had no idea.”

All her fight seemed to have fled and she appeared defeated. Now I really did feel guilty. Who needs that? “Was it at least a good lie?”

“Shut up, Zoe,” Aric said, flicking my ear. “You’re not helping.”

“What do you remember?” Paris asked, her voice gentle. She’s much better at this sort of thing than I am. That should come as a surprise to absolutely no one.

“I remember everything,” Brittany said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I remember the rally. I remember Zoe warning me to run. I remember you approaching me two days later and then … it was like someone dropped a sheet over me and everything shifted.”

“I’m sorry I did that,” Paris said. “I really am. It’s just … we didn’t know what you would do and we were worried you were going to fall apart.”

That was technically true. We were more worried about ourselves than Brittany at the time, though. She had a big mouth and liked drama. We were worried she would share our secrets with the world. I didn’t think now was the time to volunteer that information.

“Will is dead,” Brittany said. “It’s like I’m feeling his death all over again, yet he’s been gone for five years.”

“And you’re engaged to an even bigger douche,” I interjected. “How did that happen?”

“Zoe, I am going to gag you with that ice cream,” Aric said, shooting me a dark look.

“It’s a legitimate question,” I protested.

“You didn’t need to add in the colorful embellishment.”

“It’s not my fault Brittany keeps picking douches,” I argued. “I know I picked the perfect man and not everyone can get that lucky, but come on.”

“Okay, you’re being cute again, so I’ll let it slide,” Aric said, winking.

That “perfect man” stuff always causes him to give in. When I turned back to Brittany I found her staring at us with a disgusted look on her face. “What?”

“I can’t believe you’re getting married … to her,” Brittany said, fixing Aric with an incredulous look. “Are you a glutton for punishment?”

“I love her,” Aric replied, unruffled. “Despite how she treats you sometimes, she’s a good person. You two need to get over your crap so we can figure this out.”

“What do we have to figure out?” Brittany asked. “And she is not a good person. I can’t believe she’s actually winning. I mean … she gets you and I end up with Mark? How does that even happen?”

“I think it’s karma,” I said.

“Zoe!” Aric squeezed the back of my neck. “I think you should be quiet for the next five minutes.”

“I prefer years,” Brittany shot back.

“You’re not helping either, Brittany,” Aric said, slapping his hand over my mouth before I could say something truly awful.

“A lot of things have happened since we graduated,” Paris said. “I’m sure things aren’t what you expected either.”

“Do you think?” Brittany’s cheeks reddened. “I’m working in the registrar’s office making half of what I was two years ago. My life is over.”

“Yeah, um, how did you and Mark hook up?” Paris asked.

“We ran into each other one day at the market close to my parents’ house,” Brittany explained. “He seemed surprised to see me. Now I know why. He was more of a … curiosity … to me. I remembered him from high school and some vague recollections from college, but I didn’t remember the horrible things.

“We ended up going out for dinner to catch up,” she continued. “He kept questioning me about graduation and what happened. He asked me about Zoe, but I didn’t remember her.”

“I’m sure you were happier back then,” I said.

“Not really, Zoe,” Brittany shot back. “I’m not happy about having my mind messed with. I would’ve rather remembered the horrible things than be forced to forget against my will.”

I swallowed hard as her words hit me. “I understand that,” I said. “I don’t blame you for hating me. We shouldn’t have done it. At the time … we had a lot to deal with.”

“We thought we were doing the best thing for you,” Paris interjected.

“No, we didn’t,” I said. “I’m not going to lie to her. That’s not why we’re here. We’re adults now. It’s time for the truth, and the truth is we cast the spell because we were afraid you would go flapping your lips about us to anyone who would listen. We were frightened about what would happen given all the disappearances after the rally that day.”

“Well, at least you’re honest,” Brittany said. “I can’t say I blame you for being worried. I’m not sure what I would’ve done, but I was angry with you. You killed Will.”

“Technically I let Rafael kill him,” I clarified. “That was after Will … and Mark, for that matter … locked Rafael up for months in an effort to starve him. Then they shoved Paris and me into a tiny room with him because they wanted him to eat us.

“Will was betrayed by Professor Blake,” I continued. “They locked him in the room with us to get rid of him. They didn’t want to deal with his demands. I had a choice, and I chose to sacrifice Will to save Paris and myself. I’m pretty sure I made the right decision.”

“If you think I don’t remember how Will was, you’re wrong,” Brittany said. “Perhaps I didn’t want to see his true nature. Maybe I just wanted to beat you. It’s hard for me to admit that, but things are kind of jumbled where he’s concerned.

“I thought we were going to have a life together,” she continued. “Looking back, I’m pretty sure that life would’ve been a nightmare. You probably did me a favor.”

That was the nicest thing she’d ever said to me.

“I still think you’re a jerk,” Brittany added.

And we were back to the natural order of the universe. “I am a jerk,” I agreed. “I’m not sorry for what I did to Will.”

“No one is sorry for what you did to Will,” Aric said. “Go back to Mark. You said you had dinner with him and he kept asking you questions about Zoe. Did he say anything about where he’d been that night?”

Brittany tilted her head to the side, racking her brain. “No. He seemed … bitter. I thought that was because he was back living with his parents after graduation. Why? Where was he?”

“Most of Blake’s followers were killed after the rally,” Aric replied. “Zoe made the decision to spare Mark. He was locked up for a year and then released. We didn’t think he was a threat. We were wrong.”

“After that first dinner, I didn’t see him for about two weeks,” Brittany said. “Then we ran into each other again and started having regular lunches. He got a job at a community college and seemed to be doing well for himself.”

“When did you start dating?”

Brittany lowered her eyes. “I don’t know how it happened, but he kissed me after one of our lunches,” she said. “Before I even realized what was going on we were dating. Then my parents died and he was there every step of the way to help me. It was a natural progression.”

Aric cleared his throat and darted a worried look in my direction. “Did it ever occur to you that Mark might’ve had a hand in your parents’ accident?”

Brittany stilled, surprised. “I … no. Why would he?”

“When we found out you and Mark were engaged, we were surprised,” Aric said.

“To say the least,” I added.

“We ran a background check and found you got quite the inheritance after the accident,” Aric said. “Is it possible that he went after you because of that money? Did he know you were due to get it?”

“I guess I might have mentioned it at some point, although I honestly don’t remember doing it,” Brittany said. “Now that all of my memories are back, I have this … ball of disgust … in the pit of my stomach. I can’t believe I’m engaged to Mark. He used to skateboard, for crying out loud.”

I fought the urge to laugh. “Does Mark have access to your money?”

“I don’t have a lot of money,” Brittany clarified. “I made decent money when I was downstate, but I don’t make great money here. I don’t have the life insurance payouts from my parents yet, although Mark has been on me to pressure the company to cut the checks. That seems a little strange in hindsight.”

“Did Mark convince you to take the job here so you could change his records and secure a job for him on campus?” Aric asked.

Brittany nodded. “He told me it was his dream to teach at Covenant College. He told me some story about a bad professor holding him back and keeping him from graduating,” she said. “I was an idiot and believed him. I don’t know how I could be so stupid.”

“You can blame the spell and me for that if you want,” I offered.

“Don’t worry. That’s exactly what I intend to do.”

“Did you know Mark was trying to get the Academy up and running again?” Aric asked.

Brittany shook her head. “I heard him talking to one of his students one day,” she said. “He was going on and on about the wolves of Alpha Chi not moving fast enough. I didn’t know what that meant … but I guess I do now.”

Aric shifted on the bench and leaned forward. “Did you know he detonated a bomb at our engagement party?”

Brittany’s mouth dropped open as her face slackened. “No. I … no!”

“Scott died in the blast,” I said, keeping my voice low. “We have video of Mark setting the bomb. That’s how we knew to chase him down. We decided to watch him for a bit to see what he was up to. That’s when we found … well … you.”

“You guys took turns coming into the registrar’s office because you wanted to see whether I remembered anything,” Brittany mused. “Why did I recognize Paris?”

“The spell was geared to leave you with happy memories and gloss over any discrepancies,” Paris said. “I guess I survived because you had happy memories about us living together.”

“What are you going to do now?” Brittany asked. “Are you going to kill Mark?”

“Yes,” Aric replied, not missing a beat. “He doesn’t get another chance. We gave him one and he squandered it. He killed people. We can’t trust him, and locking him away is a waste of resources.”

“We need to know exactly what he’s planning first, though,” I said. “Does he keep documents at the house?”

“He keeps all of that stuff in his office,” Brittany said. “I can get you in, though. I have a key he doesn’t know about.”

“How did you manage that?”

“I thought he was cheating on me and had one made when he wasn’t looking,” Brittany admitted, biting her lip. “I went through his office, and there was a lot of stuff I didn’t understand in the files. I bet that’s the stuff you’re looking for.”