Page 47 of Blood Brother Cursed

He reached over and brushed some stray hair out of her face, letting his fingers caress her skin. Astrid closed her eyes and held his hand in place with her own. “Eventually, you’ll want to live your own life.”

Breathing in his comforting scent, Astrid shook her head. “I don’t want to think of a life without you. Living alone makes me reckless.”

“Are you saying you need someone to keep you in check?”

She opened her eyes to see if he was serious. The soft smile on Phoenix’s face told her the answer. Turning and kissing the palm of his hand, she murmured, “I’m not the only one who needs to be kept in check.”

He chuckled. “You are right. But I have to be alone; you don’t.”

“Actually,” she released his hand and gave him a serious look, “I don’t think the curse works the way everyone thinks it does. I mean, people don’t die in front of you, so it’s not like you caused their deaths.”

He sighed and sat on the couch, and she cuddled next to him. Phoenix wrapped an arm around her. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this.”

“Just like my brother, I chose this. You aren’t responsible for people’s choices. And if you warn people ahead of time, before they get close, their deaths aren’t on you.”

“I could just refuse to get close to anyone.”

She tilted her head back and looked up at him. “Yeah, I did that, too. It didn’t work. And you clearly aren’t the kind of person who does well on his own.”

“What do you mean?”

“You may not be a good salesman, but it’s very obvious you are a caring person. You were kind to me, even though I was pretty horrible to you.”

“You were just rude.”

“Yeah, I can say from experience that most people wouldn’t have kept pushing to help. Even after you tried to shut me out, you gave me a way to contact you, not Elliott or the Sextons, but you.”

He stroked the palm of her hand with his thumb. “I think there was something recognizable in your eyes. It made it very hard to leave you alone. Then, you told me your name, and well, it’s not exactly common.”

Looking at their hands, Astrid said, “My brother continues to care for me.”

“In a way, yes.” He leaned over and kissed her head. “He tried to teach me how to skip rocks, but we never made it very far.”

She stared at their hands, and then she looked up at him. “He tried to teach you to skip rocks?”

“Yeah. He said he just wanted to get off base for a while, and he didn’t feel he could talk to anyone else. I never got the hang of it.”

“You stopped trying after he died.”

Phoenix nodded. “I felt guilty.”

Astrid stood up and pulled him off the couch. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“To the lake.”

“Don’t you need to work?”

“Not at the moment. I haven’t taken on any projects since the last disaster. I’m enjoying some downtime.”

They held hands as they left through the back door of Phoenix’s remote house. Astrid could have gone back to her home since the facility was gone, but Phoenix insisted they stay together, not that it bothered Astrid. And his places were so much nicer than hers. Besides, she wasn’t sure how safe she would feel in her own home. The company had gone under, but it was clear that others were ready to try to pick up where they left off. After all, they had taken ideas from the Mora family disaster.

As they walked the quarter mile to the lake, Astrid decided to start asking some of the hard questions. “Do you remember what your father did when he deepened the curse?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

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