Page 56 of Too Cursed To Kiss
I was going to protest, as Britannia running the show was perhaps the last thing I wanted, but my outburst and the screeching tires had gotten the attention of the inhabitants of the house I had been headed for. People spilled out onto their porches as Britannia woman-handled Wald into the back seat.
I got into the front passenger side and slunk down, throwing my hair forward to hide my face. From the attention of the gawkers, the license plates on this car were burned, but at least we had transportation. I’d deal later with the infuriating concept that Britannia was calling the shots.
“What are you waiting for? Drive!” She ordered from the back seat. Drive? Yes. Control the car, I could do that. I had no idea where we were going, but anywhere away from here was a good plan. By the time the back door slammed, I’d slidover to the driver’s side and started the car. I threw it into gear and drove up the street, flipping up the turn signal to turn right as I stopped at the stop sign.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter, just drive,” Wald answered. My heart burst with joy as I whipped around while entering the intersection. The car slamming into us took my breath away. A slow-motion crunching, crushing, glass-breaking slide to the curb. The airbag ballooned out with athwack.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The air was a haze of powder. The guy in the other car was already walking toward us, spewing obscenities in a blend of English and Spanish. Bruised and in shock, I batted at the deflated airbag with the lingering sensation of being hit in the face with a padded shovel.
“Everyone okay?” I asked, glancing into the back seat. The driver’s side door was dented, and getting out was not going to be possible anytime soon.
“I gave you one simple job,” Britannia snapped as a siren sounded in the distance. Someone had called an ambulance, or police, or both. Britannia clambered from the floor onto the backseat.
I batted at the airbag. We needed to get the hell out of here. Wald already had the back passenger door open. He yanked open the front passenger door pushing the air bag back while grabbing my arm. With some unladylike contortions, painful twisting, and a few yelps that he ignored, he pulled me out. I was happy to be free of the car, but there were going to be more bruises.
“Here, take this, don’t let go of it, and stay quiet.” Wald pressed the marble from Aunt Agatha’s into my palm, folded my fingers over it, and nudged me down onto the curb.
Being annoyed by the manhandling faded against what I was seeing. The world was still there, but I had the impression I was looking at it through a window. Was it shock? When I reached out, I couldn’t touch a barrier, and my hand looked normal. Wald was in front of me. His leather jacket had a crystal-like surface. I shook my head, closed my eyes, and opened them. The world still looked weird. Maybe I’d hit my head?
I kicked Wald in the leg, and he turned. I’m sure he was glaring at me from behind the sunglasses. His face was healed? There was no gash, not even blood. He dropped to the curb beside me as the sirens got closer. A police cruiser pulled up, blocking off the intersection.
The driver of the other car rushed at the squad car, spouting words likethat crazy bitchbefore the officer could even get out of the car. The man was lying. I had stopped at the sign and signaled, but as the car damage would show, he’d been driving too fast. It was his fault, but on a better day, I’d have managed to avoid hitting him.
My stomach hollowed. There was no way out of this now. After all I’d done to run from it, this tiny screw-up was about to land me in jail. I resigned myself to a big day of questions I had no way to begin to answer, followed by a prison cell that I might never leave. I remembered the day my Mom went inside. I’d cried, outraged the world would take her from me. Who would care if I was in jail?
Wald leaned in, the hair on my arms bristling with his proximity. “I activated the artifact. With the marble concealed in your hand, they can’t see you—but move only in smooth movements. Don’t let go of it and under nocircumstances talk. I’ll get us out of this.” He dusted a kiss on my forehead. For whatever reason, he cared.
I looked down at the marble in my palm and then over at the police car. Britannia had walked up to the police officer, and I swear she was attempting to seduce him while telling off the other driver at the same time. It was an impressive technique. From the shouted repartee, I gathered she’d convinced them she was the driver of our car. She was wearing almost the same outfit as I was, not that the driver could have seen it. But the people on the street would have seen her drive up.
Speaking of people, we now had a crowd around us. Britannia excellently handled both the male and female officers, and Wald produced the rental car papers. I still saw no good way out of this. A tow-truck pulled up, and after some measurements and photos, the car was towed off. Someone came to rescue the other stranded driver. A purple Ford drove up the street, parking by the curb as the police got back into their cruiser.
“You Charlie?” The driver asked out the window at Wald. Wald nodded and walked over to me.
“Time to go. Keep it slow,” he said, looking around like I wasn’t right in front of him.
I got up and shooting pains tore up my leg. I half fell back onto the curb with a moan.
“Shush,” Wald hissed. I got up again, shifting most of the weight on the other leg, and limped toward Britannia who had the purple car’s back door open.
Leg throbbing, I slid in beside Britannia as Wald sandwiched me between them. Warm leather and a sweet muskiness canceled out Britannia’s pear perfume as I cuddled closer to him.
Wald gave the driver the address of another rental car company.
“How are we getting another car?” I whispered. He nestled his nose under my hair and licked up my neck. His tongue was delicate and rough at the same time. Tingles shot through me, and in a rush of confused sensations, I melted against him, not really caring where we were going. “Do that again,” I cooed at him.
Britannia shot me a withering look. Wald smirked at her, but he didn’t lick me again. He put his finger to his lips, reminding me we were being overheard. I slouched down and closed my eyes, descending into the glow of whatever that tongue had done to make my leg stop throbbing and other places start.
Ahalf hour later, we had new wheels. A white innocuous four-door beast of a car. We promptly drove to the impound, which had the old banged up black sedan. Wald got out, leaving me with Britannia. Neither of us talked, though I gave her a couple of glares that said,I’m only tolerating you for Wald’s sake.
In far too short a time for normal police paperwork, Wald returned, carrying the box and our luggage to the trunk with the help of a somewhat glazed-over guy in a uniform. He handed the guy some cash and slid back into the driver’s seat.
Back on the road, I stuffed the marble into my pocket.
“Okay, I have questions. How are you not dead, and why the fuck are we trusting her? Oh, and how could I have been invisible for the last hour? And where are we going?”
