Page 36 of Cursed Love
“No!”she yelled.
Ryan released her and grabbed his head. “Oh man, that was like in surround sound.”
“I’m so sorry, honey!” she whispered and cupped his cheek. “It’s weird having Peter know.”
“You already saw his dick, sweetheart.”
“And what a dick,”she thought before she remembered.
Ryan froze under her before he lifted her and placed her gently next to him. “How about we not think about my best friend’s junk?” His words were icy.
Brandy wished the earth would open up and swallow her whole. “I’m sorry! I meant—”
Ryan cupped her cheek as she pulled her jeans to her hips. “Please just drop it. I’m not mad at you, I’m—this is all new. Okay? We need to be careful with our thoughts until we get a rein on it.”
Brandy nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her naked breasts pressed against his shirt. “I’m sorry. I don’t want him. I want you. No one else.”
Ryan kissed her back, but it was different. Sad and hurt feelings emanated from him. She was to blame for those emotions, and she vowed to make it better.
Once they were dressed, they walked to the house and found Peter leaning against the railing. He hadn’t a care in the world. And yet, thanks to him and his nakedness, things between her and Ryan had gone from spectacular and better than any dream her subconscious could have come up with to weird and hurt.
“What the hell is wrong with you two?” Peter asked, straightening to his height. He must have sensed the air around them. “I would have thought all that tension between you would be gone. Rye? Were you not able to get it up?”
Ryan stopped walking next to her. She felt his power radiate around them. Squeezing his hand, she forced him to look at her.“We’re one, honey. He’s just messing with you.”
Ryan remained silent, both with his words and in her mind.
“Ouch!” Peter cried out and grabbed the railing.
Brandy watched as Peter’s jeans shrank around his waist. “Ryan! Stop it!” She grabbed his arm and tugged, needing him to hear her. “This is ridiculous! You’re hurting him!”
Ryan faced her, and varying emotions swirled in his eyes before she heard Peter sigh with relief. Ryan removed her hand from his arm, and she watched him disappear into thin air, thanks to the spell she now hated.
Tears welled in her eyes as she stared at the spot she last saw him. There was not much else she could have said or done. Glancing up at her new friend— a hot friend, albeit still only her friend—she saw him looking on with a mix of pain and anger.
Brandy made her way inside without a word and closed the door to her little room. She curled up on the bed and wondered how such a beautiful afternoon had turned to shit so fast.
Chapter 14
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Babycakes?” Peter asked through the door, but she ignored him like she had the last hundred times he knocked.
Three days after the “event,” as she had come to see it, she called Ryan with both their newfound line of communication and her phone, but he refused to respond to either.
“You need to eat something!” Peter called, worry vibrating in his voice.
Brandy was hurt and angry. She did not want food. She did not want company. She did not want to practice her magic.
She only wanted Ryan back, so she could kick his ass and they could fix whatever had caused him to lose it.
The doorknob jiggled, and she sat up in bed when it broke. The door opened, and Peter filled the doorway. Anger and sadness flashed in his eyes. He strode to her bed in three long steps before he gathered her against him. With his warm arms wrapped around her, more tears fell from her eyes.
She should have been dehydrated from as much as she had cried. How she had any left was a mystery to her.
“I’m gonna kick his ass,” Peter promised, running his hand down her hair as he squeezed her tightly.
He was a wall of muscle. She felt incredibly tiny and fragile in his arms. His touch reminded her of Junior’s or Ethan’s… or any of her brothers’.
