Page 57 of Cursed Sight
“You were there when I fell out of the tree. Try again.”
Carter’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t have an appendix? When did you—”
Brandy smiled. “You were set to take your MCATs, and we wanted your full attention on them. I pretended to be asleep when you called, and as soon as you hung up the phone, Dad rushed me to the emergency room.”
Serena moved to Brandy’s side. “You said you can’t see anything in me?”
Carter studied her and shook his head. “I don’t—you broke your left cheekbone many years ago.”
Serena nodded as her palms went damp with sweat. “An ex-boyfriend thought he could use me as a punching bag.” Her words came out cold and disconnected, as it was the first time she had spoken them.
A growl filled the room, but before Serena could react, Peter’s warm chest was plastered against her. “I’ll kill him.”
Someone cleared their throat, and Brandy covered her giggle with a cough.
“Maybe you can put on some clothes?” Ethan asked and tugged her into him. His hand skimmed her cheek. “You never told me.”
She gave him a small shake of her head. “I don’t like talking about it.”
“Please tell me you worked some spell on the fucker,” Peter stated as he zipped his jeans.
Serena chuckled. The two of them really had turned over a leaf. “I didn’t. He went to jail, and someone shanked him. I can’t claim any of it.” She could still remember learning about the murder and feeling strangely upset.
Ryan cleared his throat. “That’s why you never—”
Serena chuckled sadly. “Yes. It’s why I only had casual flings.”
Peter tugged on his shirt and padded to her side. “I’m sorry for all the times I was a dick to you.”
She shrugged. “I did make it rather hard for you. It’s all behind us now, right?”
Peter grinned mischievously.
“No, Peter. Bad werewolf!” Brandy said and lightly swatted the tip of his nose.
Serena narrowed her eyes, thinking about what she’d said. “Oh… oh!”
Ryan chuckled. “That’s what she said.”
Carter laughed. “Y’all are a bunch of teenagers.”
“Anything else?” Serena asked from Ethan’s comforting embrace.
“No. I’m guessing you didn’t get a lot of poison because there’s no trace of it left in you.”
Serena nodded and looked at Ethan. “I could use the little girl’s room.”
Ethan took her barely touched beer as Max pointed toward the entrance. “You passed it when you came in. First door on the right after the stairs.”
“Thanks,” she said.
Inside the half bath, she used the facilities and sighed. She needed a moment after being surrounded by Ethan’s large family. No one in her life had known about her ex hitting her. It may have happened only that one time, but the scars ran deep. She hated that Ethan learned about it the way he had, but she supposed she would have been too much of a chickenshit otherwise.
After washing her hands, Serena took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom. “Oh!” She gasped when she found Ethan standing by the door. “Hi, babe, you startled me!”
He studied her a moment. “I’m sorry. I wanted to see if you were okay.”
She nodded as she wrapped her arms around him. He seemed a bit stiff, and since he’d just learned about her past, she was not too surprised. “I’m good, just didn’t expect for you to learn about my past like that.”
