Cursed Hearts (A Crossroads Novel) (52 page)

“My
point is that he didn’t know you were his son. I can tell that much. Money
doesn’t make up for abandoning us, but it’s as much yours as it is mine. Look, I’m
usually a selfish little bitch, so just accept it before I change my mind.” Rome
stood there in shock. “What are you waiting for?” Christian said. “Go get her.”

***

Ariahna
stared into her open locker, tracing the sure, strong lines of her father’s
handwriting on the surface of the envelope with her eyes. She hadn’t even read the
letter from him yet. Strangers had read the biting words that were no doubt
inside, and she hadn’t even seen it. It mattered very little now, in the grand
scheme of things. She closed the locker, leaving his negative influence behind.
She was sure there was something in there about her missing class as well.
Regardless, the idea of skipping preoccupied her mind. Part of her wanted to go
out to the yew right now. It wasn’t a question of if she would give up her
magic, it was a question of when. There was no point in waiting, really. Coming
to terms with the possibility of her death or of losing the things she loved
most about herself wasn’t going to change what she had to do. The longer she
thought about it, the more opportunities she’d have to talk herself out of it.
It would be best to act now, while she still felt sure of her actions – while
she still had the courage to carry them out.

“Aria,”
Rome whispered. “…Aria.”

Ariahna
looked around in confusion,
barely spotting
Rome smiling at
her from around the corner. He nodded for her to follow
and she did so hesitantly. He was leading her farther and farther away from her
class.

“Rome,
where are we going?”

“It’s
a surprise,” he said softly. Maybe sneaking around with her wouldn’t be so bad
after all. It did have a certain appeal to it.

“Classes
are going to start any minute,” she said.

He stopped and turned to face her just as they reached the
doors to the
parking
lot. “Life’s too short for class.” She frowned down at her shoes. “I promised
you a date. Now may be my last chance to make good on that promise.”

Aria
looked up at him slowly. “What do you mean?” Did he know what she was planning
to do? Had Christian said something?

Rome
was a good liar, which was not something he was particularly proud of. In this
moment, though, he was glad it was a skill he had at his disposal. “With the
way things are going with my case, CPS might not let me stay here.” That wasn’t
entirely untrue, he thought. “Tell me you’ll spend the day with me. Please?”

Ariahna
exhaled tightly, glancing away from him. She felt like it would be selfish if
she said yes. It was only going to make it harder to walk away in the end. “I’d
like that,” she said quietly.

But
I don’t think it’s a good idea
,
she thought.

“Do
you remember the first day we met?”

She
smiled unwillingly. “Do you think I could ever forget?”

“I’m
going to make this one even better.”

“Well
that shouldn’t be hard, given that you got pulled over on the first day we met
and we were nearly stranded in town,” she teased.

Rome
took her hand, leading her out to his car at a run. It felt like
breaking free, escaping from everything that
confined them; that school, their lives, the curse—everything. They cranked the
windows down and welcomed in the rush of air, speeding down the highway away
from Vardel and rushing
towards some unknown destination. Any place
seemed better than where they’d come from. The highway bled into the town and they
kept driving, leaving Redwood Bay in their rearview as forests and cliffs
swallowed them from either side. The skies were alive with birds and bugs, the
drift of the clouds hypnotic in the early morning sun.

“Where
are we going?” she asked.

“To
the edge of the world,” he said. “Somewhere where no one can touch us, somewhere
where we’re the only two people who matter. Somewhere they can’t take that away
from us.”

Gravel
crackled under the tires as they pulled into the vacant parking lot, and Aria
wanted to laugh. “Who knew an abandoned carnival was the edge of the world?”
she smiled.

“It’s
not abandoned, it’s just closed. But not for us.”

Rome
broke the chain wrapped around the gates, pushing them wide open. Just past the
ticket booths were several locked rotating gates like the ones typically found
in subway stations. He hopped over them with ease as Aria seemed to be looking
for a way around. “Here,” he said, picking her up by the waist and lifting her
over the bars. “So what do you want to do first?”

She
smiled down at him curiously. “Everything’s turned off and there’s no one here
to operate anything,” she said, letting her hands fall to his shoulders. He began
spinning her around playfully. Her hair was flying about and she squeezed her
eyes shut, smiling against the dizziness.

“I
know how to make this place come alive,” he said, slipping her back down to her
feet.

“You
make it sound so magical.”

“Not
nearly, I just worked here over the summer,” Rome admitted. “So, do you want to
start off with games or rides?”

“Mm…
games,” she decided.

Rome
took her hand and she let her eyes slip closed, taking everything in. She was
excited, and elated, and yet somehow she felt like all of this was too good to
be true. Just being with him always felt like a fantasy, like something she
dreamed up in her mind. The scariest thing about it was the thought that she
was going to wake up and realize that he didn’t exist.

“Rome,”
she breathed, “I love you.”

His
fingers tightened between hers.

“I
love you too,” he said. “Is something wrong?”

“No,
I just—”
Have something I need to tell you
, she thought.

“You
just what, need to have fun?” he teased. “Let it go, whatever’s weighing on you
can wait until tomorrow. I told you, today’s just about us. So I’m warning you
now, if you frown again I’ll be forced to tickle you.”

Aria
giggled. “Okay,” she said, “you win.”

“Good. Now why don’t you,
Test Your Might
?” Rome
said
theatrically.
He
borrowed the outstretched arm flourish he’d seen Trevor’s dad use, gesturing to
the high striker a few feet away. The mallet was leaning
against it luckily enough, and he watched Aria walk
over and pick it up with a
bit of difficulty. She offered it to him and
he shook his head.

 “You
should go first. I might break it.”

It
sounded like a cocky thing to say, but it was the truth.

“Okay,” she laughed, not really believing him. She
hoisted the
mallet
over her shoulder and took a swing.

Rome
tried desperately not to smile. “I’m not laughing, I swear.”

“It
looks a lot like laughter to me,” she argued sheepishly. “Why don’t you give it
a try, Mr. I’m So Strong I’d Break It?”

“Did you not see me rip the lock off the chain when we
walked in? Or
how
about the time I broke us into the Performing Arts building?”

“We do an awful lot of breaking and entering when we hang
out.”

“Yeah,”
he said. “I’m kind of a bad influence, aren’t I?”

“The
worst,” she smiled.

“Sorry. I don’t mean to find trouble; it just seems to
come naturally to me. To be honest, I feel like a different person when I’m
around you. A better person,” Rome clarified. “Usually I’m more, angry, more—I
don’t know, just
different.
I worry that I’m not really who you think I am. I’m typically quiet, and
awkward, and, well, just rude. I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of.”

“I
know everything I need to know about you. Things you’ve done in the past don’t
dictate who you are or who you’ll become. Maybe this person you are when you’re
with me is the real you. Had you thought of that?”

“Ariahna,
you barely know me,” he sighed. He shook his head, putting a smile on his face.
“I’m sorry; this is supposed to be fun, not depressing. I think I’m just
nervous.”

“…I
saw your file,” she admitted. “I’m not afraid of your past.”

Rome
frowned at her. “My file?”

“When I snuck into the Dean’s office to get a look at
Christian’s
birth
certificate, I got a glance at it. It was kind of hard to miss,” she mumbled. “I
know you have a criminal record, and I know
you had a hard time at your last
school. I didn’t look at it that
closely. I didn’t want to invade your privacy, but I guess I just wanted to fill
in some of the blanks.”

Rome
set the mallet down.

“…How about a round of bumper cars?” he asked. Aria
nodded. They
walked
over to the ride in silence and he strapped her into one of the cars. “I’m not
mad,” he said finally. “But if you want to fill in the blanks, all you have to
do is ask, okay?”

She
bit her lip guiltily.

“We
haven’t had that many chances to talk,” she said. It was an excuse, and a poor
one. She looked up at him as he turned on the machine and then climbed into a
car beside her. “The truth is, I think I was a little intimidated. I didn’t
want to upset you, or come off as stupid.” She shrugged, looking away. “You’re the
cool older boy. I didn’t want to annoy you.”

Rome
let out a short, embarrassed laughed. “The cool older boy? I guess I never saw
it that way. But there’s nothing you could possibly do to make me think you
were stupid, or annoy me for that matter. Aria, I love everything about you. I
love the way you smile, the way you blush, the way you bite your lip like that.
I mean, I’m practically swooning and tripping over my own feet whenever I’m
around you.” He looked away, swallowing anxiously. Sometimes he wished he’d
just shut up while he was ahead.

Ariahna
turned her wheel, bumping into his car playfully.

“Come
on,” she said, “stop being so serious for a minute.”

“Okay,
but you asked for it.”

Rome
stomped on the gas, shoving her into one of the walls.

“Playing
dirty, I see,” she said, maneuvering herself out of the gap and reversing into
him quickly.

Rome
groaned upon impact.

“Playing
clean just doesn’t have the same ring to it,” he grinned.

They
chased each other around the empty cars, bumping into one another and laughing until
the ride ended, only to do it all over again.

“I
bet you can’t catch me.” He jumped up from the small car,
hopping
down into the grass and dashing off
out of sight. The sound of her footfall followed him, becoming abruptly quiet.

“Rome?
Where are you? If you think you’re going to—”

This
was his moment to strike. Rome pounced down directly in front of her, jumping
off the side of the ride he’d been hiding on. He felt a little guilty when she
screamed but he couldn’t help but laugh.

“If
I think I’m going to what?” he smirked.

“Jerk,”
she accused, shoving him on the shoulder.

“Don’t
pretend like you don’t like it,” Rome teased, backing her up against a wooden
stand. “Besides, I just wanted to make your heart race.” The smile on his face
widened when he realized he’d pressed her up against the kissing booth. Aria
huffed out a laugh when she read the sign.

“Are you trying to tell me something?” she said. “I could
be
wrong, but
I
think you need a ticket to play this game.” She grinned at him, and his lips
melded over hers, shocking her into submission. His hands tugged softly at her
clothing, running down from her waist to her hips and back again. Breathing was
the farthest thing from her mind. “Promise you won’t let me go,” she whispered.
“No matter what happens, promise we’ll be together.”

“I promise.” He buried her in kisses and gentle caresses,
pulling them
back
into the sensation of each other’s bodies – that sensual place somewhere
between it all where nothing else mattered.

Rome
was getting lost in that place, in this moment.

Soft lips pressed against the skin of her neck, replaced
a moment
later
by the
sharp yet pleasant sting of Rome’s teeth. He was being dominant, and just the
right amount of pushy. His hand gripped just below her breast, making her head
fall back in pleasure. Ariahna was staring at the blue sky above them, smiling
at the clouds through trembling lips. It felt like they were floating towards
the heavens. The only thing keeping her on the ground was the feeling of his
body beneath her fingertips.
He was
compact and well-muscled, and he felt as good under her hands as he did pressed
against her.

Rome
was quivering, barely restraining himself from taking this
perfect moment one step too far. Their lips found
one another again, and when she moaned against him, he couldn’t hold back any
longer. He lifted her
up onto the booth and pressed himself between her
legs. The thought that they were completely alone hadn’t slipped his mind, even
as she pressed her hands weakly against his chest. His breathing was shallow and
ragged. Rome wasn’t sure he’d ever felt this heated, this needy and out of
control. He could feel her nerves, her uncertainty. He knew in that moment that
this wasn’t right. They couldn’t possibly let their first time together be in
the middle of a fair, and on top of a kissing booth no less. That didn’t keep
his palms from dragging firmly up the smooth expanse of her legs, pushing her
skirt up as he went. He was struggling against not only his own urges, but
those of his wolf.