Undone: The Complete Duology, page 8
“He was following me.”
The physical closeness had done something to us, somehow. We were sharing intimate details; we’d sided together.
At least here, in this moment. I wasn’t sure what it all meant just yet.
“Well, what were you doing?”
“I…I was walking in the woods.”
“Quite the nature enthusiast,” I murmured, still trying to tune out the sensation of his body so close to mine.
Would it be so bad? Could I, just once, pretend for an afternoon that I was a normal person and fuck his brains out? That was what a normal girl would do.
I turned to Mac, my face tilted towards him. His gaze met mine. I meant to look away, but I found myself enthralled with…everything. Him, his reason for being here. His spark. I wanted to reach inside him and capture it in my hand.
Whether I smothered it or blew it to life was still undetermined. It could go either way.
He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Why would the mayor’s son be watching me?”
The poor guy. He was so in over his head, he didn’t even know he was drowning yet.
I took his hand in mine, then halted, muscles tensing. I’d meant to lead him away somewhere to talk, but the point of contact with him sent fire through me.
This was not good. This was not good at all.
I didn’t want it to stop, though, and that made everything worse.
Frustration clawed at my chest. Everything was so unfair.
No matter.
I dragged him in the opposite direction of Brian, my basket swinging in my other hand and knocking in an obnoxious way against my leg.
We exited the aisle and stood beside an endcap of tomato soup cans, all stacked in cardboard cases. Farther down, the deli was open but no one was around. We had a moment to ourselves.
“You understand you’re not welcome here, right?” I hissed at him, not releasing his hand.
I was going to have to tell the idiot before he got himself killed.
He glanced around as if verifying we were, indeed, alone. “I mean, I know people like to keep things a certain way around here…”
I scoffed. “That’s an understatement. They’re going to keep tabs on you, see what you’re up to.”
“But why?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. That was the tricky part to answer. Mac, the little doll, so clearly had no idea what was happening in Thorn Tree.
Somehow, I had to break this to him delicately, feed him bite by bite, lead him to the answer. Otherwise, he might do something stupid if he didn’t have time to digest all this properly. He didn’t need to know just what was happening, but what that meant for him, for his future. His life.
“Thorn Tree…”
Mrs. Stone rounded the corner with her cart, purse tucked into the child’s seat.
“Oh!” She gave us a surprised round face. “Traffic jam!”
Not for one second did I believe she had innocently appeared then. Her plastered on expression gave her away.
Besides, no one was ever happy to see me.
She slowed her cart to a stop next to us. “Hey, Gracie. Do you mind handing me a few of those soups, there?”
“I’ve got it.” Mac eyed Mrs. Stone, uncertainty written on his features. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he knew this was a play. With hesitation, he plucked up a can and handed it to her.
I dropped my basket onto the floor and passed her two more cans.
She loaded them into the half-filled cart, then muttered to herself as she counted a few items. She straightened upright with a laugh. “Well, that should do it.”
“Big event coming up?” Mac asked her, poking and prodding as if he hadn’t learned his lesson yet.
My stomach sank, all fire from our little encounter dissipating.
“Oh, yes. The Feast is just around the corner.” She turned her far too cheery gaze to me. “Gracie, you should invite the nice officer to join us.”
Mac looked with interest at me. “What’s the Feast?”
Mrs. Stone placed her hand on his arm. His eyes darted to the contact, but he said nothing.
“It’s a Thorn Tree custom. Lots of food, wine—it’s wonderful. Surely you’ll join us?”
Mac discreetly shifted his arm from her grasp. “If I’m still in town, I would be happy to. Thank you.”
“That’s wonderful.” She repositioned herself in front of the cart, then gave us a little wave before tiptoeing around us and down the next aisle.
“That was—”
I placed two fingers to his lips, shooting him a death glare.
He looked down at me, his brows together, then caught my fingers with his hand and licked my knuckles.
“Oh, gross,” I said, not meaning it in the least.
He laughed, wiping my fingers on his shirt, then released his hold on me.
“So, about that lunch in the trees,” he said.
Movement caught in the corner of my eye. I spun around as a shadow bulldozed into the tomato soup display. I grabbed Mac, pulling him away as the display toppled over. Cans clattered in every direction and thumped into the nearby walls. One pelted me in the leg, another in the side.
Mac yanked me towards him, wrapping his arms around me.
The onslaught ended, but we remained like that, breathing heavily.
And just like that, Mac and I were friends.
He eased himself from around me.
“Well, that was something,” he said, voice hoarse.
He had no idea. No one else saw that shadow, but I had. The demons that lurked in this town had something to say, it seemed, though whether it was about Mac’s presence or my plan this time was up for debate.
“Yeah, um, I’ll see you around two tomorrow, outside Honey and Hive.”
Before he could respond, I stepped around the strewn cans, leaving my basket on the floor, and turned down the aisle.
He could have followed me, but he wisely remained behind.
I hurried to my car and slid behind the wheel, panting as I stared up at the gloomy sky. Cold wind sent a stray wrapper down the street.
I had meant to keep an eye on Mac for my own gain, but between Mrs. Stone’s little invitation and the demon being so bold as to attack in the middle of the day, right in public, fear bubbled in my chest.
Mac had already crossed the threshold from unwelcomed guest in Thorn Tree, to their next victim.
11
GRACE
I had no desire for a picnic in the woods on any day, but especially not with the chill that had settled in the air. Winter was knocking.
The Victorian home that was Honey and Hive loomed in the distance. I held back in the field across the street. Mrs. Woolworth was one of the people I pretended not to exist around. We managed living in the same town better that way.
Mac exited from the front door and strolled towards me, carrying a backpack in hand.
Dude was serious about a picnic. As much as I wanted to attribute this decision to him being a total moron, I already knew better: he was attempting to woo me. Anyone within a mile radius would have picked up on his signals and, unfortunately, mine too.
I wasn’t sure how to feel about this turn of events, so I decided to focus on how ridiculous he was instead.
I was good at pretending.
He waved as he crossed the dirt road, and I lifted my chin. I wasn’t about to give it all away. If he wanted to win me over, he was going to have to work for it, sexy jawline notwithstanding.
Too bad for him, at the end of all this, I was going to kill his brother.
His cheery smile said he hadn’t figured that out in the least.
“I gotta say, I expected you were going to stand me up,” he said as he approached.
The desire to go to him, to recapture the moments of familiarity we’d had in the grocery store, washed over me.
Instead, I turned for the woods. “Maybe I still will. Haven’t made up my mind yet.”
He nudged my shoulder with his and strode next to me, close enough my fingers itched to link with his.
I refused. I’d already gotten too touchy and personal with him yesterday. We needed boundaries. More than he realized, but that was neither here nor there.
“So, any good places to head to?” he asked. “Some local knowledge? A great hidden waterfall, perhaps.”
I laughed, resisting the urge to take him in fully. Instead, I scoped him out from the side of my eyes. “There’s not a lot around here. Just trees.”
That wasn’t entirely true, but he didn’t need to know that yet, either.
“I assume you’ve lived your whole life here?” he asked.
“Of course. We all have.”
New blood didn’t often come into town to stay, and it wasn’t just because we didn’t have any great job opportunities. Mac was going to figure out a whole lot of crazy things when he tried to leave Thorn Tree, and I wasn’t quite sure how to warn him of that yet. He’d been invited to our celebration. He wasn’t going anywhere, whether he wanted to or not.
“Not big on travel?” he asked. His mood was light, but my stomach churned with each question. They were leading to an answer that would knock him right on his ass.
“It’s not a done thing in Thorn Tree.”
He shot me a scowl, but his expression brightened again. Brooding was supposed to be the in thing, but everyone had that down around here. An actual nice, genuine guy was straight out of the fantasies I didn’t know I’d had.
“I haven’t done a lot of traveling myself yet,” he said, “but I think after all…this…is settled, it’s time for me to explore the world. Would be great to have a travel companion.”
“I’m sure you can swipe right on one,” I said.
“You just like to smack people around, don’t you?”
I halted, and he turned to look at me.
“There’s no future for us, Mac.” I hadn’t intended to say that, but perhaps it was best the declaration was out now, even if I couldn’t elaborate with the entire truth. Instead, I added, “We have different fates.”
“Fates…” He eyed me before slipping on the backpack. “Mrs. Woolworth sent tuna salad with an ice pack, so we should probably make better time.”
I relaxed at the change of subject. At least he knew when to back off.
“I don’t eat meat.”
“Is tuna meat?”
“Uh, yeah.”
He laughed. “Okay, you can have the bread and chips. I brought chocolate too.”
“You know the way to a girl’s heart.”
“I know my way to other parts of a girl, too.”
I nearly choked on my own spit. He rubbed my back, and I forced myself to sidestep away from the touch. It was too much, too inviting. I could slip right back into his arms where I had been yesterday and this time, there would be no one to stop us.
He started walking again, and I followed next to him. The woods grew up around us, until we were deep in the trees that surrounded the town. We stuck to a well-worn path.
My brain reeled on the situation. It was possible we were actually alone and no ears were listening. If I intended to tell him the truth, now would be the time.
Except—the truth about Thorn Tree was adjacent to the fact I was responsible for Bobby’s disappearance. I had to tread carefully. As much as I didn’t want to see Mac harmed, I wasn’t about to risk everything I was working towards just to protect him.
He mattered, but my goal mattered more.
“You never did tell me,” he said, interrupting my thoughts, “what do you do for work?”
“Wake up every day,” I said, then pressed my lips together like I could seal in the thought. Too late. “My dad left me his house, his vehicles, and a little cash. I don’t have a lot of bills. Not like there’s many places around here that would hire me, anyway.”
“You do seem to have made an impression on the community,” he said.
My mood drained, emptying me until the familiar numbness returned. I’d nearly forgotten that I was supposed to be this way.
He must have caught my expression because he reached for me. “I’m sorry, Grace. That wasn’t funny, was it?”
“It’s fine.”
He probably thought I was upset about the reminder of my status in this town. That wasn’t the real issue.
It was the why.
He hadn’t figured that out yet, and by the time he did, it would be too late to stop what had been set into motion. Like the others, he would have to watch as the town burned to the ground, just as it deserved.
My numbness softened with sadness. If the town wasn’t going to let Mac go, that meant he would be here when I cast the spell. He would be trapped in the ensuing destruction, despite being the only innocent soul left in this place.
I locked my jaw. So be it. If he couldn’t find his way out before then, there was nothing I could do about that. I couldn’t force the town to let him leave—they abhorred me, and still I wasn’t allowed to go either—and I certainly wasn’t going to hold back just for him.
The realization bothered me in more ways than one, but I brushed aside all the thoughts. I couldn’t deal with them right now. I had to focus on Mac, on this conversation. One little slip up, and I would give myself away.
Then we would have a much bigger problem.
We set forward again.
“Tuna, huh?” I said, trying to get us back on track. There was no point in dwelling on the worst to come if I wasn’t going to do anything about it.
He laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think Mrs. Woolworth is much of an outdoorsman. We should probably just chuck it, let the wildlife sort it out.”
“What did the racoons ever do to you?” I asked.
Mac’s easy-going disposition relaxed me more than I should have allowed. I liked having him with me. He was such a contrast to everyone else in my life. When we were together, I didn’t feel like Grace Miller, the one true witch of Thorn Tree.
I was just Gracie. Just me. I had forgotten who she was, that I sort of liked her once. It was strange finding her again even if in small moments.
Mac had seen right through me—though perhaps too far. He’d totally missed over the rest of the exterior.
“Do you ever do any camping?” he asked.
“I live on five acres of sprawling woods. That’s as close to camping as I’m getting.”
“Fair enough. When I—”
He stopped so short, I nearly tripped over myself. My heart hammered in my chest.
“What?”
He put his finger to his lips to indicate silence and then tipped his head, listening.
“What’s that? I hear…water.”
Water? I glanced around, trying to determine where we even were.
The tinkling splash of water slapping against rocks trickled in from the distance. My stomach sank as I realized how far we had wandered, lost in nonsensical conversation.
“We should head back…”
“No way. A stream would be a perfect place to hang out.” He indicated the backpack. “I have a blanket in here.”
He grabbed for my hand, but I snapped back from him like a rubber band. “No, Mac. Let’s go.”
My chest heaved as I stood locked in place. We had gone too far, much too far.
“Gracie, what’s wrong?”
My body flushed with heat, followed by chills. “We shouldn’t go any farther.”
Mac swung around to look in the direction of the creek, then glanced back at me. “I don’t understand.”
“You don’t have to.” I reached for the back of his shirt to yank him towards me, but he eased out of the way and caught my forearm.
I trembled in his grasp, despite how I tried not to let the fear show.
“My God, Gracie, what the hell?”
“Please.” Tears brimmed in my eyes. “Please, we need to go.”
He hesitated, sizing me up. At last, he said, “Okay.”
That was it. Just okay.
That was all I needed.
I stumbled away, aware of Mac on my heels, albeit hesitantly. My mind raced with what to tell him, how much he should know. I couldn’t talk, not here. Not now. We had to get away before something bad happened.
I stuck to the worn path, trying to discern which way to go, the world obscured by the dizziness overwhelming me.
We’d gone much too far.
How could I have let that happen? I’d let my guard down, that was how.
The ground trembled. I spun around to face Mac. The ground shook harder with a rumbling sound that filled the air. My feet went out from under me, and my back slammed into a tree. The sky tipped and rolled as I scrambled to grab the trunk. My fingers scraped the bark, collecting pieces under my nails. The world shifted and blurred with flashes of light and darkness.
Then silence.
I panted heavily, eyes closed, waiting for the nauseated feeling to pass.
Footsteps crunched nearby. I snapped open my eyes as Mac leaned down to help me up. He’d lost his backpack at some point. He hooked me under an armpit and hauled me to my feet. I leaned against him, unable to catch my breath, my face buried in his neck. He smelled crisp and clean, and I wanted to burrow down inside of him until I disappeared.
He rubbed my arm with his palm and nestled his face into the top of my hair.
“West Virginia doesn’t have earthquakes,” he said.
If Mac didn’t know something was wrong about Thorn Tree before, he certainly did now.
I nodded against his shoulder but said nothing.
He tightened his arms around me, and I wished that would be enough. That his touch, his genuine concern for me, for all of us, would be enough.
It wouldn’t be though.
I tipped my head back, grazing my chin against his stubble, stealing his warmth. Every part of me lit on fire in anticipation of what would happen next.
Just as I feared—and hoped—he caught the back of my head with his fingers entwined in my hair and pressed his lips to mine. I melted into him, so completely, so willing to never be the same again. He deepened the kiss, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing him in closer, pressing up against him, encouraging more.
