Page 52 of It's Holy Matrimony, Baby

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

We’re in this together.

For better or worse.

NOX

There are faint silvery lines on her skin. Thin faded scars that are barely noticeable under her tan, the way stretch marks might be. Several of them criss-cross high on the inside of her arm. Another small one runs an inch over her collarbone. At first I assumed that was what they were. Girl filled out nicely.

I brush the hair back from her neck, and she shifts but doesn’t rouse from her post sex nap. There’s another scar buried about an inch from her hairline that I never would have noticed if she hadn’t gotten on her knees this morning. This one is more rigid and bumpy under my fingers. Raised on her scalp.

“Mmm,” she says as her eyelids flutter open. “You’re still here.”

“Nowhere else I’d rather be, Angel.” Don’t usually spend my down time in bed. Like to be busy. Have my brain occupied, and my hands moving. But she was so warm and small and soft in my arms while she napped, and Hollander was so damn heavy on my feet, that I couldn’t bring myself to move.

Somehow I have to work out how to keep her. Find a way to convince her that this bad luck she believes in won’t touch us. I won’t let it.

She winces as she becomes aware of my fingers in her hair. Can’t pull away fast enough for her not to realize I’ve noticed her scar. Rolling onto her back, she grabs my hand and holds it to the spot. “You want to know, don’t you?”

“I’m curious,” I admit. “About everything to do with you. But I want you to want to tell me.”

“I have no idea where to start. I’ve never shared this story with someone who wasn’t there.” She’s quiet for a few minutes. “I didn’t always believe in the McClain curse. About the time you were leaving stardom behind, my world was falling apart too. I think that’s why I didn’t make the connection between you and Jase. I was in love with your band like everyone else, but then you were gone, and I wanted to forget everything from that period in my life. But not because of you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I wasn’t. We didn’t know each other back then.” I stroke her temple. “But go on.”

“Well, as a teenager I thought the curse was the kind of story parents made up to keep their kids from dating and doing other things.” Her gaze goes to my chest and then drops lower to where the sheet is tucked around my hips. “So I ignored it. I rebelled against it. I fell head over heels for a boy.” She shrugs as though it’s not a big deal that her heart wasn’t always so caged as it is now. “He was sweet to me. We dated for twenty-two months. I thought we’d be together forever as kids in high school often do. We were so dramatic back then. Or at least I was.”

“You’re still a little dramatic.” I smirk at her.

“Whatever.” She rolls her gaze to the roof. “Anyway, we were in love or at least I thought we were. We ended up at this birthday party. I can’t remember who it was for now. Some girl at school. He disappeared at one point, and after a while I went searching for him. He was sitting on the stairs to the floor above, talking with another girl.”

“He broke your heart?”

“No.” She palms her chest. “I mean yes, sort of. They weren’t aware I was watching. The girl threw herself at him, and I don’t know if he didn’t have time to tell her to back off or he didn’t care to.”

“You didn’t ask him? You didn’t want to know?” Can’t blame her if she didn’t. I almost didn’t confront Lena. Wanted to get out of there when I found her with her boss, but there was no way the woman was going to wear my mother’s ring and fuck some other guy. Still makes me bristle. Remembering seeing them like that. But not because she hurt me. More because I was blind to her behavior for far longer than I should have been. That was on me though. Didn’t want to face the truth. Wanted to believe in her because I couldn’t believe in myself.

“I didn’t. Not at first. Seeing it was awful. It hurt a lot.” She takes a deep breath. “So I rushed down the stairs and out of the building. Called my mother to come pick me up. I was too preoccupied when I walked onto the road. I wasn’t paying attention. Did you know that in 2010 there were something like 4,280 pedestrian fatalities? And that when a car hits you while driving thirty miles per hour you only have a fifty-five percent chance of survival?”

“You were hit by a car?” I ask. The way she retreats into facts tells me she still hurts when she thinks about it.

“A Range Rover actually. Time really does slow down when you’re about to be taken out by a big black SUV.”

“You’re fucking with me.”

“No.” She exhales softly, gripping my wrists and wrapping my arms around her. “Not at all. You can ask Liv. Or I can give you my brother’s number and you can ask him. All I remember is glancing up from my phone at the sound of a horn and then flying with the impact. Woke up in the hospital a week and a half later with a very sore head. As well as a broken arm, ribs, collarbone, and pelvis.”

“You barely have any scars.” It’s not that I don’t believe her, but the accident must have been horrific.

“Mostly everything was internal. And Liv’s dad is friends with an amazing plastic surgeon. I underwent a few procedures. Plus it’s been years. Time fades everything.”

“Christ. I can’t imagine. You were so very lucky.”

“That’s what they told me. That the odds were on my side. But they weren’t. Not really.” A shadow passes behind her eyes. “Not if anything about the McClain curse is true. It took a long while before I was back on my feet. I did go to see him after. I meant to ask him about that night, but he was with someone else by then, and I couldn’t bring myself to actually face him when there was no point.”

“He never tried to contact you?”

“He did,” she admits. “But I didn’t know what to say to him. Not just about the kiss, but about the accident. And then mom decided it would be best if I didn’t go back to school for a while. I guess she thought she was protecting me by homeschooling me. She was convinced the curse had tried to claim me.”

---