Page 72 of Always Be an Us

My stomach bottoms out even as his touch makes my body sing. I hold out the orb. "Take this back."

"Not until you tell me why you’re so freaked out by it. I thought you loved the damn things."

"I’m not freaked out by it." I attempt an unaffected shrug. "I just don’t want it."

He raises an eyebrow. "You, the connoisseur of all things Rainbow Pearl, don’t want a free Rainbow Pearl?"

"Yeah," I say and shrug again for good measure. "I’ve had a few over the years. I’m not so fascinated by them anymore."

He acknowledges it with a little smirk. "Fine. Then give it to Amelia."

"Why don’t you give it to her instead?

"Because it's yours. She needs to know it's your gift."

I swallow. I wonder if the curse is canceled out if I gift the pearl after receiving it. I doubt it. Either way, I don't want to risk it.

But it doesn’t even matter now. The pearl is already in my hand and Declan isn't going to accept it back, so that's already a given.

But right now, I need to get him off my back.

"Ow," I say and lean against the tree.

Declan's expression quickly changes from curiosity to alertness as he reaches for me.

"What’s wrong? Is it your ankle?"

I nod and he instantly curses under his breath sweeping me into his arms. "This is why I wanted you to stay back in the cabin, but of course, you wanted to be stubborn."

"Yeah. You were right and I was wrong," I respond, meekly, but he still shoots me a sour look, muttering under his breath as he carries me back up the hill.

I wrap my hand around his neck and suppress the guilt over the deception. I kind of feel a little bad for using my ankle as an excuse but it’s the only way I could find to bail out of that conversation ASAP.

At least, I think I've bailed out of it, until he says," And don’t think I don’t know what you just did. But don’t worry, we’ll continue this conversation later."

My lips form into what I fear is a pout. Declan smirks and then brushes his lips against my temple, the tender move that has my heart skipping a beat.

Stop that.

I inhale his fresh manly scent, and my heart continues to dance, no matter how many times I tell it to stop. I wonder if it's the Rainbow Pearl's curse already in play. I wonder if I'm doomed to become obsessed with him.

Of course, I was already kinda obsessed with him before now.

There’s no such thing as the Rainbow Pearl curse, I tell myself.You just have bad taste in men.

The sky darkens slightly, but the clouds are still too far apart to threaten rain. I stare at the sky and recall the first time I found a Rainbow Pearl.

Tate and I had gone hiking in Baker Woods on the afternoon of my sixteenth birthday, aiming to just make it to the other end. We weren't looking for the Pearl, but found one anyway right next to the stream I took Amelia to. I remember how excited I was when I saw the Pearl. A part of me had never thought I would find one. They seemed–like many aspects of Grandpa's stories–fantastical.

And even though some of the older town members like Poppy said they'd seen one before, none of them actually had one in their possession.

So I figured Rainbow Pearls were either extinct or a figment of the imagination. Or maybe plain old magic.

But that day, I saw it. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and I stared in awe for a few seconds, before I picked it up. Then I turned back to show Tate. She was excited too, and even though I offered to share our find (Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants-style), she insisted I keep it.

"You like them way more than I do," she said. "Besides you found it and itisyour birthday. It can beyourgift toyou."

And so I kept the Pearl and safeguarded it for the next three years.

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