Page 9 of Samhain

I remained silent because I didn’t want to, but Gran so rarely threw out a negotiation that if I didn’t take her up on it, I would simply be commanded to come home now and have dinner with him anyway.

“Yes,” I said. “Whatever you think is best, Gran.”

“Delightful. Have fun in Malibu, and do try to stay out of trouble. Love you, darling.”

I hung up and swallowed the impending awkwardness of having to sit through that fiasco. Oh, well. Those were tomorrow’s worries. I had enough on my plate today.

“Do you have her royal blessing?” Carter grinned and winked.

I nodded. “For the time being. She’ll soon grow impatient and send someone to bring me home.”

He nodded, and now that we were alone for the first time since Ireland, the strangeness of this new relationship between us settled. For four years, he’d been Ivy’s boyfriend. Lex’s best friend. My stage partner. But now, things were different. We were running off to Hollywood together.

“I’m still surprised you agreed to this.” He reached across the limo to grab my hand, giving it a tender squeeze.

“I’m surprised you asked.”

The day after we blurred the lines between us during the beer pong game, the theater group had taken a bonding camping trip in the forest. Carter and I had been put in the same group, and somewhere around the waterfall, he’d wandered off alone. I went to find him, and when I did, he’d admitted to being heartbroken about leaving Ivy at the end of the trip.

“Leaving both of them is going to kill me,” he’d said.

“They’ll have each other, and in the end, I’ll only have my garden.” I had laughed, hoping to cheer him up.

He sighed. “And I’ll have the lonely streets of LA.” He paused before adding, “You should come with me.”

I prattled on about how pissed Ivy would be, how insulted Lex would get, but then he confirmed what I’d long believed. Actions did speak louder than words. Both could come, and they’d chosen not to.

But I did.

I had relatives out in LA, contacts and friends that could help him. My cousin, Roxanna Stuart, had become a very successful talent agent in the last few years, and if Carter played his cards right, he could sign on with her.

“Ivy and Lex would have each other. And you and me? We could take Hollywood by storm. We could have us.” He made a sad noise. “All we’ll have is us.”

It had hit me in the gut then and again sitting in the car next to him. “We’ll be heartbroken and homesick together.”

He made that same noise and shook his head. “We’re not even to the airport, and I already miss them.”

“Me too.” I didn’t know how I’d survive the next few weeks without hearing Ivy’s laugh or watching Lex’s eyes roll. How could I go on without listening to them bicker and complain, especially now that I knew how much adoration they’d always harbored between them?

What a strange relationship, and things between me and Carter were even stranger. I wouldn’t pretend to understand what happened to us at Midsummer or the days leading up to it and after.

Did we imagine the ruins that turned out not to exist? Did we carve those words into our own palms? Did we make vows that a power higher than ourselves would hold us to keep?

I didn’t know.

“Why did you agree to come with me?” Carter asked.

I took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh, flicking through all the replies in my head and trying to decide which was the best one. Because I’ll need you, and you’ll need me. Because it would hurt too much to be alone. Because I don’t know where else to go.

I ended up with, “Because you’re my friend, Romeo, and I can help you. So I’ll help you.”

“I’ll never be able to repay you.”

“Hogwash,” I brushed off. “One day, you’ll be a mega movie star like Marlon Brando, and then it’s me that will need you on my arm.”

“Pfft. I should be so lucky.” He smiled, and I focused on his dimples, remembering how they’d cast a shadow in the firelight.

We’d married each other out there in those woods, too. We’d taken each other until we couldn’t stand. I loved Ivy and Lex with everything in me, but in the haze of the lust and the rush and the sweat, Carter and I had unlocked a hidden sanctuary between us.

---