Page 9 of The Curse

“Nico,” he countered, this time his voice tinged with awe.

“That’s my nickname, yes,” I answered. Morgan and Alastair calling me by my nickname wasn’t that big of a deal. Nico was short for Nicholas. It didn’t require a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

“Nicodemus.”

Okay, I didn’t have an excuse for how they’d made that connection. I could come up with nothing. Had my ancestor been a town drunk? Or worse?

“That was my ancestor’s name,” I confirmed. I decided to plow ahead with my crazy family story. From the things that’d passed between Alastair’s lips, it wasn’t like I would offend him by believing in the unbelievable. “He supposedly started my family’s curse.” Still feeling weird about the family curse thing, I quickly added, “If you believe in that kind of bullshit, of course. I don’t.”

I soooo was beginning to believe in it.

Alastair looked all around us, his pale eyes noting each and every person that lingered nearby. “We don’t need to talk about this here. Do you have someplace you need to be or can I show you around our small coastal village?”

His eyes bored into me, begging me to understand that he was trying to pull me away from the crowd. From where I was sitting, there wasn’t another living soul paying us any attention. I did, however, decide to bow to Alastair’s knowledge of the area and the folks within hearing distance. “Since I’m officially unemployed, I have all the time in the world. How about you? Do you have time to give me a tour of your coastal town?”

He grinned. “Yep, I definitely do, and I know just the place I want to show you.” He motioned toward the parking lot for the beach. “My Jeep’s in the parking lot. Wanna ride with me?”

“I could. Or, I just bought a cool Ninja motorcycle if you don’t mind riding bitch?”

His eyes darted toward the parking area and landed on my shiny new toy within seconds. Once he spotted it, he grabbed my upper arm and started tugging me in that direction. “I always ride bitch, Nico.” When we reached the bike, he turned and said, “But then I bet you do, too.”

He continued to stare at me as his words sunk in. Was he implying that I was gay? And that I liked to bottom?

Was I gay? I’d definitely been attracted to Alastair, and he wouldn’t be the first guy that turned my head. I’d never acted on my attractions, but that didn’t mean that I hadn’t wanted to. If, and that was a big ‘if’, I was gay, would I want to be on the receiving end? No, I hadn’t done it, but it seemed like a rather…tight squeeze to me. I’d never been one that got into pain.

Finally, I shrugged and said, “Don’t roll that way, or at least I haven’t ever yet, so I wouldn’t know. You ready?”

He slid onto the seat and patted the spot in front of him. After I mounted the metal speed machine, I expected him to wrap his arms around my waist, seeing as how he’d flirted off and on since we’d met. Instead of that, though, his hands gripped the seat.

“Turn right when you leave the parking lot and drive up the coast. We’re going to the highest point in Marblehead. I’ll give you directions as we get closer.”

“How far is it?” I asked as I turned the key and listened to the motor purr to life. I’d always loved motorcycles,all of them, but the Ninja was my favorite.

“Don’t worry, Nico. It isn’t far. Marblehead’s a small area. Nothing’s very far away. Let’s go. I can’t wait to see your reaction to what I’m going to show you.”

I frowned at his words, wondering what the fuck he meant, but pulled out of the parking lot and onto the small curvy road instead of questioning him. Within minutes, any of my doubts or worries vanished as we cruised along and I admired the beautiful scenery around me. Marblehead was amazing in May, and I could only imagine how gorgeous it would look in the Fall. As we drove, he would yell out certain landmarks, telling me what everything was as best he could over the roar of the Ninja’s motor. We cruised higher and higher in altitude until he finally motioned for me to turn off onto a dirt road, or at least what used to be a dirt road. It was evident that there hadn’t been traffic in the area in a long time. Just when I started to really worry about damaging my new bike, we broke through the canopy of trees and into a clearing. A huge gothic house, badly neglected, stood not-so-proudly in the middle of the clearing. When we were close to the structure, I cut the engine and climbed off. Alastair quickly followed.

“Damn, I bet this place was beautiful back in the day,” I said as I soaked up all the different angles, peaks, pointed arches, and, of course, a flying buttress. The detail, although old and unmaintained, were ornamental and eye-catching. Two large gargoyles protected the entrance to the front porch. I immediately wanted the beautiful house. I wanted to buy it and restore it to its grand splendor of earlier days. Of course, I didn’t have the finances to do such a thing, but a guy could dream. “I’m in love with this house. Who owns it? Why have they let it run down so much?” I turned and looked at him. “Would you be interested in a joint venture to restore it?”

His eyes narrowed as he pondered my words. Finally, he asked, “Fix it up and flip it?”

The thought of selling the house made my blood run cold. No, I could never sell it. Hell, I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever be able to leave it. There was some sort of invisible tether tugging me toward the house, making my desire to possess it hit unnatural peaks that I wondered if I’d be able to control.

“No. No, I wouldn’t want to flip it,” I answered honestly. “Forget I said that. It’s just…it’s just gorgeous. Fuck, man, it makes me sick to think that one day it will finally collapse in on itself. How could anybody let it fall into such disarray?”

“We’ll get to that soon enough,” Alastair answered. For the second time that day, he grabbed my arm and tugged me away from the house. “Let’s see what you think about this view. If you think the house is attractive, wait until you see the view that comes with it.”

We walked about fifty yards before I realized we were on a cliff-side, with ocean waves crashing below. I started to feel queasy and my feet felt heavy, like they were trying to convince me to stop walking. I felt dizzy and my hands started trembling. Inside my chest, my heart was racing so fast, beating so hard that it caused an ache in the spot where my heart was. While it was unseasonably cool, sweat drenched my back, chest, arms, and neck. Worse than all that, though, were the images rolling around in my brain. There were vivid images of me walking toward the cliff’s edge and…not stopping. My feet carried me right over the edge and I’d plummeted to the rocky shoreline below. I saw my mangled body sprawled on those rocks, my blood mingling with the salty ocean water.

With every small step I took, I was assaulted with images of me plunging to my death. I could see air and then water as my body somersaulted out of control. The rocks, jagged and deadly, were coming toward me with lightning speed. Each time, right before I crashed into the rocks, I would see a man flying through the air towards me, hands reaching out for me in an effort to stop my plunge before final impact.

He didn’t make it.

I literally felt my body hit the rocks. I felt the bones breaking and my vital organs rupturing. The pain was crippling, but my last thoughts were of the beautiful man who had tried to save me. The look of horror on his face caused a wave of sadness to wash over me. How he screamed in agony when he was unable to reach me on time made me want to take him in my arms and comfort him.

I dug my heels in and jerked my arm away from Alastair’s grip. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if he’d brought me to the middle of nowhere to kill me. I didn’t know the guy, not really. It could have been his plan all along to lure me up here, throw me over the edge, and no one would ever see me again. I hadn’t picked up that vibe from him, but then I suspected serial killers probably didn’t send out much of a vibe.

“I’m not taking another step,” I told him. “Why did you bring me out here, Alastair? What’s going on?” Just for safety’s sake, I took a step back from him. Alastair and I were about the same size. It’d be an equal physical match…unless I completely froze up being so near the edge of the cliff.

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