Brayden shrugged. “I don’t know. Until Wren gets her memories back and remembers how to restore my powers, we aren’t strong enough. And Lena…” His eyes flicked from me to Leah. “…will die on her twentieth birthday and then we have to start all over.”
Leah looked over at me. “Maybe if you told some stories, it would jog her memories?”
Hermemories? So she thought I was Wren too? That hurt the most for some reason.
“Yes! Story time! I’ll order pizza and we can talk over dinner.” Maddy ran to grab her phone on the counter.
* * *
An hour later,I was swooning hard. Brayden and Maddy told story after story of his love for Lena and I remembered nothing. A few times, Leah got a glimpse of a memory but not enough to determine who she was. This was a shitshow of epic proportions. He even busted out a photo album of him and Lena in all her incarnations. All it did was serve to make me jealous he’d been with all of these women.
“I’ll never forget the gift she gave me on our wedding night.” Brayden stroked his finger over the rim of his glass of water. “It’s something she gives to me every single time we marry now.”
I wanted to know what it was—Ineededto know—but I also knew he was keeping it to himself so that one of us could reveal it and prove we were her.
“The flowers at your wedding were… purple and yellow,” Leah said with a far-off voice.
Brayden went rigid and then turned towards her. “Yes!”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t sit by and watch him fall in love with my best friend, my sister.
“I need some air.” I cleared my throat and stood, walking as fast as I could out of the kitchen and then into the foyer. I threw the makeshift door wide and burst into a run. My feet pounded the ground until I was leaning against the giant willow tree at the edge of the property, tracing a heart into the bark like a lovesick idiot.
They were beautiful stories, all of them. The way he loved her was a once-in-a-lifetime love. I was jealous of all of it. I was jealous of Lena.Leah,Lena… the names floated around in my head until I felt sick.
And why? So what if Leah turned out to be Lena? Then I would be happy for them and being stuck with Castiel wouldn’t be the worst thing ever. He was super hot and seemed really caring.
A twig snapped. I turned towards the direction of the sound. Brayden stood there, eyes glowing yellow as his gaze dragged from my face down to my bare legs.
“I upset you,” he growled as if he was unhappy with himself.
I shook my head, hating how damn perceptive he was. “I just…”
What to say?I just got too jealous over your stories about your wife. About the way you looked at Leah when she remembered the flowers at the wedding.
What brand of crazy was that?
“I needed some air,” I said again, and pushed off the tree.
“You’re lying,” he said with a passionate growl that made my stomach warm.
My heart hammered in my chest. I couldn’t meet his gaze. Hearing him talk about his wife made me feel guilty for being so attracted to him. I wanted him to find her. I wanted tobeher, but Leah was the one getting all of the memories, not me.
“My story of the day I first married Lena affected you?” He stepped closer and ate up the distance between us.
There was no way that he couldn’t hear my heart beating frantically against the wall of my chest.
“Averly.” His voice was husky; it caused a trail of warmth to flush over me.
I still hadn’t looked up at him. I feared if I did I would lose myself in his eyes.
“Did you remember something?” he asked as he reached out and tenderly stroked my jaw. He grasped my chin and tilted it up so that I was forced to meet his gaze.
I wasn’t prepared for the passion and desire I found in that look. He looked hungry.
“No. I don’t remember anything. That’s the problem,” I told him honestly, preparing myself to see the disappointment in his face. He’d rushed out here because he thought I’d had some flashback and was Lena. Now confronted with the truth, he nodded, but that hungry gaze didn’t go away. Instead, it looked like it had consumed him. His finger dropped from my chin and traced a line down my neck before it swept over my collarbone.
The heady rush of desire that slammed into me then was enough to make me sway on my feet.
