Infinity Chronicles Book Three Page 19

  The room feels smaller with so many of us in here, but I’m not uncomfortable in the least. A thrill of excitement goes through me, they’re happy for us. My thoughts careen to my mom, and how she would feel. The excitement fizzles away.

  I lean against Ares’s arm, not even realizing I’m looking for comfort. Knowing they’re here and part of this journey makes me think about her, how different things could have been if she told me the truth, or if her pair wasn’t a nutcase.

  Ares wraps his arm around my back, his hand going to my neck as his fingers begin to trace over my skin. “Looks like you guys got most of the stuff from the living room. Should we start on one of the bedrooms, so we’ll have room for our stuff?” Ares continues his massage, not realizing the happiness I was feeling is now tainted.

  “Yeah, I know the room down here is bigger, but we need to replace the flooring. So, I think we should just throw everything upstairs, that way we don’t have to juggle it around when we get the floors done.” Ollie turns to face us, proving he really was paying attention.

  “That’s fine, it’s probably best if we hold off on anything that isn’t absolutely necessary anyway since we rushed the move,” Ares concedes.

  “It’ll be easier with us here anyway, we have the rest of the week off to help rip out carpet and do any demo that’s needed,” Milo adds, leaning on the doorframe.

  “What can we do to help?” Mal offers.

  Chapter 18

  It’s late by the time I finally crawl into bed. Carolyn and her guys showed up a little after our talk in the kitchen with several boxes of pizza and drinks. My eyes are gritty and my hair feels like I’ve been at the beach from the amount of dust we kicked up moving everything around.

  I almost feel guilty getting into bed without a shower, but the thought passes quickly when my back hits the mattress. A long sigh leaves my lips and my eyes close quickly.

  “The movers will be here early, I’ll probably stick around to help them. Ollie wants you to go with him to pick out paint.” I turn on my side and face Milo.

  He’s still shirtless and I hope it’s a trend he keeps. I reach out and place my hand on his chest. “I don’t know how you’re not already passed out. You kicked major furniture butt moving today.”

  Milo places his hand over mine, trapping it against his chest. “I’m a little tired,” he admits, his eyes growing heavily lidded.

  The floor creaks and Ollie shuffles over, and drops on the bed next to Milo. You’d think he did all the heavy lifting to day instead. Curling on his side he wraps his arm over Milo’s waist and places his hand on my hip. He lifts his head so I can see him over the bulk of Milo’s shoulder and purses his lips. I lean up and place my lips on his, knowing that’s what he wanted. He drops back down, and I hear the smack of his lips as he leans in and kisses Milo’s back. “Night guys,” He says around a yawn.

  I peer up at Milo and give him a little grin before I smack a quick kiss against his lips. “Night.”

  “Oliver,” any patience I had evaporated an hour ago, “I don’t care if it’s two shades off, they look exactly the same, just pick one.”

  “Someone didn’t get enough sleep last night.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me, still not taking me seriously. I let out a long groan.

  The girl with an orange apron behind the paint desk makes a little pouty face. “This one is a little brighter with more golden undertones.” I roll my eyes at her statement, both of them are yellow.

  “Why didn’t we bring Dante, he’s the color expert?”

  “Because, Muenster, Dante is putting together our bed.” Ollie tweaks my nose. “You don’t want to sleep on mattresses on the floor again, do you? I sure don’t.”

  I bat his hand away. “I slept just fine, princess.”

  Ollie narrows his eyes on me, a devilish gleam twinkling in his eyes. “I’ll show you princess.” He drops the two cards with the paint colors and reaches for me, I squirm to avoid his hands, but he’s too fast. In one quick movement he hoists me over his shoulder and swats my butt, hard. “We’ll go with this one.” He reaches down and points to one of the cards with his other hand.

  “Put me down,” I grit out through my teeth, looking around to see how much attention he’s drawing.

  Ares comes up the aisle, breezing over like it’s no big deal that I’m ass up in a home improvement store. “All settled?”

  “Just about. This one for the room, right?” Ollie points at a swatch of dark gray that he’d already set aside for our main bedroom.

  “Ares, make him put me down.”

  He ignores me. “Yeah, that will do.”

  I shove my hands into Ollie’s back pockets and give his rump a hard squeeze. He clenches his muscles and yelps. Then delivers another hard swat to my butt. “Be good, Muenster, and I’ll let you down.”

  I growl. If I could see him right now, my look alone would kill him. Bending his knees, he sets my feet back on the floor. I straighten up immediately and flip my hair back over my head. I glance around again, noting the emptiness of the store. It’s just past eight in the morning and there aren’t many people out buying paint this early.

  Ares reaches for me, placing his palm on my neck, under my hair. He tugs me close, his lips going to my temple. I feel his smile against my cheek. I stare at Ollie, daring him to try something again. I’ll be ready this time.

  The girl clears her throat, drawing Ollie’s attention and his mischievous smirk to her. Her eyes go wide, and she blinks several times. “Did you want me to start mixing these?” she finally blurts.

  Ollie places his hands on the desk to sort through the different colors. “Sure thing.” He pushes a few in her direction. “We’ll need these two in the big bucket.”

  Snapping my foot out, I kick him with the inside of my foot. He barely moves, but Ares lets out a dark chuckle against my ear.

  Ollie turns to look at me slowly. “Ares, hold her. I have an idea.”

  Ares’s fingers tighten on my neck as he draws me closer. “I wouldn’t do it if I were you,” I warn, speaking to both of them. “Ares, if you hold me for him, I’ll take back my offer of always.” I cross my arms over my stomach, waiting for Ares to catch on to what I’m saying. He’s quick and the pressure from his hand lightens immediately. It’s my turn to smirk now. I just learned how easy protection really is.

  I lean forward a little and crook my finger at Ollie, telling him to come a little closer. “I win,” I whisper.

  Without any warning he leans forward and plants a kiss on my lips, when he pulls back his eyes are dancing with playful joy. “For now.”

  Ares tugs me back again, settling me close to his side and I ask, “Did you find any curtains?”

  His shoulder lifts in a slight shrug. “I found something we can use temporarily.”

  “Should we go grab them while she’s mixing the paint?” I suggest, since I’m tired of standing here.

  “We can, I came back because I could tell you were going to kill Ollie.”

  “Kiss me, you mean? She was fighting the urge not to kiss me,” Ollie counters.

  “Do you think he knows the difference between the two?” Ares jokes.

  Ollie bats his ridiculously long eyelashes in our direction. “Might need a reminder.” He puckers his lips and starts making smoochy noises.

  “We’ll give you a demonstration later,” Ares retorts dryly. “Come on, let’s grab a cart for the paint.”

  “Go ahead, I’ll wait here.” Ollie returns his attention to the color swatches the girl hasn’t picked up yet, examining them.

  Ares slides his hand down to my lower back, guiding me away from the paint center and a few aisles over, until I see several window treatments high up on the wall. He passes them, heading toward the opposite end.

  “What do you think of these?” He touches a set of large white plantation style shutters.

  “For outside?” They don’t really fit with the exterior of the house.

  “No, for our room. I usu
ally get blackout shades, but I thought with something like this, we could open them more, let the light in.”

  I tilt my head and study Ares. “I think that’s very thoughtful of you.” He’s conceding it’s not only his room, but something we can all share.

  Ares places his lips in my hair. “I think I enjoy touching the light.” His words are spoken softly, reminding me how he once called me his light. I wrap my arm around his waist, enjoying the feel of him.

  His hand smooths over my backside and he gives me a little tap. “I think these will do until we all decide on the furniture and decor.” He points to a heavy pair of black drapes with a thick thermal backing.

  He grabs four packages from a lower shelf, holding them under his arm. He’s left off his trademarked vest today, going instead with a fitted, charcoal button-up shirt and black trousers. I feel underdressed next to him in my jeans and oversized t-shirt, but he looks at me like I’m decked out in the latest fashion.

  We make our way to the front of the store to get a flatbed cart to haul everything. Ollie is waiting for us when we return, with several cans already mixed and sitting on the counter. He and Ares transport everything onto the cart, while we wait for the two larger buckets to be mixed.

  Ollie goes up and down the aisle, adding paint trays and stirrers, along with several different brushes, rollers, and tape.

  “I’ve never painted a room before, is this everything we’ll need?” I gaze over the small mountain of supplies.

  Ollie examines his haul, “This should be good, for now at least. We don’t need drop cloths or anything since we’re redoing the floors.”

  “What about the ceilings?”

  “Shit,” Ollie curses. “Good thing you said something.”

  He moseys back down the aisle, grabbing another big bucket. “This one says, ‘white ceiling paint.’ You good with that?”

  I look over at Ares expecting him to answer, but he’s looking at me. “It’s fine with me,” I splutter.

  “All right, here’s the last one.” The girl lugs a big bucket up to the high counter using both hands. She reaches down and retrieves a couple of long wooden sticks, and places them on top of the bucket. “Careful with this one, the paint isn’t dry yet.” She points to the lid where I see a smudge of soft gray paint sampled across the top.

  Ares grabs the handle and loads it onto the flatbed cart, along with all the others. “Thanks.” He nods in the woman’s direction. “Anything else you can think of?”

  I look around and an endcap display catches my eye. “We should get some cleaning supplies, for the bathrooms and kitchen.”

  We head farther down the aisle and Ollie grabs a bulk-sized package of paper towels. I add another of toilet paper on top. A few aisles away we find an area with several household cleaners.

  Ares reaches for a box of heavy-duty black bags, while I grab a few different bottles of cleaners.

  When we’re done, Ollie gives the cart a shove to get it moving and we finally make our way up to the checkout.

  I shiver when the double doors open for our exit; it was so warm yesterday. I didn’t bother with a jacket when we left this morning. The sun is already up, but the cool night air hasn’t burned away yet.

  Ollie leans his stomach over the high bar of the cart and pushes off with his feet, so he glides through the crosswalk as he heads in the direction of Ares’s SUV. The back hatch flips open as we approach. Ares jerks his chin at me and says, “You can get in, it’s chilly.”

  Seeing there isn’t enough room for all three of us to load up the trunk, I agree, sliding into the leather bucket seat in the back. I should have hit the button to start the car first, my butt is freezing on the cold leather.

  They make quick work of loading our purchases, and Ollie returns the cart while Ares gets behind the wheel and starts the car. He looks over his shoulder at me. “You have your license, right? Know how to drive?”

  “I can drive, but I don’t have a license.”

  “Well, we should probably do something about that. You can either wait until you’re eighteen and go take the test, or you’ll have to take a driver’s training course if you don’t want to wait.” Ollie climbs in the car at the tail end of Ares’s speech.

  “I’ve been driving the motor home for years, I don’t really need instruction. I can just wait, I’ll be eighteen in a few months anyway.”

  “Did you ever get pulled over when you were driving?” Ollie seems to have gotten the gist of the conversation.

  “Once, but the cop didn’t give me a ticket or anything.” I haven’t thought about that in a while. I was only fifteen when it happened. We were driving through Kentucky. The roads there are narrow and hilly, he said I’d crossed the yellow line, which was probably true.

  Mom came up from the back when she heard the sirens and noticed the lights. “Don’t worry, just tell the truth. It’ll be fine,” she told me, sitting down in the passenger seat completely calm.

  I rolled down my window, heart in my throat, just knowing I would go to jail. “Evening young lady,” the officer greeted me, and glanced over to my mom. “You know why I pulled you over?”

  “No, sir.” I turn to look at him briefly, then face the front window again.

  “Well, you were drifting over the line quite a bit. Can I see your license and registration?”

  I turn to look at my mom, my eyes wide, asking what I should do. She calmly reaches into the glove box and retrieves a small square of paper and a plastic membership card for a library.

  “Here you go sir, she hasn’t been driving very long. I thought since the traffic was light, it would be a good chance for her to practice.”

  He takes the papers from my mother’s outstretched hand and glances down. His eyes narrow. I remember thinking we were both going to be in so much trouble. The library card didn’t even have a picture on it.

  He glanced up at me, then over at my mom, his lips thinned, and he gave a slight shake of his head before holding the papers in through my window for me to take back.

  “Take care on these back roads ladies, they’re narrow.” I pulled the papers into the cab, shock keeping me from responding as he turned and walked away.

  The revelation of what really happens hits me quickly. My mom must have used some kind of compulsion on him. “Oh my God.”

  “What is it?” Ares hits the breaks too hard and the SUV jerks to a halt. Thank goodness we’re not even out of the parking lot yet. My tone must have alerted him that something was wrong.

  “When you asked if I ever got pulled over…” I swallow thickly, my mind speeding through other memories to see if I remember any other times something like that could have happened. “When we got pulled over, I wasn’t even legal to drive yet. My mom, she gave him a library card and a scrap of paper, but he acted like he thought it was my license and registration. She must have voodooed his mind or something, because he just walked away, told us to drive carefully. I don’t know how I could have forgotten that.” I rub my temples in my hands feeling a headache coming on.

  The car starts rolling forward again. “You might not have forgotten, she might have made you forget.”

  “What?” I whisper in shock.

  “It actually makes sense, if your mother has been manipulating your memories, that means what you do remember about her disappearance, and right before, might be false memories. Maybe the things you think you remember are what she wanted you to remember.” Ares’s eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. I look away and scrub my hands over my face.

  “This might help Laura, maybe there’s a clue in your memories. Something we haven’t figured out yet.” Ollie reaches back and lays his hand on my knee.

  I think back to everything that happened in the weeks since we’d moved to Canton. The only thing that keeps nagging at me is the night I heard her talking, but I didn’t hear anything useful. I blow out a frustrated breath.

  “How many more lies and deceptions? How am I ever going to know what’
s the truth?”

  “We’ll figure it out Laura.” Ares glides the car onto the road, our journey more somber. We make another stop at a fast-food restaurant before returning home.

  Ares parks the car near the entrance but doesn’t get out. “Are we going in?” I wonder, not sure why he didn’t just hit the drive-thru.

  “In a minute,” Ares answers. He turns in his seat, so he can see me. “I don’t know your mom.” I look away, not sure if I’m ready to have a conversation about her right now, I feel even more betrayed. “But I don’t think she was trying to hurt you. I bet she was doing her best to protect you.”

  I know he’s probably right, but I’m still hurt. Still too raw to accept it for the truth just yet. I nod anyway, letting him know I’m hearing him. I may not be ready to believe it yet, but I hear him.

  Chapter 19

  The moving truck is already parked in front of the garage when we return home. A little of the sadness I was feeling dissipates when I see our house nestled back in the mountainside.

  How I got here isn’t important, what’s important is that I’m here with them now. And no matter what my mom has or hasn’t done, I still love her, and I’m still going to find out where she is. There are no other options for me.

  I climb out of the back seat, bringing several bags with me as I do. Ares opens the rear door after getting out and grabs several drink trays, filled with orange juice and coffee, off the floorboard. He snaps the door closed with his hip.

  Milo jogs over and takes the bags from my hands. “Hey, took you guys forever.” He leans in and places a soft kiss against my lips. I’m still getting used to this more affectionate side of Milo.

  “Ollie.” I roll my eyes, putting all the blame on him. “How long have they been here?” I point over to the moving truck with several guys already loading things up the ramp.