Iniquitous (The Marked #3)(66)

“I’m trying to,” I said, apparently doing a piss poor job of it. But it was too late, my laughter had turned into a full blown cackle.

Two seconds later, she was laughing just as hard as I was and then we were hugging and laughing hysterically like a couple of besties that had decided to go off and lose their minds together.

Taylor’s mother rushed into the room, her unibrow in full bloom. “What’s going on, sweetie? Is everything okay?”

Taylor waved her off as I covered my mouth to keep from laughing in her face like a lunatic.

“We’re fine, mom. Everything is totally fine.”

“Okay,” she said, giving her a circular nod. She didn’t look convinced but she could clearly see that Taylor was safe and sound. “I’ll be outside if you need me.” She smiled tightly and then exited the room.

I turned back to Taylor and beamed. “God I missed your face.”

“This old thing?” she said pointing at her head as I took a seat on the edge of her bed.

A few beats of silence passed, turning the mood a little more serious.

“What happened?” I asked her, picking up her hand in mine. “Ben said you were in an accident.”

Ben walked over to the door and closed it. My face immediately twisted with worry. If he was closing the door, it meant he didn’t want her parents to hear what she was about to say, which meant they hadn’t given them the real story, and there was only one reason Ben would do that.

“I was attacked by a vampire this morning.” She shook her head at herself and then said, “I can’t believe I just said that out loud.”

I knew that feeling well; the incessant questioning of your own sanity as you hear the playback of the ridiculous words that keep coming out of your own mouth. It gets easier, I wanted to tell her, but I just listened instead.

“She was supposed to meet me at my house this morning before school,” said Ben. “But she never showed, so I went looking for her.” Ben’s amber eyes turned the color of fire. “I could smell her blood all over the place, on the side of the road, the ravine, so I shifted and followed the scent into the woods. The Rev dropped her as soon as he spotted me.”

My eyes rounded out in horror. I never wanted this for her.

Not Taylor.

She was supposed to be living out her perfect, normal, human life.

“I didn’t see his face. I never even heard him walk up to me.” Taylor pushed her hair over her shoulder and turned around in the bed. The back of her neck was completely covered with bandages.

“I called an ambulance and tried to keep her conscious until they got there, but she was losing a crazy amount of blood. I’m pretty sure she stopped breathing.”

My chest tightened.

“That’s what he says, but I think he just wanted an excuse to give me mouth to mouth,” she said with a playful wink.

I laughed, but not with my whole heart. It was too busy being worried to death for her.

“She needed two blood transfusions, but she’s okay.”

“Thanks to you,” said Taylor, smiling at Ben.

His cheeks picked up color as he pushed his hands into his pocket, jingling the chain attached to his wallet.

It sounded a lot like wedding bells.

“I’m so sorry this happened to you, Tay. I should have been there.”

“Because you’re the Slayer?” she asked softly.

My bottom lip nearly hit the bed I was sitting on.

“Ben told me everything.” She laughed and then said, “He didn’t really have a choice after I saw him shapeshift or whatever you guys call it. It was the first thing on my mind as soon as I woke up in the hospital.” She brought her long blond locks back to the front and shrugged. “It’s not like that’s something you’d actually forget seeing. I mean, unless your best-friend erased your memory again.”

She was never going to let me live this one down.

“I didn’t know what else to do, Tay. You were traumatized.”

“Yeah…” Her eyes hollowed out for a moment as though reliving the memories. “I remembered that part too.”

I picked up her hand again and gave it a gentle squeeze, bringing her back to present-time. “I never wanted you to go through anything like that again, and as much as it hurt me to lose you, I did it to protect you.”

“I know.” She smiled softly and then squeezed my hand back. “But it didn’t work, Jemma. My forgetting that vampires existed didn’t stop them from existing. It just made me like blind to the whole thing.”

I dropped my head, knowing exactly how it felt to be forced into the dark.

“Just for the record, I was against it,” offered Ben like the little traitor he was.

He was standing shoulder to shoulder with Trace as they both watched us with their arms folded across their chest like a couple of supernatural bouncers.

“Thanks for throwing me under the bus, Ben. That’s super helpful right now.” I made a face at him and then turned back to Taylor. “Look, I get it now. I know you’re right, Tay. I was wrong and I’m sorry.”

There was a brief moment when I thought she might dismiss me and my apology, but she didn’t.

“Kay. You’re forgiven!” Her tone was all sweet and bubbly and Taylor-like. She wagged a pink fingernail at me. “Just don’t ever do that to me again.”