The Cursed Series, Parts 3 & 4 (Cursed #3-4) - Rebecca Donovan Page 0,106

him with a sharp blade a couple of times.”

Grant shakes his head, smiling. “Go shower. I’ll see if I can find clothes for you. My sister may have left some things behind.”

Sadly, I shower alone. I step out of the fogged glass stall, having stayed under the hot stream until the water went from black to clear. I had to scrub and wash everywhere at least twice. A T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants are waiting for me on the counter.

When I emerge, Brendan is on the deck, looking out at the forest and the mountain in the distance. He’s wearing a pair of shorts that are a little too big on him. Grant’s probably. His platinum hair is slicked back, hiding the cut somewhere beneath.

“How’s your head?” I ask him.

“Fine. How’s your temper?” He turns to face me, leaning against the railing.

“Under control … for now.”

“Come here.” He holds his arms out.

“Are you trying to make me cry again?” I accuse.

“Just get over here and fricken hug me,” he orders impatiently.

I walk over to him hesitantly, like I’m expecting him to take it back at any second. But when I’m within reach, he pulls me to him, and I stumble against his chest. He hugs me tight, and I swallow down the stupid tears, sniffling into his shirt.

“Are you crying again?”

“No, I’m blowing my nose on your shirt.”

He laughs and kisses the top of my head. “It’s not my shirt.”

“What are you doing to my shirt?” Grant asks from behind me.

I shove Brendan away and take a breath. “You better have answers.”

I spin away and enter the house. Brendan loiters behind me.

Grant offers each of us a glass of water.

I chug half of it and then point to a chair. “Sit.”

Brendan huffs but complies. He lowers onto a large, worn leather chair. I stand in front of him, my arms crossed. Grant pulls me from behind, and I holler in surprise when I land on his lap.

“Go easy on him,” he says into my ear, then adjusts me so I’m on the couch next to him.

“What do you want to know?” Brendan asks, steepling his fingers like an evil mastermind.

“Everything,” I insist, already frustrated. “You knew Vic, even before Joey and I mentioned him. How?”

“I can’t believe you broke into my room,” Brendan says incredulously, like I violated some sort of code of trust. “How did you—”

“Brendan,” I threaten through clenched teeth. “How do you know Vic?”

“From here,” Brendan answers but doesn’t.

“You’re going to make me strangle you,” I growl.

“I needed answers.” He shrugs. “But you know that.”

“Why would Vic have answers? Both his parents are dead. What could he know?”

Brendan stares at me wordlessly. I’m trying so hard not to lose my patience; it’s too easy for him to set me off—just by existing. I stand and position myself in front of him.

“Aren’t you the one who said that the truth is more interesting than any lie? So why lie about when your mother died?” I demand vehemently.

“Because the truth doesn’t have an explanation,” he snaps passionately. “I don’t know why she killed herself. She never left a note.” He leans back and looks out the window. “I’m the one who found her. But, yeah, I was fourteen, not four.”

Grant tugs on my hand, urging me to take a step back. I concede and drift over to the window to focus on the trees and calm down. Or try.

Brendan continues, “That school year, I lost it. I could barely function. When I finally went through everything my mother owned, searching for some sort of explanation, I found a letter from Julia Thorne. She had recently been diagnosed with cancer and wanted to make things right before she died. A month later, my mother was dead. That letter triggered something. My mother was always … unpredictable. But that letter sent her over the edge.”

“What did Julia need to make right?” I ask, trying to sort through what I know and still don’t. Too much is coming up on the unknown side of that list.

“I don’t know,” Brendan says with a heavy breath. “I was trying to figure out how Julia even knew my mother. I couldn’t find anything connecting them … except a picture taken of a group of people in front of a house in Nantucket.”

I spin around with my mouth open. “You saw that picture before I showed it to you?”

“Yeah. It was in the box with the letter along with pictures of my mother with Kaden