This thought helped ease some of the guilt Adrienne felt at lying to her daddy. Perfect, beautiful Therese had kept secrets, which meant it was okay if Adrienne did, too.
Like seeing Jayden and trying to break the family curse. Her daddy could never understand these things, but she began to think that her long-dead sister could.
We aren’t as different as I thought.
Chapter Eighteen
On the other side of town, Jayden opened his eyes, awaking from a deep sleep. A glance at the clock on his car dashboard revealed it was just past dinnertime.
He rubbed his head, not understanding how he’d just fallen asleep in the parking lot of a gas station. His car was boiling hot, and sweat soaked his clothing and ran down his face. He started the car and rolled down the window, gasping in air. His phone had six texts and three missed calls, one from Mickey, one from his mother and one from Tara.
Where you at? Party starts in an hour. Need ride! Mickey had texted two hours before.
His head felt like it was stuffed with wool. Jayden looked around him, uncertain what he was doing in the city on a Saturday. He came to this gas station sometimes after he left his mother’s, but he didn’t recall seeing his mother today.
What the hell was wrong with him? How did he not know where he spent the day?
He picked up his phone and sent a quick text to Mickey to see if he still needed a ride.
Jayden waited for his air conditioner to chill the car’s interior before rolling up the window. His thoughts began to clear without the oppressive heat, and he pulled on his seatbelt.
He drove home, unable to explain his blackout and the missing time. He tried hard to remember what he’d planned to do today without success. By the time he got home, he was troubled but glad that the strange headache was gone.
He parked out back and went in through the kitchen. The windows of his father’s manor glowed warmly, casting cheerful yellow light into the garden. He breathed in the scent of night blooming jasmine deeply, then paused, recognizing a second scent.
Vanilla. It reminded him of something, though he couldn’t quite place what.
Shaking his head, he was upbeat by the time he walked in through the kitchen, the headache forgotten. The family chef was joined by an assistant in the kitchen that smelled richly of homemade bread, barbeque sauce, steamed veggies and some sort of fruit torte.
Jayden’s stomach growled. He waved at the chef and continued through to the staircase leading to the second floor. Tara had texted twice more while he drove home, demanding he return to take her to the party.
He barely reached the top of the stairs when Chelsea let out one of her shrieks of anger. Seconds later, Izzy joined her.
Jayden grimaced, not looking forward to dealing with the twins when they were upset. He covered his ears.
“Stop it!” Tara shouted above their screams. She stormed out of the girls’ playroom, nearly running him over in the process. She was dressed in a slinky party dress, her hair and makeup done and her jewelry on. “Jay! What took you so long! You have any idea what I’ve been dealing with?”
Jayden grated his teeth.
“I’m getting my shoes, and we’re going.” Tara was furious. She punched him in the arm and swept by him. “We’re already late, Jayden!”
“All right,” he said.
The girls’ screams grew louder, and he flinched, some of his headache returning.
There were days when he could handle them and days when he just closed the door and went to his room.
Today was one of those days.
He pulled the door to their playroom closed. It muffled the horrible screeching without silencing it, but it was good enough for now.
Jayden went to his room and closed the door. He glanced down at himself, unsettled to discover he didn’t remember getting dressed this morning or why he was in chinos and a polo instead of jeans, his normal weekend clothing.
Like he’d been trying to impress someone. Unfortunately, he couldn’t remember who that was.
His cell rang, and he answered automatically.
“Why you didn’t tell me you’re going to see Grandmama tomorrow?” his mother demanded.
“Hello to you, too, Mama,” he answered, rubbing his eyes.
“You weren’t going to take me?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you lie to me, boy. Just because you’re your father’s son, you don’t get to lie to me.”
“Mama, I’m not going to see Grandmama tomorrow. I don’t care what her spirits are telling her,” he said with tried patience.
“No, Jay, she called me and said you’re coming tomorrow and did I want to come, too? And I told her you hadn’t even told me. She said you were coming to talk about the girl whose ear she cut off.”
“Grandmama did what now?” he asked, surprised.
“She cut the ear off that girl you brought out there. What wrong with you, Jay?”
“I didn’t bring any girl out there, except Kimmie,” he replied, baffled to the point of amusement. Where did his grandmama come up with this stuff? “I’d remember if Grandmama cut off Kimmie’s ear.”
“Kimmie ain’t white.”
“Can I call you tomorrow? I’m kind of trying to go somewhere tonight,” he said, rolling his eyes. He kicked off his shoes and went to his closet, stopping in the doorway.
The girls had been in the box of junk his grandmama gave him. He frowned at the cat paw keychain and voodoo good luck charms strung along the floor of his closet.
“You lie to me then want to get rid of me,” his mother complained.
“No, Mama,” he said with a grunt, kneeling to grab the junk on his floor and toss them back into the box at the back of the closet. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Silence then, “You wearing your dog tags, Jay?”
He touched his neck, about to reassure his mother when he realized he wasn’t. Jayden glanced down and tugged shirt away from his chest to see if they’d fallen down and gotten caught somewhere inside.
“Actually, no,” he replied. “Weird. Pretty sure I had them on earlier today.”
“Grandmama told you never to take them off. That’s a family heirloom. What’s wrong with you, Jayden?”
“I’m sure they’re around here somewhere,” he replied. “Look, I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
She hung up on him.
Jayden sighed.
His mother was furious at him and babbling nonsense that warned him she might be on drugs again. Grandmama cutting off someone’s ear? Him voluntarily going to visit?
“Crazy,” he muttered. He tossed the last of the weird gifts from his mother’s family into the box.
His gaze lingered on the box, and he recalled the other heirloom he’d been given this week. One he wished he’d never touched, let alone inherited. He wasn’t certain if the girls took anything with them or were just playing in his closet. He hadn’t thought about them finding the key when he tossed it in with the rest of his junk but considered it now. The voodoo stuff – if gross – was harmless.
The key was evil. He wasn’t superstitious, but something with a history like the one it had was nothing short of sickening.
Jayden tugged the box into the direct light and rifled through it.
The key was gone.
He looked through it again then straightened, feeling ill at the thought of the girls playing with the key.
“Jayden!” Tara pounded on his door.
“Jesus, give me a freakin’ break tonight!” he pleaded, glancing up at the ceiling.
Screaming girls, a pissy Tara, a blackout, his mother and grandmama …
He wrenched open his door, fed up. “You mind?” he snapped at Tara, who blocked his way.