Chapter 64

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

TAM

24 bobas left until we both die …

Lake has a half-smile on her face that I can interpret with a single glance. She’s amused, pleasantly surprised about something. I crouch on the other side of her family’s archive room, admiring the stripe of sunlight that’s hitting Lake’s sea green hair. There’s a stack of well-read journals in front of me, and several dozen Frost family voices ringing in my head.

1912. My mother witnessed her Match climb aboard the RMS Titanic. Suffice to say, she did not live long enough to complete her journal.

1999. I wish I’d been matched to one of the Backstreet Boys. Instead, I got our neighbor boy. I am hella mad about that. Senior year is going to suck dick. *drawing of a dick with hairy balls that looks weirdly like Lake’s dick drawings*

I grin.

“What are you reading over there that’s interesting?” I ask, and she blinks up at me, smile widening.

“I forgot about this one.” Lake wets her lips and looks down at the page. She even makes a dramatic show of clearing her throat before reading the passage. “2004. I broke the curse, and I get why none of our ancestors could explain it. Imagine listening to your favorite song for the first time. Imagine reading your favorite book for the first time. Just … imagine. That’s what it’s like.” She closes the journal and gives a little laugh. “I can’t wait to see what really happens when the curse breaks; I’m going to write all about it in my journal.” Lake stamps one fist into the palm of her other hand. “I might not have kept a very good journal thus far, but I’ll be damned if my ancestors don’t know the truth.”

“Our kids will be cursed, won’t they?” And now I’m smiling for several reasons. Lake is adorable. Mostly, that’s the important part. She’s also acting like she believes we’ll break the curse. It could be any minute now. She looks at me with so much love that I’m surprised it hasn’t broken yet. That’s why we’re in here anyway, reading through the books and looking for situations similar to ours. Maybe there are tips and tricks?

“Kids?” Lake responds absently, like she hadn’t thought about it. That’s the other reason why I’m smiling. “I never gave it much thought, in truth. They’d be cursed which is terrifying. I can’t imagine what my Aunt Lisa went through.” The mood sobers, but Lake is good at bouncing back. She smirks at me and shakes her head. “And there you were, offering to get me pregnant in a San Francisco hotel room. Sir Tom, my God.”

I rub at the back of my neck, but I don’t apologize. I know what I was offering. I’m twenty-seven years old. I wouldn’t mind … Anyway, we can wait. Lake is only twenty-three.

“If coming inside of you that night would’ve broken the curse, I would’ve done it. Instead, the sweater got what was meant for you.”

Lake groans just as the door opens, and we both turn to find Jacob standing there with his headset on.

“We should be working out. We should be learning new choreo. We should be having fan calls with—”

“You said no more fan calls for the rest of the year,” Lake announces, shoving up to her feet. I follow up after her and watch in bemusement as she takes Jacob down with a smile. “He’s not doing anymore—not even if we live through the curse. We’ll spend Christmas right here.” My girlfriend points at the floor, a smirk of triumph on her face.

Hell yes. I love that. I want that look.

I give Jacob a cheeky grin and shrug my shoulders.

“Sorry, Jake. We’re cursed. Have to take some time off.” I pause. “Also, you forgot to call me Your Majesty.”

“Daniel found a girl climbing over the back fence today. Did I mention that to you? She was wearing a tutu.” Jacob whirls around and storms down the hall, leaving the door open. Our secret little spell in the room is broken, so I reach down for Lake’s hand and guide her out of there.

“A tutu?” I ask Daniel when I come into the living room to find him leaning against a wall, arms crossed. He’s staring at something so intently with those creepy gray eyes of his that I get worried about stalkers or at the very least, paparazzi. I turn to see what he’s looking at, surprised to find Lake’s friend Ella staring back at him.

Her arms are also crossed, glasses slightly askew.

“It wasn’t a tutu, and I wasn’t climbing over the fence,” Ella grinds out, directing a look at Jacob. He pretends not to notice. “I was walking into the back gate.”

“Why wouldn’t you just come in the front door?” Daniel retorts, and I see a smudge of blood on his face. His blood. Coming from a cut at the edge of his lip. He notices me looking and sighs. “She elbowed me in the face when I grabbed her.”

“I brought Joe some sushi!” Ella yells, shaking the bag. “And you ruined my skirt. I want compensation.”

I glance past her at the muddy fabric lying on the mat near the front door. It does honestly look like a tutu.

“Ella, that’s a tutu,” Lake says, but her friend just huffs and storms away. She gives Daniel a look. “Are you into her? She’s single.”

“I don’t date. I have Tam to deal with.”

“Tam is my problem now,” Lake says easily, and I shiver. Jacob really does want to work for my mom instead. He could do that, and if Lake wanted … God, would that be rude to ask that of her? She could travel with me as my manager. Or even just as my wife. Whatever she wants. It’s better if I marry her, then she won’t have to worry about her future. My money would be her money.

The front door opens, and we all turn to see … a girl walking in. I don’t know who she is but based on the sounds that both Lake and Ella—who hasn’t quite gotten into the backyard yet—make, it must be bad. Sharp, surprised gasps.

“Chloe.” Lake swallows hard and steps in front of me, like she’s protecting me from something. That gets Daniel all riled up, but she waves him off. “Stop, stop, stop. She’s not that kind of threat.”

Jacob slides between Chloe and the door, an iPad already in-hand. He shoves it against her chest, teeth gritted.

“Sign it now.” Jacob stares her down and Chloe’s lips part like she might argue. But then her gaze lands on Lake again, and she finally does it, grabs the magnetized pen off the side and signs the screen. “Thank you.” My cousin heads back into the kitchen, uninterested in whatever else goes on over here.

“You just walked in here?” Ella demands, reappearing with the sushi bag still clutched in her fist. “You’re not allowed to do that anymore, Chloe. You gave all that up when you put Lake’s life at risk for some cheap social media clout.”

“I—” Chloe is looking at me now, and I’m almost surprised by the shine in her eyes. She’s looking at me like Tam Eyre, the megastar. That’s not how Lake’s family looks at me (even Aunt Mandy has stopped doing that). I’m just … Lake’s boyfriend here. An extension of her. A new family member. Her future husband. That’s it. Chloe tries to blink the stardust away, but it’s hard to hide.

I walk up to stand next to Lake, arms crossed.

“You owe me a fucking apology,” I tell Chloe, and Lake turns to look at me, like she’s not sure where I’m going with this. “Seriously. Your best friend is standing in her own home, having a private moment with her boyfriend, and you thought it was cute to film it and post it online? Why?”

Everyone turns to look at Chloe now, standing there in a hot pink cardigan sweater with pearl buttons.

“I …” She takes a deep breath. “I told some people that I was hanging out with Tam Eyre, and they didn’t believe me.” She hesitates, like she knows what she needs to do but doesn’t want to do it. “I’m genuinely sorry that happened. I didn’t mean it to. I just got pissed off because people were calling me a liar.”

“People?” Ella laughs. “Nobody should have even known about Tam. He’s Lake’s Match, Chloe. What if he’d broken up with her, and they’d both died? Are you nuts?” She scowls and shakes her head. “I don’t want to see or talk to you. Write me a letter if you want to try to apologize properly.” Ella takes off outside, and I lean down, putting my lips near Lake’s ear.

“You’re welcome to forgive her or kick her out. Whatever is best for you. Just remind her that if she posts anything else about us, it’s the sue stick.”

Lake chuckles, and I grin, heading into the den with Daniel to give them some privacy.

“Lynn and Maria tried to beat me up—” That’s the last thing I hear before the door is shut behind us.

Doesn’t take Lakelynn long to find me sitting across from Daniel, a checkerboard tucked between us. He’s weirdly good at this game, and it’s pissing me off. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I don’t like to lose. Number one artist on Spotify. Most streamed song of the year. Terrible at checkers.

I pretend to be distracted by Lake, so I don’t have to keep playing and horrifically lose to my bodyguard. He steps outside to give us a minute.

“What happened?” I ask, standing up and moving too close to Lake. She loves that, when our toes touch and she has to tilt her chin back to look up at me.

“I told her that I didn’t know if we’d ever be friends again, that she’d lost the privilege of being the sort of person who can just walk into my house. But I didn’t tell her never. I told her maybe, and then I told her I loved her, and I gave her a hug.”

Lake just looks up at me, and we both know why she did that.

“It’ll be okay,” I promise again, kissing her and tasting … rose? … on her lips. “Where did you get a bubble tea?” I’ve just noticed that she’s holding one in her right hand.

“From Joules.” She lifts it up with a sigh and sucks on the straw. I see black boba balls move up the straw. Lake sighs happily. Sunshine in a cup indeed. “He gave it to me, and then asked Kaycee to drag Chloe outside.”

“Did she?” I’m thrilled to find out if this actually happened. Hopefully nobody caught it on video … Well, maybe it’d be good for Kaycee’s career. She has this good girl on the verge of going bad vibe that’s really in right now.

“She did.” Lake takes another sip of her drink and chuckles, shaking her head. “Joules once said that you and Kaycee had the worst sexual chemistry he’s ever seen in his life.”

“That’s true.” I hate to admit that anything Joules says is right, but I’ll give him this one. “Kaycee feels like a friend. You feel like a lover.” Lake smiles sweetly into her straw. “Without the threat of the curse, would you have told Chloe to go fuck herself?” I’m thinking about the dick sucking incident all over again. I know by the high color in her cheeks that Lake is thinking the same.

“Yes. Well. I guess I’m not acting like myself because of the … curse.” She trails off, inhales sharply, eyes widening. “I think I get it now. I know why I haven’t broken the goddamn curse.”

I raise a brow, resisting the urge to kiss more of that sweet rose taste off her lips.

“Yeah?” I tilt my head and reach up to adjust my beanie because I know that Lake likes it when I do that.

“I’m still reacting to the curse. As soon as I let myself forget about it, I’ll fall.” She looks so relieved, as if it wasn’t obvious all along. I’m smiling wryly back at her, wondering absently if there’s a boba out there for me, too. I’m addicted to the damn things now.

“Once the curse breaks, it’s going to get really serious, really fast between us. I hope you’re okay with that. I want you, Lake, and not in a casual way. In a forever sort of way.”

“You only think that because of the curse …” she mumbles, but that’s dumb and we both know it. I take her chin in my fingers and lift her gaze back to mine. She sucks on her straw, chews her boba. I suck on her straw. Do the same.

“I want you because I want you. I like to talk to you. I think you’re upstanding. You’re honest. You’re funny. You’re a hot fuck. Let’s enjoy my time off because this doesn’t happen very often.” I smile at her. “I’ll do whatever you want. Anything.”

“Foot—” she chokes out, and I tilt my head to the side. Oh?

“Feet stuff?” I ask, surprised that we’re getting to the kinky stuff so quickly. But I guess as far as kinks go, this one isn’t—

“Football game tomorrow,” she finally finishes, and then she’s laughing so hard that she almost chokes on rose milk tea. “Sir Tom, what the actual fuck? Are you into feet?”

“I thought you were into feet, and I was trying to be cool about it.” I flick my tongue against the edge of my lip. “You are such a brat.”

“You only like good girls then?” she teases, and then she flees that room because she knows what I’ll do to her if she doesn’t.