by Celeste Raye
Chapter Fifteen
They were packing up to leave their little paradise, but Charlie didn’t want to go. He was thinking about how everything was different now. What they’d done the night before changed him forever.
He didn’t want to leave because he knew what was going to happen once they did. He asked her if she was worried about it, and she just smiled sleepily.
“I just woke up, and that’s the first thing you’re going to ask me?”
“I guess. I want to ask something else of you, but I don’t know how you will respond to it. You told me only one night, after all, one time. We already broke that last rule.”
Her smile widened, and her white teeth showed. She almost never smiled that big, and it made Charlie lean down and kiss her.
“That’s what I wanted to do the whole time.”
“It’s a better way to wake up, I assure you.”
He watched her get up, and the desires of the night before were upon him again, and he was seriously questioning if he was going to be able to take her back. He wanted her to tell him that she didn’t want to go, that he was obligated to take her away with him. Charlie wanted that obligation. He needed it.
“I don’t want to take you home.”
She sighed and got up. “That won’t work, and you know it. You knew that last night was a one-time thing. I wanted it to be you. Now my primordial power won’t come, and I’m going to be free.”
He winced because she said it like being with him would be so bad. Like it was akin to being caged. Why couldn’t she be free and still want him?
“You were willing to give it up?”
“Yes, that’s what I wanted. Now, Evelyn is going to be mad, but she won’t be able to force me to stay and join the coven. They won’t want me. I won’t have enough power, and now I will have no obligations.”
Charlie felt sick to his stomach. He’d taken so much more out of the experience. It had been life-changing for him, and just another step in her plan for Celeste. The idea that she felt nothing made him feel hollow inside.
“So, all of this was just part of a plan?”
“Don’t sound so bitter, Charlie. I had a great time, obviously, but we both knew what it was going into it. It’s time to go.”
He could see that she wasn’t feeling the same and he tried to hide the care that he couldn’t express. It would have done him no good. She was as cold as they get and now that he knew where he stood, Charlie didn’t want her riding on him.
“We aren’t far from my clubhouse. I need to check in and grab a bike. That would be the best way to travel.”
“You don’t want me to ride you?”
He paused with the question. Celeste looked like she was joking, but he wasn’t in the mood. He didn’t know if he would be in the mood again. It certainly didn’t feel like it.
“I would rather not have you on me. You don’t seem to understand the effect you have on people, Celeste. Maybe it is because you have no experience, but it still cuts like a knife.”
Celeste was quiet and didn’t say much else. She walked next to him for a while, and even though it took a lot longer than he would have wished, he’d known that they were close before. The glen was one that he’d taken many women to in the past. He didn’t feel like it was the sort of place he’d be able to go back to now.
Once they got in, Charlie tracked down Fred and was surprised to find that Donovan and Jake hadn’t come back yet. He knew that there was something that he was supposed to do, some duties to take care of, but Evelyn was not patient, so he had no intention of staying long. All he had to do was drop off Celeste, and then he could get back to his real life. Whatever he had imagined for him and Celeste was just fantasy.
“Why do you have a witch with you, brother?”
“She is the favor I’m taking care of for Jake.”
“Have you slept with her?”
Charlie was taken aback. “What would make you ask that?”
“Your smell is all over her, hers all over you, and she is looking at you like all your girlfriends do.”
While Charlie didn’t want others to see such things, it was actually nice to hear that she cared. Maybe she did. He wanted to believe that.
“I think you’re mistaken.”
“And I think you’re smitten, brother. You have the same look, you know. I can’t wait to tell Jake about this, especially after all the shit you gave Donovan about his human. You’ve done gone and brought home a witch!”
His brother was laughing, but Charlie wasn’t feeling like finding the humor in it.
“I haven’t brought her home, Fred. I am taking her home, and you would do well to stop gossiping about me to the brothers when they come back. I have enough to say to them; your delusions of me and the witch together don’t need to be spread.”
Fred agreed, not wanting to argue with Charlie, but he looked off to see Celeste and wished that what he said wasn’t true. He wanted her to stay. Badly. His brother spelling it out made him realize how much he wanted that very thing. How perfect would it be to have her forever at his side?
“You are in love. Does she not love you the same?”
He scoffed at his brother. Fred was the youngest, but he saw the most. He wasn’t as big as the rest of the brothers, but that didn’t matter. Fred was the quiet one that saw everything and knew what someone was going to do before they did it. He didn’t like that side of his brother, not while it was pointed towards him and he was the one being read. Charlie didn’t like it one bit.
“You need to shut your mouth, Fred. You can observe it all, guess outcomes, yet you haven’t learned the simplest of tasks. Shutting your mouth.”
Fred didn’t take it hard. He actually laughed, and Charlie wished that he had a scary demeanor like Donovan, then maybe he would be taken seriously. He sighed and went back to Celeste. She was letting one of the women’s daughters braid her hair.
“Are you ready?”
“Almost. Can’t you see that I am being made up.”
The little girl was Janet’s child, and he said hello.
“I’m making her a princess, Charlie.”
Charlie had to agree with the little girl. Alice was five and wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Some women were born that way. Celeste was one of those women, and it was driving him crazy to lose control of the situation. To lose her.
“Take your time then. I will grab us a couple of drinks. Do you want juice?”
Alice agreed, and he went to go find the beverages promised. The beauty of Celeste was even clearer when her hair was pulled up and braided. It made her look more delicate, showing off the tiny curve of her neck and shoulders. Charlie could remember how much she liked him nipping and licking that very part of her.
How was he supposed to act like everything was the same when he knew better?
Chapter Sixteen
Celeste was feeling the dread come over her. While she talked bravely to Charlie, the truth was that she didn’t want to go back. Her aunt was going to be pissed, and she did have her primordial power. It was alive and well in Evelyn, thus why she’d lived so long. Now Celeste wished that she hadn’t been so hasty. She really hadn’t thought it through. Her aunt could very well kick her out, and she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Then she would really be free—and homeless.
Riding behind Charlie on the back of the bike and riding him as a bear was much of the same. She was still pushed up against him for long periods of time, and it gave her time to think about what had happened between them. It had been perfect. Beyond perfect, even if it wasn’t meant to be more than that. She could almost excuse it just because she knew that it had felt that good for a reason.
The closer they got to her aunt’s house, the surer she was that it was going to be a disaster. It was a certainty in her bones, and Celeste tried her best to relieve herself of the feeling. It was impossible to do, though.
She gripped onto the man tighter, but soon realized that she was hol
ding on for dear life and that no matter what she did, it wasn’t going to help. Could she tell him now to stop and take her away?
The cottage was in the distance, and he stopped a bit away from it. They were going to have to walk the rest of the way.
“Sorry about that, but the ground is soggy, and I don’t want to get stuck. The bike is pretty heavy.”
Celeste waved him off. Wet ground was the least of her worries. She flicked her hand, said a few words, and dried it up on their way. She had done it dozens of times before when there was more rain than the ground could handle all at once.
“Or you could do that. I forget how powerful you are.”
“You should see my aunt. She has way more power.”
He grimaced. “I know. I don’t know if I want to see her again. Just long enough to deliver you alive and well. That’s the task.”
She agreed, though Celeste didn’t want to be a task. There had been a chance for it to be something more, but that seemed worse, to drag him into her mess of a life.
Her aunt beckoned to her, not far from the door. Her voice was strong and clear, and Celeste took a deep breath before she pushed the old door in. The creaking sound was always dreaded, but now it was familiar and calmed her. It wasn’t like this would be the first time that she had disappointed her aunt. She would yell and rail at her for hours, but then it would be done and over with. Celeste hoped that she got off that easy, though she wasn’t really sure if she would or not.
As soon as she got into Evelyn’s sight, though, the frown replaced her smile, and she looked coldly at Celeste.
“Tell me you didn’t…”
“Aunt, I am sorry. Really, I am. It just happened.”
Evelyn was enraged, and though she looked rather calm on the outside, Celeste knew better. She knew that Evelyn was about to erupt. She turned to Charlie and suggested that maybe it was time for him to leave. It was going to be bad enough, without Celeste being embarrassed in front of Charlie as well. She didn’t know if she could take it.
“Oh, dear, he is not going anywhere. He’s the one that has spoiled you. Tell me that he did it without your consent, please. I will turn him to ash right here and now.”
Celeste looked to Charlie, and she could see that he was not expecting the anger. He probably thought her aunt would be happy. She wasn’t. Charlie didn’t realize that their sins were transparent to Evelyn.
“You have done this disservice to yourself and to me. Your whole family will have to pay for this. Why would you do this? Why did you fall into the same trap as your mother?”
Celeste could feel her face burning. She didn’t want to talk about her mom at that moment. She didn’t want to think about how disappointed she would have been in her.
“She isn’t here, auntie. So, it doesn’t matter what she would have thought. I did what my heart told me to do. How could that be wrong?”
Evelyn smiled. “Well, I am glad that it was your heart and not one of your calculated plans because now that you have let him defile you, he will become your husband. It’s the only way to relieve the shame you’ve put on yourself, and then maybe, the power will decide you’re worthy.”
Celeste scoffed. “I am not marrying anyone. I don’t even know him.”
“Yet you laid with him. I think that is enough knowledge for marriage, even if it was the carnal type.”
She couldn’t believe that her aunt was saying such things. It was ridiculous, and she wanted Charlie to chime in, but he seemed rather happy with the new scenario. That just made Celeste even more upset.
“Say something.”
“What do you want me to say, Celeste?”
“Something!”
“Maybe it is for the best.”
She groaned out loud, and Evelyn laughed. “Good, maybe he won’t be as ignorant as his counterparts. I don’t know if I could handle that, bear.”
He didn’t like the way she said it, and he tried to ignore the disdain. Charlie didn’t like her by any means, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t see how he could use it all to his advantage. He didn’t want to say goodbye to Celeste. He wanted her to be his, and marriage to him sounded like the best way to guarantee it. Their lives were long, and she would warm up to him eventually. He did know her weaknesses, after all. All he had to do was exploit them, and that sounded like the best plan yet.
Celeste was the only one that was freaking out about it now. He was trying his best to hold a straight face, but he couldn’t have been happier. One time wasn’t going to do it.
“I won’t marry him! I just left a place where I was almost thrown down the aisle. Do you really think that I’m going to do it again?”
“You picked him, Celeste. You had sex with him and are most likely already carrying his child. Do you know how fertile they are?”
Again, he didn’t like to be talked about like he wasn’t there, but it was going to benefit him, and he was going to hold onto that at the moment. That was what mattered. He could deal with a little bit of aggravation, if that got him what he wanted in the end: Celeste, in his bed every night. He hadn’t thought about the whole kid thing. They hadn’t taken any precautions. It would just tie her to him even more. How could he be mad about that?
Celeste was sputtering, but it was all worked out as far as Evelyn was concerned. There would be a ceremony that evening. Celeste stormed out, and he followed, already like the dutiful husband. When Celeste spun around on him, though, she was not the dutiful wife. She looked furious.
“Why didn’t you say anything? You just stood there and actually agreed with her. I can’t believe you!”
Charlie didn’t have much to say in his defense. He had just stood there and let it happen. He could have fought it; granted, it probably wouldn’t have done him any good, but he certainly could have done it.
“Would it be so bad?”
Now she was enraged. “Would it be so bad? Are you fricking kidding me?”
Charlie wanted her to think it through, but there was no talking to her. She launched at him and hit him several times on the chest. The hits just glanced off of him, and he could tell that she was far too upset. He let her have at him until she was tired and then let her calm back down. It was hard for him to see her like that, but he was going to have to learn to deal with her outbursts. At least she hadn’t used magic on him yet.
“Let me go, Charlie.”
He had her in his arms now, but she wasn’t fighting as much. He hoped that it was because she was calming down, but he should have known that it didn’t necessarily have to be the case.
“It’s going to be okay, Celeste.”
She pushed him back, disentangling herself from his arms like his mere touch bothered her.
“It’s not going to be okay, Charlie. I just traded one dictator for another. I know how your kind is to their women.”
She stalked off, and while he wanted to go after her, he knew from just the brief time that they’d known each other, she needed space. Celeste had to go convene with nature or think it through. He hoped that she would be back soon. The old witch’s house gave him the willies, and he was ready to leave.
It was then that he thought about going home, with Celeste in tow. How he was going to explain it was a mystery, but he knew that he would. She was to be his wife, after all.
Why couldn’t he stop smiling?
Chapter Seventeen
She kept walking until she didn’t feel like screaming, and that took a while. Celeste was sure that she was going to explode with all of the pent-up feelings she had. The night she’d shared with Charlie was great, and it was the perfect beginning to that sort of thing in her life. But there were other things that she hadn’t thought were possible. She hadn’t thought about babies and marriages.
Celeste did scream eventually, as loud as she could, and sent a flock of birds flying off scared. The earth underneath her trembled, and she knew she had to calm down. Magic came out of her in droves when she couldn’t contain it. Just be
cause she didn’t get the primordial power didn’t mean she didn’t have enough to keep under wraps.
Her aunt had said something about her possibly getting them anyway. The old woman was practically giddy about it, and Celeste hoped that she wasn’t given them. It would mean all of it had been for nothing.
She sighed out loud and walked a little while longer. How long was it going to take until she had the feelings inside of her licked?
It was almost dark when Celeste got back, and she was hoping to talk some sense into her aunt, but it was clear that it wasn’t going to happen. There were already several witches there setting up for the ceremony, and she groaned inwardly. This couldn’t be happening, she kept telling herself. How could it be happening? How had she been saved from one marriage, only to somehow fall into another?
Her eyes searched out for Charlie. He was wrapped up in something with her aunt, and by his expression and stance, he was relaxed just fine. It reminded her of their time together and how silly she felt now. She’d thought that it would be a sweet moment between the two of them, the only one. Now he was to be her husband. Was she really going to go through with it?
She already knew the answer. Celeste didn’t have a choice. She never did.
His words resounded in her ears. “Would it be so bad?” She had to say one thing for Charlie: he certainly knew how to make her feel good. His mouth and hands, all of him was hard to deny. Even knowing that she was supposed to be mad, she was mad, it wasn’t enough for her body not to want him with every bit of her being. Even right then, she wanted to go to him and pull him off into the woods with her.
Celeste had every intention of doing just that. She pointed herself in his direction and started off with determination. It was what she needed, so why put it off any longer? It’s not like they wouldn’t be doing it that night anyway.
She was almost there when her aunt stepped in her way, and Celeste tried not to let it bother her. She was moving around her when Evelyn stopped her. “We have to talk child. I have let this go far enough without a conversation. We need to have one now.”
