"I didn't mean temperature. I mean I can't keep my eyes off of you."
"You seemed to do okay. You were asleep as soon as we got into bed. Nor did you dream."
"Huh. I didn't. No night terrors, either. The only time that happens is when I drink."
"You should drink more."
"I'd rather deal with night terrors."
He was right. Alcoholism was no joke. While it wouldn't kill a witch, our livers were too tough for that, it could wreck the fucking hell out of your life.
"Last night…just sleeping next to you… Thank you. I needed that."
Smiling, I lay my head on his chest.
"Well, aren't you two just the cutest…"
I looked over my shoulder at Jimmy standing in my bedroom doorway. A door I had sworn I'd closed when we went to bed last night.
"Morning, Jimmy. Everything okay?"
"Yeah. I was just checking on you two. Drove by Chief's house on the way to the hardware store and you weren't there."
"Yeah. Our night went to shit last night. We didn't get home here until three."
"Sorry. We good after that shit show of a dinner, though?" He laughed nervously.
Chief spoke up. "Yeah. That was my bad. Sorry about that."
"No worries, Bill. Just didn't want you to think I was mad at you."
"Where's Dennis?"
"He had a shift today."
"Ahh. Coffee?" I asked and got off Chief.
"I'm not interrupting?" He motioned to a very naked Chief, lying on his back and not bothering to cover his nakedness.
"I have more pressing concerns at the moment. Guys have morning wood. Women have to pee," I answered and headed into the bathroom, closing the door behind me.
When I got out of the bathroom, the boys were already in the kitchen, brewing up some magic in the Keurig.
Jimmy handed me a cup as I passed by him and ran my hand over his jean covered butt. Chief had slipped on some boxers and was waiting patiently for his turn. I was woefully underdressed. "Be right back. Gonna put on a shirt."
"Not on our account, I hope." Jimmy grinned and stuffed another pod in the machine.
"No." I lifted myself up on my tippy toes, seeing who, if anyone, was sleeping on the couch. I could hardly wait for the new year when Josie and Candace officially took possession of their new house next door. We were going to have so much more room. I was practically salivating in anticipation. I was going to have a guest room. They were going to have two. Josie had already offered the space for when, and if, I needed it.
"Don't know where Jaeren is, but Ellis is taking a shower before the girls get up," Jimmy answered, knowing who I was looking for.
"Gotcha. Be right back," I said and set my coffee on the counter before dipping into the bedroom and slipping into a T-shirt one of the guys had left. Didn't know, didn't care. It was mine now.
"Hey, that's my shirt! I was wondering where I left it." Chief pointed at my chest with his empty mug.
"Was. Was your shirt. Finders keepers."
"Thief."
"It's a shirt. I'll buy you a new one."
"I meant my heart." He smiled and put his mug in the machine when Jimmy pulled my mug out and handed it to me.
"Forget sloppy seconds, you get sloppy thirds." Jimmy chuckled and poured some milk in his coffee.
"Not the first time."
I stared in open-mouthed shock. He hadn't meant, or said, it maliciously, but Chief was acting…different than usual. His banter with Jimmy was proof of that. As was his lack of shyness in the bedroom when I got up. I liked it, but I was also a little concerned. Even dinner last night had been far out of the realm of his normal character. "What do you mean by that?" I cocked an eyebrow and shifted my weight to one foot, putting the hand not holding a coffee cup on my hip and giving Chief a questioning look.
Chief grinned and blushed while his coffee brewed.
"Tomorrow, you're getting sloppy fifths. If anything at all." I stuck my tongue out at him.
"I was kidding! Just keeping the conversation going."
"Jerk," I said, but with a laugh. I was definitely going to have to keep an eye on Chief. I wanted him to be happy, not pretending to be.
Jimmy sat at the table, and when I went to join him, he patted his leg. Cocking an eyebrow at him, I sat down in his lap knowing full well I should trust him about as far as I could chuck him.
"Good girl," he whispered in my ear and kissed my neck. I squirmed in his lap. He knew my most sensitive of sensitive spots. Well, the second most sensitive, but he knew the other one, too. Slipping an arm around me to steady me, he pulled away from my neck and whispered, "I love you."
"Love you, too. Don't trust you to behave, but I love you."
"Who's not behaving?" Chief sat at the end of the table next to us.
"I'll give you one guess."
"So, what happened last night?" Jimmy poked my side.
I looked at Chief, nodding for him to answer. Or not. It was up to him and not my problem to share.
"We went to my house, as planned."
Jimmy tensed under me, knowing something had gone wrong. Unfortunately, he had no clue as to how badly things had actually gone wrong. "Too many memories?"
"She wasn't a memory. She was a ghost."
"What?"
"Dot and I were watching a movie. We kissed. The lights blew. When we were trying to figure out what the hell happened, Becca's ghost appeared."
"You're shitting me," Jimmy said without thinking. Leaning to the side to see me for confirmation.
I nodded.
"Was she pissed?"
"She didn't look pissed, but I don't think the lightbulbs were an accident."
"That's not right. Can't you lay her to rest or something?"
Everybody expected too much from me. Granted, I had way more power than I had when I rolled up into town, but I didn't have a fucking clue on how to use it. It's not like becoming a godling comes with a goddess damned manual. I shrugged, hiding my frustration. "I don't know. Yet. I'll figure it out, but…"
"It might take some time," Chief answered for me.
"You're taking this quite well," Jimmy said to Chief.
"Not in the slightest. But I know Dot will do everything she can. And she has enough on her plate right now."
"Aren't you worried about going home?"
Chief blushed.
"You're not going home."
"No. Dot's letting me stay, and I was thinking about getting a hotel a few nights a week."
"Why?" It was my turn to ask.
"Not going to monopolize your time? Not fair to everybody else."
"Uh, Chief… Your deceased wife is a ghost. We'll be fine," Jimmy answered like Chief had stubbed his brain on a brick.
"Just don't wanna be a nuisance."
I'd had enough. "Spill it."
"Spill what?" He looked at me nervously, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Whatever the fuck is going on with you, Bill." I used his real name. He was in trouble. "The shit last night at dinner. The self-depreciating comments. All of it. What is going on with you?"
"Just trying to make you happy."
"You do make me happy. And insane. And angry. That's what I love about you. Now? You're being an acquiescent floob. I don't like that."
"Floob?"
"I made it up. But you're being one. Why?"
I leaned forward in Jimmy's lap, waiting for an answer. He pinched my butt to tell me to tread lightly. He should have pinched me sooner. I'd pushed Chief a little too hard. He slammed his mug down on the counter. "Because I don't want to fucking lose you. Okay? Happy?"
"That you're finally talking to me and not being a floob? Yes. Fucking ecstatic. Now tell me the fuck why you think you're going to lose me?"
"Because of Becca."
"Huh?" I blinked and set my coffee down.
"Last night wasn't the first time I've seen her. I've been seeing her all over the fucking place. I thought I was losing my godde
ss damned mind, Dot."
"You knew she was a ghost?" I stared at him in shock. "Is that why you invited me over last night?" Anger flooded my veins like ice. It had been hard enough to deal with that. If he set me up to see her…
"What? No! I didn't think she was real! I thought I was going insane. I thought guilt was turning me into a deranged lunatic. I thought that loving you was causing my brain to short circuit, and you know what? I welcomed that insanity rather than lose you."
It was official. I was an asshole. "Oh, Chief." I reached over and put my hand on his leg. "I'm sorry. You must have been going…"
"Crazy?"
"Yeah. That. Just not for real. I meant crazy with going crazy. I'll just shut up now. But you're not losing me, you dork."
"For a moment, last night, when you saw her. I was almost relieved. Then I realized the ten-million other problems that revelation meant."
"No offence, but I thought you were taking all of that a little too well."
"And it made me realize something else."
"What?"
He paused to gather his thoughts, drinking his coffee and staring out the sliding glass door behind us. "That I have been a jerk. Not a selfish one, but still a jerk. I used your other relationships like a blanket I could hide under. When things got bad between us, you had someone else to turn to. That made me happy that even when I was less than what you needed, you had someone to take care of you."
"You're an idiot," Jimmy chimed in.
"What?"
"When you and Dot fought, we all felt it. She was moody, irrational. More so than usual." He pinched me again, but this time it was to let me know he was kidding. I hoped. "We didn't line up to console her, you dumb fucking twat. We had to console her. Hold her when she cried. Wipe her tears. It wasn't fun and games and loving. It was getting her through you being an asshole."
Chagrinned, thy name is Chief. I could see the horrified look in his eyes as Jimmy's revelation lit the tiny candle in his head. "I'm sorry." Only, he didn't say it to me. He said it to Jimmy. I've never been prouder of him than I was in that moment.
"Your problem, Bill, is that you see us all as individuals."
"We aren't?"
"We are. In everything that isn't Dot."
"I'm confused."
"We aren't her boyfriends. We are her boyfriend. Her love. Her mate, her partner, her family. All of us. We're in this together and all of us need to start acting like it. Especially you. I don't mean to be the bad guy, or the voice of reason, because… Well, because that just isn't fucking me. I'm the fun one. The risk taker. The kinky bastard who likes showing her off. That is me. You're the stable one. The rock. The voice of reason in this relationship. Dennis is the sweetness. Jason is the drive. Shea is the shyness, Dar is… Dar is Dar. He's blue and horny and Dot loves him. We all do. So, shit or get off the fucking pot."
"You think I should leave?"
"No. I'm saying get your shit together. Because Dot loves you and Dot needs you, and some of us do, too."
He sat for a moment, silently sipping his coffee and staring off into nothing. Finally, he nodded, set his cup down, and stood up. He was going to bolt. I could feel it. We'd gone too far.
Just when I was going to jump up and stop him, he dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around the both of us, silently sobbing into my lap. I started stroking his hair, running my fingers through its softness and let him get it out. Jimmy put his hand on his shoulder and was silently rubbing circles, letting him know it was okay, and would always be okay. We would be okay.
How long we stayed like that, I didn't have a clue. Ellis came out of the shower, saw our moment, and retreated into the darkness of the bathroom. Candace came out to pee and pushed him in their room once she realized what was going on. Yuki had felt the whole thing and sent me a bit of love down our link and Dar must have felt the same. He and Shea stepped from the shadows and knelt beside Chief, joining in the tender moment and offering their support and love.
It was quite the moment, and even though I was smiling, the tears were flowing down my face. The wetness on the back of my shirt told me I wasn't the only one.
Finally, Chief lifted his head and stared at me with red-rimmed eyes and offered me an apologetic smile. I returned it, letting the back of my fingers brush the stubble on his cheek as he choked out one last sob.
"Nothing like a bit of group therapy to get you through the shit storms. Thanks, guys."
Chapter 9
The best part about getting up early is going back to bed. Emotional outbreaks were draining. I felt fine until Chief let everything out, thanked everybody profusely, and used work as an excuse to hightail it the hell out of there. I debated making him stay, but I know if it had happened to me, I'd want some time alone, too. So, with a smile and a kiss, I let him escape with a promise to have lunch with me at the diner. Then, I got a couple hours more sleep after Jimmy, Dar, and Shea left.
But I didn't sleep alone. In an unusual moment, Yuki came into my room, lifted my arm, and crawled into the bed in front of me. With a small chuckle, I wrapped my arm around her and gave her the snuggles that I needed.
"Snuggle whore," she whispered, and I felt the life drain from her as she fell asleep, too.
She was better than a teddy bear but wasn't one of those long term snugglers. She was gone by the time I woke up again. In fact, the entire house was empty when I went to go make another cup of coffee. Even Ellis was nowhere to be found.
"Well, okay then," I said crankily and hit the brew button.
The machine sputtered, and I grabbed the mug to go sit at the table and check my messages, but suddenly, there was somebody already sitting in my seat. Somebody I didn't recognize. Somebody I'd known my entire life. He smiled as I took a step closer, my hand shaking badly enough that coffee sloshed on my hand. It burned, but the pain wasn't any worse than the tear running the length of my heart. "Father?"
He smiled and faded but came back with a nod. "I can't stay long."
"How are you here?" I dropped the mug on the floor, splashing coffee across the tile and up the cupboard.
"You're getting stronger." He smiled as if that was the answer.
"So, what? I can just bring you back?"
He shook his head slowly. "You are projecting me, nothing more. Much like your lover's wife. You need to get a grip on the power flowing through you."
"I would if you would tell me how? I'm just fucking winging it here, Dad."
"Language, Daughter."
"Sorry." I bowed my head in shame and sat next to him, trying vainly to touch him, but my hand passed through his leg.
"I am nothing more than a waking dream. Here in spirit, but my body is far, so far, away."
"Just hang in there. I'm coming to get you!"
"No. You're not."
"Bet?"
"I was in your grandmother's workspace. Their plan is foolish. There is more to crossing Ethereum than just having a guide. Do you truly think Belenus will help you? It is because of her that I am where I am. She would just as soon as add you to her prison than release me. Do not be foolish. You are too smart for that."
"No. Not really. If I have to whip her ass to get her to free you, then I'm going to start taking kung fu lessons."
"She has been a god since the dawn of time. While your power grows, she would…wipe the floor with your face, as they say. Do not do this, Daughter. I beg of you. I led a full life and have no regrets."
"But your people need you."
"They have you."
"I need you."
"You have me. I am always with you, Dorothea. Do not forget that. Time, space, and the planes separate us, but I am always right here."
The tears were already dripping hotly down my cheeks. When he reached out and I felt his fingers touch my face, the waterfalls started. "I don't want your power. I was happy being me. Just plain old Dot."
"You were never plain, and just like your mother, you will never be old. Use the power I have
given you to change the world. Too long has the mortal realm been separated from the fae and magic. Technology is making them cold, selfish, and ignorant. Find ones you trust, share your power, and make the world as it should be."
"Magic?"
"Better."
He faded away and I knew I would never see him again.
∞ ∞ ∞
Chief was already sitting in my booth talking to Marge when I opened the diner door at one minute after noon. It took one look for him to know I wasn't having the best of mornings, either.
"You okay, Darlin'?" Marge did that mom thing where she grabbed my head and checked my temperature with her lips. "Not runnin' a fever at least. Can't be too careful with all those nasty bugs goin' around."
"Thanks, Marge. Just been a long morning." I sat and she took off running.
"You're either going to end up with chicken soup or a Marge Totty."
"Do I want to know?"
"Here you go, Darlin'." She set a coffee in front of me. I could smell the whiskey in the vapors. The slice of lemon I could have done without.
"Thank you." I managed a smile.
She was watching me, eyes flickering to the coffee cup in front of me.
I took a sip, made some appropriate Mmmm Mmmm noises and set the mug back down.
"You drink that all up, Sweetie. I'll be back to take your order in a minute!" She wandered off to pick up an order in the window.
"What the fuck did I just drink?"
"Coffee, lemon, cinnamon, turmeric, and something else that she won't divulge. However, I have never failed a drug test at the department, so I don't think it's illegal."
"Pretty sure its fucking illegal to serve tar to customers."
"Should have just told her you weren't sick." He chuckled and clinked his mug against mine before leaning back in his seat and putting his arm up on the back of the booth.
"You look more relaxed."
He nodded and smiled. "I feel better, too." His face darkened. "I'm really sorry about this morning."
"Don't be. Everybody is entitled to a few breakdowns now and then. Considering that was your first and you're dating me, you are doing exceptional."
"So, what's going on with you?" He dropped the subject of him and switched to me.
Seventh Seal: A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 7) Page 8
