by Lane Hart
“I had never done that before,” I tell Sky. “And since you didn’t say anything, I thought you were on birth control.”
“Sorry,” she says with an apologetic wince.
“It’s fine, baby,” I assure her. “Nothing we can’t handle.”
“Yeah,” Sky agrees.
“For now, how about we take a nice, warm bath?” I offer.
Pressing a kiss to my lips, she says, “That sounds perfect.”
“You want Charlie and Ty to crash with us in here tonight?” I ask her.
Her face lights up with happiness. “Yes, if you wouldn’t mind? We’ve never spent a night together.” Looking over her shoulder, she says, “What do you say, guys?”
“I’m in,” Charlie agrees.
“Best sleepover ever,” Ty replies with a grin as he puts his hands behind his head and settles into my sheets, still completely naked. This is gonna take some getting used to.
“How about you two put some clothes on while we get a bath?” I suggest with a chuckle before I lift Sky in my arms and carry her to the bathroom.
“Thank you,” she says, placing a kiss on my neck. “This is gonna be really great.”
“Yeah, it is,” I agree with a smile. “But they may go running after we get back in bed and I make them help me study for my exams.”
Sky giggles and says, “I don’t think that’s the type of night they had planned.”
“Just one more week, and then we can really have some fun,” I tell her, more confident than ever that not only will I pass my classes, but I’m gonna ace them. How could I not when I have the most incredible woman cheering me on? My girl is the best, and I’m so damn glad she agreed to move in with my two friends and me for the summer.
Now, we’re gonna make her so fucking happy that she’ll never want to leave.
Epilogue
Skyler
Fourteen months later…
“From Freemont University, wearing the number twenty jersey, your starting running back for the Wildcats, Grahammmmm Lawsonnnnnn!”
“Oh, my God! I can’t believe we’re actually here. He did it!” I exclaim to Charlie and Ty, who are also in front row seats on either side of me. Five-month-old Myra is sitting in my lap, wearing the tiniest, cutest blue and yellow Wildcats cheerleader uniform for her daddy’s first home game.
“His head will be so big he won’t be able to fit through the door tonight,” Charlie jokes with a chuckle as the three of us clap and cheer for Graham.
“This is all thanks to you,” Ty says, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “You’re the one who helped Graham stay on the team. He wouldn’t have ended up here, going pro, without you.”
“No, he did this all on his own, with his incredible talent. I just had to give him a push to stay on track,” I reply.
Graham is finally living his dream. He was the twentieth pick in the first round of the draft. And the best part? He was signed to the Wilmington Wildcats. The stadium is only an hour away, so we didn’t even have to move. But going pro means he’ll be traveling a lot with the team from now on. Ty, Charlie, and I plan to take Myra to as many games as we can, but I know I’ll miss having him at home. At least we won’t be alone.
The four, well, now five of us still live together in the same house. Charlie and Ty are even bunking together to give Myra her own room. And Charlie finally stood up to his overbearing father after graduation this past May. He told him he was bisexual and also, that he wasn’t coming to work for him. Charlie wasn’t all that surprised when his dad cut off his trust fund and put the house up for sale. Thankfully, Graham was able to buy it back for us.
Since graduation, Ty was hired to do the social media for a local baseball team, which is great because he mostly works from home. I transferred to Freemont and finished my degree in the spring. Neither me nor Charlie are working in accounting, though. He’s agreed to stay home and help out with Myra while I go to cosmetology school. Amy, the wonderful woman who gave me my makeover, has been mentoring me. I want to do what she does—help women feel great about themselves. That seems like a much more fulfilling career than looking at numbers all day.
I had no idea a polyamorous relationship was a possibility for me a little over a year ago. I never thought I would love one man, much less three. But Charlie and Ty were meant to be a part of my life, just like Graham.
He and I got married right after Myra was born, and while most nights, it’s just the two of us in bed together, I frequently visit Charlie and Ty in their bed during the day while Graham’s at practice and when Myra’s having a nap. Sometimes Graham even comes home and joins us, but I know he prefers to have me to himself. He’s been such a great daddy and loves his daughter more than life itself. Charlie and Ty are her uncles who have been spoiling her way too much.
There’s hardly ever a quiet moment in our busy household, but it’s filled with so much love and happiness that none of us even care. I’m constantly surrounded by my three best friends and our daughter, so what more could a girl like me want, than my wildest dreams coming true?
The End
Bad Witch
A Paranormal Reverse Harem Romance
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue were created from the authors’ imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental.
The author acknowledge the copyrighted and trademarked status of various products within this work of fiction.
© 2019 Editor's Choice Publishing
All Rights Reserved.
Only Amazon has permission from the publisher to sell and distribute this title.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Editor’s Choice Publishing
P.O. Box 10024
Greensboro, NC 27404
Edited by Angela Snyder
Cover by EmCat Designs
WARNING: THIS BOOK IS NOT SUITABLE FOR ANYONE UNDER 18.
Synopsis
Once upon a time, Harper Rhodes was just a normal, boring, college freshman.
Or so she thought.
That was all before she was kidnapped by a scheming vampire and thrown into the secret world of supernatural beings at the Wicked Academy.
The coven masters who run the academy insist that Harper is a witch, possibly the last one in the world, and that the fate of their kind is in her hands. It all sounds ridiculous to her, but either way, they refuse to let her leave.
While being wooed by warlocks and stalked by Drake, an unapologetic vampire, Harper begins to fall for Rowan, a gruff shapeshifter who is the only good thing about her new life, even though he’s completely off-limits.
When the masters eventually get tired of waiting on Harper to choose a warlock mate, they decide to take matters into their own hands.
Knowing that none of her admirers will be able to reach her in time, Harper will have to figure out how to finally embrace magic and wield her new powers to save herself.
And if there’s one thing she’s actually learned at the Wicked Academy, it’s that sometimes being bad can feel really good.
Chapter 1
Harper
I was born cursed.
At least that’s what my father has always told my brother and I since we were old enough to walk. But after tonight, I’m starting to believe he was right.
No matter how much I study, I’m still flunking out of my freshman year of college at Salem Baptist University. My roommate is a total bitch who sneaks her boyfriend into our dorm room every night so she can screw him. Loudly. And, at the moment, I’m trudging through the streets of downtown Winston-Salem on this beautiful, warm Saturday night to collect my bras and panties. That’s right, every undergarment I own has been strung up on the limbs of random oak trees that line the sidewalk across the entire two
miles heading toward our football stadium.
Of course my roommate and her boyfriend were behind the prank that is anything but funny. And I really hope they give each other every STD in the book.
At just a little over five feet tall, I’m not much of a tree climber. Thankfully, the entire student body is currently watching the homecoming game and not witnessing my struggle.
If money wasn’t so tight, I would just go buy new undies, but all my dad agreed to pay for was my tuition and room and board. Not a penny more.
Now that my palms and the insides of my legs are burning and bleeding, I’m starting to think going commando and braless for the rest of the school year wouldn’t be the end of the world.
I’ve made it up the fourth tree and my legs are currently wrapped around the scratchy trunk as I lean to my left, stretching my arm to reach a pair of pink cotton briefs. Who hung these things so high? Giants?
“Come on, come on,” I mutter to myself as my blood boils with anger and pain from all my new scrapes. Why do people have to be so…evil?
Evil is the word my father most often used to describe me. “There’s evil inside you, Harper. You must do everything you can to prevent it from growing stronger.”
If I’m evil, then what is my roommate and her friends? Satan’s spawns?
The panties remain just out of reach; and unless I want to test my weight out on the limb, I’m out of luck.
Shutting my eyes tight, I try one more time before I give up on this pair. And much to my surprise, I finally feel the soft cotton under my fingertips.
“Oh, thank you, Jesus!” I exclaim in excitement right as my other hand starts slipping from the bark and I slide eight feet to the ground. My ankle throbs, sore but hopefully not broken or sprained from all my weight landing on it. “Crap, that hurt.”
I sit down in the grass for a few long moments not caring about leaving a damp spot on the back of my denim overall dress. The front pockets are bulging with various colors of bras and panties, so who cares about the backside? I even consider just curling up into a ball right here and never getting back up. It’s a peaceful night, under the tree with no failing grades hanging over my head and no one making fun of me.
My few serene seconds are interrupted though by the roar of an engine coming down the road. I scramble to my feet to make sure no one witnesses my epic mortification. There are lamp posts between every tree, illuminating the remaining undergarments up ahead.
Lacking the motivation to retrieve any more, I stuff my pink panties in my pocket and start dusting the dirt off of my butt and examining all of my many wounds that are burning and wet from leaking blood.
At least I think I’m bleeding. There are definitely black ink blobs on my palms and similar colored ropes down my legs. Maybe it’s a trick of the lights because I thought blood was supposed to be red. So why does mine suddenly look so…black. You’re seeing things, Harper, I assure myself as the sounds of the vehicle grow closer.
So close in fact that when I glance up, I can make out one bright headlight and the shape of a rider on a motorcycle. One that gradually slows down and pulls over onto the shoulder before killing the engine.
All of my concerns about bleeding are pushed aside when a tall, lean man in jeans and a leather jacket climbs off the bike and starts walking toward me.
He stops about five feet away, still wearing his helmet, and then his deep, masculine voice says, “Hey, doll. You all right?”
“Ah, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” I say in a rush even though it’s a lie. Forgive me father.
“You don’t look like you’re fine,” he replies, and I can hear the humor in his voice. “You’re bleeding. Let me give you a ride.”
I’m so pathetic and desperate that I nearly cave and say yes to getting on the back of a stranger’s bike just to avoid seeing anyone else I go to school with in my current condition.
But then I hear my father’s voice in my head screaming about staying away from boys. Don’t talk to strange men. You can’t trust them. All they want is your innocence. That’s why you have to keep it safe until your wedding night. Promise me, Harper!
“I’m okay. I just have a few blocks to go,” I tell the biker.
“Fine. If you won’t let me give you a ride, then I’ll walk back with you.” I get the impression from his voice that he’s young, handsome, likely in his twenties, and quite possibly a serial killer who will steal my innocence before murdering me.
“Let me at least tast…I mean see your cuts,” he says before pulling out his cell phone from his pocket to shine the flashlight on my legs. We both bow our heads to inspect the damage and simultaneously gasp at the sight.
“My-my blood…is something wrong with me?” I ask, my voice shaking with worry when the odd color is confirmed.
“You need to get home and clean that up before someone sees it,” the stranger says, his voice deepening several octaves. “Come on,” he adds when he strides back to his bike.
“No, really, I’m okay. I can walk back,” I say with conviction despite the fact that I’m shivering and trembling all over from the weird sight, sort of like when you have a fever and it finally breaks.
“Just get on the bike!” he grumbles.
“I don’t know you…”
“Where do you live? Do you go to school here at Salem?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“The dorms are not even a five-minute drive. We’ll be there before the wind even has a chance to mess up your hair.”
“Sorry, it’s not you. It’s just…” I say as I brush away the hair sticking to my clammy face. I’m not sure if it’s wet from sweat or tears. Cutting to the chase, I tell him, “I don’t know you.”
“Do you need my whole life story before you’ll let me do something nice for you?”
“No, but why should I trust you? Why do you want to help me when you don’t know me?”
“You need like a reason or something besides not being a dick?” he asks.
“Yes,” I say, flinching at the derogatory term.
Propping his hands on his hips like he’s getting frustrated with me, he says, “Okay, I'll sum it up for you, doll. You look like shit and you’re bleeding an unnatural color. Worst case scenario? Someone sees it, turns you in and you die a horrible death.”
“Turns me in?” I ask in confusion.
“Reports you as a supernatural being.”
“A supernatural? What the heck are you talking about? That’s not…are you out of your mind? I’m not super anything!” I tell him.
“If you say so. It’s your neck on the line, not mine.”
“My blood…you really think I have something to worry about?”
“Yep,” he agrees. “Let me take you home. Judging from all of the bras and panties overflowing from your pockets, it looks like you had a rough night and could use a friend.”
Well, he’s right about that. I could use a friend. That's something I've never had as a locked up, homeschooled child. Hugo may have been my twin, but he was never much of a friend to me. Now that I’m out in the world and going to college, making friends isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.
“Okay,” I finally agree.
“Okay?” the biker repeats, sounding equally surprised.
“Do you know where the, um, Wallace Street dorms are?” I ask.
“Ah, yeah. Yes, I do,” he agrees as he removes his helmet for the first time with his phone’s flashlight still in one hand. And I was right. He’s…pretty. I would never say that to his face, but he looks like he could be a model or actor with his smooth, perfectly proportionate facial features and dark blond, wavy hair mussed from the helmet.
“Here, put this on,” he says, handing me the helmet that I plop down on my head. It smells like him, sweaty and masculine. “I’m guessing you’ve never been on a motorcycle before.”
“Um, no. I haven’t.”
“I’ll help you on first,” he says when he walks over to the bike with me following b
ehind him. “Sit here,” he tells me with a pat of his hand on the seat while shining the phone light on it. “Then your feet will go on these pegs.” He uses the toe of his boot to point at the one on the side. “And you can hold on to these bars since I’m guessing you aren’t interested in wrapping your arms around my waist.”
“Thanks,” I tell him as I throw my sore leg over and get into position, folding my skirt under my bare bottom, hoping I’m not making a huge mistake.
Chapter 2
Drake
Holy shit!
I actually did it. I convinced the girl to come with me – only we’re not going back to the dorms like she thinks we are, and she’s not just any girl.
I want to take her straight home, honestly, I do.
But I can’t.
Not when she could very well be the one the coven masters have been waiting centuries for, the reason they built the academy in this town based on some psychic’s premonition.
The only way to know for certain is to take her to the pricks to let them decide. It sucks for her, but a gift like this means they’ll fucking owe me, maybe enough to trust me enough to finally leave the academy for good and get a place of my own. I’ve been living in that hellhole for over two years now and still have a curfew. It’s ridiculous, but at least I get to come and go whenever I want. Some of the other sups don’t.
Once I climb back on my Harley, I crank her up to intentionally make it harder to hear. It’s nearly impossible to resist warm, fresh blood right from the source. Besides, I need to be sure about her before I pull up to the academy gates. Ever so subtly, I reach back and graze my fingertips over her legs to swipe a few drops.
“Ouch!” she exclaims, jerking her leg back.
