Reign reached up and grabbed hold of her wrist as he climbed to his knees on the floor. Hugging himself to her chest, he squeezed her tightly as if he were being pulled down by quicksand and she was his only savior.
Holly seemed to be caught off guard at first, but slowly, she put her hands over his head. Gently, she stroked his hair and allowed him to just hold her. “It’s going to be okay,” she crooned. “I promise, Reign. I can sense it. Everything is going to be okay.”
Something about her touch seemed to calm him. He felt his heart rate returning to normal. His breathing began to regulate back to normal. Slowly, he looked up at her. She looked down at him so lovingly that he was drawn to her. Still on his knees, he reached a hand up and snaked it through the back of her hair. His eyes were transfixed on the soft curves of her pillowy lips. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from them.
He began to pull her head down towards him, but the sound of the swinging kitchen doors let out their familiar squeak again. “Reign, are you alright?”
Reign’s eyes popped open and his hand reeled back. Holly’s eyes interlocked with his for a split second before Reign leapt to his feet. “Mom! Yeah, I—I’m fine.” He swallowed hard, looking over at Holly.
Holly’s eyes were wide and filled with shock and surprise. He could only imagine what she was thinking. Holly gave Linda a tight smile. “I was just looking for something to eat. We didn’t eat all day.”
“Oh, I have dinner in the oven. If you want to go help the girls set the table, I’ll bring it right out.”
Holly nodded. She glanced at Reign for only a brief moment before making a beeline for the dining room.
When she was gone, Linda looked over at Reign. “You sure you’re alright?”
Reign’s heart raced in his chest. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was about to lose his father again or if it was the moment that he’d just had with Holly. “I don’t know, Mom. To be honest, I’m kinda feeling shook right now.”
Linda put her arms around Reign, engulfing him in a hug. “Don’t worry, sweetie. It’ll all work out in the end. I promise.”
After dinner, the five members of the Witch Squad looked at each other.
I shook my head. “I don’t know, you guys. This school year started out with so many uncertainties. I can’t believe that we’re finally where we are today.”
“In the B&B?” asked Jax, quirking her head to the side.
“No! In life! I mean, for starters, who knew we’d all still be friends?”
Probably the most surprised out of all of us, Alba nodded. “Yeah, no kidding. There’s no way I would’ve guessed that the five of us would still be hanging out together. You’re not exactly the normal kind of people I’d hang out with back home.”
Holly snuffed air out her nose. “You can say that again!”
“And who would’ve thought that Sweets would’ve dropped out of witch college!” I said.
Sweets raised her brows. “I certainly didn’t think that was going to happen when I started.”
“None of us did!”
“And when I think back to my witchy little roommate,” I continued, shaking my head, “there’s no way I would have ever guessed that she wasn’t a witch. But now look at her, she’s a real witch. Granted, she didn’t pass her first year of witch school…”
“Hey!” screeched Jax.
“Kidding,” I said with a smile.
Jax giggled. “Yeah, me too.”
“But the fact of the matter is, we made it to the other side together. We’re still friends!”
“Yeah, we did,” agreed Alba. “I guess that’s cool.”
“You guess? I hardly had any friends in my whole life, and to walk away from the first year of witch school with four friends? I’m in awe.”
“Hey, guys, we should do something to celebrate,” said Holly with a huge smile on her face.
“Celebrate what? We haven’t graduated yet,” said Alba.
“Not celebrate school. Celebrate our friendship.”
“Oooh, that sounds fun! What should we do?” asked Jax.
Holly shrugged. “I don’t know. Like go on a trip together or something.”
Alba shook her head. “Nah. I don’t have the money for a trip. I lost out on the airline tickets I’d booked for this week. Of course they were nonrefundable, so now I gotta shell out another couple hundred bucks to rebook. Plus my brother’s getting married in a week and a half, so I really gotta get back to Jersey for the wedding.”
“Yeah, and I just took off a ton of days at the bakery,” said Sweets. “I don’t think I can go anywhere either.”
“Oh, come on, girls. I’m not talking about going far.” Holly’s eyes lit up excitedly. “Hey, I’ve got the perfect idea. Oh man, you girls are going to love this. What if we drove Alba home.”
“What?” asked Alba curling her lip. “All the way to Jersey?”
“Yeah!” said Holly. “We’re in Pennsylvania. It can’t be that far. We’ll take you home, and then we’ll drive back. I bet we could do it in a three-day weekend. Sweets, you could get at least one more day off from the bakery, can’t you?”
Sweets lifted a shoulder. “I mean, I don’t know. Actually… now that I think about it, Char did say we were going to be closed for Memorial weekend. I think that included Monday.”
Holly smiled. “Perfect!”
Alba shook her head. “Naw, I gotta be back by Memorial Day. That’s Vinnie’s wedding day.”
“Well, duh. We’d have you back by then. We could leave when Sweets gets off work on Friday night. Shoot, we’d probably be in New Jersey by Friday or Saturday. You’d have plenty of time to get to the wedding.”
Jax’s eyes lit up. “Are you serious right now? A girls’ road trip?”
Holly shook her head. “No, I mean a witches’ road trip.”
Jax nearly couldn’t contain herself. “Ahhh!” she squealed, leaping up off her chair. “Even better! I am so totally in!”
Sweets giggled. “Yeah, I’m sure I can make it work. I’m in.”
Holly looked at Alba. “Alba, come on. Think of all the money you’d be saving. You wouldn’t have to buy new airline tickets now. And no sitting on a stuffy plane with a bunch of sweaty men.”
Alba lifted a brow. She seemed to like the sound of that. “Yeah. I guess I could handle that. As long as we make it there in time for me to go to the wedding.”
Everyone looked at me then. Jax pleaded silently with her eyes. Holly blinked up at me expectantly. Sweets looked excited by the idea, and Alba looked like she was ready to save a few hundred dollars.
“Well, what do you think, Mercy?” asked Holly.
I didn’t even have to think about it. I smiled at my friends. “Are you kidding? A road trip with my witches? Yeah, I’m in. I’m definitely in!”
Also by M.Z. Andrews
Have you read all the books in the Witch Squad series?
Book 1: The Witch Squad
Book 2: Son of a Witch
Book 3: Witch Degrees of Separation
Book 4: Witch Pie
Book 5: A Very Mercy Christmas
Book 6: Where Witches Lie
Book 7: Witch School Dropout
Book 7.5: Witch, Please!
Book 8: The Witch Within
Have you read my Spin-Off Series also set in Aspen Falls, PA?
Book 1: That Old Witch!
Book 1.5: Hazel Raises the Stakes
Book 2: That Crazy Witch!
Mystic Snow Globe Romantic Mystery Series:
Prequel: Deal or Snow Deal
Book 1: Snow Cold Case
About the Author
I am a lifelong writer of words. I have a wonderful husband, whom I adore, and we have four daughters and two sons. Four of our children are grown or in college and two still live at home. Our family resides in the midwest United States.
Aside from writing, I’m especially fond of gardening and canning salsa and other things from our homegrown produce. I adore
Pinterest, and our family loves fall and KC Chiefs football games.
If you enjoyed the book, the best compliment is to leave a review - even if it’s as simple as a few words - I tremendously value your feedback!
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All the best,
M.Z.
Follow me at:
www.mzandrews.com
The Witch Within Page 36
