Reid’s grip tightens around my waist, but this time I don’t need his overreaction, because I’m about to have my own. “Well,” I say, throwing my hands out, “I’m not at home.”
“I see that.”
There is a dead silence between us. Bystanders cautiously move around us while the rest of my family stands across the street watching eagerly. I desperately don’t want to have this conversation in front of Reid, or in the middle of the street, for that matter. Julien steps toward me, eyeing me as I continue to sway under Reid’s steady hand.
“Can we talk? Alone?”
“No,” Reid and I answer simultaneously.
I glare back at Reid, but he seems surprised at my answer. I give him a look, assuring him that I can handle this without his interference. I turn back to Julien, wincing as he frowns at me. “You’re intoxicated,” he says, attempting to make it sound less horrible somehow.
“I’ve been a little distraught today.”
I look at Zeke, standing arm in arm with Sadie across the street. Julien follows my eyes, and Zeke tells him all he needs to know about my day with one simple expression. Julien closes his eyes, hissing under his breath. “Willa,” he whispers. “I promise. I was going to tell you.”
I stumble forward, glaring at him, all former sympathy I felt for him vanishing completely. “When, exactly?” I move toward him. “After I fell in love with you?” I step even closer, because my next accusation is meant for his ears only. “Or did you think sharing my bed would be enough?”
He bites his lip, fighting back whatever he wants to say. “You’re intoxicated,” he says again. “So I’m going to pretend you didn’t just accuse me of that.”
“Pretend all you like.” I step back, and Reid is quickly at my side to catch me when I almost stumble over. “Doesn’t change the fact that you lied.”
“I didn’t lie,” he says loudly. “I didn’t want to frighten you. People like me live abnormally long lives. You could be in your eighties by the time my father dies.”
“Or it could be tonight,” I say through my teeth. “You could have at least warned me, all things considered.” I give him a knowing look as my hands reflexively fist together.
I let him cut me. Worse, I let him get close to me.
“Wilhelmina,” he begs, holding his hand out. “Please.”
I step back, leaning against Reid’s chest, and that is when it happens. It’s brief, and if I hadn’t been paying attention, I might not have noticed it. Julien’s eyes flash cold, and he bares his teeth at me.
Reid has carried me halfway down the street by the time I recover from the pure shock of it. Zeke and Grady stand defensively between us.
My head sways worse than ever now. The scene in front of me moves in slow motion. Reid shouts absurdities over my head, and Julien accuses Zeke of poisoning me against him, all while Grady plays peacemaker between them. I try to yell, to assure either side it is all my fault, that I am the one who allowed Julien to get close to me, and I will now be the one deciding I’m not ready to risk my heart because of it.
It is all in vain. I don’t think my voice carries beyond my own ears. Maybe I’m not speaking at all, and I’m only yelling inside my own head. It’s impossible to tell. The last thing I truly recall is Reid warning Julien never to come near me again, that he’s proven without an ounce of doubt that I will never be safe with him. Julien lunges forward, fighting his way between my protectors when I black out.
***
I wake sometime during the night. My mouth is dry and begging for hydration, but my head pounds too loudly to make it worth the effort to get up in search of water. I close my eyes again and sink my face into the pillow.
The second time I wake up, I think for a moment it actually worked. The sun hurts my sensitive eyes as it bursts through the window in front of me, but it isn’t until I try to gulp air down my parched throat that I know it must have all been real. I groan, rolling over, only to find myself falling to the ground with a loud, swift thud.
Another groan erupts from beneath me as I realize I haven’t hit the floor but rather landed on someone who occupies it. I roll again just as I see Reid comb his fingers through his hair and glare up at me. “Was that necessary?” he asks hoarsely.
While I consider my predicament and his question, I see I haven’t rolled off my bed but instead a rather unfortunate-looking leather couch. I decide I really don’t have an answer to his query, so I merely give him an apologetic yawn, to which he rolls his eyes. “Where am I?” I ask as he sits up, because I know for certain that horrible excuse for decorative furniture doesn’t belong to me.
“My apartment.”
He’s up on his feet now, stretching his arms above his head. I look around the room, which doesn’t take long, considering it’s about the size of my bathroom. I scratch my head while trying to tame the mess of hair across my forehead. “I thought you lived in Frog Hollow with Sera and Abby.”
He sighs. “Frog Hollow will always be my home. This is just where I stay when I need space, which is most of the time.”
I stand, though a little wobbly, and make my way over to the window producing all that bright sunshine. As I look out, I realize we are overlooking the square. It’s a similar view to what I have from the bookstore balcony. “We’re above Rooster’s Diner,” he explains, noticing my surprise. “Cari gives me a good deal, seeing as there really isn’t much to the place.”
He walks into the kitchen adjacent to the living room and begins a cup of coffee. My eyes instantly light up. “I don’t think so,” he says, opening his fridge. He pulls out a Gatorade and then a bottle of Advil from the cabinet. “You’ll be enjoying this for breakfast.” He slides them across the counter toward me.
I frown at him, although my mouth is already watering for the Gatorade. “So how did we end up here?” I grab the bottle as if it’s a piece of gold at the end of my hangover rainbow.
“You passed out.” He shrugs but then looks away from me. “My place is the closest spot to let you sleep it off.”
I nod, but I can already feel myself wincing as I prepare to ask my next question. “What else happened after I blacked out?”
Reid leans over on the counter, watching as his coffee begins to run down into the container. “Nothing,” he says, yawning. “Julien is no match for Zeke when he has Sadie and Abby for backup.”
“So he just left?”
“With encouragement,” he adds with a smile, but then it fades. “I hope you understand now what I’ve been trying to tell you all along. Julien is dangerous. Did you see the way he reacted to your dismissal of him?”
My stomach tightens as my hand clenches into a fist behind my back. Reid still doesn’t know, which means Sadie and Zeke kept my secret. No wonder he is still being nice to me. I manage to give a slight nod but bury my hands in my pockets.
“Good.” He sighs with relief. “But just in case Julien didn’t learn his lesson, Zeke has offered to spend the day with you at the bookstore. I thought you might need the help anyway, and he really doesn’t have anything better to do.”
I purse my lips, a little miffed he thinks I need a babysitter, but at least it’s Zeke. I figure it’s Zeke’s excuse to talk to me again about everything. I wonder what I will say to him, because, honestly, I have no idea how I feel about any of this. I didn’t expect to confront Julien so soon, let alone with an audience and a loose tongue. Reid takes my thoughtful silence as fear and crosses the room to give me a warm embrace. “Don’t be scared,” he says. “We’ll protect you.”
I sigh into his shoulder, knowing it is true but unsure if it is necessary. Julien’s face plays over and over in my mind, and I know it will plague me until I find out the truth. There is only one way to convince my family and myself of Julien’s motives, and that is to find out my mother’s true murderer.
I remember the spell Julien taught me and how I need to cast it at all the places my mother’s spirit might choose to dwell. My first thought is the bo
okstore, and I glance up at the clock. I’m expected to open in less than two hours, and I will still have to make a trip to the graveyard for dirt, which means I have little time to spare.
“Mind taking that coffee to go?” I ask him, smiling as innocently as possible. “I would really love a shower before work.”
He smiles back, rubbing his hand over my shoulder. “Sure thing, Willa.” He runs back into the kitchen to grab a to-go mug, but I continue to stand in the living room, stunned.
“Did you just call me, Willa?”
He concentrates as he pours his coffee. “I thought you said that’s what you preferred?”
“It is. I just didn’t realize we were on a nickname basis now.”
He cocks his head to the side. “Well,” he considers, “you did pass out on my couch, and I did make you breakfast.” He points at the Gatorade in my hand and smiles.
He’s right. We haven’t yelled at each other for a full twenty-four hours. We definitely have taken a step up in our relationship, almost to the point of friendship. “Do I get to call you Re Re?” I ask, laughing.
“No.”
“Oh, come on,” I say as he grabs his coffee and heads toward the door. “It’s only fair.”
“No.” He holds the door open for me.
“How about just Re, then?”
He rolls his eyes as I walk out. “No. Just forget I mentioned it.”
He follows me hastily down the stairs, and I continue throwing names at him. “Or maybe we could do like an animal nickname. You know, Bear, Goose, or Ducky?”
He starts to walk faster once we make it outside, so I run after him.
“Or we could base it off your mood, as if you were one of the seven Dwarfs. Grumpy, Grouchy…”
“Wilhelmina,” he warns, spinning toward me as we reach his truck.
“What’s wrong, sunshine?” I smile, replicating his angered posture.
He steps forward, our toes meeting as he looms over me. Electricity flashes between us. It isn’t butterflies, or the so-called fireworks people sometime describe, but real, genuine electricity. It sends us both stumbling back, and I land hard against the side of his truck. I reflexively touch my hair to make sure it isn’t standing at attention on top of my head. We gawk at each other, but then I start to laugh. “Sparky it is, then.”
He stares blankly at me for a few seconds, obviously taken aback by what happened. When he finally speaks, he is back to his usual moody self. “Just get in the damn truck.”
I decide to take the lighthearted route and continue to grin at him. “Sure thing, Sparky.”
I swear I catch him smile before stomping around the truck.
Chapter 13
THE UNINVITED GUEST
I sink down into the warm water of my bath until the bubbles pop beneath my ears. Every muscle in my body relaxes as I hum along to the radio. Romeo chases his ball around the bathroom floor, the bell dinging inside it every time he swipes at it with his paw. I recall the phrase “exactly what the doctor ordered” as I swirl bubbles around my finger and blow them down the tub toward my toes. Today has been a complete disappointment, because even with the help of Zeke to offer suggestions for places to cast the spell, we still came up empty-handed.
I did, however, find out my bookstore is haunted by a prissy little Yorkie with a giant pink bow in its hair. I frowned unpleasantly at the yippy thing after realizing it was the only spirit that remained in the bookstore, and I had been equally disappointed with every other place we checked, as well.
I sink deeper into the water, officially hopeless. The spell Julien taught me was my one and only lead, and now it is effectively exhausted, without an ounce of evidence to lead me forward. I bite my lip as Romeo continues to jingle his toy along the floor. At least my sour mood doesn’t seem to have any devastating effects on him. I close my eyes, returning my concentration to the music, because reliving my failures isn’t going to get me anywhere. As the song ends, Romeo’s bell stops ringing. I open my eyes, leaning up in the tub just in time to watch the hair rise on his back as he hisses at something outside the door.
I immediately jump up to look around the door. I vigilantly scan the room, leaning out of the tub to look into every corner and crevice, but my house is empty. As I step back into the tub, I hear Romeo’s bell start to ring again. I look sourly down at him. “Don’t scare me like that,” I warn him, but he continues to play happily.
I sink back down in the tub with my heart beating in my ears. I resign myself to the fact that maybe relaxation simply isn’t meant for some people. I stay in the tub and brood until my water goes cold anyway.
Once I get out, I twist my wet hair on top of my head and wrap myself in a fuzzy purple housecoat. Romeo follows me into the bedroom and hops up on my bed, apparently tired of playing. He yawns and rolls over to snuggle up against my pillow. I snort at his laziness as I rummage through my closet for pajamas.
I pull out a pair of silk shorts and a matching cami, then Romeo hisses abruptly behind me. I stumble haphazardly into the wall and down to the floor. When I flip over, I see him standing next to the windowsill scratching menacingly at the window. I jump up, running to his aid, but there is still nothing. Romeo continues to paw frantically at the window, baring his teeth next to the glass. “Calm down,” I tell him to no avail. “You’re freaking us both out.”
I pull him away from the window, change into my pajamas, and go downstairs. I grab a pint of ice cream from my fridge, meld myself into the corner of my couch, and turn the TV to the first cartoon channel I can find, because I’m desperate for something mind numbing and irrelevant.
Romeo hops up next to me, resting his head in the crease of my arm. I’m halfway through my pint of ice cream when my eyes flicker up from the TV to the giant window behind it. I stare out at the black night, not knowing why it suddenly caught my attention. Romeo shifts uncomfortably next to me. A flash of movement zooms by the glass. I scream, spilling my ice cream and spoon onto the floor. Romeo is at the window again in a flash, hissing uncontrollably just as before, but this time I believe him.
I jump over the back of the couch, sprinting into the kitchen for my cell phone. Zeke’s number is the first name on my recent calls list, and it rings as I ravage my kitchen drawers for a knife. I find one, a butcher knife like they use in scary movies, just as Zeke picks up. “What’s wrong?” he asks immediately.
I turn the knife over and over again in my hand, letting the blade gleam under the kitchen light. I know I have powers, but somehow a knife makes me feel more powerful than my magic. “Someone is outside my window.”
“Julien?”
“I don’t know.” My voice comes out in a croak, because I really hate to think Julien is stalking me. “Maybe?”
“I’m on my way.” I hear the distinct sound of footsteps and keys in the background. “Hide somewhere until I can get there, okay?”
“Hide,” I repeat as my hands began to shake. “Got it.”
I grab my knife and fling myself inside the pantry, holding the door open just long enough to allow Romeo to sneak inside with me. I shut the door tightly, hunkering down in the corner, prepared to pounce if necessary. Long minutes drag by as I count each painful second in my mind, my ears trained to noises outside the door. Exactly eighteen minutes pass before I hear thundering footsteps burst into the house. I hunker down close to the floor until I finally hear Zeke’s frantic voice yell my name. I sigh before yelling back to him, and seconds later the door of the pantry flies open. However, it isn’t Zeke who stands outside the door with his eyes wide in horror.
I gape up at Reid, still holding the knife and Romeo securely against my body. “Well,” he says stiffly, crossing his arms over his chest, “at least you’ve upgraded your weaponry.”
Romeo leaps from my arms as I scramble to my feet. I throw myself at him, so happy to see him I can almost cry.
“Whoa” he says, dodging the knife. “I’m the good guy this time.”
He hugs me
tightly, allowing me to bury my face against his chest. His pulse is racing faster than my own as his unsteady hand removes the knife from my grasp. “It’s okay now,” he assures me, as well as himself.
I close my eyes, exhaling deeply as I try to convince myself it’s true. Zeke rounds the corner only moments later, quickly followed by Sadie and Abby. “The rest of the house is clear,” he says before effectively pulling me from Reid’s arms for a hug.
“Good.” Reid cautiously takes a step back from me and exhales. “Is it secure?”
Zeke passes me on to Abby and Sadie, who still have panic-induced tears in their eyes. “We are on complete lockdown until Grady gives us the go-ahead,” he confirms.
“All right, then.” Reid walks over to grab me under the elbow. “I’ll leave you supernaturals to guard the exits while Buffy and I have a little chat.”
Everyone disperses through the house, but not before Abby and Sadie get in one last hug. Abby grabs me tightly, whispering in my ear. “Zeke told him. He knows everything.”
My eyes widen in shock as Reid pulls me away. I clumsily follow him up the stairs and into my bedroom. He slams the door behind us and then crosses the room to check that the window is locked. He pulls the curtains together and rounds on me with a stern glare. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” His voice is deep and gruff. “Because, honestly, I don’t know whether I should scream, cry, or just be happy you’ve somehow managed to survive this long.”
I whisper his name, but it is barely audible. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it, Willa.” He takes a wide stance in front of me. “I seriously thought I would come here to find you dead tonight.” He steps within inches of me, his words coming out in broken gasps. “I thought he’d taken you from me.”
“I’m still here,” I squeak.
He grabs my hand, pulling it between us. He flips it over, and without looking, he runs his fingers over the healing wound on my palm. “Barely.”
Frog Hollow (Witches of Sanctuary Book 1) Page 14
