by Brea Viragh
“I’ll get it started. And don’t think I didn’t notice how you avoided my question.” Johan adjusted his glasses. “So, you and Aisanna didn’t get into anything?”
“Why would we?” Elon shot him a withering look. “You have an overactive imagination.”
“No, I have eyes. And I know from experience that when someone avoids a question it usually means I’m right on the money. I see the way you’ve been making goo-goo eyes at her. Makes me sick.” Johan wagged a finger. “I can hardly get my work done the way you two carry on.”
“Yeah, right.” Elon snagged a vase and a carton of natural raffia. “You’re going senile, old man.”
“And you’re too young to be cynical.” Deliberately, Johan grabbed a stool and scooted closer to where Elon was working. “Come on, kid. Give me the details. You know you can’t pull one over on me. I want to know.”
“Nope,” Elon answered coolly. “There’s nothing to tell. And besides, you’re talking about your boss in a very disrespectful way.”
“Ah, you’re dull.”
“And you’re nosy.”
“I will tell you, from my many, many years of personal experience, if you are serious about the girl, you need to get a handle on her. She’s not the kind of woman you can rush into things with and expect nothing but peaches and roses. You got me?”
To shut him up, Elon answered, “Sure. I got you.”
He spent the rest of the day pointedly avoiding the conversation just to prove to Johan he wasn’t the love-sick puppy they thought he was. Then Elon grinned. Damn if it wasn’t true.
**
Aisanna pulled her car into her usual parking spot and took a moment to try and relax. Israel didn’t have an ulterior motive, she told herself. There was no other reason for him wanting to meet her beyond his gift. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out what he could give her, and honestly, after their last conversation, she’d got the feeling he would rather end their dalliance and call it a day. She’d thought of it herself more than once. One of those things she meant to get to in the future—if she survived that long.
She stayed in the car, glancing around for any sign of Israel. He’d told her to come, dammit. The least he could do was stick around. Maybe he was still out front? Easy enough to find out. And it was getting too cold to stay outside much longer.
Metal jingled as she put the key in the lock. Damn. Her hands still shook after the spell work they’d failed at. She pushed her way inside and the familiar pungency of her shop was an instant balm. Too much time had gone by since she’d stood behind the counter and felt ordinary.
“Hey, you.”
She jolted at the sound of a man’s voice. “What the hell?”
“I’m up front. Sorry, Johan made a complete mess of several orders and I had to stay late to finish them. It might be time to let him go, I’m sorry to say. Beyond the fact that he’s nosy as hell. Can you believe he mixed up asters and anemones?”
“Elon…what…what are you…”
He stepped up and drew her close, his lips on hers before she could comprehend his presence. Aisanna sank into the contact and opened her mouth to him as he kissed her senseless.
He drew away after several seconds, but his arms were still clenched around her. “Hello. Sorry to startle you.”
She pushed him back and put some distance between them. “I’m starting to think you have a cot hidden somewhere. Do you live here and I just don’t know about it?”
“I feel like it, sometimes.” Elon shook his head. “I tried to call and run it by you. You didn’t answer. I went ahead and did what I had to do. Don’t worry, I’m not going to charge you for the overtime. I thought you would rather I get it done right than alienate customers.”
She set her purse down and smiled. “And do you always make a habit of kissing women when you’re trying to get out of trouble?”
“No. Only you.”
“This is…unexpected.” Aisanna stepped in the opposite direction. Oh, God. What was she doing?
Elon looked around and nodded slightly. “I know. And again, I’m sorry. Come on and sit. Tell me what you think about these arrangements I’ve redone.”
Aisanna followed him around to the front.
“You know,” he said over his shoulder, “I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. Imagine my surprise when I woke up yesterday and you were gone.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’m not good at the cuddly morning-after thing.”
“It didn’t bother me. Much. Although I’d planned to introduce you to my extra special omelet. Want to know the secret? Cream cheese.”
She chuckled. “Next time, maybe.” Part of her wanted to go to him and let him wrap her in his arms again. To feel those lips travel her skin, to indulge in a sexual haze that made her forget about her problems. He looked adorable standing there with his jaunty red suspenders.
Why wait? He opened his mouth to tell her about the display he had laid out on the counter when she placed her palms on his cheeks and drew him down to her. Their lips met on a sigh and Aisanna felt a curious melting around her heart.
His mouth moved skillfully over hers. Elon shifted closer to wrap his arms around her waist, and she couldn’t resist flicking his suspenders once for effect.
Then from out of nowhere terror built and filled every cell in her body. She gripped his suspenders tightly against the pain, pressing her chest against his and screwing her eyes shut. Her heart pounded in her chest.
A shadow surfaced inside of her, her façade of normalcy slipping. Aisanna felt something, someone, crawling inside of her, scratching at her organs and penetrating her mental barrier. In the time it took for her heart to beat once, twice, Darkness had taken control of her.
She snapped her teeth down on Elon’s lip as hard as she could.
He shouted, pushing her back. There was blood on his face, his lip cut.
Aisanna felt like she’d bitten into cold metal.
“What the fuck?” Elon wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and winced, covering the lower half of his face. “Why would you do that?”
Then he saw the look on her face and stopped cold.
Sometimes, like the other night when she’d fallen asleep for the briefest moment in his arms, he felt like they’d known each other for a thousand years. He’d memorized her gestures, her expressions, the rolling cadence of her voice, until he could bring any of them to mind on demand. On a normal day, Aisanna had a tired, easy smile and light crinkles around her eyes.
The look on her face now…he’d never seen it before. He recognized rage around her narrowed eyes. Pain in the thin press of her lips. There was a vicious delight in the cock of her head and an animalistic readiness in her body. There was something else, too.
Wickedness. Pure malice, like staring into the dead, blank eyes of a serial killer. And deep in her eyes, a sharp, piercing plea for help.
Elon wiped his mouth a second time. “Aisanna, snap out of it.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and felt her tremble and shake, like a thousand centipedes crawling beneath her skin. “I said, snap the hell out of it!”
Knowing she’d kill him for it later, he cracked his hand across her cheek. And was rewarded when she gasped, head thrown back and eyes widening.
“Elon,” she began unsteadily, “I think you need to leave.”
Those were definitely not the words he’d expected to hear from her. “Excuse me?”
“Please, let’s not make a scene right now,” she begged. “Get out of here. Before you get hurt.”
“Nearly chomping my lip off wasn’t enough?” Elon chuckled at his own joke until he realized she was not answering. “Do you…do you really want to hurt me?” he asked hesitantly.
She nodded. “Yes, I do.”
His response was slow to come. “Oh.”
“Please. It’s better for you to leave while you have the chance.”
“Is this about you being a witch?”
“No, it’s not,” she began. It was a clear lie. “I’ve had some time to think and I decided it was a really poor idea, coming on to you the way I did. It was indecent and I took advantage of you. That’s why I have to end it, and that’s why I think you need to leave.”
“Whoa, take it easy.” Elon took time to consider his response, standing his ground but sinking lower and lower. “You hurt me because you want to break up with me?” He shook his head. “No. I can hear it in your voice. This has something to do with the problem you refuse to tell me about. Do you still think I’ll tell someone about your secret? I think I’ve proven myself to be trustworthy. I know something bad is going on because the woman I saw staring at me from your face just now? It wasn’t you. It wasn’t you, Aisanna, so do me a favor and be honest with me.”
“Just back off, Elon!” Aisanna drew on the best emotion she could in order to get the job done. It came to her too easily, anger at herself, at the situation. Although she hated doing it, it was a simple thing to direct it toward Elon instead. “I didn’t want to do it this way but you need to listen. This was fun while it lasted but it’s over. Done.”
“It was more than a game to you,” he said slowly. “I know it, and you know it too.”
“You’re deluding yourself. It was sex, nothing more. You’re a good fuck, Elon, but that’s over now. So please, just…just go.”
That stopped him. “This has something to do with me finding out about your magic, doesn’t it? Because I’m a normal guy. Human, you said. Let me guess, your family doesn’t want you to see me. Am I right?” He slapped his hands on his thighs. “I am right. I can see it on your face.”
“It’s not—” She paused before continuing. “Please try to understand. It isn’t about you. It has never been about you. It’s about me.” Aisanna shook with the effort of keeping herself standing. Suddenly it seemed too much. “I’m…I’m not myself. I made a mistake and we both know it. Please, let’s be adults about this. I’ll take care of the rest of your work tonight if you never bring this up again. Okay?”
“No, it’s not okay. It’s not okay at all, Aisanna.” Elon shifted, his footsteps heavy. He clenched and unclenched his hands. He wasn’t the fighting type; he instead preferred to find an amicable way to a solution. But there she was, looking like heaven in front of him in contrast to the hell he felt inside. Telling him it was over when it clearly hurt her to do so. “You need to at least tell me the real reason.”
“What real reason?” She gestured emphatically, willing him to understand. “You’re too dense to realize I’ve already told you!”
He narrowed his gaze questioningly. “This didn’t come out of nowhere.”
“Drop it, please.” She turned away to hide whatever emotions flashed across her face.
Elon watched her loop the buttons of her coat over and over again. When he spared a closer look at her, he noticed the warning signs. The signs cautioning him of her unbalanced state. She was too pale. Her eyes too wild and her long hair too limp. This wasn’t the woman he knew.
“I deserve a real explanation for you jerking me around.” His hurt lip throbbed in time with his hurt heart.
Her hands fluttered over her chest. “I need some air.”
“You came on to me. Remember?” Elon followed her out the front door, listening to the bells tinkle against the glass. To make his point, he jabbed himself in the chest with his index finger. “I asked you multiple times if sleeping with me was what you really wanted. You said yes. You. Said. Yes,” he repeated.
She winced. He hated the harshness of his statement. He hated knowing he wasn’t worth her honesty. Nonetheless, Elon persisted. “And now you have the nerve to tell me it was nothing? You’re gonna avoid looking me in the eyes while you cut me off at the knees and ask me to leave? You bit my fucking lip. I know you’re not yourself.”
“You know what? I don’t owe you an explanation.” She turned to him, her breath frozen in front of her face, her nostrils pinched and white. “It’s a family matter. I’ll ask you one more time to go home before this gets embarrassing. If the end of our little one-time tryst is going to be an issue for you…” She took a breath. “If this is going to be an issue, then there’s no need to bother coming back to work.”
Her expression was serious. Intensely empty. There he was, with his heart racing and sweat beading on his brow, feeling the earth open up beneath his feet. “You’re unbelievable.” His hands floated up and he let them fall to his sides. “I know you feel something for me.”
He crossed to her in three strides and took her face in his hands, let her see his desperation, the depth of his emotions. His passion for her.
Unbidden, she moved against him. Her body betrayed her words every time.
“Try and tell me there’s nothing there, Aisanna,” he whispered against her skin. The tips of his fingers moved over her cheekbones.
He knew she’d made up her mind before he finished his statement, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. He’d never been the type of person to give up before. His years of working for her was a testament to his tenacity.
But he saw the resolve on her face. She’d decided on him. This was the end of the line.
She trembled at his mandate, opened her mouth to respond. The sound of another voice interrupted them.
“Aisanna! Babe! I’m sorry, I got distracted while I was waiting for you.”
Hastily they broke apart. “I think that’s your cue, Elon,” she said woodenly.
Elon shook his head. “Don’t let it end like this.”
She turned her back on him as Israel trotted toward them, a plastic cup held in one mitten-covered hand, his red hair clearly visible.
“Hey, babe!” He swooped in for a loud, smacking kiss, completely ignoring the other man. “What’s the fuss about? God, you look horrible.”
“This guy? Are you serious?” Elon pointed jerkily though he kept his ground. “What is this, the icing on the fuck Elon cake?”
Aisanna stood next to Israel, their shoulders touching. “My world isn’t safe for you,” she told Elon, not daring to look higher than her own feet. She did not need magic or a sixth sense to see the testosterone seething. “You’re human.”
Both men sized each other up within moments, chests rising and shoulders squaring.
“But I love you,” Elon told her simply. “Don’t do this to us.”
He took a step forward and Israel raised a hand to block him. “Dude, back off. This is better for everyone involved. A human couldn’t possibly understand how to love a witch properly. Besides, what are you, like, seventeen?”
Elon sprang, his fist releasing from his side and slamming into Israel’s jaw with a resounding clap of flesh on flesh. Contrary to his size, he packed a punch and Israel went flying, crashing into the snow drift at the side of the building and leaving a furrow in his wake.
Chest heaving, Elon stared at him. “Go screw yourself.”
“You’re acting like children,” she muttered, helping Israel stand. Already a bright red bruise marred the skin of his chin. “This has nothing to do with him. You both need to stop.”
The hint of Darkness rose inside her and ached to start the fight anew.
Elon looked as though he wanted to speak, the worlds bubbling up on the brink of spilling over. He kept his thoughts to himself and his fists clenched at his sides. They itched for contact, to wrap around the other man’s neck and squeeze until something snapped. He did none of those things.
Israel sent him an accusing stare. He leaned against the wall. “Dude, dick move.”
Aisanna held up a hand. “Elon, go home,” she urged. “I’m ending this because I have to. Because it’s best for everyone.”
“You’re really choosing him over me?”
“I choose no one. That’s what you don’t understand.”
Elon forced himself to go back inside, gather his things, and walk out the back door without another word. Sliding behind the wheel of his car h
e took a moment to think. To stew. To clench his fingers and punch angrily at the dashboard until his knuckles swelled and blood dripped from the broken skin.
His car engine turned over several times before catching. He punched the gas and sped off, jerking the wheel as tires skidded along the icy street.
He tried to ignore the pain in his hand. In his lip. In his heart. He would give anything to erase the last hour of his life.
All he knew was that the instant he’d seen her for the first time, he felt weightless, as if a certain sense of destiny had fallen over him. Now he felt merely empty. Unwanted. He was a problem for her. A problem she solved by running back to a man who treated her with nothing but disrespect.
That smarmy, no-good jackass whose only redeeming quality was the fact that he could conjure magic. And Elon could not.
He hardly paid attention to the road, giving in to the bitterness and resentment. Knowing he would never again find a woman he loved as much as Aisanna Cavaldi.
Yet through it all, he cared enough to wish her happiness. Even if it wasn’t with him.
Then he gave himself over to the doldrums.
A single yellow rue flower materialized on the passenger seat. Rue for genuine repentance, everlasting suffering, and sorrow.
He never saw it.
CHAPTER 16
Aisanna sat with her rear against the shelving, head ducked between her legs until the sounds of Elon’s engine faded. Her lungs hurt when she took a shaky breath. She’d managed to break it off. It was logical. It was the only way she knew to keep Elon safe. From herself and from Darkness. Why did she feel so damn bad about it?
His eyes, red and full of dying hope… She shook her head bitterly. This was not how she’d wanted it to end. Not even close.
Israel quirked a brow at her. “Are you done being crazy for the evening?”
Nope, not by a mile. Aisanna sighed and pushed herself up, lifting her gaze to him.
“You can go,” she told Israel. “We’re done. I can’t do this anymore.”
