A shook my head, very aware how close we were standing. “Is it really that bad? The lack of control?”
He looked away toward the living room window. “Sometimes,” he admitted gruffly, pain flickering across his face. “It can be.”
I looked back at the shelf, running my fingers over the tops of the journals. “Such a shame. “Your writing is…” The right word wouldn’t come, but “stunning” was what I finally said.
My heart screamed at the injustice of someone as talented as he was being forced into a more limited lifestyle because of his werewolf. Again, I felt the keen unfairness of his situation, more determined to help him.
He exhaled a heavy breath. “I sell my songs to indie musicians. But some of it I just write for myself.” His eyes were back on me. “I didn’t want that kind of life anyway.”
“Like just being a loner, don’t you?”
“I didn’t say that.”
He was standing in front of me now, so close. I flinched at the sudden contact of his fingers skating along the backs of my hands, sliding over the knuckles until they curled around my wrist. His thumbs glided back and forth across my pulse on each inner wrist. I gulped hard when I looked up at him, apparently having lost all saliva in my mouth
“What are you scared of?” he almost whispered.
“I’m not scared,” I argued.
“Your heartbeat says otherwise.”
I started to pull away, but he gripped me harder, easing closer. His body heat scattered what brain cells I had left. I stopped struggling. His hold loosened, but he didn’t let me go.
He was right. I was scared. Terrified actually. Obviously, I was attracted to him, but what if we went there and it all went to hell like the cards had told me it would. Then it ended in heartbreak and he hated me.
“We’re friends,” I said stupidly, my odd protest sounding weak even to myself.
“No, we’re not.” His green eyes had gone deep-woods dark, an aggressive tint that had me hypnotized. I couldn’t look away.
“You said we were friends.” I think I even whimpered.
“I lied.” His thumbs continued their slow sweep over my pulse, now with gentle circles. “We can never just be friends. You know this. You’re not stupid.”
I did. I did! But dammit, he didn’t have to go and say it aloud! Now I couldn’t laugh off his flirting and pretend I didn’t feel the blazing sexual tension anymore. You can’t put that genie back in the bottle. Once it’s out, it’s out. Did I even give a fuck about the stupid card reading anymore? I wasn’t sure.
“We work together,” were the ridiculous words that came out of my mouth. There was a strange desperation in my tone. I didn’t know where it came from.
“No, we don’t. I’m an investor in your business. I check in from time to time with inventory and building issues, but we don’t work together. I’m more of a landlord.”
“Semantics.”
“That doesn’t make a difference anyway.” He tilted his head, brow furrowing, his expression hardening.
“Could be a conflict of interests,” I added, trying to find a way out of whatever the hell was happening right now.
His piercing gaze intensified and I could’ve sworn he was about to shift, his electric energy vibrating over my skin. His body whispered to mine, some kind of siren song, entrancing me with his nearly hostile and violent allure.
“It’s not.” His gaze dropped to my mouth, but he didn’t lean the last few inches to kiss me. Just looked and looked, his broad chest rising and falling. “You’re just running.”
“I’m afraid it will all go sideways.” My voice cracked. “And it’ll end in heartbreak. For both of us.”
“It won’t,” he said with conviction.
“It’s just that we’re—”
“I know what we are,” he snapped back, almost viciously. He curled his hands completely around my wrists, squeezing firmly but not to the point of pain. “What we could be,” he growled. “If you’d just let it happen.” Then he let me go. His voice was rusty and grating, demanding that I listen. “I’m tired of waiting, Violet.”
I didn’t move. Didn’t respond. Didn’t take the opening he was offering me. Why? Because he was right. I was running. And I didn’t fucking know what to do. His primal, possessive look screamed words like heart and soul and forever. But that psychic warning I’d received in that reading a year ago kept haunting me.
The intensity of it, of him, had me scared shitless. No one had ever looked at me like that. It was awesome and terrifying at the same time.
For once in my life, my confidence wavered. I just stood there, unable to form any kind of response, not knowing what to do. So afraid to make the wrong move that I made absolutely none instead.
He gave me a stiff nod, then fisted his hands at his sides and took a step back, dropping his gaze for a brief moment before he turned and marched toward the entrance to the foyer.
“I’m really tired, so if you’d excuse me.” He gestured toward the door, a mixture of disappointment and irritation in his tone.
He was kicking me out?
He was kicking me out!
Was he breaking up with me? We weren’t even together yet!
My mouth hung open for a few seconds before I snapped it shut. Then I pulled on my cloak of bravado and marched across the living room. Only when I glanced at his pack did I realize something. I stopped in front of him.
“You’re back a day early.”
The bags under his eyes seemed more pronounced all of a sudden, but the hardness of his gaze didn’t falter at all. If anything, he drew his own mantel around himself, a cold, frosty one.
“I need to rest, Violet.”
He wasn’t going to tell me why he was back so early or why he looked like such hell. I knew for a fact that he and Mateo typically returned from their full-moon weekends looking more virile, more powerful than when they’d left. What was so different now?
“You didn’t have to return early because of those werewolves.”
“I didn’t.”
“None of them have been around,” I assured him.
His expression was completely unreadable, his gaze still hostile. “I know.”
Yeah, of course he’d know. He’d been keeping tabs with Ruben and Devraj, who were obviously on the lookout for those guys.
“I guess I’ll go then.”
“That would be a good idea.”
I frowned up at him, but still, his expression was grave, adamant, unmoving. A fiery tempest blazed deep inside those eyes.
I stormed out of the house and back across his courtyard toward the shop. He’d never been legitimately angry with me, but there was no mistaking the cold fury following in my wake. I walked straight through the shop and out the front doors in sort of a daze.
Clara was gone, but Henry was still there at his post. I didn’t say a word but kept walking home, feeling somehow disconnected from everything. Sort of adrift.
I replayed our conversation on loop all the way home. My stomach fluttered at the thought of his soft, burning touch. I remembered how the hypnotic sweep of his eyes and fingers had held me spellbound so intensely, I hadn’t even realized I’d daydreamed the entire walk home till I was suddenly on the little sofa in our loft and staring out the window at Archie playing in Devraj’s back yard.
Tears pricked my eyes with a sudden wave of emotion as I recalled the heartbreak already in Nico’s eyes. Was the Death card already coming true because I was rejecting what we could have before it had even begun?
Laying onto my side, I hugged a throw pillow to my stomach, feeling so much self-loathing and pity I wanted to scream. My thoughts spun in my head, making me dizzy with fear and sadness.
I squeezed my eyes shut to will it all to go away but, instead, my mind drifted far back into my memory to a summer day long ago. Green, prickly grass. Warm summer sun. My twin sister laughing beside me. I fell asleep.
The dream wound in circles, only sensory imag
es flashing in and out. A blue-breasted lark sang from the branch of a flowering dogwood tree. Then everything went silent; only the wise voice of Aunt Beryl resonated through my mind.
“Your true love is broken inside. Like all of his kin.”
I snapped awake and sat up with a frightening jolt, the sun having slipped behind the houses.
“Oh, my God!”
I’d slept the entire day away, but that wasn’t what had struck me like a thunderbolt.
Nico’s voice echoed right behind Aunt Beryl’s. “Guess I’m just broken inside.”
“It’s him,” I whispered to myself, voice shaking.
Aunt Beryl’s words slammed into me like a psychic whip cracking through my soul. “Never smart for a Seer to divine for herself anyway.”
The magic didn’t sizzle under my skin. It burned, punishing me for what I’d obviously gotten so wrong.
Unable to ignore my magic screaming at me to pick up my cards, I scrambled back to my bedroom and pulled my favorite deck from my desk, the old ones my mother had given me. The ones I’d used in my first reading.
With blinding speed, I scattered the cards upside down—hands shaking—and chose three cards within nanoseconds for Nico, for me, and for our relationship.
Death, Three of Swords, the Tower.
A tear escaped, trailing down my cheek, because now I could see what was there all along. What I’d been too blind to understand. To see.
Death did mean endings. But what it also meant, which I’d failed to see, was change and transformation. Indeed, my life had been going through transformation. Even when I’d first pulled the card, I’d been on the path to opening my shop and changing things. But this wasn’t even about that. This was about changing my life to include him.
“Nico,” I whispered.
I’d wanted him for quite some time. Even as I’d denied us both.
The Three of Swords reflected Nico’s heartache, which I’d caused by my constant rejection of him when he so obviously wanted me all along.
I sobbed, realizing I’d been breaking his heart by refusing him. My blaze of magic sung with the truth of it like living flame searing through my blood.
The Tower, the symbol for our relationship, could’ve meant chaos and upheaval as I’d thought all along. But my magic whispered that I’d misinterpreted that as well. The Tower also meant revelation. Awakening.
A starburst of powerful energy shattered with warmth inside my chest as it hit me. The awakening was happening right this very second. I opened my eyes to realize that Nico was the one. He was mine.
“My one true love.” Laughing and crying at my sappy words and the pain I’d caused us both, I swiped angrily at the tears on my cheeks.
The cards had been true. I’d just misread them, thinking only disaster awaited us. When in reality, my denial was part of what put it all in motion.
The transformation began the night Nico arrived in town because that’s when I’d stopped hooking up. I’d been focusing on opening Empress Ink and had put all thoughts of men and sex to the side. Except for my secret craving for Nico.
His heartbreak began when I set on a path to reject what we could be, thinking wrongfully that I was saving us both.
His words at his place echoed back to me. “I know what we are…what we could be.”
And now I was standing at the pinnacle of the Tower in the light of the awakening, the dawning realization that it was him all along. The one that was meant for me.
“Fuck.”
I’d really messed things up. But I could fix them. There was still longing in his eyes tonight before he’d turned a cold shoulder against me and kicked me out.
I needed to gather my thoughts and my courage. Tomorrow, I’d pull him aside before Sunday dinner and tell him that he was right. We should go for it. Or I’d just kiss him and hope like hell he’d kiss me back. The rest would be easy, I hoped, because our bodies had been craving each other for a while now. I wasn’t oblivious to his desire all this time, even if I’d pretended I was.
Sighing deeply, I headed into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of wine, even though it wasn’t even five o’clock yet. I sat on the sofa and hugged myself under a pretty pink crocheted blanket I’d never seen before. Must be one of Clara’s new creations.
Sipping my wine, a heaviness that I’d been carrying a long time suddenly floated away.
“Tomorrow,” I whispered happily.
Tomorrow, I’d finally cross that bridge and tell Nico he was right. That I wanted him. And hoped he still wanted me.
Chapter 16
~VIOLET~
* * *
The first thing I noticed when I walked into the Cauldron for Sunday dinner, late as usual, was that one person was not there. Nico.
For months now, he’d been at our Sunday dinners that Jules cooked for the family as well as our Cauldron extended family. Mateo had started inviting Nico since they were cousins and all, which hadn’t bothered me really. Especially after we’d become business partners and we could use the time to talk about the shop in a relaxed environment.
I’d procrastinated today because I needed extra time to scrounge up enough courage to lay all my feelings on the line. To swallow my pride and tell Nico that I was basically an idiot who could see clearly when it came to everyone else. Just not when it came to myself. And also that I really wanted to lick him from head to toe if he didn’t mind.
“Why are you scowling?” asked Clara, carrying a large salad bowl past me from the kitchen. “Your aura is all blurry.”
“Please don’t analyze my emotions today,” I begged her, making my way to the table.
“Well, stop being all blurry then. And your irritation is bleeding over into our twin bubble.”
“There’s no such thing as a twin bubble,” I snapped, following her to the table.
She laughed and shook her head. “Just because you’ve never been able to tap into it doesn’t mean it isn’t real.”
Clara set the giant green salad bowl on the buffet table parallel to the long dining table, which was basically a bunch of four-tops pulled together with tablecloths tossed over them.
Isadora and Devraj were at the far end, their heads bowed together as they whispered like the disgustingly in-love couple they were.
Evie stood behind Mateo at the other end, her arms wrapped around his neck while watching and listening to Livvy carry on about something. Really loudly. But that was the norm for Livvy. Life of the party. She’s a Leo.
Our line cook Sam and food servers Belinda and Finnie were listening to her rattle on about whatever. In the middle of the table was JJ and Charlie, a vacant seat to Charlie’s right.
“Hey, Mateo,” I said all casual as I passed him and Evie. “Nico isn’t coming tonight?”
Mateo leaned back into Evie, reaching back and grasping her behind the knees while turning his head to talk to me. “Not tonight. Said he had some work to do or something.” Mateo’s dark eyes scrutinized my reaction before he asked, “Why? You need him?”
“No, no.” I cleared my throat. “Just thought we could go over some stuff for the grand opening thing, but it can wait.” I waved it off like it was nothing, all the while my stomach twisting into a tight knot.
Nico wasn’t the kind to miss a free meal, especially one prepared by the culinary grand master, Jules. The man liked his food. So I wasn’t thinking it was just coincidence that he decided to skip today of all days. The one after we’d had a clash of sorts. One that had ended with him kicking me out of his house.
Suddenly, I was scared. Nico had never put distance between us. And maybe that was the problem. I’d gotten so used to his constant presence, enjoying our easy camaraderie, our flirty friendship, that I assumed he would always be there. We’d been dancing along the sexual high wire, circling around each other for a long time now. And he’d never gotten angry with me. Except last night, he’d called me out. Then told me he was tired of waiting.
The Tower card had hit
me full throttle last night, and now I needed to talk to him. To tell him. Why wasn’t he here?
I’d had it all planned out in my head. I’d pull him aside in the back courtyard behind the kitchen, explain about my reading a year ago but that I’d gotten it all wrong and that I wanted him, and then we’d make out like crazy before finally coming back inside to eat dinner calmly and everything. Then we’d go back to his place and fuck each other’s brains out and officially begin this courtship.
Feeling ornery, I finally plunked down in the chair next to Charlie, immediately catching his deviant expression.
“What are you grinning at, bitch?”
“A little lost lamb. Looking for her wolf.” He batted his dark eyelashes at me.
“Shut your trap, Charles.” I slid my hand under the table and squeezed him on the thigh close to the knee.
He jerked hard and barked out a laugh, knocking the bottom of the table so hard the silverware and glassware clattered. Charlie was ticklish as fuck.
JJ leaned forward on his other side, scowling at the two of us.
“Daddy is mad,” he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
“Bet that’s what you call him in bed, huh?”
He scoffed at the same time his cheeks flushing rose-pink. “You better behave or I’ll tell the whole table you’re boning your business partner.” He tossed his head so that his blond bangs fell to one side. He was honestly so handsome he was almost pretty. “Or I suppose he is doing the boning. Right?”
“There is no boning going on whatsoever, and even if there was, I wouldn’t be telling you, nosey britches.” I poked him in the ribs and wiggled my finger, which had him squirming away and laughing.
He bumped into JJ on the other side, who then leaned back over and said, “Do I need to separate you two? We’re trying to listen to Livvy.”
I stuck my tongue out at Charlie, then followed JJ’s attention down the table to Livvy sitting at the head, gesturing wildly with a cocktail straw in one hand.
“And if he thinks he can intimidate me with his big brain, that hot nerd has another thing coming.”
Witches Get Stitches Page 16
