of the room until it’s just me and him. Once we’re alone, I turn towards him with a quirked brow.
“So…you’ve been talking about me?” I don’t know why that thought sets a flurry of butterflies loose inside my stomach. My heart quite literally gains a set of wings and begins to fly.
“And you’re apparently a witch, so there’s a lot we don’t know about each other yet,” Karsyn retorts with a teasing grin. His words make my own smile fade.
“How can you be so…blasé about all of this? Most people would be in shock. Or wouldn’t believe me. Or would want to justify it however they could. How can you just—”
“I told you,” Karsyn cuts in. “I saw what I saw. I heard what I heard. To me, there’s nothing else that needs to be said or done. Unless you’re pulling some massive prank on me—”
“I’m not.”
“—then you really do possess magical powers. And yes, I am fucking curious. So curious that I might just die if I don’t get answers. But I also know that you’re dripping wet, shivering, and you still don’t trust me yet.” He shrugs, and I don’t even bother to protest. He’s right. Trust is a fickle thing, a double-edged sword. You both must be willing to impale yourselves on it in order for it to work. “Now let’s warm ourselves up and then we can talk, okay?”
Conversation tapers off as Karsyn leads me to a shower on the second floor. He grabs a fluffy towel, a pair of clean boxer briefs, and the smallest T-shirt he can find.
“You can just leave your wet clothes in here. I’ll grab them after you’re done and put them in the dryer. Let me grab your backpack and put it in my room.” He gently takes it from me, shrugging it over his own shoulder, before nodding back towards the shower. “Here’s the shampoo and conditioner. And body wash.” Karsyn points to each item before ducking out of the room. I wait until he’s gone before locking the door, stripping out of my soaking wet clothes, and stepping beneath the blistering hot water. I make sure to turn it as high as it can go as I throw my head back, reveling in the way the water pelts my naked flesh.
What am I going to do now?
Karsyn now knows the truth, as does Elias and Lucas. And with the Bloods sniffing around, that’s immensely dangerous.
I finger the necklace I still have on, feeling the power vibrating through it.
Karsyn will want answers, but how much do I give him? The last thing I want is to inadvertently put him into harm’s way because he knows too much. The witch’s council has very strict rules about who can know our secrets. Only spouses are guaranteed protection. Or blood bonds, similar to the connection between a familiar and a witch.
As long as the three of them remain quiet, we shouldn’t have any issues.
At the same time, they’re teenage boys. What if they blurt the truth out when they’re drunk at some girl’s party? What if they get pissed at me again? What if they decide once more to target me? This time around, they’ll have actual ammo in their arsenal capable of inflicting maximum damage. I’m putting all of my trust into the words, “I’ve changed.” But have they? Have they really? Or deep down, are they the same cruel boys I knew from five years ago?
I don’t know how long I stand under the spray. Hours? Minutes? When my fingers begin to prune, I shut off the water. Quickly, I towel off and slip into Karsyn’s clean clothes, finding myself only slightly disappointed when they don’t smell like him. I leave my wet clothes in the sink, knowing that he’ll grab them later, and pad on bare feet down the hallway.
The only open door is at the very end of the hall, so I slip into that room, shutting and locking the door behind me.
Karsyn’s bedroom.
In the connecting bathroom, I can hear his shower running, so I take a moment to survey his room uninterrupted.
It’s homier than I expected, laden with trophies and mementos. An entire shelf dedicated to autographed footballs sits just above his bed. Clothes litter the room, hanging off the side of his laundry basket. His duffle bag, full of his football equipment, lies open in the center of his rug.
Before I can continue my search, the door to the bathroom opens and Karsyn steps out, one