The Whimsy Witch Who Wasn't - Donna Augustine Page 0,112
would be a no-go for me too. It wasn’t as if I was going to jump all over him or anything. A lot of women might, but I wouldn’t.
“Is Belinda going to be okay with this? I’d be fine back in my room.” Every fiber in me was hoping he’d tell me no and insist. Please insist.
“We can’t risk it. Belinda will be fine.”
I wasn’t sure fine was accurate. That was a stretch, considering she didn't want me in the same building, same world, or breathing the same air.
I didn’t speak, but my expression must have said it all.
“This is the way it needs to be for now.” He moved to the side of the room, reached behind his head, and pulled his shirt off, tossing it on a nearby trunk. He unbuttoned his pants, the muscles in his abdomen flexing as he did.
Belinda disappeared from my thoughts. I turned so I didn’t gawk and moved to the other side of the room. I dropped the blanket from around my shoulders onto the top of the bed.
“Why the hell didn’t you do something about it?” His voice was soft, but raspy.
I jerked my hand to my throat, where I could still feel the bruising grip.
He stared at my neck and then crossed the room. His hand went to my throat, grazing gently over the area.
“I couldn’t.” All I could manage was a pathetic whisper, my vocal cords sounding like they’d been run through a cheese grater.
“What is it, Tippi? Why are you so convinced that you aren’t worth saving? Why can you protect others, but when it comes to you, you’re not worth it?”
It would’ve been less painful if he’d kicked me in the gut.
“My magic doesn’t work like that.” Although I couldn’t fault him on his logic. It did seem to look that way, whether I liked it or not. Whether it was true or not.
“Oh, I bet it does,” he said, anger now tinging his voice, as if this were my fault.
“Fine. Maybe it does or doesn’t. Either way, it’s none of your business. I’m doing what we agreed upon.”
I grabbed the blanket off the bed, finding I’d rather risk sleeping alone than dealing with him tonight. He didn’t try to stop me as I went to the door. The knob wouldn’t turn.
“Let me out,” I said, not looking at him.
“Whatever happened in your life, wherever you got this baggage, you need to see it for what it is. You need to let it go.”
He walked toward me until I abandoned my spot by the door and moved back toward the bed. If he thought this was when we were going to have a heart-to-heart, he was way off the mark. This was the point in the conversation where we went our separate ways because too much was being said. Except he wouldn’t let me go anywhere.
If I couldn’t get away from him physically, I’d do it mentally. I turned, giving him my back, cutting him off as best I could as I crawled into the bed, pulling the blanket around me.
“I don’t understand how you can’t see yourself the way everyone else sees you, the way I see you. You’re worth saving, Tippi. You’re even worth killing for.”
A breath shuddered out, but then I pulled it all in and locked it down tight, closing my eyes.
40
I woke alone, a stack of familiar clothes piled in the corner. At least he wasn’t here. Waking up in his room was too much after the night I’d had. This way, when I saw him later, we could both pretend things were still normal between us, in spite of the fact that something weird had changed last night. I didn’t know what, exactly, but I’d felt it.
The second I stepped into the main office, I wanted to run right back out. The tension was sizzling in the air. Everyone was there but no one was talking. Belinda was stalking Hawk with her eyes as he looked over some paperwork by Musso’s desk. Zab and Musso were looking everywhere but at her.
Did Hawk tell her where I’d stayed last night? Nothing had happened. There was no reason to lie, but it felt like it right now. I walked over to my table to start sorting, afraid to say anything, even a bland hello. My voice might trigger someone’s attention, and if this didn’t have anything to do with me, I didn’t want to get pulled into it.