Witches Get Stitches by Juliette Cross

Chapter 13

~VIOLET~

From one ofmany of Livvy’s eclectic playlists, Kaleo crooned their Icelandic song “Vor í Vaglaskógi” in the kitchen.

I was snuggled on the sofa, waiting for Jules to come home with leftovers from the restaurant. She’d texted our sister chat group earlier to let us know it was slow at the Cauldron today and she had a pot of crawfish etouffee she was bringing home for dinner.

After the boys rolled off our sofas at the crack-of-noon, we’d devoured some burgers from Red Dog Diner, which Isadora had sympathetically picked up for us. Drew had told us to be careful with those werewolves around town, giving Jules another talking-to after running into Shane and those guys last night. Not that anything bad had happened. It was just kind of weird.

Then the boys hugged us with smiles on their faces and headed back to Lafayette like they hadn’t consumed unknown gallons of liquor the night before.

As for me, I did not recover so quickly. I hadn’t had a hangover like that in ages.

But I did have that “night after” fear of what I might’ve said or confessed or did in front of Nico. You know those moments after waking from a rowdy night full of way too much alcohol and your memory is spotty so you spend at least an hour recounting every event just to be sure you didn’t do anything too embarrassing? That was me.

After going through the night, I realized I might’ve been a little touchy-feely with Nico, but that was about it.

Except for the karaoke at Cat’s Meow. I distinctly remember sliding my hand over my breast and ass, while singing “Fever” directly to the man. I blushed now just thinking about it.

What the hell was in those drinks at The Brat Pack?

Truth serum, most likely. Because all it did was loosen my inhibitions enough to let down my guard and sing my feelings to Nico. I was so close to saying fuck you to the Death card and the Three of Swords and the Tower. My feelings and cravings for Nico were out of control. Maybe disaster and chaos and utter heartbreak were worth mind-blowing, skin-melting sex.

Who was I kidding? My feelings for him weren’t just about sex anymore. Though I wanted to spend a solid week sweating in his bed sheets with him, I was very aware that my heart was wrapped up in this craving as well.

Which is why I kept rotating back to my psychic reading and the fact that this could potentially break both our hearts. I might risk mine, but I couldn’t risk his. Not Nico.

Thank every angel in heaven that Nico had taken off for his full moon trip this morning because I wasn’t sure I could face him properly. Even though he wasn’t there, I called in sick to the shop.

Livvy was working on our Empress Ink website at the kitchen table on her MacBook while her friend Maya made suggestions from speaker phone. Though Maya was an experienced website designer, Livvy had a knack for aesthetic appeal and knew my clientele best. So she was overseeing the project, not to mention taking all of the photographs for the site.

The only reason I knew all of this was taking place in the kitchen was because she was being so fucking loud, even from an entire room away.

Also, I might be a little hangry. And still hungover. That’s why I was so irritated. Or that’s the story I was telling myself anyway.

My thoughts kept jumping back to Nico getting that phone call from some chick named Layla. Someone he told that he loved when he hung up the phone. And I could totally tell he was talking to her little girl, too.

Did he have a daughter I didn’t know about? He wasn’t married. Or at least, not anymore. He didn’t wear a ring. Did he leave Layla and the girl in Austin and come to live here to get away from them or something? Maybe it was one of those amicable break-ups where he still loved the woman who bore his child, but they just couldn’t make the relationship work.

A sickening feeling erupted in my belly that had nothing to do with being overly hungry or hungover. I decided to flip open the shop’s social media pages that Livvy had been managing for us as well. For a fee, of course. My sister was crazy talented in this arena, and we didn’t take advantage. Though she did say she gave us the relative rate.

When the Instagram page popped up, I sucked in a breath. The most recent post Livvy had put up was a picture of me and Nico in the logo T-shirts below our new sign.

Swallowing hard, I tapped the pic and zoomed in. I was laughing, my head half-tilted back while Nico grinned and stared down at me. You could only see his face in profile but, even so, the intensity of his gaze zapped me right through cyberspace. It was electric. I wanted to reach through the phone and touch that hard-edged jaw.

Below the pic, Livvy had captioned it: This business duo is NOT all work and no play. Don’t miss the Grand Opening Street Party for Empress Ink. Details to come!

“Holy shitsticks!”

“What?” Livvy called from the kitchen.

“There are three hundred comments on this freaking post.” And twelve hundred likes.

“Uh. Yeah. I know.” She went right back to her conversation with Maya.

I stood and ambled into the kitchen. “Damn, Livvy. Didn’t you just open our account last month?”

“Hey, Violet!” Maya yelled from the speaker of Livvy’s phone. “Congrats on your new shop.”

“Thanks, Maya. Sorry to interrupt you guys, but Livvy, we already have five thousand followers! How did you do that?”

Livvy turned away from her laptop to peer over her shoulder at me with her silly-sister look. “Who exactly do you think you’re talking to?”

“You’re not using magic to get them, are you?”

Livvy’s pretty eyes narrowed to slits. “If you mean, am I using magic in how it naturally affects my ability to make the best promotion and marketing decisions? Then yes, I am,” she snapped. “But if you’re accusing me of spelling people illegally to gather your clientele, then no, I am not.”

“Whoa. Ease up on the angry eyes.”

Maya laughed from the speaker. “It’s not you, Vi. She’s just pissed at some guy who was harassing her at the PR contest thingy she’s doing.”

“Harassing is a kind word.” Livvy was calm again. Like an ice pond on the darkest night of winter calm. “That asslick better step off the next time I see him. Hopefully, he’ll be cut from the contest in this next round, though. If there is a goddess watching over us, he will be.”

I remember Livvy saying something about a PR contest she was doing, sponsored by some local bigwigs. But I honestly couldn’t make myself care right now because my attention was snagged on another photo on our IG page with twice as many comments and likes.

It was one of Nico and Mateo installing the wrought iron chandelier in the lobby. It shouldn’t be so sexy, but the way Nico balanced himself on the ladder, one foot higher on the step, his muscles straining against his threadbare T-shirt as he used a screwdriver at the top of the fixture. Oh, and Mateo who was assisting was hot, too. But I couldn’t drag my eyes off of Nico.

Nico, Nico, Nico. My brain needed to give it a damn rest already!

My stomach growled, and I blew out a frustrated breath. “Stepping outside a minute,” I told Livvy, though she was already back to tearing this nameless guy from that contest thing a new asshole.

Once in the quiet courtyard, I ambled over to the bench while scrolling through my favorites, then tapped Evie’s number. It rang a few times, and right when I was about to hang up, she answered with a breathless “hello.”

“Hey. Sorry to bother you.”

“No bother. What’s up?”

“Where are you guys anyway?” I knew they left town but wasn’t sure where they’d gone for the full moon.

“We’re in Mississippi.” I heard something brush against the mouthpiece then her light laughter. “Mateo found this cabin out in the middle of nowhere near the Natchez Trace. So beautiful out here!”

“That’s awesome.” I gazed upward, finding the moon full and bright through the silhouette of the bare tree branches. I couldn’t help the pang of jealousy I felt that Evie got to go with Mateo. They were a couple, so of course he’d take her. Why did that make me suddenly feel sick and empty?

“Is something wrong?” Evie’s voice turned serious. “Is everything okay?”

“Of course, it is. I just had a question for you, but I guess you’re busy.”

Because I could totally hear Mateo wrestling her in bed or something.

“I’m not busy.” Then another muffling of her phone before she told her obviously randy werewolf, “Mateo. Alpha! Go play.”

“That’s what I was doing,” came a rumbly reply.

She laughed, then more rustling and a door slam.

“Okay, he’s going hunting now.” A heavy sigh. “How can I help you?”

“Um.” And this was new for me. I didn’t quite know how I wanted to ask what I wanted to know.

“If you are struggling to find the words or the balls to ask me something, then I’m kind of worried.”

I laughed. Because she was right. I was known as the sister with zero filter about my thoughts and opinions. But this wasn’t about either of those. This was about my emotions, and that’s why I was struggling.

“Has Mateo ever told you what it’s like? This monthly wolf thing?”

“How do you mean? Has he explained what it feels like to shift?”

“Not that. Has he mentioned what it’s like having to go off alone every month? I mean, obviously he’s not alone now, but before.”

There was a pause before Evie replied. “Are you asking me if my boyfriend was lonely?”

“Kinda.”

She snorted. “No, you’re not. You’re asking me if Nico is lonely out there in the woods all by himself.”

“Evie.”

“Look, I may not be psychic like you, but it’s plain as day that you two want each other. Like bad.”

“Since when?”

“Since the day I brought you up to Mateo’s apartment with me that first time. Jeesh, Violet. It was so obvious.”

“What are you even talking about?” I could barely remember that day. Except for the fact that I really loved the way Nico held a longneck beer, his pretty, masculine fingers all perfectly displayed.

She gave a deep, throaty chuckle. “You were defensive as fuck. Curt, rude, and mean as hell.”

“You’re exaggerating. If I was rude, it was because we were running late and I hate wasting time.”

“Liar, liar, pants on fire.”

“How does me being an asshole prove that I want Nico anyway?”

“Because that’s what happens when you have a serious crush on a guy and you’re trying not to. You become a supreme bitch.” She paused, her tone turning secretive. “Anyway, Mateo told me something I probably shouldn’t tell you.”

“Tell me right fucking now, Eveleen.”

“Hmm. Not sure I should. Seeing as you might just throw it in his face or something. You’re a bit confrontational, Violet, if you hadn’t noticed.”

“Tell! Me! Or I’ll put a potion in your gumbo or your beer at next Sunday’s dinner.”

“I’m a Hex-breaker, so that wouldn’t help you much.”

“Evie!”

“Fine, fine,” she laughed. “I was going to tell you anyway, but now you’ve proven to me how bad you’ve got it for him. So, have you ever noticed how much he touches you?”

Heat instantly flared at how he’d touched me on New Year’s Eve two years ago and how I’d love for him to touch me again. Anywhere.

“No. We haven’t had sex or anything.”

“Jesus, Violet. I don’t mean that. I mean just light touches. On the arm, the body, casual touches.”

I thought back, remembering how often he actually did do that. Passing behind me in the shop, leaning across me to fetch something, he always did graze my arm, my hips, my shoulder. Even last night, he was exceptionally handsy. But so was I.

Warmth suffused my cheeks at how impossibly good it felt when he held my hand. Even though I was drunk, I could still remember that lingering lovely feeling.

“Yeah. But that’s all innocent. Other guys have done that.” But now that I thought about it, no one really did on the same level as Nico.

“Not for a werewolf.” I could hear the smile in her voice as she went on. “To them, touch is a form of communication and, um, declaration.”

“What is he communicating and declaring exactly?” A burst of butterflies scattered like buckshot in my belly, because I was pretty sure I knew what it meant.

She huffed out a sigh. “And I always thought you were the smartest of my sisters. When it came to men anyway. Gotta go. I’m cooking dinner just in case Mateo wants something other than raw deer.”

“Ew.”

She laughed again. “You get used to it.” She said that as if she was giving me personal advice.

I was actually relieved when she hung up. And then aggravated. She’d never answered my damn question!

Was he lonely out there? I slumped down and let my head fall to the back of the bench so I could gaze upward. The moon pulled me again. It beamed brightly through the craggy, leafless branches, swaying in the gentle breeze. What was he doing at this very moment? What was he thinking?

I hugged my arms across my chest, remembering the many times he found a way to touch me in some innocent way in the office, the shop, even at the Cauldron. Was this some werewolf courting ritual to stake your claim?

Now that I thought about it, he had freaked the fuck out when that guy Shane touched my wrist.

I waited for it.

The outrage at some guy thinking he could claim me without my permission, exerting his caveman, possessive bullshit without even asking.

But the usual resentment I felt every time a guy had tried that shit before never came.

Instead, all I could do was stare up at the moon, remembering the sad look in his eyes when we talked about his tattoos. The forlorn wolf inked into his arm said so much about the man who bore it. For the first time in my life, I longed to soothe that ache, to share that burden, to wrap my arms around him and make it all go away.

“Fuck.” I sighed.

Evie was right. I wanted him. Bad. So, so bad.

I stared at the endless, glittering stars, winking at me as if trying to whisper their secrets. I pushed out my psychic magic, letting it hum an aura around me, thinking of the man at the forefront of my thoughts.

“Give me an answer.”

But my magic wouldn’t budge, wouldn’t send me the message I longed for. And the stars only blinked in benign indifference, mocking my frenzied state. All I could do was wrap my arms more tightly around me and wonder what to do. And hope for a sign.