Page 2 of The Witch & the Grizzly

To which Eva replied, “She likes to drink, right? Maybe there’s some ancient cognac and whiskey. We could probably make a fortune if we found some.”

“Oh man, imagine if there was some ancient alcohol down there? Weren’t there some found in a shipwreck that sold for millions? Maybe we should try sneaking there when it’s dark. You think she sleeps in the office?”

“I saw a sleeping bag. Bet she does,” Eva said.

They continued chattering blithely and happily as they headed toward the dining hall, their stomachs growling out of hunger. They opted for comfort food: burgers and fries. Neither wanted to try anything new today.

“Marla’s planning to hit the bar in Gorserow this evening if you want to come,” Harriet said halfway through her burger. “Drinks are on her this time. Shall we?”

Eva smiled, but it wasn’t out of genuine delight with the idea. It was more about remembering her more shameful altercations. “I… I want to try and take a break from all that.”

“You sure?” Harriet frowned at Eva, putting down the remains of her burger. “You like going out, don’t you? Maybe you could brew one of your famous Animal Sense potions that’s going to make you famous in a few years, huh?” She nudged Eva, grinning.

Eva grinned back but shook her head. “Nah, Valgrur doesn’t want me abusing the potion while they’re getting it patented. As for going out and liking it… I mean, I did. I do. It’s just… I’ve kind of done some things I regret.”

Harriet looked blank for a moment until her expression brightened in understanding. “Ah, you’re not happy with the drinking?”

“All of it,” Eva said. “Drinking too much, hooking up with some random that means nothing to me. The sex isn’t even that good.”

Well, except for that one time. But she’d been far too wasted to appreciate it tr. Both she and the stranger with the smile and the charm had been drunk out of their minds.

Even now, she couldn’t recall his features or anything about the person she’d ended up getting horizontal with.

Her memory was full of blank spots due to the excessive drinking, people buying her drinks and cheering her on as she downed them, and the loud, pulsing dance music drowning out her senses.

Shame and dissatisfaction had been brewing inside her for at least the last year. It truly came to a head about five months ago when she’d woken up with a hangover, body aching, core aching from whomever she’d screwed, and finding out her brother was missing, finding out he’d almost died, and she’d been too wasted even to notice the messages.

Never again.

“You didn’t notice I wasn’t going out anymore?” she asked Harriet then, curious.

“I just figured you were busy, what with everything that happened with your brother. It’s great to see him back, of course. But… you’ve quit?”

“I had to.” Eva closed her eyes, a wave of shame and regret coursing through her. “Harriet, I was drunk and hungover when my brother went missing.”

Her friend’s eyes went wide. “Oh, shit, really?” Her hands crept up to her mouth. “You never mentioned anything about that.”

“Yeah, I didn’t mention a whole lot, really.” The shock of finding out that Martin had almost died caused Eva to splash cold water on her face, swallow a few painkillers, and focus on being there for her brother. But it was hard to be there for a brother so freshly traumatized when she was used to whiling the night away. Both of them turned out to be broken people. “I was detoxing, then trying to find out how I could help my brother when he was going wandering. I tried to join him on many of them, tried to persuade him to return to Dreadmor.” She sighed. “Now he’s back, but I don’t feel like picking up where I left off.”

“It’s a shame,” Harriet murmured. “It was always fun being with you at the parties. Don’t think I ever had a boring moment. But…” Harriet fell silent, contemplating what she would say next. “I think it’s easy to ignore people when they’re hurting, isn’t it?”

Eva nodded, the words hissing, reaching the deeper places that she didn’t like to explore. “I hid it, too. I enjoyed going out. Of course, I did. But I wasn’t there for my brother when he needed me most, and I don’t ever want to be in that position again.”

“Fair.” Harriet toasted her with orange juice, and the dark conversation took a lighter turn. Eva knew Harriet didn’t mean to hurt her feelings; she just wanted to spend time with her friend in a place she thought her friend enjoyed. People struggled to admit when someone was out of control or when something was bad for them.

Goodness knows, Eva denied it for her gap year and first year of university.

“Hey, one thing.” Harriet scraped her plate and put it on the rack next to one of the trash cans. “Wasn’t there one guy you were gushing hard about when you were doing the casual sex thing?”

“One, yeah.” Eva placed her empty plate on the rack as well. “But when you only remember one encounter, it doesn’t add up to a relationship.”

“Your problem was likely getting wasted, let’s be honest, and I think not telling the other person what you want.”

“True.” Eva knew people weren’t mind readers, but you’d think they’d at least know how to pleasure a woman beyond getting their rocks off. But perhaps she should have spoken up more, been bolder about what she wanted. That was on her, too.

The encounter with that guy had been well over a year ago. The tragic thing about her fragmented memory was that she didn’t really remember anything beyond the sex being good. It might be nice to somehow bump into the guy again, but good luck with that happening when the only thing she remotely recalled was a smile in the darkness, blending with confusion and ecstasy.

Those days were behind her. Now, she needed to focus on lessons, her career, her brother, and keeping on the straight and narrow. Hopefully, it didn’t mean losing all her friends, too.

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