Page 78 of The Spell Caster

“Are you talking about Cal—”

Costi roughly stopped me from saying the name with his fingers over my mouth.

“I didn’t take him out,” I mumbled around his hand, which he dragged along my cheek and pushed into my hair. My heightened emotions tipped into anger. “Does he think everything is a date?”

Costi looked down at me through lowered eyelids as he ran his fingers along my scalp.

“What are we doing, Costi?” I whispered, my head tilting without my permission into his massaging hand.

“Mm. I’m pushing you up against a wall. You’re not dating Grey. I’m not dating Holly.”

My eyes popped open as rage seized me. “So, she did go after you.”

Costi lowered his head and hit me with a smirk that was downright wicked. “A lotta witches go after me.”

“Are you trying to… to make me jealous?” I said breathlessly.

“Yes,” he whispered darkly. “You get it now?”

I got it. But my heart shattered. “We can’t.”

Costi pushed away from the wall. My legs wobbled like jelly, and I leaned heavily to keep myself upright.

“No one,” he bit out, rising to his full height. “No one tells you and me what we can’t do.”

I was already shaking my head. “The second anyone finds out, they’ll kick you out of the Circle. But I… I don’t think they’ll let me go. Not now.”

Costi’s throat worked around a swallow. I could see he knew I was right. I might have been able to run away from the Northern Sea Circle to be with him. But after the coordinated attack on the eastern witch communities? There was no way the Mountain Circle was going to let a spell caster go, even a broken one. If they caught me with Costi, I didn’t think Cedar Grey and his friends would hesitate to physically restrain me so I couldn’t follow.

His face had gone blank, but his gray eyes churned with something desperate. “They don’t have to find out. We can keep it quiet.”

“No. I won’t do that to you.”

Costi froze.

“You deserve—” My breath hitched around my despair. “You deserve someone who can love you openly. You aren’t a dirty secret to be hidden away. I won’t treat you like that.”

He stared at me, his lips open around words he couldn’t form. A single tear tracked from his startled gray eye, and he quickly smeared it with his palm, looking away from me.

I couldn’t stand his pain. I surged forward and wrapped my arms around his middle, hugging him close.

He shuddered against me. “I won’t have anyone else.” His fierce voice was raw. “I can’t.”

“I won’t either,” I murmured into his shoulder.

He pushed me to arm’s length, and I stumbled back into the wall. He quickly followed, putting us back in the same position we’d started in. “One kiss,” he demanded. “Just one.”

Sharp longing pulsed through me. “We definitely can’t.” It would never be just one.

“Then for fate’s sake, distract me.” His eyes tracked hotly over my parted mouth. “I’m Troubled. I don’t have any impulse control. Layla, you’ve got three seconds.”

My mind ticked uselessly.

“Three,” Costi said. “Two—”

“I saw my dad,” I blurted.

He released me suddenly and blew out a breath, shoving his fingers through his hair.

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