Page 44 of The Most Wanted Witch

Hawk walked into the back room and nodded at Bibbi and Gillian, ignoring me. He grabbed a drink from the corner and then left again, all the while giving me silent rage vibes. It was quite something, considering he wouldn’t look at me.

When Gillian was attacked, he felt bad for her. Me? I was a jerk somehow.

Gillian couldn’t seem to break her stare from the door Hawk had left from. “Is he mad at you?” she asked. “Is everything okay?”

She tried to act concerned, but there was a hopeful undertone that made me want to gag.

“I don’t know. That’s Hawk for you.”

Bibbi’s knitting needle was pointed in her direction. It wouldn’t have been bad if I wasn’t sitting in between them. I used my finger to steer the point away from me.

Bibbi dragged in a deep sigh and slowly went back to her knitting, in between glares to the other side of the couch.

“This was an excellent batch,” Gillian said, then sipped her cocoa. “Neither of you want some? I really outdid myself.”

“No, thank you.” Bibbi’s jaw barely moved.

Gillian looked Bibbi’s way and closed her eyes just slightly, as if she were finally picking up on a potential problem.

“I’m good too. Thanks,” I said, drawing the attention back my way. Gillian was driving us all nuts. Was she annoying? Yes. Was she a bad person? No. I’d have to have a talk with Bibbi. She was not allowed to kill Gillian just for being alive, no matter how much everyone might enjoy missing her.

Gillian stayed quiet for all of two seconds, seemingly back to oblivion, before she started right back up. “You know, I kind of thought you and Hawk were a thing,” she said.

“We’re work partners…of a sort.”

Bibbi looked back up, this time with narrowed eyes in my direction, as if she were going to use her needle on me instead.

She could think whatever she wanted. A couple of kisses didn’t make Hawk and me an item. If you weighed them against all the fights, the scale was near hitting the floor on the enemy’s side. I’d called us partners—of a sort. That was about as accurate as it got.

“I don’t know. I picked up on this strange vibe, but I guess I was wrong,” Gillian said, failing to hold back the happiness in her voice.

“Yep. You were wrong. Nothing going on.”

Bibbi kept looking up at me, as if the words coming out of my mouth were the most shocking things she’d heard in a year. She flashed a look at Gillian and then shook her head, going back to her knitting.

“I guess that makes sense. You’re new here, after all. It only makes sense that he’d want someone born and bred in Xest. You know, just how you’d be better off with someone from Rest? You just understand each other better.”

“Uh huh.” That was all I had left in me.

Gillian, oblivious to the fact no one was interested in what she had to say, continued, “I always thought Hawk was a bit, I don’t know, scary, I guess. Since I’ve come to live here and gotten to know him better, I find myself drawn to him. You wouldn’t mind if I, you know, pursued him, would you? I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes.” The sugary sweetness in her voice did nothing to disguise the steel in her gaze. She’d have no problems stomping on toes to get her way.

Bibbi cleared her throat as she continued to knit. It was the loudest “I told you so” I’d ever heard. Now what did I do? Hawk and I might be nothing, but that didn’t mean I wanted Gillian to touch him. I’d just gotten rid of one, and now I had another? Although, to be fair, Gillian was a far cry from the evil depths of Belinda.

“There’s nothing between us.”

Bibbi made a choking sound so loud that Gillian leaned forward to look at her. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah, fine. Jabbed my finger with my knitting needle.” Bibbi held up her middle finger. “See?” She went back to knitting as if she hadn’t given Gillian the bird on purpose. Did they even do that in Xest, or had Bibbi seen me do it?

Gillian looked at Bibbi’s tangle of knitting in her lap, assuming she was just incompetent.

“You’re good with my interest, then?” Gillian asked.

Had there been a couple of moments between me and Hawk? Yes. But a couple of kisses weren’t exactly a marriage contract, and no one deserved to know what kind of past or not past we had.

“Sure.” Now I was ready to choke, and for no good reason. Hawk and I weren’t even on speaking terms. How could I not be good with her pursuing him?

Bibbi leaned forward, so she could see past me to Gillian. “You think he’s interested in you?”

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