Page 50 of Frayed Owner

I melted. I seriously fucking melted. “You won’t be stupid again?”

His lips twitched, but then he beamed at me. “Oh, I absolutely will. It’s part of male DNA.Butthat means more flowers. More picnics too. Whatever you want.”

“This seems stupid when you have so much to lose,” I whispered. “You almost could have lost your brother. What if your mom is next and—”

He leaned up and brushed his lips over mine. “Then that’s life, and Mom has said she’s in this fight whether we date or not, Bev. So is Kevin. They’re all fired up. Let me be your normal. I miss you.”

“I miss you too,” I confessed, kissing him back this time when he leaned in. “Stupid.”

“I am. Was I at least a cute drunk? I felt like I was a cute drunk.”

“No, you didn’t make any damn sense,” I grumbled, pulling out my phone and showing him as if he didn’t have the same conversation. I moved him to sit back down next to me and unlocked it.

He frowned as he read it over. “Okay, all of this made way more sense when I typed it out.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it did, drunk boy,” I drawled. I burst out laughing when he grumbled something about fat fingers and it not being his fault.

And then Spike said something about hoping we didn’t fight again because it gave him indigestion. Oh wow, my life really was crazy, but at least sometimes it was the good kind.

But then at lunch, it was the bad kind again. Sergey was so stressed about the situation with his families, and what they were going to do to him and his mom it was unreal.

Validbut unreal.

After Nina received word that she and Sergey had better get back on their leash or they would take action, Tracey had a press conference announcing Nina was the manager of the brushes project. That she was not only the skilled woodworker who was going to handcraft every brush, but the one who figured out how to adjust the handles for species of familiar.

She raved how indispensable Nina was, especially since each brush required the witch or warlock’s hair to be dispersed with the bristles for this never-before-seen magic. That so far, Familiar Treasures was thrilled with the test brushes and expected to have the new product finalized and ready for a limited launch by the new year.

Which meant we would be protecting our prized witch at all costs.

It was absolutely meant to pee all around her—or maybe scorch the ground around her—whichever was less offensive. And it had reached the intended audience because Sergey’s birth families both called Headmaster Kerwynn and said he needed to kick out Sergey immediately.

There was a list of threats and all sorts of bullshit.

To which Kerwynn said he would do it, but only if he also blacklisted both families from Morrigan going forward and they admitted Sergey was their bloodline. Otherwise, he would report them harassing a student they didn’t even claim as their family to the council and make an example of them overreaching into his school.

Nice. Seriously.

But Sergey was waiting for retaliation. Wisely.

I reminded him that Taylor and his guys had gone over to their new house and installed all kinds of security. Link and his council guard buddies had added extra magical protection on top of what Nina already knew how to do to keep them safe.

“Get the exception for Bubba to go home at night,” I suggested. “Let him roam the damn property and he can sleep here all day.”

“Yeah, that’s good,” Sergey agreed. “Yeah, thanks, foxy.” He hugged me and kissed my hair before focusing back on his food. “I just don’t know what the next play is.”

I shrugged. “I would be honest. You’re not making a move against them. You just want your own life and to be free. If it were me, I’d have Taylor deliver a message to both of them basically saying to leave you alone and you’ll leave them alone. That you’re not property when they don’t even acknowledge you. But if they don’t stop… They should stop.”

“It’s a smart play,” he agreed after a moment. “Yeah, good. Thanks.” He sighed when I gave him a look. “Yes, and I saw how easy it was for us to simply have this quick conversation and it was without drama. This is being the team and I’m an idiot.”

“Apparently, I said a lot with that one look, but I won’t deny any of that,” I teased. “Also, Kelton said women get flowers when men apologize. Make me a flower napkin or pick me a weed for that fight.”

He laughed so hard that I was glad I’d said it so he relaxed some.

We finished up and he walked me towards the rec center, stopping when we were alone and giving me a kiss.

“You know what would really make me feel better?” he murmured before another kiss. “A private study session once you’re done with classes. One without clothes. What do you think?”

“Tempting, but I can’t,” I admitted.

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