Page 26 of Hexes and Exes

I have every intention of slipping out under his arm and stomping off in a movie-esque scene of glory, but Bram rips my hat off and tosses it to the ground. Before I can protest, he grabs a handful of my hair and yanks my head back. My lips part in surprise, but the sound doesn’t have the chance to escape because Bram’s mouth is on mine.

I freeze, too stunned to react for a solid second. Then the world kicks back into gear, and I lose my mind. I kiss Bram back like a starved succubus who’s gotten her first taste of lust in years. And Maiden help me, he is everything I never even imagined. His mouth is hot, his lips searching and desperate. Hekisses me like I’ve brought him back from the brink of death, and I’m giving as good as I’m getting. My magic swells in my chest, burning to a bright gold. Even more crazy is the way I feel his power reaching out to caress mine. All I can do is hang on to the front of his coat and hope my knees don’t give out.

All those butterflies Jamie never gave me, well, an entire continent has migrated into my belly.

Nearby laughter breaks through our bubble. Bram jerks away from me with a suddenness that has me stumbling. It’s too dark to see his expression, but there’s no missing the way his hand wipes over his mouth.

All those butterflies turn into rocks and sink in my stomach.

“That was a mistake.” Bram’s voice is full of gravel. He turns away from me. I think he’s about to stomp away, but he stops. Barely turning his head to look over his shoulder, he jerks his chin toward the party. “You shouldn’t be out here in the dark by yourself.”

“Right. Never know what monsters are lurking.” I swipe my hat up off the ground and slam it down on my head. We walk back to our friends in silence. The bite in the air is colder now, but my cheeks are hot. Bram and I break apart once we reach the light. He heads to Ambrose, and I find Stellan and Odie signing so fast I can’t keep up.

“Can you take me home?”

Stellan is too observant, and the second he looks at me, his gaze swings around the beach. “Which asshole?”

“Please. As if you’d ever really get in a fight with anyone. That’s a nice flex, bro, but we both know you’re a pacifist.”

Odie signs slowly. Stellan picked up ASL like a fucking pro, but I’m still learning.

“Did Bram do something?” Her eyes drift over to her friend. I try not to look, but lit by the fire, he looks like a devil. A hot, tempt you to shuck all your morals to the side for a tasteof ecstasy kind of devil, but still. His aura is nearly completely taken over by the dark shadows.

“Why does his aura always look like he’s part wraith?” Stellan grumbles.

Odie’s signing something, but I’m not paying attention. Bram’s gray eyes find mine across the fire and hold my stare. The heat that was finally cooling in my cheeks comes raging back.

He wiped my kiss off his mouth.

He’s the one who kissed me, though.

“Dick,” I mouth at Bram, and he narrows his eyes.

“Shrew,” he mouths back.

I jump when Stellan’s hand lands on my shoulder. “You want to go home?”

I drag my eyes away, certain the shadows have momentarily disappeared from Bram’s aura.

“Yeah, please.” I’ve been drinking and Stellan stayed sober. There are a lot of his work associates here today. After one notorious school holiday party, he vowed to never drink around coworkers. I’ve never gotten the full story out of him, but I understand it involved table dancing and costume changes pilfered from a photo booth.

We say goodbye to Odie but sneak out without finding the rest of our friends. I’ll send them a text later. I’m ready to get out of here and I don’t want to spend the next thirty minutes saying goodbye.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I preemptively tell Stellan when we get in the car. He obliges and turns up the radio. My feet are dragging by the time we get to the apartment. I’m ready to get out of the layers of clothing, wash my face, and fall into bed.

I hang up my coat, kick off my shoes, and head toward the bathroom, trying to block out the events of the day. It was great,then it sucked, then it was great again, only to turn to utter shit at the end. Flipping on the bathroom lights, I’m stopped short in the doorway. Sitting on top of the toilet, holding a wad of toilet paper, is the fucking doll. It has a stupid, placid grin, and its head is angled toward the door so it’s looking right at me with wide eyes.

How the hell did he do that? Did he leave the carnival and come here? He had to. When, though? He was gone for a while after broom hockey. Did he really drive across town just to put the doll on my toilet?

My phone buzzes and it’s another fucking nipple picture. I’m going to kill Bram. I groan in frustration. I’m so fucking confused. When we’re together, there’s a spark between us. I don’t think I’m imagining it. But then he wiped his mouth after he kissed me. As if it was that horrible. I sniffle and grit my teeth to keep from crying, but I’m also angry, so it’s making it extra hard not to turn into a blathering mess.

My phone buzzes again, and I almost don’t look at it. Curiosity gets the better of me. What color nipple am I going to get this time?

Except it’s not another hairy chest. It’s worse.

Jamie: It was so good seeing you tonight. I would love to catch up. Maybe coffee sometime soon?

I gape down at my phone. Were we at the same place earlier? Does he not remember what happened literally an hour ago?

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