Page 29 of Pitch a Witch
“Done.” River’s car rocked when I threw myself inside it with one boot on and the other still clutched in my hand. “Go, go, go.”
Slamming on the gas, he tried to see if I could sift through the leather of my seat and end up behind it, but after a moment, I unglued my back and tucked my other boot on. My knee wacked the dashboard, but I kept my mouth shut, although a few choice names for Blondie came to mind.
“The Blackwood pack closely resembles the black timber wolves. In contrast to them, as well as any other supernatural that trades shapes, they are much larger. No matter what you compare them with.” he said conversationally while expertly maneuvering the tiny vehicle around potholes the size of water wells. Red brake lights from the SUVs were far ahead of us. “The three who attacked us a while back were on the smaller size. Remember that when we face them.”
Air filled my lungs so I could reply, but he shifted gears and the back of his hand slid on the outside of my leg. Electricity zapped through me from just above my knee to my heart, which was stuttering faster, and all the way between my thighs. The ass knew exactly what kind of reaction I had to his touch because he appeared a little too focused on the road when I stiffened and stifled a gasp. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel, but he said nothing, thank the Goddess.
“You know this how?” My ass wiggled on the leather uncomfortably, and I cleared my throat because I sounded breathy and the tone was too low for my liking. “You’re an expert on shifters now?”
“When something attacks me, I make it my business to learn all I can about it.” It sounded an awful lot like a reprimand. “While Sissily helped your grandmother search for Leviathan, I looked into the vampires and the Blackwood pack.”
“You don’t have to give me reports on what you guys were doing while I was caged.” Leaning my head back, I stared out the window at the rapidly fading daylight and the way the tops of the trees had a reddish glow around them like they were in flames. “We all do what we need to do given the situation. If I didn’t think that I lost my best friend because of my magic, I wouldn’t have made the mess a day ago, either.”
The convoy had a good start on us, but as soon as we reached the highway, Blondie gunned it and we caught up to them fast. Fields opened on both sides, with an occasional farm here and there placed in the distance. My lids dropped as the comforting hum of the engine filled the silence, until a large, warm had covered mine where it sat limply on my thigh.
“Change is hard, Hazel.” River spoke sympathetically and squeezed my hand between his fingers. I struggled to breathe normally. “Unlike the human world, ours is cruel and unforgiving in many ways, but theirs is not. Similar to the humans, we still fear and are distrustful of things we don’t understand. Sissily just needed time to process, that’s all.”
“It sounds like you talk from experience, wing man.” Voice raspy, I didn’t dare move from fear I’d break the contact. Terrified that I might not break it, if I moved and he kept hold of me, and what would that mean for River and I.
River hummed in acquiescence, his thumb gently grazing a small circle on the back of my hand. I still had my gaze locked on the passing scenery outside the window, but all my focus was on our joined hands resting over my thigh. It seemed he was happy to keep his limb attached to mine as if it was the most natural thing in all the worlds.
On the outside, I made it seem like there was nothing strange about River Blackman holding my hand in his car like we were lovers. Or like I was someone that he deeply cared about. I could’ve pulled it off, too, if my cursed magic didn’t choose that moment to light up like a fucking slot machine in middle of Vegas announcing a fifty-million-dollar jackpot, the sigils pulsing so fast they almost jumped out of my skin.
“Sorry.” He most definitely did not look sorry at all and lingered longer than necessary before taking back his warm, callused palm.
With my heart beating in my throat and my hand frozen the way he left it like I was too afraid to move it, I cleared my throat. “If you want people to believe that you are sorry, you’ll need to rearrange your features to match your words, Blackman.”
“Would you like me to tell you I’m not?” With a daring glint in his knowing gaze, he moved his attention from the road to me.
“I’d like you to watch the road, thank you very much.” Huffing in indignation, I hoped he couldn’t see the heat rising in my cheeks. “I might have magic now, but I’d like not to test the boundaries of my mortality, mm-kay?”
“As the lady wishes.” Jerk McJerkenson chuckled, purposely taking his time to face forward. “What will it take, Hazel?”
His knuckles where he rested his hand on the stick shift kept brushing against my leg, and the change in conversation was giving me whiplash. “You’ll need to be more specific. I have no idea what you’re asking.”
“To trust me,” he said simply. “Or to not distrust me, however you want to phrase it.”
“Trust is not given, Blackman.” Shifting to get more comfortable, I was grateful my hormones took a hike thanks to the change of direction in our conversation. “It’s earned.”
“Truth. But how does one earn something if he doesn’t get the opportunity to do so?”
“Reallyyyy?” This was a subject I had studied my whole life thanks to lies, deceits, manipulations, and all sorts of fuckery people had tried to pull on me. “Hmmm, let me think.” Tapping a finger on my lip, I pretended to think. “Would you like me to list all the opportunities you’ve had so far but chose not to tell me the truth? I’ll let you know, Sissily is the queen of listing shit, with a perfected finger counting tactic, all which she uses against me. I’ve learned from the best.”
“I never lied.” Yet his knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. Would you look at that. “Omitting is not the same as lying, and you know it. You and I are alike in many ways. Surely you can understand where I’m coming from.”
“I know nothing about you, Blackman, while you hold enough info to screw my life ten ways to Sunday. You inserted yourself in my existence out of nowhere, and now you’re buried neck deep. I, on the other hand, apart from the fact that you turn into a goose on occasion, know nothing. My lack of information when it comes to you is astonishing. Trust doesn’t work that way, I’m afraid.”
“I beg to differ. You know almost all there is about me,” River muttered under his breath. When I opened my mouth to protest, he waved me off in annoyance. “Sissily told you most of it.”
“Huh? You think too highly of yourself if you think we talk about you.” Internally I was freaking out. Shit. Did he eavesdrop while we gossiped about him in my room?
“Don’t patronize me, firefly. The bond between the two of you is awe inspiring. If one knows something, the other one does, too. And vice versa.” My mouth snapped shut because there was nothing I could say to that. The death grip he had on the steering wheel loosened, and he tapped a forefinger on it as if debating something. “Very well. Let’s make it fair, for mutual trust’s sake.”
My heart jumped to the roof of my mouth before dropping to splatter at my feet.
“I’m sure Sissily told you that Danika agreed to help me find my mother in exchange for my help in protecting you.” A muscle spasmed on the side of his jaw. “What she doesn’t know … what no one knows and I’m trusting you with is …” He took a deep breath as if he was about to deliver grave news.
“We—” I didn’t get a chance to stop him. He spoke over me.
