Page 35 of Rejected Nanny Mate
“Okay,” she whispered. “Talk. But first, let me tend to the wounds. Please. Just let me help.”
“We'll do both.” It would be too easy to just relent and not talk about the magic like she clearly wanted, but I wanted to make sure we addressed it while it was fresh in both our minds. I winced when I shifted in the chair to grab a sleeve of cookies, and reconsidered. “But first, please grab me some painkillers.”
“Of course.” She was off the chair and moving immediately, hurrying back with a glass and a bottle of pills.
“Thanks.”
“Take three. Maybe four. And I'll go grab you some more water.”
I didn't protest.
A few moments later, she returned, and I popped the pills into my mouth, chasing them with water.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better.” I wasn't lying. Already, the medicine was dulling the ache in my ribs and allowing me to sit up straighter.
She looked relieved. “Good. Okay. Now...we can talk.”
“Let's go somewhere a bit more comfortable.”
We moved to the couch, and I relented as Gwen began to clean my wounds. My tattered shirt had long since been lost along the way, and I raised my arms as she dabbed the cloth around my side.
“So,” I began.
“So.”
“We're not talking.”
“Sorry. I'm nervous. This is making me nervous.”
“Why? We've done this plenty of times before.”
“Yes, but...this time it's different.”
“Because the magic manifested.”
“Y-yes. Exactly. The magic.”
I could practically hear the unspoken questions hanging in the air. “You didn't hurt me, Gwen. Don't listen to Vernon and those other idiots.”
“I know,” she sighed, pouring some disinfectant on a cloth and dabbing at a cut. I sat still like a willing patient. “I'm just so freaked out by it, Joe. I don't know how it started; I was just wishing so hard that I was able to help you, and you were bleeding so much, and then it just started to flow through me out of nowhere. It stopped as soon as it started, and now I have zero idea how to even reach it again.” She was kneeling on the floor in front of me, looking up at me with eyes the color of whiskey, her hair mussed from the past few hours. Gwen was so damnedbeautiful that it took my breath away still. How was I one of the only few to see it?
“We can get you help,” I rumbled, reaching out to smooth her hair down. “Kiera and Nayeli can help. Did you have any idea this was possible?”
“No. Well, I guess I knew it was a distant possibility. Supposedly, my great-great-grandmother was a witch, but I'd always thought it was just like...a fun little story passed down through the generations,” she admitted, her face a little pale. “My mom and grandmother didn't have any power. No magic. And I haven't, either, until now.” She sat back on her heels. “Turn to the side so I can see your rib wound better.”
“Gwen...you don't have to—”
“Hush. If I'm going to be spilling secrets, then you're going to let me take care of you.”
I smiled. She'd come a long way from the shy Omega who had first come to my house. There was a steel in her voice and a determined set to her jaw that had definitely not been there before.
She cleaned and dressed the rest of my wounds, and when she was finished, I tugged her closer to the couch. “You don't have anything to worry about, Gwen. If you can harness this power, it'll be an amazing asset.”
“An asset.”
“Yeah.”
