Page 115 of Hopelessly Teavoted
She delivered a plate of the donuts to Kelley and Aurora after Hank for good measure. They looked like a pair who would want a set of hearts and skulls, especially after Aurora’s terrible experience with Chet—who, rumor had it, had run away to Florida to escape gambling debts, leaving the English department in the care of one Mr. Azrael Hart. Azrael deserved this opportunity, and he’d earned it, interview and all. And Aurora deserved the kind of wholesome goodness of the young widow Watson. Goddess knew Kelley Watson deserved a little sweetness after losing her husband at age twenty-three, and with a brand-new baby too.
Even if babysitting Milomightbe making Azrael a little too keen on babies. This was the fifth Milo pic he’d sent her, and she could feel how much he loved kids.
Not that she was ready to have any anytime soon, especially while she was just finally getting the shop into a good rhythm, but she was surprised by how nice the idea sounded.
The past year with Az had felt like coming home, but to the kind of home she had never really known. The kind of home she hadn’t expected, that was lined with the wrought-iron snapping gates and shadowy, misty willows of Hart Manor. For now, she wanted her own space in the apartment, which Azrael had helped her clean out, magicking the old boxes of trinkets to the home gym formerly known as a sex dungeon so that he could go through them.
One day, she wanted to move into Hart Manor, and she knew the house wanted her to, as well, for Azrael’s bedroomhad expanded and sprouted a pink jetted soaking tub next to the shower in his black marble bathroom, and an entire extra walk-in closet. Every time she was there, it snuck in a bouquet of flowers or a piece of art that seemed selected just for her, until she was not terribly certain if it was Az or the house or both, welcoming her at her own pace, showing she had a place there, whether it was tomorrow, five years from now, or just on weekends for the rest of their lives.
Behind the counter, Cole was leaning close to Hazel, whose pink curls bobbed around her like a halo and picked up the warm tones of her dark brown skin. Cole raised a pale, freckled hand in front of their face to hide whatever they were saying, and Hazel shook with laughter.
When Vickie walked toward them, the two went quiet, blissfully unaware that she could overhear most of what they had been saying about what sounded like an extremely nice girl with a crush on Hazel. Cole, apparently, was that ship’s biggest stan.
Good. Shelovedyoung love. She’d seen this type of film before, and she liked the ending.
“Hey, Vickie. So, are things pretty serious with Mr. Hart?” Brown eyes bored innocently into hers, mischief pulling the girl’s lips upward.
Shaking her head, Vickie smiled at Hazel.
“Never mind, Hazel. Did you refill the sugars?”
“I got it, boss,” said Cole, walking away and abandoning her to Hazel’s inquisition.
“Come on, he’s not my teacher this semester. You can tell me.”
“Listen. Hazel, I’ve known Azrael Hart for longer than you’ve been alive. I’m too old to be sharing business like that, and you’ve got far more interesting things to think about than a high school English teacher’s girlfriend.”
Hazel grinned and threaded her fingers together.
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. He’s not my teacher this year, but still. There is literally nothing more interesting to me in this moment. And you just admitted you’re his girlfriend.”
Vickie shrugged and shook her head again.
“Tell me how you guys met.”
“He was my neighbor for as long as I can remember. I’ve been dancing in his bedroom with a hairbrush as a microphone since before I knew that men or women could give me fuzzy feelings.”
“That’s pretty dope,” said Hazel. “I bet you’re great at hairbrush karaoke.”
“Oh, absolutely. Firstly, I am always willing to dress the part.” Vickie gestured at the music video–inspired outfit she was wearing now. “And secondly, I’m goddess awful at singing, but I don’t care, and Azrael never has either.”
“Yeah,” said Hazel, smiling. “He seems like the type to take you just as you are. Relationship goals.”
Vickie smiled. She thought Azrael would appreciate modeling healthy love for his students.
Life was messy and complicated, and there was plenty of grief and loss that lingered in her heart, and in his.
But he had still picked the perfect time to drop into her life, full of complications and rejections—the parents who had disowned her, the power that had almost consumed him. And yet, despite it all, she knew he loved her fully just as she was. There would be moments of doubt, of course, but no more self-loathing about clinginess. No more fear of losing her most important friendship.
Azrael Hart had picked theperfecttime to make himself hers. And she would do as much work as it took to make sure he was as blissfully happy as he had always deserved to be.
CHAPTER 37Azrael
Kelley had picked up Milo a few hours earlier, and devil damn him if he wasn’t enamored with that adorable little dude, with his wispy baby hair, his enthusiastic cuddling, and his deep dimples. He’d always loved babies.
Someday, he wanted to be just like his parents. As much as they had embarrassed him for his entire life, and as long as he had tried to becomenormal, and carve out a path for himself elsewhere, this was where he belonged. He wanted the world with Vickie. She made everything a little brighter, even when work was stressful or, on occasion, when parents yelled at him. He wanted the touch of her hand to reassure him that she was there, sealed upon his heart. That even though he was a witch, and she was a ray of sunshine who happened to be gifted like a death goddess, their magics knew that they were meant for each other, his might and her fire, each warming the other and winding into something beautiful.
He wanted to have her by his side and in the house and under him and on top of him and with him always. He wanted her to be blissfully happy and to do what she wanted, and to be with him, and have so much love that they wanted other people to share it with too. Even if it didn’t go perfectly, and even if one day their kids found their sex dungeon, or if they died too early. He wanted to take a chance on loss with her, because tolive without knowing what it was like to have that exhilarating feeling of home, of oneness, that he had with Vickie, well, he knew all too well that it was merely half a life.
