Page 11 of Hopelessly Teavoted
Vickie hadn’t turned yet.
“Go away. I told you I’d do it, but it’s only been a few weeks. There’s no need to come gloat. I’ll help you collect when it’s time.”
“I— What?” Az didn’t know what to make of her reaction. Vickie froze, and spun around, her face going white as a sheet under her freckles.
Fuck me.He’d thought he’d gotten her out of his system, but all he could focus on now was how he wanted to kiss every one of those freckles, especially the smattering under her lip in that place he remembered so precisely. It was the completely wrong reaction to seeing Vickie. The last time he’d been that close—well, it was best not to dwell on that.
“Az,” she breathed, and for a moment they were back there, standing in the rain outside her dorm building, about to make terrible choices. If he could just get to her in this moment of softness, and figure out what she was doing in the shop, it would all be fine. Everything was fine. He opened his mouth, preparing to stay casual. Aloof. Perfect.
He wasfine.
“What the hell are you doing in my parents’ shop?”
Fuck. Fuck.Fuckinggoddess, that had come out so poorly that he might be willing to try just a teensy little memory wipe, just for a second, even if it was ill-advised. And illegal.
Her eyes narrowed and she watched his fingers come together.
“Azrael Hart, don’t you dare even think about hexing me to forget right now.”
Her stony green eyes said she meant it. Memory wipes were prohibited for so many reasons: to keep magic secret, to protect consent, and to avoid being a jackass. It had been a terrible idea to even think of violating international human rights laws just to regain her good opinion.
Which he’d pretty much already lost forever, anyway.
He’d have to go about this the old-fashioned, mundane way, then.
“Sorry. I, uh, haven’t been myself lately. Since my parents died, really.” The honesty was a peace offering, one that spilled out more easily than it ought to around her. He couldn’t help himself; he had always needed her toknowhim, for better or for worse. “Maybe before that too.”
Her eyebrows furrowed.
Slapping his errant, tempted fingers on his leg, he looked away from her. He’d been moments away from fading her memory. And he already hated himself enough for the time in her dorm that had sullied their friendship.
She eyed his palm carefully, and bit her lip.
“I’m sorry about your parents, Az. You know I loved them.”
She had. Much more openly than he had ever allowed himself to, and now they were gone, and he was a bloody monster. A devil in more than just two names.
He swallowed, trying for some semblance of normal. “It’s good to see you, Vickie. The last I heard you were still in business school. Are you home for break?”
She shook her head and stepped back an inch. As far as she could go against the counter. Blinking, he tried not to imagine what it would be like to brace her against it, their bodies aligned, the softness of her against all his sharp angles.
“No. I’m taking a permanent hiatus from school at the moment.” He snapped out of his inappropriate reverie. He could feel color rising to his cheeks, the shame of his body’s unbidden reaction to her, even after all this time.
“That doesn’t really—” he began, but stopped, seeing her face.
Vickie stared for a moment, and cocked her head, before smiling.
“Fine. I dropped out. I bought your mom’s shop. As a little early birthday present to myself. I’m taking a big leap, following my dreams, all of that stuff.”
“You WHAT?” He paused for a moment, dumbfounded. “You’re telling me that Maximillian and Amelie Starnberger—the town’s founding family—agreed to buy a campy little tea shop?”
Vickie bit her lip hard enough that it was distracting. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans to stop them from magically snapping mood-setting music into existence, or even worse, from tracing the constellation of freckles on her cheek next to those pink lips. The bottom one was just a little bit poutier than the top… and now he was staring at her mouth like a fucking pervert.
When he looked up, she was looking out the window, nibbling that bottom lip. Devil dammit, to be those teeth.
“Not exactly, Az. They disowned me. Formally and legally. But I took a loan. I’ve got it completely under control.”
He glanced around at the empty tables. Not a single soul,though she’d set out pastries and the accompaniments for tea as carefully as Persephone Hart ever had. This was all that was left of his mother, and now here he was, making an absolute ass of himself.
