Page 8 of Witch Upon a Star
Not that I was complaining about that fact. I tended to go for younger—legal—women because they were more likely to not want to be tied down by a relationship or expectations.
“Starbucks, this is Calliope,” Harper said. She looked exhausted, but she still had a bright smile on her face. No doubt, she was still riding the high of seeing Scotty win Lucky’s auction. Even I had to admit, it had been fucking adorable. The entire town had gone in on it, even one of Scotty’s teachers bidding to help drive up the price. Everyone waited patiently while Scotty figured out the math, and even worked out a cookie deal with his Aunt Louisa in exchange for winning the bid.
Not that anyone would have dared to get between that boy and his father. They would have had an entire club of angry, alpha males ready to slay them if they tried.
I held out my hand, but she was a beat too slow in lifting hers. Even as our hands shook and I said, “Good to meet you,” she still wouldn’t look at me.
She also dropped my hand quickly. This definitely wasnotwhat I was expecting from the town’s infamous witch. She mumbled something along the lines of, “Good to meet you, too.”
My eyebrows drew down. She didn’t seem excited to have won a date with me. If anything, she seemeddisappointed. Her shoulders were hunched, her back slumped, and she kept fidgeting with the rim of her hat between her hands.
Why would she bid if she didn’twanta date with me?
I remembered seeing her stance as she held her hand upin the air at the back of the crowd. I’d gotten the impression of desperation then. What had changed?
When neither Calliope nor I said anything, Harper cleared her throat. Her eyes jumped nervously between us. “Um, Calliope has actually requested labor, if you’re agreeable to that.”
My eyebrows rose. Shehad? Not that I was complaining. Or at least, not that I thought I was. And maybe it was a bit conceited, but she was giving up a date withme? In my defense, it wasn’t like that happened often. Or ever.
I waited a heartbeat to see if Calliope would say something. This was just getting weirder and weirder. I turned my attention back to Harper. “That’s fine with me.”
Due to a number of the club members being married, the alternative to being auctioned off for a date was auctioning four hours of labor. When we filled out our information form that Louisa had read to the crowd, we had to put down whether we were willing to do a date, labor, or both. Lucky was the only married man who checked he was available for a date because of Scotty. His son thought he was being sneaky about his plan to bid on his father, but the entire town knew, and likely the neighboring ones too.
Everyone who was single put themselves down as a date, including myself. We didn’t really have a choice, per Steel. It wouldn’t be much of a Bachelor Auction if there were no bachelors.
“Why don’t the two of you exchange phone numbers and then you can work out your schedule later?” Harper offered, a small hint of impatience in her voice. I met her eyes and wondered if she too thought Calliope’s behavior peculiar.
I’m not really sure what I expected of Calliope, but this certainly wasn’t it.
I pulled my phone out of the inside pocket of my cut. Despite the chilly day, I’d worn a skin-tight short-sleeve shirt under my cut to help drive up bids. At least I hadn’t done a strip tease like Captain Hunter. I hadsomedignity.
Silently, Calliope handed me her unlocked phone. I paused, a little baffled by this. People didn’t just hand their phones over to a stranger. Phones were sacred, held their naughty pictures and secret text messages, apps they didn’t want their grandmothers to know about, and proof of where they’d been and where they were going.
I didn’t know why, but the trust instilled in me by this open offer seemed personal. Like she was offering me a piece of herself.
Shaking my head at that ridiculous notion, I scrolled through her apps until I located her contacts. I added myself without looking through anything else. Then I sent myself a message so I could get her number.
“Here you go,” I said, handing her phone back over. “Just send me a message later with what you’re looking for and when. I’m pretty much open this week.”
Calliope nodded once before pocketing her phone in her dress. I’d heard a lot of women complain about the lack of pockets in women’s clothing, but her dress seemed to swallow her phone right up.
She turned to leave before she paused. As if gathering her bravery, she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and looked up at me. Her eyes were a lighter brown than I’d assumed, very earthy and warm.
“Thank you, Quinten.” Then she practically ran away.
My eyebrows shot up. It wasn’t a secret what my first name was, but I was surprised she knew it. Even more surprised that she’d used it. Our legal names were personal, and rarely used. Bulldog called Scar ‘Julian’ to his face because Bulldog felt like Scar needed a reminder of who he had been. Abby called Bulldog ‘José’ because she’d known him long before he’d been ‘Bulldog’. Same with Jenna calling Steel ‘Jack’. But those were very specific reasons and intimate relationships. It had been over two years since anyone outside my doctor had used my legal name. Did she know the significance? I wouldn’t think so.
Harper turned to me with her eyebrows raised. “That was weird,” she stated bluntly. Then pointed a finger in my face. “If I hear you were anything less than a gentleman with her, I will personally see to it that you are castrated. She is obviously a very sweet and shy girl. Donotpressure her into anything.”
I held up both hands. I had no idea if Harper knew Calliope’s reputation or not, but her threat was completely unnecessary. I hadnointention of being with Calliope longer than the allotted four hours of labor she’d paid for.
Witchy Woman: Good morning. Thank you for your offer of switching to labor work. Does tomorrow at 1pm work for you?
I stareddown at my phone. I was sitting at the clubhouse bar nursing a cold brew. It was the day after the auction and everyone was on edge. Tomorrow would determine if Steel was going to be released or have formal charges brought up against him.
After Calliope had run from me at the fair, I’d bumped into Kora. She’d asked me if I wanted to go hang out, but I’d declined. I wasn’t in the mood, which was a bit of a first for me. I blamed it on needing to be available to the ol’ ladies and helping with clean up, but while she seemed to buy it, I hadn’t.
I’d turned down sex, averysure thing. And I had no idea why.
