Page 41 of War's Witch
Nineteen
CLEO
Steam curls around me as I sink deeper beneath the water, my skin prickling with heat and relief, making me sigh as I lean back in the tub.
Today was a long ass day. I spent hours bent over my client who took her new back piece like a champ. She fell asleep an hour into it, so I chatted with her boyfriend, who was a hoot.
I stretch my legs, and wiggling my toes, I look down at the purple nail polish, thinking that I need a change.
Change is something that I am finding that I need in my life. I had a flicker of hope after my night with War that things could be different but once again, a man showed me that I am perfectly okay on my own.
I haven’t heard from him in days, still. Not one word. I’m not the kind of woman who waits around or chases a man. I’ll cut him loose before I let myself get lost in him only for him to break me. It is safer if it ends now, neither us getting too invested in something that may or may not work out.
I close my eyes and let the heat swallow me whole, as Benson Boone plays through the speakers of my phone. Tonight, I choose peace and quiet, before I binge on a show on Netflix and eat junk food.
Time slips by and the water starts getting cold, so I reluctantly climb out, wrapping my green towel around my body. My hair is piled up in a big clip, as it is not hair wash day.
As I pad back into my bedroom, I place my food order before drying off and slipping into a cute pair of pajamas. A set that Lucas bought me for my birthday, which has coffee, donuts, and cupcakes all over the material.
Loading up my TV, I settle on my sofa to flick through the channels while waiting for my Thai food.
Scrolling through my phone, I like a few photos shared by friends, pushing down the jealousy of seeing so many of my friends happy and in relationships, some even have kids.
Whereas kids are not in my future. I have this feeling that I might have missed out on something with War. He broke down a part of my walls, reaching in with a promise to be more to me.
Emotions are fickle things.
But feelings are tricky like that. You can’t control them—they just pop up out of nowhere and surprise you, changing your mind on things you thought you had settled.
One moment you’re convinced you’re better off alone, enjoying single life, having half decent sex with no attachments after, then BAM. A sexy biker comes into your life and makes you feel things that have you rethinking everything. Maybe that’s just how it goes. Maybe that’s why I can’t seem to stop wondering about War, no matter how much I try to push him out of my head.
He has buried himself deep in my soul and it will take a fucking miracle or a spell to get that man out of my head.
A knock comes at my front door, bringing me out of my thoughts.
Walking over, the skin on the back of my neck tingles in awareness. Could it be War finally coming to see me to explain his absence? My stomach tightens, making me feel uneasy.
Pushing the gut feeling aside, I unlock the door and pull it open, half expecting War or my food delivery, but it is neither.
“Can I help you?” I ask the man standing there looking like a creep from some crime movie. His hair is slicked back, his teeth almost yellow in color. A scar runs from his eye to his ear, and he is wearing baggy jeans and an oversized hoodie.
My skin prickles in fear, my grip on the door firm, with a wish that I had brought my phone with me to answer the door.
“Damn, when the boys told me you were a knockout, I thought they were fucking overselling, but damn. Lucky me.”
Fear rushes through me, my blood turning cold at his words. With my heart vibrating in my chest like a NASCAR engine, I try to close the door on him, but he is faster, and he places his hand on the wood, stopping me with a grin on his face.
“Oh, no, darling, I am going to have fun with you before I fuck you up for your boyfriend to see.”
War? This is about War?
“I think you have it all wrong, I do not have a boyfriend,” I try to tell him but he laughs, the sound making me sick.
“Now I know that you are lying, baby. We have seen him leaving here in the dark of night, which I can only assume was after he sampled that pussy of yours. Something I am going to try out before I bruise you up.”
“NO” I scream, and run.
Desperate, I scramble toward the sofa, every cell in my body screaming for me to reach my phone, to dial 911, or War, or anyone who could help.
