Page 17 of Cursed Love
Chapter 8
Cologne and incense.
The two scents assaulted her. She recognized the smell, but they were different than what she associated with Greg. Her cheek was warm, and a heavy arm was wrapped around her shoulders.
Blinking carefully, she saw a pizza box on the coffee table. Memories of her apartment coming to life, thanks to her utter lack of control over her powers, rushed her. And then…
Ryan.
Her eyes popped open, and she recognized his worn-in jeans.
“Hello, sunshine…” he said, his voice husky.
Brandy sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.”
“Don’t apologize. You crashed after expending so much energy. When you use your powers, you need to remember they’re like a battery. You can drain a battery if you use it too much and don’t charge it.” He leaned forward, his elbows to his knees before looking at her. “Do you feel better?”
“Yeah, but I’m still tired.” Glancing at her watch, she gasped. “That can’t be right.”
“What?”
“My watch, it says it’s tomorrow.” Brandy looked at her windows and noted the darkness.
“Nope. You’ve been out for twenty-four hours.”
“What?”she shrieked and frantically searched for her phone. She found it next to him. “Oh my God, work!” She lunged forward to grab the phone so she could call them, but he caught her.
“Hey! Calm down, you don’t have the energy to have another power surge.” His stern words were filled with concern.
She looked around and noticed a few items in the air. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply. When he’d asked how she felt, her answer wasn’t a lie. She was spent. After two more breaths, the items dropped.
“I called your job and told them you came down with the flu,” he said, his grip loosening but his hot skin still on hers.
When they looked at each other, she nodded. “Thank you—wait, you’ve been here the whole time?”
A shadow crossed his face. “You crashed harder than any witch I’ve met. Leaving would have left you vulnerable and unable to protect yourself.”
Her eyes darted to the doorframe and back. He had put a protection spell on her door. Was he lying about it or about staying? Either way, he’d lied. She wasn’t sure why, but her instinct said he did want her safe.
“You ordered pizza?” she asked, pulling from him.
Ryan gave her a sheepish look. “I got hungry. I can order another one if you want.”
Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she opened the box. “You ate it all?”
He shrugged. “I was hungry. I’ll order us another one.” Reaching out, Ryan handed her her phone. “Your family’s been trying to get a hold of you. When you didn’t show up at work, your employee called them. Go on and check everything while I place an order.”
Her nerves spiked as she unlocked the screen. Brandy inwardly cringed when she spotted the twenty-two missed calls from Junior, three from Ethan, and two from Max, with another hundred texts in their family’s group chat. “Shit…” she whispered to herself as she scrolled through all the notifications.
“They love you. You need to keep them away from here though. I’m assuming they don’t know about your family secret?” he asked, leaning back into the couch and crossing an ankle over his knee. He looked incredibly comfortable… like he belonged on her couch.
Shaking the thought away, she met his gaze. “No. They have no clue. At least, I don’t have any reason to think otherwise.”
Brandy’s thumbs flew over her keypad as she sent texts to cool her family from their concerns and another to Erika letting her know the “fever” had broken. When she finished, she set her phone on the table and sat back, her shoulder touching his.
She did not understand her pull to this man. The longer she was around him, it had less to do with the fact that he was the only person she could talk to. She was attracted to him, but he comforted her with his presence alone. An inexplicable feeling within her demanded she stay by his side.
“Can I ask you something?” she whispered, hearing exhaustion in her voice.
