Page 12 of To Teleport, or Not to Teleport?
When he spun me on my feet, I yelped in surprise. “What did you see?”
“Someone sprayed ‘traitor’ on your windows. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to go home.”
“Lee, it’s late. Let me walk you back.”
I shook my head, and it was a wonder it didn’t roll off my shoulders. “I’ve been walking myself home for years now. I’m good.”
“Baby—”
“No! You don’t get to walk out of my life, come back suddenly, and start calling me your baby!” I shook, and my insides warmed in a strange way.
“You’re my mate!” he growled.
My jaw dropped toward my blue-glitter toenail polish, but before I could strangle the beautiful jerk, I was stumbling over the ottoman to my cozy seat. “Judas Priest.”
“Well, that’s a new development,” Rita said, and a yawn transformed her face. “When did you finally figure that out?”
“Argh!” I stomped across the room, over the squeaky floorboard, and up the stairs to my room. Not until I fell facedown onto my mattress did I allow myself to burst into tears.
Chapter 5
I fielded calls and drop-ins all weekend long, opting instead to lose myself in book after book, enjoying the characters’ drama and evading my own.
There was too much to unpack. Grayson hadn’t been back long, and in that short time, he’d upended my easy life.
Monday morning, with an audiobook playing in my ear, I ran with my group of teens through town. The sun was beginning to rise over our magical town. The smells, colors, and magic in the air soothed my rattled nerves. Even when our fastest runner, Brendan, turned off Main Street and past Grayson’s shop, I managed to stay upright.
Three miles later, we turned toward the school, where the teens broke off to head home to shower. Before I stepped foot on my porch, I spotted a bouquet of wildflowers, twine wound around the stems.
You know where to find me when you’re ready to talk. - G
I carried the flowers inside and shoved them into the vase with the others he’d dropped off throughout the weekend. I didn’t dare smell them and risk a vision. Taking in the burst of colors throughout my living room, I couldn’t stop the face-splitting grin that I knew made me look like a lovesick teen.
It would have been easy to listen to his declaration if he’d not left me years ago. My heart may have been ready to accept the possibility of being with him, but my head remembered how it had felt when Grayson’s momma had told me, “He’s gone.”
Two words had so easily shaken me, and I’d sworn I wouldn’t let any man rock my world like that. I should find humor in the fact that the two times in my life when I’ve lost all sense of what was up or down were both tied back into the same man: Grayson McCune.
We hadn’t even been dating, or even lovers. We had been two best friends who, I thought, had confided everything in the other. Clearly he hadn’t, or he’d have told me he’d planned on running before he’d slipped from town, leaving me only his memory.
“When are you forgiving that man so he can come over?” Rita raised her leg into the air and proceeded to lick herself.
“Get a room!”
“A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. If I had Grayson sniffing around me, I—”
“Don’t you finish that sentence,” I said and glared at the hussy cat.
“Don’t lick yourself. Don’t mention the hot guy who wants me. You need to get laid,” Rita said and sashayed into my library.
I sighed. “I’ll see you after work, and keep your claws off my shelf.”
Rita jumped onto my seat and finally her hammock without a backward glance at me.
* * *
At work, I padded down the hall and turned into my classroom. My brows pinched when I noticed dark hair sticking out from behind my computer monitor. “Can I help you?”
“Oh, hey,” Kenny said, his face popping into view. “I saw your things, so I was waiting for you to come back.”
