Page 6 of A Touch Charmed

“Speed makes sense.” Audrey rubbed a hand over Wes’s chest. “I figured one of the air signs would end up with that one. Glad it’s you.”

“Thanks, kitty.” I winked at her and Wes scowled. He still hadn’t fully forgiven me for dancing with her at Leo’s, but I’d accomplished what I’d meant to that night and regretted nothing. The kind of nonsense I was willing to put up with for my friends knew no bounds.

“What is Thora’s power?” Audrey asked.

“Healing.”

I gave them the details of what had happened from the time Thora snuck up on me while I was tapping on her window, down to letting them know the curse had shown its smoky face on my way over here. Leaving out the parts that made me look bad, of course. Including where I kicked Thora when she was down, then came damn close to fucking her right there in the sand like we were horny teenagers again.

Goddamn it. She’d felt amazing. I’d been dreaming of her every night since she left the island, and still, my best memories had come up short.

For one brief moment today, that cool façade had slipped. When she looked at me with those big green eyes, round and wide and full of wonder, I felt like she saw me again. Too bad that had only been her magic responding to mine. And because I had next to no self-control when it came to Thora, I doubted she’d want to come anywhere near me again.

Audrey looked at Wes, the two of them communicating in the way only people connected on their level could. “This is fantastic news.”

“I’m glad my broken leg brings you so much joy.”

She rolled her eyes. “I meant Thora’s power, you moron. I’d been worried about what the curse’s physical attacks would mean for us if we got seriously injured, but having a healer on our side makes me feel a lot better.”

“I wouldn’t get too excited,” I muttered. “She didn’t take the whole legend being real thing well, and there’s a good chance she’ll refuse to see me again.”

“Why?” Audrey frowned. “What did you do?”

I placed a hand on my chest, innocence filling my expression. “What makes you thinkIdid anything?” She gave me a blank stare. “Yeah, okay. I fucked up.”

I kept my gaze firmly on the ground while I told them the things I’d said to her, fully ashamed of myself. That wasn’t me. I hated drama and I didn’t go out of my way to hurt people. Most everyone thought of me as a nice guy. A little ridiculous sometimes, definitely slept around too much, but overall decent. Only Thora looked at me like I was an asshole.

Considering she was the only one who’d ever really seen me, that wasn’t something I wanted to examine too closely.

“You kissed her when she didn’t know the side effects and you did?” Audrey curled her lip. “That’s disappointing, Finn. I thought you were better than that.”

“I know.” Remorse burned into me, heating the back of my neck. I’d been so desperate, so goddamned hungry, I couldn’t even think straight. “It won’t happen again.”

“Give him a break, baby.” Wes kissed her temple. “It’s been a long seven years.”

“I’m aware.” Audrey shot me a dirty look. “It’s the only reason why I’m not thwacking him over the head right now. But he does bring up a bigger problem. How do we get Thora to accept her magic? If Finn saw the curse on the way over here, we don’t have a lot of time.”

“I think we’ve got some time,” I said. “It didn’t try to make a play for my head. I practically begged it to take a swing at me, but it chose to sink into the sidewalk after it tried and failed to become something more solid.”

Audrey smacked Wes’s arm before gripping and shaking it. “I told you it wouldn’t come back until it could take on a physical form.”

He cupped the back of her neck. “Baby, you’re saying that like I disagreed with you.”

“No, I’m not.” She faced me. “You need to go back to Thora’s. Tomorrow.”

Nope. I couldn’t push this. I’d pushed her once before and lost everything. I had to be more careful this time. “She needs to adjust to this on her own. She knows she has magic. If she wants to use it, she can seek me out.”

Audrey crossed her arms and pouted. “I don’t like that plan.”

“Sorry, kitty. You’re going to have to let me take the lead on this one.” I stood and stretched. “Tell you what though. If the curse goes corporeal before I can talk Thora into touching me again, I’ll march right over to the Chases’ and handcuff her to me.”

She let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m sure you’d just love that.”

“You have no idea,” I smirked. “I need to stop by Galen’s before I head home. I promised I’d let him run some of his nutty tests on me as soon as I found out what my powers are. The two of you are free to go back to doing what you were doing before I arrived.”

“Too late.” Audrey crossed her arms. “You ruined the moment.”

Wes leaned down and whispered something in her ear and she shivered in response. Yep. Definitely time to get the fuck out of here. “I’ll see you lovers later.”

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