Page 40 of Charmed

"Oh," she drawled, turning the one-syllable word into eight. "Yes, that is bad. So, what did you do?"

He thought it over. How to explain? "I went through the five stages of grief, Fiona-style. First, I denied what I was seeing and assumed she was screwing with me. Then, I tried to get her angry before moving onto bargaining with her to snap out of it. Depression sank in when that didn't work and I accepted the fact only a ginormous act was going to be effective."

Swirling the amber liquid in his glass, he recalled the push/pull power play he and Fiona had enacted the past couple hours, wondering who'd been crowned the victor. He would've sworn it was him if not for the things he'd admitted. Or her response. Shame heated his neck, churned in his gut.

"Aunt Mara said you guys left the house." Kaida leaned forward and flipped her blonde locks over her shoulder. "What tactic did you use on Fiona? Ceara's been trying for days."

"Seduction."

Brady choked on his whiskey, coughing violently. "Come again?"

"You heard me." Riley strummed his fingers on the armrest.

"For clarification, you seduced Fiona Galloway?" Brady set his drink aside. "The woman who chews up lovers and cleans her teeth with their bones. That Fiona Galloway?"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Not that Riley hadn't been thinking the same thing. He glanced at Tristan and did a double-take at his brother's irritated expression. "Don't look at me like that. I didn't take advantage of her while she was in a diminished mental state. I merely used it as a ploy to get her to listen. Nothing actually happened."

Ceara smiled. "Good for you. It obviously worked. Where did you guys go?"

"I brought her here. We went swimming." Images of Fi in that black bikini would forever be seared into his retinas.

Ceara rolled her lips over her teeth, but it failed to hide her grin. "How many times did she bitch about chlorine in her hair?"

"Just once." He dug his thumb and forefinger into his eye sockets. "She was too busy manipulating the conversation and getting me to admit stuff to complain."

"I bow down." Kaida shook her head in disbelief. "And look at you. No claw marks or blood."

"All my wounds are internal. Trust me." That's how it felt, anyway. Like he was hemorrhaging at an alarming rate.

Tonight, he and Fiona had gone beyond superficial banter and flirting to something he couldn't name or define. He was tempted to slap the label of intimacy on the situation if not for the mortification and confusion chaser. He'd never been so open with a woman before, with anyone, and he still had no clue how it had happened. Equally disturbing was how she'd reacted. He was fairly certain he could handle anything except the blatant sympathy he'd found in her stunning eyes. She'd actually...

Hell. She understood him.

Kaida's phone beeped, and she glanced at it. "I knew you were the right person for the job. Aunt Mara texted. She says Fiona is in her workshop right now tinkering with a potion. She has her 80’s hair band music cranked loud enough to rattle the windows."

A smidgen of relief slithered through him, easing some of his tension. That did sound an awful lot like she was getting back to her normal self.

The ladies said their goodbyes, claiming they needed to prep for their Litha ceremony tomorrow. Kaida and Brady extended her departure by getting all cutesy since she was spending the night with her sisters.

Riley rolled his eyes and drained his whiskey, even though jealousy sunk its claws in deep. Truth be told, he'd given little thought or consideration to the notion of love until his brother had found Kaida. The concept of forever had never been a reality before, and going down that warped path would only cement the belief that misery preferred company.

But they were changing things, the six of them. Weren't they? By accepting their fate and fighting for the greater good, they were putting centuries of heartbreak out of commission in order to seek what had never been allowed, what had been stolen from both bloodlines.

Hope. Peace. Happiness.

Love.

Longing tugged at his chest. Watching Brady with Kaida, the trust between them, the adoring gazes and chemistry and bond they shared, had Riley wishing for just a piece of it. How freeing it must be to have a sense of security in knowing someone always had your back, that there would be a smiling face to come home to after an epically bad day.

Arms that embraced instead of hands that struck. Eyes that smiled versus daggered glares of loathing. Lips to kiss instead of a mouth that barked insults. A heart that accepted, unhardened by hatred. He'd render it all a fruitless pipe dream had proof of the possibility not been right in front of him.

What the hell did he know about relationships? Aside from his brothers, affection was Greek to him.

The door closed behind the ladies, and Riley incessantly bounced his knee. He could dissect his interactions with Fiona until he turned blue and cried mercy, but he'd still wind up in the same loop of perplexity while wrapped in a blanket of desire. Every moment with her hurled him closer and closer to the edge of a cliff where there was no bottom. Nothing but infinite blackness and unknown origins.

Then again, if he was going to fall for someone, and it looked a hell of a lot like that person would be Fiona, he may as well enjoy the descent. He didn't have much experience with the emotion, but he did know love gave zero choice or free will. It happened or it didn't.

He vaguely wondered how bad the pain would be on impact.

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