Page 40 of Heal Me

“Let me help you with something. Just be forewarned I can boil water and that’s about it.”

“Coffee duty it is.”

“That I can handle,” he says, disappearing.

Doogie wanders into the kitchen. “Gabe’ll be back,” I tell my cat. “He’d better, if he wants breakfast.”

I crack two eggs and cover the pan, then drop two slices of bread in the toaster. Minutes later, I butter the toast and slide one sunny-side egg onto each piece and add an orange I’ve segmented. Gabe appears holding two small espresso cups and I startle. “When I said coffee duty, I meant turning on the coffee pot!”

“Take a sip and see if you don’t like my way better.”

I do as instructed and moan. “Amazing. Where did you get this?”

“Florence.”

“I’m not familiar with that coffee shop.”

“Florence, Italy.”

“Now the demigod’s just showing out,” I tease, handing Gabe his plate as he winks at me.

Taking a seat next to each other, we dig in. “Thank you, this is delicious,” he says between bites.

“You’re welcome. Next time I’ll make you my grandmother’s buttermilk biscuits. Mine aren’t quite as good as hers, but close.”

“Next time it is. My mouth’s watering just thinking about it.”

Smiling at the thought of a next time, I stand to put away our dirty dishes, but Gabe pulls me in his lap, kissing a trail along my neck that makes me shiver.

“Hello?” Jen says in a rude tone from the kitchen doorway. “Who is this?” she demands.

“Hey, Jen,” I say, standing and taking our plates to the sink and rinsing them off. “This is Gabe Jennings.”

“Charlotte, you know that we don’t have boys sleeping over. It’s the number one apartment rule and why I always go over to Elliot’s house to give you privacy.”

“Good thing I’m not a boy and so no rule was broken,” Gabe says with an easy smile as he stands, walking over to shake Jen’s hand. “Hello, Jen. Nice to meet you.” She loses the attitude as she looks Gabe up and down. Has Jen always been this horrid of a friend and I just never noticed? “Jen, you’re going to stay out of Charlotte’s room,” Gabe says, his chocolate-brown eyes sparkling with a white light for a split second. It’s so subtle I almost missed it.

“Of course I am,” she says, dazed.

“Good. Well, nice to meet you.” He grabs my hand and we walk back upstairs.

“What just happened?” I demand as I close the door to my room. “Your eyes, what was that?”

“You caught that.” He rubs a hand through his adorable bed-head hair. “I’m a mind bender.”

“A mind whater?”

“I have the ability to magically persuade humans. It depends on many factors, the main ones being the strength of the mind of the human and the type of command.”

“Have you used that trick on me?” I ask, praying the answer is no.

“No, never. I swear to you.” He takes a seat on my bed and folds his hands together. “I haven’t used that power in years; I’m not sure what possessed me to use it just now. Other than I wanted to ensure horrible Jen leaves you alone.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea why Jen’s so horrible.”

“You know that’s not what I meant. Why have you not used that power in years?”

---