Page 85 of Livewire Witch

I hum thoughtfully. “Not too sure. All I know is he’s here to let you know you’re being an ass. Remember all those weeks ago, you told me to let you know if that happened and you’d try to fight it?” I let out a bone-weary sigh. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m doing right now.”

Poncho takes the opportunity to lick right along Zeph’s face and he grimaces.

“This is weird.” Doesn’t stop him from hesitantly reaching out to scratch behind Poncho’s pointed ears, though.

“It is.” I lean against the doorframe as Roscoe returns with the ice, which he lobs cheerfully at Zeph’s head.

“I’m going to grab some stuff from the store,” Roscoe says. “I feel like I need to bake through my feelings. I’m gonna leave you two to yell at each other, or get your feelings out in... other ways.” He waggles his eyebrows at me and then hardens his expression as he turns to Z.

“Look, dude, I’m trusting you not to be a prick here. If I get back and Silver’s even a smidge unhappy because you said something to hurt her feelings, I’ll kick your ass.”

I raise an eyebrow and squeeze his fingers. “Your protection of my feelings is noted. It’s unnecessary, but appreciated.”

Roscoe bows and doffs an imaginary cap. “Always ready to defend your honor and your feelings, m’lady.” He leans in closer until I can feel the heat of his body radiating off him. Staring intomy eyes with a cheeky smirk, he then cups my cheeks and kisses me long and hard, leaving me gasping.

And then he’s gone, leaving just the scent of amber and vanilla in his wake.

I BLINK A FEW TIMES, squeezing my legs together and trying to pull my brain back into one piece. I’m so distracted by Roscoe’s kiss, I forget all about the potential hazards of stepping inside Zeph’s bedroom. I totter toward the bed on wobbly legs and have barely taken two steps when I feel something slice the bottom of my foot.

Ow. Shit. Sharp pain shoots up the sole of my foot and I let out a little yelp. Zeph leaps to his feet, cursing as he lands on his bad leg and hobbles over to me. We both collapse onto the side of the bed.

“Shit, did you hurt yourself? Fuck, you’re bleeding.” He winces as he gets on his knees, peering at the bottom of my foot and cradling it in one hand. Before I can say a word, he’s on his feet again, limping into the bathroom. I can hear him rattling around until he returns with his arms full of bandages and antiseptic cream.

“Here.” He grunts as he drops onto his knees again and starts to dab at my foot. “I don’t think there’s anything left in the cut, but I’m going to clean it and bandage you up, all right, Little Witch?”

My foot is throbbing, but I still have to stifle a smile at the urgency in Zeph’s tone and the intensity of his attention as he tends to my foot. I take a peek at it and it doesn’t look too bad. Yet he’s acting like my whole foot might drop off.

“Fuck. I am an ass, aren’t I?” He drops to his haunches and winces again. “I’ve been a fucking dick for the past week, I knowthat. Dammit. I didn’t mean any of the shit I said, and now you’re hurt because of me.”

I roll my eyes at him and hold my hand out for him to take. “Get up. You don’t need to make your leg any worse than it already is.”

He carefully pulls himself up and flops onto the bed with another groan. “I’m a mess, babe.”

We’re then sitting side by side, our thighs pressed together. Z’s silent and I think he’s going to retreat into himself again, but after a couple of minutes, he finally speaks, “It was what happened at the club that messed with my head.”

“We think we were drugged. Rapture or something, one of the magic-infused drugs,” I say softly.

“I lost control. Lost my damn mind again,” he says.

I squeeze his thick forearm. “I think we all did.”

He shakes his head, shifting his arm until his hand is sliding down to link with mine, where he begins to trace small circles on the back of my hand. “Except, instead of losing my mind and the worst thing happening was that I made a gorgeous witch come, I wound up vulnerable and surrounded by vampires.” I feel him shudder violently beside me. “My worst fucking nightmare.”

My chest aches as something clicks into place in my head.

“Your stepdad?”

I know Zeph doesn’t like him, and that he’s a vamp, but not too much else. Clearly, whatever vamp-related trauma Z is keeping to himself, it’s worse than I realized.

“They fuck with your head,” he says. “Vamps. They can make you do shit that you wouldn’t normally do. Act in ways you don’t really want to, while the voice in the back of your head is screaming that something isn’t right.”

My eyes widen. A host of fucked up scenarios are going through my head and I start to understand why Z might be so closed off about this topic.

“I’m not going to ask what he did to you,” I say.

His dark eyes meet mine for a moment, and he squeezes my hand. “It’s probably not any of the shit you’re thinking. He didn’t... abuse me or anything. Just I remember doing stuff that I wouldn’t normally do. I mean, the man made me lose a goddamn kidney, for fuck’s sake. Made me lose control. Nothing good ever happens when I lose control of myself.” He shakes his head violently. “I just remember being in the club and feeling so out of it, having that vamp so close by and touching you at the same time I was. It fucked with my head. Then I got into my head and I don’t even know if you wanted any of the shit we were doing to you.” He shakes his head again and rubs his free hand over his eyes. “Told you I’m a fucking mess, Silver.”

“I’m all right,” I assure him. “Nothing happened that I would have said no to if I was sober.”

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