Chapter 25 #3
I swallow, reimagining the way Legion brushed his fingers through my hair and leaned forward, his smoky kiss roughly claiming my mouth with dominating sweeps of his tongue, wrestling mine into submission.
His other hand snaked down my body, between my breasts, my abdomen, further down until his fingers slipped between my lips to rub my clit in a circular, determined motion that matched the swirling of his tongue.
Dean’s stubbled jaw scratched across my shoulder before I felt his teeth sink into my neck, then his lips pressed against me, sucking at my skin as he continued to pound me from behind.
Between the memory of Dean’s thrusts and both Legion’s fingers and dominating kiss, I can feel my heartbeat pounding in the apex of my thighs even now.
Crossing my legs in an effort to dull the throbbing, I reluctantly go on, “I’m going to regret this… But maybe if I talk about it, it won’t happen again.”
They’re both staring at me. “What happened?” Laura asks.
“Technically, nothing… At least, not until after anyway. Dean and I had sex last night, after I woke up.” I notice a woman at the table across from us glance up from her plate.
“I would hope you’re still fucking your husband, Vanna, you’re only three years into this marriage,” Ethan jokes, and the woman nearly drops her fork.
“Maybe we should take this conversation to go?” I shake my head. “I think it might be offensive to eavesdroppers.”
“That’s fine with me,” Laura agrees. “I’d like to stop by Marie Delai’s shop before we head back, anyway.”
I was wondering if we’d stop there, being in Southport and all. I haven’t been to her shop in years. Laura grabs the check, and we divvy up what each of us owes and hand the money back to Laura.
I know it’s too much to hope that they’ll be distracted from the conversation we paused in the restaurant, but I continue to hold onto hope while we walk down the sidewalk toward a few more shops.
The street Marie Delai’s Voodoo shop is on is pretty quiet compared to the buzzing crowds we just split off from. And now that it is quiet, of course, it’s Ethan who breaches the subject again.
“So, what happened last night?” he asks.
“I was dreaming about having sex with my husband. I don’t have those dreams often, but I’ve been thinking about having another baby.”
“ You are?” Laura squeals excitedly. “ Oh, I’m so happy!”
I almost hate to squash her enthusiasm, and I don’t want to get into how much it depresses me. “Dean isn’t sure he wants one yet. But anyway, I woke up, and he must have known I was dreaming about sex, because he was ready to go , if you know what I mean.”
“ Not a difficult code to crack , Vanna.” Ethan rolls his eyes again, but I ignore his Sagittarian bitchiness this time. “I thought he was snipped?”
“That can be reversed easily,” Laura chimes in on my behalf. “So, what happened?”
“I was a little rattled at first, but I just went with it. And it was amazing, of course. He’s always amazing.”
“This isn’t sounding at all like a problem , Vanna,” Ethan gripes.
“Is it because he didn’t ask?” Laura glances at me curiously. “Some men think because they’re married, they’re entitled to?—”
“ No ,” I shake my head. “He didn’t realize I wasn’t fully awake, but he hadn’t gotten that far anyway. He was actually bothered by it and wants to talk about it later. That’s not the issue.”
“What is the issue?” Ethan asks.
“It’s not the first time this has happened, though, it’s only started recently… And it’s never gotten quite this far… Right before I woke up…well…maybe a few minutes before I woke up… I… I wasn’t only with Dean, in the dream , I mean.”
Ethan’s head whips around to stare at me. “ You dreamed about a threesome with Mr. Complicated!”
“ It was just a dream!” I snap back at him defensively. “And it wasn’t the whole time! It was just a little bit! Shhh!”
“Oh, the plot thickens!”
Laura smacks his arm before she looks at me. “You’re right. It’s just a dream . You’re aware he has some degree of feelings or attraction to you, that’s all it was.”
“Thank you,” I say to her and frown at Ethan.
“Now, can we keep this between us? I can’t tell Dean about this part.
You have no idea the Pandora’s box this would open.
I only told you guys so I could get it off my chest and out of my brain, so it never happens again, and I don’t have to think about it anymore! The end! New topic, please.”
They both agree before we make it to the little voodoo shop.
Once inside, Laura and Marie Delai exchange a quick embrace, and the voodoo woman offers her condolences on the loss of Laura’s witch shop. I guess it’s been a while since they’ve spoken, too.
“Everything happens for a reason.” Laura shrugs.
“You know what they say about fire. It represents transformation. I didn’t think it would be possible, especially not with everything else going on, but I’m very happy now.
I never would have been able to afford the beach cottage. I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
Guilt coils in my solar plexus, even though I know it wasn’t technically my fault that her shop burned down. And the way Marie keeps glancing at me while they converse isn’t helping any.
“I hear the house is being rebuilt to its former glory,” Delai says.
“It was a historical structure, so whatever is built there has to match the original home in all specs and details,” Laura explains, “That’s one of the reasons I decided to let the property go.
The cost of supplies and labor in this economy,” she shakes her head, “Even with the insurance money, I wouldn’t have been able to afford the rebuild.
It’s alright though, I’m very happy in my little beach cottage. ”
Ethan and I peruse the shop while Laura and Marie continue their conversation, and I cling to Laura’s claim of happiness in an attempt to stifle the guilt.
I know it was Legion who burned down her beloved Ametrine Cauldron.
I never told her it wasn’t me who left the blessing candle burning in the foyer that terrible night.
Though Legion did come to the shop to warn me, in his own way… “A lot can happen in the thirty minutes it would take him to get here, sweet one… You know this…”
The charred ruins of the Ametrine Cauldron flash in my mind.
I push them away and force myself to focus on the items in the shop.
There’s a large array of charm necklaces with handwritten little tags explaining the purpose of each.
One in particular grabs my attention, and I flip the inscription over to read.
Most effective when kept under the pillow during lovemaking, and when an offering of grapes sprinkled with flour is left by a river or stream .
Oh, this is a fertility charm. For a brief moment, I consider purchasing it and slipping it into Dean’s wallet or something.
He’d eventually find it, though, and I’m not sure how he’d react.
I could sew it inside his pillow, though…
My gaze wanders to her wide array of jarred herbs and the large reference book set up on a small pedestal before them. Maybe there’s something I could grind up and slip into his coffee in the morning that he wouldn’t notice…
No! What the hell is wrong with me? Until he’s on board with the baby idea, I can’t be spiking my husband’s damn coffee or working spells involving his free will without his knowledge. This is what got me in trouble in the past.
I wonder if backfiring magick is like childbirth?
After a while, you forget the pain and convince yourself to do it again.
I missed out on a large portion of Ace’s birth.
What I am able to recall is cloudy, though what Dean told me makes me grateful for the memory-wiping side effect of the drugs that were administered before my emergency C-section.
Still…there wouldn’t be siblings if it were so terrible, right? Rosita told me in her hospital room when Mia was born that whatever she went through was worth it, and she and Viper want another.
Dean missed out on everything a father experiences when Ace was delivered as well.
I wish he would come around… Just one more time… One more baby to give Ace a sibling.
For now, and for the sake of not upsetting myself in front of my friends and Marie Delai, I force the idea from my mind and move on to the display of wire-wrapped and electroplated crystal pendants.
“In Celtic mythology, the Sycamore tree is associated with the realm of spiritual connection and dreams,” Marie Delai says, suddenly by my side. I must have been daydreaming not to have noticed her.
“Huh?”
“The song you were humming. Dream A Little Dream . There’s a verse that mentions the sycamore tree.”
I didn’t even realize I was doing that… “Oh, right. The song has been stuck in my head for a while now,” I say, flippantly.
“ How have you been dreaming , Vanna?” Ethan teases as he crosses the shop behind me to join Laura at the display of various occult books. I want to scowl at him, but I refrain under Marie Delai’s friendly but scrutinizing gaze.
“Is there anything I can be of assistance with?” she asks. “Perhaps a reading?”
“Oh, no…thank you. I’ll just take this,” I say, selecting a pendant on a black leather cord.
“For yourself?” she asks, though for some reason the question sounds more like encouragement.
“No, it’s a gift.”
She takes the necklace from me, glancing down at it as she makes her way behind the register. “Love and protection… Shall I gift wrap it for you?”
“Yes, please.” I smile and join her at the register. The display of tinctures and extracts catches my eye. I select the one labeled Mullein and turn it over to read the label. For respiratory health. A potent lung and bronchial cleanse, especially beneficial for smokers…
“Maybe I’m counting on them…” Legion’s heart-wrenching remark about the consequences of smoking echoes in my mind, and I place the bottle on the counter beside the pendant. “This as well, thank you.”