Chapter 27
After our morning in the Reading Room, I decided to make Thursday the busiest day in the entire history of busy days. Anything to avoid being still and thinking.
I reorganized my office. Then changed it back.
I did follow-up calls to all of my clients, past and present.
I spent ninety minutes texting with Gabe.
I asked Brianne questions about some spreadsheet I didn’t give a damn about, pestering her until she chased me off.
I called Psyche every hour on the hour, each time using a different alias and leaving increasingly ridiculous messages.
This situation had officially zapped every last bit of professionalism out of me. Never have I ever badgered a client’s estranged wife.
By Thursday evening, I’d cleaned my entire house, without magic, thankyouverymuch, and worked out like a fiend. I’d showered, eaten dinner, and flipped through a dozen channels on the TV.
But no matter how much I exhausted my body, my mind stubbornly refused to rest. Around ten, I turned the TV off, thinking a good book might distract me. I went to the door, habitually checking that it was locked before I retreated to the bedroom.
But the heavy thumping of feet on stairs stopped me in my tracks. My hand halted halfway to the knob when the thuds were followed by voices.
Two voices. Both male. Both familiar.
“This is a bad idea. It’s late.”
“It was your idea, Einstein.”
A huge sigh. “I’m glad we’ve buried the hatchet, but we aren’t in a place where you can call me names yet, Ray.”
“Then knock on the door, Ethan.”
A chuckle. “Why should I be the one to knock?”
“Because this was your. I. Dea.”
My spirits rose like a dozen butterflies headed to milkweed. Ray and Ethan were talking to each other! There was even some good-natured ribbing going on. They were here! Together!
Wait. They were here. At my door. At ten o’clock at night. That couldn’t be good.
Why would they come together? What was the idea, exactly? Had Ethan told Ray about our conversation? Were they here so Ray could reject me, too? I mean technically, Ethan hadn’t exactly rejected me. We’d mutually realized we were better off as friends.
I rapped my knuckles against my head. Stop. Thinking. Simone.
They’d stopped arguing over who was going to knock. Their voices had become muffled, their footsteps receding. No! Oh, no. They were changing their minds. Maybe I wanted them to change their mind. Maybe this was a good thing. This couldn’t be a good thing.
Ray mentioned my name, the rest of his words coming out like Charlie Brown’s teacher. I pressed my ear to the door, trying to catch whatever he was saying.
And that’s when Cecelia removed the wall to the house.
I stumbled forward, barely managing to grab the railing before I flipped over the edge of it. Ray, now midway down the stairs, took them two at a time to reach me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me back. Ethan made a noise that sounded suspiciously like he was laughing at me.
“Are you okay?” Ray released me, keeping his hands close in case I lost balance while standing still and toppled over. I wouldn’t put it past me.
“I’m … fine. Cecelia was just—” I stopped, glaring at the house. The window and door were completely intact. “Never mind.”
Ray had this dorky, lopsided smile on his face that reminded me of the teen version of him.
Not the brooding dude I’d fallen for senior year.
More like the quarterback who’d dated my cousin Julia and didn’t have a care in the world.
In the span of one day, he seemed to have lost the heavy weight he’d carried for thirty years.
It brought a lump to my throat. The happy kind.
“We didn’t mean to bother you, Simone.” Ethan reached the top of the stairs, reminding me he was there, too.
“You’re no bother at all.” I pivoted to include them both. “Either of you. Want to come in?”
Without waiting for an answer, I turned the knob, half expecting Cecelia to have locked me out. Luckily for us both, she wasn’t that mischievous. I didn’t want to look up how to hex a house.
They followed me in. They were big men, both of them, and having them in my space together left it a little cramped. They stood side by side, wearing near-identically awkward grins. Ethan, too, looked lighter. They were in a good place.
No matter what happened, I could hold onto that.
We’d been standing for far too long in the foyer, as if I’d never had a guest before. Or two.
“Um … coffee?” I flicked a hand toward the breakfast area, forgetting it was nighttime until the view of the garden from my window reminded me. “Or tea? Water?”
Apparently, I’d been rendered unable to complete sentences. It was Ethan who saved me from making more of a fool of myself by moving into the living room and taking the chair by the fireplace. Leaving only the couch. For Ray and me.
“Cecelia.” He crossed one leg as if this was the most normal social visit of all time. “Could I trouble you for a … Ah! You’re a gem.” She had blueberry muffins and some amazing croissants on a tray in the center of the room before he even finished his sentence.
A pitcher of water and three glasses also appeared. He poured it, handing glasses to Ray and me as we, warily, sat on opposite sides of the couch. I took a croissant, moaning a little as it melted on my tongue. It was buttery and yeasty and perfect.
“Where did you get these, Cecelia?” I said with my mouth full. Flakes of pastry landed on my chest. Yeah. No one would accuse me of being cool. Cecelia’s radio popped onto the mantel by Ethan, and The Beatles radiated throughout the room. “Across the Universe?”
The music stopped, as if Cecelia had no interest in answering further, and we munched in silence. All the while, my heart pounded, and I drank glass after glass of water, trying to quell my dry mouth.
“What’s your deal with blueberry muffins?” Ray broke the awkward silence. “Both of you have always loved them, right?”
Ethan and I exchanged an awkward glance.
This felt like a trap. They were together and talking, and by all appearances, civil.
More than civil. But had I become the weak link in their new chain?
Would a single mention of me with either of them shatter something new and fragile? There was only one way to find out.
“Ethan and I ran together most mornings, at the school track.” I gulped down water, casually wiping the bit that spilled out the side of my mouth because I couldn’t even drink right in Ray’s presence.
“I’d drop my mom off downstairs, and Cecelia, though I didn’t realize it at the time, would have a bag with blueberry muffins waiting for me. ”
“We assumed Agatha was providing them,” Ethan put in. “It wasn’t until Simone returned that we figured out it was House.”
“You two were pretty good friends back then, huh?” Ray stared at the muffin in his hand. For a moment, his hair rippled, as if the wolf wanted to come to the surface. He smoothed it down with one hand.
“We motivated each other.” I looked to Ethan to confirm. “Our mornings felt …” I waved my hand, unable to come up with a word.
“Free,” Ethan supplied.
“Exactly.” We air high-fived. Almost immediately, I found myself braced for Ray’s response, for his wolf to explode. And that didn’t sit well with me at all.
But Ray surprised us both. He reached for my hand on the couch. “I’m sorry you had to hide that from me. It isn’t right that you had to hold back parts of yourself to keep me happy.”
Even if I’d been able to speak, I had no idea what I would have said.
His apology, and the realization that I needed it, hit me so hard that even my magic froze.
Some tiny ember from our past still burned in my soul.
I’d carried it with me all these years, carefully tending it just enough to hold it steady, never understanding that it left me singed while it lingered.
It sat patient under a pile of ash, ready to flame at the slightest wind.
And Ray, with two simple sentences, sent it a gale.
“Apology accepted. But you never asked me to do that. It was my own choice, to hold myself back. I did it with everyone, not just you. And it took me a long time to break the habit.” I swiped at the tears trickling down my face and onto my neck, letting out a lively laugh.
“Boy, that was some chat you two had at lunch yesterday.”
Cecelia shoved a tissue into my hand. I used it to clean myself up, refusing eye contact with anyone in the room.
“Actually, it lasted all day and into the evening.” Ethan huffed out a laugh. “I had to cancel my afternoon.”
“But it was worth it,” Ray added. “Our human sides could have worked this out years ago, but our wolves needed to have it out first.”
“It turned out our scuffle in your Reading Room was enough to calm them so we could talk.” Ray sent me a wink. “Especially after you put both of them in their place.”
“And boy, did we.” Ethan leaned forward to wipe crumbs off the serving tray and deposit them on a napkin. “That’s actually why we’re here.”
My heart stuttered. This was worse than being on a roller coaster. Blindfolded. And naked.
“What’s up?” I said, way too loud and chipper. I made an attempt to sit casually back on the sofa, misjudging the distance and falling backward until my head was buried in the cushions. I struggled up and adjusted, trying not to look weird while I did it. I doubt I succeeded.
“One of the things we discussed was Nina.” Ethan looked to Ray, as if passing the baton for him to pick up.
“Ethan mentioned your concerns about her, and we thought it might be a security matter.”
“Oh. Okay.” Their expressions had turned dire, and the croissant sat heavy in my stomach as a result. “To be honest, I forget about her until we’re in a room together. She’s timid.”
“Until she’s not,” Ethan said. He gave me a don’t downplay this look. Message received.
“Right. The few times she’s been bold enough to do … whatever it is she does, Cecelia has had to pull me out of it.” I scrunched my nose. “I gotta be honest, Ethan. I haven’t even brought it up to Lauren. She’s slowly but surely getting closer to planning her vacation.”
“She’s a ciguapa, Simone.” I frowned at Ray until he continued. “It’s kind of like a forest siren. They lure men in with their song, beguiling them, then kill them. Usually, they only attack at night.”
“Well, I’m not a man. And women are lovely but not my jam.” I pulled my feet under my legs so I was angled to face them both. “And I’ve only seen her during the day. So why is she trying to beguile me?”
“We’re not sure.” My emotions did a little jig at Ethan’s casual use of the word we. They really had come a long way. “It would help if we knew if she’d tried it with anyone else. None of the coven has mentioned it?”
“No. In fact, we met early this morning, and it didn’t come up.” I thought about Lauren, and how light and happy she’d seemed after our meeting. “Lauren seems like she’s in a good place, too. That’s part of why I haven’t mentioned it to her.”
“I think you’ll have to,” Ray said. “I’ve notified the team that they should be on the lookout when they patrol.”
“Thank you.” I fought the urge to bring up that he was the one who always seemed to be on patrol. “I wonder what she wants with me.”
“You’re a Supreme, Simone. Powers from all over the worlds will want to test you.” Ray’s tone was gentle, but the undercurrent of warning plagued me. “Why do you think we’re so concerned about Magnolia security?”
He had a good point. Wasn’t that the very reason Cupid had gone all willy-nilly with his arrows at my party? I needed to pay closer attention to security. I’d been content to let Brianne run the company, Ray run security, and my trusted coven run their divisions.
I was never going to care about the numbers or the day-to-day management. Being the head of a massive organization was not something I’d aspired to. It had just sort of fallen into my lap. But I could be more mindful about the attention my full powers were, inevitably, going to draw.
That was a tomorrow problem. My messed-up sleep schedule demanded my attention. I stood up, gathering the serving tray to save Cecelia the effort. “Thank you both, but I should really get some rest. I’ve got a session first thing tomorrow.”
“Of course.” Ethan took the tray from my hands, beckoning Ray, who’d lingered on the couch. “It could have waited until tomorrow. We just thought—”
“No, I’m glad you told me tonight. And I will handle it.” I stood on my tiptoes to peck him on the cheek. The friendly kiss hello-or-goodbye. It was one of the few Southern gestures I’d studiously avoided. Until now. “I appreciate you both coming by. Really.”
When we reached the door, I turned to Ray. Since I’d already set a ridiculous new precedent, I leaned toward him to kiss his cheek, too. His head turned, his lips meeting the corner of my mouth. I closed my eyes, trying to remind myself not to linger.
The wolf was in his eyes when we separated. It filled me with panic. And something far more animalistic. I backed away as slowly as I could, before my body had a chance to launch itself at him. “It really is great to see you two speaking again.”
I stared at the door after they left, like its smooth wood could answer all of my questions. Once my bladder reminded me I’d drunk something like eight glasses of water, I ignored the door and rushed to the bathroom to empty it.
But when I got out, my heart leapt to my throat at who was lying on my bed.
Gumbo. Prone. His eyes squeezed shut. His one ear flat.
And he wasn’t breathing.