Chapter 7
CALLIE
Maddox’s body went completely rigid as I kept my grasp on his softest spot. He froze in place, his breath ragged. I wasn’t holding tight enough to do any damage, but I was applying enough pressure that there was no slipping away from me.
He coughed. “Baby, I would never cheat on—”
I squeezed a little tighter. He gasped and grimaced.
“I know your passwords. I never used them until tonight. I’ve been reading your texts for hours. Want to try that again?”
His head jerked from side to side, frantically trying to think up an excuse. I let the silence stretch. He would understand soon enough there was no escape.
“Can we… can we please talk about this in a different position?” he pleaded, with a slight squeak in his voice.
To be honest, I wouldn’t have minded getting out of that position either. I had loved the idea of screwing with him when I was setting this up, but being in contact with his naked body was rapidly feeling gross. Especially his disgusting balls. I was ready to be done touching Maddox. Forever.
And now that I was no longer worried about making my big, strong husband feel emasculated, I didn’t have to keep abstaining from my magic.
As I released him, I also cast a quick spell that sent him floating into the middle of the room. He screamed incoherently as I suspended him naked in midair.
“Calm down,” I said dismissively. “It’s just a little levitation spell.”
“Spell?!?” He was flailing in wild panic, trying to grab onto something.
I increased the force of the magic, constricting the tendrils of energy encircling him until he stilled. Rather than standing up, I levitated myself to my feet. “It feels so good to use my magic again. Thanks for giving me a reason.”
“Use it again?” he sputtered.
We had only discussed my past at the beginning, but from the baffled look on his face, you’d think he was just discovering I was a witch.
“Enjoy your last looks, asshole. You won’t get to enjoy this view again,” I said, gesturing at my body.
I winced as I recalled how insecure I had felt only hours ago.
How precisely I had tried to attend to all the little details, so there wouldn’t be one thing about me that turned him off.
But looking at myself now, wild and fiery, my hair whipping about…
I was hot. How had I wasted so much time thinking his disinterest had anything to do with me, when it had only been his shortcomings the whole time?
I raised my hands and channeled the magic within me.
The delicate lingerie I wore began to shimmer and transform, the fabric weaving and expanding like liquid silk.
The skimpy pieces grew and strengthened, becoming a magnificent gown of deep midnight blue that hugged my curves before flowing dramatically to the floor. Its power wrapped around me like armor.
I had never felt more beautiful, or more formidable.
Maddox’s eyes popped even wider. “What the hell! You’re a witch?!”
That stopped me dead. This was not news to him. Our talk about it was the single most meaningful conversation of my life. “Yes! I told you that!”
“No fucking way! I would remember!”
My memory of that night could not have been more crystal clear. It had all been so soon after witches had been revealed to the human world, and I’d been terrified he would reject me.
“Our third date!” I yelled. “I told you everything about growing up in the coven! How I had to leave it all if I wanted to be with you!”
The blank fearfulness in his eyes made me even angrier. No recognition whatsoever.
“You sat there and listened to me pour my heart out, and then you told me it was all okay and you just wanted to focus on being with me!”
He was scrambling to come up with anything to placate me. “Callie, that night, I thought all you meant was that you felt like a witch—”
“You’re a bad liar when you’re scared,” I taunted.
“And I am out of patience. I’m going to ask you questions, and you are going to answer me honestly and immediately.
If I think you’re lying to me again…” One of our framed wedding photos was in Maddox’s eyeline.
I magically pulverized it into dust. “Am I understood?”
“Yes,” he responded hastily, his voice dry and papery.
“Good. Now, tell me what you remember about that night.”
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I remember how beautiful you looked—”
“Shut the fuck up and answer the question.”
His voice was getting higher, more desperate. “Callie, please, I think I was just nervous—”
“Another wrong answer. I’m done with this.” Channeling the magic through my hands, I spun him upside down. We were now face-to-face, his head at my eye level with his body above him. The speed of the flip had him looking queasy.
His muscles corded as he strained to break free of my magical hold.
It was cute he imagined that was possible.
I held his gaze evenly. “Let’s go right to the source. Witches can access the memories of others. I’d like to enter your mind and live the memory of that night exactly as you did.”
“Enter my… my mind?” he stammered. “That’s private!”
“I know. That’s why this magic only works with authentic consent. You have to freely choose to let me in.” I placed my hand delicately on his face and gave him a slight smirk. “Would you like to let me in?”
At last, Maddox seemed to recognize his situation. His straining muscles went slack as he stopped struggling against the magic. Acceptance, finally. “Okay,” he said quietly.
And as soon as he allowed it, I was inside.
I was startled for a second to find myself looking at… myself. This memory power was one I hadn’t used often, and never before to see events I had also been present at. This was my first time looking directly at myself through the eyes of someone else, and it was a disorienting feeling.
The restaurant around me was much colder than it was in my recollection. I remembered it as so vividly lush, warm, and glamorous, whereas through Maddox’s eyes it was cold, dim, and utterly devoid of character.
I could feel his satisfaction with himself as he looked across the table at me—no, as he looked past me. He was looking at other women! The brunette server who lingered a little too long every time she came by our table, and the blonde at the bar who caught his eye.
Look sympathetic, his internal voice reminded him, as my past self began speaking earnestly about something clearly important. Nod at the right moments. Keep eye contact.
But his eyes kept drifting. To the blonde’s legs. To the way the server’s shirt hugged her breasts.
Horror crawled through me as my past self’s face grew more vulnerable, more open, pouring her/my heart out about growing up in the coven, the struggle of being a daughter of the High Priestess, and my choice to leave it behind.
But I wasn’t actually hearing any of my words because Maddox hadn’t listened to them in the first place. The only thing I could hear right now was his internal monologue: God, that blonde has an amazing ass. Wonder if she’s here alone... Focus, Maddox. Look concerned. Make the right sounds.
“Mmm-hmm,” he murmured sympathetically, while internally he was noting the plunging cleavage of the server as she bent forward to clear a nearby table.
This is the part where she wants validation, he thought, as I continued baring my deepest fears and dreams. Just wait for her to finish, then give her the line.
And when I finished, my expression tremulous with emotion and hope, he delivered it perfectly: “Thanks for sharing that with me, baby. But it doesn’t matter to me where you came from. That’s all in the past. I want to focus on the now with you.”
Joyous relief broke over my past self’s face.
But in his mind: Works every time. Is she finally going to let me fuck her now?
I yanked myself out of the memory so violently that both of us gasped. I was back in our bedroom, staring at this man I thought I had known, this man I had loved and trusted and tried to build a life with.
The rush of relief that had gone through me that night at the restaurant… it had all been a lie.
“Well,” I said, my voice deadly calm, “that was enlightening.”
He was trembling now. “Callie, please, I—”
I cut him off by sending him spinning back right side up with a flick of my hands. He groaned from the force and speed of it.
“You think you can explain any of that away?” I laughed bitterly.
I felt like such a fool. That night had been the moment I knew Maddox was the one. I bared my deepest vulnerabilities to him, and he made me feel so safe. I desperately wanted to leave my past in the past, and I’d been so grateful he respected that.
The truth was, I’d been sitting across from a man who had no interest in me or my life at all. But because he had charm and a perfectly chiseled jaw, I completely deluded myself about our relationship. All the way to the altar and through years of marriage.
As the full realization crashed over me, my sense of power drained. For a moment, I wanted to cry again.
But only for a moment. He was still right in front of me. I’d be damned if I let him see any more of my pain. I could cry later, on my own time.
I pushed down the surge of sadness and re-embraced the anger that had been giving me such a sense of power only moments before.
“There’s only one other thing I want to know. If you had so little interest in me, why did you even propose to me in the first place?”
“Callie, I swear, it wasn’t always like that.” His words spilled out in a frantic rush. “What you heard, that’s just how men think. But I proposed to you because I love you.”
“So that’s your story? What you were feeling about me in that memory was love?”
“Not then! That was only the third date! I did fall for you, but just later.”
“If you really loved me, then how could you sleep with all those other women?”
“Because…” he trailed off.
I raised my hand and let some magic crackle along my fingers, making the point that I could hop back into his mind again as easily as I just did.
“Because it’s just what guys do!” he yelled.
“Just what guys do,” I repeated with revulsion.
“It’s true! Women are monogamous! Men aren’t!
” He seemed to catch himself and realize that was too confrontational, as his manner suddenly shifted into conciliatory pleading.
“Please, Callie, I’m so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you.
You’re my wife. I love you. I was always discreet.
I never slept with anyone you know. I always used protection and got tested. ”
“So I should feel better because you had a complete system for cheating on me?”
“No, but… I was trying to protect you,” he said weakly.
“Protect me! You are unbelievable. All you ever did was satisfy yourself,” I raged.
“I’m so sorry.” His head dropped low. “Please forgive me.”
And only then did I remember… he still did not know about the curse.
I exploded into manic, uncontrollable laughter. I sat back onto the bed, cackling my head off, leaving him floating above me, worrying what was next.
I looked up and locked eyes with him. “Well, I have some terrible news for you.”
“What are you going to do to me?” he asked fearfully.
I said this next bit slowly, savoring every word. “I’m not going to do anything. I’ve already done it.”
“What have you done?” His voice was getting even smaller.
“Your time with Gwen tonight didn’t go that well, did it?”
He opened his mouth, but only a faint strangled sound came out.
Delivering this news was going to be the highlight of the whole misbegotten marriage.
“I cast my first curse ever tonight. I’d never even attempted a curse before. But sometimes in moments of high emotion… like finding out your husband is fucking every woman in town… a curse can just happen.”
Flutters of anxiety rippled across his taut muscles. “What… what was the curse?”
I was so excited for this I was actually licking my lips. I let my gaze slowly drift down until I was staring straight at his crotch.
“Want to guess?” I giggled, as comprehension finally began to dawn on his stupid face.
“You don’t mean…” he whispered.
Time to finish him, and let him know his days of “just doing what guys do” were now solidly in the past.