Chapter 23 The Worst, Worst Date Ever
Chapter twenty-three
The Worst, Worst Date Ever
Cian
Sunlight streams in through our bedroom window—just enough to kiss my skin with its warmth.
Trissa is snuggled into my side with an arm across my chest and one thigh covering mine.
I smile into her hair and drop a gentle kiss on the top of her head.
I actually slept last night! After a while as a ghost you forget how refreshing it is to be able to be able to turn off with a good night of sleep, made all the better when you have someone you cherish to hold on to.
Unbidden, my mind wanders back to everything we learned from Leona’s letter yesterday.
My heart aches, and I’m still not sure exactly how to feel about everything.
For the first time since dying I understand why Lee did what she did, but now I carry the guilt of knowing the price of my happiness.
If I had just died like I was supposed to, Trissa’s family would probably all still be here.
An unexpected flare of anger burns in my chest. None of it is fair. They all deserved so much better.
I wish that I could speak to Lee, if only for a moment.
To be able to apologize for doubting her.
Thank her for everything that she sacrificed, and promise her that I will always look after Trissa—even if there comes a time that she chooses something other than this life with me.
It’s so easy to promise forever when you’ve never had to face the reality of endless time.
My heart soared when I read about the elixir that Leona claims will allow Trissa to be with me always, but now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I’m weary.
If she had just been a little more concise maybe it wouldn’t seem so alarming, but that bit about ‘mortal days’ makes me pause—I don’t doubt her desperation to protect Trissa, but her desperation to save a loved one is what put us all in this position to begin with.
I was always supposed to die. Trissa has a choice…
a life. Can I really claim to love her if I would let her sacrifice her life for me?
I want to possess her—that urge has not lessened, and I’m not sure if it’s some kind of ghost thing, or an effect of being witch-bound by her bloodline, or even some carnal urge.
Maybe it’s a combination of things… I don’t know.
Witches do die, but they age slower than humans.
We have years before we really have to think about anything drastic.
Maybe we can get the local coven to examine the elixir and tell us what it may be, now that we know they aren’t involved in the disappearance or deaths of Trissa’s family.
I start to daydream about what life might look like if we complete the ritual.
A smile stretches the corners of my mouth.
I don’t mind the forced proximity of our current situation—I don’t mind it one bit, actually—but it would be nice to be able to leave this house.
I know she doesn’t do well with vehicles, but even just walking around the grounds with her would be an improvement to our current situation.
Maybe taking strolls through town… I can’t even imagine how much Kismet Falls has changed since I died.
I could take her on a real date! Granted I don’t exactly have money.
I do still have a basement full of antiques that would be worth more now than when I priced them the first time around.
I’m sure most of my contacts are long since gone, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find new ones, especially if Trissa can help me navigate the internet.
My planning is interrupted by a loud snore that ends abruptly as Trissa startles awake.
I chuckle as her eyelashes flutter against my chest. She yawns and her arm tightens around me as she stretches.
The motion pressing her soft body more firmly against my side in a way that has my cock stirring to life.
She smiles lazily as she angles her face to look up at me.
“Good morning, beautiful.” My voice is still rough with sleep, despite having been awake for a while now.
Trissa mumbles good morning and a pretty blush stains her cheeks. I can see the moment when the past 24 hours come back to the front of her mind. A small V forms between her eyebrows and her eyes glaze over.
“You want to talk about it, baby?”
“Not really,” she sighs deeply, “but we probably should.”
I nod slowly and wait for her to talk. The only way that I can be sure I won’t influence her decisions is to let her voice her feelings first. She looks up at me when it becomes clear that I’m deferring to her and sighs again.
Pushing herself up into a sitting position, she brushes some stray tendrils of hair back from her face.
I follow her lead and lean up against the headboard, trying to school my face into one of careful neutrality.
“I’m still a little jumbled,” she hesitates for a moment before continuing, “I’m a little nervous that our feelings for one another—this intense longing—is some kind of side effect from the bond not being finished. Like some kind of magical compulsion or something.”
Oh. I frown, shaking my head without realizing it. I can’t deny that she has a point, but it feels wrong.
“Let me finish, please—I have to get it all out before I wake up all the way and lose my nerve.”
I nod and smile apologetically. So much for my stoic and neutral poker face.
“I… I have faith that it’s real and that it will last beyond the completion of the ritual. So, I think… I think maybe we take today to just let everything finish settling in… and then tomorrow we do the ritual.”
“Trissa… we don’t have to rush it. I—”
“No, I want to. I want you to be free. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want you to leave.
Please, don’t leave me.” Her eyes water and I open my mouth to reassure her, but she continues quickly, “I don’t want the elixir right now though.
” Trissa pulls her bottom lip into her mouth and worries it.
Her eyes crinkle with nerves and I can tell she’s holding her breath.
“There is no leaving you, my love. You’re ingrained on my soul. Where you go, I follow. From now until I cease to exist, I am yours… if you want me.”
She lets out the breath and rushes, fumbling over the words, “I—yes! I want you!”
I smile slowly, my hand cupping her soft cheek in my palm. I stroke my thumb against her face and lean in to claim her lips.
Our lips meet and it’s as if we’re sealing the promise of our future together—bright lights flash behind my eyes and the air teems with an electric current almost like…
I break the kiss and quickly tug Trissa into my side, pulling the blankets up around her shoulders. She looks up at me, shocked. I glare down at the foot of the bed, where Seth is now draped, hand on hip and cheeky smile on his face.
“Really?” My eyebrow quirks and I hear Trissa’s gasp as she realizes we’re not alone. “Again?”
“I can’t help it that you two are like the peanut butter and chocolate.” He shrugs with one shoulder. “Besides, I would have stopped you before the main event…probably.”
I glance at Trissa, who looks amused and is fighting a smile, and relax. I know by now that Seth is harmless, and if Trissa isn’t uncomfortable I’m not going to bother trying to change something that probably runs personality deep.
“Wait—I thought you said it was peanut butter and bananas?”
He sighs dramatically and scrunches up his nose in mock disgust, “That’s a platonic friendship sandwich, man. Keep up. Everyone knows that peanut butter and chocolate is the combo for a sex and big feelings sandwich.”
Trissa’s boisterous laugh fills the room and I grin, partially because Seth is utterly ridiculous, but mostly because her laugh feels like home. That’s the best way to describe it. Her happiness is infectious.
A lopsided smile stretches across Seth’s dark mouth as he sits up and slides to the edge of the bed. “Get dressed and meet me downstairs in five?”
I nod and Trissa groans at having to get up but says, “We’ll be right there.”
I wait until Seth closes the bedroom door behind him, curious as to why someone who can teleport would choose to walk down the stairs.
“You think he found something we may not know?” Trissa is worrying her bottom lip again.
I lick my lips and lift my hand to her mouth, running my thumb along her abused lower lip. She immediately frees it, opening her mouth slightly. Her eyes dilate as I lean forward and plant a light kiss to the reddened area, before leaning back and slowly running my thumb over it again.
“I suppose we should get dressed and go find out.”
“Oh, no fair!” She huffs then pouts pathetically and I laugh out loud, her antics leaving a lightness in my chest so profound it feels as if I may float away.
“Well, fuck.” Seth is re-reading Leona’s letter while perched atop the coffee table across from Trissa and I.
I’m nervous to ask, but we need to know if we’re really planning on completing the ritual tomorrow. “Does it seem to check out with what you learned from the witch?”
He dips his chin in the affirmative, “I didn’t really understand at the time—but yeah.
She said that Trissa’s family is now and always has been under the protection of the coven, to the best of their ability.
She was adamant that there was no coven in Kismet Falls that would do anything violent toward a fellow witch, blood magic or not. ”
I nod and feel a fissure of tension ease from my tightly wound frame. We told him what we have planned for tomorrow before handing him the letter to read for himself.
Seth looks up, his eyes ping-pong from me to Trissa. His mouth twists into a slight frown, “I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I think it’s a mistake not to take the elixir when you do the ritual.”