Chapter 35
Ava’s text to meet her at Land of Ice Cream and Snow is short and leaves me feeling like I’m about to get my heart broken.
Is she doing it here so I can drown my sorrows in frozen dairy while getting comforted by my cousin?
It’s not a terrible plan, other than the fact that I’m convinced we’re perfect for each other, and we should never break up even when we both perish and travel on to a death dimension.
Small things like that.
“What’s with the pacing?” Harley, Quinn’s older sister, watches me from her seat on a barstool as she licks a scoop of Fiery Goddess in a sugar cone. August based the spicy-sweet flavor off his love for Quinn, and it has a permanent spot on the menu.
“Nothing.” I try to laugh nonchalantly but end up sounding like I belong in an asylum. “Just…had too much coffee.”
And bought my girlfriend a fifty-thousand dollar car to make her love me.
“Right.” Harley brushes her red curls over her shoulder to better converse with her sister, who’s busy typing on her laptop. Quinn works as an accountant, remotely most days, and will often set up in an empty seat in her partner’s Ice Cream Shop. “Do you know what’s wrong with the twitchy Squid?”
Quinn flicks her eyes to me then back to her computer. “No. But I bet it has to do with Ava.”
Even the sound of her name is beautiful.
“Oh.” Harley returns her taunting eyes to me. “Did you mess up? Is this pre-break-up pacing?”
I glare at the evil Pyro and thank all the gods that the bell above the door chimes and in strolls the witch I’ve been waiting for.
At the sight of her in a form-fitting pencil skirt and a starched blouse buttoned to her collar, I’m ready to become a puddle at the toes of her sensible Mary Janes. Her high ponytail swishes as she scans the shop, her eyes alighting on mine.
When she smiles, I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
She wouldn’t smile like that if she was going to cut me out of her life, right?
Ava approaches me, but it’s not fast enough, so I stride to meet her halfway and wrap my arms tight around her waist.
Let me hold you while I can.
“How’s it going?” I ask, trying not to sound like I’m needy, wanting to pry into her skull and collect all her inner thoughts.
Ava presses a quick kiss to my mouth and huffs out a frustrated noise. “It’s been a triple scoop day. I need some sugar, stat.”
That I can do. Ava lets me keep my arm around her waist as we head to the granite counter where August waits with a welcoming smile. Ava doesn’t argue with me when I pull out my card to purchase her waffle cone of Death by Minty Chocolate, but she does unearth some cash from her bag and stuffs it in the tip jar. The small gesture has me wanting to take her home, strip her down, give her five orgasms, then massage her feet.
But I guess I can wait until she finishes her ice cream.
And as much as it worries me, I want her to tell me what put the tight lines of stress around her eyes. What kind of day requires three scoops?
We settle at a booth, away from Harley’s curious smirk.
“Want to tell me what happened?” I ask, proud of how calm my voice sounds.
And in between licks of her large cone, Ava relates the horrific meeting she had with that asshole professor and the provost. It’s a good thing that I am sitting on the inside of the booth with Ava blocking my exit or else I might’ve stormed out of this ice cream shop, driven across the city to her campus, and doused the entire department with a wave of saltwater rage.
How dare they treat Ava that way? How dare they treat any woman that way?
“That is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard. What can I do?” I clench and release my fists. “I just…I can’t fathom you having to go back and work with those despicable human beings.“
“I haven’t decided what I’m gonna do yet. All I decided was that I was taking an early day and getting an ice cream cone and meeting you.” Ava presses into my side, her plush body molding to mine and spiking my arousal. “You being here, that’s what I need from you. Thank you for coming.”
I think about the stress that meeting must have put Ava under and how it probably fueled her natural propensity towards migraines.
Was the amount of poultice she drank last night enough? Did the pain break through, and she’s on the cusp of hours of agony?
“Of course. I’ll come whenever you ask. How’s your head?” I let my hand settle on the base of her neck and press my fingers into tense muscles. She lets out a happy little sigh as I massage the area, but then gives me a soft smile and slowly shakes her head.
“Don’t worry. I don’t have a migraine. Not yet“
“And we can make sure that you don’t have one.” I kiss her forehead. “We’ll fuel you up tonight, get you drinking a whole bunch of tea, and you’ll feel fine in the morning. And we can brainstorm what you wanna do about those fuckwads.” Fury rattles through my body. “One option is I buy the whole college and fire that guy. Or I can build you your own library. From the ground up. Make all your own rules. Full of books and stripper poles.”
Ava’s gray eyes rest on me with a furrow between her brows, her lips ticking upwards. “Sammy, do you know why I texted you the moment I got out of that meeting?”
“So, I could feed you ice cream and fund an elaborate revenge plan, obviously.” Which I will do. I will pour millions of dollars into making Ava happy and comfortable at her job.
But the witch slowly shakes her head. “I didn’t come to you because I wanted you to fix the problem. Definitely not with your money.” Her hand finds mine, squeezing like a small hug. “I sought you out because you make me feel better.”
Yes. The stress. She needs magic.
“Because I’m a horny battery for you.” I try to focus on how hot she is in her librarian get-up, a trace of cream on her lips. There’s a stirring in my chest and below my belt.
“No.” Ava rubs her thumb over my knuckles. “Because I love you.”
The ice cream shop goes entirely, eerily quiet.
Oh. I see what this is.
I’m dreaming.
Or maybe I’m hallucinating. I did buy a lot of catnip for Kraken. Maybe I inhaled some of it, and now I’m living out the most glorious fantasy that my brain can come up with. That has to be the case because if it’s not then that means that Ava Bellarose just told me that she loves me.
Me.
“I…don’t understand.”
Now my fantasy Ava is frowning, and I regret saying that out loud.
“You don’t understand what I mean when I say that I love you?”
“I…yes.” But even as I say this, I draw closer to her, tentacle-ing my arms around her body, slipping my foot between hers, fisting my fingers in her clothes. Trying my best not to let this dream get away from me.
How could she love me? I haven’t done enough. Haven’t given her enough.
“When I say I love you,” Ava speaks slowly, concern clouding her stormy eyes, “I mean I love you. I mean when something big happens in my life, good or bad, you’re the first person I want to tell about it. It means when I’m angry or scared or uncomfortable, I know that you can make me feel better. It means that I don’t know what’s gonna happen next in my life, but I want you to be there with me when I figure it out. It means that you’re my… You’re my favorite person, Sammy. I love my mom, and I love my friends, but I’m in love with you. It’s an active thing that I currently exist in and want to exist in every single day with you.” Her callused hands cup my face, and she appears truly worried. “Does that make sense? I’m sorry, I didn’t think I’d have to explain it. You love people. People love you. You know that, right? You know that people—me included—love you, right?“
“Of course!” In theory. I’m breathing very heavy, and I’m worried I might be hurting Ava with how tightly I’m clutching her. But if I was, she would tell me because she is brutally honest with me most times.
And the way she just mapped out her love for me, that was brutal.
That was carve past my rib cage grip my heart in her perfect hands brutal.
I might die.
A good death. A “happy smile on my face as I lie in my coffin” death.
It’s just that I don’t know if I can survive the amount of elation that is coursing through my body. My magic is fueled by sadness, and I accept that I will never be able to manipulate water again in my life because how could I ever experience any type of negative emotion again when I have Ava Bellarose’s love.
But again, I am probably high on catnip.
“You can’t get high on catnip, Sammy.”
“Did I say that out loud?”
“Yes. And there’s something that you did not say out loud. And it’s okay if you haven’t said it because you don’t feel it. I don’t expect you to tell me that you love me just because I told you that I loved you. I do want you to know that I don’t expect it as an exchange. And if you need time?—”
“I love you!” I bellow, so loud she flinches back. But I can’t dial down the volume on my voice. “Oh, my Gods! I fucking love you, Ava Bellarose! What the hell?” I’m panting now, feverish to the point I might need some magical healing. “What in all the hell dimensions?! You thought you were going to be more obsessed with me than I am with you?” I choke on a scoff. “That’s ridiculous!”
I crash my mouth into hers, because how dare she believe for a moment that she loves me more than I could love her. I don’t care if I’ve made this woman up in my mind. I am the ridiculous over-the-top one in this relationship, and she will not take that crown from me.
My kiss is frenzied as I press her deep into the booth seat. She tastes of mint and chocolate and sweet waffle cone. She smells of eucalyptus and seduction and mine. I delve my tongue into the woman that I love. I press the tips of my fingers into her starched clothes and soft skin. I twine my hand in her silky ponytail. I give her every piece of me, filling her with the magic of love-fueled lust. And I look forward to doing this every single day forever.
“Sammy!” August bellows loud enough to pierce my horny love haze. Reluctantly I let off kissing a bewildered witch to glance at my cousin where he scowls at me from behind the front counter. “Don’t even think about having sex in my shop!”
I glance around and remember I’m in public. I’m in reality.
And Ava just said she loved me.
“Yeah!” Harley points a mock glare at us. “Only August and Quinn get to do that!”
Quinn groans. “I told you that in confidence.”
Harley smirks. “Yeah. Confident that I’d share it at the opportune moment.”