Chapter 51
BISHOP
Iwas nothing but poison for people. That was why I kept to the healing and then moving on. If I wasn’t around people for too long, then things were fine.
I healed people and got away from them before anything could happen.
I’d learned my lessons through the years. The one woman I’d tried to build a life with, started asking questions about why I didn’t age. And when she’d gotten sick, I hadn’t been able to heal her.
After all the things I’d learned in my lifetime, I still couldn’t save her.
That was why I was better off alone.
Not even a full twenty-four hours with Sloan and I’d hurt her too.
What the hell had Ruth been thinking? Putting Sloan in my path like we would just magically be a match.
“Bishop!”
Her voice rose behind me, but I quickly picked up the pace, my longer stride leaving her in the dust, but that damn woman would not be denied. The clomp of her boots sounded right behind me and she put a hand on the window of my side of the car.
“Wait,” she said, out of breath.
“I’m nothing but a karmic mess of bad news, Sloan. Everything about last night was a mistake.”
Her coppery eyes shimmered. “It wasn’t. Not all of it. Not even half of it.”
“We were spellbound.”
“We were spelled, but the binding was us.” She gripped my shirt.
“It was the honey, Sloan. We were literally bound within the spell. It wasn’t real.”
She shook her head. “Even if that were true when you knew I was suffering you stepped up.”
My muscles locked and the flicker of hope that wanted to grow was a fantasy. It was just the aftereffects of the spell.
She laid her hand over my heart. “You took care of me. You wouldn’t leave me. There’s something between us beyond the sex.” She dug her fingers into my chest. “You know it and that’s why you want to run.”
“So, I can have you for a handful of years?” The words exploded out of me. I wanted to snatch them back. This woman was more dangerous to my heart than Melanie had been and I’d only known her a day.
“I’m thirty-six, Bishop. I’m not going anywhere for a long time. Shouldn’t it be me that worries you wouldn’t want someone old when you get to stay hot and in the prime of your life?”
“I…” I didn’t even know what to say to that.
“I might hate you in four months. I’m not an easy woman to know, but I’m tired of being alone. And you’re the first person to get me. To see the real me.”
“Spelled you.”
“No, the real me. The one who wasn’t allowed to overthink. That wants the huge love, the passion, and a witch. You can know me fully. I’ve never had that before.”
“I travel all the time.” I cupped her face, already wanting to hold onto her.
“I live for travel. I’ve never had a home. What if we’re supposed to be each other’s home?”
“I’m a Parrish, Sloan. I don’t think you know what that means to—”
“Did you accuse people back then?” Her voice wobbled slightly.
Of course, she knew the name. She’d been studying with Ruth in Salem. There was no way she didn’t know the lore.
“No, but my mother did. And her uncle. There would have been no Salem witch trials without my mother. She died in an unmarked grave because she was still atoning for what she did. She made me swear to live a good life and to learn the art of healing to make up for what she did. And I did.” I pushed up my sleeves to show off my runes.
“I found ways to ask forgiveness. And every year I shore up that contract and the fates extend my life.”
Maybe the good that I did made up for what they’d done.
Maybe I’d earned something for me.
I shut my eyes, unable to fathom the idea that I’d be worthy of anyone, let alone Sloan.
“You aren’t your mother.”
“Maybe if I give enough, I can save their souls,” I said on a low voice. “That was my promise. Why the fates keep me alive.”
“Does that sacrifice mean you have to be alone?”
“It’s easier.”
“Not the question.” She slid her hand up my chest. “Do you want to be alone?”
“No.” My voice was hoarse.
She went on her toes and brushed her lips over my chin, then my lips. Both of us jolting a little.
Was there still a residual there from the night before?
Her lips were warm and soft. Last night’s overwhelming flash of heat was now a balm. Comfort instead of careening passion, but it was still there under the surface.
I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into me. There was no tartness between us this time. Just a lazy swirl of longing that urged me to hold her tighter.
To never let her go.
She broke the kiss.
I brushed my lips along her forehead. “I never dared to wish for you.”
She tucked her face into my neck. “That’s okay, I secretly wished for you enough for the both of us.”
I drew her back enough to cup her face. “Will you come with me to my binding ritual tonight?”
I’d never let anyone into this part of my life. But she deserved to know what she was getting into with me.
“One last chance to run.”
“You can’t get rid of me.”
The sureness of her voice healed a crack in my chest I wasn’t even aware I had and for the first time there was hope layered within the duty.
The spell might have given me so much more than pleasure.
It may have given me a peek at a forever I never imagined.