Chapter Twenty-Two
Twenty-Two
W hat the actual fuck? He hadn’t mean to be so real, but he needed to be honest before it ate away at him. Liberty had every right to set the pace of her own self-discovery, but they’d been on this journey together. She came to him when things were a mess and he’d always be there for her, but it was as if she didn’t consult his opinion or respect his feelings.
He was going to end up in the same situation that he’d been in with his parents and the different compartments of his life. Forced to play a role in her life instead of being independent with her.
It was time she heard that too.
“Don’t hold back, nerd. Say what’s on your mind,” she grumbled, though there wasn’t any real heat in her words.
But she held herself stiffly like...maybe he’d hurt her, though he knew he hadn’t. She was tougher than that. She liked poking and prodding everyone else around her but he never poked back. Now it was time for that.
She seemed sad and confused. Pushing her now might not be the right move, but it was the only path that he saw. If he didn’t show her he wanted to be by her side for everything, then how could she know that he was there? “Don’t be witchy about it. You asked for my help and you’ve poured your soul out to me. I am engaged in this with you. I don’t like standing on the outside...just waiting. That’s exactly what I do with my folks... You know I can’t do that with you.”
She put her head back against the tree and closed her eyes.
“When did you start to see me so well?” she asked.
It felt like he always had. He’d denied it to himself for a long time, but from the first moment she’d glided into Poppy’s apartment, he’d been mesmerized by her. Her red hair flowing out around her shoulders as she talked and gestured. Her lethal curves. The magic she exuded.
He hadn’t understood a word she’d said, but he knew he’d never be the same. Then she turned that blue-gray gaze on him, her eyes pinning him in place. Her gaze had slid down his body and he’d felt a stir of desire.
“The moment you looked at me in Poppy’s apartment,” he said. “Do you remember what you said to me?”
“‘Like what you see, nerd?’”
He laughed because she’d used the same intonation as she had that day. It had been teasing and daring. Like she knew that he’d been checking her out the whole time but wouldn’t do anything about it.
“I do, witch.”
“That’s not what you said,” she pointed out.
“No?”
She shook her head, then crossed her legs and reached out to toy with his hair, pushing it behind his ear. The love he had for her almost overwhelmed him in that moment.
“Nope. You blushed and then looked at Poppy and said ‘I’ll see you later’ and left,” she said. “Why did you do that?”
He shrugged.
“Not saying? Are your lips sealed?” she asked, moving her hand over his lips, running her finger around his mouth.
There was more than a shiver of lust now. It was full-on blood pumping harder through his body; he shifted as his erection grew and reached down to adjust it.
“Are you going to try to pry my secrets out of them?” he asked.
He liked this side of her. But they were both using the heat between them to keep from talking about the real stuff.
“Why would I reveal my intentions?” she asked.
“Oh, you want to get me to talk, witch,” he said, touching her lips with his finger. He loved the little Cupid’s bow on her top lip, how full and sensual her bottom lip was. Touching her just made him harder.
He wasn’t sure how much longer his mind was going to be in control. There was a haze that always came over him when he was touching Liberty. Something that made it impossible for him to do anything but think of turning her on, performing his own version of witchcraft.
His heart started beating to the rhythm of a song that he only heard when the two of them were this close.
He wanted her.
He wanted her more than he wanted his next breath.
He wanted her forever.
This afternoon was the start of a new point in his relationship with her. Forever. It scared him but not as much as the thought of letting Liberty slip away.
She shifted around, her hands going under her skirt, and she shimmied around until she took her panties off and stuffed them into the front pocket of his jeans. “This is what I wanted to do when I first saw you.”
She straddled him, reaching for his zipper and lowering it. He pulled his erection out and then she was on top of him. But as he felt the moist heat of her center against his shaft, she brought her head down until their foreheads touched.
Their eyes met.
“Why do you do this to me?”
When he heard his voice, he realized he’d spoken out loud.
“Don’t you like it?”
“More than you know,” he said, his voice was getting huskier as she kept moving her hips slowly against him. He put his hands on her waist, tipping his head until he could rub his lips against hers. She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and he groaned. He wanted to take his time making love to her.
Liberty was different. She had been from the beginning but this time... he was different. He was ready to be her man.
“Liberty? Liberty!”
Merle reached between their bodies to tuck his erection back into his jeans as Liberty got to her feet and rounded the tree to find her mom. She sounded frantic.
“Mom, what’s up?”
“The care home just called. Mom’s... Nan is... They need us,” Lourdes said.
Merle came up next to her and put his hand on the small of her back. “Can you drive yourself or do you want me to?”
“Thanks, son, I can drive us. But your booth... Greer offered to watch it so I could find you,” Mom said. Greer worked with Liberty at WiCKed Sisters and with Wes at his new bookbinding and antique bookshop two doors down. They’d been a nice addition to the WiCKed Sisters family, and Liberty thanked the goddess for having help in a time like this.
Her blood was still rushing from the almost sex with Merle, and now her heart was pounding as the fear she thought she’d gotten under control coursed through her body like a banshee crying out a warning of death. Tears burned her eyes and she shook her head, dashing them off her face with her hand.
“I’ll take care of your booth, Liberty,” Merle said. “Leave everything to me.”
She gave her thanks to him over her shoulder as he lifted his hand and wiped another tear from her eye. She nodded, following her mom. When they got back to the festival, Sera and Poppy were waiting.
“I’m driving,” Poppy said. “Merle, will you work with Greer to take care of all the booths?”
“No problem. Already on it.”
Sera and Poppy surrounded her and her mom. Lourdes wasn’t talking and kept rubbing her lapis lazuli bracelet, which was her talisman. According to her, it had healing properties and was worn by all the Wakefield witches to help them harness their physic abilities. The bracelet had been a gift from Nan when her mom had turned sixteen. Liberty had her own lapis lazuli bracelet that Nan had gifted her but, as fate would have it, she hadn’t worn it today.
Around them people were laughing and talking, enjoying the energy of the festival. Which just made her feel odd and out of sorts. She wanted to throw her head back and scream at the universe.
Poppy put her arm around Lourdes and was talking quietly as they jogged to the lot behind WiCKed Sisters where Poppy’s Land Rover was parked. Sera looped her arm through Liberty’s.
“I don’t know what to say. Do you want to talk?”
“No. I want to scream or... Should we do a healing spell, Mama? I can grab some crystals from the shop. I made some healing water for Nan on the last full moon,” Liberty said.
Her mom stopped and faced her. Liberty had never seen her mom like this. Her aura was dark and clouded. This was something else. Like Lourdes was lost. Liberty knew how hard this was for herself, and her mom was feeling it just as much—probably more. She let go of Sera and went over to Lourdes, pulling her into her arms.
Her mom held her so tightly. Liberty felt the warmth of her mom’s tears. “Let’s get everything we have. I’ve been working on a special hand lotion with some healing and clarity herbs in them. Get your crystals... I’m not sure what state she’ll be in.”
“Is it like the last time?”
“They said she was agitated at first and then collapsed. The doctors are with her now,” Lourdes said. Her voice cracked while she was talking and went into that low, husky tone. She only heard that tone from her mom once before, when Grandpa had died.
“Okay. I’ll be fast,” Liberty said.
“I’ll help you,” Sera said.
The women all went into Liberty’s back room and gathered everything they needed before driving to the care home. When they got there, Liberty hesitated to get out of the Land Rover even though her mom was already in the lobby. She didn’t want to go in there and see her Nan at her worst.
What if this time the collapse meant that everything that had remained of the woman she loved was gone?
She wasn’t ready for that.
Poppy went with Lourdes while Sera waited with Liberty. Sera stood there with her hands in the pockets of a tweed jacket that looked like it might have been Wes’s. She’d rolled the cuffs up to her elbows and had it on over a pair of leather leggings and a pussy bow blouse. It felt fitting that her friend looked so put together while Liberty was falling apart.
“Whenever I saw a new car in the driveway of one of my foster homes, I knew that meant the social worker was inside. Sometimes they were just checking in on us, but if it was too close to the last visit, I knew someone was leaving. I’d sort of hide outside, knowing that if I don’t talk to them... I wouldn’t have to leave. But the truth was, the decision had already been made,” Sera said. “Even if I didn’t go into that house, my time there was changing.”
Liberty just looked over at her friend and realized that Sera got it. She knew why Liberty was sitting in the parking lot of the damned care home instead of going inside. But Liberty wasn’t sure she could get out of the car, even with her friend’s help.
“I’m not saying I know what this is like. I didn’t have a grandmother, but you do have me by your side. Whatever has happened, you won’t have to face it alone.”
With those words, the strength that she’d always taken for granted came back to her. Liberty got out of the car and closed the door behind her. She hugged Sera and they held hands as they walked into the care home. Liberty took strength from her family, knowing that her mom and Poppy were waiting. Whatever came next, at least she knew she wasn’t alone.
Merle moved between the different booths for the WiCKed Sisters, first making sure everything was good with Poppy’s tea shop and the baker and server she had assisting. He felt comfortable letting them run things in her absence. Greer texted Wes as a call for backup, and they were both working Sera’s booth, so Merle went back to Liberty’s. He was busier than expected and, though he wouldn’t have mixed his friend groups in the past, he texted Darren who had come up for the day and asked if he could come down.
Darren showed up ten minutes later.
“What can I do?” Darren asked.
Merle put Darren to work taking payments while he answered questions and put orders together for the customers. Being busy helped keep his mind off of Liberty. He was worried for her. A part of him wished she’d asked him to go with her. He also understood why she didn’t. Her strength came from those feminine bonds that she had. They were her deepest roots, and they gave her strength in a way romance couldn’t.
But that didn’t stop him from wishing he could be the one she turned to.
He shook that off and concentrated instead on something that he’d read in Titania’s Book of White Magic . He’d picked it up after he’d slept with Liberty the first time. The book said everything in the world was connected, so Merle sent his strength, caring and support to Liberty by taking extra care of her customers. He fed that energy into the universe and hoped that she’d feel it.
When the festival ended at two, they all worked to box everything up and get it back to the store. The store closed at four on Saturdays and the staff that the women had hired were working until then. Greer’s boyfriend was waiting for them because the two of them were heading out to a Headless Horsemen Halloween party. After they left, Merle invited Wes and Darren to join him at the Bootless Soldier.
He wanted to go to the care home, but he wasn’t sure that Liberty would want that from him. Plus he wanted to go back to WiCKed Sisters at closing time later and make sure everything was in good shape.
Both men said yes, and a short time later they were seated in the busy tavern with beers in front of them. Darren and Wes had met last winter when Wes had joined their D&D game for a few weeks.
“You should come back and play with us,” Darren was saying.
“I’ll think about it. Now that the shop is opened, I could maybe do it after Christmas,” Wes said.
“How’s your shop doing?” Merle asked.
“Not too bad. Most of my business is online, so having a storefront here is just for the tourists really. Sera and I are talking about using the space in my shop to do some in-person bookbinding workshops. She gets a lot of requests from the people who buy her journals, asking if they can learn how to make them. So we might be adding that next year,” Wes said, taking a sip of his beer.
Wes had grown up in Bangor but spent his summers in Birch Lake with his grandfather, Ford. Merle had seen him a few times when they’d been kids, but they hadn’t really hung out. Wes and his brother were always playing video games or exploring their family property. Merle’s dad kept his kids sharp even on their summer vacations here. So Merle was at the baseball diamond every day hitting, pitching and running bases and plays.
He remembered those long, hot summer days for a minute. He’d never thought about standing up to his dad and saying no. He’d just gotten up at six and followed him down to the park, spending all day practicing a sport that he hadn’t really wanted to play.
Merle’s entire life had been about following his father’s plan instead of his own until that fight. It felt good to close that chapter of his life and enjoy the fruits of his labor with friends like Darren and Wes.
Merle’s phone pinged and he glanced over to see a message in his family WhatsApp group. His parents wanted to have dinner the night before his brother’s first game. No news from Liberty though, which only made him more nervous.
“Any news?” Wes asked as Merle lifted his phone.
“Nothing from Liberty,” he said.
“Everything okay?” Darren pressed.
“Yeah.” As okay as it could be, knowing the woman he loved might be losing someone dear to her.
“Heard your brother got a coaching job in the MLB,” Darren said.
“Yeah, with the minor league Sox team,” Merle said.
“That’s cool. I remember your family was super into sports. Are they still like that?” Wes asked.
Even though they’d hung out a few times, he and Wes had never really had a chance to get to know each other. Probably because Wes was totally into Sera from the moment he moved to town, and Merle had been helping out with the shop and flirting with Liberty around the same time.
“Yeah, totally. My dad is a high school baseball coach and my mom is the tennis pro at her club,” he said. “I’m sort of the only nonathlete.”
“By choice,” Darren said. “Dude is pretty good at all sports.”
“True?”
He shrugged. He was good for Darren, but just okay for the Rutlands. It felt good to have his friend see his skills as valuable even if he was still learning to do the same.
Ping.
Liberty texted.
They were taking her Nan to the hospital. He messaged back saying he’d meet her there. “Wes, will you go down to WiCKed Sisters at four and make sure everything’s locked up? They’re moving Nan to the hospital.”
“Yeah. Go,” Wes said.