Chapter 23 #2
Still holding on to Fox’s hand, he pressed another kiss to it before making his offer.
“How about this? You meet me in my bed in ten minutes while I get a shower. We’ll get comfortable so you can tell me about what happened with this witch, Cheryl Watkins…
” Winter paused and took a deep breath. “And I’ll tell you about Julianna Varik. ”
The first hint of a true smile started to bloom on Fox’s face as he nodded. “I like that plan, but only if you’re ready.”
“I’ve had more than one hundred and seventy-seven years to think about it, and there’s no one I trust more with my heart.”
“Motherfucker,” Fox muttered under his breath as he briefly stood and climbed right into Winter’s lap.
The kiss was brief, but it was the nearly bone-crushing hug that brought tears to Winter’s eyes.
This man was so quickly becoming his everything.
He deserved to be first in Winter’s life in all things, he deserved to always know that he was treasured and important at all times.
And Winter was determined to show him every chance he got.
Fox slowly released him and got back to his feet, allowing Winter to rise.
They separated reluctantly. Winter crossed to his own bedroom and peeled out of his clothes, breathing a small sigh of relief when he pulled off Fox’s briefs.
It might have been sexy and fun, but his man’s shorts were just a shade to tight to be comfortable.
As he quickly washed under the hot water, he tried to ignore the flock of butterflies that had started fluttering around his stomach at the thought of talking about his mother.
Nothing about it was going to be a pleasant conversation.
There was no worry that Fox would look at him or his family differently. It was that Julianna Varik came with a hell of a lot of baggage.
But it was time he sorted through some of that baggage.
If anyone was going to help him with that, he was glad it was Fox.
Logic argued that he probably should have said something to his brothers years ago, but it was too difficult and painful.
They had their own baggage to deal with when it came to their mother, the topic way too painful.
Winter turned off the water, quickly dried off, and wrapped a towel around his waist before wandering into the bedroom.
The lights were turned down low, but he stopped to find Fox sitting up against the pillows on one side.
On the nightstand closest to Fox, there was a glass of milk and a small plate with a couple of cookies.
On the opposite nightstand, Winter found a glass of blood and a matching plate of cookies.
Winter could only stare at it, a lump forming in his throat. “A midnight snack?” he asked, trying to make light of it when all he wanted to do was crawl into bed and hold Fox until the world ended around them.
“When I was having a bad night, my mom would cuddle with me while we ate milk and cookies. She’d said that even when the world looked its darkest, there was still milk and cookies. Everything would get better from there. And she was always right.”
“I think I love your mom.”
Fox laughed and nodded. “She was pretty great.”
Blinking back stupid tears, Winter turned and grabbed a pair of boxer briefs from the dresser. He tossed the towel into the bathroom and pulled them on before sliding into bed beside Fox.
“Not wearing mine anymore?” Fox teased.
“I think everything down there could use a little breathing room.”
Fox snickered, but his light mood faded quickly.
“I went looking for Cheryl Watkins because I missed my mom,” he said suddenly.
“It was only a couple of months after she passed away. I missed her so much, and I didn’t know how to stop, how to move on.
I thought if I learned magic, it might bring me closer to her.
I could make her proud of me and still have that part of her with me. ”
“It’s understandable. Your mom was amazing. She was a big part of your life. But you know she was proud of you even without magic, right?”
Fox shrugged one shoulder, his eyes locked on a cookie he was turning over between his fingers.
“A couple of months after her death, I was clinging to anything to keep her close to me.” Fox paused and shoved the cookie into his mouth.
He nudged Winter and nodded his head toward the other nightstand. “Drink your blood before it gets warm.”
Winter smiled. “Cold or warm, blood is blood.” But he still picked up his glass and downed half the contents. He was happy Fox didn’t seem to be bothered by it.
“There’s a little-known and little-used network out there for witches to find each other.
Different from SpellIt. Sort of like an old-fashioned phone tree.
” He paused and took a drink of his milk, then snuggled closer to Winter.
He placed his arm around Fox’s shoulders, pulling him in tighter so that his head was resting on his chest. “You’ve got a couple of contacts who you can reach out to and they can reach a few contacts and so on.
If you work at it long enough, you can get in contact with whomever you’re looking for.
Well, supposedly. But like I said, witches don’t play well with each other.
I think some are friends, but it’s pretty rare. ”
“How does the next generation get trained if they don’t play well together?”
“I think usually it’s one of the parents. But there are a lot fewer of us than there are vampires or werewolves.”
“So, I’m holding a rare gem.”
Fox snorted. “I doubt a witch who can’t do magic is all that rare, but yeah, I guess.
I found Cheryl Watkins’s name on the network contact list my mom had among her things.
She was in Washington, not too far from where I was living.
Taking what money I had, I packed up my things and drove to her place in the middle of nowhere.
I begged her for three days to train me.
On the fourth day, she finally relented and agreed to train me. ”
“Why do I feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming?”
“A big one. I was with her for four months, and it was hell. Most of the time, I was just her slave. I cleaned, cooked, and ran errands for her. The few times she bothered to teach me anything, I got hurt. If she cooked something for me to eat, I ended up with food poisoning.” Fox huffed a bitter laugh.
“It took me four months to figure out that she was actually trying to kill me. I practically crawled out of her place one morning while she was still asleep. I was covered in bruises, cuts, and burns. I struggled to eat more than chicken broth and plain fruit for the first couple of weeks, my stomach was so fucked up. She’s the reason I moved to Colorado.
I didn’t think she’d come after me, but I didn’t want to risk being too close. ”
“And this is the bitch we’re going to see tomorrow? This woman who tortured you?” Winter demanded through clenched teeth.
“Yeah. You can see why I didn’t immediately volunteer her name. She wasn’t exactly helpful when I talked to her years ago, so I’m not sure how helpful she’s going to be now.”
Winter’s arms tightened around Fox as pure, dark rage burned through him. How the hell was he supposed to get through this meeting without killing her? He wanted to drive there right this second and rip her head off. How could anyone try to hurt someone as sweet and kind as Fox?
“Winter,” Fox said in a warning tone. “You can’t attack her. She might be a total bitch, but she’s also very powerful. She can hurt you. Even with your powers, she can hurt you.”
“Maybe.”
“We also need any information she might have to save your family.”
Winter growled with frustration. This woman did not deserve to live. Part of him didn’t give a shit about what she might know.
“I’ll consider it.”
Fox reached over and pinched one of Winter’s nipples. A loud yelp broke from Winter’s lips, and he jerked away from Fox, who was glaring at him.
“Hey!”
“Don’t ‘hey’ me. You are not allowed to do something stupid tomorrow, or I will leave you here. I’ll take Marcus or Bel with me if I have to.”
Winter grabbed Fox and shoved him down onto the bed while he loomed over him. “You are not leaving this place without me. And you are definitely not getting within twenty miles of that woman without me by your side.”
“Then I guess you’ll just have to promise to be on your best behavior, because I will call your brothers. Do not fucking test me.”
Winter stared at Fox for a moment, and there was no waver in the determination he saw in his eyes.
Fox wouldn’t hesitate to call one or all of his brothers if it meant protecting Winter from himself.
As angry and frustrated as he felt, there was no denying that he was also warmed by Fox’s desire to protect him from the witch.
“I’ll behave,” he promised. Though he mentally added that he’d behave only so long as the fucking witch did.
“Okay. Now tell me about your mom.”
A bitter, cold chill swept through Winter, and he rolled back onto his side of the bed.
He picked up the glass and swallowed the last of the blood as if to wash away the first flood of ugly memories.
It was on the tip of his tongue to brush it off, to downplay it all.
She was his mom, she was crazy, she tried to kill them, and then she was murdered. The end.
But there was so much more to it.
And Fox deserved to have the truth of it after sharing his past.
More than that, Winter knew he needed to talk about it, to finally release this horrible weight from his chest.
“My mom died when I was nine.”
Sorrow warred with confusion in Fox’s wide eyes, but to his credit he didn’t say anything. Didn’t ask any questions. He just gave Winter his full attention, waiting patiently for him to continue when he was ready.