Chapter 27 Jack
Jack
I’m going crazy.
That’s the only thing I can think. Every morning, I wake with Rosie still sleeping on my chest, and I feel complete in a way I’ve never felt before.
I’ve never had this companionship that’s so perfectly paired with lust and need, but somehow I found it with the woman across the way who drove—okay, drives—me out of my mind.
I’ve always been a bit of a loner, and even when I dated women, I rarely spent the night with them, much less at my place.
Considering my grandfather is haunting her apartment and neither of us wants him catching an eyeful of that, we’ve been spending our nights in my apartment over the Gaming Den.
Usually, when I have someone over, I feel an uncomfortable sense of urgency to get them out, wanting my place to myself once more.
But with Rosie, it just feels… right. Like she’s meant to be here.
And it’s all going to end in a week. Eight days until the full moon, when she’ll brew the potion and my grandfather will break the curse that’s been haunting her family her whole life. I’ve never been a selfish person, but for the first time, I’m contemplating what I could do to get my way.
My grandfather’s words, Do you two have to end?, have been ringing in my mind morning, noon, and night, and every time she smiles at me or presses her lips to mine or comes while moaning my name, I feel that need settle deeper.
I don’t want this to end.
I want to wake up every morning just like this, Rosie’s red locks sprawled over my chest, her soft breath coasting over my skin, her magic twining between us, gold sparkles holding us together.
I run a finger over one and watch her lips tip up in her sleep, the thread tugging at my heart with a terrible mix of adoration and sadness.
When we took things further, I told her to take off her locket and give me the kiss bond again, just so we could experience it.
Deep down, I knew it was so I could play a mental game, so I could kick the ball down a bit, ignore reality for a bit longer.
If I could blame my attraction, my need, my intense feelings for Rosie on the magic tying me to her, I could justify being with her all the time. It’s just because of the bond, right?
But I know in my gut it’s something more because when we were lying in the field waiting for three a.m., there was no bond between us. When we were in the car driving home, it was all I could do to stop from crashing because of my need to get there. There was no magic.
Except for the pure magic of Rosie, of course.
Slowly, she stirs, her body shifting even closer to mine, her face rubbing on my chest like a little cat, before her head turns to me, her eyes squinting open, a soft smile on her lips when she sees I’m already awake and watching her.
My hand moves, shifting her hair from her face, and that smile grows a bit, her eyes opening more so I can see the green hue of them, the one that even before this mess reminded me of early spring leaves and fresh grass.
Of nature and peace and all things good in the world.
Or maybe all of those things just reminded me of Rosie, and I was getting it mixed up.
“Morning,” she says in a sleepy whisper.
That’s the moment that does it.
It’s not the late nights of desire and sweetness, not the laughter we’ve experienced, or even the arguing that often feels more like foreplay than anything else.
It’s not her helping me or letting me help her, it’s not her taking me to dinner with her sisters and them approving of me.
None of that is what made me think that I would do anything to keep her in my life.
It’s that sleep-drenched look directed at me and the promise of having it for a lifetime.
I want Rosie like this every goddamn morning for the rest of my life.
I want her sleepy smiles and her wiseass jokes.
I want quiet evenings after busy days, where we sit together comfortably and neither of us talks.
I want steamy nights of hearing her moan my name, I want her golden magic on my skin.
I want to walk hand in hand in the early morning hours down to her sister’s shop to get coffee, and I even somehow want Percy following us around like he’s our own personal bodyguard.
I just want her.
“Morning,” I tell my little witch as I make a decision, for better or worse.
Because I love her.
I love her.
I’ve known it for a long time, long before the second bond snapped into place, probably before the first one, too, but with the clock ticking loudly in my ear and in my heart, I can’t deny it anymore.
I know that together we can find another workaround for the curse, maybe plead my case to my grandfather to lift it in a different way, so our history isn’t forgotten and these feelings stay.
But I also know my stubborn girl won’t want to change the plans. I just need… time.
Time to talk to my grandfather, time with Rosie, time to figure something out.
So I need to make the time.
Before I formally open the shop, I make my way downtown.
It’s after I fucked my sleepy Rosie awake, after we had a quick breakfast and a shower together, and after she left to go make sure she was ready for an early morning delivery she was expecting at her own shop.
When she walked out the front, I left through the back door, not wanting her to see or question me.
This small town was the first place my realtor showed me when I was looking for a storefront for the Gaming Den, and the last. Even though it had almost none of the things I was looking for, it just felt… perfect.
Now I can’t help but wonder if it was all some perfect mess of the universe, guiding me to this woman, to right the wrongs my grandfather made, to help Rosie find her happily ever after… with me.
I once found the close-knit attributes of the community a bit suffocating, especially for someone who values his privacy, but now I like it here.
I like smiling at the owner of the smoothie shop on the corner, like nodding to Dana as she pushes a stroller while holding a to-go coffee cup with the logo from Violet’s store.
A cheery bell chimes overhead when I step into Poppy’s store, the smell of fragrant flowers almost overpowering as I step over the threshold.
“Be there in a sec!” the familiar voice calls.
“No rush,” I reply, then look around. There are buckets with different flowers, bouquets, and arrangements, pots and cases, and then probably half a dozen fridges filled with more flowers.
“Well! I didn’t expect to see you here!” Rosie’s sister says, stepping out from the back room to the counter. I wonder what is back there, since the front of the store has more than enough flowers to keep the town and whatever neighboring deliveries she might have busy. Maybe wedding arrangements?
“Hey, Poppy,” I say with a smile. “How are you?”
“I think that is to be seen, I suppose,” she says, tipping her head.
“What are you shopping for?” My brow furrows in confusion as it seems to be the case around Rosie’s youngest sister.
Unlike Violet, who is direct to the point of sometimes being harsh, Poppy tiptoes around things, seeming to speak in riddles and half thoughts.
“I’m sorry?”
“If you’re here for apology flowers, we might have a problem, since I would assume that means you’re in hot water with my sister.” I smile then, understanding.
“No, no. No apology, not that I know of,” I say, though guilt begins to trickle in at the thought that I might need an apology if I go through with my plan.
“Just…” I look around the shop with its explosions of different colors and textures, and smells.
I realize then I should have come up with a better plan or, hell, a plan at all.
Instead, I just walked down here thinking Rosie’s sister wouldn’t question a thing.
I move through my mind quickly before landing on an answer.
A lie, but hopefully the kind that can be forgiven easily in the future.
“I’m looking for some flowers for my aunt. It’s her birthday, and I figured I’d bring her some.” Poppy’s face brightens.
“Oh, that’s so sweet, remembering your aunt’s birthday!” I give her a tight smile and hope she doesn’t ask or tell Rosie about it, because unlike Poppy, Rosie knows I’m an only child of an only child of an only child.
“Seems like the right thing to do,” I lie again, feeling that guilt eating at me.
“Moonflowers are her favorites. White ones. But stores don’t typically carry them, because, well, they only bloom at night.
” Even saying the words had an undeniable guilt spiraling through me, but I pushed it back, keeping my eyes on the prize.
Plus, the chances of her having them are slim to none, which will be a sign from some higher power not to move forward with this ridiculous plan.
“Well, you forget that my shop is,” she gives me a devious smile, “magically different.” She looks around the shop, nods, and finds flowers that look similar to the ones we got on that hill. Memories of that night make the threads of the bond glow, and that night feels like an eternity ago.
“These?” I nod, trying not to look too suspicious. I’m still not sure how I’m going to swap them, but I’ll figure it out when I get there. “Perfect, with anything else in the bouquet?”
I shake my head. “No, no, that’s it. That’s what she likes.
” Poppy nods before I look over the flowers in her shop, a million different colors and varieties, and decide on something additional.
“But I was thinking of grabbing something for Rosie. Any suggestions? I can’t confirm, but I’m assuming she isn’t a rose woman.
Too obvious.” Poppys eyes go wide with interest as she stands still while she wraps up the white flowers.
“You know her full name isn’t Rosie, it’s—”