Chapter 29 Rosie #2
I shrug. “I know, because we were just friends with benefits and—”
“No, that’s not why,” Poppy says, shaking her head like I’m an idiot. “You two have never been friends with benefits, Rosie. We all know it. It makes no sense because you’re just as crazy for him.” My heart stops in my chest, nausea churning at my sister’s blunt words.
“I—”
“So why would he try to sabotage it if, when it was over, there would be no more risk of it going bad? You two are meant to be together. It’s obvious to everyone.” I sigh, then give them the last puzzle piece.
“Because once the curse is lifted, all previous relationships are forgotten.” Her brows furrow.
“But he was a current relationship. If you were both in love and the curse was broken, wouldn’t it just… continue?” I open my mouth, seeing her point, but—
“Unless he didn’t think you felt it too,” Violet guesses, and Poppy nods, agreeing.
“Oh, she was totally playing it down. I bet she kept talking about the curse breaking and finding her true love after, like it wasn’t him all along. That would make anyone feel desperate. But if she just told him how she felt, so it was clear it wasn’t one-sided—”
“That’s the solution, I think,” Vi says with a nod. As I watch them start to have a conversation about me and my feelings with each other, completely ignoring me, the all-consuming urge to scream bubbles in my chest.
“Shut up!” I say, letting the urge win. They both stop and turn to me with wide eyes.
“It doesn’t matter what would have happened.
Right before it happened, I said I loved him, which triggered the curse.
It’s doomed to end now. And he risked it all, betrayed me and broke my trust, and he isn’t even in love with me.
Not really.” The words tug at my heart, but I ignore them, knowing that it’s all a facade.
“Rosie…” Poppy says with exasperation.
“It’s the kiss bond. He liked how it connected us, so we obviously redid it a little while ago, and we had sex while bonded.
And that’s the real reason he’s feeling this way.
Clearly, it’s fucking with his head. I’m not sure of the long-term effects of the bond: I’ve never bonded anyone, much less fucked them while bonded. ”
“Rosie, that man has been obsessed with you for some time, kiss bond or no. I think you’re completely underestimating his feelings for you,” Violet says.
“No, I’m not. I’m being smart. Safe. I need to break this curse, and I need to do it now.
His mind is melded, and instead of talking to me, he jumped into sabotaging the potion meant to uncurse our entire family.
He was fine with messing with Phillip’s chance of moving on.
No matter what you guys say, I know that isn’t what my true love would do.
He would talk to me, he would have a conversation with me instead of making a decision that impacts not just him, but me, Phillip, and our entire family. ”
And I believe that. I have to, if I’m going to survive the next few days.
“Where is Phillip, by the way?” Vi asks, looking around.
“Right here,” my ghostly roommate says, floating in on cue.
“What’s your take on all of this?” Vi asks, crossing her arms on her chest and giving him an assessing glare. “You’re the only one who has known all of this from the start.”
He shrugs. “I think Jack made an idiot decision trying to mess with the potion. Not just because it would benefit me, but because it broke Rosie’s trust, which is the most important ingredient in a successful relationship.
” Violet continues to watch the translucent man bobbing in my living room with skepticism.
He has a bit less of his happy, goofy flair, and I wonder if he feels the same disappointment I do.
“But?” Vi asks with a raised brow.
Phillip sighs, then shrugs. “But I think he meant well. I think he panicked and made a bad decision, and I know he regrets it.” I roll my eyes, then take another deep drink of my wine.
“How?” Poppy asks sweetly, tipping her head to the side.
“Because he’s moping around in his place every day. I can see it through the windows.”
I’ve done everything in my power to avoid seeing Jack since our talk, so this is a surprise to me.
“Really?” I ask, trying not to seem interested and clearly failing when three sets of eyes focus on me.
“The boy is heartbroken, Rosie.”
“Well, it’s his own damn fault. And now that the curse has been activated, this would be doomed anyway,” I grumble, crossing my arms on my chest. Phillip floats around, raising an eyebrow at me, silently challenging my words.
I stare at him, trying to understand what he’s saying, but I’m distracted before I can grasp on to it.
“Don’t you think it’s interesting that the first time you’re not focused on trying to make a man fall for you, not fixating on I dos and happily ever afters, you fall for a man—and he falls right back?” Violet says softly.
“And it still ended in heartbreak,” I say with a humorless laugh.
“I don’t know why he couldn’t have just waited.
He said he wanted to see what would happen, but why not just wait?
See what would happen! We could have talked once the curse was broken and seen where it went, but instead, he had to say something before it was broken, and it fell apart like always.
” I don’t admit that I’m not sure if he had offered something like that, something before the curse breaking, if I had listened.
“But did it have to?” Violet asks.
“What?”
“Did it have to. Did it have to end in heartbreak, or are you so focused on your mission, on keeping an eye out for heartbreak, that you manifested it, breaking your own heart?” Her words hang in the room between us, and everyone is quiet as I run them through my mind.
But I know the truth: the curse was activated, and it would have been only a matter of time before it broke me. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
“I guess I’ll never know, right? Because on the full moon, I’m breaking the curse for good and all of this pain will be forgotten. Jack will be forgotten.”
“Rosie—” Poppy starts, but I can’t do it. I won’t do it. I don’t want to talk about it. I just need to make it through to Halloween, and my new life will start.
“Please. Can we drop it? I’m starving,” I lie, picking up my cold slice of pizza and taking a too-big bite. My sisters look to one another, a silent conversation playing out before Violet sighs and Poppy shrugs.
“Okay, Rosie. But… if you need us, we’re here.”
“We just want what will make you happy,” Violet says, agreeing, then reaching over and touching my hand. “And even if what makes you happy makes you feel scared, it’s worth going for.”
And even though we change the subject and spend the rest of the night gossiping, giggling, and eating, her words never stop circling my mind.