Chapter 22 #2
“You didn’t have to come all the way out here,” Olivia said, uncomfortably aware of the word murderer scrawled untidily across the door right next to her.
“I wouldn’t have had to if you’d answered your phone.”
Olivia cursed silently. She’d meant to call Mags the day before but got sidetracked when they’d discovered the seal, then she’d completely forgotten.
Beau scrambled and wriggled in her grasp at the thought of a new person to play with. Mags’ gaze passed over the enthusiastic dog to rest on the glaringly obvious letters on the door.
“I can explain…” Olivia started as she tried to control the wriggling puppy.
“There’s no need,” Mags answered seriously. “I know about the murders. We need to talk.”
“Oh,” she replied, taken aback. “Well, come in.”
She stepped back and allowed Mags to pass by and hang her coat on the rack by the door. Leading her into the library where Theo was handing Jake a beer, she passed the dog over to him.
“Theo, Jake, this is Mags,” she introduced them. “Mags, Theo and Jake.”
Jake swallowed his mouthful of beer, and his gaze landed on Mags, taking in her impeccable suit and low, practical heels. “I know you.” His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Margaret Hale, isn’t it?”
Her mouth tightened into a thin line. “You’re good with names.”
“I’m good with faces too,” he replied. “You were at Evelyn’s funeral.”
“What is he talking about, Mags?” Olivia asked in confusion. “Why would he think you were at Aunt Evie’s funeral? You never knew her.”
“That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about,” Mags answered quietly. “The truth is, I knew your aunt very well. We were together for over twenty-five years.”
“What?” she replied in confusion. “What do you mean, together?”
“I mean we were a couple.” She sighed. “We loved each other, but very few people actually knew about us, which was the way we wanted it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I have so much to tell you,” Mags added.
Olivia’s expression hardened as she folded her arms across her chest tightly. “Then I think you’d better start talking.” The older woman glanced across at Theo and Jake. “Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of them.”
“Very well. You’ve always believed that Evie didn’t want you, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The night your mother and grandmother died, Evie was also attacked.”
“What?”
“Your aunt was the first victim. She was stabbed and left for dead in this very house. Her injuries occurred before the attack on your mother and grandmother. She was discovered when the police came to inform her of what had happened. It’s a miracle she survived given how much blood she’d lost. She was in hospital for months.
When she was finally able to return home, she was asked if she would take custody of you. ”
“She said no.” Olivia frowned.
“She didn’t want to,” Mags told her sympathetically. “She loved you and wanted you desperately, but she also knew it wasn’t safe for you here so close to the demon.”
Olivia’s eyes widened.
“You know about the demon?”
“I do.” She nodded. “Evie still wasn’t strong enough, and it took years for her to fully recover from her injuries.
She was never the same. Something changed that night, and she became more secretive.
There were things she wouldn’t even tell me.
I asked her why she wouldn’t have you and her answer was always the same.
She said it wasn’t safe for you here in Mercy, you were too young.
She sent me to find you and take guardianship of you. ”
“Why didn’t you then?” Olivia asked. “I was nearly nineteen by the time I met you.”
“We lost you in the system for a while. We simply couldn’t find you. In the months after your father’s arrest, Evie was still in hospital recovering. You bounced between foster families, and one of them changed your name to protect you from the media.”
“I changed it back when I turned sixteen,” Olivia murmured.
“That’s when we finally found you. I moved close by and kept an eye on you while you finished high school. Then when you got into the college that I was guest lecturing at, it seemed the perfect opportunity to introduce myself without actually having to explain who I was.”
“You lied to me?” Her eyes were dark and filled with grief. “The last ten years have all been one huge lie?”
“It wasn’t like that,” Mags protested.
“Then what was it like?” Olivia hissed. “At any point you could have told me the truth, but both of you decided you knew what was best for me without even talking to me.”
“Olivia, please.” She winced.
“Why tell me now?” Olivia demanded.
“Because you’re in danger,” she replied. “If the demon rises, he’s coming after you.”
“Why me?”
“I don’t know.” Mags shook her head. “That’s one of the things Evie wouldn’t tell me. I’m not like you both. I’m not a witch.”
“Then what possible use are you to me?” she whispered coldly.
Mags flinched as if she’d been struck. Olivia knew she was being harsh, but she couldn’t seem to help the words falling from her mouth. She’d never felt so betrayed, and in that one moment, she wanted Mags to hurt as much as she did.
“Evie asked me to give you this if the murders ever started again.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a key on a silver chain. “The key opens a safety deposit box at Old Mercy Mutual Savings and Trust. I don’t know what the box contains, but she said you would know what to do with it.”
Olivia took the key from her silently, wrapping her fist around the cool metal, her eyes never leaving the woman she’d thought of as her only family for the last decade.
“Olivia, I am truly sorry.”
“Save it.” Her voice was low and tightly controlled. “I don’t want to hear your excuses or apologies. I trusted you, but it turns out it was all a lie. I never really knew you at all.”
“Olivia…” She took an involuntary step toward her but
Olivia stepped back, shaking her head as she swallowed painfully.
“You should leave. We have nothing left to say to each other.”
Mags sighed. “When you’re ready to talk, I’ll be staying at the Three Broomsticks, the B all she saw was him, and all she wanted was him.
He seemed to know exactly the comfort she needed, and when he settled himself between her thighs and slipped inside her, all she could do was sigh against his mouth and enjoy the pleasure he gave to her.
Wrapping her arms and legs around him, she pulled him as close as she could.
Rolling his hips deeply, causing intense waves of pleasure to crash over her, leaving her shaken and impossibly needy.
Time had no meaning, and the lengthening shadows in the room faded into darkness until the only light in the room was from the snapping fire.
She felt like she was going to fly apart, like everything was out of her control, but he simply wrapped her up tightly in his arms. He took her higher than she could have ever imagined, and when she finally crashed, he was right there behind her, following her into oblivion.
She trembled in his arms, and her heart pounded in her chest. She didn’t want to need him, but despite her best intentions she did.
“Talk to me,” he murmured as he traced a lazy finger across her hip.
“What is there to say?” she answered quietly.
“You are angry with your friend.”
“Angry and disappointed.” She sighed, shivering as her body cooled.
Theo dragged the bedding up and covered them both, enfolding her back in his arms, content as she pressed her face into the line of his throat and breathed in the scent of him.
“She did what she thought was right to protect you.”
“I can understand that to a point. Knowing what I do now about the demon, I understand them not wanting to bring me back when I was a child. But when I was old enough to understand, they should have told me the truth and let me make my own decision. They took away my choices, Theo. I spent the last twenty years wondering what was wrong with me, why Aunt Evie didn’t want me and couldn’t love me.
Now I’m supposed to believe she did all this for me?
I didn’t even have the chance to make peace with her, to say goodbye. That’s what I can’t forgive.”
“I wish I could take away your pain.” He stroked her face.
“I don’t believe they ever loved me… my dad, Aunt Evie, Mags. If they did, they would never have hurt me like this.” She released a slow breath. “I don’t know… there must just be something fundamentally unlovable about me.”
“That’s not true,” he murmured. “I love you.”
“Theo, don’t,” she breathed out heavily, closing her eyes and shaking her head.
“No, look at me, Olivia. You can’t avoid this.” He grasped her chin gently, tilting her face to his. “I do love you. I’ve always loved you, and I know you feel something for me too. I feel it every time you look at me, every time you touch me.”
“I can’t. Everyone I love lets me down…” Her heart thumped painfully in her chest, feeling ten times heavier. “And you’ll be no different.”
Tugging her face from his grasp, she turned away from him, not wanting to let him see the tears that felt like they were choking her.