Chapter 11 #2
Ember groaned. “Oh my God, all these innuendos are not intentional, I swear. We haven’t had sex. Nyte’s been rooming at my place and helping me at the store. He’s…” She peeked up at him. “He’s a friend.”
A friend. Why did that word both thrill and disappoint him? Why did it leave him unfulfilled, wanting…more?
And she’d said it with a hint of yearning in her voice. Yearning he’d attempted to reject, but which had plagued him ever since he’d been summoned.
“How long do you plan to rent a room at Ember’s?” Levi asked.
“We decided to give it a month and see how it goes,” Ember said.
Maggie smiled. “You seemed to have gotten pretty close already, so it sounds like it’s going well.”
Ember met Nyte’s gaze. “I’ve really enjoyed his company.”
“And I yours.” Nyte nearly added my dear little witch to those words, but that felt like something best kept between the two of them. Something her friends didn’t need to overhear and question.
But she smiled as though she’d heard those unspoken words regardless.
The waitress returned with their drinks, setting them upon the table. Both Ember and Maggie’s were bright and colorful, garnished with fruit and sugar crystals along the rims. After taking their food orders, the waitress walked off again.
Glancing up at him, Ember smiled. She picked up her drink, brought the rim to her lips, and drank.
Those fucking lips…
Levi leaned forward and propped his elbows on the table, clasping his hands as he directed his gaze to Nyte. “So, you been in Salem long?”
“No, I haven’t.” Nyte lifted his glass and sipped the water. “But there’s something about this place that feels right. The…” His eyes shifted briefly to Ember. “Vibes.”
Levi gave him a knowing smile. “I was visiting town for work during Halloween six years ago. That’s when I first saw Maggie.”
“Which is amazing consider how ridiculously crowded it gets here,” Maggie said.
Slipping his arm around her waist, Levi drew her close. She leaned against him, rested her head on his shoulder, and cupped his jaw, stroking his beard with her thumb. A loving smile settled on her lips as she gazed up at him.
“One look at her, and I knew I couldn’t stay away.” Levi threaded his fingers through her hair. “My goddess who stole my heart.”
For all his age and strength, it took a significant portion of Nyte’s willpower to keep unease from creeping into his expression. That phrase—stole my heart—roused exactly the feelings he’d sought to escape during his time in seclusion.
Maggie hummed. “Can’t steal what was freely given, my love.”
Levi chuckled. “You’re right. I pretty much handed it over on a silver platter, didn’t I?”
“You did.”
“And I’ve never seen a couple more in love than the two of you,” Ember said with a smile. She looked at Nyte. “Levi rented an apartment in town a couple weeks after they met, just so he could be close. He wants to talk about stealing? He practically stole her from me.”
Laughter bubbled from Maggie as she straightened. “He did.”
“And I was left all alone. Allow me to drink away my sorrows.” Ember brought her glass to her mouth and took a long drink.
“It’s not like I up and disappeared!”
To Ember and her friends, this was undoubtedly warm banter. Their tones were light, their smiles wide, their affection for each other apparent. But Nyte couldn’t hold back his heavy thoughts. Thoughts of hearts being stolen, of hearts being offered, of Ember being so alone.
“I miss you though,” Maggie said more solemnly. “I miss our nights together, miss hanging out, just the two of us.”
Ember set her glass down. “Me too. But I know we’re both so busy with life, and you have Levi as part of yours.”
Maggie reached across the table and covered Ember’s hand. “I know you’ve had some horrible dating experiences, but you’ll find someone who completes you the same way Levi does me.”
Once more Ember’s cheeks pinkened, and Nyte caught her glance his way.
She withdrew her hand from Maggie’s and picked up her drink. “I don’t know if anything could come close to what you and Levi have.”
Nyte frowned, biting back the words that threatened to emerge from his mouth—the repudiation of her opinion, the acceptance of the challenge to prove her wrong, to show her that she deserved so much better than what she’d had thus far.
It would’ve been cruel to do so. Their current arrangement was both involuntary and temporary. He’d be gone in seventeen days…
And she’d be alone again.
Why did that thought produce a hollow ache in his chest?
He needed to steer the conversation away from such matters. He needed to prevent Ember from dipping into these moments of longing and sorrow.
Keeping up pretenses, Nyte took another sip of his water before setting the glass on the table. “Ember mentioned you make costumes, Levi.”
The man’s face lit up, and he nodded. “I do! I work in special effects makeup, prosthetics, and sculpting. I branched off and started my own business…”
Levi spoke passionately about his work and the costumes he crafted during his free time, with both Maggie and Ember adding little tidbits and offering him praise that he hesitantly and humbly accepted.
Nyte found it engrossing, even though he didn’t fully understand everything the man was talking about.
Part of that fascination was in humans as a whole.
They invested so much thought, effort, talent, and artistry into making the fantastical seem real when it had always been all around them.
He should’ve seen that as foolish, as another irrational human quirk, and yet…
Amongst this company, seeing that twinkle in their eyes, it was almost endearing.
The conversation paused when the server returned to deliver their food, naturally picking up right where it had left off after Maggie and Ember ordered fresh drinks.
Nyte had seen many humans in such settings, sharing food, drink, and camaraderie, and he’d overheard many conversations.
He would’ve been content to simply observe here, but the mortals continually involved him, asking questions to draw him in.
It was refreshing in a way he hadn’t expected.
To be part of something he’d only watched from the outside…
But it was the attention from Ember that affected him most profoundly. Not just the way she smiled at him, but the little touches. The brush of her fingers on his forearm or shoulder, a gentle squeeze of his thigh, the fleeting glide of her foot against his. He craved more. Needed more.
Though he couldn’t recall doing so consciously, he’d apparently shifted closer to her during the dinner, until their thighs were pressed together and her heat was radiating into him. Without his conscious thought, his tail curled around her calf.
Even when he realized what he’d done…he didn’t withdraw from her.
More drinks arrived to replace Maggie and Ember’s empty glasses.
“Oh, oh!” Maggie exclaimed. “Ember, do you remember the night you locked us out of the apartment?”
“Nooo,” Ember groaned, turning her face and pressing it against Nyte’s shoulder. “Don’t remind me.”
Nyte found himself suddenly despising his clothing. It was the only thing blocking her lips from his skin.
Levi grinned. “I need details.”
Maggie giggled. “Ember woke me up in the middle of the night because she swore she heard noise outside.”
Ember lifted her head. “I did hear something. So did you.”
“I did. And what did we do?”
“We went out to investigate of course,” Ember chuckled. “In our freaking nightgowns, in the dead of winter.”
Nodding, Maggie took another drink from her glass before proceeding. “And our boots.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?” Levi asked.
Maggie pursed her lips to the side in thought. “I don’t know. I don’t remember.”
Ember waved a hand nonchalantly. “Because when there’s a noise outside at night, you have to go check on your animals and make sure they’re safe.”
“But we didn’t have any animals.”
Levi grinned. “You were in the city, Ember. Not back on the farm.”
“It was instinct,” Ember said. “Anyway! I grabbed a flashlight and the bat we kept by the front door, and Maggie…” She broke out into laughter. “Maggie wrapped one of her spike bracelets around her knuckles.”
“Those things were over an inch long! It was a legit good weapon.” Maggie held up her fist and threw an unsteady little jab.
Nyte chuckled.
Ember nodded. “It really was, because you bumped into me once with those and they hurt.”
“I’m so sorry!” Maggie cried.
“It’s okay.”
“What happened next?” Nyte asked.
“Oh! So we went outside, in the snow, in our boots. Couldn’t forget those. And I closed the door behind us.”
Maggie snickered.
Ember pressed a finger to her lips. “Shhh! Not yet.”
“Okay, okay!” The red-haired woman covered her mouth.
“So we were outside, and it was dark except for the streetlight, and deafeningly quiet. Until we heard it again.”
“The crash was so loud.”
“Did we scream?” Ember asked, brow pinched like she was straining to recall.
“I think we did.”
“That’s right! We did, because that’s when we saw them.”
“Them?” Levi asked.
Maggie hugged his arm. “The raccoons! There were so many of them running around everywhere! And they left trash all over the parking lot.”
“It was excusable because they were so cute,” Ember said.
“They were, even though they scared the crap out of us. And once they scattered, we went back to our apartment…except we couldn’t get in because Ember locked us out.”
“The lock was wonky!”
“Our phones were inside, our keys were inside, and here we were, outside in our sexy, sexy nightgowns and boots in the dead of night.”
Nyte had seen what Ember wore to bed, and he knew that she’d undoubtedly looked desirable that night. He wasn’t sure there was anything she could wear that wouldn’t be tantalizing.
Ember propped her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her palm, grinning. “We were pretty sexy, weren’t we?”
Maggie waggled her eyebrows. “The neighbor thought so.”
“He was like, sixty!”
“We were still sexy.”
“You still are,” Levi said, taking Maggie’s hand and pressing his glass of water into it. “Drink this, my love.”
“Mmm,” she moaned as she did as he asked, and he helped her, tipping the glass as she drank deep.
Ember watched them with a soft smile.
Nyte didn’t miss that expression, nor did he miss the flicker of yearning accompanying it. He knew jealousy wasn’t warranted here. She longed not for Levi, but for someone to treat her with the same care and consideration.
Levi looked at Ember and Nyte. “I think it’s time for us to head out.
Maggie’s had quite a bit to drink tonight, and I know she’ll be regretting it tomorrow.
It was nice to meet you, Nyte. Maybe we can all get together again another time.
” He glanced at Maggie with a tender smile. “Without alcohol.”
Oddly, Nyte didn’t dislike the suggestion. This had been surprisingly enjoyable. Maggie and Levi seemed to be kind, warm people, and they’d readily accepted him. They’d made him feel like part of their little group, like they’d been his friends for as long as Starling had.
Nyte didn’t intend to say the words aloud, but they came from his mouth anyway. “I would like that.”