23. Peppermint Tea
Chapter 23
Peppermint Tea
E veryone is acting as if I’m the villain. As if I’m not the only one trying to fix our family. We’ve been living in this toxic bubble of lies for years and I’m the only one trying to change that. Why is that so awful? Why is it so terrible that I want a real relationship with my family?
I guess I’ll never understand them, just like they’ll never understand me.
I just want Noah. I’m sick of being stuck in this house. In this bed. With these people.
Noah gets me. Noah understands.
Okay, Noah has no idea that this is even happening, but he would understand. He doesn’t judge me or put pressure on me to be anything but me.
I whip my phone out before I consciously register what I’m doing and click on Noah’s name. The phone is ringing, and wow I don’t remember when I last spoke to someone on the phone.
“Hazel?” Noah’s gentle rumble fills my entire body with a safety I’ve never felt with anyone.
“Hey,” I breathe. I finally really breathe for the first time since I got slammed against that tree.
A gentle rustling filters through the phone, like pages of a book or manuscript. “How are you feeling?”
I have a giant gaping wound on my belly that I’m too scared to look at.
“Recovering. I miss you. How are you?” At least I’m not outright lying, I am recovering.
In finding myself, I’m also finding a lot of lies.
Shit. I need to figure out how to drop this witchy bomb.
“I miss you, too. I’ve been worried about you.” His voice is soft, the kind of pure worry that doesn’t carry guilt with it.
Despite the day—the week—I’ve had, he makes me smile. I imagine the world could be burning around us and I’d still be smiling if Noah were around. “I’ll be back to normal eventually. I wish I could see you, but I don’t want to get you sick.”
I don’t want you to see my battered pulp of a body.
He scoffs. “You know I don’t give a fuck about that. If you want me, baby, I’ll jump in the car right now.”
This man and his words. If my run-in with Botis didn’t kill me, Noah’s sweetness just might.
“I’m at my Grandma’s, she’s been taking care of me...”
“If you want me, I will get in the car. I don’t care where the destination is, so long as you’re there.”
How quickly could Grandma whip up a glamour? Because yowza. What I would give to see this man right now. “I’d have to ask her. And she’s a really private person. I can’t promise she’ll say yes.”
“Whatever you want. I can swing by Nonna Ricci’s. Is there anything that sounds good to you?”
“You mean other than literally everything she makes?”
He laughs, a low noise almost like water trickling over rocks in the middle of the forest.
“I’ll get you some good stuff if your Grandma says yes.”
“I’ll ask and text you?”
“Sounds good. I miss you, I’m glad you’re feeling at least a little better.”
As I hang up, Grandma materializes in the doorway.
Freakin’ ears of a bat.
“Of course I want Noah to come over. Meeting your soulmate would be the perfect way to light up such a dark week. He will come over now. And I’ll glamour you in the meantime.”
There’s really no point in me replying to her. She’s decided it and I got what I want, so I’m going to keep my damn mouth shut.
I text Noah the address and relax back into the bed. Fatigue threatens to close my eyes once more despite my excitement for Noah to arrive.
“Rest. I’ll let him in when he arrives,” Grandma insists. A new cup of tea floats in and I raise a brow at her. Is she trying to get some alone time with Noah?
“Fine, but make sure to hide your witchy nonsense before he gets here. I haven’t had that conversation with him yet and I plan to do it when I’m not covered in bruises.”
She nods, waving her hand at me to drink the tea. At some point I’m going to ask her what’s in this because there’s no way it’s just peppermint.
Drinking it in one not-as-scalding-as-fresh-tea-should-be gulp, I lie back against the pillows. Hopefully I can trust her to behave.
It’s the sound of laughter that wakes me from my deliciously naked dream about Noah. If I had my way, he would always be naked.
It takes my brain a second to process why the heck there would be laughing until it clicks.
Noah is here.
Noah is here and laughing.
Noah is here, laughing, and alone with Grandma.
Oh no. Oh no no no.
I can’t stand up to go in there and save him—and save myself from whatever embarrassing torture Grandma is putting me through.
They’ll make their way in here eventually and until then I’m forced to listen to their laughter. Why are they getting along so well? It’s unsettling.
Shit. My body.
I throw off the covers in a move that is both entirely too fast and entirely too painful to see that my cuts and bruises are covered. Grandma must have done the glamour in my sleep.
Thank God for small miracles.
The laughter approaches, bringing with it Noah’s quiet, rumbling voice. Even just the sound of it drifting through the door brings me peace. I replace the blanket, much slower this time, and wait for them.
He’s here. In all of his chin-dimple smile glory.
I barely resist the urge to make little grabby hands at him. I just want his touch, our electricity.
Us.
“Hey, you.” The concern in his eyes is accompanied by a kindness I can’t begin to feel worthy of. He moves quickly across the room to my side.
My breath of relief is immediate and intense as he touches me and the electric buzz slides up my arm.
“Missed you,” I whisper, practically yanking on him.
He tumbles a bit, but steadies himself and lowers onto the bed beside me. “Come here, baby.”
I slowly nuzzle into his open arms, pressing my face into his chest and inhaling. His arms gently wrap around me, soothing my heart for the first time.
My eyes burn as the emotions from the last week threaten to overwhelm me. The safety I feel in his arms has allowed me to feel too safe. Feel too open. And I’m ready to crack. Ready to admit how genuinely terrified I was.
Am.
How hurt I am about Laura and Mom, how abandoned I feel. I almost died, and they’re gone.
I would never leave them. Clearly the feeling isn’t mutual.
“I’ll give you two some time,” Grandma says. She was here? The door closes behind her and I bury my face deeper into him.
“How do you smell so good after being sick for an entire week? Don’t expect that from me.” Noah kisses the top of my head.
I chuckle, my body protesting the movement. “Dork.”
I pull away to grab the covers, insisting he get under them with me. I want proper cuddles, and that’s not happening if he’s not in my blanket nest with me. He gets the message and wraps himself around me within my cocoon.
“What were you and Grandma laughing about?” The curiosity is eating me alive.
He shakes his head. “That’s between us. Ask something else.”
“Fine. Then at least tell me what you’ve been doing this week. I need an update on you.” I need to get my mind off me.
He sighs, kissing my forehead. “You mean other than worrying about you?”
“Definitely. Anything other than me.”
“I went to work, went to the bookstore, went running every morning, went to see Nonna Ricci.” He seems to search his mind. “Oh! We had a guys’ night on Wednesday.”
“Guys’ night , huh? Tell me more.” I wiggle a little, snuggling into his embrace.
“Don’t get too excited. It was just Benji and Jason. We played some video games and ate a bunch of food.”
My eyelids droop despite myself. “Benji is the one I saw at the bar? He hit on Laura?”
Noah chuckles. “That’s the one. Never did handle breakups well. I hope he didn’t bother her.”
“Nahhh, she’s used to it. She’s the pretty one.” Am I slurring?
“To me, Hazel, you are the most beautiful person in the entire world.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
My response makes his body tense. Makes my body tense. I meant it as a joke, but he doesn’t know the punchline.
Do I really believe that? Yes, he’s my soulmate, but that doesn’t mean he has no choice, does it? He has a choice. He could choose to leave me. He won’t die if he’s not with me or something dramatic like that. I still have to earn his love and respect by treating him with love and respect.
“Hazel . . .”
I meet his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m exhausted. It was a self-deprecating joke, but it didn’t land.”
His expression softens, the tension sliding out of his limbs. “Would you like me to leave so you can get some rest? I just wanted to see you, but I don’t want to get in the way of you getting better. I left your food from Nonna in the kitchen.”
“Can—” Deep breath. “Can you stay? I sleep better when I’m with you.”
“Whatever you need. I’m yours, Hazel.”
He’s mine. I never wanted something to be mine as much as him.
“I need you.” The raw impact of the last week hits again in the second wave of the evening. My eyes burn as I allow him to wrap me up. What I wouldn’t give to be able to hide in Noah for the rest of my life. But I can’t.
The daemon who killed my father is coming after all of us now, and whatever hole I spent the last few years living in has officially closed over. I’m in this and there’s no way to get out.
The lives of my family, of Noah potentially, and myself rest squarely on my shoulders.
No pressure.