Page 75 of Wood You Knot

A witch carrying a tray of Sour Patch Jell-O shots stopped and asked us if we wanted any. Nellie insisted on taking half the tray, passing them out to our group. She even forced one in an unwilling Parker’s hand, who shivered after downing it and insisted it was too sweet for him and that he’d stick to the Fireball Sangria.

Nix’s hands on my waist grounded me, and the presence of all our friends and Nix’s brothers made me feel safe and carefree.

Around eleven o’clock, Nellie tried to drag me upstairs to check out the psychic reading provided by Delia Hartley. I didn’t buy into that kind of thing, even though Nellie tried to entice me by reminding me that it was Halloween. I declined, preferring to stay on the dance floor in Nix’s arms. I didn’t need a psychic reading to know I’d found my destiny.

Annalise happily took her up, and they returned sometime later with Nellie looking more than a little perplexed.

“Everything okay?” I shouted into her ear.

“Yeah, things are great. Awesome,” Nellie replied, grabbing one of the Black Magic Jell-O shots from the tray a woman dressed as a serving wench was carrying. She tossed it back and grabbed two more, passing one to me while downing the other.

The drinks kept flowing, and we all kept laughing and dancing, having a great time. Nellie was flirting it up, enjoying all the attention her out-of-towner status brought. Noah, Preston, and Paxton were in serious competition, trying to garner her affections. Annalise and Ophelia were dancing with each other, Donovan was hitting on the serving wench, and it looked like Lilah was getting more than a little cozy with Mr. Robertson.

At some point during the night, we’d made our way over to the selfie station to take a few massive group photos.

By last call at one o’clock, we were all feeling no pain as we stumbled out of the inn, following the hordes of leaving people. Shuttles had been arranged by the Hastings to provide rides to party-goers, ensuring everyone got home safely.

Parker, Tabitha, Nix, Nellie and I planned on walking back to Parker and Tabitha’s place, but Nellie threw her arms around me on the sidewalk.

“I’m gonna go with Noah back to his place,” Nellie told me, hiccupping.

“You sure about that?” I asked, sending a wary glance at Noah Wood.

“Positive,” Nellie nodded seriously. “I need a good dicking, and he looks like he can provide a fun little romp or two.”

“Heard that, and yes I absolutely can.” Noah grinned.

“How are you getting home?” Nix asked, his tone slightly parental. He’d long since lost his Gillman mask after setting it down somewhere inside.

“One of the shuttles will take us to my place. I got dropped off by Damien, so I can drive Nellie back tomorrow…at some point,” Noah promised, smirking down at Nellie.

Once Nellie and Noah joined the shuttle line, Tabitha, Parker, Nix, and I started walking. I yawned, not used to staying out so late or partying. Tabitha seemed to be in worse shape, Parker had to keep his arm around her waist to keep her walking in a straight line—but she giggled the whole time like she thought it was the funniest thing.

When we got back, we went our separate ways—Tabitha and Parker went into their house, and Nix led the way up to his apartment over the garage.

I’d been in Nix’s apartment a few times before, but we hadn’t spent a lot of time there as he usually came to my place.

I didn’t have a lot of time to explore; as soon as the door closed behind us, Nix was kissing me, his hands peeling off my costume just like he’d promised earlier. The layers fell away easily, but his costume was a little harder to get off. As soon as we’d gotten rid of our pesky costumes, we fell onto Nix’s couch, all heated hands and searing kisses.

Nix normally took his time with me, but we were both too desperate after spending the entire night touching and teasing each other over clothes, dancing closely and grinding to music. The alcohol made us both even more frantic. He entered me in one quick, impatient thrust, and I welcomed him—fully ready and aching for more.

He filled me almost to the point of pain—but sweet pain that quickly faded into a throbbing pleasure. He pumped in and out in rhythmic, deep thrusts that hit every sweet spot within me until I was clawing at his back and shattering around him, the orgasm hitting me hard and dragging out.

Nix followed shortly after; he pounded into me a few more times, then he stiffened, his corded muscles tense as he came. “My flower. You always feel so good,” he murmured against my neck, his arms pulling me closer.

He’d taken to calling me his flower as a term of endearment shortly after we made things official, and every time, it made me melt. His lips found mine again, giving me a slow, deep kiss before he pulled out and stood up.

“Uh, Nix?” I bit my lip, the alcoholic haze lifting enough. “We forgot to…” I looked pointedly at the erection he was still sporting with no condom in sight.

“Crap,” Nix’s brow furrowed. “I’m sorry, Sage. I got carried away,” he added, sheepishly running a hand through his mused hair.

“We both got carried away,” I corrected, sitting up.

“I’ve had STI testing between my last partner and you, and the results were negative, I swear, but…” he trailed off, his hand going to the back of his neck. “Hutchinson men are pretty damn fertile.”

“I’m negative for STIs too,” I assured him. I’d gotten tested shortly after finding out about Warren’s cheating ways. “But the one and only time I had a whoops, nine months later Daphne was born…” I trailed off, thinking about how panicked I’d been when I realized the condom had broken.

Inwardly, I wasn’t panicking like I probably should have been. I wasn’t on any form of contraception—birth control pills made me hormonal and crazy, and as a teen I’d had a terrible experience with an IUD. I mainly just tracked my cycles and avoided being intimate without a condom. Nix knew this, and usually we were both a lot smarter about wrapping it before engaging but—I hadn’t thought once about it during our quick rendezvous. I’d been too desperate to have him inside me.

“Damn, this is a heavy conversation to have while still a little drunk.” Nix laughed, shaking his head. He sat down beside me, turning his body toward me, and taking my hand in his. “We haven’t even really talked about that. About whether you want more kids or not.”

“I do…definitely I do, in the future…I’m just not so sure about right now.” I bit my lip, hoping I wasn’t hurting his feelings.

Nix nodded, absorbing my answer, his lips lifting into a grin. “I want more kids too, one day. Especially with you.” The way he’d said more kids, as if he’d included Daphne as his own and wanted more to follow, had my heartbeat skipping in my chest. “But I know things are early still, so if you want me to take you to get Plan B before we go for breakfast in the morning, we can do that for sure. I support you in whatever you want to do.”

My eyes welled up with tears at his words, at his unwavering support and understanding. Being with Nix was so easy, so right. It was like the answer to every question I ever had, and every question I never knew I had.

“I think that would be best…for now. I kind of want to do things in the right order with you.”

He pulled me into his arms, leaning back on the couch. “Sage, no matter what order things happen in—they’re the right order for us. Trust me when I say, I’ll happily walk whatever path you want to take holding your hand—and Daphne’s. We will build our life together one step at a time.”