“And the kissing just now was… what? To see if it will go away if you have a closer connection?”
I can’t tell if he’s being snarky or if this is truly a thought he has in his head. Would it work like that?
Suddenly, I’m wondering if sleeping with her again would make it go away completely. I suppose it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if I had to fuck her to keep the curse at bay.
“It was a mistake,” I tell him as I spin around and start to climb the stairs. I need him to drop it. “We need to focus. There’s more important shit.”
I hear him hum behind me like he’s waiting for me to go on. I say nothing else as I push open the door to the upstairs sitting room I rarely use.
When we enter the room, Astra’s sitting on the couch in the exact same spot as when I came into the room before. It’s almost as if she thinks resetting the scene will erase what happened out on the courtyard gallery. If only it were so easy.
Torrin is standing in the corner with his hands in his pockets. The tension in the room is clear, making me wonder what the fuck I missed.
“Hi, I’m Fabien,” he says when the silence stretches out between all of us.
“Astra,” she says back with a small wave. Her face breaks for him. She’s not looking at him with fire in her eyes.
I fucking hate it.
“She has the same thing on her chest,” I say.
“Oh, really?” Fabien’s eyes turn toward Astra with excitement. The nerd kind of excitement where he’s been given another piece of the puzzle and he’s dying to figure it all out. He might be grown, but he hasn’t changed since he was a kid. I smile on the inside as something warms my chest. I shake it off as quickly as it comes on. “May I?”
He’s already crossing the room to get to her.
“Uh, sure?” she says, and the shrug lets me know she doesn’t care. The hesitation comes from the situation, which I get.
“No,” I growl, stepping in front of Astra to block Fabien’s path. He stops short and blinks up at me. “Phone.” I hold my hand out.
He hands over his phone after a long moment of hesitation, then he unlocks it as soon as it’s in my hand. I turn around, keeping my body close to Astra’s. My hand reaches out, seeking permission with my eyes as I inch closer to her body. She gives me the tiniest nod, but my eyes get stuck on how she swallows hard. I shake myself out of it as I carefully push the sweater out of the way just enough so I can snap a picture.
As I pull away, I wonder why the fuck did I even care. One, Fabien isn’t going to care about seeing Astra naked. If I got a hint of her bra or a swell of her breast in there, he likely wouldn’t even notice. It would be the same if he saw it up close and personalwithout the camera. So why am I acting like a possessive, crazy asshole?! She isn’t mine! I don’t even want her.
I need to get a grip.
“Here,” I say as I slap the phone in Fabien’s hand and walk to the other side of the room. Torrin stares at me with knowing eyes. The dick is trying very hard not to laugh at me.
Fabien stares at his phone, moving the screen around and blowing the image up a few times. He sits down next to Astra on the couch, paying her little attention as he pulls out his sketchbook and starts drawing parts of the symbol, scribbling something I can’t read from across the room. Then he pulls out a book, and before I know it, he has things spread out on the couch and the coffee table. He’s even using Astra, having her hold the phone up at times when he wants to refer back to it.
“Okay,” Fabien starts, looking up at me with sympathy in his eyes. “I think it’s somewhere in the love spell realm.”
I choke on air.
“What the fuck? I thought you said it was a curse?!” I nearly growl in Fabien’s direction.
“Yeah! It is. But wait. Hear me out,” he continues, hands up as if telling me to hold on a minute. “Not like afall-in-lovespell. More like… uh, a deterrent spell.” He looks between Astra and myself. “How is it you two have a connection?”
“I fucked her,” I say, tone flat and eyes expressing nothing. I guess Torrin left out that major detail.
Fabien’s cheeks heat as his gaze awkwardly drops to his notes.
“Well, that’s, sure, okay,” Fabien rambles nervously. “That would be a connection for sure. I could see where that would spark the curse to life. Only I can’t quite figure out why.” He leans back on the couch, his eyes wild as he thinks. I can tell he’s not really with us right now.
“I was a virgin, if that helps?” Astra shrugs when Torrin and Fabien turn their eyes on her. “I’ve lived in the middle of the woods with three aunt-type figures for most of my life. They were basically family, so even if I were into women, I would never think of them in that way.”
“And there were no men around?” Torrin asks, and I don’t like the overly curious chime in his voice.
“Well, yes.” Her brows pinch together. “There were a couple of older gentlemen who came around occasionally to fix things in the house when we needed. I can’t say I felt any kind of spark there, either. They are significantly older than me.”
