Page 74 of Hexed & Hazy

I nod firmly. “I need you to hold me.”

He chuckles softly and does just that, lying all of his body weight on top of me. “I can do that.”

I sigh happily. “Don’t you dare move.”

“I’ll be wherever you want me to be, beautiful.”

Chapter 23

Seth

I wake up to a loud banging on the door—Rowan’s bedroom door. We’re still together. I’m mostly dressed, but she’s not, still curled up against me and sleeping the night away. The hanging clock on her wall ticks, telling me it’s close to noon.

How did I get her to sleep this late? Unheard of.

Whoever it is, they bang again.

“We know you’re in there!” a high-pitched voice calls.

Another joins. Too familiar. “Come out, or we’re telling Mom.”

“Jesus…” I press my fingers into my temples and slide off the bed, slipping on my shirt.

Rowan shifts and opens an eye to look at me. “News spreads fast, but I didn’t know it would spread so far.”

And it’s probably my fault—then again, how was I supposed to know this would happen?

I smile sheepishly. “Sorry. I’ll… play damage control.”

“Good luck.”

Rowan pulls the blankets up over her round shoulders, and I run my fingers through my hair, desperate to look more presentable when I slip out of her room to face the terrors of Starbrook.

My baby sisters.

Except they’re not really babies anymore. Natalie and Stella are both twenty-one and old enough to surprise me during a weekend they’re free from college. The days when my mom dressed them in matching outfits are long gone. Despite being identical, they have an obvious contrast: Natalie’s hair is darker, while Stella’s is shorter and has blonde highlights. She said it’s a balayage or whatever.

Stella is more likely to follow trends, and Natalie likes to do her own thing, but there’s one thing they have in common. They both love annoying me.

I close the door behind me and fix them with a stern look. “What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” Stella asks, lifting a shapely eyebrow. “Mom said she didn’t know where you were, so we had to go looking. We were worried.”

“You don’t have to worry about anything,” I say. “I had a little too much to drink after the ball last night, and uh… Rowan let me crash here. No big deal.”

It shouldn’t be a big deal. Laurel and I had plenty of sleepovers when we were young, and no one gave me the look of disbelief that my sisters do now.

“Uh-huh.” Stella exchanges a look with our sister. “Why don’t you tell Rowan to join us for lunch, anyway?”

“Lunch.” I rub my forehead.

“Lunch,” Natalie echoes, hitting me upside the head on her way out. “We’re here for the weekend, bozo. It’s called family time, in case you forgot.”

And Rowan has always been a part of the family, but this…

It’s too much. Too soon. Isn’t it?

Rowan agrees to join us for lunch because, of course, she does. I’m the one who’s being weird about it. There’s no reason for me to be nervous when I answer the door, letting her in—and Laurel. Laurel is right by her side.