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As the sound of Gordon’s car roaring down the drive died down, I turned to Marcus and waited for him to say something. He glanced at me and then looked down at the floor like a naughty child who’d been caught out.
“Are you not even going to give me an apology?”
“I have nothing to be sorry for, Caitlyn. I felt I was doing the best thing for you.”
“Oh, please. Save me the hero routine—it’s starting to wear a bit thin. You’d best start talking or I’m going to start walking.”
He looked up at me and smiled. “Did you mean for that to rhyme?”
I stared back at him, poker faced. “Were you planning on telling me I’m a witch?”
When he looked back down at the floor, an arrow of pain hit me right in my heart. “You’re unbelievable. What were you planning then? Just letting me live the rest of my days at your side thinking I’m a regular human?”
He scrubbed his hands over his face and sighed. “The less you know about this world, the better.”
“Yeah, you said that already. Next excuse?”
“I don’t want you mixed up with the witches, Caitlyn. They’re not nice people. You don’t belong in that world.”
“Don’t you think I deserve to have the choice? And just because the ones you’ve met aren’t nice, why does that mean they’re all the same?”
“You know how old I am, Caitlyn. I’ve yet to meet one witch who isn’t all for her own gain.”
“Sounds to me like you’d have plenty in common.”
The pain that filtered through his eyes from my words made me want to take them back but the anger and hurt I felt at being lied to, again, overpowered any guilt I had of making him feel bad.
“I wasn’t keeping this from you for my own gain.”
“How were you doing anything else?”
“Anyone from my world would know what you are within an instant of meeting you. The way people were staring at you at the ball, that wasn’t because you were wearing some dress that belonged to my ex, it was because of the power running through your veins.”
I smirked. “And let’s not forget the way my blood sings because I’m stupidly in love with you.”
“Is that how you feel? Stupid for being in love with me?”
My jaw dropped. “Are you actually making this about you right now?”
“I’m sorry, I just...I’m flattered that you feel that way for me.”
The mix of nerves and disappointment in my stomach made me feel ill, but I had to ask the question. “But you don’t feel that way for me?”
He came towards me and took my hands in his. “I feel a lot for you, Caitlyn. More than I’ve felt for anyone in a very long time.” My heart started to soar and hope trickled through my veins. “But I have to be very careful. I don’t want a repeat of the past.”
As soon as he said ‘but’ my heart sank and the hope in my veins evaporated, leaving nothing but a build-up of emotions behind. I took my hands back and moved away from him.
“You should know I’m not your past, Marcus. Do you think I’m suddenly going to beg you to turn me into a vampire or something?”
“No, nothing like that. I just want to make sure this is right, that’s all.”
I couldn’t quite think straight. My head was spinning at a hundred miles an hour. How could he suddenly be doing a complete one eighty on me? Why? I wandered over to the sofa and sat down, trying to get a grip of my new reality. An hour ago, I’d been a regular human girl with a vampire boyfriend. Now I was suddenly a witch with a vampire possible boyfriend.
“I don’t understand,” I said, looking up at him. A hazy film of water blurred my vision, but I didn’t care, I couldn’t have stopped it even if I wanted to. “You did everything you could to make sure we were ‘courting’ and now you’re saying you don’t feel like that?”
“No, not at all,” he said, sitting down next to me. “I still want a future with you. I just...with everything that’s happening at the moment, I don’t want us to fall into some trap where we see nothing but each other and become oblivious to the world around us.”
I couldn’t wrap my head around this. What the hell was he doing? “Is this because I now know I’m a witch?”
“No, of course not. With Gordon hanging around and causing carnage as he usually does, I don’t want to rush into anything.”
“And that includes you telling me how you feel about me?”
He pressed his lips together and looked away.
“If you don’t feel the same way for me as I do for you, I get that. I’m a big girl, you won’t hurt my feelings.”
He took a deep breath and then finally met my eyes. “If anything, it’s the complete opposite.”
I hadn’t expected that at all. I didn’t know what to say or if I even dared move. Talk about revelations. The way he’d been talking was almost as if he were trying to let me down gently and ignore the way I felt about him. Now butterflies cartwheeled through my body and optimism filled my head with endless possibilities.
Figuring he might be feeling rather nervous after that admission, I put my hands on his and smiled at him. “I think we should go back to mine. I want to check on Dad.”
He nodded. “Sure.” He delved into his pocket and handed me his car keys. “Can you just give me a minute?”
A little taken aback, I nodded and took them from him. As I walked outside, it suddenly dawned on me that I could take his car for a joy ride and he’d be able to do nothing about it. I grinned and wondered how fast I’d have to drive before he couldn’t keep up.
Just as I clicked my seatbelt in, he emerged from the house, a pained expression haunting his handsome face. Had I just made him admit something he didn’t want to?
***
THE DRIVE HOME WOULD have been silent if it hadn’t been for the local radio station chattering on about Brexit and the possible implications we could be facing. He parked the car up and got out, but much to my surprise, he didn’t come around to my door. Something was wrong. I could feel it in my gut.
“I’m going into the house,” I said. “Are you coming?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll stay in your apartment.”
With that, he disappeared into my apartment. I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell was going on. I wished he’d just talk to me and stop feeling like he had to protect me from every damn thing. I wasn’t some delicate china doll that needed to be wrapped up in cotton wool.
As I headed into the kitchen, Joanna came through from the hallway, sweat glistening on her forehead and her cheeks flushed.
“Cat, thank God you’re back. You couldn’t help me with the top floor could you please? I’ve still got beds to change and hoovering to do.”
“Of course. Let me just check on Dad.”
I creaked open Dad’s door to see he was still fast asleep. I couldn’t help but look at the rise and fall of his chest to make sure he was still alive and breathing. Carefully closing the door, I headed upstairs to help Joanna. My afternoon excursion had left her in somewhat of a pickle and I couldn’t help but feel bad. Poor woman had enough on her plate with the twins, let alone me dumping more work on her.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, as we changed one of the beds together. “Just some family drama needed taking care of.”
“That’s ok,” she said. “Anything juicy?”
She’d been really making an effort to be my friend the last few days and I actually had become quite fond of her company. Plus, having someone to talk to wasn’t an unwelcome thing at all.
“You remember the ball the other night where Marcus’ cousin let slip about the dress being his ex’s?”
She nodded.
“Well, he wanted to apologise to me but all he’s done is caused another argument. I’m not entirely sure where me and Marcus are to be honest. He’s gone very quiet and...not himself. Isn’t it crazy how things can change just like that?” I clicked my fingers together and sighed.
Mentally I couldn’t help but think how crazy it was that in the last hour I’d learned I was a witch, whatever the hell that meant, and that Marcus might potentially be leading me on in order to preserve his own life. I really didn’t want that to be true, but his behaviour had changed so drastically in the space of a few short minutes, I didn’t know what to think right now.
“Life is cruel,” Joanna said, plumping one of the pillows. “I think Mother Nature likes the fact she can send someone’s life into a spin in the blink of an eye.”
“Quite possibly. She is rather cruel at times.”
We finished the bed in silence. I fetched the hoover in as Joanna scooped up the dirty bedsheets. As I turned back around to turn the hoover on and start making my way around the room, Joanna stood in front of me, the dirty bedclothes piled up to her chin, and a curious look on her face.
“Are you ok?” I asked, becoming slightly concerned.
She nodded. “I think it’s time to stop dancing around each other.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“I know what he is.”
I felt like I’d been sucker punched. “What are you talking about?”
She smiled in such a way that I instantly knew she was talking about Marcus. “I know he’s a vampire.”
I debated for several seconds as to whether to tell her she was insane or go with it. Given the spin on my world in the last hour, I opted for the latter—I needed an outlet for all this crazy. I pushed the bedroom door closed and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh my God, Joanna. You’ve no idea how nice it is to not have to keep this to myself.”
She let the sheets drop to the floor. “I bet. Well, if you ever need to talk about anything, you know you have an ally in me.”
I couldn’t help myself. Before I knew what I was doing, I’d reached out and hugged her. “Thank you so much. Seriously, thank you.”
She hugged me back, making me feel that, actually, with a friend by my side to share this with, I could get through it. “There’s no need to thank me at all. I’ll be glad to help. Like I said before, I don’t know why we’ve never become friends before.”
“We certainly have a common interest now.”
She laughed and nodded. “More than one actually.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You’re not alone, Caitlyn. I can help you.”
“I don’t understand?”
“I’m a witch.”