Just Witch It

by ERIN BEDFORD

  When Ian popped the case open, I jerked my eyes away from his delicious form to the contents. Inside sat a gun like the one Trina had shoved in her bag when we first arrived this year, except this one was way nicer. Like most of Ian's things, it was black with blue accents, and reminded me of a paintball gun, with a hopper for the balls mounted on the back of it.

  "So, these games," I started looking from his gun to him, "is it just paintball?"

  "Potion Ball," Ian corrected me before he closed the case with a snap and stood. "And no. There are several games. Broom racing—”

  I laughed, interrupting him. “Broom racing? Really?” I stood with him and cocked my head to the side.

  Ian tipped my chin up and kissed the end of my nose. “Of course, we are nothing if not traditional.” I grinned at him as he continued. “Then there’s the spellcasting event and then it ends with a massive game of Potion Ball."

  I stood, my eyes still on the case. "And anyone can enter to play?"

  "Are you thinking of entering, Max?" Ian crossed his arms over his chest and lifted a brow.

  Shrugging a shoulder, I glanced over at him. "What if I am?"

  A broad grin spread across Ian's lips, before he stated, "Then before we get you your very own gun, I better teach you how to use it."

  "I already know how to use it," I said with a smirk.

  Ian frowned for a moment, but when I arched an eyebrow at his quickly hardening cock, he broke into a laugh. "Haha, that you do. That you do."

  Chapter 2

  Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Eventually, we were spent, and as we collected ourselves, Ian put his pants back on and hid his mouth-watering abs from view. I finished getting dressed myself, and we made our way out of his room and into the living room area he'd briefly stopped us in before.

  Now that my head wasn't clouded with sex, I could check out the room around me. Out here was a bit brighter, like whoever decorated it didn't want you to see the darkness hidden in his bedroom. The walls were cream with a tan accent, the furniture white to offset the dark couch. There was another desk in here as well as a large flat screen television. Ian's laptop was sitting on the desk, the screensaver a slideshow of images: potions, motorcycles, and one of us together.

  "When did you take that?" I pointed at the computer as I moved closer to it. I had my blonde hair down and my head was thrown back as I laughed. Ian was smiling with his arms around me, the corner of his eyes crinkled. We looked so happy.

  Ian rubbed the back of his neck and seemed embarrassed. "Uh, I didn't. Paul did."

  “Paul?” I glanced back at him. "Didn't figure him for one to snap pictures without making a big production of it."

  Slipping his arm around my waist, Ian tugged me to his side before placing a kiss on the side of my neck. "We all have sides of us we don't show to others. You seem to just bring them out in us."

  I leaned into his embrace wrapping one arm around his neck and I peered up at him. I liked this. Being in his arms. Not having to worry about if anyone was watching or if someone was going to snap a picture of us for Witch Weekly. I loved dating all four of my guys, but sometimes it was just tiring. You'd think that they'd find something else to report on, but apparently the only heir to the Mancaster legacy dating four wizards was still hot news. I wished someone else would grab the spotlight for once.

  "So, about that gun?" I asked, a bit more excited about a weapon, even one for a sport, than I thought I would be. "When can I get one?"

  “All in good time.” Ian chuckled and flicked my nose. "I messaged Aidan to meet us down in the quad."

  "Aidan?" I pulled away from him, lacing my fingers with his as we headed to the door. "He's in the games too?"

  Ian raised his brows. "You really don't know Aidan that well, do you?"

  I frowned. Unfortunately, he was right. Out of the four of them, Aidan was the hardest one to get to know. While Ian was a mystery I loved unraveling every single day, Aidan was an enigma. His stoic personality made it like pulling teeth to get more than a two-word answer out of him, and he rarely offered up information about himself. He certainly had never said anything about something like this. It made me want to dig my heels in and find out everything I could.

  "So, he plays Potion Ball too?"

  Ian opened the bedroom door for me and ushered us outside. The hallways were a bit more crowded now that it was closer to dinner time. Classes started again tomorrow so everyone was getting as much socializing in as possible before they had to put their nose into their books.

  "Aidan doesn't just play Potion Ball." Ian snort-laughed. "He dominates it."

  My face scrunched up in confusion. "Huh?"

  "You know, he's one of those guys who takes sports really seriously," Ian continued to explain as we passed by my hallway. We were almost to the quad now.

  "Oh." I chewed on my lower lip. "That's surprising. I didn't figure him for the type, but I guess he has all those muscles for a reason."

  The wizard in question came into view, and surprisingly, he was surrounded by female students... or I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Aidan Templar was hot. He had that ‘suffer in silence’ kind of thing about him that added to the appeal of those startling blue eyes and beefy muscles. Any girl would want him at her side.

  Aidan was the only one of the guys I hadn't slept with yet, now that Ian and I had finally gone all the way. We'd done stuff, sure, but usually one of the other guys were there, most often Ian. Those two seemed to be a package deal. You'd think it would be Ian and Paul, but besides the one time we got together at my grandmother's house, they didn't like to touch me at the same time. Sibling issues.

  Today though, Aidan looked even more tempting than usual. He lacked his usual video game logo t-shirt and instead wore a white ribbed tank top and jeans that hugged his thighs and biteable ass. He had his arms crossed over his chest and wasn't even pretending to care what the female fluttering her eyelashes at him was chattering about.

  When Aidan noticed me, those bright blue eyes locked onto me, and I swear that I melted into a puddle right there. He pushed through the gaggle of student admirers, not the least bit bothered by their cries of annoyance on his way over to me. Aidan stopped before me, then one of his large hands cupped the side of my face.

  I leaned into it, grasping his hand with both of mine as I kept it there and murmured, "Those girls are contemplating my death."

  "What girls?" he said so matter-of-factly that, if I hadn't already been into him, I'd have fallen for him right then.

  "Come on, Romeo." Ian smacked Aidan on the back. "Max wants to learn how to shoot for the games." His gaze swung to me for a second. "What time do you have to meet Callie for dinner?"

  I ripped my eyes away from Aidan to look at my phone time. "Uh, crap. Now." I winced and gave them an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I really want to learn how but I promised her I'd go to dinner with her-" Ian opened his mouth, but I cut him off. "Girls only, no boyfriends." I gave a helpless shrug. "I'll make it up to you?"

  Aidan let out a growl and pulled me flush against his front. My chin came to his chest, and he lifted me with both hands on my ass as he crushed his mouth to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck, sliding my fingers into the short ends of his hair. He'd been growing it longer, and I wondered if it was for me. I mean, I had a thing for long hair. I didn't know why, I just wanted to stick my hands in it and pull.

  Before we could get too carried away, Ian laughed. "Alright, just bone already so we can get rid of this tension." I withdrew from Aidan to see Ian wave a hand in front of his face. "It's so thick, it's giving my dick a complex."

  I grinned at Aidan and pecked him on the lips one final time before he lowered me back to the ground. Turning to Ian, I grabbed him by the shirt and gave him a quick passionate kiss before releasing him with a wink.

  "That should tide your dick over."

  Ian not so subtly adjusted himself, not caring that we're in the middle of the quad and had already attracted a
ttention. "Fucking doubt it." With a dramatic sigh, he waved me away. "Go, go, before I find a broom closet to drag you into."

  I giggled at that and waved before spinning on my heels. Walking with my head high, mainly because I knew I was getting dirty looks, I kept my eyes forward and a smug smile on my lips. Eat your heart out, Winchester Academy.

  Callie thankfully was already waiting in the u-shape driveway in the front of campus in her cherry red convertible. Her dark hair was braided and hanging over one shoulder while her big brown eyes were covered by her large framed sunglasses. She wore an off-the-shoulder purple sweater and a pair of white capris with no doubt three-inch heels. How she could even drive let alone walk in those things all day was beyond my comprehension.

  "What's with the sunglasses?" I gestured to them as I slid into the passenger seat. "It's almost dark out."

  Callie grinned and shrugged a shoulder as she pulled out of the academy’s U-shaped drive. "Us plain humans have to make our own mystery where we can. How else am I going to bag myself a wizard?"

  I laughed and shook my head. "By being your own spectacular self."

  "They get to do magic.” Callie snorted. “Being with me is already going to be boring as it is. The most I can do is get out of a speeding ticket." With that, she drove us down the street toward our favorite burger place, McKee’s.

  I didn't know Callie felt that way. I knew that, ever since I decided not to go to Brown with her, she'd felt a bit left out, something compounded when she learned that I was a witch. But she rebounded as she always did, and became really excited about getting to be best friends with a witch and joked about wanting to nab herself a wizard... but I didn't realize how insecure she'd been feeling about the whole thing.

  “Oh, Callie," I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and tried to hug her as much as I could while she was driving. "Those guys don't want another boring old witch."

  Callie scoffed, and if she hadn't been wearing sunglasses, I was sure she'd have been rolling her eyes at me.

  "I mean it, they see magic every single day, but having to do things without magic?" I grinned at her. "Have you seen one of them try to work a blender the old-fashioned way? Seriously, it's hilarious."

  Callie lowered her sunglasses to give me an unamused look. "Really, now? A blender? They can stop time. What the hell do they care about blenders?"

  "But Callie," I tried again as she parked us in the lot of McKee’s, "those witch girls use a ton of short cuts... for everything." I wagged my brows to try to get my point across.

  It took her a second to catch on, but then her mouth slowly dropped open. "You mean, they don't know how to give a decent blow job? What do they do, just cast a spell on the guy’s dick?"

  I lifted a shoulder. "I don't know for sure, but Ian told me he almost got his junk spelled off once because the girl was too worried about germs to blow him."

  Callie had a contemplative look on her face, and for a second, I felt bad. I was lying through my teeth, but I figured something like that wasn't too far off. Besides, this was my best friend. I couldn't let her sink into despair because of her not-so-magical life.

  I grabbed her bag and tossed it to her before getting out of the car. "Besides, what about Professor Morison? I thought you were talking to him?"

  “Rupert is hot and all, you know me and British accents,” Callie climbed out of the car and slung her large purse over her shoulder with a grimace, "but I don't know. He's quite a bit older than me. We don't have a lot in common."

  I hummed and pulled the door to McKee’s open. The busy sounds of customers and the kitchen filled my ears right before the scent of freshly-made burgers and fries hit my nose. Merlin, I loved food.

  "Well, have you even gone on a date yet?"

  I stopped at the greeter’s sign and waited to be seated. McKee’s had that fifties diner vibe going for it with vinyl seats in red and white and even a classic jukebox salvaged from an auction pushed up against the back wall. Callie and I loved to come here, but lately I'd been... busy. It was hard to juggle my human life with my magical one, especially when you added four boyfriends to the mix. Once we got to my best friend and her needs, I was sure that I was one incident away from having a meltdown.

  “Of course, we’ve gone on a date.” Callie sighed, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “If you call making out in his car after going to the drive in a date.”

  "Hey, ladies." Pamela, a chipper single mom who worked the evening shift, bounced over, her hair a glossy shade of black and purple. "Having a girl's night?"

  "You know it, Pam." Callie beamed at her as she looped her arm through mine. "No boys tonight. Just me and my main squeeze." She gripped my arm tighter and tighter until I winced.

  "Hey, your main squeeze is still breakable, you know." I withdrew my arm from her and rubbed the sore spot. To Pamela, I asked, "Can we get a booth, please? In the back?"

  Pamela arched a drawn-on brow but didn't question it. Most people who asked for a back booth were couples who wanted to be alone. Callie and I usually sat at the bar top where we could order pie and sit there and pretend we were in the actual fifties. However, Callie and I had things to talk about... magical things, and I couldn't take the chance of one of the workers or customers eavesdropping on us.

  "Okay, right this way." Pamela turned on her white tennis shoes, her pastel pink Capris and white with matching pink polka dot blouse really playing into the theme of the place.

  Callie and I moved into our booth, the vinyl squeaking as we slid against it. We grabbed our menus from the condiment rack on the table housing the condiments and pretended to look them over. We always got the same thing every time we came, but far be it for us to look predictable.

  After a moment, we both turned to Pamela and said, "Burger, fries, and a-"

  "Chocolate milkshake, extra whip," Pamela finished for us with a grin and a wink. "Don't say that I don't know my girls."

  "Never," Callie gasped, placing her hand on her chest with mock horror.

  "Wouldn't dream of it," I added with a nod, then asked, "How's little Hailey doing?"

  "Great!” Pamela beamed. “She'll be started second grade this year. Of course, after spending the summer with her dad, she can't stop going on about the puppy his new girlfriend has." We winced in sympathy. "Think that means I'm going to have to give in and get her one soon."

  "Make her take care of a goldfish first," Callie told her with a serious tone. "That way she knows that it's a big responsibility, not just something cool Daddy has that you don't."

  "Good idea, Cal." Pamela bumped her with her elbow and winked. "I knew I liked you for some reason."

  Callie gave a small smile. "Ten years of playing the divorce's kid will teach you a few things. Let me know when she starts to play the ‘but daddy lets me do it’ card. I always used that one."

  We laughed as Pamela excused herself to put in our order. Once she was gone, I grabbed Callie's hands.

  "Cal, I have some news."

  Callie's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You better not be pregnant. I so don't want to be on the magical version of Jerry Springer's 'I'm not the daddy.'"

  I rolled my eyes and smacked her hands. "No, I'm not pregnant, and besides, it'd only be three guys to contend for anyway."

  "No, it wouldn't. Dale and Paul. Ian doesn’t count as having a threesome since you only sucked him off." I stared at her hard wondering how I could be friends with someone so dense. Then Callie’s eyes widened, her mouth dropped and she smacked the table so loud the neighboring tables looked our way. "You did it with someone else? Who? Who? Please tell me it was Ian. No, Aidan." Her eyes got all starry. "I always wanted to know what it would be like with someone built like him. He could lift you up and move you around like a rag doll, and you wouldn't even have to break a sweat."

  I giggled at her theatrics. "Sorry, not yet."

  "So, it was Ian?"

  I nodded, holding back a grin.

  Callie let out a high-pitched squeal an
d jumped up in her seat to call out to Pamela. "We need some pie over here stat!" As she dropped back into her seat, she grabbed my hands and leaned in conspiratorially. "Tell me everything."

  Chapter 3

  “Maxine, darling,” my grandmother crooned in my ear as I held my phone up against my face and shoulder. I pulled it away for a second putting it on speaker phone before sitting it on my desk as I jerked on my pale-yellow V-neck shirt and tucked a hand in my jeans pocket, prepared for what was probably another lecture about my recent coming out. “Your coming out was a smashing success, besides the tiny hiccup with that awful Magenski girl. Still, that was easily forgotten aside when your cousin, Addy, bumped into one of the Sage men and caused that whole ruckus at the buffet table.” She let out a little laugh. “I’ve never seen so many guests having to spell cake and lobster pate off themselves in my life!”

  My second year at Winchester Academy had already started, and after the summer, no one wanted to get back to normal more than me. Well, as normal as one could get when you were a human turned witch just now getting her feet wet in the wizardry world.

  My lips curled up at the edges where I stood by my dorm room window. “Yeah, I heard about that. Sorry I missed it.”

  My grandmother made a sound in her throat, a cross between a snort and a laugh, well, if Nina Mancaster could act so low to make such a sound.

  “Yes, don’t think I didn’t notice you skipping out on your own party to do Merlin knows what with those boys of yours.”

  “And you had nothing to do with their surprise either?” I teased and giggled.

  My coming out party hadn’t just been for the benefit of my grandmother and the wizarding society but also for my birthday. What had been a cluster fuck of mean girl sabotage had turned into a wonderful night to remember. The guys had whisked me away to a secret party in the middle of the pond behind my grandparent’s mansion. We had cake, fireworks, and enough laughter to hold me over for the rest of the year.