by T. S. Ryder
“I liked Sophia, but it wasn’t anything too serious. Maybe it would have grown into that, who knows, but I can’t be with her knowing you’re carrying my baby. It wouldn’t be right.”
He held out his arms to her and she went to him.
“Let’s do this,” he said. “Let’s have a baby together.”
She laughed as tears filled her eyes. “Really? You’re really, really sure? Because there’s no turning back after this.”
“I’m really, really sure.”
He leaned down and kissed her, and her heart filled with joy. This was going much better than she thought.
“This is nuts, though,” he said, when they’d finished kissing. “I can’t believe we’re going to have a baby.”
“I know. Took me a while for it to sink in.” She smiled, but something nagged at her gut. She felt like she needed to come clean now. If she didn’t tell him now and he found out later, that would be a very bad thing. This might ruin everything, but she thought it was better to get it out in the open and get it over with. “Logan, I have to tell you something. And you might be really mad about it.”
She stepped back from him to watch his reaction. He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Okay. What?”
“Well, the night that we, umm, you know. I kind of…”
She twisted her hands together and looked at her feet.
“You didn’t.”
She looked up at him. He didn’t look angry, exactly. More shocked and in disbelief.
“I spiked your coffee earlier that day with a love potion.” She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for him to scream at her.
“You did.”
Instead of screaming, though, he laughed.
“You’re not mad?”
“Well, I’m a little irked that you tricked me, but I should have known. I mean, we joked about it constantly over the years. I’m actually a little impressed.”
He stroked his chin and looked off in the distance for a minute. Then he went to this bookshelf and pulled out a potions book. “That’s what I thought. Alcohol heightens the effect.” He turned the page and read more. “Oh. I didn’t know that.”
“What?”
“It only works if some feelings of warmth exist between the drinker and the maker. Well, there you go. I guess that’s saying something, isn’t it? It worked, so you know I’m not lying when I say I do care for you.”
“I never thought you were lying. And you didn’t drink very much anyway. Sophia came and you tossed most of it out.”
“Oh. Right.” He read a bit more and shut the book. “Well, there’s our solution, then.”
“What is?”
“Just feed me love potions, and I’ll take them until I’m madly in love with you.” He laughed.
“I can’t believe you’re not mad about this.”
He shrugged. “Like I said, I’m impressed. It’s a hard potion. And a little flattered, actually. You had the whole campus of guys to pick from and you picked me. Who you’ve already seen the worst parts of. My gross habits, my horrible flaws. And besides, my friends and I have a competition of who can trick who the best when it comes to potions and spells. I should have been more on guard.”
“I guess.”
“I do want to see it, though. That’s a hard potion. I never perfected it.” He kissed her again and hugged her. “It’ll be different dating a witch. I’ve never been with any sort of magic caster before. It’ll be a nice change, I think.”
“Hey, Logan, are you—” Elise opened the door and froze. “What the hell?”
Thea dropped her arms and stepped back. “Elise, don’t get mad.”
“Don’t get mad? I told you not to date my brother. Logan, what are you doing? You’re just going to end up hurting her!”
“Lise, chill, it’s not what you think,” Logan said.
“Or really? Because I think you were just kissing.”
“We were, but—”
“Then you need to stop it now!” Elise balled her hands into fists and growled in frustration.
“Please calm down,” Thea said. “Why are you getting so mad about this?”
“Why?! I told you why!” She was shouting now, and the rest of the house had to be able to hear her. “He is an ass when it comes to women. He’s going to use you and toss you aside, just like he did with Sophia. Again. Maybe you don’t care about that because he ditched her for you, but what’s going to happen when he finds someone better and ditches you for them? Then you’re going to come crying to me, and I won’t want to hear it.”
“Stop.” Logan put his hand on her shoulder. “Let us explain the whole story.”
Thea caught his eye and shook her head. She leaned close to whisper in his ear. “Don’t tell her I’m pregnant. Not yet.”
He made a face like he didn’t agree, but when he continued, he said, “We’ve been friends for a really long time.”
“That’s what she was whispering about?” Elise demanded. “I knew that.”
“No, she just doesn’t think that I should tell you that we’re officially dating now.”
Elise stomped her foot. “No! You have to break up right now. You can’t do this.”
“You could just be happy for us,” Thea said. She could already feel the tears making her throat thick. She needed her best friend right now. And it wasn’t like Elise to be angry like this.
“Happy for you? Right, oh, okay. Sure, I’m happy that my brother will somehow manage to fuck up my best friend’s life and break her heart. That’s about as happy as I can get.”
“Geez,” Logan said. “You act like I’m the biggest scumbag in the world. Your dating history isn’t squeaky clean, either, little sis.”
“Whatever. I warned you both,” Elise said. “Don’t be kissing around me or holding hands or whatever. In fact, just don’t be around me at all.” She slammed the door shut and they heard her stomp down the hall and slam her bedroom door shut.
“That went well,” Thea said. She sat back on his bed and put her head in her hands.
“Why is she so mad over this? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I told her I slept with you and she warned me to stay away from you because of how you treat women.”
“I don’t think I’m that bad. Do you?” He stood in front of her, but all she could see were his feet.
“No. Not really. Sometimes. I don’t know. I guess I thought I was different since we’ve been friends so long?”
“You are.” He put a finger under her chin and lifted it. “You’ve always been the only girl besides my sister that I was totally comfortable around. I can say anything to you or in front of you and you won’t flinch. You already know all my friends and, like I said, my gross habits. You know me better than anyone besides Elise. This makes so much sense.”
She smiled at him and nodded. “That’s what I thought. That’s why I gave you the love potion.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t figure this out on my own sooner. But from the first time I saw you naked by accident, when you were like sixteen, I wanted you.” He sat beside her on the bed and put his arm around her. “Do you know how many times I jerked off to the thought of these huge breasts?”
He cupped her breast and kissed her, putting his hand at her back to bring her closer. Their kissing started to heat up and Thea felt herself get wet. He wasn’t on the love potion now. This was all him. And that made it feel even better.
She reached over to rub his dick through his pants. He moaned in response and stiffened more.
“Do you feel okay?” he whispered, nuzzling his nose against her neck. “I never really asked how things were going. Are you sick or anything?”
“I’ve been sick a few times. My breasts are a little sore.”
“Oh, sorry.” He made his motion gentler. “Tell me if I hurt you.”
“I’m not sore lower down,” she said in his ear.
He grinned and slid his hand into her pants, rubbing around her clit for several mi
nutes. Then she unzipped his pants and pulled them down. She knelt in front of him and took his cock into her mouth. She sucked and stroked his dick until he pulled back from her.
“Come here,” he said.
He was still sitting on the edge of the bed. Thea slid onto his lap, putting her knees on the bed on either side of him. She lowered herself down, sliding his cock inside her.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. She wrapped her arms and her legs around him and rocked against him. She bounced on her knees, moving him in and out of her. He grabbed her ass and slid her up and down as she moved.
She kissed him and, when he kissed back, knowing he wasn’t on anything made the kiss that much sweeter.
“I could screw you all night long and never get enough,” he said. He moaned into her ear. “You feel so good.”
“So do you.”
She rocked harder into him, pushing him deeper until she came all over him. He took her hips again and slammed her down hard until he moaned loudly in orgasm.
She stepped carefully off him and lay beside him on the bed. He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head as she cuddled against him.
“The baby will be a shifter, right?” she asked, after several minutes.
“Should be. The chance that he won’t be is very small. Plus, you’re a witch, so even if he’s not a shifter, he’d probably be a witch at least.”
“Or she.”
“Right. Or she. Why didn’t you want me to tell Elise?”
Thea let out a sigh. She didn’t want to think about their whole fight right now. “I just thought it’d be better to wait until she’s okay with our relationship. Or until we can’t hide it anymore.”
Chapter Seven
Thea tried desperately to patch things up with Elise. She texted her and called her. Every time she went to hang out with Logan, she knocked on her door. But it seemed that Elise was ignoring them both these days.
She and Logan came downstairs one morning, on their way out, and Elise was sitting in the kitchen with one of their other roommates, Steven.
“Hey, guys, there’s fresh coffee,” Steven said, waving to them.
“Thanks,” Logan said, and walked toward the kitchen. Thea followed.
“I didn’t make it for you,” Elise said, glaring at them both.
“Morning, Elise,” Thea said.
“Don’t talk to me like you’re my friend,” Elise said.
“Whoa,” Steven said. “What is going on with you guys?”
No one said anything for several minutes. Then, finally, Thea said, “She doesn’t want me with her brother.”
Steven nodded slowly. “Oh.”
“Can you blame me?” Elise said. “Steven, you’ve seen the way he is.”
Steven glanced at Logan, who shrugged. “I’m now the scum of the earth, according to her.”
“No, you’re my brother, but I’ve seen you with women and you’re a jerk. Thea, I told you what he’s done. How can you not care about any of it?”
Thea looked to Logan for help. “Elise, I think you’re making a bigger deal out of this than it is. He made a few mistakes, sure, but haven’t we all? I mean, what about that Justin guy?”
“What about him?” Elise slammed her mug on the counter.
“You totally played him! You knew he was into you and you just kept leading him on, even though you didn’t like him at all.”
Steven quietly snuck out of the room, putting a hand on Logan’s shoulder as he passed him as if to say, “Good luck.”
“Whatever,” Elise said. “One guy. When has Logan ever treated a woman right?”
“I am right here, you know,” Logan said. “I don’t really appreciate you talking about me right in front of me.”
“Feel free to leave anytime,” Elise said.
“If you would hang out with us once in a while, you’d see how Logan treats me. Which is, really, pretty much how he has for years, except now we also kiss and do other stuff.”
“Eww. I really don’t want to hear about your ‘other stuff’. I don’t need to hear anything from either of you until you come to tell me you broke up.” Elise stormed from the room, slamming open the basement door and thundering down the stairs.
“Give me a minute to talk to her alone.” Thea kissed Logan and followed Elise down the stairs.
“Elise.”
She refused to turn around from where she stood at the table, mixing something.
“Okay, look,” Thea said. “I don’t know why you’re so mad over this. You’re being kind of ridiculous, actually. But you should know that I love him. He treats me well, he really does. I appreciate you being concerned for me. I know you love me, too, and you’re my best friend. I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt, and if you were with someone I thought would hurt you, I’d be upset, too. So, I get it, I really do. But this is Logan we’re talking about. Your brother. And we’re together and nothing is going to change that. The sooner you can accept this, the happier you’ll be.” She almost told her why but waited. She didn’t want it to be something said in anger.
Elise finally turned to her, a murderous look in her eyes. “I’m not going to accept anything.” Her voice was low and steady, full of hatred. It scared Thea and she stepped back. “You’re going to break up with him. It’s that simple. You’re going to break up with him and everything is going to go back to normal. Got it?”
“Elise, I love him. I’m in love with him, and I’ve had feelings for him for years. He’s had feelings for me for a long time, too. I’m not going to break up with him.”
She swirled the contents of the test tube in her hand, watching it. “No.” She took a step closer. “You are going to break up with him.”
Thea stepped back, her heart racing with fear. She had never seen Elise like this. She was so angry, so full of hate. It was like she’d become a different person. “Relax. What is that potion?”
Elise smirked. “Do you want to see how horrible he is? How much he really cares about you?”
“Why? What is that?” Her voice shook.
Elise stepped again and shot her hand out, throwing the potion all over Thea’s face. The potion burned like fire. Thea screamed and she heard Logan’s feet on the stairs, running toward them.
“See how long he sticks around now, with your face like that.”
Thea tried to rub the potion off her face with her shirt, but it was too late. Her skin burned and, where she touched it, she could feel bubbles of puss rising across her skin. She was still screaming when Logan put his hands on her arms.
“It’s okay. You’re okay.” He turned to Elise, his hands in fists. “What did you do? What was it? Boils? What?”
Elise crossed her arms and gave them an evil smile. “Guess you’ll just have to use your awesome teamwork and figure it out. But I’ll save you some time. There is no cure. She’s permanently disfigured.”
“What?” Thea could barely see. Her tears mixed with some of the potion, making everything blurry and stinging her eyes. Her skin still felt like it was on fire. She wanted to run upstairs and throw water on it, but she didn’t know this potion. Water might make it worse. She ran through possible spells and potions in her mind, but she didn’t know what this was and couldn’t think of any way to fix it. “Logan!”
She felt him put a hand on her. “It’s okay.”
“End this, now,” Elise said. “Or next time, it’ll be your lives and not just her face. Got it?”
“Elise!” Logan shouted, but Thea heard footsteps stomping up the stairs.
“Help me,” Thea whimpered.
“Hang on.”
She heard glass clinking as he rummaged through the items on the table. After what felt like ages of her sitting there, burning, he came to her.
“Lay down and close your eyes.”
She laid on the floor and squeezed her eyes shut.
“I’m going to pour this over you. Don’t move.”
As he poured a cool
liquid over her face, it put out the burning wherever it touched. He covered her whole face and the burning stopped. He wiped the liquid from her eyes.
“Okay. Sit up.”
She did, and wiped her eyes before blinking them open. She felt her face and, with horror, found that the bumps were still there. She looked at him with panicked desperation.
“I know,” he said. “I’ll figure it out, I promise. It’ll just take some time.”
“But she said—”
“No.” He shook his head. “She was lying. It might not be easy to find the cure, but there is one. There’s always a cure or an antidote.”
“But, but…” The tears flowed down her cheeks. “Do I look hideous?”
“Well, it’s different,” he said. He put a hand to her neck and kissed her. “I can still see your beauty, though.”
“Does it make you disgusted to look at me?”
“It only makes me disgusted that Elise would do something like this. I don’t know what’s wrong with her.”
Then another thought came to her and had her suddenly worried again. “Do you think it’ll hurt the baby?” she whispered.
“No, definitely not. It’s a skin thing only.” Her hand fell to her stomach. He put his hand on top of hers. “It’ll be okay.” But his expression said otherwise.
“What’s wrong? You look really scared.”
“I am.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “Thea, when I heard you scream, you don’t know what it did to me. It was like someone reached into my chest and pulled my heart out. And now Elise… If she did this, I don’t know what she’ll do next. I don’t trust her. And I don’t doubt her threat was real. I would never have thought it, but after today, I think she might be capable of anything.”
“So what do we do?”
“I’m not sure. I need to call my parents, I think. Get their advice. I do know one thing. I need to keep you close. I can’t take the chance of leaving you alone.”
“What am I going to do? I can’t go to class like this, with my face all… bubbled up.” She took out her phone and used the camera to see her face. It was worse than she had thought. Red bubbles covered her skin, some oozing a yellow pus. Her face was puffy and distorted, like someone had reached their fingers into her skin and bunched it in places. Fresh tears flowed from her eyes. Logan reached over and took her phone.