by H.T. Night
I decided to go straight to my house and just take in everything that had happened. I was alone, emotionally depleted, and scared.
I was sure of one thing, and one thing only; I didn’t tell Paris what had been written in that book. It had been said that I could only break the spell if I became as strong or stronger a witch than Abigail.
It had been written. I read it and knew, but Paris did not.
I went to my bedroom, turned off the lights, and curled up in the fetal position on my bed. I cried aloud, and ached inside to have to choose. I knew I was either going to hurt one of the two men or break Paris’s heart by not choosing her side.
What if I chose both of them?
Or would they both hurt me? The way my life had gone, that seemed like the inevitable conclusion. For sure there was going to be emotional pain at some point tonight because I had definitely made the decision to see them both at the same time.
My phone rang. I quit my whimpering and took a deep breath. It was Donovan.
Why would he call me so late, and on a Saturday?
Oh, my God. It’s the dishonest Donovan. Must be for a booty call.
I answered the phone. “Hello.”
“Hey, babe.”
Hey babe?
Of course, truth spell no more! Donovan became a different person. That was so weird. I desperately needed to talk to him again, the Donovan I had fallen for; the one who uttered wonderful things to me with that voice; that look in those beautiful eyes of his I had seen before he left.
“What’s going on, Donovan?” I asked, trying not to let on that I knew something was different.
“I was at my pad, and I was thinking about you,” he said, in his usual silky-smooth voice. Dammit! He had me in a trance. I couldn’t afford to keep going there.
“You were? What were you thinking about?”
“I was thinking what a cool chick you are. You get me.” Then Donovan’s voice changed to the voice I had grown to love. “I just wanted to hear your voice, that’s all.”
Wow. What a sweet thing to say. That sounded like the Donovan I had grown to know over the last three weeks.
“You are a sweetheart,” I said as genuine as those words could sound. “So now that you hear my voice, what do you want to do next?”
“I want to see you,” Donovan said, and my heart skipped a beat. “I want you to come over. I want you to spend the night. No strings. I just want to lay with you all night.”
“I can’t promise that,” I said. “But what I will promise you is I will come over and spend some time talking with you tonight.”
“It’s late,” Donovan said. “Get your sleeping bag and come over.”
“No. You need to give me a couple hours.”
“A couple of hours?” Donovan said. “In a couple of hours, it will be past midnight.”
“And you don’t want me to come over at that time?” I said to him. I didn’t know how sexually attracted he was to me. I just knew I had gotten him excited the other night. And he had hinted that he wanted to sleep with me. And he had the truth spell, so I could trust that he was into me. All of me. Now that the truth spell was broken, I was not so sure of his intent. What if what he remembered a girl he was interested in because of the truth spell and when he saw me, he was going to be grossed out?
Oh, this sucks.
“Of course, I want you to come over,” Donovan said. “I’m excited to see you. It’s been a while.”
“I know it has,” I said.
“Donovan?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you like me?”
Donovan laughed. “Do I like you? Yeah, I would say I do.”
“Why did you ask the question before you answered? That is what people do when they are lying.”
“I’m not lying, Sahara. I like you a whole lot. I said it as a question because everything I have done has shown you how much I like you. I questioned you only for having the question yourself. Not because I was dodging an answer.”
Donovan sounded so cute. “I believe you,” I said.
“Good.”
“I’ll see you in a bit,” I said.
“All right. I’ll have one of my smoothies waiting for you.”
“That sounds delicious,” I said.
Wait! Was he meaning that as a sexual euphemism and I just said ‘that sounds delicious’ to him. Uh-oh.
I said goodbye and I ended the call.
I went back to my bed and went back to the fetal position, but this time, I didn’t cry. Instead, I was weighing the pros and cons of both men. I had been doing this for about an hour when my phone rang. I looked down and it was Robert. I answered it on the second ring.
“Hello,” I said.
“Hi, Sahara,” Robert said. “I’m not rushing you or anything.” Robert got very quiet. After a long pause, he said, “I felt compelled to call you and tell you how I feel.”
“You did?” I asked.
Okay, this is weird. All the spells are off.
“If you could just hear me out.”
“Okay,” I said.
Robert paused before he spoke. Then when he was ready he said, “When we went to Knott’s Berry Farm, I had a weird feeling I was going to meet someone extremely special. I don’t know why. It was as if I felt your charisma, even before I saw you. What I’m saying is, I have wanted to feel this way toward someone for a long time. You’re the first person who I have cared for in quite a while. I want you to know that.”
“I’m going to ask you a question, but I want to do it in person. So, I’m going to cut you off right there. I will come by and still see you tonight. What I want to share with you, I want to share with you in person. I also want to ask you a question and I want to ask you it in person.”
“Okay,” Robert said, a little nervous. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
I got off the phone with Robert and went outside to the front of my house. I had no idea what to do. It was almost easier not to pick anything and just tell everyone to get out.
My life was dead before all of them came into it. I hadn’t felt this alive ever.
It had been a while since I had a man pay attention, yet two men. I hadn’t had a close friend in years. I’d been so closed off and now I had two people vying for me. One person was going about in love. The other wanted me to choose her side or else.
I didn’t know. I was truly afraid of Abigail. I had defeated her, but I remembered her being so strong. Her power was overwhelming. Part of me thought she left just because I used Black Magic against her and her mind...that was a victory, too.
I had to be honest. I had fallen in love with idea of ending up with both men but I knew that wasn’t a possibility. I want the type of love that I deserved in my heart of hearts. I had to; at the very least, pick one, but under no circumstances would I date both of them, the way both of these relationships were going.
That was what was hurting inside. I knew not only was I going to hurt one of them, I was going to feel my own pain...and possibly doubt my choice. I knew that once I chose one, I couldn’t have the other one in my life. It wouldn’t be fair to either one of them, and it wouldn’t be fair to me.
I got up and went down my dark hallway and walked out my front door and made my way to the sidewalk. I walked out to my street and burst into a run. I ran as hard as my little semi out-of-shape body could run. I ran until it hurt. Once it hurt, I stopped. I was down the street from my house in front of Winchester Elementary School.
I stopped in front of the fence of the school and just cried out loud. If anyone was watching, Abigail, Paris...whoever. They would have thought I had lost my mind, but I had never felt this way. It was a combination of celebration and sadness. Both feelings made me want to cry.
I had to pick one of them. Both guys made me tingle. I felt that Robert had earned so much because I was so emotionally attracted to him. Let’s just say, he was at a physical disadvantage going up against Donovan the supermodel who was also quite wonderful in his ow
n way.
I cared for Robert and I opened my heart to the possibility of he and I being together. I felt his love for me early on. It was only three-and-a-half dates. But I knew early on that he was very, very much into me. Warlock or not, he was absolutely enchanted with me. Was it love? Perhaps. Not until recently, had I thought I was capable of returning love.
Then there was Donovan. He was indeed eye candy, but he was at a distinct social disadvantage as women had come so easily to him that he hadn’t really worked as much on his “people skills.” Before he talked to me for the first time, I thought he probably couldn’t run two sentences together. Instead, under the truth spell, he had been eloquent and even poetic at times. He was sweet and charming. He had a quiet passion that drove me nuts. I knew he needed to be unleashed.
But that’s just my loins talking.
Damn, this decision was so hard.
I slowly walked back home and once I got to the house, I still hadn’t made up my mind.
Maybe I had.
Chapter Thirty-seven