Wicked Tales Anthology

by Brandy Slaven

  “Buttercup, are you okay?” he asks tentatively.

  I don’t reply to him because I’m still dealing with an oxygen thief and can’t take a breath to point out that, no, I’m not o-fucking-kay.

  Seeing as though we happen to be sooo in tune with one another, or because he can clearly see with my head wedged between my knees, he knows how dumb of a question that was and is man enough to say so, “Sorry, babe. That was a stupid thing to say.”

  He walks into the room and closes the door, then makes his way towards me, sitting down directly in front of me with his legs on either side on my own that are tucked close to my chest. He reaches his hands out and starts rubbing the outer sides of my legs in a soothing motion, which is enough to calm me down enough to stammer out a broken sentence.

  “Someone stole.. my air. There’s.. an oxygen.. thief that we need.. to hunt down,” I say between the gasps that I manage to steal back from said thief.

  “You’re having a panic attack, Buttercup. It’s alright, I’m here. Shh,” he calmly replies, shuffling closer so he can wrap his arms around me and rub my back in comforting circular motions.

  We sit like that for a while, my head resting on his shoulder and my legs squished up against his chest, until my breathing evens out, and I’m able to talk without needing to take sharp intakes of air after each word.

  “Sorry. I’m apparently not as chill as I thought I was,” I grumble, disappointed by my lack of ‘chill’.

  “It was a shit load of information, babe. You lasted longer than I thought you would, though,” he says. I can hear the amusement lacing his words, clearly thinking he can joke now that I’m taking in even amounts of oxygen now.

  I look up to see his annoyingly handsome face smiling back at me, but before I get distracted by those damn dimples, I frown and ask, “What do you mean by that?”

  He laughs before replying, “Livvie, I know you better than I know myself. I know when you’re not okay, and I know when you’re pretending to be otherwise. Six years is a long time, enough time for me to know you inside and out. I knew you weren’t ‘chill’ when you whispered “what the shit” after I told you everything.”

  Ah, he heard that. Oops.

  I offer him sheepish grin and drop my head back to his shoulder, nuzzling my face into the crook of his neck. He sits there holding me for a little while longer, a comfortable silence settling in the room.

  “You okay now?” he asks softly, now soothing me with gentle strokes of his hand through my hair.

  I nod against his shoulder, not wanting to move. That is until he speaks again, “You okay enough for me to tell you what I wanted to earlier?”

  That makes me move my head so that it’s directly in front of his, my eyes locking on his piercing light blue ones.

  “Sure. The oxygen thief has vanished for now, so I think I’m good. Unless you tell me you grow horns out of your head and a pointy tail out of your ass,” I act like it’s no big deal with a nonchalant shrug, causing him to close his eyes and shake his head with a smile.

  He takes a deep breath before he shocks the ever loving shit out of me with the next words out of his mouth, “So, I told you I’m part demon, but what I didn’t mention is that I’m kind of your demon. As in, I’m here to protect you. I only knew it the day we collided into each other and your head met my chin for the first time six years ago,” he laughs, a little higher pitched than normal, giving away his nerves.

  I’m still stuck on the fact that he said he’s mine, however. The man I’ve been in love with for six years just told me he is mine. Fucking A. My heart is ten seconds away from beating its way out of my chest, and when he looks down to the direction where my heart is, it’s clear that he has some insane super hearing and knows how fast my heart is racing. He confirms that thought when he lifts his hand and places it gently over my chest, directly over the pounding thumps of my heart.

  He looks up at me and stares into my eyes for a few seconds, gathering courage to continue. He must find something he was looking for there, because it’s enough to give him the confidence to carry on with his confession.

  “In the last six years, yes, I’ve protected you, but I did something else, too” his voice lowers and gets quieter, so quiet that I would have struggled to hear him had he not placed his forehead against mine before he blew my mind with his whispered words “I might have, maybe, sort of.. fallen in love with you.”

  I stare at him cross-eyed due to how close he is to me, my mouth hanging open in shock. I stay like that for a few minutes, processing the earth shattering info he just delivered. I mean, learning I’m a witch is a piece of cake compared to hearing that the guy I’ve been desperately in love with, actually loves me back. I’m in the twilight zone or some shit. That’s got to be it.

  He lets me process, showing me he really does know me well enough to give me time for it all to sink in. It’s about ten minutes later when his nerves start to show, however, and he starts fussing with the string of his sweatpants.

  “Say something, Buttercup. You’re killing me here,” he whispers. Although his voice is quiet, it startles me enough that I shoot up off the floor like a rocket and begin pacing in front of him, his face showing his shock at my sudden movement.

  He’s wary when he carefully asks “Babe?”

  I turn and look at him with a blank face, the walk past him to the bed, pick up my pillow and return to where he’s still sat, and unleash six years worth of pent up frustration on him.

  “You” whack “total” whack “dumbass!”

  Whack, whack, whack.

  “I’ve” whack “loved you” whack “for six” whack “damn” whack “years-”

  I don’t get any further because he suddenly yanks the pillow out of my hand, ceasing my assault and throwing it somewhere behind him. Ry cuts off my protest when he springs to his feet, grabs my face between both of his large hands, and kisses me. Ah, an excellent way to shut me up, it seems.

  His hands move from my face, one shifting to the back of my head where he takes a fistful of my hair in his hand in an effort to hold me where he wants me, and his other moves to my hip, dragging me impossibly closer to him.

  It takes a second for the shock to wear off before I’m kissing him back. My hands crawl up his defined chest, up and over his broad shoulders until they’re fisting handfuls of his messy blonde hair, a lot less gently than the treatment he gives mine. He kisses me for all he’s worth, and I return his efforts, six years worth of longing, frustration and love pouring from both of us. My mouth opens of its own accord when I feel his tongue probing my lips, asking for entry. Don’t need to ask me twice. His tongue moves with mine in seductive strokes, bringing a whole new set of sensations to the surface, mainly in the lower region of my body.

  He breaks away after a few minutes, making sure we go no further than playing a very appealing game of tonsil tennis, both of us breathing hard because the illusive oxygen thief is back.

  “You have no idea how badly I’ve wanted to do that for six fucking years, Livvie,” he groans, placing a softer kiss on my already swollen lips.

  “You know, you could have said something a lot sooner, you idiot,” I mumble against his lips that haven’t quite moved away from mine.

  “I wanted to, really wanted to, but I didn’t think it was a good idea until I told you about who you were. It didn’t feel right, and I never knew how to do it, but I knew as soon as I told you what you were when your powers came in that I had to tell you that I love you, Buttercup,” he smiles against my lips which causes me to smile back.

  “I don’t have any powers, though,” I say, my eyebrows scrunched up in confusion when my Rylan induced fog filled brain catches up to that particular detail.

  Ry smiles at me and says, “The necklace has been glowing since we stashed you in the car after the incident in the alley. That means your powers are beginning to manifesting. You won’t see the glow until you’re fully stocked up with your power. I give it until morni
ng.”

  “Well, I choose to live in denial until then. I just freaked out over being a witch in general. Let’s not push it,” I force a chuckle, though I’m not joking one bit about living in denial. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

  “Don’t you dare for one second think that, just because you’ve declared your undying love for me, that you’re off the hook for hiding shit from me,” I playfully scowl at him, not forgetting that he messed up. Big time.

  “I’ll take my punishment like a man. Just don’t take away my muffins, okay?” he jokes, smothering my laughter with another scorching kiss that I feel all the way down to the tips of my toes. We break away when he brushes my still tender neck by accident, causing me to flinch in pain. He whispers his apology against my lips before giving me one last gentle peck on my still parted lips.

  “Your neck any better? I’m sorry I didn’t stop him before he could hurt you. I should have run out after you the second you bolted for the door,” he says, a frown pulling his eyebrows into a V formation.

  “I’m alright, Muffin, it’s just a little sore. I’m sure it’ll be okay in the morning,” I reassure him softly, brushing away his concern and unwarranted guilt with a genuine smile.

  He smiles back at me before pulling me into his firm body, hugging me for the longest time. My head’s lying on his against his chest, my ear directly over when his heart sits. I listen to his heartbeat, strong and steady, lulling me into a blissful state of serenity, his chin resting on my head, and his arms wrapped tightly around me.

  What seems like hours later, but must only be a handful of minutes, he kisses my head and says, “You should probably get some rest, babe. You’ve got to be tired after the day you’ve had.”

  He receives a yawn for an answer, and his laughter fills the otherwise quiet room.

  “Go on, get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning,” he says, nudging me toward my bed until I have no choice but to climb in and nestle under the blankets. I didn’t realise just how exhausted I was until my head hits the pillow, and I soon feel myself drifting off to sleep.

  He leans down and kisses me on the forehead but before he can step away from the bed, I reach my hand out from underneath my duvet to grasp his. He stops and looks down at me in question.

  “Can you stay with me? This little spoon needs a big spoon” I implore, tiredly smiling up at him.

  He doesn’t say anything, just shucks off his shirt and sweatpants so he wears only his boxers, something he’s done a lot over the last six years thanks to our high comfort levels with each other. He climbs in bed, scooting under the duvet and wrapping his arms soundly around me. He tucks his left arm under the pillow and my head while his right arm snakes around my waist and up my chest so that his forearm rests between my breasts. He kisses the back of my head before nuzzling his face into my bare neck due to my hair sitting on my head in a balled up messy bun.

  I hug his arm tighter to me, hearing a content sigh from behind me, and before sleep finally claims me, I whisper, “Don’t be so sure about the muffins.”

  I feel his entire body tense behind me and a whispered, “oh no” is the last thing I hear before my consciousness decides to take a break.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Livvie

  I wake up the next morning cocooned in a blanket of warmth, one that’s not my duvet, seeing as though that’s hanging on for dear life at the bottom of my bed. No, what’s keeping me warm and cosy is the giant body that belongs to Rylan. He’s lying half on his stomach and half on me, his left leg tangled between both of mine, his right leg stretched out straight, and his third leg pressed up against my hip. Good morning to you, too, soldier. He has one arm tucked under his head the other still hooked around my waist. He pretty much has me pinned to the bed, and I don’t have my stealth mode engaged or my coffee so there’s no chance I’m going to be able to shuffle out from underneath him without waking him.

  Genius strikes in the form of a rogue feather that I must have missed taking out of my hair last night. Trying to stifle my giggles, I start tickling Ry’s nose in hopes that he’ll move his arm off me to rub at it. No such luck for me.. all he does is rub his face into the pillow. Lazy shmuck.

  I keep at it, tickling him in different places, and after what seems like an eternity later, he’s fully moved over to the other side of the bed and left me enough room to hop out of bed without waking him. I go to my bathroom and do my morning routine before I head to his bedroom, pick up his duvet and bring it back to my room where Ry still sleeps peacefully. I carefully place the duvet over him and grab mine from the bottom of the bed before leaving the room.

  Once outside the door, I go about my ritual of wrapping myself up in my thick duvet like a human burrito, head to the top of the stairs, sit on the very first step and shuffle myself over the edge whilst muttering quotes from the Disney movie, Cars “I am speed. I am speed.”

  I swear someone’s polished my damn stairs or something because I go sailing down them like skis on snow. It takes me two shakes of a tail feather to reach the bottom of the stairs, and I’m praising my blessed reflexes when I straighten and stiffen out my legs a split second before they collide with the front door.

  After a stunned second, I shake my head and go about struggling to get my ass up off the floor whilst still keeping my duvet burrito securely wrapped around myself. It’s not until I’m fully standing and about to head over to the kitchen when I hear a round of applause coming from my living room.

  With wide eyes, I make a slow and slightly mortified turn to see Lathan’s copper head sticking out from the floor in front of the sofa, his green eyes locked on me and containing something I know all too well to be amusement, with his hands raised in the air, clapping. Chase’s chin rests on the back of the sofa, his hair a very stylish mess, and his hands dangle over the sofa clapping as well. And then there’s Silas, laid back in the recliner chair, and wouldn’t you know it, he, too, is giving me a fucking round of applause. Each one of their faces stretched with wide grins and repressed laughter, and despite my quickly reddening cheeks, I give them a bow and dramatically call out, “Thank you! Thank you very much! I’m here all week, folks.”

  I leave them in the living room laughing their pretty little heads off while I continue my shuffle the direction of my kitchen. There is coffee in that room that needs consumption, and I intend to consume the crap out of that liquid gold.

  I’ve no idea why I feel comfortable enough around them to make an idiot of myself, but most of this doesn’t make sense at the moment, so adding another to the list won’t hurt. Right? Yeah, we’ll go with that.

  I go about making my coffee once I reach the kitchen, and it takes me until I’ve filled my giant mug that I realise three smaller mugs sit in a row next to mine, also filled with coffee. Now, I know I didn’t make those, because my focus was solely on my own mug of godly liquid. So how have three others found their way to the kitchen counter right next to me? My good friend denial stops by for another visit when I decide that I must have unwittingly made them and it can’t be any other reason than that. Nope. No magic voodoo stuff going on here. Just me spacing out. Mhmm.

  Aftera decisive nod to myself, I shuffle out of the kitchen, walk down my hallway and poke only my head around the entryway to my living room where all three demons still where I left them, and all three sets of eyes stare back at me.

  “Coffee?” I ask with a smile.

  With the speed Chase jumps off the sofa, I’m surprised the piece of furniture doesn’t topple over. He skids to a stops beside me and boops my nose like I do with Salem, who, weirdly enough, I realize I haven’t seen since yesterday morning, and offers me a, “You’re the best.”

  Lathan isn’t far behind him, but he picks up my hand, presses a kiss to the back, and gives me a rather charming wink before he, too, scuttles off to retrieve his coffee.

  “What just happened there?” I whisper to myself, and Silas shocks me when he actually answers me. Guess they all ha
ve super duper awesome hearing. Great.

  “You may want to get used to that,” he drawls.

  “Get used to what? The nose boops and hand kisses?” I question, completely bemused.

  His lips twitch, a smile trying to fight it’s way through, but he tries hard to keep it contained. No idea why, he has a great simile. I don’t realise I’m staring at his lips until that smile he was fighting finally breaks through, and I mentally facepalm myself for getting lost inside my own head in front of him. Again.

  He walks closer to where I stand and doesn’t stop until my head tilts back to look him in the face. Damn, this man is tall. Just a smidge taller than Rylan. I’m thinking six foot three.

  “Six foot four,” he states with a smirk. Oops, said that out loud. He doesn’t let me respond when he continues, “and not just the nose boops and hand kisses. I can tell you feel the same way as us. I don’t know what’s going on, but for some reason, Lathan, Chase, and I have a hard time being in a room with you and not touching you. That’s certainly something we need to figure out today.”

  I stare at him, my mouth hanging open, something I’ve found myself doing a lot these last couple of days. Before I can say anything, he tucks my loose hair behind my ear and strokes my cheek before giving me another one of his smirks and sauntering into the kitchen.

  Chase’s obnoxiously loud voice shakes me out of my frozen state when he says, “That is one big ass cup of coffee. I wonder if she’ll notice if I switch it with mine.”

  I’m barreling through the house before I even think about it or question my actions. My feet step on the duvet which causes me to slip and run into the wall in the hallway. I won’t allow that to stop me when my precious coffee is on the line. I straighten myself out and am running down the hallway like the devil is chasing me in no time. With my duvet flying behind me like a cape, I burst into the kitchen as though about to catch a villain in the act of committing a crime. It’s not far off, really.