Page 16 of Luck Be a Genie

Once I was settled, he wrapped his arms around me. “He’s the only grumpy jerk in my family. Don’t worry about him. My other brothers and I don’t.”

Resting my forehead against his bicep, I smiled, and said softly, “Liar. I can tell how much you love each other.”

His sigh was put-upon. “Of course I love him. He’s my big brother. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get carried away sometimes, sticking his abnormally large nose into me and my other brothers’ business.”

My chuckle was a little watery.

A waiter came by and dropped off our food, but neither Nick nor I moved to pick it up and eat it.

Nick started rubbing my back. “Talk to me, Lucks. This reaction seems a little...”

“Over the top?” I asked quietly.

He hesitated before nodding. “I mean, far be it for me to tell anyone how to feel, but...“

I sighed and settled more of my weight against him, getting more comfortable. “You know that my grandfather raised me during my teens, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah, you’ve mentioned it once or twice.”

“Well, he had to fight my parents for custody of me in order to do that. My parents were physically and emotionally abusive as well as manipulative. My father was half leprechaun, half human, and my mom was fully human. They were both cruel and selfish. When I was born and started exhibiting strange magic that embarrassed them, they took me to a lot of professionals to figure out what was going on. It wasn’t until I was seven or so that a medical mage figured it out.

“I walked on eggshells around them, constantly fearing their anger. They hit me, called me horrible names and screamed at me. I... could never do anything right, though I tried so hard.

“My grandfather and I had always been close, but whenever he was around, my parents were different. I think they feared him because he’s so powerful. And, at the time, I was still bewildered, wondering why I could never be enough for my parents. Why they did the things they did. I loved them. I just didn’t understand why love had to hurt so much. When I got older, I realized that what they were doing was actually abuse.

“One night, I was sitting in my closet crying, listening to them screaming at each other in the living room, when my grandfather popped into the closet with me, took my hand, and blinked me to his house in Alaska. He’d heard them at the front door, you see. They were too busy screaming at each other to hear him knocking.

“He tried to get me to talk about it, but I just couldn’t at first. It was like everything was locked inside of me, and I was afraid that I would break if I let it out. I also loved them and didn’t want to get them in trouble. I didn’t want them to be hurt or... or suffer anything bad. I thought that’s what love was supposed to be like.”

“But it wasn’t like that with them,” Nick said.

I shook my head and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Finally, I opened up to my grandfather, and though he acted calm so he didn’t scare me, I could tell he was livid.” I tried to smile. “And a livid full-blooded leprechaun is all kinds of scary.” I shook my head. “Anyway, he pushed it through the paranormal courts, suing for full custody of me, and when that was granted, he filed restraining orders against them. They can’t come near him or me for the rest of our lives.

I shrugged. “As a result, I deal with some anxiety, and some, umm, fear, when people are angry near me. Even if it’s not really directed at me.”

We lay next to each other in silence for a few minutes before he said, “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that, sunshine.” He tilted my face up so I could see the absolute sincerity in his expression. “You’re always safe with me,” he vowed. “I hope you know that. And if you don’t yet, I’ll just let time and my actions prove it to you.”

I swallowed and nodded.

After unloading all of that, I wasn’t even hungry. But Nick teased me until I nibbled a little bit on my chicken tenders, swiping some of my fries and comically shoving them all into his mouth.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

But it wasn’t until a small tray filled with a weighted I’m Sorry balloon, a cute stuffed piglet, two boxes of fancy chocolates, and several other yummy looking snacks blinked in front of us outside my chaos magic range that I was able to relax.

“Looks like big bro sent an apology gift,” Nick said. He pulled the table over to us and rummaged in one of the chocolate boxes, grabbed a white-covered chocolate, then popped it into his mouth faster than I could blink.

I swiped the box from him, scowling. “These are my apology chocolates, not yours!” I peeked in the box, and couldn’t help but laugh. Inside, the icing spelled out words on each individual chocolate. From left to right, they read I’m Sorry, Lucky.

Nick shook his head, and gave me sad puppy eyes. “Cruel woman. And after I shared my nachos with you.”

I felt bad for about three seconds until I realized he’d already swiped the other box from the table and was halfway to opening it already. I laughed and smacked him with my stuffed piglet.

Chapter 7

Lucky

The next day, I slept in. By nine, I dragged myself out of bed, showered, and got ready. I chose a cute pink fluttery dress that came to my knees, and added sandals and some cute bracelets. For my hair, I just wound it on top of my head in a secure bun. It felt a little muggy when I’d stepped outside onto my balcony a few minutes ago, and I didn’t want to deal with poofy hair today.