Page 47 of The Soulmate Bakery

Good friend.

I wanted to wince but refused to let anyone see how those two words affected me, so I just pasted on a smile.

‘All right, all right.’ Terry raised his hands up in surrender. ‘I know when to shut up. Tell me guys, what’re the post-summer plans?’

As everyone launched into a conversation about their plans, I felt Orion stiffen beside me.

I nudged the cup of faerie punch I was drinking against his, and his silvered gaze flicked away from his friends to me. The hard planes of his face softened, and my heartbeat ricocheted again.

This was the moment I was going to ask him to take a walk with me. I was sure he’d only called us friends because he wasn’t one for public declarations. He was private, protective, not the type who stood outside your house and shouted about his feelings for you.

‘Could we –’ I began quietly, when a voice interrupted me.

‘Orion Hawthorne!’

My attention snapped, along with his, to the right, where I saw Celine Pearl emerging from the water of the beach and gliding across the sand, looking like a model from a magazine. She had the natural allure a siren exuded, and it wasn’t surprising that everyone’s attention landed on her.

Including Orion’s.

I watched as he got up and met the siren, with the biggest smile I’d ever seen on his face.

‘Celine, I thought you might have drowned down there,’ Orion teased, and something ugly flared in my stomach.

Something hot and angry. Jealousy.

‘As if,’ Celine scoffed, with a roll of her eyes. ‘I finally got free from visiting my extended family – just in time to enjoy the last weeks of summer on land. In fact, I’ve come back right on time to make sure we get to attend a few parties together before we both go off to MAC.’

Her use of ‘we’ made me want to choke something, but I kept my composure.

‘Sounds good, Cel,’ Orion replied, with a smile.

Sounds good?

In horror, I watched them drift closer together as they walked back towards the group and sat opposite me.

I watched them – like a creep – from my periphery.

I didn’t have to cast a love spell to know Celine had feelings for Orion. I could recognize it, because it was the same way I looked at him. What terrified me was not knowing how Orion felt about her. I knew he wasn’t with anyone – Raven would’ve told me. But what if Celine was Orion’s Silas?

What did that make me?

Suddenly, I felt entirely alone – despite being surrounded by people. All I could think about was being called his fill-in little sister. Was that all I was to him? Raven’s best friend?

No. I knew Orion felt something for me. I just needed him to see it.

To see me in a different light.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

‘Orion, back in Maple Falls.’

When Celine spoke, her voice sounded like the tinkle of sea glass against a jar. All soft and kind. As her eyes slid over Orion, her smile widened and I felt myself go rigid, my throat pulsating with the hammering of my heartbeat.

Orion still stood at the door, looking confused. ‘Cel, you’re – you’re here.’

The shortening of her name made my stomach twist; a sea of jealousy rose up inside me in a way I couldn’t hold back. I refused to be here. I refused to endure this again – Orion and Celine catching up, me watching in the background like some sort of nosy neighbour. I jerked back, intending to go out of the front of the Treasure Trove and escape as fast as I could. But the sound of Celine’s voice stopped me.

Celine raised her delicate eyebrows, that smile on her mouth turning razor sharp. ‘I think we have unfinished business to discuss, no?’