AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Me too,” Presley confirms. “I’m not sorry for any of it. You shouldn’t be either.”
My eyes roll into the back of my head, my body locks down tight and a hand covers my mouth as I climax again, this time bringing them with me. Carter pulls out and I feel his come splash across the curve of my ass. Presley does the same but his lands on his stomach.
We stay like this for a moment, panting, dazed, incredibly sated. The moment between us lingers, so incredibly sexy and surreal.
Then Carter guides me to the shower and cleans every inch of my body with Presley’s loofa. Another intimate act shared between the three of us despite the fact there are only two of us. Presley is ordering food and there isn’t space for him if we tried.
“You’re a flame in the dark, Carter.”
“I was going to say the same about you.”
“Are you still mad with me?”
“No,” he replies softly and presses his lips to mine. “I was just… in a dark place.”
I press my wet cheek against his wet chest and we stand like this, holding each other in the tiny shower under the warm spray. “I missed you.”
“I missed you more.”
“Things were so easy a week ago. Why did she have to tell me? Why did I have to know about Stanley?”
His wet arms squeeze tight until Presley hands Carter a towel. They swap places and Presley wraps me in another towel that smells like Lane’s laundry, which is likely who got it for him and washed it. This makes what remains of my heart ache terribly.
“You really smashed up his car,” Presley comments wryly, he looks more impressed than upset.
I’m sitting opposite him on the bench, wearing his boxers and Carter’s shirt. My foot is on the seat and my knee is against my chest. I pick at the rice on my plate, not really hungry but knowing I should eat.
My mind won’t shut off.
“Hey.” Carter places his hand on my knee. “We’re here for you. You’re not alone.”
But I am, because they’ll go back to hating me when they realize I still can’t choose, and I can’t sit around and watch them move on.
Carter shows no envy when he leaves us alone for the night, he simply kisses my forehead and tells me he’ll be back tomorrow. Except tomorrow I’m probably not going to be here.
“Girl on Fire, I’ve been waiting for you,” Mistress Molly says with a soft smile. “I’ve never seen a child so troubled.”
“I need to ask you something,” I say, approaching the counter with my hood down. It’s the first time I’ve taken it down since I borrowed twenty dollars from Presley’s pocket as he slept this morning and skipped out to catch the first bus to New Orleans. I’ll pay him back one day.
“I know.”
“Do you know what I need to ask?”
“I do.”
“And you couldn’t have just called me to save me the trip?”
“No, because I have something to give you.” She smiles softly, making her golden-brown eyes light up like fireworks. Though there’s a dangerous undertone to her existence, she emanates good vibes. I don’t feel unsafe around her, just weirded out.
“What?”
She places a red crystal in my palm, the size of my thumb, and closes her hand over mine. It digs into my skin uncomfortably and I mentally freak out when she starts whispering under her breath and my arm tingles as though I’ve held it in the wrong position for too long. It goes dead, burning with pins and needles.
Then she steps back and my arm feels okay. When I open my hand, the crystal is gone.
“What the fuck?”
She laughs under her breath. “Incredible, right? Magic, gris-gris always is.”
“Magic?”
“You’re skeptical, rightfully so. It’s for the best. Trust me.”
I stare at my hand and flex my fingers, trying to find any trace of the crystal. It likely slipped up her sleeve, nothing more than a parlor trick.
She hands me a mug of tea after forcing me to sit in an armchair in the far end of the store. She sips her own after claiming the seat opposite me and we both look out the window at the early morning passersby.
“What did the crystal do?” Even though I’m skeptical, I’m curious.
She holds her mug on her lap and I look at her sparkling black nails, like glittering onyx against dark brown skin. “It protected you.”
“From what?”
“From the outcome of your final question.”
I blink slowly. “And what was I going to ask?”
“Three things,” she replies, holding up three fingers and smirking. “First, will you ever forgive your father?” My heart stops and she checks a finger off, now holding two. How does she know that’s what I wanted to ask? There’s no way I can blame Alice this time because she didn’t know I was coming. “Second, can you have them both and all be happy.” Holy shit… no way. “Three, if you go against your uncle, will he defeat you?”
