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“No.” Opal answered too fast, her head shaking for extra emphasis. “Earlier today, I just cooked up a little spell so you could have a good time. So you’d be honest with yourself about what you actually wanted, instead of always trying to convince yourself you don’t want anything.” Then leaning into Kayla, her eyes bright, she whispered, “I can’t believe it worked!”
Kayla gasped, somehow the confirmation of what, deep down, she already knew, hitting her like a shock.
“And crazy you found the guy from a year ago. But you should totally go for it. He’s freaking hot.”
“I did go for it!” she hissed. “That’s the problem, Opal. I went for it. In the hallway behind the bar, without a single thought or concern about what Aaron would do if he found out. You saw the rash he slapped on the wine guy’s face this afternoon. Can you even imagine where he’d put one if he’d actually found Rafe doing me in the stairwell?”
“O.M.G.” Opal gaped at her. “You had sex? That…is…awesome! He’s so hot!”
“Yeah, he is, Opal. But I don’t even know him. My fantasies were based on a guy I spent six hours with a year ago.”
Opal kept her gaze on Rafe as she opened her mouth to speak, then simply closed it again. It was some consolation that he had that same effect on the free-willed as well.
She squeezed her sister’s wrist. Opal needed to understand something.
“You can’t screw around with other people’s lives like this. What were you thinking?”
Jerking the offended limb back, Opal snapped, “That you might appreciate me stepping in and taking your self-defeating tendencies out of the mix. I was thinking I might actually get a thank you.”
“A thank you?” Kayla leaned forward and whispered intensely, “I could have just screwed a lunatic or a junkie.”
Opal rolled her eyes. “No. It was an attraction spell that only took what was already there and intensified it. I wanted you to have a good time, not worry about tomorrow or what Aaron would think.” When Kayla just stared at her, she added a grudging, “I’m sorry.”
Kayla nodded, because she was too.
She’d thought maybe it was fate bringing them back together. Had even entertained the idea of a force that strong, maybe being enough to overcome the kind of obstacles that came standard with her life. But now…now she knew that pull wasn’t anything more than some misplaced, albeit well intentioned, manipulation.
She sighed, hating the feeling of loss seeping into her bones.
A light touch, brought her back to where Opal stood beside her. “I’m really sorry, Kayla.”
“I know you were trying to do something nice for me. And I did have fun. But from now on, how about you save your spells for yourself.”
“Promise.”
Well, that was something. Opal was good for her word.
Taking a deep breath, she straightened her shoulders. “Okay, so something happened at midnight. I mean we both felt a change. Does that mean the magic is over now?”
“Midnight?” Her sister absently shook her head. “That was just the time you needed to come together by.”
Kayla blinked, her head cranking around. “Then how long does the spell last?”
Her sister flinched, looked away, and fidgeted with a dishcloth behind the bar.
“Opal!” The blood rushed to Kayla’s head. She felt sick.
“I didn’t think about it,” she whispered between clenched teeth. “I was trying to do something nice, but I’m still new at this. Don’t worry though. I’m not that strong, so it probably won’t last for more than…a few hours. I guess.”
Kayla stared at her sister, half ready to throttle her. But what good would that do. It wouldn’t change anything.
A moment later Rafe slid into a seat beside Kayla, and brushed his thigh against hers, sending a hot flush creeping up her neck. Obviously, the spell was still at work, the magic drawing them together.
Which meant she couldn't get too caught up in anything that happened. It wouldn’t be real.
“Kayla, do you think maybe we could go for a walk or something?” Rafe asked, his deep voice going down smooth and easy.
She stiffened. Such a simple question, it should have had a simple answer. She should have hopped down off her stool, taken his hand and tugged him out into the night. After what they’d just shared, how could she respond any differently.
