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“Spendin’ time with you’s more important.”
I twist around on the couch and throw my arms around him. “Chaz.”
He pulls me into his lap. “Losing you made my priorities really fucking clear, bean. You come first. Everything else comes after.”
I give him the kisses that declaration deserves.
When we come up for air, he settles me in his arms and smiles at me. “Wanna go for a drive?”
“In Uncle Jou’s car?”
Charlie grins.
We’ve both had texts from “Uncle” Jou. Charlie’s came while I was missing and just said, “Car’s yours.”
Mine popped up as soon as I unboxed my new phone—thefourthI’ve had to buy since coming to Bevvy. It said, “Not dead but coming topside is complicated for a while. Call this number if you need help and I’ll send someone. Whatever happens with your mates, you got a place at the Hill. Don’t be a stranger. Hugs and kisses, Uncle Jou.”
Someone else who knows my damn business. I don’t mind so much when it’s a demon lord who has my back, though. I memorized the number in case something happens to phone number four with a smile.
“IHOP first?” Charlie wheedles.
“Only if we’re back in time for practice. You gotta run off all those carbs.”
Charlie chuckles.
He tells me to dress warmly and if my heart breaks a little to see him wrap the purple and white scarf I last saw around Gabe’s neck around his own, I push it away. Charlie deserves my undivided attention and affection.
I dress up for him, forgoing my trackies for black jeans, a fitted scoop-neck sweater that shows off what little I have up top, since Charlie seems to be a boob man, leather jacket, fuzzy scarf, and my Docs. My shag’s still too short to do much with, but I run a little wax through it to give it some style, go heavy on my eyes, and fill all my holes with hoops and studs.
Charlie stands behind me in the bathroom as I finish up my look with a tinted lip gloss, his hands on my hips. He smacks a kiss on my ear piercings before he tugs a beanie down over my shag.
That’s definitely one of Gabe’s beanies.
“Chaz—”
“Doesn’t mean anything other than your head won’t get cold. Stop reading so much into shite. Ease off a little.”
I meet his leaf-green eyes in the mirror. “What are you saying?”
I know Charlie’s met Gabe after lunch twice this week while I’ve been buried in Early History of Magic, the same way he did while Darwin had Gabe glamored. I haven’t said anything. Charlie’s a big boy and can make his own choices.
“I’m saying I don’t want you to get cold since you got barely any hair and Gabe left his fucking hat behind. Not everything means more than it is. Let’s scran and look at some trees and forget about everything here for a coupla hours, yeah?”
“Yes. Sorry, Chaz.”
“S’okay. I know you’re full on when you’re hurt. I wouldn’t love you so much if you weren’t so fucking relentless. But let’s give it a rest today.”
I nod and smile at his reflection.
Chapter14
Ski Lift Wisdom
Itry. I really do.
I enjoy the chocolate chip pancakes and coffee at IHOP and if I eat a little less because I still don’t have much of an appetite, at least I enjoy the flavors. I goggle at the fall colors we drive through on our way to a “secret” destination that turns out to be a ski resort in the mountains a half-hour north of Bevvy.
In the two weeks that I was gone and then consumed by my exam, winter’s come to Bevington. There’s a hard frost every night now, with the blades of dying grass picked out in white come morning and the leaf piles crunching underfoot. Charlie tells me they had a light snow; the real snow is yet to come, though, and the days are still warm enough for jackets.
