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Safe—Joy wasn’t locked away at the mercy of Paulina fucking Montgomery. She was safe.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Gabi vowed, her hands flexing against Joy’s back. And no matter what history was between them, no matter what hurt and painful words still hung in the air, Gabi wasn’t leaving Joy’s side for a fucking second.
“If this was any other town,” she said, simply because she needed to fill the silence and she had so many thoughts in her head, they were clamouring to get out, “I could file charges against Paulina for how she treated you. You have rights, even as a murder suspect. But here…”
“I know,” Joy mumbled against Gabi’s shoulder. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not. It’s fundamentallynotokay. Just because we’re supernatural doesn’t mean we should be stuck in the past.” Gabi was breathing hard, worked up again.
“Fundamentally,” Joy repeated. It sounded like she was smiling. Why the hell was she smiling? “I’d forgotten how you talked.”
“Oh,” Gabi said lamely.
Joy wasn’t smiling anymore. “I’m sorry, Gabi.”
“Joy, you don’t have to be—”
“You just got me out of jail, made Paulina let me go, and you—youbelievedme, you didn’t think I’d hurt that girl and—” She took a raspy breath. “I hurt you, those things I said, I was so cruel and heartless and you still—you still got me out and I—”
Gabi’s arms tightened around her. She didn’t want to let Joy go but there was the reminder again, the reality of the mess between them. Joy wasn’t Gabi’s to hold.
“You don’t have to be sorry,” Gabi murmured finally, discarding every other response. Her eyes were stinging, her heart thumping fast. She still loved Joy. God, evenyearshadn’t dimmed the sheer force of emotion. Even now, Gabi loved her.
“Ugh,” Joy said, putting space between them, glancing awkwardly away as she plucked at her damp-stained clothes. “I need to shower.”
Gabi’s mouth flickered into a hesitant smile. She leaned against the worktop for stability. “I wasn’t going to mention it but … your hair’s kind of … brown.”
Joy laughed, a bright sound out of nowhere. Her eyes lit up, her whole face softening, and Gabi’s heart thumped, helplessly fallen.
“Is it alright if I—I meant, can I use yours? I don’t want to go all the way home to—”
“It’s fine,” Gabi said, gentling her voice. “Take as long as you need; you know where the bathroom is.”
Joy turned to the hallway, but she hesitated. In a rush of movement, she caught Gabi’s hand, sending Gabi’s heart rate skyrocketing. Joy had always been warm where Gabi was cold and even now, her hand was hot.
“Thank you,” Joy breathed, her solemn brown eyes holding Gabi’s gaze. She wasn’t thanking her for the shower.
Gabi nodded, her throat tight. Touching—Joy wastouchingher. Every thought fell out of Gabi’s head as her focus narrowed to that point of contact. And then before Gabi could do anything more than stare at her, Joy was out in the hall, trudging wearily up the stairs.
“Your coven will be here soon,” Gabi called up the staircase. She’d texted her dad to call Salma as soon as they left Town Hall. “I’ll let them into the kitchen if you’re still in the shower.”
“Thank you.” Joy’s reply was … small.
She shut the bathroom door, but Gabi knew she was crying. She wished she could go up there, bundle Joy into her arms and hold her all night, but Gabi wasn’t sixteen anymore. Things had changed,yearshad passed.
She was relieved when an animal scream sounded at the front door, a high, panicked shrieking that quietened only when Victoriya snarled, “For fuck’s sake, Maisie,” and hammered on the door with her fist.
The coven was here.
ELEVEN
JOY
Joy waited under the spray of hot water for her tears to stop. She could still see the cell around her, feel the chill air on her skin, the trickle of water over her hand. Part of her was stuck in the moment when Paulina forced her to remove her coat and the top underneath.
Joy shuddered hard enough to rattle her bones, her head pressed to the cool tile of Gabi’s shower and shoulders jumping with suppressed sobs.
She couldn’t get her body to still, couldn’t make the tears dry up, so she just waited for it to burn itself out. It finally did, what felt like hours later, and left her hollow chested. She wished the spray from the shower was rainwater, wished for that cool calming influence on her fae senses, even if it only soothed for a moment and didn’t fix the root of her fears.
