Returned (31 page)

Again Tabitha's mouth was moving but no sound was coming out. She looked like a fish struggling to breathe above water.

Jack continued. “Without you and Eli, I would be dead, Cora would be dead. You did a wonderful thing by sacrificing your right to a life in making sure we were cared for. ”

“Thank you, Jack. That is very understanding of you.”

“No, thank you.”

Jack then shocked her by walking over to Tabitha and placing a light kiss on her cheek. Her heart melted again.

“Right, I must be going,” Ember announced.

Everyone else stood making their excuses until there was just Ayden, Cora and Jack left in the room.

“I will see you kids later.” Ayden left in search of her mother.

“I better get going too. Eli still wants to speak with me.”

Her heart went out to him. He'd been through enough tonight without having to go through the book again. “I guess I will see you tomorrow?” he asked.

“You know where I am if you need to talk.”

“I can't tell you how much that means,” he said sighing.

             
She watched Jack leave. The door shut and then her phone vibrated in her pocket. Pulling it out, she groaned. Taking a deep calming breath, she answered.

“Clay.”

“Cora, we still need to talk,” Clay demanded.

He had no right to demand her to do anything. She really didn't have the energy for this at all but it had to be done. The sooner he was dealt with, the better.

“Fine.”

Ending the call she walked to the front door and opened it.

             
She would tell him that this wasn't going to happen. It didn’t matter if the two covens now became friends. She didn’t want anything to happen between the two of them. She held her breath as he sat down next to her and moved her hair behind her ear. She pulled back from him.

“Clay, don't.”

“Why not?”

“I don't want you to.”

“I know it's been a hard night but we still need to sort this.”

“I don't think-”

“Cora.” His finger was pushed against her lips stopping her from talking. “We had something, or the beginnings of something. We could continue with that.”

“I don't-”

He moved closer to her, his eyes dipping to her lips. She knew what he was thinking.

“Clay, don’t.”

“Clay,” Ayden's cold voice came from the doorway.

She jumped and looked behind her. Ayden's dangerously ice blue eyes glared at Clay.

“Leave.”

Clay stood.

Wise move in her opinion.

“Bye, Clay.”

She walked around Ayden who remained stood in the doorway, the silence between them hurting more than any harsh words he might have said.

             
She dragged herself to her room refusing to think anymore. She dropped in to bed praying for sleep to knock her out cold and make this horrendous day end.

FRIENDS

She was glad to see the back of a very busy week of work and training, and she was feeling every bit as tired as she looked. Her tiredness wasn't down to a lack of sleep. She'd been having eight solid hours of sleep a night.

             
She missed her mother's visits; the lack of sleep would have been worth it just to see her every night. She'd brushed on the subject with Tabitha and the conclusion they had come to was that her mother had told her what she'd needed to say. The covens weren't fighting anymore. They’d finally seen the truth.

             
She studied the shop and was once again blown away by the decorations. There were only two weeks to go until Christmas and Tabitha had done a great job. The little semi-circle display in front of the window housed two medium sized Christmas trees, sweet pine was now the smell she loved in the shop. Deep purple organza ribbon cascaded from the top of the trees, swirling around several branches and dipping to the floor. Little baubles in the shape of witch hats, brooms, cats, and wands were strategically placed around the tree. Soft emerald coloured presents covered the wooden floor, piling precariously under each tree. The bell jingled above the door.

“Hey.”

She turned at the sound of Jack’s voice. He dropped his head to one side and studied her which made her pat her hair self consciously. A smile was already settled on his Cupid’s bow lips. His eyes twinkled. His smile expanded to a grin which pushed the two dimples deeper into his cheeks. She felt
tiny
little flutters in her chest and brushed off the feeling by stuffing her hands in her trouser pockets.

“Hey,” she said, smiling back at him.

Without another word, he grabbed the duster and started working. He'd done this everyday for two weeks so he knew what he was doing.

             
She heard the approaching footsteps of Tabitha walking up the fake staircase with three cups of hot chocolate. Of course she also knew that Jack would be here.

“Hot chocolate is ready when you want it.” She placed two cups on the table and wondered around the shop sipping from her own.

She walked around Cora switching off the Christmas tree lights and turning the sign on the door to
closed
.

“How is the levitating going, Jack?”

“It’s going pretty well.” Jack stopped dusting and smiled at her. “I can now lift Cora, Laura and Ayden around... what was the height again?”

“It was about thirty feet, wasn’t it?”

It was an experience she didn't want to relive. Her body had frozen in shock. The fear of dropping out of the sky had been too much.

“Yeah, it was amazing. I can feel it getting stronger. I’m going up myself next time and then I will grab everyone else.”

“Good, just let me know when you need me for a guinea pig.”

“Will do.”

“Right, well, I have business to attend to.”

What business? Cora had a horrifying feeling that Tabitha was purposefully leaving them alone.

“I will be upstairs if you need me.” Tabitha walked up to her flat above the shop.

Jack took the duster and the brush he had been using back to the storage room.

“So, what are we doing tonight? Training?” she asked as she watched him walk across the shop towards her.

His jumper, a snug coral blue, highlighted his toned, lean body as he walked towards her. He looked different today but she couldn't put her finger on why he did. She looked at his hair, the way the jagged short spikes stood to attention. She watched as he lifted his hand to sweep the hair to one side. His eyes looked at her.

“I thought we could give training a miss tonight.” He sat casually next to her and picked up his mug. He blew on it to cool it down and lifted it to his lips.

“Here let me.”

She moved her hand and placed it around his cup, their hands touching. He didn't like his chocolate too hot. His eyes were focused on her; she could sense them as she forced cool air into his drink.

“Cheers.”

“So, is it a night of freedom then?” she smiled although her insides squirmed nervously from the contact.

What was wrong with her?

“Well, I was thinking we could just... hang out?”

She looked at him trying not to let the surprise show on her face. Sure, they had been together every day. Amazingly, he had become a part of her life in such a short space of time.  A little flutter flapped around in her chest.

“Urrrmmm... what do you want to do?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I guess we could go to my place and just chill. I know Ayden will be at yours and he still gives me the creeps. That man hates me and I haven’t got a clue what I need to do to prove myself to him.”

“Ayden's just protective. He doesn't want to see me hurt, that's all.”

“I won't hurt you, Cora,” he said, his eyes blazing.

Her heart banged hard once and then started again. “I know that. He will see that eventually, you're no longer the Jack we first met,” she insisted.

“Yeah,” he said sighing. “It takes a while to forgive, I can understand that. I like that you trust me now.”

She shrugged trying to brush off the comment. “We trust each other.”

“Yes, we do.” he said, but his jaw tightened and pulsed as he looked intently at her which made her heart jump around.

“Well, we could watch something on the box and get some food...I mean... only if you want to?”

Why was she making a big deal out of this? They were friends and she enjoyed his company. He was funny without really knowing it; he could pull the best facial expressions that would make her laugh at inappropriate times. Tabitha had been very unhappy on numerous occasions during training sessions. He was caring even though he wouldn't admit it. He was always consciously aware of people's feelings and how they were during training sessions. More often than not he would place his jacket around her shoulders when it was cold. He was staring at her, his brow furrowed together in concentration or confusion. She wasn’t sure which it was.

“Sure. I'll just call M
um and let her know that I won't be heading home straight from work.”

             
Standing up too quickly and awkwardly, she moved towards the little back room, digging her phone out of her pocket as she shut the door behind her and dialled her house number. She tapped her foot as she listened to the ringing. Why was she nervous?

“Hello?”

“Hey Mum, just wanted to let you know I’m going to Jack’s for tea.”

“Oh, how
lovely
...”

What was wrong with her tone? “Mum,” she sighed. Why was she making this a big deal? It wasn't.

“
What time should I expect you back? Oh wait... you
are
coming back aren’t you? Not
spending
the night.”

“Oh good God, Mum!” She stopped spluttering and listened to her mother’s laughter. “Mum, you're the adult and you've just jokingly asked your daughter if she was staying the night at a man's house. Do you know how wrong that sounds?”

Her mother la
ughed. “Okay, I'm putting my parent
hat on now. Don’t be home too late. Have fun.”

Her stomach was doing somersaults as she approached Jack.

“Mum has okayed it.”

“Eli, will be out, he just text me. Clay and Clio will also be out.”

Her stomach started doing more somersaults.

             
She gathered her things ignoring the fluttering in her belly. Jack shuffled next to her dragging on his coat, hat, scarf and gloves. They were needed now the weather had turned bitterly cold, just in time for Christmas. She was wishing for a white Christmas morning. The icy wind, sleet and occasional snow had not been enough to actually sit on the pavements and roads to make it look pretty and idyllic. She could change the cold setting herself but Tabitha had warned her against it. Apparently it wasn’t great to change the weather at will.

             
As they walked, the butterflies exploding in her chest forced a nervous giggle to escape through her lips. Jack looked at her in shock. Damn it, why did her body have to let her down. She coughed as her cheeks exploded. Jack smiled and then diverted his attention to his feet. She stuffed her hands into her pockets and walked next to Jack consciously aware of the very little distance between their two bodies. 

Chapter 42

HEART PALPITATIONS

He opened the door and stood aside letting her walk in first. Was he having the beginnings of a heart attack? His heart was palpitating like mad.

“Do you want a drink? Or shall we pick the food first?” he asked heading to the kitchen leaving Cora in the living room. 

“I guess we could pick food and then watch something...” 

It wasn't usually this awkward between them and Cora had definitely acted strange on the walk home.

             
Since he'd read his family book he'd spent more time with Cora than he had with anyone else. Cora understood him like no one else. It was amazing how he'd accepted their friendship like it was the most natural thing in the world. Other than today, where there was a weird vibe between them, he felt more at peace, more at ease when he was with her. He accepted what he was now that he had her. It was corny and he knew it, but that was how he felt.

             
He opened several cupboards and noticed that each of them was filling nicely with dust. Cursing, he kicked the lower cupboard. Eli seriously needed to go food shopping. He made his way over to the freezer which was also depleted of stocks. He was clearly running out of options. He pulled his mobile out of his pocket and rang the only option he had left.