Twisted Magic (15 page)

“Hey,”
I said just as Hutch fell in
step with me.

“Why hello, Hope, how has the day been treating you?”

I frowned at the thought of the day. The day
was monotonous
and physically draining. Avoiding people I once cared about was
not easy
. I just wanted Karsen to come by and hang out.
However,
she was either with Kidd or Erica and Audrey. And she was forever stuck between apologizing or trying to convince me Audrey wasn’t
bad,
and that I should hang out with all of them.

“
Things are alrig
ht. Not the best, but when are they ever?”

Hutch
stopped in front of the steps that l
ead up to my house. I turned
,
and was met by his
hypnotic
smile. What was going on with him
, why was he acting so funny
? “You can come in if you like. My dad is at his
girlfriends."

He started up the steps. “I was wondering if you’d ever invite me in.” He held the door for
me,
and I slipped easily under his arm. He was so tall and overpowering at times, other times he was
smooth
and
trained
with every movement he made.

I handed him a bottle of water from the fridge and lead him to my room. Passing by the
boy’s
room ignited shocked stares as they battled it out on a game of death com on the game console.

I quickly locked the window and close
d
the curtains. I didn’t want Slade showing up uninvited. “We can talk in here.” Of
course,
this was the best place to get more information out of Hutch. I couldn’t risk anyone overhearing us in the living room.

I unbraided my
hair
and shook
it
out, relieved to be free of the restraint of the rubber band. Hutch stood watching, not saying a thing.

“You can sit.” I told him, opening the bottom drawer of my dresser. I pulled out a
t-shirt
and cotton shorts and excused myself as Hutch was trying to choose between sitting on my unmade bed or the computer chair that was a little
too
small for him.

After I brushed my teeth and slipped into pajamas I returned. Hutch
settled on
the edge of my bed. I smirked. H
e looked like a giant
among
my small bed pillows and twin bed.

“What’s so funny?” he
asked. He
placed
a
hand against the railing of my bed.
I pulled up my computer chair and took a seat.

“You
are; you're
so
big. You
make my bed
look
miniature.” I laughed, unscrewing the top to my water. He regarded me with amusement.

“I’d never be able to get a comfortable sleep in a bed this small.”

“Good thing I didn’t ask you to sleep in it,” I fired back
,
before he could
object,
I changed the subject. “Tell me how it happened.”

The
amused
expression left Hutch’s eyes at my demand. “It didn’t
happen
. I come from a long line of
super naturals
. I wasn’t turn
ed
it was more or less
instinctive
. And I don’t
call myself a witch.
I consider it
an
endowment
of power that others would be lucky to experience for themselves.”

He brought his hand to his chin, and ran his finger along his bottom lip. “What about you?”

I pushed my hair from my eyes, studying my bare feet
,
lost in the decision to open up to him. Was it the right thing to do? I wasn’t sure.

“
It’s
okay;
you don’t have to explain it to me. I think I understand.” Hutch sat forward on the bed.
He
looked around my room, searching for something. I wasn’t sure what. “Your boyfriend and his friends
belong to
a dark coven.”

I nodded
,
unable to offer anything more.

“It’s more the
control
behind what they do then
them being
witches.
Honestly,
a witch is just a name given by the ordinary. For
years,
it’s been said we
c
ackle
,
ride around on
broom
s and stir potions in big cauldrons.
However,
in all
actuality,
it’s a power
some
one
possesses. It
has nothing to do with that. It’s the outsiders
who
placed a label on our kind
.” He cleared his throat. “They have harnessed a power from
somewhere
deadly,
and they are
doing all they can to hold onto it. The more power they have the deadlier they become.
I gather
that’s the
reason
behind
the music
,
to gain a following?
”

I hadn’t thought about it
like that, but now that I was it made a whole lot of sense
.

“So
,
what about you?
Does your family draw from evil, do all
of them
draw from evil?”

“
W
e draw from elements in nature. What I can do
,
this
is something
I was
born with, not something you steal like your boyfriend and his fri
ends,
” Hutch said this with
a great deal
of anger
in his voice.

“Slade didn’t steal anything. His family would have died if
he
hadn’t accepted the help. They gave up a lot for this…coven.” I
argued. I
t made me angry to think anybody saw Slade as the bad guy. He wasn’t the bad guy.

“This coven used them to gain
power. I'm
sure they saw something in him worth giving
him
this power.
Even so,
that doesn’t mean
it’s
not
dangerous,
and it doesn’t mean you should just go along with it.” Hutch stared at me, hoping to break through.

“I have no other choice. You don’t know what they are capable of.”

Hutch shook his head. “You don’t know what I am capable of either. I could help you. Nobody should be involved with black
magic. It's
always fatal
. And no matter what you think you can do to fight
against
it. You
can’t.”

My head was swimming from all the information. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to do.

“I could help you,” Hutch pursed his lips, staring me down. Why did he think it was so simple?

“How can I accept your help when I don’t even know what I
need?
”
I sighed. I stood up. G
oing to the
curtains,
I parted them and stared out into the
night
. Remembering the moment I first laid eyes on the lights, how I was drawn to the music. That all had
gone
away it
seemed,
and I didn’t know why. I had never bothered to ask.

Was the music gone because they got what they wanted? Or were they simply going
with
another route. They still played music, but it was
in
more
an
intimate setting and
as
Slade explained
,
him
,
Oz and Kidd
were
writing their own songs.

I spun back
around. Hutch
was there standing
in front of
me
.

“You need to get away from them. What they are a part of is
evil,
and you’re a nice girl, I’d hate to see you falling into the palm of something so sinister.” His hand
ran
across my shoulder, sending a shiver down my spine. His eyes darkened as he stared
at me, I
swallowed hard,
trying to pull it together.

I felt like a moth flying so close to the
fire
that it was burning my wings, but I didn’t care I wanted to get even closer. I raised my head, welcoming his fingers into my hair, the
feeling
making my scalp prickle.

I bit my lip. “I don’t want that,” I admitted.

Hutch moved
closer. I
backed up, the window sill digging into my leg. “Then let me help.”

He dropped his hand to my neck, his fingers caressing the flesh. I closed my eyes, my heart pounding in my throat at this point. I knew what was to
come,
and I was waiting for it. Dying to know what it felt like to feel his lips pressed against mine.

Hutch leaned
forward. This
was it
,
the
moment. I
pushed against the carpet
,
on my
tiptoes,
he
took hold of my face coming an inch from my lips
,
but linger
ed
long enough to run his nose against mine. A million butterflies plundered my chest at
his
soft
touch.

My arms snaked around him. H
e came
nearer
running his lips down my
throat. His
fingers
stroked
my hair. I arched my back to get even closer to him, my body dying for
more from him. Every fiber was pleading for his mouth to connect with mine, to put me out of my misery.

“All you have to do is ask,” he said, his voice husky, his jaw flexing under the amount of effort he was putting into not kissing me at that moment. I tugged him closer, his chest against me. His hand slid down my back
finding
my backside and tugged me even
closer. He
pushed into me and pressed my back against the wall, pinning me in place.

I closed my eyes and sighed. I couldn’t bring myself to kiss him. And I couldn’t bring myself to ask.

“It’s alright, Doll.” He backed off, ending our close encounter.

I nodded. It had to be alright, because I didn’t have it in me to make that choice. It was obvious there was an attraction, but that didn’t mean I had to follow through with it.

“Yo
u have to go,” I told Hutch, he stared me down. “Please.”

“Why are you upset?”

I tore my eyes away from his. “I have a boyfriend. And I care about him.
It may
not seem that way, but I do.”

Hutch raised his eyebrow in surprise. Like it was the most ignorant thing he had ever heard. I admit I didn’t sound
too
convincing.

“
Your
upset with yourself because you wanted to kiss me.”

I flushed scarlet.
He was right
. “This power you have, do you use it whenever you see fit?”

Hutch eyes clouded with confusion. “Are you asking me if I had something to do with you wanting to kiss me?”

I nodded. It wasn’t that hard to
believe. It
made sense to think this guy could have whatever he wanted with his capabilities. I wasn’t
the
kind of girl
who
jump
ed
into the arms of anyone. I refused to believe I would be so quick to give in to another guy.

It hurt to think of what I
almost did.
I opened my door and lead Hutch down the hallway.
I ran into my dad whe
n I rounded the corner to get
to the kitchen.

“Whoa, slow down before you make me spill my coffee, Hope.” Dad’s expression changed as soon as he laid eyes on Hutch. He stared up at him, “Who is this rather tall guy coming from my daughter’s bedroom?”

I crossed my arms and muttered, “Hutch this is my dad, Dad this is Hutch.”