Page 30 of Never Been Witched (Starfall Point #3)

“Well, that’s too bad because I want to talk to you,” he growled, slinging her against a clapboard wall.

“Now, Alice, sweetie , I’ve tried to be patient with you.

I let the break-in at my office slide, because I figured it helped cement your place with those other two bitches, convinced them you’re on their side.

And honestly, I was getting tired of the pretense anyway.

But this ignoring-me thing? Using your little coven to keep me at a distance?

I’m not gonna tolerate it anymore. I want information, Alice.

I need to know what Riley’s up to. I need to know how many locks she’s found and where she found them.

And I want to know why you ran over to Shaddow House the other day in such a hurry. You were seen , and she—”

He seemed to stop himself. “Whatever you took over there, I want you to deliver it to my office by the end of the week.”

“What?” Alice laughed. “I can’t do that. I’m not going to steal from Riley.”

He grabbed her arm and shook her like a rag doll. “You’re going to do whatever I tell you to do, Alice, or I’m going to tell your little friends what you’ve been up to, sleeping with me on the sly, feeding me information, setting up times when Kyle and Cole could get close—”

“I never did that,” Alice seethed, feeling a hot, helpless rage building in her chest. A strange magical awareness was making her skin prickle.

She could feel wisps of ghostly energy clinging to Clark.

Was he carrying a haunted item? Maybe he’d spent so much time around attachment objects, helping the Wellings, that the magic stuck to him like static cling?

“Maybe not the last two, but you definitely did the first,” he said, smirking. “And in my profession, I’ve learned that all it takes is a little bit of truth to sell a story.”

“No. They won’t believe that.” She shook him off.

Even if she wasn’t sure the coven would think the best of her, she had to say it.

She couldn’t admit defeat so quickly. Pain and power sizzled from her chest to her arms. The tips of her fingers burned.

“Those girls are my best friends. They wouldn’t believe I would hurt them. They—”

“They know you’ve been keeping something from them. I overheard the teenage menace and Caroline talking about it at the bar. Whining about how you haven’t been around. You’ve been distant. They think it’s your grandparents stressing you out, but we both know that’s not it, don’t we?” Clark asked.

“I can make them understand,” she protested, pushing him away from her. Her palms itched to do something. She could feel energy building in the center of her like a lifeline. “I never knowingly did anything to hurt them.”

“I could tell them that you’re the one who helped Kyle find a way into the house.

I could tell them that you and I were the ones who helped Cole kidnap Caroline.

They’ll believe me. They don’t know what has been going on.

” He was crowding her, pressing her back against the wall, taking up all the air.

“You forget that I can be very convincing. Now, you’re going to—”

“Get away from me,” she growled. She put both hands on Clark’s chest and shoved , much like the gesture she’d used to ward off Victoria.

She felt magic surge inside her, and Clark flew back against the wall, legs flopping and aimless.

The boards behind him actually buckled. His head smacked against the wood with a thud , and he dropped to the ground like a stringless marionette.

Panting, she looked around the square. Between the cold and the rain, the street was empty. Across the street, the windows at the Starfall Point Theater were dark. She approached Clark’s crumpled form cautiously. He squinted up at her, dazed.

This was the most natural her magic had felt in weeks. Even though it had nothing to do with ghosts or haunted objects, this felt right. This asshole had tried to hurt her, threaten her. And she was done.

“Stay away from me,” she hissed.

She resisted the urge to kick him while he was down, but only barely.

Pulling her rain jacket over her hair, she snagged her umbrella from the ground and bolted from the alley. Shaddow House. She should probably run to Shaddow House. But that wasn’t home.

Alice wanted Collin. She wanted her room.

She wanted to feel safe. Was she ever going to feel safe on this island again?

She should leave. There was no “maybe” anymore.

The coven would be better off without her.

She could finish up her consultancy for Collin, use what he was paying her to start a new life somewhere else.

Finding Victoria’s ring would be her last work for the coven.

By the time she reached the guesthouse entrance, tears were streaming down her cheeks, getting lost in the rain. She didn’t want to lose the family she’d found. She didn’t want to lose this place. But she couldn’t stay here any longer.

Her flats slid wildly on the slate tiles as she entered the guesthouse. Collin was standing in the kitchen, setting a room-service tray on the counter.

“Alice?” He rushed toward the noise she was making as she struggled out of her wet jacket. “What’s wrong?”

She opened her mouth to lie, some smooth, calm story just like all of the other lies she’d told in the last year.

It would come easily to her. She would make an excuse and go up to her room, get out of these wet clothes, and for once, be grateful that her sisters couldn’t seem to feel her magical distress.

But the lie on the tip of her tongue turned into a sob and suddenly, she was hunched in on herself, weeping.

“Oh, sweetheart, what—” Collin was across the room in a flash, his arms wrapped around her. She could feel his chin on top of her head, even as he peeled her out of her wet jacket. His huge hands cradled the back of her head, holding her close.

She didn’t want to stand there, crying into his chest, twisting her fingers into his dress shirt just so she could absorb some of the warmth from his body into hers before the shivers shook her bones apart. But there she was, being cradled against him, and she felt her body melt.

“It’s going to be OK,” he murmured. “Whatever it is, we can fix it.”

“You don’t know that,” she whispered into his shirt. His fingers slipped under her chin to nudge it upward and make her look at him.

“I will help you fix it,” he swore.

And in that moment, she believed him with everything in her.

Alice arched up, claiming his mouth. The same itch in her palms that had her throwing Clark across the alley had her tugging Collin closer.

She could feel a sort of bubble forming around them, closing them in.

Nothing existed outside it, only the pleasure of his touch that hummed through her like a resounding bell.

She wanted him and only him, and everything else could just fade away. No noise, no ghosts, no other people.

His lips, wet and parted, followed hers as she moved away to stare at him.

She felt like her legs were dropping out from under her.

His hands cupped her elbows as if he could sense her knees buckling.

Through the wet, cold barrier of her shirt, her nipples chafed against his chest, which didn’t help with the knee situation.

His eyes were hazy gray, clouded with lust. He wanted her.

She grinned. She was not going to stop at a kiss. She wanted him, all of him.

He gave a shaky sort of nod and reached for the buttons of his shirt.

She giggled, slapping his hands away so she could tug at his shirtfront.

He shrugged and went for the button of her slacks, tugging helplessly at the stubborn wet fabric.

She threw her head back and laughed, which only made her dizzy.

Wasn’t she just bawling a minute ago?

The strange bubble of “just them” seemed to have burst, but she was too giddy to think much about it.

She kicked off her traitorous shoes and they fumbled toward the stairs, a sort of loopy dance of shed clothes and hushed laughter.

Outside, the rain beat frantically against the glass, throwing an occasional flash of lightning against the wall.

Her wet hair clung to his hands as he pushed it away from her face.

His whole body—all rangy, long limbs and broad shoulders—was oriented around her, closing her in, but instead of trapped, she felt protected.

She pushed his shirt from his shoulders as she backed up the stairs, Alice finally at eye level with him from two steps up. She shivered as he dropped her soaked clothes to the floor, and she finally lost the battle with her knees.

Alice slipped to her butt with an “oof.” He followed, crouching over her as she laughed, kissing a long trail from her throat to her hip bones.

He spent considerable time pressing kisses across the skin of her belly.

She threaded her fingers through his thick dark hair and pulled gently, enjoying the way he looked her right in the eyes as he trailed his tongue over the waistband of her pink cotton panties.

He tugged them down her legs and threw them over his shoulder, settling between her thighs to kiss and nip until she was moaning with delight.

She didn’t even care that the stairs were digging into her back.

They gave her better leverage to work under his dramatically taller body.

But apparently, Collin minded, because he scooped her up from the floor, carried her upstairs, and spread her across the bed.

When he climbed over her, she didn’t feel caged in; she felt closer to him, and that in itself was a thrilling sensation.