Jinxed_Toxic Bitchcraft Book One Page 9

  “Fuck!” I shouted. I couldn’t drive any faster, especially in the middle of the afternoon. Traffic was starting to pick up, congesting the streets leading to my shop. I just had to get there and lock myself in my room. I could handle the pain.

  “I’m super curious about who you’ll call to help you with this mess. The long-time demon lover, or the Warden you’re clearly beyond infatuated with?” Button placed his finger on his chin thoughtfully.

  “I’m not calling anyone. I can break the curse myself. Somehow,” I growled out as another wave of heat pulsed through me. I was amazed I hadn’t wrecked the car yet. It was taking every ounce of concentration to stay within the lines. I swear, my mother needed to learn to stop meddling in my life. This was too far.

  “That’s insane, Crafty! You know as well as I do your magic isn’t a match for your mom’s. You’ll go into cardiac arrest if you try to fight it.”

  I shot him wide eyes. “Bullshit! That won’t happen. My mother would never do something so stupid to me.”

  His brow raised with disbelief. “Really? I only got to see your mother for two seconds and I’d believe she’d do this. I don’t think she’d want to hurt you. She probably believes you’ll just give in like most normal witches would if they got hit with this hex.” The look he shot me was accusatory.

  “You don’t understand. Orrin cares about me more than just a quick lay. If I called him to help with this, it would hurt him. He’d know it was just the hex and not me asking him to fuck me into next week. And Milo…for all I know he still sees me as a sister. No. I won’t ask either of them. I may have earned the atrocious nickname Bitchcraft, but I’m not heartless.”

  He sighed heavily. “And while I commend you for your honorable reluctance, I still think you should try. If they cared about you, they wouldn’t want to see you put through pain.”

  I huffed out a laugh, my brow sweating with exertion. “Wow. I believe you just said something nice to me, Button. You’re losing your edge.”

  “And you’re losing your mind. Call them!”

  “No,” I shot at him.

  We finally reached the shop and I threw the car into park and snatched up Toast. I received a few aggravated glances from people as I shoved my way past them towards the shop.

  I didn’t plan on stopping until I was safely in my room upstairs. But when I entered the shop and set Toast down, Turk’s voice called to me.

  “There she is! Told you she’d be back soon. She never stays over at Mama Craft’s for long.”

  My steps halted, and I sucked in a breath. Milo was here. He had one hand in his black, pea coat pocket and the other holding a folder. His gaze zeroed in on me and he smiled.

  “Hey, Christi. I’ve got some information I think you’ll want to take a look at.”

  My body shook with need just at the sight of him. I could smell his musky cologne even from the doorway and it was doing some seriously wicked things to my body. The pulsations got stronger, making my knees almost buckle beneath me.

  “That’s awesome. Just leave them and I’ll look at them later,” I rambled out quickly, already making my way swiftly to the stairs.

  “Hey, Crafty, what gives? You okay?” Turk shouted at me, probably now noticing something was very wrong.

  “Chris?” Milo asked, concern lacing his voice.

  “I’m fine!” I shouted back as I sped up the steps. I hoped they’d take the hint and stay where they were.

  I managed to make it to my room and slammed the door shut, locking it behind me. Button popped in and surprisingly only had worry etched in his expression.

  “Christi, this is madness. You are going to explode if you don’t do something,” he said; his voice on edge.

  Sweat coated my body now and I collapsed on the floor. My body shook with vibrations that toed the line between pain and pleasure. I moaned and dug my hands into my hair.

  “Fuck! This sucks so bad. I can’t believe she did this to me!” I slammed my fist on the floor and ripped off my sweater. The fabric stuck to me like a second skin.

  I fanned at my face and tried to slow my breathing, but the heat only seemed to intensify. My blood felt like lava. My chest was tight. My belly churned with wave after wave of power as the hex took hold of me.

  A loud knock sounded at the door. I frantically stood and backed myself into the farthest corner of my room.

  “Christi, what’s going on? Are you hurt?” Milo’s voice drifted through the door.

  “Go away! I’m fine! I swear!” I yelled at him, but a shout of intense pain escaped my lips, throwing that excuse out the window.

  “Christi, I’m not kidding,” Milo said sternly. “Open this door and let me in. Something is wrong, and you need to tell me.”

  “I don’t need your help. Please, go!” I could almost hear his racing heart through the door. My senses were becoming sensitive. I could hear him, smell him, and swore I could see him through the door. My eyes went in and out of focus, trying to take in all the extra color floating around me.

  “Christi, just let him in…” Button soothed, floating over to me and running a ghostly hand over my face. The cool sensation of his gaseous hand eased some of the throbbing head ache I was getting but did little else.

  “I can’t,” I whispered through the pain as tears welled in my eyes. Milo was still shouting through the door, but I tried to focus on Button as he floated next to me.

  His eyes were hard, and mouth thinned out into a grimace. “Just let go, Christi.”

  I shook my head. I couldn’t do it. Deep down, I knew I cared too much about Milo and Orrin to ask this of them. They deserved better than this.

  An explosion sounded in my ears. The door to my bedroom blew open and crashed into the wall in a shower of blue light. Milo stalked into the room and stopped when he saw me, cowering helplessly in the corner. Button gave me one last pitying look and disappeared.

  He held up his hands in front of him, slowly approaching me like I was a scared cat.

  “Christi, what’s happening to you?” He asked softly, still not stopping his approach.

  I held up my own hand. “Please. Don’t come any closer. You need to leave,” I begged. Another wave hit me, and I bent over with the force.

  Before I could stop him, Milo was in front of me; his hands framing my face gently.

  “Fuck, Christi. What did your mother do to you? I can feel the power just rolling off you.” His thumb wiped at the sweat dripping down the side of my face.

  “Please. You have to stop touching me. You can’t help me right now,” I whispered to him in a pleading voice. I dug my fingers into the sides of my dress, trying to keep them from latching onto him and pulling him into me. The pain had eased a bit the moment his hands had met my face, but the hex was still in full swing.

  “Why can’t I help you? What kind of spell is this?” He asked.

  His palms lit up in a green glow, and I felt his power reaching out to me. Feeling for the spell I was under. I tried to pry my face away from his hands, but it was too late. Recognition spiked in his expression.

  “Fuck. She didn’t go easy on you, did she?” He let out a strained laugh.

  My eyes looked into his, and in them, I saw something I’d never seen before there. Something I never imagined I would see coming from his eyes. Want.

  He swallowed hard, not letting his gaze leave mine. “Christi, let me help.”

  My brows shot upwards. “What? No. I can’t let you do that.”

  He grinned and huffed. “Why not? Do you not want me to? Or is it that you’d rather someone else help? Say… a certain Incubus demon?”

  The surprises kept on coming. “How do you know about him?”

  He sighed. “I’ve felt his power on you many times, Chris. Plus, Turk talks a lot when you’re not around.”

  There goes all my family. Right onto my shit list. First my mother, now Turk.

  My breath shuddered as another wave flew through me, harder and hotter than the othe
rs. “Not together anymore,” I ground out.

  He stepped closer to me, pushing his body right against mine as I leaned into the wall. Pleasure shot through me, replacing some of the pain. His face was only inches from mine and his hands slid back into my hair. “Then let me help you. I want to help,” he breathed out in almost a whisper.

  I drew in a deep breath, reveling in the feel of him against me. How could I say no when he was practically begging to help me? I was starting to lose the fight I was waging against my own body. No matter how hard I tried to go against the spell, I was still failing at overcoming it. I knew my reasons were sound for not wanting to do this, but the more I thought about the feel of him pressed to me, the more the pain inside eased.

  There was no talking him out of this. If he truly felt this was something he wanted, then why not just take what was being offered. I hadn’t asked him to help, so I wasn’t technically going against my argument with myself.

  He must’ve seen the defeat on my face because he smiled and waved his hand.

  A flash of light and a gust of wind later, I was standing in a different room than mine. Goddess, I want to be able to do that. I only got a moment to glance around before his lips crashed to mine. They were merciless and bruising. My hands slid up his chest as he began to back me up until the back of my knees hit a bed.

  Violent shivers raced over my skin when his hands grabbed the sleeves of my dress and slid them down my arms. My dress fell from my body and pooled at my feet. As I kicked off my boots, I undid the buttons of his coat and slid it off him, then slipped my hands to the hem of his shirt. He helped me drag it up and off him, then pressed his lips back to mine.

  “I’ve wanted to touch you like this for years,” he whispered against my lips. His hands went to my back and he unclamped my bra.

  It disappeared and there was nothing left between our skin. His hands found my waist and I was lifted and tossed onto the bed. I bounced and almost laughed at that, but still couldn’t seem to find my voice. While the pain of the hex had abated, now that I was being touched, the pleasurable pulses still begged for my release.

  He crawled up my body, kissing a trail from the top of my knee, up to my stomach, between my breasts, then along the column of my neck.

  “I know you can’t speak yet, but if you need me to stop, you tell me,” he said against my skin.

  I nodded, then grabbed his face to kiss me again. I just wanted to feel all of him. I didn’t want words. I didn’t want to be slow. I just wanted him. I knew some of the spell was what had me like this, but truth be told, we were both releasing years of pent up sexual tension.

  I gasped when I felt my panties ripped from my body. His lips and hands were everywhere, feeling, kneading, massaging. I moaned when one hand slipped between my legs and a finger slid inside me. I knew it wouldn’t take much for me to find my release, but I held back as he teased me. Fuck the hex. If this was happening because of it, I wasn’t going to let it rule over the process.

  I felt him rise above me to remove his boxers, then he settled between my legs. I bit my lip and closed my eyes when his hand slid up the side of my thigh and he grabbed my hip, angling himself against my center. Fireworks lit up inside me and along my skin. That same tingling sensation I got every time he touched me, only this time, it was magnified tenfold.

  His lips slammed into mine once again as he entered me fast and hard. I gasped against his lips, but he swallowed the sound as his tongue dragged against mine. He rocked languidly and deeply into me, over and over. Our breath became ragged and sweat coated our bodies. The burning heat from the hex slowly began to dilute, only to be replaced with another kind of heat. Desire.

  “Goddess! You feel so good! Harder!” I begged him, finally able to voice what I wanted.

  “My pleasure,” he groaned out.

  I fell into a state of bliss and pure satisfaction as he moved with me. Inside, my heart swelled with all the emotions I’d been holding back the last few weeks. I got lost in the way his fingers caressed over my hot, sweaty flesh. The sweetness of his tongue tasted of darkness and destruction. The cool scent of him that was like stepping outside on the first day of fall and taking a deep breath.

  When my release finally came, a blast of energy exploded from my body. I didn’t know if it was the hex leaving or what, but it felt amazing.

  The pain was gone, leaving only contentment in its wake.

  Milo rolled off me, and we both heaved from the exertion. I closed my eyes and thanked the Goddess above that I no longer was under that fucking spell. I couldn’t believe my mother had done that. But at the same time, the satisfaction I felt at lying next to Milo eased some of that anger. I wasn’t ready to forgive her for it, but I didn’t want to kill her anymore.

  “Thank you,” I said between breaths.

  He chuckled. “This is definitely not something you have to thank me for. You, Christi Craft, have been undoing me for years.”

  I laughed and rolled over on my side to face him. “Bullshit. You’ve treated me like a sister since the day we met. I find it hard to believe you’ve had some hidden feelings for me all these years.”

  He slid an arm under my head and dragged my closer, so one of my legs crossed over his and my hand was splayed across his chest. “You know, you’d be surprised how often I thought of you like this. Truth be told, I was terrified your mother would hunt me down to castrate me, and that you were never interested. So, I kept my distance, allowed you to set the pace of our relationship. Whether it was friends or not, I wanted you to decide.”

  I shook my head and groaned. “You have no idea how hard it was to pretend I didn’t want to jump your bones. I crushed on you when we were kids. Why do you think I tried so hard to get you to play with me?”

  I felt him look down at me and raised my head to settle my chin on his chest.

  “That’s why you buried the Falcon?” His eyes were wide with mock horror, before settling into a devious smile. “You’re an evil woman, Craft.”

  I laughed loudly and sat up. “Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” I moved to the edge of his bed and slid off.

  He watched me silently as I slid back on my bra, then bent down and stepped into my dress, dragging it up my body. My panties were destroyed, so I’d have to go commando until I got home. I sat and pulled my boots back on and then brought my hands up to look at them. I could still feel a tingle of power tracing through my veins. It was the same feeling I got anytime I used magic to make my Spills. I hadn’t felt this in a while. Not since my last time with Orrin.

  “Are you running?” Milo asked. His tone wasn’t accusatory but soft.

  I turned to look at him. His head was tilted to the side and his dark, chocolate eyes assessed me. His hair was sticking up in all directions and his slick skin shined beneath the rays of light spilling in through the window. He was beautiful.

  I leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. “I’m not running. But I do need to get home. Turk has been running the shop by himself all day. There’s a fifty-fifty chance it’s burned down by now.”

  He chuckled. “Probably. That file I’d brought is still there. Let me know if anything I found is useful. I’ll help you with what I can.”

  I nodded and stood. “Thank you. I appreciate the help.”

  “You’re welcome. Now, do you know how you’re going to get home? Because, I can port you back.”

  Something in the back of my mind told me I could do it myself. I’d never tried porting, but I had a feeling I could. It was odd, actually.

  I shook my head. “I think I got it.” I smiled then waved my hand through the air the same way I’d seen him and Mother do it.

  Hot pink light flashed around me. One moment I was standing in his room, the next, I was standing in my kitchen.

  Turk, who’d apparently been in the kitchen, shrieked like a girl when I appeared.

  “Holy, Hecate! How the hell did you do that? You just appeared! What the—”

  I slap
ped a hand over his mouth, halting his onslaught of questions.

  “Okay, first, why are you up here and not in the shop downstairs. And second, I honestly have no clue. I was with Milo and suddenly felt like if I just concentrated and did the correct hand movement, I’d be here. And it worked.” I removed my hand from his mouth.

  A huge smile was plastered on his face. “You were with Milo, huh? I was wondering when you’d finally cave and grab a handful of that yummy man candy. Was it good?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Not having this conversation. And it wasn’t exactly me caving.” I went on to explain everything that happened at my mother’s house, to which he laughed so hard at my predicament upon arriving. Needless to say, he laughed even harder at the hex she placed on me.

  “Mama Craft is a sneaky little witch. That’s amazing. I can’t believe I didn’t know that was an actual spell. I should’ve called her years ago and asked her to do that.”

  I glowered at him. “It wasn’t funny. She shouldn’t have meddled. And while I don’t regret what happened between me and Milo, I hate that it was forced to happen. It wasn’t fair to him.”

  Turk sighed dramatically. “Okay, fair point. How do you think Orrin will react if he finds out you didn’t call him, though?”

  “Orrin will be just fine,” a deep voice said from the doorway into the kitchen.

  Turk and I jumped at the sudden intrusion.

  It was Orrin.

  He glided forward, a grin on his face I couldn’t quite decipher. Today he’d dressed down in a simple black t-shirt and some dark grey jeans that hugged his body perfect. His tattooed covered arms were on full display.

  He didn’t stop walking until barely an inch of space was between us. His hand came up and pushed some of my matted hair from my face.

  “Though, I do question why you didn’t just call for me. I would’ve helped you, Christi.” His voice was husky, and his brows pinched together. Not like he was hurt I didn’t call for him, but rather hurt that I felt like I couldn’t.

  “I didn’t want to place that choice on your shoulders, O,” I replied softy, using a nickname with him I hadn’t used in a long time. “I felt like I’d hurt you enough. Asking you to have sex with me just to break a spell, didn’t sound fair to you.”