"That's a big sigh. You alright?" He asked.
She snuggled closer. "Yeah. Just my magic. You're sure Evelyn is okay?"
"Yeah. I called Evelyn yesterday, and everything was fine. You heard me. She's nearly healed thanks to Annie, oh and her Fae lineage. I still can't believe I never noticed."
She nodded. "Right. So strange."
Marci jumped as her cellphone rang. "Who would call me at this hour?"
Caleb yawned. "It's afternoon. Just go answer it. At this point, someone is going to think you're dead. Why did you bother charging it, if you planned to ignore the calls?"
Would it really matter if anyone thought she was dead?
"When did you become social?"
He grunted, but she got up anyway. The absence of his body made the room colder.
She glanced at the screen and scowled. "I'm not answering it."
He sat up. "Why?
"It's my ex. I'm not answering it."
She dropped the phone to her side and caught the change in Caleb, his eyes all animal.
"Let me answer it then," he growled.
She placed the phone back on his dresser. "I'm guessing that wouldn't be a good choice, although you're welcome to it if you want to."
Crawling back into bed, she knelt next to him. A muscle twitched at his temple.
"Caleb? Are you okay?" Reaching out, she rested her hand on his forearm, the muscles tense.
"Fine."
He didn't look fine. He still hadn't looked at her either.
"I don't think you are."
Leaning in, Marci pressed her lips to his. At first, he hesitated, but slowly he kissed her back. His hand looped around her waist as she crawled closer to him.
The phone chirped again, but this time he jumped out of bed. He grabbed it and held it out to her.
"If you don't get rid of him, I will."
That didn't sound legal, so she reached a hand out to his chest. The heat radiating off of him brought her a little courage to deal with a voice she'd never miss. He put the phone in her palm. Pressing the green button, she said, "Hello." Pulling the phone away from her ear, the loud shriek of her name audible without speakerphone had her heading back to the red button on the screen.
Caleb gripped her hand and shook his head.
"Marci? Where in God's name are you?"
"I left. You wouldn't know where I am even if I told you."
"For shit sake, Marci. I know you left. I mean where in the fuck are you now? I'm sitting in a rental car in front of some shithole you're supposed to be at. What? Did you lie to your mother too?"
Her face burned, her eyes widened, and the room tinted red. "I didn't lie to you or my mother. I don't - wait! What? Are you..."
She swore as she dropped the phone and looked for her clothes. "This is not happening."
Her panties dangled from Caleb's finger as she looked up. Her hands were shaking, and logic had flown the coop seconds ago.
"I'm coming with."
She took in his six-foot-something stature, the broadness of his shoulders, the five o'clock shadow that only made him look more menacing and sexy than anyone had the right to be. Yup. He'd do just fine.
"I'd fight you, but I can't face him alone."
Caleb said nothing as he picked up her shirt next and laid it out. The button on her pants had grown too big for the hole it seemed. Her hands didn't cooperate.
Taking a long slow pull of the air, she tried to forget her anger. Forgiveness. She'd moved on already. She could forgive him. Anger had no reason sometimes though.
Her heart felt like it was banging down her ribcage with a battering ram.
She didn't want to see her ex. She didn't want to see her mother. She didn't want to talk to them right now. Marci wanted to be on her own and live for herself.
Finally, she managed to dress. Caleb stood by the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. Right now, his arms looked safe, and all she wanted to do was fall apart and let him hold her. Instead, her walls went up.
They headed to the hallway, the click-clack of Frank's paws the only sound.
Why did it feel like she was walking to her funeral? She grabbed her coat and started to put it on, as Caleb grabbed it and held it out.
"You don't have to do everything alone, Marci."
She shrugged into her coat. "Says the man who just admitted he didn't even know his neighbor wasn't human."
His jaw twitched, and instant regret plopped into her stomach. "I. Sorry. I've been very used to doing it all on my own. Why would things be different now?"
Everything was different, she could feel that, but habits or maybe it was instinct died slowly.
Her magic calmed around him like her soul had found precisely what she had needed. Laying near him had seemed like a lost puzzle piece that had finally been found. She finally felt complete.
His hand rested on her shoulder as he pulled her around to face him.
"Don't pull away from me," he said.
She noticed a small bit of fuzz on the shirt he wore and plucked it off.
Craning her neck, she finally met him face to face. The wild green of his eyes locked onto her.
"If I risk everything for you, you do not get to pull away from me." His voice rough, quiet. His words speaking to a place buried so far within her that she didn't realize it existed.
"I'm not pulling away. I'm afraid. What if this is all a dream? A mirror reflecting something we both want, but is easily shattered and broken?"
His hand trailed down her arm.
"I think you and I both have a lot to learn from each other. One is to take the risk. I thought living here would be safe. And instead ..."
The air thick with the unknown, he stepped closer.
"I thought I had a plan and instead I found someone who knocked down every wall I'd built."
He swallowed her reply with
