Page 67 of Buckle Up, Buttercup

Magic courses through me as a sense of the building travels through my body. Something’s bothering her…something physical. Something in the storeroom, almost like a sore tooth.

“Supply room,” I murmur as I pinpoint the source of the pain.

Rebekah smiles at me. “She gets right bitchy when she’s in pain, and that’s how I always knew to call you to fix her in the past. She never really showed that in front of you, so I didn’t think to mention it. I assumed y’all would sort that out naturally.”

She jerks her head toward the back. “Let’s head back there and see if we can fix this.”

We cross the floor and pile into the storeroom. I feel around along the walls until I find a spot covered by boxes. When I move them aside, there’s a scratching sound inside the wall.

Placing my hand on the wall, I gasp at the Bodice’s pain. Magic flows from me and into the building, spreading along the plaster and deep into the brick behind it. Forcing my magic up along the cracks of achiness, I whisper a spell under my breath to fix what’s wrong—termites.

They’re one of the most agonizing things for a building, literally eating from the inside out, and while we don’t see them often out here in Montana, when they do show up, they’re a real pain in the ass.

“You’re gonna need a few treatment sessions, pretty girl,” I whisper.

To my surprise and relief, the Bodice shimmies happily, the shoe boxes clattering on their shelves. It’s the first normal response I’ve seen from her, and it makes my heart so damn full.

Tiana appears in the storeroom entrance. “Didn’t you say you had somewhere to be this morning, Bluebell? It’s almost nine.”

“Oh shit!” I shout, darting past her. “Thank you for the reminder. See you later, T! And thank you, Rebekah! Dinner before you leave?”

“Bye, girl!” she hollers as I fly out the front door. “Find me later! And I’ll keep coming around to help if you need it!”

Rushing around the corner and upstairs, I nearly run smack into Petra, who’s standing in front of my door with a fist raised like she’s about to knock. When I appear at the top of the stairs, she turns to me with a tentative smile.

Her hair’s in something like space buns, but they look absolutely crazy.

“Bluebell, oh my gods, I’m so glad you’re here.” She points to her hair. “Hadrian tried to do my hair like yours, and it’s the absolute worst. Can you fix it?”

I chuckle as I look at whatever he did to her hair. “Yeah,” I say with a laugh, waving her toward Hadrian’s open door. He appears in it, shrugging.

“Did my best, but it’s so much harder putting someone else’s hair up.”

Petra scrunches her nose. “You’ve already got yours up in a bun. How much harder can it be?”

I push her toward one of the barstools and hop up onto the bar, thankful I’ve always got a ton of extra ponytail bands around my wrist. Petra glances up at me, snaking her tail around my neck to rest over my heart.

When I freeze, she blanches.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize it’s not super okay to just do that. Umm, do you mind if I leave my spade there?”

“It’s fine,” I say softly, glancing at Hadrian.

“I know your secret,” she whispers with a half smile. “So if you want to hold hands in front of me or anything, it’s okay!”

His expression’s cautiously neutral, but he smiles softly at the way her tail’s looped around me.

I’m surprised and unsure of how to respond, so I focus on her hair instead. Working quickly, I finger-comb it up into space buns that match mine. At the last minute, I wonder what sort of message it’ll send to Hadrian’s teammates if she and I match. Ultimately, I decide I’m going to put mine in a regular ponytail for the breakfast thing this morning.

“I’m gonna go change while you two wrap this up,” Hadrian says with a smile. “Be back in a minute, okay?”

“Okay,” Petra chirps.

When he disappears toward the bathroom, she smiles up at me. “You’re his mate, right?”

Shocked, I work on the second space bun while I try to sort out what to say. That that’s what this is between us, and it’s not just regular two-decades-long attraction? Even though we haven’t told anyone? I don’t have doubts about Hadrian. It’s the reveal that has me worried.

“I don’t know about all that,” I finally say, figuring that’s the best answer for now.