Page 10 of Novice Girlfriend

I smiled as Clare excitedly told us about how she slow-cooked a mix of ground beef and ground chicken to make the taco meat so it was healthier and we couldn’t tell it was half chicken. That she mixed in tofu and cottage cheese for the protein, but also low-fat cheese, and half of the eggs were egg whites.

Basically, I smiled that she was doing better.

We were doing better out of that fucking house of horrors.

Even if I ruined the factory that morning. I would enjoy this moment and that my sister was able to do better.

That I could know her now and we could have something together.

3

Winter

“Want to tell me what’s going on with you?” I asked Bev quietly after breakfast while we were walking around her lake. I’d seen the redness of her eyes. Not like she’d cried, but wiped them too much and messed up her makeup.

Which made her wipe them even more.

Then all the flowers, not just for me. She’d seemed guilty as she’d checked her phone and glanced at the door like she was looking for news. But also like she’d wanted the distraction of Clare talking about food and cooking.

Like she’d needed that nice moment to hold onto.

So yeah, didn’t take me much to figure out something was going on.

“I messed up at the factory,” she said quietly, embarrassment and worry about surrounding her.

“That’s to be expected,” I hedged, reaching over and sliding my arm around her. I frowned when she pulled away. “Talk to me, little sexy.”

She let out a shaky breath and did. She started off by telling me that her panic was about something she couldn’t tell me, only Derek, which grated on me, but if that was the way the gods wanted it… Fuck.

So I kept my patience in check and listened to her talk about making the massive batches of treats turn rancid. She thought she was broken. At first maybe a mix-up, but then sabotage, but then—she always went back to being broken.

And that broke my heart.

“Bev, listen to me,” I said gently. “That’s not what happened.”

She bobbed her head. “Tracey said I’m not in the headspace to hear what I did wrong, so it’s really bad.”

Fuck. I hated to go against Tracey, but that wasn’t the right answer for someone who had had so much kept from her.

I made a snap decision when I saw her head hang lower. I scooped her up, ignoring her cute little yelp, and held her against me until she wrapped herself around me like a monkey. I kissed her cute little nose and then stuck out my tongue at her just to be silly.

“This isn’t funny, Winter,” she rasped.

“I know, but I’m learning from what you told me about not treating you as too fragile and you can handle more than we think,” I told her honestly as I carried her over to a fallen tree. I sat down and kept her straddling my lap because… Why not?

She was hot and I wanted her on me always.

I reached up and booped her nose when she opened her mouth. “Just give me this because yes, everything is too crazy, and I even understand where Tracey is coming from. It’s been a few hours and—trust me too.” I was glad when she nodded and simply searched my eyes for answers.

Shit, her giving me the faith I had them after so many treated me as nothing as an orphan always healed me somehow.

“I’m strong, stronger than most would think for my age, even getting into Morrigan,” I told her. “You’ve seen my bond with Teddy. I put in the work and I’ve got a good support system.”

“Yes, you’re very impressive. Only one of your friends has more potential or magic than you,” she said… Too easily.

Well, now I had a new goal because I was a competitive man and I always wanted to be the best in her eyes. In every way. Even magically.

So not the point, idiot.