Page 7 of Novice Girlfriend

Relief filled me when Tracey arrived a few minutes later, even if I had to pretend we weren’t as close as we were. Mrs. Reid was right after her. I apologized to both of them, but after a quick conference with the three of them, it was clear they had things in hand.

“It seems Ms. Millen depleted herself with her first midterms,” Tracey announced to the factory. “We’ll have to be more careful in the future and check her magic levels after big assignments and tests. She blossomed so fast that we ramped up, but—this isn’t math and we’ve all been there. It’s also why we’ve found a few other witches who could have this magic.”

I swallowed a flinch. That was news to me.

But it was a ploy, right?

“I will handle the announcement that we’re going to be light on treats this week instead of more as planned,” she continued. “If we could dispose of everything properly according to the instructions Mrs. Reid will outline—keeping that procedure for the future—and making sure to sanitize everything twice. Thank you so much and great job.”

Mrs. Reid hurried to take over with all the employees while Tracey and Wyatt came for me, guiding me towards the door. Once we were outside, I felt Tracey’s magic over us.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, unable to meet her gaze and lowering my head in shame.

“Bev, I couldn’t give a fuck about the wasted materials or not ramping up,” she said as she hugged me tightly. “I only care about people talking or seeing this, and Mrs. Reid is going to make sure to adjust their memories.”

“What?” I gasped as I tried to pull away.

“We agreed once we realized what had happened,” Wyatt told me firmly.

“You said I’m not broken,” I said, about to spin out again.

Tracey moved me to arm’s length and shook me. “You’re not. You’re not, Bev. Listen to me, okay?” She repeated it a few times until I calmed down.

Finally, I chilled and nodded that I was with her.

But then she hesitated.

Tracey opened her mouth but then closed it a few times, pressing her lips in a line for almost a minute. Then she sighed and shook her head. “You’re not in the right headspace to hear the analogy. It would set you off—it would set me off.” She kissed my cheek. “You’re valid in freaking. I get it. Just please trust me that you’re not broken.”

“We know what’s going on and we’ve got this,” Wyatt added. “Go do anything else to relax and we’ll find you with a way to fix it.”

And not see what else they were going to do to clean up my mess. I wasn’t that stupid.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered before pulling away and going for my stuff. I grabbed it and ducked the looks of others. I was about to tell my guards to just take me home, but that place didn’t feel like home.

It felt like soured memories now and I didn’t want that either.

Then the answer hit me and I told one of the guards where I wanted to go. He gave me a sad smile and nodded, someone on my detail always able to circle easily. It was a bit of a problem given how broken a lot of Taylor’s people were with their magic, but he’d hired a few for now that were basically just their magic and extra eyes.

The training could come later.

The magic could come now for those who had the training.

I let out a happy sigh the moment we arrived at the florist I’d gone to with Sergey… Except it wasn’t open yet.

“I really am fucking useless,” I whispered, barely holding it together.

“Can I help you?” a woman asked from behind us as I slapped the door.

I flinched and turned around, seeing the nice witch from before. “Sorry. I was here before and—bad morning already and I wanted happy but didn’t think to check the hours.” I glanced at her door. “I didn’t do damage.”

She chuckled awkwardly as she looked at my guards. “It’s fine. I can let you in early since I’m here as long as we don’t make it a habit.”

“No, of course,” I said quickly. “I can come back and—we can get breakfast. I don’t want to put you—”

“It’s really fine,” she promised, kindness in her eyes as she took me in. “I like making people feel better.”

And she probably saw my eyes were red and I was a mess.