Page 16 of Bad Witch

The tunnels were impressive and vast from what Brick was telling me as we walked.

“That’s the gym,” Brick said as we passed another door. “And this is the common room, where we all hang out, usually in the evenings, and once a week Wills does her movie nights.”

We walked in and all heads turned my way. Mags’ cousin Jasmine and her mate, Ren, were in an alcove with Roman, who looked to be tattooing her. She waved and I waved back.

And on the other side of the room, Fender and Jagger stood at a green fuzzy table covered in smallish balls, and they were both holding long sticks.

Fender straightened.

Jagger tilted his head back and breathed deep. “What’s that smell?”

I lifted my carrier. “Pies,” I said. “For Fender.”

Fender put down his stick, an odd look on his face, and started toward me.

He didn’t stop until he was towering over me. “You brought me pies?” he said all deep and growly.

I smiled. “As promised.” I held out the pie carrier.

He took it and frowned. “How many are in there?”

“Four. Peach lattice, caramel peach crumble, peach maple bourbon brown butter, and peach and custard,” I said and hoped he was happy with the flavors I’d chosen. “I’m sorry I didn’t get them to you yesterday, something came up, but I made them as soon as I got home so you’d have them tonight.”

His head kind of pulled back, and his amber gaze got sharper. “I didn’t expect you to do all of this, Temp. We were just talking. You didn’t need to make pies. This must have taken you hours.”

I bit my lip. Dammit. I kept getting it wrong. I didn’t know how to do this. I didn’t understand what was expected of me or how to make friends. Mags had obviously just taken pity on me, or maybe it was only a matter of time before she told me to get the fuck away from her like Raiden had. I was probably already annoying her. How would I know? I didn’t know anything. My eyes stung again. What the heck was wrong with me? I did not cry. Ever.

It was hard, but I kept the smile on my face. Never show when we’re hurt, never let anyone see. My mother’s voice filtered through my head again. “I’m sorry. I must have…I misunderstood.” I reached for the carrier. “You don’t want those, of course you don’t.” I tried to take it from him, and he pulled the carrier out of my reach.

He was studying me intently, then his brows shot up. “Are you gonna cry, Tempest?”

“What? No, of course not,” I said, mortified. I never cried. I never ever cried. Especially not in front of anyone. “Why would I do that?” I reached for the pies again, and again he pulled them out of reach. “You can just keep those, it’s fine, but I need to get going, the next bus is in twenty minutes and if I run, I can catch⁠—”

“You came here on the bus?”

“I did.” The humiliation was becoming too much. I should have never come here. I should never have left the cottage in the first place. I’d been wrong to ever leave. I didn’t belong here with these people. I was a Matilda. Matildas didn’t need anyone. They weren’t supposed to be doing the things I was doing. “I’m going to go now.” I spun and rushed from the room, walking as quickly as I could along the cavern. I just had to get out of here, away from Fender and the clubhouse, and I’d be okay. Then I could breathe. Then everything would make sense again.

“Temp, hey…hold up.” Fender grabbed my arm.

I jerked back, pulling away. “I’m sorry,” I said again, backing up. “I’m not trying to…I didn’t mean to…I promise, I’ll leave you alone.” I spun again and walked quicker.

He grabbed my arm again. “Tempest, hang the fuck on a minute.”

I jerked away again. “I’m sorry if I got it wrong. I didn’t mean to offend you, or freak you out. I’m not stalking you or…I don’t know. I just get things wrong sometimes. I don’t know what people want, and I…I make mistakes. I don’t even have a car. I tried to find a blue one, but the car place I went to didn’t have any blue ones I could afford. I didn’t mean to lie, I just, I wanted to get you to talk, to make you feel better, and I thought…I thought you wanted a pie, and then I saw you this morning and you seemed upset with me, and I thought it was because I hadn’t made you one yet, but I didn’t know what you’d like, so I made four, and then the bus was late because they’ve cut down the service, and I had to stand for a really long time, and the carrier was heavy and a man on the bus made oinking sounds at me, and I…I…” I trailed off, because my eyes were stinging again and I was feeling overwhelmed and stupid and embarrassed and I wanted to go home. I’d just dumped all the emotion that was overwhelming me on him. We don’t do that. I was raised to never do that.

Fender closed the space between us, carefully put the pie carrier down, and pulled me into his arms. They carefully slid around me, then he was holding me tight. “Baby, I want the pies. I just meant you didn’t need to go to any trouble. I’m not mad at you. I don’t think you’re stalking me. You get things wrong? So do I. So we’re going to have to make things clear when we talk, yeah? But just so you know, I’ll never be unhappy if you show up here with pies.”

I stood in his arms, shocked. He wasn’t angry or even annoyed, not at all. And no one had ever called me baby—babe, yes, but never baby—and I’d certainly never been hugged like this in my life. His body was huge and heat radiated from him. It was nice. Really nice. And even more stunningly, I wasn’t afraid. Zero fear. I was in a male’s arms, and I wasn’t afraid. Slowly, experimentally, I lifted my arms as well and slid them around Fender’s thick waist, hugging him back.

“Temp, you good?”

“Yes,” I said.

“I’d also be just as happy if you showed up here without pies,” he said roughly.

“Okay,” I said, because I didn’t know what to say to that.

He lifted his head, and I looked up at him. “I’d really like it if you stayed a while. It’s movie night. You wanna watch it with me?”