Cas and Hollis murmur in agreement as we arrive back at the jeep. Hollis opens the passenger door for me. Before I get into the jeep, I smile around at them one last time. I know my magic has bonded to Hollis and Cas the same way it did to Theo. My connection to them isn’t quite as strong as the one I share with Theo yet, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Do you want to hang out at your place for a bit?” Theo asks me once we’re almost to the bookshop.

  “Yeah, definitely!” I exclaim eagerly. To save myself some embarrassment and play my excitement off, I clear my throat and shrug. “I mean, if you guys want to.”

  Theo raises his eyebrows at Cas and Hollis in the rearview mirror. “Do you want to hang out with Cricket a little longer, or would you both rather go home?”

  “Don’t be stupid. Of course we want to hang out.” Cas rolls his eyes.

  Hollis chuckles and gives me an awkward, grimacing smile. “Do you know if Paisley is working or not?”

  Oof. I’d nearly forgotten about the way Paisley acted during English class earlier. I don’t want to be mad at her just for having a crush on Hollis, but it upsets me he’s so obviously uncomfortable around her.

  “No, I don’t think so. She’s only supposed to work a few days a week, and she’s been calling out a lot lately.”

  We pull up in front of Flora & Feathers, and for the millionth time that day, Hollis opens my door for me. Cas grabs my shoes and backpack from the back, which I’m grateful for. I totally would have forgotten them. The bell chimes as we all walk in, and I see Luca behind the register with a look of relief on his face.

  “Oh, thank God. Cricket, please...” He points to the other end of the counter where Stella is sitting, flicking her tail back and forth in irritation.

  “Have you been being mean?” I laugh and walk over to her, leaning down to rub my forehead against hers.

  “She’s been sitting here growling at me for the past hour! She won’t leave, and I have to work the register. She’s been scaring the customers too.” Luca sounds totally exasperated.

  Stella purrs in relief and jumps up onto my shoulder. She nuzzles my cheek and I whisper, “I’m sorry I was gone so long.”

  “Hey girl, did you miss me too?” Theo walks up behind me and grins at Stella.

  Stella purrs and rubs her head against his hand affectionately.

  “What the—” Luca stammers, his eyes widening comically. “I didn’t think anyone aside from you could touch her.”

  “Usually, yeah.” I shrug and gesture to the gorgeous guy beside me. “She loves Hollis too for some reason.”

  Luca finally notices the other two boys that have come into the bookshop with me. He looks surprised for a split second and then gives me a conspiring grin and teases, “Not avoiding them anymore, huh?”

  Hollis stares at Luca like a deer in headlights, and Cas snickers under his breath. Theo’s eyes light up mischievously as he scrunches his nose, and he turns to face me and asks, “What’s that?”

  There’s no way Theo or Luca are letting the subject drop, and I already admitted it to Cas. With a roll of my eyes, I tell Theo, “It wasn’t a big deal. I just, yesterday I watched Hollis and Cas walk in here, and I walked around the neighborhood until they left. I didn’t know who they were, and I’d already embarrassed myself…”

  “Wait.” Cas laughs incredulously. “You weren’t just hiding from me? You were avoiding Hollis too?”

  I nod quickly, wanting to be finished with this conversation already. Theo snorts and wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me close so he can ruffle my hair. Stella digs her claws into my shoulder to brace herself, and she rubs her face against Theo’s arm while she purrs.

  Theo updates Cas, telling him what happened between me and Hollis here in the bookshop a couple of days ago, and Hollis admits to coming back, hoping to see me again. Cas only assumed Hollis came here to look for books yesterday, and he slipped out to investigate the café next door while Hollis was busy browsing.

  In retrospect, the whole situation is super funny. It’s still surreal I met Theo’s two best friends in the universe without any of us realizing it, and they both felt the need to track me down afterwards. I feel like we were all meant to meet, no matter the circumstances.

  Luca tells us Aurora’s in the workshop, and the guys and I head upstairs to hang out in my room. When we reach the attic, Theo collapses back on my bed, kicks off his shoes, and gives me a wolfish grin. He looks really fucking good, sitting on my bed like that. I want to tell him to cut it out, but I know he can’t help himself.

  Hollis and Cas are still standing in the doorway and are looking around the room warily. I laugh at the looks on their faces and teasingly ask, “Jesus, have you guys never been in a girl’s room before?”

  Cas rolls his eyes and steps into my room, but Hollis doesn’t move an inch. I widen my eyes in disbelief. There’s no fucking way he hasn’t been in a girl’s room before. He’s way too hot. I squint my eyes at him and ask, “Really!?”

  “What?” He blinks at me.

  “You’ve never been in a girl’s room before!?”

  He doesn’t answer, and a blush rises to his cheeks. Theo chuckles. “Hollis is much more of a gentleman than Cas and I are.”

  I’m still not sure I entirely believe Hollis is that innocent. I grin at him and Cas, spreading my arms to gesture around the space of my bedroom. “Well, look around to your hearts’ desire. But first...” I step in front of them and scratch Stella’s head. “You guys need to meet my familiar.”

  They look at her curiously. I quickly introduce Stella and explain what a familiar is. Hollis hesitantly reaches out a hand to pet her head, and she purrs happily. I turn my head to grin at her and then focus my eyes on Cas.

  “Moment of truth, Cas. Stella hates literally everybody in the world except for me, Theo, and Hollis.”

  His eyes are shining with determination as he reaches his hand toward Stella. She tenses up and sniffs him judgmentally. She turns to look at me for a moment, and I raise one eyebrow at her in question.

  She launches herself at him so he’s forced to hold her against his chest. She purrs and kneads his shoulder. Cas grins like he just won a fucking medal.

  He lightly strokes her fur and laughs. “Ouch, her claws really fucking hurt.”

  I slide my shirt and bra strap off of my shoulder to show them the tiny scars I have from Stella perching there all the time. Cas and Hollis get stupid lusty eyes when I expose my skin. Part of me wants to roll my eyes, but I also want to take my entire shirt off just to see how they would react. After they realize what I’m showing them, Cas lightly runs his finger over the scars with a soft expression on his face.

  “Can you, um, talk to Stella?” Hollis asks. He looks like he wants to touch my shoulder too, but he curls his hand into a fist and refrains as he gazes intently at Cas’s fingers against my skin.

  Cas sets her down on the ground, and she jumps up on the bed to snuggle with Theo.

  “Kind of.” I shrug. “It’s not so much talking as, like, I can feel what she feels, and vice versa.”

  “Are we really allowed to look through your shit?” Cas asks thoughtfully as he looks around my room.

  “Yeah, I don’t care.”

  Cas saunters over to my desk and touches everything on top of it. When he opens one of the drawers, I snort in amusement. He’s so fucking nosy, but I can’t deny I’d probably want to do the same thing if I was at his house. Hollis apprehensively watches Cas and bites his lip, and he keeps glancing back at me nervously. I smile at him reassuringly and turn to look at Theo. He’s still lying on my bed with Stella on his chest. He’s petting her softly with one hand and has the other behind his head. He’s staring at me, letting his eyes wander up and down my body with a tiny smirk on his lips.

  I want to sit down, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to sit on the bed with Theo while he’s looking at me like that. So, I sit on the floor and lean back against the bed, smiling up at him. He smiles back and reaches down to gently play with my hair. I lean into his hand with a sigh.

  “Can you read these like Aurora does?” Hollis asks quietly, and I look up at him inquisitively. He’s holding one of my tarot decks.

  “Yeah, of course!” I wave at him to sit beside me. “Come here. I’ll show you.”

  Glancing at Cas, I see he’s moved on from my desk and is now going through my closet. Hollis slides down onto the floor beside me, and I pull him closer until our legs are pressed together.

  “Hey, let me see your phone,” Theo says, tugging gently at my hair. I pull my phone out of my pocket and hand it to him without question. I guess he wants to be nosy too.

  I take the tarot cards from Hollis and smile. “Technically, anyone can read tarot cards. Aurora’s better at it because of her affinity, but there’s not usually any magic involved.” He listens attentively as I go through all the cards and explain their potential meanings.

  “Why do all of your clothes look like they belong to either a stripper or a homeless person?”

  Theo snorts at Cas’s sudden outburst, but Hollis looks offended on my behalf. I give Cas a lopsided grin and raise an eyebrow. “Cas, you know, that’s actually exactly what I was going for. Hobo-slut chic!”

  The guys break out in surprised laughter, and I wave Cas over to sit down beside me. Theo turns to lie on his side, and he holds my phone down between me and Cas to show me a picture.

  “Are these your brothers?” It’s a picture from my Instagram account of me standing between Killian and Emerson. We took it earlier this summer when they first came home from college.

  “Yep, Killian and Emerson.” I point out which twin is which.

  Hollis leans over so he can see the picture too. Theo laughs. “You didn’t tell me they were twins. How the hell can you even tell them apart?”

  “What are you doing, anyway?” I ask instead. I take my phone from him and frown at it curiously.

  He places his hand back in my hair and gently rubs his fingers against my neck. “I made it so that now you’re following the three of us on Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. All social media is covered now, little witch. Plus, I added Cas and Hollis’s numbers to your contacts.”

  Cas grunts and glares at Theo. “You realize she’s going to see how much of a player you are now, right?”

  “It would appear that Cricket and I have that in common.” Theo winks at me when I meet his eyes.

  Yep, he was definitely being nosy. I tilt my head back and grin at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Hollis laughs and laces his fingers through mine. Our legs are still pressed together, and he grazes his thumb over my knuckles. Theo’s hand is still on my neck and hair. Cas is sitting a few inches away from me with his elbows resting on his bent knees. I feel the strongest urge to be touching all three of them at once, so I wrap my hand around his bicep and gently pull him closer to me. Once he scoots close enough, I rest my head against his shoulder. My magic hums blissfully at their contact. It’s an incredibly intense and addictive feeling.

  I’m pretty sure the guys can feel my magic reacting to them because Hollis squeezes my hand and Theo’s hand presses a little harder against the back of my neck. But then Cas tenses up and leans away from me. In a harsh voice, he asks, “Why the fuck do you keep touching us like that?”

  My heart drops into my stomach, and I pull away from them. I’m so embarrassed, and it feels like my face is on fire from blushing so hard. The first time I hung out with Theo, he said he could feel our magic intertwine and connect. I’d just assumed that Cas and Hollis felt that today too, but maybe I was wrong.

  “I’m sorry, I just thought...”

  A tapping at my bedroom door interrupts me. Thank god. I quickly jump up and open it to find Harold perched on the stair railing. I hold my arm out for him to hop onto my shoulder and tell the guys I’ll be right back. When I’m halfway down the stairs, I hear a loud thump from my bedroom. I’m not sure I even want to know what that was.

  Aurora’s waiting in her workshop, and she smiles brightly when I walk in. “Hi, sweetie! Sorry to bug you, but do you mind helping me really quick?”

  She explains that she’s working on a new potion. She’s using her magic to heat it up, but once it reaches a boil, the potion needs to be cooled instantly in order to set correctly. Aurora doesn’t think she’ll be able to switch over to a cooling spell quickly enough. I’m more than happy to help her, and it only takes a few minutes for us to finish. After Aurora makes sure everything is setting, she sets the potion aside and follows me upstairs to the kitchen for a break.

  She washes her hands and asks me about my day. I tell her about my classes, meeting Hawthorne, and playing with the guys.

  “They’re still upstairs?” She asks. When I nod, she picks up a covered plate that’s sitting on the counter and hands it to me. “Here, I made brownies for you earlier. I completely forgot until just now.”

  “Thank you!” I take the plate. The brownies look and smell delicious. When I get upstairs to my bedroom, I find the guys exactly where I left them. Only, now Theo is sitting up on the bed and leaning back against the headboard. Stella is curled up asleep on my desk chair. Cas is glowering and...did someone punch him? He looks like he has a black eye, but it’s already mostly healed. I squint at him for a second, but I decide it’s probably best if I just don’t mention it.

  “Hey, sorry I took so long.” I give the guys a charming smile and pretend like everything is fine. “Aurora needed my help in her workshop, but she made us brownies!”

  I hold the plate up triumphantly and sit down on the other end of my bed against the footboard. Hollis glares menacingly at Cas, and Cas winces at me.

  “Uh-uh, nope. You don’t get to pull away from us just because Cas is being a dick.” Theo grunts and reaches forward to grab my ankle. He pulls me to him until I’m practically in his lap.

  Too afraid to say something and embarrass myself further, I bite my lip and avert my eyes. Theo brushes my hair away from my face and wraps his other arm around my shoulders. Quietly he asks, “You want to snuggle with Hollis too?”

  Hollis is sitting on the floor, staring up at me with hopeful eyes. I give him a small smile and nod. He beams at me and hops onto the bed. He presses his body against my other side so I’m sandwiched between him and Theo. My body relaxes, and I feel so warm and cherished having them cuddle me like this.

  “It’s just…” I grip the brownie plate tightly in my lap. “The first time I saw Theo shift, I felt our magic bond together, and I felt so close to him afterwards. Today, I thought I felt that happening with you guys too.”

  Hollis smiles and picks up my hand. He brings it to his face and gently rubs his stubbly cheek against my skin, which feels amazing. “Cricket, we feel that too. It’s nuts! I feel like I’ve known you forever, not just one day. And I get it now, why you and Theo are so affectionate with each other. My wolf is making me want to touch you constantly.”

  He surprises me by nuzzling my neck the same way he did in his wolf form. It tickles, and I giggle. When he looks up, he grins at me happily. Theo brushes my hair back softly again and kisses my forehead.

  Theo pulls back slightly and sighs. “I don’t know why Cas is acting like he doesn’t feel the same pull, but he does. So, please don’t feel embarrassed, little witch.”

  My feelings are still hurt from Cas rejecting me, but I look down to meet his glittering green eyes. He looks so fucking sad that it’s breaking my heart.

  “You can come up here too if you want,” I say to him.

  Cas perks up, but he looks at Theo with uncertainty. Theo growls low in his throat and uses that weird, authoritative voice to say, “Sorry, but Cas is going to stay on the floor. He doesn’t get to hurt your feelings like that and then get rewarded for it.”

  “Well, here, at least take a brownie.” I hold the plate down for Cas. “And please stop looking so sad.”

  He takes a brownie and mumbles, “Thanks.”

  I grab his wrist and force him to look at me. “I mean it. I’m not mad at you, okay? I’m sorry Theo is punishing you, or whatever weird wolf thing he’s doing, but I’m not upset anymore.”

  Cas slowly smiles until his dimple is showing. He sounds relieved when he says, “Okay. I’m sorry.”

  The mood feels much lighter now, and I snuggle closer to Hollis and Theo. We sit quietly and eat the brownies. Theo’s only taken a few bites when he looks down at his brownie in confusion.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, staring down at my brownie too. It tastes fine to me.

  Theo scrunches up his nose and asks, “You said your aunt made these? Specifically, for you and the three of us?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Cricket.” He barks out a laugh. “They taste like your tea.”

  “Oh my god...” I stare at my brownie in horror.

  Theo laughs so hard now that he’s holding his stomach and leaning back away from me.

  “What’s wrong with them?” Cas spits his out and scowls at the mess of chewed-brownie in his hand.

  “Nothing. Just stop eating them.” As quickly as possible, I use my magic to pull the brownies out of his and Hollis’s hands and float the entire plate away to set on top of my desk.

  Hollis and Cas whine and insist we tell them what’s going on. I cover my face with my hands and groan. “Please don’t, it’s too fucking embarrassing.”

  Theo stops laughing long enough to tell them about the tea and sandwiches Aurora brought up to us the first time Theo came over. When he finishes the story, I punch his arm and glare at him. The guys tease me relentlessly. After they’ve all calmed down, we sit around talking for a long while. The boys tell me stories about growing up together, and I tell them about my brothers. It’s really nice, being with them like this.

 

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