Chapter 209
Chapter 209
James:
“Oh great. You’re here.” Mattie grumbled. Then as if her thoughts finally crashed together like a five-car pile up she asked, “Wait! Why are you here?”
“Mattie. I promise I’m not here—“ She moved to take one step to the side. “Wait! Mattie—“
“He knows your name now!” Pollux shouts behind me. He threw his hands up in a what the hell gesture. My body tensed at the tone he took with her, but Mattie seemed unaffected.
“He keeps showing up like a lost puppy.” Mattie mirrors his gesture, but her tone annoyed. Pollux narrows his eyes and Mattie returned an eye roll. “I don’t know what you expect me to do, Luxy!”
“I expect you to listen when we say to stay away.” Pollux sloshed through the rising water with murder in his eyes. Mainly directed at me but his attention remained on Mattie. He pointed at me with venom in his voice “This stalker has been here every night since you pulled the tarot card. I banned you from this place because of that. Not to mention the hordes of coven groupies that have ‘messages for you’.”
“I needed to get out of the house. It felt to empty and I figured you needed help cleaning up.” Mattie sets the pump down on the ground. I stepped closer to Mattie, like I was going to step between her and her angry cousin but both turned their backs towards me and Mattie huddled down like she was about to spill a secret, “Its not my fault you let this stalker in here night after night. If anything, you enabled his problem.”
I leaned my head between the two of them, “Hey! I’m not a stal—“
“The club is closed, stalker-boy. No one wants to dance in water. Go home, Mattie.” Pollux interrupted with a twinge of a whine, causing me to lean away.
“Boo hoo! The club is closed because your club bitches don’t know how to swim.” Mattie used her fists turning next to her eyes in mock crying to emphasis her sarcasm. Then she dropped her hands with a pop of her hip, “You could’ve thrown out some floaties. Turned it into a pool party.”
Pollux stared at her blankly. A grin slowly spread across my lips. I’ve never been one for dark humor or sarcasm but somehow Mattie made it appealing.
“Plus how was I supposed to know you were frolicking in the lake with stalker-boy over here?” Mattie snapped with her thumb pointed to me.
I cleared my throat to explain myself, “I’m not really a stalker, I —“
“You’re not the paparazzi, my personal assistant or my mother,” Mattie counted off on her fingers then tilted her head, “so what would you call showing up everywhere I go and apparently lurking around the club all the time to try to talk to me?”
“I wouldn’t call it lurking…” I defend, with a awkward tug at my collar, “just supporting a new business.”
Her amber eyes pierced me through the soul with a You’re full of shit look. We had a silent stare off until she gave in first. She covered a small smile with her hand, placed as if she were thinking. My mouth ticked up in the corners, I couldn’t help but tease back, “Friendly stalking?”
“Ew.” Pollux’s face twisted.
Mattie sighed in annoyance or maybe it was acceptance? Either way she moved toward Pollux with a shooing-wave in my direction, “Alright, Casper. Can you kindly fuck off now while I help my cousins clean up?”
Panic flared in my gut. I didn’t want to leave yet. I finally found her, her name, and she knew my name now too. My face, my voice. This was a crack in the wall and I wasn’t ready to let it close. I stepped toward her, “I can stay and help you out for a bit.”
“You a plumber now?” Pollux scoffed, his arm going around Mattie’s shoulders.
“No, but I might know—“ I began but Castor reappeared form the back with a loud shout of victory.
“Water is off.” He announced; then paused, his gaze scanning all of us in confusion. His eyebrows narrowed on Mattie. He opens his mouth to say something but I don’t give him an opportunity.
“There, no more water filling the club. See! I can be helpful.” I give Pollux a victorious smirk and gesture toward Mattie, “And your cousin, the unqualified plumber, Mattie-o is here to save the day.”
“Great. The stalker is still here,” Castor grumbled as he sloshed toward the men bathroom. “and he knows Mattie’s name.”
“That’s Mr. Friendly Stalker to you!” I quipped. Mattie let out a small giggle that made my chest feel lighter. It was a tiny, breathy sound but I wanted to record it. To keep it all to myself. I wanted to play it anytime my chest felt heavy.
“I already hate this guy.” Pollux held Mattie’s gaze as if they were having a silent sibling-or i guess cousin—conversation. His heated glare turned toward me and it could’ve melted glass.
Mattie then turned her beautiful amber eyes to me. The way she studied me from head to toe, like I was an oddity or a half-solved puzzle that irritated her just enough to keep her interested. It sent a thrill through my body and my blood moved south. My eyes were drawn to the spot her teeth sunk deep into her lower lip.
“Well the wheels of fate have turned.” She said quietly, “I can’t keep them stopped forever.”
My eyebrows furrowed at the cryptic reply but Pollux scrubbed his hand down his face as he dropped his arm from her shoulders. He muttered, “Great Mother give us strength to deal with the mutt.”
I grinned knowing that I’d finally worn them down enough to at least stay in her orbit. Castor reappeared with two buckets and an evil grin on his face, “Here you go mutt, start bailing.”
I quickly peeled my jacket off, tossing it over a chair and rolled up my sleeves. That’s right I was about to do manual labor in an extremely expensive designer suit. My Italian leather shoes were already ruined, might as well throw the whole outfit in the trash. With an exaggerated salute and the biggest fake smile I could muster I grabbed the bucket, “Yes, bossman, I’ll get on that right away.”
Castor glared at me before walking away with his brother. My eyes turned toward Mattie and found her face flushed. My smile dropped a bit, concern replacing the bravado. Her honey eyes widened for a second then she shook her head and practically sprinted away from me. What was that all about? I wanted to follow her and demand what that look was for. Instead I set one bucket on the nearest table and began to fill it with scoops from the other. When it was full I scooped up as much as i could in the first bucket before taking it to a drain to dump it out. I needed patience. We had time to connect, to talk, to figure out why or how she was tied to my curse.