Page 69 of The Nowhere Witch

“It’s your wall. It’ll adhere better if applied by you.” Hawk leaned on the wall beside me as he watched. “Saw Gregor leaving the office today.”

I glanced around, knowing I couldn’t up and leave. I was held hostage by black goop from another dimension, and this conversation wasn’t going anywhere good. He’d probably start prying about how things were going with Gregor. Then I’d feel compelled to make something up just to not prove him right. I grabbed a big handful of goop, slopping it on as if I were too preoccupied by my work to talk.

“I’m surprised you’re letting this continue,” he said, as if amusing himself. “You like a little sizzle. Gregor doesn’t sizzle. He’s like flat marsh water that smells a little rotten.”

“And let me guess, you’re all bubbly?” I splattered half the black goop on the ground. Shit.

“I was talking about Gregor.”

He was smirking. He knew damned well he sizzled. His ego nearly floated on all his fizzy bubbles, and I wouldn’t help inflate it anymore.

I stopped mid-scoop to look him in the eye. “Well, you don’t. You’re like seltzer that’s lost all its bubbles but still thinks it’s got something over plain old well water.”

He stopped staring but was still smiling, as if even my insults amused him. I wasn’t confident enough to believe he’d given up on riling me up, but I’d let the silence hang, pretending for a few moments that the conversation was done as I tried to repair the last break.

I’d placed my other hand on the wall, trying to use both hands to press the goop in as deep as I could, when a strange feeling seeped through. I moved my hands around the area, trying to find the source.

“You picking up on something?” Hawk asked, moving close enough that his shoulder was brushing mine. At least this was about business.

“I’m picking up something weird, but I don’t understand it.” I ran my fingers over different areas until I nailed down the strongest spot, which seemed to be where the break had started. “Or why I’ve never felt it before. Maybe it’s this stuff that’s letting me sense it now?”

I’d been working on this crack longer than any of the rest, and it was the worst one of all.

Hawk moved his hand around to different places, looking more impatient with each second. “Explain it to me,” he said, when he couldn’t seem to find a spot to feel it himself.

“I don’t know how. It’s just this sense that something is off, but I can’t figure out why or how I know it. When I touch it, it’s almost like a feeling of being spun in a circle a bunch of times.”

He laid his hand over mine where it was pressed against the wall.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m trying to feel what you’re feeling.” He pressed harder against my hand.

“Can you feel it?”

“No. You’ve got me locked out so tight I’m getting nothing. You need to let me in.”

I ignored his sizzle, the one I’d insisted he didn’t have, and tried to keep my focus on the wall, on the feeling, so that maybe he could pick up on it somehow.

His other arm came up on my other side, so he was nearly embracing me as he laid that hand on top of my other, his heat seeping along the length of me.

“You need to try harder,” he said.

“I am.”

“If you don’t concentrate and let me in a little, we’ll be here all day,” he said, with a little more huskiness in his voice.

How was I possibly going to let him in when my entire day, from dawn to dusk, was focused on keeping him out? I’d made blocking Hawk a part-time job, and I’d been at it for months.

But did I want this wall fixed or not? Did I want to let the wall slowly crumble until this evil took over Xest? At least with this, we were on the same page. He wanted it as much as I did.

“How do I let you in?” I asked, never imagining I’d say those words, as his skin sizzled where it touched me.

“Feel my magic pulsing against you? Just let it move into you.” His jaw grazed my ear, sending little tingles through me.

Let him in. Let his pulsing energy in. Why did that not seem like a good idea on any level? Because it wasn’t for me. As far as the wall went, it was a no-brainer. I tried to let down my defenses, which meant not thinking at all. If I thought about purposely letting him in, I’d do the opposite. Even now, my body was going rigid.

He let go on one of my hands and cupped my face, turning it toward him.