Page 79 of The Nowhere Witch

Gregor walked toward me and then slowed his steps as I stared back. I might not have known what to say, but what I felt must have shown. His eyes jerked down for a moment. I gave him my back, focusing my attention on the failing repair and hoping he’d leave if I ignored him.

“I wasn’t using you,” he said.

My reply was silence.

“I care about you. I still care about you. Tippi, won’t you please talk to me?”

He was whining, after the lies and telling me he wanted to help repair the wall. As much as I wanted to ignore his presence, it was just too much to stay silent through.

“You want to make this right? Tell me what you did to the repair.” Whatever it was, he hadn’t done it alone. He was too weak. He’d had help, and I could easily guess who from. How many lies had there been between us? Had any part of our relationship been real?

When I didn’t get an answer, I turned away from him again.

Then he was there, standing in front of me, making himself unavoidable.

I tried anyway, walking a good ten feet away. He followed me, dogging my steps. My fists curled as his offer to help continued to haunt me. I’dkissedthis man.

“Stop following me. There’s nothing to talk about. All you want is information to use against me anyway.”

“I wasn’t just using you. I still want to be with you.”

He wasn’tjustusing me. How nice to know.

“I don’t want to be with you, so you should leave. Now.”

“Tippi, please hear me out. That’s all I’m asking.”

He wouldn’t stop following me, no matter how many times I glared or how fast I walked. The easiest way to be done with this situation was to go through it, which meant hearing him out. I’d let him get it all off his chest, and then tell him it didn’t matter, because it didn’t. Our friendship had been a lie from start to finish.

I spun and threw my hands up. “Fine. Go ahead and tell me, then. Get it off your chest, and after you’re done, if I don’t want to hear anymore, you leave. That’s the deal.”

He nodded quickly. “I wasn’t trying to date you because they told me to. I wanted to date you because Ilikedyou.”

It just kept getting worse.

“So they asked you to date me?”

“If I hadn’t liked you, I would’ve said no. What does it matter if they suggested it?”

Of course it mattered, and not for a second would he have contemplated saying no to them, even if he hadn’t liked me. But the more I asked and interrupted, the longer this would carry on. My patience could barely handle it already. I remained silent, my chest heaving with the struggle to remain calm.

“I thought as we got close, I could make you see what a beautiful thing is growing here. You’d come to understand how wrong you are. I know it because I believe in you.”

If I had a gun right now, I might’ve put myself out of my misery. He believed in me? The lost, wayward one who didn’t see the error of her ways? How had I been so foolish? Actually, I knewthatanswer. He’d talked a good game. He’d told me everything I wanted to hear. Add to that, Hawk kept warning me off, and damned if I didn’t like to spite him.

“Gregor, you have zero idea what you’re talking about. You’ll always want to let that thing out, and I’ll never stop fighting it because it’s disgusting and evil.” And then I added, in the same condescending tone he’d used, “I really wish I could’ve helped you see the error of your ways, but I guess it’s not meant to be.”

He nodded. “Then I guess that’s it,” he said, sounding as angry as I was now.

“Yes. That’s it.”

“I’m sorry it has to end this way.”

“So am I.”

Gregor had said all the right things, acted the right way, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. He might believe that he’d been truly interested in me, but he’d been more intrigued by being the man who would turn me, make me into the person he thought I should be.

Could I truly fault him when, in essence, I’d done the same? I’d never wanted him. I’d only toyed with the idea when I thought he was the man Ishouldwant. We’d both been trying to fit square pegs into round holes. With nothing left to say, I turned away from him, ready to walk away from whatever shred of truth we’d had.