Chapter 39

Cole

Garden District, New Orleans, Louisiana

T wo hours later, after replacing his cell and getting a phone set up for Evie—which she had already managed to leave in the store, lose twice, and almost break once—they finally made it to the Garden District Free People. Cole figured the bohemian-style clothing the shop specialized in wouldn’t grate on Evie’s nerves too badly, especially since she seemed drawn to looser fit clothing.

The two staff members currently overseeing the store stared at them intently, which could be because they were the only people in the store. Or it could be that his witch was standing in their shop in her now-cleaned dress from their first night together, which Daeira had sent over with the intern. Beyond being practically transparent, it barely covered anything. He glowered at the clerks from behind her. Why in the hell did I let her out of the house in that dress when there was probably a perfectly good alternative sitting in the bags Dae sent over?

“Can we, um, can we help you?” The braver of the two finally greeted, his eyes on Evie’s bare legs. “We’ve got some stuff that would, uh, that would definitely look good on you.”

Cole’s response was sharp, drawing the boy’s attention away from his witch’s legs . “We’ll take care of things from here,” you little fucker , he finished in his head. His tone left little room for argument as he swept Evie deeper into the store towards the jeans. He lowered his head and voice so that only Evie could hear him. “Angel, we have to cover up those legs of yours if you’re going out in public.”

The little tease tossed her hair back, shooting him a brazen smile that nearly had him escorting her into one of the dressing rooms for some privacy. “I would have thought you wanted as much of me on display as possible.”

“I want you displayed for me. The rest of these assholes don't get to see what’s mine.” He nipped her ear. “Now behave and pick out some clothing.”

Evie hummed a bit while she toured the store, running her fingers and the backs of her hands across clothing. It only took him a few minutes to figure out what each of her little noises and movements meant. Softer fabrics got a “hmm” of approval; rougher fabrics had her snatching her hand back like she had been burned and walking away with a disgusted look on her face, almost like the clothing had insulted her. Note to self: she was tactile as hell. Throughout it all, Cole just followed behind her faithfully, enchanted by the witch darting around in front of him. Anything that got her happy hmm, he nodded to the older salesclerk—the one who wasn’t staring at Evie’s legs—to figure out sizing and pull into the dressing room.

Every time he gestured for the saleswoman to add something to the stack in the dressing room, she squinted at him as if to confirm that he was aware of the cost. He just shrugged and gestured to her to place it in the dressing room or take it to the register if it was loungewear or anything that didn’t require attention to size. He and Hayden had spent years building their firm into a top-tier, extremely successful international boutique. In addition, Charles had established a trust for him that paid out when Cole completed law school. After years of saving and investing and having almost zero expenses since the house was paid outright, he had more money than he could spend in several lifetimes. So why have a fortune if not to spoil the fuck out of his witch?

By the time their merry crew of three had looked at everything in the store, there was a massive pile of clothing, including jeans, shirts, dresses, jumpsuits, and a few pairs of shoes, neatly placed in one of the larger dressing rooms. The saleswoman ushered Evie towards it, dropping her hand quickly from Evie’s shoulder when she caught Cole’s frigid look. “Miss, your dressing room is this way.”

“My… wait, my what?” Evie stopped in her tracks and turned to Cole. He dismissed the saleswoman and crowded Evie into the dressing room where she finally saw the mountain of clothing. The room was plenty large enough for the both of them with a chair for him to watch her from.

“Sir,” the saleswoman called. “Sir, we require the men to sit outside of the dressing room.”

Cole leveled a steely glare at her. “I think we’re fine here,” he snapped, drawing the curtain shut against her disapproving gaze. When he took a seat in the chair, he glanced back at Evie. Her eyebrows were raised practically to her hairline. “What?” He gave her an innocent look.

“Be. Nice.” She closed in on him and dug her fingers into his hair. “Just because you’re going to stay here whether they’re going to let you or not doesn’t mean you have to be rude about it. So be nice.”

“Let me tell you something.” Cole tugged her toward him. Ran his hand up the back of her leg and relished how she shivered at his light touch. “That asshole at the front was staring at you so hard he might as well have put his hands on you. He’s lucky I didn’t burn the store down with him in it.” A small moan slid out of her when his hand slid under her dress to palm her ass. He felt himself hardening at the sound, wanting nothing more than to run his fingers between her legs. So he did because he couldn’t help himself, and he didn’t want to stop.

Passing one long finger over her core, he swore quietly, which barely covered the sound of her whimper. “Fuck, sweetheart. You’re always so wet for me. Gods, I bet you want me to just drop you down and fuck you right here in this chair, make sure everybody in this store knows you’re mine.” Her lips parted on a small gasp, and he couldn’t help but take them in a bruising kiss, fisting his hand in her hair to hold her steady so he could devour her mouth. It was sloppy and sexy and intense as hell. When he finally drew back, they were both panting, and she was straddling his lap, grinding against him desperately.

“Angel, as much as I want to drop you onto my cock right now and give you exactly what those beautiful eyes of yours are begging me for, we’ve got errands to run.” And what fun errands they would be, starting with a field trip to his office so he could assess exactly how bad the damage was.

He had only had a phone again for a short time, but a quick search online proved that Hayden hadn’t exaggerated the intensity of the earthquake that damaged their building. At a magnitude of 8.1, it was the most significant tremor to ever hit New Orleans and had devastated large pockets of the city, including, apparently, the foundation of the levees that protected the city from flood waters. New Orleans wasn’t the only unexpected environmental anomaly to occur in the last day; according to the web, a tsunami had annihilated large swaths of seaside Japan. A deadly category five hurricane had overwhelmed Puerto Rico, leaving much of the island without power or potable water. At least three Caribbean islands had vanished after a five-hundred-mile-wide hurricane appeared out of nowhere. A flash fire had burned quick and dirty through hundreds of miles of California forest while a similar fire had raged in the frozen Alaskan wilderness. And that was just what he had seen in five minutes on Google News and the BBC.

On the way to the office, he needed to call Charles. Evie had agreed to meet his uncle on the drive to pick up their phones, and, although he could tell she was still nervous, she sounded surer about the idea than she had this morning. It was the only reason he would agree to subjecting her to his uncle and whatever other immortals Charles saw fit to invite to the clown car gathering.

Cole grazed his thumb along Evie’s cheek. She tilted her face into his hand, pressed a kiss to his palm. “Pick your favorite clothes to wear out of here. We’ll take the rest home and return whatever doesn’t fit.”

Evie pulled back, eyes wide as she took in the piles of clothing surrounding them. “Cole, there’s no way I'll will ever need this many clothes. Plus, I have no way to pay for them.”

“First of all: I’ve been waiting all my life to spoil you, Angel. Please let me do this.” He rose to his feet, her legs wrapping around his waist as he lifted her from his lap. Barely stifling a groan at the feel of her, he continued. “Second of all: you will never have to worry about money ever again. What I have is yours—” She opened her mouth to argue, but he simply talked over her sputtering. “And I have more than enough to take care of us for all of our lifetimes together. Now. Let me buy you the damn clothes, Evangeline.”

Stunned at the use of her full name—possibly because she had never actually heard it used in reference to her before—she dropped her legs from their place around his waist and slithered down his body until she was standing in front of him. While he tried to get himself under control from her sinuous movement, she dressed quickly in a pair of black lace panties, soft flare jeans, a black velvet bralette layered under a long, black sweater with big, hot pink hearts splashed across it, and a pair of lavender high-top Converses. Fully dressed, she turned to him, a smile on her face as she fingered the soft material of her top.

Even cozily dressed with no makeup, she was easily the most stunning woman he had ever seen. His heart pounded in pride not only that he was the one with her now, but that she wanted him with her. She chose him . Stepping forward, he ripped the tags off the clothes she wore to have them scanned, took her hand, and threw open the curtain.

There was a new sales associate at the register, this one a young woman with blonde hair cut a chic haircut. She caught sight of them from across the room and beelined for him. “Can I help you, sir?” She preened, pressing into Cole’s space.

He frowned, but before he could tell the sales associate to back off, Evie was plastered against his side, arms around him. “No,” she bit out, even though the sales associate was still openly ogling Cole. Her harsh tone drew the clerk’s attention; the woman scanned Evie with a barely-concealed sneer. His frown grew into a scowl at the woman’s blatant disrespect, and he opened his mouth to say something, but his little witch needed no help from him. Her shoulders were back, her elegant chin tilted at an angle he could only call regal, and her grey gaze was so haughty on the salesclerk that it was almost painful to see.

The clerk, who had started the conversation so confidently, started twitching under Evie’s cold stare. Evie hadn’t said a word.

Cole smothered a grin—she was going to make an incredible queen. Waving over his shoulder to indicate the clothes in the dressing room, he said mildly, “We’ll take everything in there and all of the stuff at the register as well.” Wrapping his arm around Evie’s shoulder, he walked her to the checkout counter, murmuring in her ear as he did so, “Silly woman risking your wrath by flirting with your man.”

Evie turned her face up to his, her intense gaze piercing his soul. “I’ll put her in the ground if she does it again.” Venom dripped from her words.

His heart pounded in his chest with an emotion that he knew, without question or doubt, was a life-changing love. Less poetically, his cock, only slightly calmed after their time in the dressing room, hardened at her vicious, jealous response. “That’s sexy as hell, Angel, but let’s call that tomorrow’s agenda.”

With the help of the little fucker who was still staring at Evie’s now-covered legs, the flirty sales clerk brought all of the clothing to the front and passed it off to the older saleswoman to check them out. Scornful glare still on the blonde, who in turn was still eye fucking him, Evie didn’t notice the massive amount of clothing going into the bags or hear the total amount.

When the clerk finally read him out the total, he passed over his card without a fuss. Honestly, he barely heard the damage, amused as he was by the scene playing out in front of him. Evie’s eyes were now sparking blues and gold, her magic rising in response to her fury. The potted orchids sitting around the cash register were growing and reaching towards the blonde, who was only seeming to recognize the very real danger a jealous Evie posed. No matter that she didn’t fully grasp the magical gravity of the situation; Evie's irate expression more than conveyed her willingness to murder the flirty woman.

Before Evie could strangle the woman with potted plants or discover how to wield her death magic for its true purpose, Cole lifted the four bags loaded with clothing in one hand and grasped Evie’s waist with the other, using the grip to tug her out the door and to the car.

He knew with absolute certainty that this witchy woman with the brilliant brain and bratty mouth, who was prepared to tear down a building because one woman had looked too intensely at him, who was as hungry for him as he was for her, was his whole damn future. Regardless of whatever bullshit Hayden may pull or his family’s response to any of this, she was his, and he was hers.