13. Clark

Clark

" Y ou're sure you're okay locking up tonight?"

"Of course, boss. You go enjoy your date. I've never seen you this excited."

Louis smiles knowingly, and I take the moment to ask for his opinion. Tapping my knuckles on the front counter, I choose my words.

"Have you ever been in love, Louis?"

"I have. A few times, before I was an alcoholic, but there was a woman I loved more than life itself." His lips frown and the previous happiness on his face dissolves. "She died and took most of me with her, but I wouldn't change a thing."

Okay. Not the comforting words I was looking for.

"How did you know you were in love? What was different?"

Thankfully, he perks back up with the walk down memory lane.

"The world seems brighter. They're always on your mind, and even when they do something annoying, you love it, because it means they did it with you. To annoy you and not someone else." He laughs softly as he brushes his hand over the countertop. "It's kind of hard to describe, but when Rebecca was with me, I felt like I could take on the world."

Louis stares off over my shoulder with misty eyes.

"You miss her. I'm sorry."

Louis shakes his head. "I'm not. Sometimes I hate remembering her because it means she's gone. But right now, it makes me happy because she shared her heart with me and those are memories I'll have until I'm no longer on this earth. She was my greatest light." Louis reaches across the counter and takes my hand in his. "You'll know if he's the one, Clark. I promise. It'll be like nothing else you've ever felt. Is it the fellow from the magic club?"

X has definitely made me feel like nothing else, but magic can do that. Is it love, or is it just the novelty of being with a witch?

"Yeah." I smile and squeeze his hand. "His name is X. Short for Xavier. It's only our second date, and it feels so crazy. It's so fast, you know? But…"

My words trail off because what Louis said about feeling different is true with X, magic or not. I met him before I knew all this stuff about him and even then, at the sex club, we were like two magnets instantly snapping together. I've experienced instant attraction to many people before, but I've never felt instantly connected to them. Not like this.

"Just because it's fast doesn't mean it's not true. People are too fast to discount genuine feelings just because they happen in days rather than months. Why should that matter? Sometimes you just know. Why should you hold back just because some people's opinions say you should? Only you know how you feel, Clark."

"You're right. And right now, I'm feeling pretty damn excited about rushing over to his house and just being able to hold him." The heat rushes up my neck at my declaration, but Louis nods. He understands.

"Then you'd best get out of here and go see that man. If you need me to open up for you tomorrow, I can come in early." He winks, and I duck my head as I shrug into my coat.

"I'll let you know. Thank you. I don't tell you this enough, but I'm happy to call you a friend. You're not just my employee. I hope you know that."

This time his eyes well up, and he turns to dust imaginary dust from the cash register.

"I do. Thank you. For everything you do for me."

"You're welcome. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

After leaving the store two hours earlier than I normally would, Louis's words replay in my mind. I've thought I've loved people before, but it never felt like this, and I'm stuck on the fact it's been days since I've met X.

Days.

But I don't just want him naked and panting under me. I want to hold him at night and make the dreams that haunt him go away. I want us to snuggle under fuzzy blankets and drink hot chocolate on cold winter nights. But mostly, I want us both to be together and wake up with each other every morning.

Is that love?

Before I know it, I'm pulling my car into the lane at his house and bouncing up the steps to his door.

After waiting for what feels like decades, the door opens and there he is. A gorgeous smile and eyes I could lose myself in.

"Hi. You're early."

"Is that okay? Should I have called?"

X motions for me to come in and I step inside, already half out of my coat.

"No! I'm happy you're here. I've—"

Without waiting for him to finish, I cage him against the front door and crash my mouth over his. His fingers curl in my shirt as he moans and presses into me, chasing my tongue with his own.

When we finally come up for air, he gazes at me with swollen lips and a drunken smile.

"Hi." Brushing my hand over his cheek, I lean in and kiss his forehead. "Sorry. I just couldn't wait to do that."

"You never have to apologize for doing that."

We stand for a moment, a crackle between us, and I steal one more kiss before kicking off my shoes and hanging my coat on the rack by the door.

"I'll remember that. How was your day?"

X takes my hand, threading our fingers together as he leads me to the living room. He pulls me onto the loveseat with him and, without hesitation, he snuggles up under my arm. His other hand rests on my stomach, and while it's not chilly in the room, I grab the throw blanket from the back of the loveseat and throw it over us. My heart stutters and thumps all over when X snuggles in closer with the blanket in place.

"My day was boring. I baked and walked in the garden and tried to read a book but couldn't concentrate. Then I came in here and chatted with Dave while I counted the minutes for you to get here." He lifts his head to kiss my cheek. "What about you?"

My fingers brush up and down on his shoulder. This right here is what I crave. Polite, yet intimate conversation about the most boring of subjects. But not a single word is boring.

"I left the store early because I couldn't wait to see you. But before that, I found myself distracted while staring at spreadsheets and ordering books because I wished I was with you."

"That's…very sweet to say. Um…I only had plans to show you the garden. It's not in bloom right now, but I still think it's beautiful. If you want to go see it before it's too dark, we can come back and continue this conversation later?"

"Lead the way. I'd love to see where you spend your time, sweetheart."

I notice how he beams when I call him that, and I don't think I'll ever stop.

"I'll get your coat."

"No. We don't need it."

Grabbing the blanket again, I wrap it around our shoulders and draw him beside me. It's like our own private burrito.

"I'm good like this if you are." I drop a kiss to his forehead and his happy sigh warms me more than the blanket.

"Yep. A bit awkward to walk, but I like it."

We step out the back door, and X pulls the blanket off me with a silly grin and wraps himself up. He grins bigger when I huff in disappointment.

"I'll share when we get there. This is easier." He sticks a hand through an opening, and together, we walk along the slate pathway.

"When I first came here, the garden was my only place to cope. Which was perfect because my specialty was, and still is, plants."

The path gently curves away from the house and into an extensive flower garden. A line of perfectly manicured shrubs mostly obscures the garden from the house, but once past that, it becomes an oasis of sorts. Raspberry canes in perfect rows mark the back of the property and the focal point in the centre of multiple flower beds is a small waterfall and pond feature. A stone bench sits to the side, and it's here X sits and opens up the blanket again for me.

"I bet it's beautiful here when the flowers are out."

"Smells good, too. The roses and lilacs are just…yeah. It's soothing."

X squishes next to me and I hold him tight against me. His sudden quiet has me waiting on edge. There's something on his mind and there's something big happening here. That same crackle I felt when he showed me his mark sits in the air, much like the charge from an impending thunderstorm.

"Why did you call your store Beautiful Belladonna?"

X leans his head against my shoulder and under the blanket, his hand rubs up and down my thigh. It should all be comforting and domestic, but yet…the slight tremor in his voice has me choosing my words carefully.

"When I was a boy, I read about the Egyptians and how Cleopatra and other women used liquid from the belladonna plant to dilate their pupils to appear more beautiful and more seductive. It was perhaps something that always fascinated me. How cultures learned about different pigments and properties from plants to enhance their appearance. Then I stumbled onto the other qualities of Belladonna and how it could poison." X's hand stills on my thigh and I wrap my hand around it. "It's a beautiful flower. The sort of bell shape you have to tilt up to view the colours of the petals. And there's another non-toxic version of it."

My palms, despite the chill, are sweaty.

"Beautiful Belladonna came to me as a name after two important events in my life happened."

X sits up and focuses on the side of my face, but I can't bring myself to look at him just yet.

"What happened?"

"The man I thought I loved turned out to not be who I thought he was. Like the belladonna, he was gorgeous outside, but inside he was toxic and vile. No beauty was inside him and I almost found out too late." Puffing out my cheeks with a nervous breath, I turn to him. "The second event wasn't really an event, but a lesson. I learned that not everyone is as they seem, just like the plant. And that was when I knew I'd own a magic shop and pursue what I loved. Practice witchcraft. Try to find the magic that hides in our world. To be the one beautiful thing for someone in a world that might be ugly."

X's eyes search my face and his lips part as he watches me.

"Do you want to know why I asked?"

"I assumed it was more than just common courtesy and I hope…I hope it was the right answer."

My words hitch, and I swallow hard. Because if it's not the right answer and he turns me away, I don't know how I'll respond.

His lips tilt into a shy smile.

"It was more than right, Clark. It was perfect." He bites on his lip before shaking out of the blanket and walking over to a barren flower bed. "I want to show you something."

Leaving the blanket behind, I join him in front of the mound of dirt.

"At my school, our teachers only taught us dark magic and how to bring harm. We learned all about the belladonna and its historical journey. From the Greeks to the Renaissance and every time in between. We knew how to make it darker and more sinister to deliver a spell as intended." He shakes his head with a half smile. "But I was smarter than that, you see. The only magic I was good at involved plants. I knew them all inside out and backwards. Especially belladonna."

He falls silent, and I reach for his hand. "I'm afraid I don't understand the connection, my sweet. You've lost me."

" Puer Belladonna ." He holds his hand over the soil. "Grow."

The soil shifts and a tender sprout shoots out. X bends down and carefully digs the plant out, including its roots.

My jaw hangs to my feet as he stands to face me.

"You just summoned a plant. In November to grow. Just like that."

He smiles. "Just like that. But it's not any plant. It's an immature belladonna, and, like us, hasn't reached its full potential. It doesn't know it can do bad things. My brother often hurt me and because I learned how to harness an immature plant, I healed myself all the time. I even used it on Charles once when he had some cracked ribs."

X holds a finger up and crosses over to the edge of the raspberry plants. He digs a small trough and places the belladonna root at the feet of the raspberry cane. After he stands, he waves a hand with a quiet phrase and whole ripe raspberries appear on the plant. With a smile, he plucks a handful and walks back to me.

He offers me one, and when I open my mouth, he places a berry inside.

"Oh wow. That's the best-tasting berry I've ever had. It's like the most raspberry of raspberries."

"Exactly. The point of all this is that you chose belladonna for your store because you saw, no, you knew, it was better somehow. That its reputation wasn't true. It had a good side. Just like I learned. You chose belladonna because you believed in the good out there. Am I right?"

"Yeah. That's the gist of it. Believe there's good and one day—" My eyes widen as I reach for him. "One day a beautiful witch will find me and prove to me there's indeed magic in the world."

A breeze ruffles the hair that's escaped his ponytail and that crackle in the air returns in a way that makes it hard to breathe. The hair on my arms stands up.

Stepping closer to him as he shivers, I bend to brush my lips across his.

"What's happening, X? Can we go inside and be alone?"

He leans against me like he might collapse, clutching my shirt in his hands.

"I need you."