10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Callum

This was bad.

This was so, so bad.

I was ninety-nine percent sure I had somehow bound Michael and me together with my spell. How I had done it, who the fuck knew.

But I knew better than to be spell casting. My family was going to lose their shit when they found out. And there was no way they weren't going to find out. Daphne would need to reverse the damage I had done.

Michael stared at me, his face pale and slightly dewy with sweat, and didn't say one word. Not. One. Just stared at me with cold blue eyes, so different then the warmth they had shone with not even an hour ago.

Trying not to squirm under his blue gaze, I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. From the look of horror that crossed his handsome face, it was not .

"Bound. Us. Together?"

I didn't like the way he said every word separately in his sentence. That did not bode well for the frame of mind he was currently in.

"Um…possibly." This was so very bad. "I could try to walk across the room again, if you want to make sure. I just…your head…and…um…oh dear. This is bad. Very, very bad."

Hex, never one to be left out of anything, jumped onto Michael's lap, startling him for a second before his hand automatically came up to stroke across the soft black fur.

"Please, don't," he whimpered, a horrified look crossing his face. "I really don't think I could handle that," he touched his temple, "anymore. I'm still trying not to barf on your sofa."

"I'm so sorry, Michael," I repeated, wringing my hands together. "I really didn't mean for this to happen."

Dejectedly, he slumped back, and I tried not to notice we were shoulder to shoulder and thigh to thigh. "I…believe you."

Hmmm…that had been super hesitant, so I very strongly doubted he did believe me.

"You're just trying to be nice."

He snorted, "Yeah, I am. So…what are our options here? Do we just stay…bound to each other until…when? Daphne gets home? Where is your family, by the way?"

"Oh, they're up in Maine." I waved a hand dismissively in the air, "It's a coven thing."

"Of course. How silly of me." Sarcasm dripped from his voice, and I pursed my lips together tightly.

Since he did have a right to be snarky, I would give him a pass this time.

"What time is it?" My phone was still on the counter in the shop.

Michael brought his arm up and squinted at the silver watch on his wrist. "Three."

Frowning, I told him, "I need to cancel a client's appointment. I should call Macy, too, and tell her she's going to have to try to find someone else to help her tonight."

Michael rolled his head slowly on the back of the sofa. "Why? I mean we're bound together, not bound to this house, right?"

Fuck, I hoped not.

"Yeah," I said with more assurance than I felt. On the plus side, I hadn't turned him into a frog, or any other animal. So, there was that. Probably best not to tell him how some of my past spells had ended up.

"Then there's really no reason for us not to still go on our date. "

Frowning, I looked down at my feet, trying to understand what he was saying. "You still want to take me on a date. After this ?" My voice rose an octave, and I pointed between us.

He shrugged, "I mean, why not? You're not planning to do any more spell casting, though, right?"

"Definitely not."

"Then we should still go. And you promised your friend." He heaved himself off the couch, holding out his hand to pull me to my feet. "Reschedule your client and we'll talk about what our options are with the spell."

Frowning at him, I said, "You're being way cooler about this than I thought you would be."

"Honestly, after everything else that has happened, I'm not even surprised."

"And you still want to take me on a date?" I didn't even try to keep the skepticism out of my voice.

He let out a little huff of air and ran a hand through his seriously messed up hair. "Not sure what it says about me, but yeah, I do."

"Huh," I stared up at the ceiling, "weird."

"Says the witch who can't cast a spell."

He had me there.