Starbucks’ eyebrow went up, and he pulled his hand away from my face. My cheek felt cold at the absence. “Wouldn’t matter. I use condoms regardless of what the woman wants.”
That sour taste came back in my mouth, and I knew this time it was my own feelings and having nothing to do with a premonition or intention of someone else. “That’s not… I mean, I don’t…” I winced, closing my eyes as I stumbled over my words. I didn’t know how to respond to that.
I heard theswooshof a text message being sent, and opened my eyes in time to see Starbucks putting his phone down on the table. “What did you do?”
A second later, I saw Ghost, the redhead, step out from behind the bar and approach Kora and her friends. He spoke to her, but it didn’t look to be a friendly conversation. Then he put his hand on her arm and walked her across the bar to our booth. My back stiffened, because I didnotwant to spend my first date with Starbucks’ ex-hookup.
Ghost gestured for Kora to sit and slide all the way to the wall. Then he took the seat next to her.
“Were you planning on tricking me into getting you pregnant?” Starbucks asked, pure accusation in his voice.
My jaw nearly hit the floor. He did not hold back, nor had he removed my hand from his chest. He was still gripping it, not fully turning in the booth to face Kora or Ghost either.
“What?” Kora demanded, her face flaming as easily asmine did. “No. No. I didn’t— I mean, I was but I didn’t. I changed my mind…” Her voice trailed off and then she asked sharply, “How could you possibly have known that?”
“Calliope’s a witch,” he said without preamble. My eyebrows shot up next. That wasn’t exactly a town secret, but damn. He justsaid it. It wasn’t like he was throwing me under the bus, though. It was different. The confidence, the trust, he had in those words made it an explanation, not an exploitation.
Kora’s eyes flicked to me, but I stayed steady. With Starbucks at my back, I felt like I could face anything.
Only, there wasn’t accusation in her eyes. Hurt, maybe. Like I’d betrayed her confidence? Shame, definitely. I didn’t know how to take her reaction, though. It wasn’t what I expected. From what little I’d seen of her at the auction, I thought her to be a typical Other Woman. The drama, the immaturity… Doing foolish and outlandish things to try to get my man, whom she either thought was hers or wanted simply because she didn’t wantmeto have him.
I didn’t taste anything bitter when I looked at her though. Instead, I got a salty taste with a spicy note, which I usually attributed to sadness and fear.
“Stop,” I said when Starbucks opened his mouth to continue. He looked to me, more curious than anything. “She’s afraid.”
Ghost, who’d been silent up to this point, dropped his guard dog persona and turned to Kora with genuine concern on his face. “Afraid of what? Did Starbucks hurt you?”
“No, of course not,” Kora and I answered together. Our eyes met, and I realized in that moment that I’d allowed my jealousy over her relationship with Starbucks to cloud myjudgement. This close to her, which I had not been at the fair, I would get a truer sense of her person. She felt trapped, alone.
She didn’t need my condemnation. She needed myhelp.
I pulled my hand from Starbucks’ chest to reach across the table. I placed it on her hands, gripped tightly together on the tabletop. “I’m sorry,” I said honestly. “Tell me what’s going on. How can I help? Who did you tell you were pregnant?”
Tears welled up in her blue eyes a second before she fell over our hands on the table and started to cry. Her shoulders shook as her hands turned to hold mine in a strong but shaky grip. Neither Ghost nor Starbucks had any idea how to react to this. Ghost looked like he wanted to equally murder something and run away, and Starbucks’ eyes kept bouncing around atanythingbut Kora’s slumped-over form.
I rolled my eyes. Men. Why did they turn into such babies at the sight of a woman’s tears? Ghost even went as far as to try to awkwardly pat Kora on her back, but it was such a light touch that I wondered if she even felt it. Did he think she was suddenly going to grow spikes or something? Ridiculous.
I rubbed my thumb against her skin. I was pretty sure it was the inside of her wrist.
Starbucks mouthed to me, “What is going on?”
I shook my head, begging for him to be patient. Kora needed our compassion right now, especially after my false accusation. I didn’t know what I had gotten wrong, per se, but I definitely had. She’d admitted to her intention, but she’d also said she hadn’t followed through with it. There’d been no deception on her either.
I had no idea what was going on, but I knew I couldn’t turn her away. She needed my help, even if I didn’t know why.
It took several minutes before Kora calmed enough to sit up. She had tears and snot running down her face. I reached for the napkin holder by the wall and grabbed a handful for her with my left hand.
“Thank you,” she mumbled, accepting the napkins one-handed. I didn’t mind that she was still holding onto my hand with the other.
“Kora,” Starbucks said gently. “What’s going on?”
“I’m so sorry,” she spluttered out. Her voice was muffled slightly by the napkins as she tried to wipe herself down. “I didn’t want to get you involved. You were always so clear about us not being anything more than—” Her wide eyes flew to me. “I mean, that we weren’t friends.”
“Calliope knows we were fuck-buddies.” I winced. His blunt honesty was both a blessing and a curse, but I’d rather it than the alternative.
Kora’s cheeks flushed. “Oh. Sorry,” she added to me. She turned back to Starbucks. “I didn’t want you to think I was using you for your connections or anything.”
His face darkened. “Tell me what is going on.” I got the impression that he was more annoyed that shehadn’ttried to involve him than if she had tried to.
