Page 35 of Summertime Hexy

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I feel it. The shift.

The warmth in his grip drains like someone pulled the plug. His fingers twitch against my waist, then fall away. His jaw tightens. His eyes—those dark, beautiful, endless eyes—snap shut.

“Derek?” I whisper.

But he’s already stepping back.

One. Two. Three paces.

He doesn’t look at me. Doesn’tsayanything.

Just turns.

And runs.

“Wait—what?What the hell?!”

He vanishes into the woods before I can blink the shock from my system.

I stand there, lips still swollen, heart thundering, magic buzzing under my skin like a live wire—and he justleaves.

Are you freakingkiddingme?

“Derek!” I shout after him. “You can’t justmake out with me like thatand then go full brooding vampire bolt mode!”

Nothing.

Just the trees. The silence. The echo of my own heartbeat slamming in my chest like it’s trying to understand what the hell just happened.

I pace.

Back and forth. Hands in my hair. Breathing fast and shallow.

“Unbelievable. I mean—whodoesthat? Who kisses someone like it’s the last thing keeping them tethered to the world and then justdisappears?”

My voice bounces off the trees.

No answer.

Just me. Alone. Again.

And gods, it hurts.

Because for one damn second, I let myself believe it.

Believe hemeantit.

That maybe, just maybe, I was more than a mess he felt obligated to protect.

I wipe my mouth with the back of my sleeve and glare in the direction he ran like I can hex him by sheer willpower.

“Screw you, Derek Virel,” I mutter. “Next time, I’m letting the murder frog eat me.”

And then I sink to the ground, heart raw, lips still tingling, and try not to cry.

Spoiler: I fail.

CHAPTER 14

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