Page 30 of Outlaw Witch

9

Fabian skirts aroundme, giving an awkward little wave that’s oddly endearing. “Ah, sorry, I didn’t realize you had company,” he rasps.

The guy is massive, at least half a foot taller than me, and I’m not short at 5 foot nine. He’s broad too, not so broad as Zeph, and he doesn’t have quite the same fluid grace with his movements as Roscoe.

The other thing I notice about him is that he looks exhausted. There are dark circles under his eyes that look like bruises. He also moves with the kind of ginger movement that people only get when they’re not sure they’ve got the energy to make it all the way across the room.

“This is Silver,” Roscoe says.

“Nice to meet you, Silver,” Fabian says, but he’s not really looking at me and instead seems to be having one of those silent conversations with Roscoe over the top of my head.

I catch him mouthing something and he freezes.

“I’m gonna head back to see if I can catch a few more hours of sleep,” he mumbles.

Once he’s gone, we’re quickly joined by Zeph, who storms in the front door, dripping sweat and dressed in workout gear. His eyes widen slightly as he takes me in, but he gets over his shock quickly, heading over to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water.

“So Fabian didn’t seem to know why I was here,” I say, taking another sip of my coffee, which is quickly growing cold. “And I’m guessing this whole breakfast deal was so that I’d just so happen to meet him face to face?”

“Yeah, he thought you were a hookup.” Roscoe shrugs. “Neither of us has mentioned we’ve been looking for someone to help him. We don’t want to get his hopes up in case we couldn’t find anyone.” He gives a rueful grin. “You can’t blame me for wanting you to meet him though. I figured it’s easy to say no when someone’s just a name without a face.”

“That makes sense.” I feel kind of weird as I awkwardly shove pancakes into my mouth. I don’t really want to be here anymore, but I won’t turn down free food. I thought that me and Roscoe were getting on pretty well, and now I feel like I’ve been manipulated. Like I’m a marionette and he’s pulled my strings for me to be sitting here.

I guess it’s nothing different to how things have been since we first met, but weirdly, it stings a little.

I guess he can tell that I’m not feeling the camaraderie anymore, as he’s quieter than before. Zeph looks between the two of us, frowning like he can’t quite work out what’s going on here. Kind of like an angry puppy.

I snort to myself at the imagery and then hop up from the stool, heading for the door. “Well, this was nice and all, but I should head home.”

“Just one more thing,” Roscoe says, with a pleading expression on his dumb, handsome face. “There’s something I really want to show you before you go.”

“I’ll come too,” Zeph grunts.

I’m aware I have zero control over this situation right now. If the two of them decide to let me fend for myself, I won’t find my way out of this damn building. So I let out a long sigh and shrug.

“Sure. Let’s go.”

Roscoe seems to have lost some of his cockiness and is now avoiding my eye as we head out of the apartment and he leads the way next door. The neighboring apartment is a very similar layout to their place, even down to the massive windows and the very fancy kitchen.

“Whose place are we breaking into now?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

“Uh, well, since we’d need you nearby for however long it takes to fix Fab’s curse, this is where you’d be staying,” Roscoe says the words so quickly, he practically ties his tongue in knots. “There are even a couple of spare rooms if you don’t want to be here alone. You can also have whatever visitors you’d like, obviously. Your boyfriend or whatever.”

Is he... trying to work out if I’m single?

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