Twisted Magic (30 page)

Karsen’s eyes grew as round as saucers.  She blinked several times, tucking a tuft of hair behind her ear and angled her body toward me, so she could look
at
me head on.

“Well…” I wasn’t sure how to tell her.

Karsen’s
stared at me puzzled. 
"Since when is it hard to tell me anything?"

“Well
aren't you going to say something?" she pushed.

I hadn’t thought about
telling Karsen I was forever indebted to Slade as being such a difficult thing.
I knew there would probably be a supernatural tie between
myself,
and black
magic forever probably,
but Hutch had promised it could be broken. And that’s
what I
wanted. Maybe telling Karsen wasn't the right thing to do until I figured out how to fix things.

I
looked
at her
confused expression
.
“Let's postpone this conversation until another time. I promise you I am alright." It was the right thing to do.

Karsen sighed irritated with me. “Alright fine, but if I find out it was something major. I might just kill you. Let’s get you ready for your birthday dinner.”

I sighed. “Where is this happening?”
I hated surprises of any kind.

I secured the tiny black earrings in my ear
s
as I came out of my bedroom. Nona gasped, perfectly pleased with the new
dress,
she and Claude had special ordered for me.

“Oh,
Sweetpea
.
You look absolutely stunning.” She gushed, hands to her face as she admired me. She touched the
silken
fabric. I
gave a little twirl. I was quite fond of the dark purple and black sleeveless dress. I liked the way it looked wrapped against my
body. The
black lay under the purple and gave the illusion it
winded
around my entire body. And I loved how the neckline accentuated parts of
me
I otherwise would have frowned about. It was a great dress.

“Thanks. I feel absolutely stunning.” I took a seat next to Claude while Dad tried finding a tie in his closet and struggled to get the wrinkles out of his nice clothes.

“Honey I am going to help
my son
pull himself together. If we wait any longer we are going to miss our reservations,” Nona said to Claude and clomped out of the room.

I smiled at Claude. He winked back
and stayed his usual quiet self, b
etween the French accent and his lack of conversation. I didn’t know what to say to him. I wondered how
Nona,
and him got along so well. She loved to
gossip,
and Claude was the strong silent type.

Dad and Nona finally resurfaced. Dad straightened his
dark-blue tie,
and Nona quickly smoothed his shirt out. She was forever treating him like a
teenager,
and he always put up with it. It wasn’t any different
than
me taking care of him. I frowned at the thought of the old days when Dad
took care of me and our family,
a
nd h
ow much he
probably
missed that.

“
You look great, Hope,
” Dad said, kissing my cheek. I smoothed my hair down nervously. I had no idea what to expect. I knew there was some kind of birthday dinner, but Karsen refused to go into detail. I hated surprises.

We pulled up to the boardwalk, where several
overpriced
restaurants sat. The ones I never set foot in unless I was with Nona
,
like tonight. I slid out of Claude’s fancy car and followed everyone
up to the twinkling lights
from
the
restaurant.

Nona bypassed all three restaurants slipping behind the last and final building. I made a face at Dad. He shrugged his shoulder and offered me his arm.

We passed the brick of the
restaurant and rounded the corner to a glorious looking
terrace
. I gasped.

“Surprise!”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Nearly the entire town of Cherry was decked out in fancy dresses and dress shirts. Purple and silver balloons were
gracefully
fluttering around the
wooden post of the
terrace
. Silver
star
confetti was sprinkled around each table setting and in the center was a gigantic
purple and silver
birthday cake.

“What do you think?” Dad asked patting my back. “Did Nona go all out or what?”

I looked over the crowd of people. Some I didn’t recognize, but I knew they were friends of Nona and some I had seen at the supermarket or on the beach. Nona knew everyone.

I smiled at Elliot and
Easton,
who stood
among
their friends sipping fancy drinks. They too
dressed up
in matching dress shirts and ties. Out of the crowd came Hutch, he smiled warmly and pulled a present from behind his back. I hadn’t even known he was going to be there.
However,
I was sure it had something to do with Karsen. I quickly found her and Kidd in the
crowd. She
smiled deviously at me as I accepted Hutch’s gift.

Dad left me and Hutch alone and took off for the refreshments.

“I thought I told you no more gifts?” I said, pulling the pink bow loose. It hung loosely from my fingertips as I tore the paper from Hutch’s present.

“Birthdays don’t count. Glad I could come,” Hutch said watching me open the gift.

I
laughed at the
ruby-red slippers
on the silver chain. I handed it over to Hutch and lifted my hair. He secured it
around
my neck.

“You’re a clever one.” I stared at the red slippers laughing at our little inside joke against my fingertips.

“I thought you would get a kick out of it.” Hutch pulled me close and planted
a sweet kiss on the top of my
head. “This is a big turnout. I didn’t realize you were such a popular girl.”

I smiled
,
looking around at all the strange faces mingling at my birthday party.

“Most of these people are friends of Nona,” I assured him.

Hutch nodded
,
leaning over
he
whispered
into
my ear. “You look stunning, doll.”

I blushed. “Thanks. So do you.” I tugged
on
the collar of his
white shirt and gray vest. He looked
handsome,
and I loved how he left the white shirt underneath open not bothering to button the three buttons. I toyed with the necklace that was hiding under the fabric of the white shirt he was wearing.

“What’s this?” I asked.

Hutch pul
led it free.
“A family heirloom
.”

I gave one more look at the dark stone before he tucked it away, and took my hand.

“Don’t you want to say hello to everyone else?” His eyes stayed connected to mine. The energy between us sped my heart up as I stared at him.

I
nodded,
“maybe
in a little while.”

Hutch
shook his head
understanding. “Sure, why don’t we get something to drink
then?
” I followed him to the
beverages,
and he
got
us
both fancy
punch
Nona had named after me in honor of my birthday.

“
Sweet pea
, that’s quite the
nickname,”
Hutch teased
,
sipping his purple punch, he grinned over the cup at me.

“Ever since I can remember
it’s
what she called me.” I took a swig of mine. “What about
you? Do
you have any nicknames?”

Hutch frowned jokingly and looked off as if he was trying to recall. I was really enjoying his company. “I can’t say that I do. Do you have anything in mind?”

I laughed. I could
think
of a few things I wanted to call him.
Like
hottie
or sexy.
However,
I wasn’t about to tell him those. His eyes lit up with amusement. He leaned in, his lips brushing against my ear.

“
You’re
going to want to learn to control that.”

I stared at him in awe, my
cheek's
warming. “What do you mean?”

His smile grew even bigger. “
Hottie
or sexy aren’t very common nicknames.
Even so,
I am flattered, thank you.”

I turned away mortified he had tapped into my thoughts.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m flattered that you think so highly of me.” He turned me toward him again. “And it also means
you’re
getting better with your abilities.”

“It’s quite embarrassing. I can’t believe you heard that.” Hutch touched my cheek.

“Don’t worry about it. If only you could hear what is going on in here when it comes to you.”
He tapped the side of his
head. I
laughed, forgetting my mess up. I didn’t feel bad anymore; it almost felt okay that Hutch knew what I thought about him. At
least,
I didn’t have to say it out loud.

Hutch and I made our rounds thanking everyone for coming to my birthday party. He even forced me to thank the people I didn’t know.
It
wasn’t anything I would have done on my own, but he was so easily persuadable. And he made me feel like I could do anything.

“
You’re
such a charmer. I think my grandma has a crush on you after that story.” I told him as we got another glass of punch
, Hutch was a very wise guy and the stories he told everyone about his travels impressed everyone
,
including Nona
. I tried to decide on a finger food while Hutch refilled our drinks. I was starving now and I really needed to get something to eat. I must have been
too
busy trying to find something to stuff my face with because the next thing I
knew
there he was.

“Slade,” I said
,
dropping the crackers in my hands back on the tray. My mouth instantly went dry.

Hutch handed me my drink. “
Hey there, Slade,
”
he said standing his ground.

Slade politely nodded at Hutch, but he kept his eyes on me. Hutch took my drink back.

“Why don’t I let you two get caught up for a bit,” Hutch offered.

I looked at Hutch panic taking over. “You don’t have to leave.” I wanted to grab a hold of Hutch’s arm and scream at him to stay with me. I didn’t want to be alone with Slade. I wasn’t sure how I would handle being alone with him.

“You’ll be fine, doll. It’
s your
birthday. I'm
sure he isn’t trying to ruin that for you too.” Hutch flashed a big smile in Slade’s direction. Boy he was cocky when he wanted to be. “Besides, I’ll be over there if you need me.”

Slade ran a hand down the back of his neck annoyed
,
it was written all over his face. “She doesn’t need a bodyguard.”

Hutch cocked his head to the side and grinned. “That’s where we disagree.”

I touched Hutch’s arm
before things got even more out of control
. “I’m fine.” His eyes searched mine for the truth.

“I wouldn’t be against teaching him some manners.” He quickly glanced at Slade. Slade flexed his jaw
angrily;
Hutch leaned down and kissed my cheek
, looking out the corner of his eye at Slade as his lips met the side of my face,
and then he took
off through the
crowd, leaving us alone.

I dropped my gaze to my feet refusing to look at Slade.

“Happy birthday,” he said, pushing a small box at me. I looked
up;
he
got me
a gift.

“This is a shock,” I opened the
lid;
it was a
brand-new iPod
. I raised an eyebrow confused. “I have an
iPod
.”