Summoning Hearts

Lola 

I stare at the glass absentmindedly, overthinking if I should really do it.

Rolling my shoulders and moving my head from side to side, I shake my hands as if I were to prepare for a fight.

I bite my bottom lip as I move my fingers toward the glass slowly and I’m just about to lay them onto the turned-over glass as the door opens.

Its slamming against the wall makes me jump, and I lay my hand on my chest.

“Where is your father?” Aiden asks in an annoyed tone, and as always with me, he gets straight to the point.

But who could ever blame him?

I’m nothing to him.

Just the bothersome daughter of his father’s business partner and enemy.

Oh, I can see your confusion.

And I get it because those two things often don’t go together.

Well, in our case, it is simpler than it sounds.

His father and mine share the power over the same territory, and even if the families were never really friends, they manage it quite well.

And I guess it is the profit that makes it all work out.

As for me, I was captured by his dark eyes and the forbidden taste each interaction with him left in my heart, each carving forming it to fit into his hands perfectly.

Bleh.

And by the time he got those muscular broad shoulders, I began to fear for my life.

“What are you asking me, Idiot? Barging in like that! I could have been naked!” I shout at him.

He scrunches up his face, his eyes roaming my body with disgust, making me feel like he had punched me in my guts. “As if that would make any difference.”

Wow!

My heart would practically perform the Nutcracker by seeing him naked while he would probably not even notice.

God, I would sell my soul to see him naked.

As I shake myself back to reality, and hope that he didn’t notice my drooling too much, I cross my arms. “Well, I don’t know. Maybe he is still at the bar.”

He groans, his eyes falling onto my fantastically decorated table.

I was kind of proud of it just a moment ago.

But at seeing his look, I feel incredibly embarrassed and childish now.

I had thought that I had done a cute witchy setup, a self-made Ouija board, and a glass formed out of crystal to communicate with the other side.

The whole thing is surrounded by candles and leaves as well as various protective crystals.

Or at least, I would have thought so.

Didn’t protect me from this idiot.

“What even is this? What the hell are you doing?” he asks, and I scratch my head as I lower it as I suddenly feel stupid.

“Nothing that would concern you. Can you leave now?”

He lifts his hands, taking a few steps back. “Sure thing, weirdo!”

I take a deep breath as he is already out of the door, only to jump as he plops his head back in. “I know that you are desperate, but don’t let the first ghost that answers you take your virginity.”

Gasping, I grab the glass on the table, catapulting it towards him.

He retreats just in time as the glass shatters against the wall, exploding into a thousand pieces.

As soon as I realize what I have done, I panic, putting my hand on my chest as I try to keep my breathing even. “Oh, no. No. No.”

“What is it?” he asks, stepping back into the room. “Did one of the shards hurt you?”

I look at him surprised by this question, only for my brain to settle back on the problem at hand.

“No!” I answer desperately. “I had already begun summoning the entity! It was in the glass. I shouldn’t have even lifted it, let alone smashing it.”

He looks at me with furrowed brows before he cracks up, holding his stomach. “You are such an idiot.”

Scurrying around the table, I try to collect the pieces mumbling that this isn’t in fact funny, over and over again.

He remains standing at the door and watching me, throwing a few more insults in my direction.

I simply ignore them as my frightened self is way too scared about the consequences of this.

“Hey, hey,” he suddenly grabs my arm, pulling me up. “Are you even listening to me?”

Jerking backward, I pull my arm out of his grip. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?!”

As I am about to crouch down, wanting to continue to collect the pieces, he grabs me again, stopping me. “Stop it. What are you doing with your bare hands? And you aren’t wearing any shoes. You are only going to cut yourself.”

“Why would you even care?! Just go on doing your job and leave me alone!” I shout at him, making him groan.

“Your father would kill me if you got hurt and voices came out telling him that I was involved. Imagine when he gets to know about the ghost in his house,” he mocks me again, and I push at his chest, not actually getting him to move as he is a fucking mountain.

But by the impact, the little shards that I had collected sink into my skin, and I’m sure that I’m bleeding.

My heart twists in my chest and I shake my head to cover the pain. “I need to collect the shards because there has to be some kind of ritual to prevent the summoned ghost from doing any damage.”

“You are fucking insane. When did you hit your head that hard?” he scoffs, grabbing my wrist to keep me from thrashing any further.

I stomp my foot as I feel like enough is enough. “Just fucking leave.”

He glares at me for a second and just as I want to continue with my plan, he moves, making my breath hitch in my throat.

With a fast movement, he wraps his arms around me and throws me over his shoulder.

I squeal as he carries me over to my bed and sits me down on it.

Lifting his finger into my face, he hisses. “You stay here. Don’t fucking move.”

I stare at him flabbergasted and nod slowly while he walks back to my summoning circle.

“What are you doing?” I ask, swaying to the side as I see him collecting the shards.

Also with his bare hands.

What an idiot.

“Just stay where you are,” he answers, leaving the room with the shattered glass collected in his hands, only to return with a broom and a dustpan.

I watch him incredulously as he cleans up my bedroom floor and after having disposed of everything thoroughly, he leaves the room once again to put everything away.

My eyes follow his movements while my heart beats into my throat and he sits down next to me, pushing out a deep breath. “You are something else.”

“Well, thank you,” I say pouting.

He pulls out his phone, starting to type in something and I try to get a glimpse of his screen. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to look for the ritual you told me about,” he answers nonchalantly, making my jaw hit the floor.

“Now you are pulling my leg,” I say lowly, making him chuckle.

He is still concentrating on his phone as he mumbles. “Do you have a name for that?”

“Don’t know. Maybe a cleansing ritual?” I answer with a shrug.

He squints his eyes, and I can practically hear his thoughts screaming at me. “Are you asking me, woman?”

“Why would I even know!” I groan, and he clicks his tongue.

Trying another search with the cleansing ritual, he sighs exhausted. “You never do your homework. You should always be prepared for every eventuality.”

“Well, sorry that I’m not a perfect little soldier like you are,” I scoff, moving my hands in the air.

Or better, my balled fist and my hand.

“This has nothing to do with my job, Lola. You can’t go around keeping bothering people.”

His entitled tone makes my blood boil and I punch his arm, swallowing a sob at another wave of pain rippling through me at the impact.

“Don’t talk to me like that! As if I had planned that I would set a summoned ghost free because you came to stress me out.” I say in a defiant tone, but he wouldn’t care anyway.

Shaking his head, he looks over to me and is just about to say something when he notices my hand that is still balled into a fist.

“Why are you holding your hand like that?”

Oh, oh.