Three Witches #1: Magnus and Magnolia

Chapter 27 (Magnus): No Real Choice

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

The day after her store's grand opening, I stopped by Magnolia's place an hour before she was due to open. Maybe the place was infused with actual fairy magic, or maybe it was just her own Noli magic, but I always felt her presence in a very real way around this building. I had a feeling if I couldn't win her back, I'd have to sit outside her store each day, just to absorb that feeling of being close to her.

I sat down on the ground, knees up, forearms resting on them. I breathed in and out slowly, trying to subdue the panic that kept trying to overwhelm me. The only thing I wanted in life was Magnolia. For a few months, I'd had everything I wanted for the first time in my life; it was beautiful and perfect and terrifying, and then I destroyed it for meaningless sex. The shame from that thought churned in my stomach until the acid threatened to come up. The pain from the thought of having to live without Magnolia was worse than anything I'd ever experienced...and lately, pain and I had been on a first-name basis. To go the rest of my life without Noli --

Pressing the heel of my palms against my eyes, I forced back the rest of the tears that hadn't yet slipped out, feeling weak for almost letting more escape from my eyes.

Stop crying. Don't you look at me like that, boy. You want something to cry about? There. How's that? Now you have a reason to cry.

I tilted my head back against the brick building once the imminent threat of tears was under control. All I wanted was Magnolia. I'd do anything to get her back, but even if I won the right by successfully completing all the trials, that didn't mean she would throw herself into my arms. In fact, she'd told me not to bother with the trials because it wouldn't make a difference to her. She'd never come back to me.

But I couldn't think about that. Not right now. Not when I was battling the dual needs of throwing up and crying. I had to think I still had some small chance of getting back with Noli.

Her car pulled into a parking space and I stood as she got out, looking over at me.

"I'm beginning to think you live here," Noli said.

I smiled faintly at her. "I'm beginning to think I want to since you're always here."

Stab.

"Thank you for your help yesterday," she said, ignoring my answer. "It was crazier than I could have imagined."

"That's a good start to your business."

Stab.

"A number of the customers said they lived an hour or two away from here." She peered up at me.

"Interesting."

Stab. What the fucking fuck was that for?

"They had flyers."

To that, I didn't say anything.

"But their flyers were on different-colored paper than the flyers I had printed. Mine were light green. The other flyers were purple and blue."

That's because I looked it up and purple and blue had good connotations with people. Blue makes people feel safe and purple is good for setting your store apart from other stores. And who brings in a motherfucking flyer to a store, anyway?

Magnolia looked at me in exasperation when I didn't say anything. "Did you print out extra flyers, Magnus?"

 I nodded once.

"How many?"

"Seventy, eighty thousand."

Stab.

Her jaw dropped. "And then you drove around handing them out all over the state?"