A Twist Of Magic

Chapter Sixteen

"Boom, congrats Danny Boy!" Merritt exclaimed as he clapped me on the back as soon as I entered the hotel lounge.

"What is wrong with you?" I said quickly, having no idea what he meant.

"You finally bedded Amelia." he grinned at me.

"You really are disgusting sometimes." I glared at him.

"It's all part of my charm." Merritt winked.

"How did you know anyway?" I asked.

"We heard her." Henley piped up, glancing up from her magazine.

I sighed and perched on the arm of the sofa and began to bite my finger nails thoughtfully.

"She was obviously a happy customer." Merritt continued.

"It's not like that." I snapped.

"Three minutes." Henley coughed.

I rolled my eyes at her and continued biting my nails.

"She was sobbing." I admitted.

Merritt and Henley frowned at me, clearly wondering what I was talking about. I hadn't even realised that I said that aloud.

"She has a lot of baggage." I stated, glancing at Merritt as I knew that he would understand what I was talking about.

"Well that's a bit weird." Henley said, returning to her magazine as the conversation was clearly boring her.

"I need some fresh air." I said, quickly standing up and walking out of the room.

Amelia's POV

As I slowly climbed out of the shower and wrapped the towel around myself I couldn't stop thinking about Daniel. The way he'd kissed me had turned my legs to jelly. I had known for a while that I was still in love with him...but I knew in my heart that I would never love someone as much as I loved Daniel. And I had to learn to get over it. There would never be a future for me and Daniel so I needed to learn to move on. I needed a distraction to find some way of taking my mind off Daniel and how he made me feel. The way that he'd held me tightly and how he'd gently kissed my neck. I shook my head quickly trying to clear my thoughts.

I quickly scanned the rails of clothes in my wardrobe, smiling slightly to myself as my hand rested on a blue summer dress. Maybe after all these years I could finally pull off a beautiful dress. I had no idea where my sudden surge of confidence had come from but before I knew it, I found myself pulling the dress on. I sighed to myself as I pulled on a pair of leggings, smiling in satisfaction as they stopped just below the knee. It would hide the scars on my thighs whilst still allowing me to show off my legs.

As I made my way downstairs my head was swirling with thoughts. I still hadn't decided whether I was going home or not. Part of me longed to return home but it was like I couldn't bring myself to leave.

"Woah, what's with the hot dress?!" Jack exclaimed as he walked into the lounge and saw me sitting at the table with my laptop.

"I fancied a change." I smiled.

I looked up from my laptop as I felt him watching me closely. He smiled as we locked eyes.

"What?" I frowned.

"Nothing, it's just nice to see you like this." he stated.

"Maybe talking about it helped more than you realised." he added.

I pondered his words for a moment. Maybe he was right, being able to know that Daniel had accepted what had happened to me helped more than I ever thought possible. Even though I would never fully come to terms with what had happened to me, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

"Yeah maybe." I said quietly.

"Where have you been the last couple of days?" I asked him.

"Spending time with Amy before she has to go back to work. She was only in town for a couple of days. I'm sorry I wasn't around much to support you." he explained.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." I sighed.

"I can't help it, I care about you." he said gently.

I nodded slowly and looked away quickly. As happy as I was that he cared about me, I couldn't help but feel slightly guilty that I had spent the night with Daniel. The skin on my arms tingled as he leant over me and our arms brushed as he gazed at my laptop screen.

"What are you looking at?" he asked playfully.

"Trying to find a job, but it's not going well." I admitted.

"You know you can just stay with us, we'd miss you if you left." he stated.

"You mean you would." I replied, teasing him back.

"Well yeah." he chuckled.

"So you have to stay." he pouted.

"It's not that simple." I sighed.

"Oh by the way, I got you something to cheer you up." he announced.

"You didn't have to get me anything." I said, turning in the chair to face him.

He smiled as he rummaged in his pocket and gently pulled out a silver necklace. As I gazed at it in wonder, I saw that the pendant was the horseman's logo.

"I wanted you to feel like you were part of our little group." he said.

I smiled at him, he had a rare boyish charm that I found endearing. He stood behind me and gently fastened the necklace in place, his fingers lingering for a moment on my neck. My skin tingled and the hairs on my arms stood on end as his fingers remained in place on my neck. On impulse I stood up and turned to face him, glancing at his lips as our faces gradually inched closer to each other. I could almost taste his lips and feel his warm breath on my face.

The hotel door opened and we quickly turned away from each other. Henley frowned at us curiously as she walked up the staircase. As soon as she left the room Jack and I glanced at each other and burst out laughing.

"That was awkward." I laughed.

"I know right, c'mon, we should get some lunch." he replied.

I nodded and quickly took his hand, slightly disappointed that we hadn't kissed. I found myself longing to know the taste of his lips...maybe another time.