Seduced by My Childhood Sweetheart’s Brother
Chapter 71

71- Spells and strings

I stare at the message for a good few minutes, alternating between being excited, proud and horrifiedthat I sent it. Bellamy doesn’t answer right away like he usually does. At first I’m anxious about it, but Iremind myself that it’s the middle of the night and he’s probably asleep. I’m sure he will answer in themorning. I’m not even sure what kind of response I’m hoping for. It’s ridiculous to be disappointed.

I don’t know exactly when I fell back to sleep, but I wake up clutching my phone as my alarm goes off.Actually I wake up and I’m so shocked to replace it in my hand that I accidentally throw it across the room.It’s not actually THAT early. But I was up late and I hate mornings. I drag. myself out of bed and turn offthe alarm. I still have no answer from Bellamy. I blush bright red as I remember the video I sent lastnight. Okay, I’m definitely regretting it now. It’s just so embarrassing. He probably hasn’t answeredbecause he is trying to be nice and ignore how ridiculous I am. Sighing, I do as I promised himyesterday.

Ryann- Good morning Bellamy. This is me checking in as promised.

Bellamy- Morning Ry thank you for messaging. I’m looking forward to seeing you later

today.

He answers me immediately. So he did get the video message then. Unless… maybe it didn’t send?I’ve never sent a video message before. I’m too shy to ask him about it so I just leave my phone on mybed and go shower and get ready for work.

Aaron knocks on my door at ten am exactly. I let him in and use my new app thing to confirm withsecurity that there’s no issue. As usual Aaron is basically silent. I shrug it off and go about my normalroutine. We walk towards my work, stopping off on the way at a little cafe to grab a late breakfast/earlylunch. This is pretty much routine for me on days when I work through the lunch rush. I tell Aaron about

my agreement to check in with Bellamy regularly and that he will have to message on my behalf at onepm as I’ll be working. It’s only a short four hour shift today. I’m working through lunch but not dinner.

The supervisors at my work have gotten used to having Shifter guards hovering around at this point. Ido take the time to let them know that Aaron will be the permanent guard from now on rather than theseveral people who have been alternating previously. My supervisor just shrugs it off and says there’sno harm in having a visual reminder for everyone else that

71- Spells and strings

Borderline is a safe place. People tend to forget what they can’t see. Out of sight, out of mind and allthat. It’s a concept I know well. I usually have more confidence in people’s relationships than they do,because I can see the proof that most people want so badly. It’s a big part of why I don’t advertise myabilities. Everyone wants to know if they’re with the right. person. In theory that is. They tend to replace itconfronting actually hearing the truth, particularly if it’s not what they want to hear. I think about Bellamyand the confusion we went through. For someone like him he might be better off being able to see theproof. I’m serving a pair of Witches when I’m struck by inspiration for a token for Bellamy. I resolve togo shopping as soon as my shift finishes. It’s a busy shift and time passes quickly. Aaron catches myattention with a wave and holds up his phone at one to let me know he sent the check in message toBellamy. I probably won’t have to send another today unless I take a lot longer shopping than I plan to.I’ll head over to see Bellamy right after work. He might be busy though, I haven’t actually checked hisor Megan’s plans. Oh well. I can always wait or head home if needed. I won’t want to wait to giveBellamy his gift. I’ll get too nervous.

I finish work and meet Aaron at the door.

“Hey. I want to do a bit of shopping. Is that alright? Oh are you hungry? We can stop for food if youwant.” I offer. Aaron shrugs. I take that to mean ‘maybe but only if something catches my eye.‘ I’mgoing to have to make two stops to complete Bellamy’s gift. Luckily Borderline is right next to ashopping district so I won’t have far too walk. My first destination is a craft store. I spend entirely toolong looking at every kind of red thread and string that they stock until I choose a thin string. I pauseout the front of the store and take a minute to do a rope braid with the string to double it up and then tieit into a loop. Aaron is watching me curiously. My project half complete, I head into a little store run by atalented coven of witches who do a lot of custom spells for people. For a price that is. Wow thatsounded more sinister than I intended. They provide goods and services in exchange for money. It’s ashop. That’s what they do. Hopefully they can do what I want. I chat with a young redhead at thecounter. She’s curious about my request and isn’t totally sure about how to make it happen. Sheeventually calls in an older, more experienced coven member and explains my goal. Eventually weagree on a plan of action and (ouch) a price. I’m going to burn through a good deal of my savingspaying for this but hopefully it’ll be worth it. The witches take my string and tell me it will take themabout half an hour. I browse through some of the display items. A lot of popular spells and potions arepre–made. Cleaning and dirt repelling spells are very common. I come to a collection of potions lockedin a glass case. These all appear to be potions to temporarily alter a person, mentally or physically.They can only be sold by licenced stores and of course giving these to people can only be done withtheir knowledge or

it’s considered assault. I notice one for dreamless sleep. When the witches return with my

71–Spells and strings

order I ask about it.

“Oh that one is useful for preventing bad dreams. The downside is it prevents good dreams. too anddreams are how people process their lives so it’s not healthy to miss them all the time. It’s mostlyuseful for someone who has gone through something traumatic and could desperately use just one ortwo good nights of sleep. It should never be used multiple nights. in a row and never more than threetimes in a month. It can also be quite addictive, particularly when the alternative is unpleasant dreamsand exhaustion. I think of Megan.

“Can I buy that too please? I have a friend who I think might need it.

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