Spell Break: Part 11

Thursday morning, 7 AM...this week, that means new episode!

11

            So far, Jason's day had been completely awesome.  Kelly had woken him up with a spectacular blow job.  The kind that had Jason groaning and writing, clutching at the sheets and worrying about the safety of his eyeballs because it seemed like Kelly was trying to suck them out through his dick.  Afterwards, he was so wobbly that Kelly had to hold him up in the shower for fear that Jason would lose his balance and split open his skull when it hit the tile.  As soon as Jason had some stability back, he dropped to his knees and returned the favor.  It took him less than two minutes to get Kelly to go off, his cum warm and salty shooting down his throat.  Satisfied he’d pleased his man, he licked his lips, made sure Kelly was steady, then left the man to finish his shower while he went and made coffee.

            And the day just kept looking up.

            As he set about filling the carafe with water, movement caught his eye through the window above the sink.  Jason stopped and stared as a man walked up to the alder, placed his hands on the trunk, and leaned forward to rest his head on the bark.  For a moment, Jason was shocked and didn’t know what to do.  But then he caught sight of the lawn mower, the weed trimmer, the clippers, and various other lawn care equipment.  Obviously, this man had a purpose in being in Kelly’s backyard. 

            Jason watched, transfixed, as the man straightened and stripped off the long sleeved flannel shirt he was wearing.  Underneath, there was nothing but bare shoulders and bib overalls.   A smirk of amusement crossed his lips; he was pretty sure no one wore bib overalls anymore.  But the man was just too pretty for it to matter.  Dark blonde hair hung about his forehead and ears, a careless mop of hair that was just dying for some fingers to be buried in it.  His face was something that would have made Brad Pitt jealous; all chiseled features and pretty lips.  He had muscles born of hard, physical work and they bulged at his shoulders and biceps and he bent to start the mower.  Jason couldn’t stop staring.

            Jason felt Kelly’s chest press up against his back as the man leaned around him to shut off the water.  Jason’s eyes shot down and he realized that he had overfilled the carafe and the water was cascading over the rim and into the sink.

            “I can see I’m going to have to fire Daniel,” Kelly said softly directly in his ear, his tone filled with amusement.

            “Huh? What?”

            Kelly chuckled.  “You’re staring at him like he’s a juicy steak and you’re starving.  Can’t keep him around to do the yard work if he’s going to make you drool like that, can I?”

            “He’s pretty,” Jason murmured as his attention was once again drawn out the window.

            Kelly made a noise of agreement.  “Yes, he sure is.”

            Jason wrenched his attention back inside and scowled heavily as he pulled out of the circle of Kelly’s arms and went back to making coffee.  Kelly just laughed.

            “What?  You can look, but I can’t?  How fair is that?”

            Jason shook his head.  It was true he didn’t like to hear that kind of admiration from Kelly when it was directed at someone else, but the man had a point.  He gave a small snort at his own ridiculousness.  “Yeah, all right. Looking is fine.  No touching.”

            “No touching,” Kelly agreed.

            Then they stood at the sink, drinking their coffee and ogling the gardener while Daniel mowed the lawn, pulled weeds, trimmed the bushes and cared for their tree.  The backyard wasn’t that big and it was only an hour later that he was done.  Jason hadn’t even been aware that much time had passed.  But Daniel had finished his task, turned toward the window, gave a breath stealing smile and a wave, packed up his equipment and he was gone.

            “I can see why you hired him,” Jason muttered, just a little embarrassed that he had stood at the window for that entire time to watch the man work.

            Kelly gave a little chuckle.  “Daniel is a part of my coven and has his own lawn care business.  He knows more about the flora in this area than anyone I’ve ever known and I hired him because he’s very good at what he does.  He’s a really good guy who is completely unaware of how beautiful he is.  But even though he doesn’t mind a little staring, I don’t make it a habit.”

            “I might,” Jason said, sotto voiced which earned him a chuckle and a kiss on the temple from his boyfriend.

            “As long as it’s just looking,” Kelly said playfully.  “I’ve got to get to work.  When do you go into today?”

            “Three,” Jason promptly answered.  “I’m closing tonight.”

            Kelly nodded, pecked him on the lips, and said, “Kiss me goodbye before you leave.”

            Jason nodded, feeling warm fuzzies in the pit of his stomach.  As much as he had hated bringing up Gray, things had been even better between them ever since their talk.  Kelly seemed much more relaxed than he ever had.  Without that big secret hanging between them, they’d seemed to progress some in their relationship.  It just reaffirmed what Jason had known; that they were right for each other.

            Jason puttered around the house, cleaned a little, and spent some time with the alder before he wandered inside and changed for work.  Mary was pretty lax about the dress code; sneakers, jeans, and a polo shirt with the Any Beans Necessary logo on it were his uniform.  He dressed quickly, popped in to the office to give Kelly his goodbye kiss and head down the street.  He usually walked to work because it was only a few blocks away.  Strix soared along behind him, then landed on his shoulder just before they headed inside.  Mary had installed a little perch up by one of the high windows on the side of the building.  With a little pull of the chain, Jason opened it so that Strix could get outside if he needed to, then joined Mary behind the counter to get a run down of what was going on.  Forty five minutes later, he had the keys in his pocket and was alone to work until close.

            He loved working this shift on a Tuesday.  While the afternoon and early evening saw pretty good business, things tapered off about five o’clock and the next three hours were usually dead.  Mary got bored as hell when that happened, but Jason liked it.  He used the time to get things cleaned up so that when he finally locked up, there were only a few pots and carafes to wash.  The occasional customer was enough to keep him from going batty with the solitude. 

            It was busier than usual today as closing time approached.  Still an hour to go and there were three tables occupied in the small café by four patrons.  Jason started cleaning up anyway; wiping down counters, packing up the few baked goods left, and washing pots in the big sink behind the counter.  There was a quiet chatter from the patrons and Jason smiled to himself.  It was nice.

            He looked up when the bell above the door dinged and a small woman walked it.  Not more than 5’2” and maybe 100 pounds soaking wet, she made a beeline right for the counter.  Jason pasted on his customer friendly smile even as he hoped that she didn’t ask for anything that would require him to dirty one of the pots he’d already washed.

            “Welcome!  What can I get for you?”

            The woman pursed her lips and studied the board above his head for a long moment before she said, “Iced caramel coffee.”

            “Sure, coming right up,” Jason said brightly and turned quickly in case the scowl appeared on his face.  It was just one blender jar and they were easily washable, he reminded himself.  He busied himself adding ice, coffee and caramel, working quickly and he almost didn’t hear her when she spoke.

            “Thank you, Jason.”

            His shoulders went tense for a split second before he schooled his reaction and went back to his task.  There was no way this woman could know his name.  He’d never met her before and he didn’t wear a name tag.  There was something ominous about it and his sent his thoughts to Strix.  The owl agreed with Jason’s assessment and that was all he needed.  He focused on his task and started gathering his magic around him.

            “Whipped cream?” Jason asked over his shoulder, raising his voice a little to be heard over the noise of the blender.  She hadn’t answered by the time that he turned around with her cup in hand.  And then he saw it, her magic, a dusky charcoal gray, reaching out toward him.  Strix gave a warning screech and Jason tried to get his shield up, but she was too quick and he was enveloped in a binding spell.  Whatever she was doing didn’t hurt, but Jason couldn’t move and he couldn’t speak.

            “Tsk tsk, Jason.  None of that.  I’m not going to hurt you.  Why don’t you come out from behind the counter?” Her voice was falsely sweet and she gave a fake, sugary smile.  Jason didn’t want to but her magic compelled him and he moved out as she had directed.

            “Thank you,” she said solicitously.  Then she turned her attention to the patrons of the shop who didn’t seem to notice that anything was out of the ordinary.  She raised her voice a little, and in that same sweet tone, said, “You can all leave now.”

            As one, the customers got up, moving eerily in sync and walked out of the shop.  The door banged shut behind them.  Jason started to sweat. This couldn’t be good on any level. 

            “I was looking for Mary, but you’ll do just fine,” the woman said.  Then she motioned with a hand toward a nearby table.  “Have a seat.”

            Jason sat.  His body was being controlled by her and he didn’t have a choice.  The panic bubbling in his gut was a physical thing, trying to claw its way out.  His breathing was rapid.  But the woman didn’t seem to care.  She sat down next to him and gave his shoulder a friendly pat. 

            “Now, we’ll just wait.”

***

            Henry was sniffing around the backyard, looking for a prime spot to do his business, when he heard the ruffle of wings and the screech of a pissed off owl.  Looking up, he saw Strix.  That was a bad thing.  The bird was in quite a state. 

            Henry pelted back toward the house and slid in through the sliding door Mary had left open for him.  He ran straight toward her, his bark booming through the small house.  She sat up and looked at him, shocked that he would be making such a racket.

            “What has gotten into you?” she admonished.

            Henry danced on the spot, pushing his worry at his practitioner.  Something was wrong with Jason.  That was the only reason Strix would have come flying in like he had.  Mary gave him a frown and tried to hush him again, but he wouldn’t be silenced.  She needed to move.  He head butted her thigh, whined again, and did his best to let her know that Jason was in trouble.  Sometimes he had trouble communicating his thoughts to her and he was worried this was one of those times.

            Suddenly, she sat up straight.  She got it.  She knew something was wrong.

            “Okay, let’s go,” she said seriously, trotting toward the door to slip on shoes.

            Henry’s relief was palpable as he followed her out the door.

***

            Liam loved his Jezebel so much he had built her an enclosure that had plenty of climbing trees and fake lights so she could stay warm.  She loved it in there and was perched high up on a tree in front of the window when she saw the tiny owl outside.  He always looked so tasty that it took a moment for Jezebel to realize the little bird was frantic.

            She immediately slithered down off her perch and went in search of Liam.  She found him in the front room, talking on the phone and pacing.  He ignored her as she slithered in.  That wouldn’t do at all.  She crossed into his path so that he’d be forced to stop pacing and curled up around his leg.  He absently petted her head and continued to argue on the phone.  She squeezed her coils until he stopped talking and looked down at her.

            “What the hell, Jez?”

            She let him know, with everything she had, that Strix had shown up in a tizzy and that there was something very, very wrong with Jason.  Immediately, her Liam told whoever it was that he had to go, turned off the phone, and peeled her off his leg.  He wrapped her around his shoulders and took off out the door.  Jezebel settled in for the ride, knowing she had done her duty.

***

            Nola never strayed far from Kelly’s side when he was working. She even had her own special perch on the edge of the desk in front of the window.  Kelly didn’t usually work this late in the day but he’d adjusted his schedule when Jason started working odd hours so that when Jason was home, Kelly could spend time with him.  Nola approved.

            She saw Strix swoop into the backyard and she wasn’t surprised.  But then the owl let out a call and didn’t go to perch in the alder.  Immediately, she knew.  She stood up quickly, knocking over the pen holder, and started talking to Kelly.

            “That’s the way you talk to Jason and he’s not here, love,” Kelly said absently.

            God, men were stupid.

            She jumped onto the keyboard, interrupting him and pressed her face close to his.  She told him, in no uncertain terms, that their boy was in some sort of trouble.  Kelly, bless him, picked up on it immediately.  He scooped her up and ran for the door.  The instant he allowed it, she scrambled up onto his shoulders.  He didn’t bother with the car, just started running.  Nola had to dig in her claws a little to keep from slipping and told herself that it was a good thing Strix had come for help.

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