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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Ember Holt
Read between
May 21 - May 22, 2025
It’s not the fact that he’s cheating, not their betrayal, but that he doesn’t even have the decency to fuck her right. Not as if he ever fucked me right, either.
“Calm, now. I would never hurt my witch,”
“It’s like smelling the most delicious meal, knowing you’re about to feast. I could devour you for eternity.”
“So good,” he groans. “Your bliss is fire and I gladly burn to bear witness.”
“I need to be inside of you to deposit my magic. Kissing is easiest, but since that’s a no…”
Heh heh heh
I brush his little wings with my toes and chuckle. “I hear that wingspan has something to do with equipment size.” He arches an eyebrow as he kisses the inside of my knee. “I’ve shrunken them for convenience. If my wings were full size, I wouldn’t be able to fit in this room.”
“Apollo, please,” I whine, not even sure what I’m asking for. Relief from the coiled tension in my center? A second to breathe? There’s not enough air in the room and I’m drowning in lust.
I throw my arms around his shoulders and hug him tightly. He didn’t have to do this. He didn’t have to make my life more beautiful, more wonderful. He could’ve settled for my pleasure and I would’ve surrendered it as promised, but he chose to make me happy.
When the game is rigged, there are no rules, and no such thing as cheating.”
“I’m sorry. I was angry. I hate anger. It feels like fire, like sickness. I just wanted to feel something else, even if it was pain.”
“Your heart is thundering,” he murmurs. “Are you all right?” Don’t fall for him. Don’t. Fall for him. “Are you going to hurt me, Apollo?” The tension in his shoulders melts, and he sighs. “Never.”
“I’m…experiencing something. It’s hot and fast. I want to hurt Jason. I’ve never felt this before.” I set my food down. “I’m pretty sure that’s called jealousy. It means you want something someone else has.” “Had,” Apollo emphasizes. “He had you. I have you now. This is different than jealousy. I’m angry he wasn’t better to you.”
“It’s going to be all right.” “How do you know?” I whisper, watching Irene approach through the window. “Because this work, and you, make her very happy. She feels so grateful. A little magic isn’t going to scare her off.”
I pour the bubbles and we sit around the table as a fall wind blows through the room. It smells like the moments before sleep. Like wrapping myself up in a big blanket against the cold and listening to rain on the window.
“Anyway, so that’s that. Now you know. Do you still want to work for me?” I ask in a rush. “For you and your kinky, voyeuristic demon boyfriend?”
“The sun will crest the mountains in four hours so we have some time to kill, and some time for you to sober up while we write lines. We’re going to record all over this place, get lots of content ready for the lead up to the launch and beyond. And then drink more wine and play games until we’re best friends because there’s no way I’m not gonna be best friends with a badass witch and her demon boyfriend.”
He holds my hand all the way to the restaurant and my heart just keeps swelling. That stupid thing doesn’t know when to quit.
“You don’t need to murder him,” I say, looking up at my sexy demon. He grumbles. “But I want to. No one hurts my witch.” “He hurt me before I was your witch,” I say, tapping his nose. His eyes glow like ice lit by the northern lights. “You’ve always been my witch; we just didn’t know it.”
So, I was the ocean after all, and he was the moon, pulling me at his whim.
“You need to finish your delicious meal.” He walks to the laptop and opens it. “And I need to show you this video I found of cats chasing their own tails.”
“Karaoke?” Apollo asks. Leonard balks at him and Irene jumps in. “It’s a sing-a-long,” she says. “But on a stage in front of a bunch of people instead of being alone in your shower.” “Oh, I’m never alone in the shower,” Apollo says, and my face feels like it’s melting.
“No matter what he says, please know that I love you, that I only love you, and always will.”
“I don’t care about my appearance, just as long as you keep looking at me like this.”
“I’m a witch, and so are you. Your crystals and sage are apparently not hooey.” She clucks her tongue and smacks my leg. “Of course it’s not, but it’s not witchcraft. Ay Dios mio!”
I swear this is something every Latina witch in denial due to colonization and christianity has said at some point.
“You can’t be with a demon!” she says, hitting my leg again. “What if God wants me to be with him?” She sputters. “He would never!” “Have you asked him?”
“Hija, demons are of hell, of the Devil. There is no reason to ask God if He would ever want one of His children consorting with one. The answer is no.” “What if the devil didn’t make Apollo? What if it was God?” Her face scrunches in disgust. “Why would He do that?” “Isn’t it sort of not our place to question His choices?”
“What will you do with the extra money?” She beams. “Buy my granddaughter everything she wants.” “What if it’s a grandson?” I ask. “It’ll be a granddaughter. I can feel it already,” she says, eyes distant as she looks at the cabin.
“You’re not using your witch powers on me, are you?” She scowls at me. “I am not a witch! Neither are you. We’re blessed.” “Blessed with magic,” I say. “Ah!” She throws her hands up and heads toward the door. “You’re making me crazy.”
“Goddamn, Apollo, why’d you have to give all your good looks to her? Where’s my share of the dark skin and light hair?” Apollo wraps his arm around my shoulder. “My deepest condolences for your horrid appearance.”
