Love Spell #Wattys2020

Chapter Fifteen

The front lot of Horton's was full of motorcycles lined in a tidy row and giant trucks parked haphazardly in their own spaces. My tires crunched on gravel as I pulled through, into the back lot. I drew in a breath and held it.

I can do this. I can do this. I let out a breath. I can do this.

I can't do this. My fingers tremble on the steering wheel. One week ago I would have told you that the only thing that mattered to me was that we found Hunter. Now that we'd found him, all I wanted to do was drive away.

It wasn't that I wasn't happy. I was. But there were also very real possibilities that Hunter could reject me. What if he'd changed in a bad way? What if he was already married? Was that even a thing? Could the laws of love be that cruel? I was a tornado of emotions and I focused on breathing as fear and nerves swirled inside me.

I stared at my reflection in the rearview mirror. My eyes seemed even darker in the night but a twinkle of the lights from the patio glittered in my corneas. I had to trust the light. I had to trust my family. I had to trust myself. If Hunter was the one for me, all of this was worth it.

I took a deep breath. Be brave, Tabitha. You are not the first nor the last witch to go through this. I sighed, smoothed down my hair, and opened the door to my car.

Loud 1970's rock'n'roll carried out of the run-down biker bar. Bright lights haphazardly strung through trees lit the night and I heard boisterous voices and laughter carrying into the night. A bright green, neon bar sign flashed the word "BAR" on and off, setting an eerie emerald glow over the lot.

The tips of my fingers warmed with every step toward the door. I raised my hand and studied my flesh—skin and bone. There was no otherworldly glow or anything abnormal, but something magical was happening. Unmistakably, my fingers warmed and tingled, as if my body and my soul awakened with each step closed to my one true love.

A burly man burst through the front door, almost knocking into me. He was bald with pierced ears and had a bushy black beard peppered with grey. He woke dark jeans and a black leather vest with a flaming crest on it.

He raised a brow at the sight of me and laughed. "Lost, are you? Don't go in there, they'll eat you up." He chuckled to himself as he lumbered to a Harley motorcycle, finished the can of beer in his hand and tossed it against a tree with a burp.

I exhaled, trying to breathe away the nerves and the warmth growing inside me. If he was any indication of the type of patrons inside, I had zero interest of going any farther. But I had to. For Hunter. For Oma. For my family. For myself.

I opened the door to Hortons. Loud music and the smell of beer filled my senses. I straightened and stepped inside.

Men. Horton's was full of men. Rowdy, boisterous men having a merry time. Some played darts, some bickered by the pool tables in the back, and others sat around on stools or at tables with friends. But soon, I was very aware of each pair of eyes as they turned to eyeball me, surely wondering what I was doing here alone so late at night.

You and me both, I thought.

I searched the bar, starting on the right. Then the back. Then the left side of the building until I found a familiar mop of black hair. Unruly but sexy in a devil-may-care kind of way, had my heart leaping in my chest. Hunter tipped his head back and laughed. He was seated at a table with several other men I didn't recognize.

My heart stalled. He was as handsome as I remembered—even more so.

Hunter in real life was even better than my dreams.