Bad Boys Can't Date Persephone: Part 5

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

“Um.” I gulped some water down to clear my throat. “Do you have Wi-Fi?”

“Yeah, the card with the password is by the sink.”

“Thanks.”

I grabbed my phone and went over to the sink. There was only one Wi-Fi available, so I carefully entered the password and grinned when my phone successfully logged in.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to put out a post on my socials. Maybe someone will see it and tell Mum.”

By someone, I meant Mina. Mum wasn’t on socials as herself, but she did have business profiles for the farm and the farm shop. I’d message them as well, explaining what was really going on.

Mum, if you’re reading this, I’m OK. Please check the messages on the farm/shop socials. Sorry for worrying you. Love you.

I hit Post and waited.

“Any luck?” asked Hayden.

The buffering symbol kept turning and turning on the screen. I quickly opened a new window, logged into a different social and began to type a message to the Greenfield Farm social page. Mum had given me a safe word to use if I was ever in danger; she’d be able to see it wasn’t there.

Mum, it’s me. I’m OK, and I’m so sorry for worrying you. A friend gave me a lift from the bus stop…

Was it right to call Hayden a friend? He kind of was now, but saying I’d got a lift from a friend was lying to Mum. I backspaced and tried again.

Hayden Ashcroft gave me a lift from the bus station – maybe Dad’s told you about him? I know what you’ve both said about getting lifts from strangers and I’m sorry, but I was soaked through, and the buses were cancelled. Please, please don’t be angry with us.

But I can’t go home because he’s got safety wards placed around his house, and they’re activated. It’s something to do with his family. I haven’t asked but he’s got to be hiding from them. The wards won’t come down until they leave.

I promise you I’m safe with him. Please tell Dad I’m OK, he might be able to do something about the wards. Lots of love and massive sorries, Flora xx

I pressed Send. A few moments later, a tiny box flashed up on the screen.

Unable to send message.

“What?”

“What’s happened?” asked Hayden. He sounded worried.

“Let me try again.”

As quickly as I could, I copied the message and sent it again. When the same box flashed up, I pasted it into the message for the Greenfield Farm shop.

“Come on, come on, come on…”

Unable to send message.

“Oh, COME ON!”

Furious, I thrust a fist down with all my strength. The kitchen floor split open. A mass of thorns erupted from the crack. I shrieked and stepped backwards, my eyes wide with alarm. Hayden sprang to his feet, the chair clattering to the floor behind him.

The plant stopped growing. It was half as tall as me.

Slowly, Hayden stepped around the table and came to stand beside me.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean to do that. I’m so sorry.”

“You’ve got plant magic?”

I nodded. “Flower magic. That’s a rose bush. I’ll just…put that somewhere outside.”

I put the phone on the table, then reached out and used my magic to tease the plant out of the floor. Grasping it carefully to avoid the thorns, I carried it out of the kitchen, opened the front door and stepped out into the shadows.

There weren’t very many places to put it. I didn’t think this was a climber, which was lucky. The earth under my feet was still damp and soft; I peered around for somewhere to root the plant. I could sense several spring flowers lying beneath the grass: violets, primroses and crocuses.

There was a patch of earth to the right of the house. I placed the plant on the grass, then crouched low and used my fingers to scoop out earth until there was a reasonably sized hole. Picking up the plant again, I lowered it into the hole and gently grew the roots out until they had a firm hold in the soil. I gathered the wet soil and pressed it around the bud union, sealing it in.

“Wow.”

I looked up; Hayden stood behind me, hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“I’ve never had a garden of my own before,” he said. “I’ll have to get some shears and a trowel next time I’m at the centre.”

I stood, brushing earth off my palms and fingers. “You’ll need pruners for the rose bush. Shears are for lawns and hedges. And you’ll need gloves.”

He stepped a little closer. “Did the thorns hurt you?”

“No. I was careful.” Suddenly I became aware of how close to me he was – and I wasn’t afraid. “If you want, I can point out the best tools we’ve got.”

“I’d love that.”

What had I been doing before all of this…Oh. Yeah.

“I…I should probably check my phone. Maybe the post went through.”

I went through to the kitchen and picked up the phone, trying to ignore the crack in the floor. I checked the first social, heart in my mouth.

It still hadn’t posted.

“Has it gone through?” Hayden asked from behind me.

I shook my head, tears threatening to spill. “No. It hasn’t.”

“Try your email. Maybe that’ll work…”

“You don’t know that!” I cried.

“Well, what else are you gonna do?” He spread his arms wide in frustration.

“I don’t know!”

We stared at each other in silence, my shoulders and chest heaving. My throat ached from shouting.

“I don’t know, OK? I don’t…” Sighing, I opened my email and began typing a new message to my parents, asking them to please reply if they got it.

After a few moments, an error message blinked onto the screen.

I shook my head. “It hasn’t worked.”

Pulling back a chair, I sat down and buried my face in my hands. This day had started out so well; now, it had gone from bad to worse. Mum was never going to let me leave the farm again, and after today? I didn’t want to leave it.

Quiet, hesitant footsteps sounded on the kitchen floor. A warm hand touched my shoulder; the touch wasn’t startling, and I remained still.

“I’m sorry,” Hayden said. “I should have taken you right into town and called your dad.”

Maybe he should have done that. But maybe he would have had an accident on the road. That rain was way too dangerous to drive in, especially since he’d lent me his helmet.

Or the wards would have activated anyway and left him stranded outside the house, with nowhere to go.

“You could have run into your family.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Huh. I could have. But I’d like to see Dad get his suits wet in that weather.”

I giggled.

“Look, maybe they’re just here for a day trip – and if the rain hasn’t cleared, they might just give up and go home. But you’re safe for as long as you stay here, OK? You’re safe with me, and I’ll get you home. I promise.”

I looked right up into his dark eyes. “I believe you.”

All my life, I’d been a good girl, and I’d never resented that. All I’d ever known was safety and protection – two things my best friend hadn’t known since her father died. She was getting those now thanks to my mum, but now I’d tasted something different. Something unexpected.

I wanted more of it.