Page 13 of White Charms and Dark Secrets

“Hey,” I greet with an awkward wave, as I sit down across from him. The chair scrapes against the floor, a loud screech that has me cringing as I scoot it closer to the table.

“I got it how you like it.” Darren nudges my coffee towards me. It smells perfect.Why does he have to be so nice right now? I hate being the bad guy.

“Thanks,” I mumble, sliding my hands around the large cup. The warmth feels nice against my fingers after being outside in the cold. I can’t help but notice the shimmer of the bracelet around my wrist. A heavy feeling of loss sinks in my stomach. I hate being cut off from my magic, but at least I’d made it here without falling over or walking in front of a bus or something.

“Look, about the other night...” he begins, but he trails off, looking at something over my shoulder. His expression goes from open, to stormy in seconds.

“Fancy seeing you two here,” a familiar voice drawls. I huff, not even needing to turn around to see who is standing behind me.What the hell is he doing here? And why the hell does Darren look so pissed to see him?

“After a month of nothing,nowis when you decide to show up?” Darren jeers in an irritated voice.

“Why? Is it a bad time?” Rhydian tries for innocent, but it falls flat as he grabs a chair from the table next to us and drags it over to join us.

“Of course not,” Darren mutters. “Where have you been the last month? You didn’t get hexed with amnesia again, did you?”

“Luckily, I did not. That was a terrible two weeks. I’ve been here and there. I had a surprising but lovely visit from Kayla yesterday though, and it reminded me that it’s been far too long since I dropped by. I was going to grab some coffee and bring it to your place, but seeing as you’re both here, it saves me the phase to your house.” Rhydian smiles at us both. I roll my eyes. Yeah, he just happened to come to the coffee shop we were meeting in. The guy is a total stalker. I really don’t understand why Darren is friends with him. Sure, he was funny sometimes, and he could be fairly charming...

“Kayla came to see you?” Darren questions, looking more than a little pissed off.Shit. Why does Rhydian have to show up and make this even more difficult?I swallow.

Quick, brain! Think of something.

“Yeah. I dropped by to accuse him of murder,” I boast humorously, hoping that’ll help cool things off.

“You what?!” Darren exclaims.Maybe that wasn’t as cooling off as I’d hoped?

“Yes, Kayla was under the impression that I murdered your old boss. Despite the fact that everyone knows a witch did it,” Rhydian chuckles.

Darren turns to look at him, raising an eyebrow in question. “But did you?”

“Why would I waste my time killing that pathetic waste of oxygen? Some idiot human I have nothing to gain from killing?” Rhydian fires back. Darren thinks on it for a second, before nodding in acceptance of Rhydian’s logic. The fact that killing Jay would have served him no purpose, and not because it’s morally wrong to kill people, as his excuse for not murdering him is ridiculous. Although, I hate to admit it, but in his case, it makes his innocence more believable.

“What are you really doing here?” I ask, turning to look at Rhydian. Him not murdering Jay I believe. Him being here by coincidence? Not so much.

“I came to make you an offer you can’t refuse.” His lips quirk upwards in a subtle smile.

“This should be good,” I mutter.

Please don’t make it a sexual offer, I really don’t think it would help with my whole, ‘I’m not ready for a relationship right now’ speech that I’d prepared to give to Darren.

“You got me thinking yesterday, I really should have servers downstairs. The enchanted bar works great, but it just lacks the personal touch of having staff.”

“And this concerns me, why?” I ask.

“Well, I’d like to offer you a job working in my bar. I’m aware that you’re currently between jobs, and that you have some bar experience,” Rhydian answers confidently.

“You’re a total stalker, you know that, right?” I look at him, not understanding how he could ever think that his behaviour is normal.

“So, you’ll start tomorrow night then?” he asks with a smile, ignoring my comment.

“Of course she won’t. She’s not working there,” Darren cuts in before I can reply. I guess that settles it... I despise it when people try to dictate to me what I can and can’t do. Plus, I really do need the job.

“Well, ifsomeonehadn’t made me lose my last job, maybe I’d have other options right now.” I turn, narrowing my eyes on Darren.

“You know what he was—

“That’s not the point. You know there were better ways to deal with that, but you acted without thinking!”

“What was I supposed to do? Sit there and listen to him talk about you like that?” he demands, his voice raising a little.

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