Page 54 of Handcuffs and Hexes

In hindsight, maybe I’d overreacted just a little. I also wasn’t the best at reading people’s emotions; it wasn’t quite the same as reading a potential crime scene. If I’d actually paused and taken in all the cues, I would’ve figured out that Seth was reacting defensively because he wanted me to stay but couldn’t admit it. Our week together hadn’t affected only me.

Note to self: cold and aloof was how Seth protected himself.

Kind of like how I avoided all emotional responsibility by never having grownup relationships. And why would he be any other way after I’d already turned down Liam’s offer for me to continue staying with them?

Liam had tried to talk to me yesterday and I’d ignored him, leaving him struggling on my front lawn. Poor guy was dealing with two fully grown adults with the emotional intelligence of a rock combined. I owed him an apology.

I guess I knew what I was doing after we got The Breach under control.

“We’re actually going there after. Want a ride?” I asked Griselda.

“In the back of a cruiser? No thanks,” she replied with a laugh. “And besides, I have to get Triscuit all settled back upstairs.”

At the sound of his name, the African grey hanging out in the corner shrieked, “Triscuit wanna biscuit,” and bobbed his head several times at his owner. Triscuit had been so quiet today until now that I hadn’t even realized he was here.

Mike excused himself to use the boys’ room, and Griselda tossed him the aforementioned “biscuit” to give to Triscuit on the way.

“It’s in the shape of a bone,” I noticed.

“Yeah, Marcus made them using a recipe he found online. He’s into meal prepping and all that, but I can’t eat the same thing for more than two days in a row, so I told him he can do it for Triscuit.”

Marcus was Griselda’s fiancé, and he owned the gym next door.

“We didn’t want them to look like normal biscuits in case anyone tries to eat them by accident. The doggy bones were the only cookie cutters we could find that were obvious enough. The recipe is dog-friendly too, so it works out.” She placed Mike’s drink on the counter and handed me my flat white. “Say, can I read your fortune? Just for fun to pass the time until your partner gets back?”

I shrugged. “Sure,” I said, not seeing the harm in it. While it would be silly of me not to believe in magic after the last few years, I still wasn’t sure where I stood on things like fortune-telling. “What do you need?”

“Nothing. Just you. A lot of the props are just distractions. We’re actually reading your aura.”

The mention of my aura had me thinking of Seth and Liam again.

“Sometimes people already know what’s coming, but their brain just hasn’t caught up yet.”

She reached out but didn’t quite touch me. I did feel a tingle, though, which I now recognized as magic. For a brief second, her hair switched back to the vibrant red it used to be, then turned black again.

“Hmmmm.” She closed her eyes and took a slow breath.

There was another tingle and another “Hmmmmmmm,” this one longer, followed by a nod.

Finally, she spoke, “If you turn around, you will lose two very important things. If you push forward, you will have to give up one, but gain more in return.”

What the hell did that mean?

She must have seen my face because she chuckled. “These things always come as riddles. It’ll become clear eventually.”

Mike returned and picked up his drink. “Ready to hit The Breach?”

TheBreachwasahub of activity by the time we arrived. Security was several layers deep, and anyone who wasn’t an active part of the operation had already been evacuated. Mike and I were stationed at the northeastern corner of the intersection, and I could swear that The Breach looked just a tiny bit larger than it had in the video feed I saw earlier this morning. But I could be imagining it.

As volunteers arrived to help save their beloved city, they were instructed to join different quadrants. Soon, there was a ring of witches, some of them men, around The Breach, ready to fight and take back the intersection. Their job was to shrink and eliminate the unwelcomed portal. Our part was to protect them from any physical harm. The witches who were also wizards got extra security.

For a hastily thrown-together operation, it was rather impressive.

The joint spell was led by a woman on a loudspeaker. Curious, I scanned the crowd to see who she was and found a woman with a style that reminded me of Seth. This had me scanning the faces in the crowd even harder until I finally found him. He wasn’t with Liam, but instead was standing next to the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen. Her blonde locks fell effortlessly around her shoulders, and she looked so familiar. I wondered if she was a model or perhaps I’d seen her in movies.

Wow! He’d gotten over me quickly. So much for trying to make things right after this.

Then I shook my head at the silly stab of jealousy. I’d been the one who’d left after telling them I wasn’t interested in anything more, so why the fuck was I jealous anyway? Let him hang out with whoever the fuck he wanted.

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