Page 16 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

“Cujo?Cujo? You haven’tseenmy level of crazy yet.”

I rubbed out the knot of tension at the base of my neck between my shoulder blades. “Take me home.”

“Right. So you can do something else ridiculously stupid again?”

“It wasn’t stupid. I needed to meet with him to see what he knows about Jeffery’s death.” Hearing Jeffery’s name seemed to set him off. What? Like it or not I was going to marry the man and he died because I needed ice cream. IowedJeffery this. He lost his life essentially because of me. I wouldn’t ever forgive myself for that. But note to self: With the way Connor gripped my steering wheel hard enough that I was pretty sure he could rip it right off the mount, never bring up Jeffery without a leash and muzzle handy.

“Jeffery’s dead,” he barked, like I wasn’t totally aware of that by now. “He’s dead and you’re alive—at least for now. Those guys are bad news and you just waltzed your fine ass in there like other people don’t have a stake in whether or not you survive.”

He thought my ass was fine? That made me feel good—wait, no. Focus, Simone.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“You would’ve never married Jeffery.”

“What? Why would you say that?”

“Because you weren’t supposed to be with him. You’re supposed to be with me.”

“Connor.” I sucked in a deep, lengthy breath, then let it out gently, gradually, trying to calm the vibe inside the vehicle. “We didn’t know each other then. And you don’t even like me.”

He slowly turned his head to glare at me, almost like he was possessed—yeah, like one of those possessed ventriloquist dummies—and I would have sworn on a stack of tarot cards, I lost my breath completely.

Connor drove us to his store, continuing around the back, where he pulled into a spot and cut the engine, then predictably, a little bit roughly, and totally aggrievedly, dragged me inside. “There’s food in the fridge. You know where the bedroom is. Watch TV or whatever.”

“Where are you going?”

“Work. At the cemetery.”

“Then why am I here?”

“Because I need to know you aren’t going to do anything else stupid when I’m not around to bail you out.”

I had the overwhelming urge to punch him right in his handsome face. “I had it under control. You didn’t need to show up.”

Connor rolled his eyes.

“I’ll just leave as soon as you do,” I threatened.

“If you think you’ve got it in you.”

“I don’t need my car. I can call an Uber.”

“You could. But you couldn’t get outside to catch it.”

Excuse me? “What do you mean?”

He threw his hand out. “Try it.”

Challenge accepted. I walked confidently over to the door, twisted the knob, and pulled. Nothing happened. I twisted the deadbolt to make sure it was unlocked and tried again.

And nothing. Again.

“What did you do to the door?” I demanded to know.

He shrugged. “Wards.”

Oh, I narrowed my eyes on him, all right. “Wards? What in all of Hades is a ward?”

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