Page 27 of Stuck with my Frenemy
“That I can agree with,” Ash pipped in, and I had to stifle a laugh because he had definitely seen the prickly side of her.
Ebony offered me a hand, which I took, and pulled me up. “Sorry, it was just the easiest way to shut you up.”
“Awww, Ebs. You said sorry. You really do love me!” Before she could move, I wrapped her in a hug, squeezing so tight she was struggling to breathe I bet.
“Let. Me. Go.” She squeezed through her teeth, “Now,” the pause before that last word just made me think she didn’t actually mean it.
“So, let me get this straight,” Bernie chose that moment to interfere, “you two are hound dogs for magicandyou aren’t human. Am I getting this right?”
I sang the letters for BINGO like I did in the bar, and Ash groaned. “Not this again.”
“We are going in circles. Right now, we need a plan to figure out who the hell broke into your warehouse and took the hammer,” I told them all, surprised at myself for getting back on topic. Though, truthfully, I wasn’t as idiotic as I wanted everyone to think. It was just another layer of armor I used to protect myself. If they can’t see you, they can’t leave or hurt you.
Ebony turned to meet my eyes. “That’s easy. Bernie said it himself. We are hound dogs for magic. So, what we need to do is head back to that warehouse and sniff out the trail.” Her pointed glare told me not to talk about the human part anymore.
I jumped up and down, clapping my hands together. “Yes, girl, yes. This is why you are the brains of the operation, and I’m the brawn.”
She recoiled from me. “That’s what we’re going with?”
Nodding enthusiastically, I pirouetted like the fine ballerina I was. Graceful. Elegant. Not at all arrogant. “Yup. That’s it. That’s all I got because I’m just that awesome!”
“Okay, let me interject here,” Ash said, “just for a minute. You can go back and sniff out the magic and find the trail that will lead us right to the thieves?”
Ebony grinned, and it lit up her whole face. Not nicely. More like an evil sorceress about to get to play with her magic and take out her foe. “Yes, we can. I’ll even let you watch.”
“Well, what are we waiting on? I don’t know why we had to come here first?” Bernie grumbled not looking very pleased with the situation.
“Duh. But you never asked the right questions.” Flipping my hair over my shoulder, I tried one of Ebony’s famous glares. “If you did, we wouldn’t be here.”
“What are you doing?” Ash asked.
“Glaring. Why?” I demanded, not sure what was so wrong with that.
Ebony burst out laughing, and she even doubled over from it.
“Wow. So you can glare all the time but I can’t?” I smacked her in the arm.
“Oh my gods, Cherry. That actually hurt.”
“Really?” My tone was high-pitched in my excitement.
She laughed harder until she croaked, “No.”
“Can we stop the charade now? All this magic sniffing and following trails bullshit as crazy as it sounds is your only saving grace. Let’s get moving before I actually call the cops or we take justice into our own hands.” Ash was really getting on my nerves. “Not human.” He mumbled in disgust.
I couldn’t wait to see their faces when they realized we told the truth. And then their little world would never be the same again. I knew we’d eventually have to give them the whole story about who we were and what we did, but now just didn’t seem like the time. A few tidbits of factual information should go a long way in a pinch.
What had me pretty pumped up was the fact that they called us hound dogs.
Well, they better get ready for me to crawl on my hands and knees and sniff the ground just to prove a point.
