Page 3 of Witch's Dawn
Owning a business and growing up in California’s version of the Bible belt did not make a good combination for an active sex life. The last time I slept with a guy was in college, which felt like agesago.
While Nona poured over the rocks and crystals, I slowly turned around in a circle to see more of theshop.
Like Myranda herself, her shop couldn't be placed neatly into one category.Trailblazers, Inc.carried everything from skulls and taxidermied animals to vintage clothing, jewelry, patches, and pins. It was part punk rock attire, part curiosity shop with a dash of woo-woo.
And somehow she made it allwork.
"Oooh Deja, look!" Nona sounded like a child filled with wonder at Disneyland as she pointedexcitedly.
Tucked off in a corner past the wall with the giant goat's head was a sign that read FREE TAROT READINGS (tipsappreciated!).
"Let's get our cards read!" Nona exclaimed. "I've always wantedto!"
"Oh, you go ahead. I'm good," I toldher.
Yes, tarot was just another check mark on the long list of things that made a recovering Christian uneasy. But that wasn't the reason for myhesitation.
Just underneath the massive goat head appeared to be a tattoo station. A sign on a table read FLASH TATTOOS $40. The artist was hard at work, sitting in a swivel chair while inking something onto a man's forearm. Two other men stood nearby, drinking and laughing with their friend gettingtattooed.
All three of them looked absolutelygorgeous.
Anddangerous.
They were dressed from head to toe in black. Distressed black leather jackets on top, slim-fitted black denim and leather boots downbelow.
I would have to walk past them to get to the tarot reader and didn't dare come an inchcloser.
Attractive men always made me nervous but never like this. Their presence seemed to fill up the whole shop. Aside from the tattoo artist, everyone else seemed to give them extremely wide berth. Even at a good ten feet away, I could feel them as if I was standing right next tothem.
I went from being comfortably warm to overbearingly hot. My face felt like it was on fire. Every instinct in my body warned me not to get any closer to them. Only Nona seemed completelyoblivious.
"Come on, Deja. It won't be any fun withoutyou!"
With surprising strength, she took my arm and pulled me toward the tarot sign. Towardthem.
All three of them stopped conversing and stared right atme.
The whole store seemed to slow down and go quiet as I locked in on three pairs of shining, hungry eyes. Icy blue, emerald green, and brown, almost black. They stared me down and I felt like I was walking throughjello.
A hot, sensitive pulsing started between my legs and spread throughout my body. My face grew even hotter as I realized how my body responded to being physically closer to these threemen.
The one with dark eyes, sitting and getting tattooed, lifted one corner of his mouth in a knowing smirk. The green-eyed one standing next to him echoed the same wicked smile. Only the blue-eyed one kept his face neutral, regarding me coolly as I seemed to walk by in slowmotion.
We rounded the corner and it felt like a spell wasbroken.
I blinked, now looking at a woman sitting at a small table in a small, private corner of the store. She smiled at us warmly, surrounded by candles, crystals, and card decks on hertable.
"Welcome, lovelies!" she greeted. "Come for a tarotreading?"
"Yes, for both of us," Nona said, shooting me a pointed look. I stared back at her blankly. Did she really not feel the same overwhelming power and lust that I justdid?
"Have a seat," the tarot reader offered as she picked up a deck of cards and began toshuffle.
"You go first," I said to Nona robotically, my mind still haunted by those three pairs of eyes just on the other side of thewall.
Their effect on me was paralyzing and somehow also fiercely magnetic. It shook me. It was more than just noticing three hot guys, it was like something came over me physically. Something that wasn't normal attraction. It was completely overwhelming and even just a littlescary.
Once we got this tarot reading over with, I could only hope they'd no longer bethere.
