Page 2 of Witch Unexpected
I didn’t flinch at his words.
Jasper was a wanker. He said wankerish things to try and get a rise out of me. I was becoming totally desensitized to him. Didn’t mean I wasn’t tempted to punch him in the mouth, and if I’d thought it would hurt him, I might have.
Keith looked at me in horror as if to ask,is this true? I met his gaze levelly, and he made a choking sound of indignation, whether on my behalf or just in general, I wasn’t too sure.
“Yes,” Jasper said with a nod. “That’s exactly the sound she makes when she has my cock down her throat.”
I picked up the useless plate and smashed it into Jasper’s face. It shattered before making contact, pieces falling to the ground with soft chinks. Jasper smirked, and I curbed the urge to throttle him.
Maybe I wasn’t totally desensitized.
Around us, the room had descended into silence as the general hum of conversation ceased, but I didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought.
I glared at Jasper as he calmly sipped his drink. “Say what the fuck you want, Jasper. It’s just words now. Tag along on my dates, spy on me taking a fucking shit if you want, I don’t give a flying fuck, because you have no power over me.”
The hollow feeling in my chest contradicted my words, but that was my problem to deal with. I’d keep the upper hand as long as he didn’t know how much his presence affected me.
Jasper shrugged. “Really? No power over you? I’d say making you come so hard you stop breathing is a pretty awesome power.”
My eyes burned with anger and shame. “Fuck you, Jasper.”
His gaze dropped to my neck, to the amulet nestled at the base of my throat. “You can, Cora. All you need to do is take that thing off.” His tone was soft, almost wistful, and for some reason, my rage evaporated, leaving me drained.
“I’m not doing this with you.”
“Who else will you do it with?” Jasper asked. He tipped his head toward Keith. “The Magiguard who slipped away?”
Keith’s seat was empty.
Fuck.
* * *
“I hate you.”I took long strides down the street as if that would get me away from Jasper. “I fucking hate you so much.”
“No, you don’t,” he said. “You hate yourself for wanting me.”
“If I wanted you, I wouldn’t have had this commissioned.” I tugged at the chain around my neck to show off the amulet.
It winked blood-red in the streetlights.
Okay, so I hadn’t had it commissioned. It had been a gift—but Jasper didn’t need to know that.
I tucked it back under my shirt and picked up the pace down the street, boots clipping neatly against the pavement. Awesome, fuck-me boots. Four-inch heels, calf-high, and the softest leather. I’d even mown my lawn and waxed my legs. I hadn’t had sex in months. Keith was meant to be the icebreaker, the heat bringer, the meat plunger. Urgh. I’d even changed my sheets and put out candles.
Hope was a sneaky bitch. Hope could go suck an egg. I was done hoping.
Jasper was a plague, a limpet, a fucking ingrowing hair that kept…ingrowing.
I was supposed to be fucking tonight, and now I wasn’t, because like a wet fart, Jasper had scared off my ride.
At least this time, I’d chosen an outlier, not a human. The last guy Jasper had chased away was in therapy. Even though humans had been able to see ghosts for decades, the presence of a malevolent spirit like Jasper was enough to send even the most well-adjusted human screaming for the hills. I’d become so acclimatized to Jasper’s presence that I forgot how insidious and evil it could be to others.
After all the shit I’d been through, it was easy to forget how much the world had changed.
A few decades ago, an experimental drug spill had resulted in humans being able to see the dead. It had also brought to light the existence of Reapers—demons from a place called the Underealm. The drug had affected Reapers too, killing many of them. Due to the drop in their numbers, the volume of spirits trapped on the earthly plane had grown exponentially, and so a new system had been born. One where humans worked with the Underealm to monitor and dispatch the spirits of the dead to the other side.
I’d worked in such a place for a while. In fact, my best friend, Fee, was a Reaper. Not just any Reaper, but one of the elites—a Dominus Reaper. I’d helped her out too for a while. But that wasn’t my life anymore. Working for the Magiguard in Necro City, being trailed by Jasper, andnothaving sex was now my life.
