Page 30 of All My Witches
“Excuse me?” Summer turned shrill as she planted her hands on her hips. “If you’re not my honey bunny, whose honey bunny areyou?”
Landon jerked a thumb in my direction. I totally should’ve seen that coming, by the way. “I’m her honey bunny. Er, well, she’s my sweetie. It doesn’t really matter. I’m not going to marryyou.”
“Oh, really.” Summer narrowed her eyes until they were nothing but glittering strips of hatred. “Are you breaking up withme?”
“I guess Iam.”
“Well then.” Summer took two deliberate steps forward, grabbed the front of Landon’s shirt before he could slap away her hands, and tugged as hard as she could. The shirt, which should’ve held together better, ripped down the center, and Summer gripped the tattered remains in her fist as she began to vibrate with anger. “You’ll be sorry you did this! I’ll make yousorry.”
Landon, his face awash with disbelief, stared down at his bare chest. “Again? How did this happenagain?”
Thistle was laughing so hard she bent at the waist, resting her hands on top of her knees. “Oh, this is freakingpriceless!”
“Why aren’t women throwing themselves at me?” Marcus complained. “I look more like a soap star than hedoes.”
Thistle sobered. “Are you honestly complaining aboutthat?”
“It’s not that I want another girlfriend,” Marcus stressed. “It’s just … I’m better looking than him. You believe that,right?”
“Oh, I’m not answering that.” Thistle turned to me. “This world is kind of funny at times. I’m starting to likeit.”
“That makes one of us,” I said. “We need to find Sam and Clove to see if they have the diamond. In fact … .” I trailed off when I saw Clove darting in our direction. She looked paler than normal – even more ashen than when she realized she would have to sit in and participate with brain surgery – and she made a beeline straight for us. “What’swrong?”
Landon straightened his shoulders and swiveled. “Did somethinghappen?”
Clove remained focused on me. “You have to come. We have asituation.”
“I’ll say we have a situation,” Thistle said. “Landon apparently has girlfriends stashed everywhere, and all of them are batshitcrazy.”
“Bay’s not crazy,” Landon shotback.
“Oh, you’re driving me there,” I said. “What’s wrong,Clove?”
“Sam is in trouble.” Clove was grim. “We lost Flynn on the operating table – and wait until I tell you about that situation – and now he’s been called in front of the board for disciplinaryaction.”
“So? Tell him to get out of it,” Landon ordered. “We don’t have time forthat.”
“He can’t. Guards took himaway.”
“In a hospital?” That made absolutely no sense. “What do you want us todo?”
“They want to see all of us, too. They’re waiting forus.”
It seemed our story had taken another turn. I heaved a sigh. “Okay. I guess we know where we’re goingnext.”
“Let’s just hope Landon doesn’t have another girlfriend in there,” Thistle said. “They seem to be getting crazier. The next one might very well bearmed.”
Now that was a soberingthought.
* * *
Only on soapsis it possible for a character to walk into a room looking like a blond god and come out with an entirely different face and a different hair color and have nobody comment on it. That’s not even remotely believable … and I want realism when I’m watching a guy figure out that his father had a woman locked in a secret mansion room for twentyyears.
– Winnie on the plausibility of soapoperas
Eight
Landon grabbedanother shirt from the lost-and-found box. This one featured a smiling cow wearing a tiara. While I found Landon’s new shirt adorable, one look at him told me he felt the opposite. Apparently Aunt Tillie’s sense of humor was an acquiredtaste.
